#twinfrin au

[whomst-yall]

this is inspired by me forgetting about the pineapple allergy twice after loop literally tells you :') figured it was fitting for siffrin "memory issues" nolastname

bonus doodle:

[tiredhams]

Participated in @isat-secretsanta-2024 !!!!

It was very fun! Would do it again

Here’s my gift for @whomst-yall , I drew an interaction between sif and loop from their twinfrin AU

[justanotheryellowsoul]

Apologies that these aren't fully accurate, I didn't pull up any references till I was nearly done

[maryonmega]

Turns out, I was just having a breakdown.

We are so back now :)

[whomst-yall]

loop and siffrin desperately trying to pass them off as his long lost twin is the best human!loop joins the party idea, in this essay i will-

[whomst-yall]

twinfrin au has me in a chokehold

[whomst-yall]

my secret art hack for people who cant write dialogue: just dont!!!

[whomst-yall]

i think loop would ask bonnie to use the recipe siffrin remembers during the loops

[whomst-yall]

forbidden fruit.............

[whomst-yall]

...i may have accidentally gotten invested in twinfrin au...

[whomst-yall]

drawing backgrounds is so much easier when you dont have to worry about colour...

anyway heres more twinfrin au loop. they are filled with seething rage and crippling grief but theyre normal :) i promise :)

[whomst-yall]

they are Going Through It

[whomst-yall]

i missed you twinfrin au....

[maryonmega]

You're the Universe's favorite cosmic joke, you've known that for a long time (or whatever you can call when almost all of it is the same moments over and over), but, for once, you had let yourself believe that the tragicomedy was over and you could step out of the stage.

Turns out, there's still one last punchline to fulfill.

[maryonmega]

Twin Stars - Chapter 16

Inside too (too much?)

{{We are so back!}}

You can tell that Stardust is uncomfortable with the swap. You don't really care. Priorities first. Even if you have to put on conscious effort to not speak too loud and let the others realise.

"Stardust, I'm not gonna beat around the bush here. What happened when I was away clearly was worse than you made sound, to get others eavesdropping because you can outrun me. Let me hear from your mouth what you did."

They look like a scolded dog. You're gonna get sick of this if It happens again today.

"If you already know, why do I have to tell? I already talked to everyone."

"Stardust, just spit it out."

You see them reach for a hat that doesn't occupy their head anymore.

"I hurt Mira. It was an accident, but the injury was painful. I tried to... I tried to take it back... Odile stopped me and took my dagger away."

Pitch dark...

It takes a lot to look at them.

"I told you, it had already happened."

"Yes, you did. Look, I..." He hesitates, then look at you. You can tell they want to look away "I didn't get it back then, but, I do now. I... I got rid of the part of me that was scared..."

"For it to be a reflex even out of the loops, I think it's a little further than just not being scared, Stardust..."

He's your sibling, you said it yourself. And a baby compared to you. And... you have nothing more to hide. You already spilled your guts, back in the Favor Tree. You don't have to worry about saying too much now when it comes to him.

"I'm sorry for making you see it so many times, Lo- Sisyphus."

"For once, I really would like if you did not apologize to me."

"I did to everyone too. I know it's not enough, but I really shouldn't-"

"Stardust!"

You realise that you yelled after they flinch.

"I'm sorry."

"You better be sorry for yourself!" They look away. You want to shake them "Blinding- no, no, it's gonna be ok! You have time, real time now! I'm sure it will get easier the longer you do. Or rather, don't."

"I got dagger privileges back the day before we found you..."

"Why am I not surprised?" It takes a lot to not put your hand in your face.

"It was more embarrassing than dramatic, actually." Stardust is sinking into their cloak "I felt like a child."

"You course you did. It is like with a child. Except that instead of an annoying whistle it's a dagger to kill yourself."

You decide to stop egging him after you can barely make out their eyes in the cloak and hair.

"L- Sisyphus..."

"Stardust, you're out of the Loops. You hurt Mirabelle, sure, but that would hurt her worse. Not just her, too."

It's not what you want to say, but it's what you know is more likely to work.

"I know. I... I don't want that. I really don't."

"Well, if Madame gave your dagger back, then I guess you mean it. Still..."

They still won't look at you.

You sight, and prepare yourself to sleep. You lend your cloak to Mirabelle, so you two will be sharing thermos privileges. It's not weird. This group has platonic sheet sharing all the time. You offer your hand, and they take it.

"Did you do it too? Even once?"

"I did. I regreted it. Their cries haunted me for several loops." Not a full lie. It's just hard to even think about what came before.

Hypocrite.

