#talk-odile in rogue

[gmos]

i love when the effects of superpowers enhancing your physical form arent necessarily positive aka if you have fox-themed powers congratulations. you are now colorblind.

[maddilynmuse]

Memory of Liar

Another fic for @mari-lair ‘s Siffrin? More like Sif’s Out AU based on this memory exclusive to it. This one got a lil long, as I think y’all can see. Also I enjoy writing Odile. Apologies for any formatting opposed, I wrote this on my computer but had to upload on my phone.

No major CW’s beyond just “Odile questioning Siffrin’s mental health.” Enjoy!

It hadn’t been too long since that one loop. That loop where they found out just how good Siffrin was at pretending to be fine. How convenient that not long after, Odile got a skill to deal with it. Memory of Liar. It allowed her to know when Siffrin was lying (albeit not by omission, but still). Ideally, it would be a niche skill at best, one to keep on for a loop or two and forget that she had-

“Hey Odile!”

Siffrin began his usual greetings. Seems Mirabelle reminded him about the clocktower “sleepover” this time. She must be feeling nostalgic; they’d all planned to meet up at the clocktower afterwards anyways, so there was no need to send Siffrin on a quest to go talk to them all, but given how low he got, how useless he felt, it made sense for her to give him a task. Would it be too cynical to say Mirabelle was establishing a baseline? Perhaps.

“So, what will you do after?” Siffrin asked her.

After. Gems, at this rate such a thing felt laughable, but she bit her tongue well enough. What had she planned to do after this? So much time had been spent on loops and the breaking of them that leaving Dormont was starting to feel like more of an impossibility than beating the King ever had been.

“I’ll probably go back to Ka Bue,” she said. It seemed like the next most logical step. She had a home there, after all. Besides, it might be nice to get far, far away from Dormont.

“And wrap up your research?”

“Research?” Oh, right. Her fake research.

“Your research into cultures-ology?”

Had he said that last time? When was the last time Mirabelle called for a sleepover? Gems, she didn’t like this.

“Cultures-ology isn’t a field of research, Siffrin.”

“But it is the field of research you spent your life trying to create…”

“No,” she said bluntly. He looked a little put off by that, so she changed the topic the most natural way she could. “What about you? What will you do after we beat the king?” If they ever get to leave Dormont, that is.

“Come up with my own field of research.”

… huh?

Something about what he said there, it sat oddly in her gut. It felt… wrong. But how could-

Right. Memory of Liar. He was lying. Of course he was, why wouldn’t he be? She knew from the start that was likely a joke, and a joke could count as a lie, she supposed. Maybe this ability wasn’t particularly discerning. She’d have to test that too, wouldn’t she? Would it activate at anything that wasn’t true? Or would it only activate if Siffrin was actively trying to deceive?

As Siffrin walked out again, only then did it occur to her… what did the rogue intend to do when he got out? Well, a question for the others, she supposed.

------

They were back at Dormont. It wasn’t of much use, asking the others. Bonnie and Mirabelle couldn’t remember off the top of their heads, but apparently Siffrin had told Isabeau they intended to start a comedy club… That sounded considerably more likely than them going into research, but she was still inclined to double check. It was nothing wasting a whole loop over, but they’d agreed that next time they looped back to Dormont, Mirabelle would tell Siffrin about the clocktower, and Isabeau and Odile would “switch places,” so to speak. She needed to be the one to hear him, so she had to come last.

As Siffrin got up sleepily, almost tauntingly laid back, he greeted Mirabelle saying the nap was a solid 9 out of ten… The thought that their rogue was rubbing in their lack of exhaustion was illogical, something she knew all too well, but maybe she wasn’t in a particularly giving mood as she squatted in the bushes against the protest of her knee. A few more pleasantries were shared and…

“Where will you go after?”

“Oh! You know… maybe a pilgrimage? I-I suppose this all kiiiiiinda already counted as a pilgrimage, but, um… does it?” Does it if she only half remembers some of it, so much time taken over by these last few days? Or was Odile projecting here?

It didn’t matter.

“What about you though Siffrin. What will you do after?” Mirabelle asked.

Odile watched him like a hawk as he had his little smile, looking up to the sky, and, “Go on a pilgrimage too, maybe.”

“Oh! That’d be lovely,” Mirabelle said.

If only it were true.

Odile waited for them to get to the store—the store she often started at but currently housed Isabeau—forcing herself up and stumbling like a drunk from the woods, knee seizing up all the way. Mirabelle rushed over, using a bit of healing craft on her.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine, I’m fine…” Odile said, though sighed in relief at the healing craft easing the pain.

“… so?” Mirabelle said.

“He was lying. He has no intention to go on a pilgrimage.”

Mirabelle sighed but nodded. Neither of them were surprised, really?

“Can you even go on a pilgrimage if all you do is travel anyways? What’s even the difference?” Odile muttered to herself. “Ah, no use now. I have to catch up before Isabeau runs out of ways to stall.” Thankfully it was a short walk. The door was open, she simply had to linger near it.

“What will you do after?” Siffrin asked Isabeau.

Seems she was right on time.

“Eh, I’ll probably just go back to Jouvente. Not sure about rejoining the Defenders, not after they left Mira, but maybe I’ll try some clothing design?”

“Oh? I didn’t know you were interested in that. That sounds great, Isa!”

“Heh, thanks Sif. But what about you? What will you do when we beat the King?”

Assuming Isabeau did a good enough job of recapping what he said before, presumably Siffrin’s answer would be the same…

“Start a comedy club!”

… that one wasn’t true either? She’d honestly thought it might be, or at least that it was fifty fifty, but no. Almost a shame, it fit all too well. Then again, it meant more people were spared his puns…

She tuned out the rest in favor of trying to get a head start on making it to the East side of town. Siffrin tended to dawdle when left to his own devices, but still would be nice to find a way to listen in that wouldn’t be physically painful this time…

Oh right. There’s a building here, right near Bonnie. She’d basically gone blind to it, considering it no more than any other house: pointless. Though she did know the open phrase, well, the only thing of value was the “Long Thingy Thing” (as Bonnie put it), and they didn’t really need to go through the trouble of crafting a bomb at this point. That said, she did know the open phrase, so she could probably get inside, and she could hear Bonnie, but could she hear Siffrin? Then again, once Siffrin was near Bonnie, she could sneak closer.

And so she did. It went off almost disappointingly easily. Gems alive, what she wouldn’t give for something to go awry in a way that would let her dig her teeth into something again. But no, no. This was more efficient. (Everything was efficiency these days, that’s how Siffrin got so bad).

She crept closer as the two talked. Siffrin was needling Bonnie, and Bonnie was rising to the bait. Was it genuine irritation and stress, or just their mimicry of it? She wasn’t sure, maybe both. Not too long in, the question came up.

“Well what about you, Frin? What are you gonna do?”

“I’ll go to space.”

… she didn’t even need the Memory equipped to know that that was a bald-faced lie, but she supposed that confirmation was nice? Well this one was a waste of time. Best to try to slip out towards the favor tree and play her own part.

Four different answers, none of them true. Why would he hide what he intended to do after? Maybe earlier in their adventure together she would’ve assumed that it was for nefarious purposes, but if he was an assassin on the behalf of the King or anything like that, he’d probably have done something to stop them on at least one of the occasions that they killed him. Whatever happened with Euphraise usually seemed centered on him, but he always looked shocked, so it was unlikely he expected it any more than the rest of them had the first time.

So if not foul play, then why? Some charitable part of her mind wanted to say his plans were just embarrassing, but…

As they’d recently learned the hard way, their little rogue wasn’t nearly as fine as he seemed. All it took was one day of them taking the lead a bit too much for him to consider himself a useless idiot. He rarely spoke of home. Never spoke of loved ones, at least not for more than a few sentences. He’d taken losing his eye almost too well. She wouldn’t say that he was at risk of becoming a Sadness or doing something willingly stupid, but the more she thought on it, the more things painted a picture she didn’t like the look of, but couldn’t afford to look away from either.