You feel his hand loosen it's grip, and you tighen yours to compensate. He stirs a little, but doesn't pull back. You can't see their face anymore.

When you're sure they're asleep, you carefully take one of his arms and roll up the sleeve.

Scabs.

A bit old, but not that old, and no healing craft involved.

You don't like that. It's a pipeline. But what can you do? You're on a hike. Even if they lose the dagger agin, they can find a way.

You pull the sleeve back down and push it back into position.

You can't even ask when you got so invested, can you? You already were, weren't you? Having to be literally forced to let them do that to himself...

Feeling bad will get you nowhere. You curl on your side of the cloak and try to go to sleep.

~~

You hold Stardust's hand the following morning. Their eye is bloodshot and there's some swelling. You must have missed something, didn't you? Maybe it was for the best. You're not sure what face you would make if you saw them crying.

It's not just you, is it? You can see that. The others are trying to look like it's business as usual, but you can feel the tension. Not a tension like before, where there was clearly something that had to be talked about but nobody wanted to, but one where it's clear that they know what happened.

You can live with that.

You don't let go of their hand even as food and worsd start to move around you. This is your Stardust moment. You even let Mirabelle keep your cloak a little longer to keep the contact.

You're not soaking up on it yourself, definitely not. The skin-to-skin contact break did not leave you metaphorically drolling like an addict that got a fix and then their desired taken away

It's not weird. They know what you did. It's not weird. It's expected even.

Right?

[maryonmega]

Twin Stars - Chapter 10

Audience seat (worth it?)

You're nervous.

You've been nervous before going into a play before, but those moments were different - you were still new to the language and didn't want to lose something that matters, it was long and you kept silently wishing for your stomach to not make a loud noise, the place was kind of empty and you wondered if you were going to stand out once the light turned on, this sort of things.

You never feared having a panick attack before.

Of course, you wouldn't have asked if you didn't think there was a good chance would can just sit down and enjoy - the wonders of not having to hide that anything weird is going on! - but stars you'll only be sure when you're there.

And you want to do it. It's not fair to lose something like that forever.

You already cleaned and changed, and are now running your fingers throught your hair to try and get it a bit easier to use an actual comb. In a way it's like a special occasion!

"You know we still have half hour, right?"

"I want it to be nice!"

Isa looks at you with what you're sure is a type of foundness usually directed to baby animals. It doesn't calm your nerves, but does cover it in a layer of embarrassment. You accidentally pull too hard.

"You know, it could be easier of you start at the tips."

You untagle your fingers and look at him.

"If I what?"

"Start near the tips." He runs his fingers on his own hair as a demonstration "You're pushing knots togather like this."

... It was that easy?

You feel your face heat up, but chenge tactics anyway. For a moment, you consider asking Mira for help, but shoves it out as soon as the thought comes. Too early.

"Again, if you get uncomfortable, you just have to ask to leave."

"I'm gonna sit on an end, Isa. So I can leave without saying a thing and you'll never know."

Isabeau simulates a dramatic voice, but his little smile is still there.

"A rogue taken in is still a rogue at heart."

"Hard learned lesson."

It's more work than you'd usually want. Maaaybe because you took so long, but details.

You almost get too impatient, but a second thought helps refuel your decision: it can be a special occasion. The thought of saying it makes you nervous, but, when your partner is being as patient as it gets, the least you can do is show what is fine.

"You know, you can sit at the end with me. Then it can be like a date."

You see him perk up. Victory?

"Like I'd choose any other way! But yes, it can be like a date. A date with our friends near."

"Moral support."

"I can get behind some moral support."

You finish combing your hair. Untangled, it gets to your shoulders. You really should comb more often (you say that every time, you know you won't).

Once you're satisfied, you put on the little wristband you got yesterday (there's a butterfly on the little bell!), check the clock - this took way too long! - and offer your hand.

"A warm hand for this cold morning?"

"How could I refuse?"

You two exit hand in hand. You don't let go after joining the others, or when the group leaves.

You feel like a teenager dealing with their first crush, but, right now, you don't mind. You're glad you have this.

~★~

Blind you. Now that you see the actual poster, this thing is long. Stardust, why do you have to jump head first like this? You don't think?

You pat your pockets where your snacks are, just to think about something. You look at your line order, which will translate into the seating order: Stardust, Fighter, Mirabelle, Researcher, Kid, Pétronille, you.

It's, if you're honest, a bit of a relief. You won't see Mirabelle's face, but that's fine. Better than raise the risk of crying in public. You can see the Kid's kicking feet, though, behind (beside?) their sister's legs. Kid Sandwich.

The lights turn off, and the play starts.