If she didn’t know better, she could mistake him for a ghost. A spirit. Maybe even some Expression. Nothing but a being floating through to help. But she’d seen him eat, seen his blood splatter on the floor, heard his gasps and screams at hard hits. She’d seen him lose an eye. Ghosts didn’t do that. He was flesh and blood yet missing so much he seemed almost insubstantial. Was he aware of this one some level? And what could do that to a person? Gems alive, she knew he had bad memory, but maybe she should’ve been delving deeper into it. Why hadn’t she? It wasn’t like her to see something so strange, to see someone start stories over and over that never reach an end, to see him speak of things and lose his train of thought halfway through, and she just…

Never questioned this?

Gems alive, her head was pounding along with the beat of her heart, but she screwed her eyes shut and blocked the world out, determined to follow this rabbit hole down. Something was wrong here, and maybe if she could puzzle out what, if she could find the missing piece, she could somehow make him whole again and, expressions willing, maybe that’d be the key to fixing this whole mess. Maybe it’d set them free. She just had to figure out why-

“Hey, Odile, are you okay?”

She jolted, whipping her head around to see, “Gems, Siffrin. You startled me…”

“Sorry,” he said. “Thinking on your wish?”

“Hah, no, I already made that,” she said. A stupid wish to win a coin flip that came to nothing in the end. And unimportant. She had to figure out… figure out…

Had to figure out what Siffrin intended to do with his life, right? Yes, that’s what she’d been doing.

“I was just… trying to figure out what to do afterwards,” she said. Maybe it was manipulative, but if she pretended she needed suggestions, maybe he’d offer something more tangible?

“Hmm? You don’t already know? I figured you’d wrap up your research.”

No, that’s right. He already had that idea in mind, didn’t he? She let out a bitter chuckle. “I’ll let you in on a secret. There is no research, Siffrin. It was just a convenient lie to explain why I’m here.”

He looked at her with a hard to read expression. “But… huh???”

They were off balance. Good. Maybe it’d trick him into saying something real.

“Yes, yes, sorry to give the game away, but I guess I realized that if I don’t admit it now, I might never. And I wouldn’t want to actually beat the King and then have to figure out what next. Plus I figure if I have a plan for after, if I have a goal, I might be more driven to reach it. Whatever helps, yes? So, any ideas?”

He was looking at her like she’d grown a second head, clearly thrown off. “You could… actually start researching something? Or, um… aren’t you writing a book?”

“My journal? That’s just personal notes. It’d be nonsense to anyone else.”

“Oh.”

She waited but, no, they weren’t offering anything up, were they. She’d have to take the offensive.

“What about you, Siffrin? What do you plan to do after?”

“Oh, uh…” he looked around and shrugged. “I haven’t really given it much thought.”

… not a lie. Interesting…

“Oh? Why not? I mean, you’re not even from Vaugaurde, you must have joined for some reason, right?” She could list theories, but that’d likely give him an out. She was wise to his game. At least half his answers, maybe more, were just mimicking what the other person intended to do. Otherwise it’s just what they’d most likely want to hear, save for perhaps telling Bonnie they’d go to space. An interesting outlier, that one. It seemed innocuous, but maybe it was important?

No, focus now. Theorize later.

Siffrin squirmed a little and finally chuckled awkwardly, offering an awkward shrug. “I didn’t really have anything better to do…”

And gems alive, he was not lying.

“I… see.”

Maybe she should let him go, but she needed to know one more thing first…

“And after we all go our own ways, you’ll be alright, right?”

“I guess I’ll go back to how I was before.”

Not a lie, but not an answer either. “And were you happy before?”

“Of course!”

She needed to talk to the others about this.

——————

I prefer tea, but buy me a Kofi?

[entryn17]

finally started writing my "odile looping AU but it's set after siffrin fails act 5" and cause it's from her POV entirely it feels like i basically put her in a horror movie. the days you're set to beat the king everything starts to reek of sugar, you're braving a house with non-euclidean geometry and your party rogue is smiling and talking like the twins from the shining. it's loopover

[inspiredrawaw]

Siffrin headcannons from someone who is also half blind ✨

I think post time loops when Sif and Bonnie talk about what happened and how they can protect each other Siffrin becomes more comfortable making eye puns

Siffrin: Eye see what you did there.

odile: the sun is bright today. Siffrin: don’t worry I have a solution *closes the 1 good eye*

will sit in bright spots because he only needs to protect 1 eye. But also his bad eye doesn’t react to light

There is an underlying fear about losing his one good eye. It’s hard to be the rogue if you can’t blinding see.

Pretty soon after the time loops when Siffrin is still on edge making him be on the look out for anything that feels too repetitive. Not really allowing his eye proper breaks and gets vision fatigue.

HEADACHES!! WOO! FROM VISION WOO!! In my experience even if I cover my bad eye but it’s still open my brain will try to use both sets of visions. Hence headaches.

during these headaches Siffrin will just try to have his bad eye actually close or close both eyes.

maybe his naps is due to his headaches and vision fatigue and needing to give his eye a break. That eye is pulling all of the vision weight it needs breaks

Siffrin will only wear the eye patch Isa made him. Any other eye patch will sit right on top of their eyelid causing it to droop.

[amuseintime]

Shattering Realization (Pt 4/4)

Star Souls AU

Not the end of the AU, buuuut of this section of it :3c

Sif’s awake! This means everything is back to normal… right? Right? Of course, Odile doesn’t intend to just let it go that easily. Some things are answered, others are not.

Odile POV

<< PREV || FIRST

——————

Odile slept surprisingly well considering Boniface almost gave them a collective heart attack the evening before. The troublesome preteen apparently decided to sneak into Isabeau’s tent and snuggle up with Siffrin in such a way they could barely see them. If not for the fact that Mirabelle caught Siffrin moving slightly, they likely would’ve been out all night. While she would’ve appreciated their rogue at least attempting to signal them, it didn’t seem like he could very easily talk, and the sight of him stroking Boniface’s hair was admittedly enough to warm even her overly practical, often abrasive excuse for a heart.

Of course, even the best sleep and mostly finely crafted sleeping bag in the world would not prevent her back from hurting after another night of camping. A truly disconcerting number of clicks and pops filled the tent as she sat up, trying to ignore the twinge of pain. Nothing to be done for it except a stretch or two—battle-specialized healing craft only did so much for muscle aches and old bones.

Odile put on her day clothes and shuffled out of her tent with a container of tea leaves, the siren song of caffeine calling to her. Thankfully, it seemed all was more or less as normal in the little group. Mirabelle and Boniface were already up with a fire going, the preteen cooking some eggs. However, there was one thing both odd and relieving: Siffrin was also awake, helping feed twigs into the blaze.

“Good morning, young ones. Good to see you feeling better, Siffrin,” she said.

“Mm hmm. Same as ever!” Siffrin chirped. “Just needed a longer nap than usual, sorry about that.”

That was an understatement. “Siffrin. Being asleep for over a full day does not count as a long nap so much as a short coma.”

Mirabelle jolted in place. “Madame! Should- should we bring that up? I mean-“

“It’s fine?” Siffrin said. “I knew it was coming. So… what do you want to know?”

“Nothing that can’t wait until after we’ve all eaten and I’ve gotten caffeine in me.”

Boniface side-eyed Siffrin, scraping at the eggs with unnecessary aggression. “… ‘Cept Frin. You can’t actually eat, can you?”

Siffrin hid his face in the collar of his cloak, head tilted so his hat hid his eyes as well. “Not in the traditional sense, no…”

“…. So what? Have you just been throwing your portions out?”

“Of course not!” Siffrin said, shaking his head emphatically. “That’d be a waste! I’ve just been sneaking them onto other people’s plates.”

Mirabelle gasped. “So I’m NOT crazy! All those times I thought that the food wasn’t ending, that more just kept appearing, that was you?!”

“Um. Yes. Sorry?” Siffrin said.

Boniface sighed, “You don’t gotta humor me anymore. I guess I keep the same portions though, since everyone was eating your share anyways?”

“Oh. Yes, that’s fine,” Siffrin said.

Odile put on her tea, and Mirabelle went to wake up Isabeau as breakfast was done. Bonnie divided up scrambled eggs for everyone who could eat, but…

“Oh? Siffrin? Are you not hungry?” Isabeau said, earning a charged look from everyone. “Did I say something weird?”

“I don’t have a digestive system, don’t worry about it,” Siffrin said.