It quickly became clear why there was a fight to pull it so shortly after the King: the main storyline is about a fictional country being taken over by a tyrant that takes away people's freedom and a very determined rando going on a quest to taken the tyrant down. The bare bones, sure, but still.

You swallow. You pay enough attention to not be caught off guard later, but to... well, to a higher power who cares, audience seat is hard to slip back on.

You're being very normal. Totally normal. You're not drumming the arm rests for any reason other than tension because of conflict. You're sure as the sunrise not putting a lot of effort into keeping your breath normal.. You're just a mentally sound person watching a play where the deuteragonists make allies and find out about an artifact that can mean victory.

Act 1 over. Lights on. Break time.

There isn't a lot of places to go in that hall, but you find a little space behind some stairs. You lean into the wall. You don't question why there's a hollow space in the first place.

You breath in, and out, in, out, in, out. It's ok, you'll be fine. No need to make the others worry think you don't want to stay.

"Hiding away?"

You almost jump out of your skin when you hear. Did... did the sister follow you there?

"I said I wanted to use the bathroom." she explains, as if she had read your mind. Or you're rustier than you thought still. Blind you.

You give your signature grin.

"So you are?"

"Dodger. But, yeah, I guess so." She shrugs.

You open your mouth, half ready to say something witty, but change your mind and close it. You don't think you have energy for that right now.

You undo your fake grin and nod.

"I can't blame you. It's weird."

"'It' what, Sisyphus?"

That sounds like a cue to be careful. You've had enough of cues for a lifetime.

"The whole, group, thingy. I don't remember if I had time to tell, but I'm kind of new too." 

"You didn't."

She doesn't look happy. You don't blame her.

"Well, point is, being shoved in a circle because someone you know is on it and walking that weird line where it's like nobody wants to... what's the word?... it's like they don't want to be reminded that you're new. They're nice but it's weird."

Nille looks away and nods.

"Super weird. Doesn't help that they seen attached by the hip most of the time. I mean, what in the world did I lose?"

"Not just a long time, a long time of a countrywise crisis, and we just got back, and it's like not just them, but everyone wants to act like everything's fine and dandy, which technically is, but it's not!"

"But what do we know? We're just the siblings. They're alive, right?"

You blink at her, and watches some tension leave her shoulders. 

You didn't mean to spill out like that, even if it's not exacly specific, but, it wasn't a bad thing?

You take a deep breath, and shake your head.

"Sometimes thinking about the whole thing makes me angry. In the end things turned out good but stars some stupid crab is included."

She looks at you with an intense look. You feel weird, untill it downs that she's reading you. 

You saw this type of look before. Once. When someone wants to know if mean it or is doing some song and dance.

You're not bothered. You meant every word. And Nille notices that.

"I get it. I get a bit angry too. It's not fair, tho, is it?"

"How will I know? I'm on the loop!"

You see her back out for a moment, but then she chuckles. Must be from tension. The pun only made sense for you.

"Yes, of course." She takes a deep breath. Pheeeew. "You know, I couldn't tell if you didn't tell."

"Each deals how they can. In my case, I don't." You say, and wink. 

"Anything to avoid another loss, eh?" You breath in, but any noise dies in your throat "Well, I'm pretty sure the break is almost over, so let's also avoid an earful. How about that?"

Your throat still feels tight. You nod and follow her back.

Lights out.

You're not zoning out and that's a victory of it's own. After some time, you start feeling cramps. Oh, right, you have not eaten.

You fish around with your hands and sink into your cloak. Odile was right, snuck in snacks are tastier.

Drama happens. Character scenes happen. The relic is found, but an unshown aside from some tentacles giant sadness attacks the heroes. One of them fights it alone so the others can leave.

Act 2 over. Lights on. Break time.

Oddly enough, you're not as shook. Maybe because you didn't put as much effort into not being shook.

Oh well, you might continue to lie to others for as long as you're not caught, but you learned that day that it's useless to lie to yourself. Letting things out, even if you didn't dig very deep, helped. 

A thing, if not the thing...

This time, you go to the bathroom. You rip off some toilet paper and let yourself weep.

Oh, look, you can cry from both eyes now. 

You bite the inside of your cheek hard to avoid laughing. Not too hard. Not too hard.

...

Oh.

Oh.

And you thinking you were out of the loops!

It takes a lot of effort, but you manage.

When you're done, you use Healy Bealy a craft so your eyes won't be bloodshot when you go back.

You're doing good, you think. your face is clean and darkless when you walk out.

The others are already on their seats when you walk in again. Bonnie's hat is keeping yours. Ir gets removed by Nille when you arrive.