“Oh! Oh… right. I guess you wouldn’t,” Isabeau said.

Odile read a book for most of the rest of breakfast, but it didn’t sound old she was missing much of interest. It was abnormally quiet. Siffrin apparently decided to start cleaning up before everyone was even done, the mess mostly gone by the time Odile finished her plate. She sipped the last of her tea—strong and black, just as she liked it—and decided it was about time to address the elephant in the room.

“So, Siffrin, you aren’t human,” Odile said.

Mirabelle immediately started stammering, Boniface mumbling something with their arms crossed while Isabeau looked nervously at Siffrin. Siffrin, however, simply nodded. If she didn’t know that his face was crafted with naturally a neutral expression, she’d assume his current smile was literally painted on.

Of course, he didn’t say anything, and neither did anyone else, so seemed she’d have to take the lead here.

“So what are you then?”

Clearly he was some form of supernatural being, but that narrowed it down surprisingly little. Given how human he usually acted, it seemed most likely he was a ghost, but assumptions were dangerous. Besides, ghosts tended to haunt important areas of objects and usually had an agenda, a reason to linger, and to be blunt, Siffrin seemed fairly aimless. So presumably, he was a spirit of some sort, but that did virtually nothing to narrow it down. “A spirit” could encompass anything from the simplest Sadness to, arguably, gods. Of course, there was always a chance he was built into the doll that housed him, making him something artificial, and really it was going to be faster to ask.

“I don’t know,” Siffrin said.

Oh she could feel the migraine coming on. “… what.”

“I don’t remember really…?” Siffrin said. “I know I’ve been wandering around a while, but I don’t really remember why. I guess just because I don’t have anything better to do?”

Old suspicion flared up as she narrowed her eyes. Generally speaking, spirits didn’t just “forget” what they were, at least not any developed and/or human-like enough to have coherent thought.

“So… you aren’t a ghost?” Mirabelle said.

“Maybe…? But if I am, I’m kind of bad at this,” Siffrin said. His eyes slid between all of them as he pulled one leg into his chest. “Sorry, I’m sure this isn’t making me sound any less suspicious or weird, is it?”

“Not really, no,” Odile said. “But I suppose if you’re telling the truth, it’s not entirely unheard of…” She’d heard a few tales of amnesiac gods, of things great but either stupid or unfathomable, of spirits and beings who hid things for reasons. It was hard to tell what you were dealing with until it was too late. Pressing him too much was probably a bad idea. Better safe than sorry.

“You seem to know a lot about this, M’dame,” Isabeau said. “Is your field of research spiritology?”

“The word you’re looking for is Phasmology, and no, it’s not my field of research. Much of what I’m saying is more or less common knowledge in Ka Bue, though I’d argue that we’ve historically placed too much stock in the works of spirits and ghosts. Though I suppose it’s only natural. Much easier to blame something you don’t understand on an unknown spirit than try to find the science behind it. That said, I don’t think you know what a heated debate is until you bring up the Bright Death in a room full of Ka Buan historians. I got a rib cracked for that.”

“… huh.” Was all that Siffrin had to say. Taciturn as always, it seemed.

Mirabelle cleared her throat, speaking with the slow deliberation of someone holding something back. “So… Even if you don’t remember what you are, you’re aren’t flesh and blood either, are you?”

“Nope,” Siffrin said. “I’ll admit, I don’t know the name for this material, but…” He was grinning. Was grinning that grin. The grin that came before a particularly bad pun. He was even rubbing his hands together. “If you want a closer look, I can give you a hand with that!” And then he tossed his hand to Mira.

As in the whole thing.

It just. Popped off.

“SIF?!”

“OH CHANGE OH CHANGE OH CHANGE-“ Mirabelle shouted, hands fumbling with the detached limb until instinctively flinging it away.

Odile felt vaguely nauseous, and Boniface’s eyebrows were furrowed together. They came to hide behind Odile.

And Siffrin was laughing. Though as they all kept staring, he seemed to wilt in front of them. “Uh… too much? Sorry, I-I thought it’d break the ice…” He got up, awkwardly shuffling to where his gloved hand had landed and putting it back on with a pop, wiggling his fingers demonstratively. “See? Good as new! No harm done!”

“Sif. Siffrin. Buddy. Are- are you okay? That doesn’t hurt, does it?” Isabeau said, hand hovering in the air.

“It doesn’t. I’m designed to come apart, when I need to,” Siffrin said. He hesitated only slightly before pulling his cloak and sleeve up, exposing his elbow joint. “I actually, um, have to take myself apart sometimes. For cleaning.”

Mirabelle’s eyes were a bit too wide, but she kept her composure surprisingly well for someone who was screaming moments ago. “Is that… scary? I mean, you have to take yourself apart.”

“I mean, not really? It’s probably like taking a bath to you guys.”

Isabeau was staring intently at the exposed “skin” of Siffrin’s arm, face flushed. Gems alive, that man was head over heels, wasn’t he? Getting flustered from the slightest showing of not-skin.

Odile rolled her eyes, unable to deny the fondness in her heart for these four. “Like taking a bath… vulnerable and personal, especially with the element of limited movement, but I’d imagine that any fear would wear off, if it ever existed.”

“O-Oh! Yeah! That makes sense!” Isabeau said. “If, uh…”

“If…?” Siffrin said.

“Nevermind!”

Gems, these two. Get a room. Actually, they all should, preferably at an inn. They needed to get moving.

“Well, I’d be interested in seeing how all of this works, but we did get held up a day or two. We should get moving as soon as we can,” Odile said.

“Yes ma’am,” Siffrin said. He started pitching in, helping others pack. After all, everything he owned was conveniently kept on that one body and its many hidden pockets and apparent crevices. One day, if they beat the curse, she’d find them all. Not today though.

————

I prefer tea, but buy me a Kofi?

[eternal-love-song]

A Wish Breathed Into You

AU where Siffrin is the Savior after The King froze Vauguarde.

[Siffrin & Odile] [Alternate Universe, Second Person POV, Siffrin POV]

Follow up fic: Trust The Rogue To Lead You

You remember Vaugarde. Your earliest memory was wandering the shores, alone and confused, the kind hands of strangers reaching out to you and the odd twist of their words calming your upset mind. It was a kind place. A welcoming place. You had loved it and left it, because you were afraid that if you planted your feet too hard, you would wake up once more without any memories, history, a name…

You never wanted to lose another home, so you had refused to make one. You moved on to Poteria. And Andira. And any other place that you could think of, too afraid to stop and risk losing everything.

But while you ran from Vaugarde, afraid to lose it, someone else has moved in. They had planted their roots, refusing to move or to let anything else move around them. They had chosen to preserve their memories in the only way they knew how, making themselves into a gravemarker and taking Vaugarde with them to the grave.

You'd been halfway around the world at the time. There was nothing that you could have done. Nothing that anyone could have done, you assume, because no one did it. No one stopped it. Vaugurde was frozen in time and unlike your home, long lost to the ashes of whatever had burned it from yours and everyone else's mind, it was made into an everlasting memorial.

You had been afraid to forget Vaugarde, to lose it, but you never wanted to keep it like this.

No one had been able to do anything, but… you could. You knew that you could.

You hadn't been able to explain it to your companion at the time. She had asked you a ton of questions when you insisted that you needed to go there, but you hadn't been able to tell her more than, "I have to help. I'm the only one that can."

She looked at you with a deep well of skepticism. You thought that it would be the end of your time together. That she would call you crazy and leave to find more stable company. You were never the best company, you didn't think. Your memories slipped away from you like sand, you got antsy staying in one place too long, and you were terrible at explaining yourself.

She surprised you though, closing her book with a deep sigh, and offering you a wry smile. "I suppose I always did intend to visit the country, though this wasn't how I thought I would ever do it."

You felt warm inside at her agreement. It was nice, having someone at your side that didn't leave you at the first sign of your… well, everything. You didn't know how to properly express your gratitude though, so all you did was smile up at her and say, "Thanks Odile."

"It wouldn't feel right to let you go on such a dangerous journey all alone," she added. "We're traveling companions, aren't we?"