"Just in time... Are you okay?"

"Never better!" You say with your signature grin, and sit with your legs crossed. 

Lights out.

The heroes go throught the tyrant's castle's basement to get in and face followers while dealing with some drama fallout. Very run-of-the-mill. This time, with no sarcasm at all, it doesn't really ring bells that leave you disturbed.

Untill a basement room colapsed and crushed a chunk of the group. Including the first deutagonist.

You try to swallow the lump in your throat by paying attention to how the group managed to make the body gathering believable. They're good. They're good. The rest of the act is very emotion heavy. The second deuteragonist's (protagonist's?) actor is selling his soul on the performance, but you can't really dismiss anyone else.

You're normal about this whole thing. Very normal. You're disturbed in a normal amount for someone watching a tragic play. You're not scratching your pants under your cloak when someone on stage talks about leaving the blame game for later.

Act 3 over. Lights on. Break time.

You really don't want to have a breakdown in the bathroom. Way too close. Will just make things worse. At least now it's acceptable to weep in the hall, so you do so.

You sat down to watch a play about what was in essence a death march. Except it's not over yet. You're pretty sure that, if you walk out of the hall right now, you'll see stars.

Your stomach churns. You could throw up. But you won't. The snacks were given by Bonbon in good faith.

In, out, in, out, in, out. If it had a fifth act, you'd soon have a Memory from how it smells behind those stairs.

The thought makes you laught. Some tension leaves. Good, good. You don't have to be fine now, just fine enough to make it through.

You pat your cheeks with your cloak one last time, than walk back.

Lights out.

The heroes make it to the upper floors, and the protagonist/deuteragonist recieves help from the first protagonist's ghost - but he's the only one who sees them and they don't interact with scenary, so it's unclear if the ghost is meant to be real or a hallucination. Just like in act 2, others stay behind facing enemies and sadnesses.

In the end, the tyrant is taken down pretty much with sheer fury. Then, there's a brief epilogue where the protagonist and an ally talk about what it took to restore peace and how the friends they lost will always be in their hearts.

... Hang on, all of that took place in sixteen blinding days?

You join in the clapping, of course. Credit where credit is due. Your feelings are another business.

Fucking joke.

The curtain falls. Lights on.

You can hear a mix of reactions around you. From people saying it's great and worth every second to people worried that it might spawn sadnesses.

In out in out in out in out. As discreet as you can.

Outside, illuminated by street lights, you check your group. The Kid seens eager to talk about how nice stuff looked (makes sense, you guess. You wouldn't think they would pay attention to that sort of think. But then again, there's a lot of things that you wouldn't think. Not outside of a very limited context. Once again, your eyes sting, but it's much easier to hold back. Somehow, it's like getting to know them all over again)and Nille seens to be enganging if still shaken up (you can't blame her, even bare bones can touch sore spots). The Researcher and Mirabelle look interest in discussing characters and what might have inspired what (count on the bookworms to do analytical legwork). Behind them...

You shove your hands in your pockets and look away.

...?

There's still a roll of bread in your pocket. How did you miss it?

You hold it, glad to have something to do with your hands.

"I think the ghost was real."

"See? Sisy agree."

You hold back your confusion. They were in on it? When did they comment?

"Really, Sisyphus?" The Researcher looks at you with squinted eyes. Keep calm, will you? It's a valid question about an interpretation, not a trap "Absurd timeline aside, the story was pretty grounded."

"Yes, but..." A normal response that a normal person would give, ok? Now, normal words, go! "The ghost knew stuff he wouldn't otherwise know, no? And, usually, a hallucination so vivid takes time to settle." You put on your signature smile "Also, a ghost guider is just more" relatable "interesting."

"Also nothing that can't be explained as noticing things and crediting the 'friend'. And, of course, which option is more interesting is subjective."

"In what world someone just going nuts is more interesting than ghosts existing?" Pétronille asks. You notice some defiance in her face and voice. 

Maybe it helped her relax, too?

Mirabelle jumped in. Or rather, returned:

"Hey, sometimes madness can be more scary than supernatural! It's very believable and doesn't stick out too much in a more grounded story."

You smirk, but need more time to thing about a response that won't out you. You can sense a tie and tie break coming. All you need is-

Stardust and Fighter are paces away. Stardust looks upset, and they're holding each other's hands.

You grip the poor innocent bread.

"Well, that's the charm. I guess."

And take a big bite.

You can feel eyes on you. You don't know or care who's. You just want to get to the room and shower.

So, you only pay attention to the path.

...

At this rate they might think you're angry.

You care enough to keep your mouth shut.