"Yeah," you agreed softly. It meant twice as much to you as it did to her, you were pretty sure, but the sentiment was one that you wanted to hold onto with all of your might. You never wanted to forget Odile. The way that you never forgot Vaugarde, even though you'd always feared that you would. "We are."

It had taken more than a month to travel to Vaugarde from where you were. There had been numerous warnings from everyone that you met along the way. From those that had fled, those that lived along the borders, those that had been curious enough to go take a look at the frozen country, and they all had advice to give you.

The country had become… cold. As if all the warmth was frozen like everything else. A negative space, almost like a vacuum, you thought. You… weren't sure why you thought that.

You didn't think about it.

You took in everyone's advice. Odile took notes and talked with you about the best way to prepare for what you'd find there.

You shared with her your memories of Vaugarde, as best as you could. There were holes in it like everything else you touched, but Odile was attentive and patient, more greedy for this part of you than any other. It was almost embarrassing how much attention she gave you when you opened up about this, and she teased you when your face darkened and you tried to hide in the collar of your cloak. It was… nice though. Comfortable. Friendly.

You didn't tell Odile this, couldn't think of how to say it without sounding greedy, needy, and presumptuous, but you thought of her as a friend. Maybe as more than a friend? She was literally the most important person that you had, but you felt like saying that was… too much. So you didn't. You tucked it away somewhere inside you and cherished the time that the two of you spent together like nothing else you ever had.

When you finally arrived in Vaugarde, you felt like you were walking through glass. The town was like a dollhouse, everyone frozen in the middle of talking, eating, running. It was haunting. You felt like you were walking through a picture book, through a memory you weren't supposed to see.

"Gems alive," Odile swore softly, horrified in much the same way you were.

They said there were things called Sadness here. Manifestations of regret and sorrow. Walking through the town, you could understand how such a thing could be true. So many people whose lives were interrupted, stolen… How else could they feel, other than hopeless? What was left for them other than despair?

"It's okay," you say softly. There's a well of confidence in your words that you can't explain. You know that you can fix this. It won't be quick. You'll need to destroy the Sadness overrunning the area if this is going to work, you know that too, without being able to explain how you know it. But you can do it. You know you can. "We'll fix it."

Odile's expression is a mix of devastation and hope. You know she didn't really believe you before, but seeing the reality of things made her want to. She truly hopes that you know what you're doing, but even if you don't, she's prepared to stand beside you through that failure. You're really grateful to her for that.

"I… hope that you're right, Siffrin," is all that she says.

Fighting takes more time than you thought it might. There were only the two of you, after all. You were fast and Odile had access to all craft types, but two people versus multiple Sadnesses was never going to be easy. You spend a few hours clearing out an area and then retreat over the border to sleep. The weeks since Vaugarde had frozen had proven that the curse was no longer moving, so you both felt safe there. There was no indication that the curse moved anymore at all, since you both knew that others had visited the ruins of Vaugarde. Better to be safe than sorry, though.

It took two full days, with both of you making sure to take long rest in between bouts of fighting. Once you were done, you went to the Favor Tree that the town was built around. Favor Trees were specific to Varguarde, but you knew that they were the best place to do this. They were a place that gathered the hopes and happiness of people. A place where people laid their hearts bare. If there was any place where you thought the universe would be listening, anyplace where you thought they'd hear you if you screamed your loudest and hardest, it was here.

The leaves of the tree were frozen, but you had already prepared another way to make this happen. You sat at the base of the tree, aware of Odile standing behind you and watching curiously over your shoulder. You took out a piece of paper and folded a paper crane. You whispered your wish three times into paper as you folded, then you wrapped a string around it and hung it from the tree.

The crane would hold your wish, the string would bind it together, bind it to the ground. One wouldn't be enough though, you knew that. You folded three. And then six. And then nine.

When you got to nine, you knew that you had done enough. They were spaced apart, hanging from the Favor Tree, but you knew that you had done this right. Your wish was safe, nestled deep with the heart of the cranes, grounded to the tree, to the earth. All that was left…

"We have to wait until nightfall," you say. The universe didn't only grant wishes at night, but this was important, you needed to do this right. You needed to make sure you told the Universe your wish as clearly as possible, and you needed to know how the universe would answer.

Odile looked up to the sky. "That's easy enough, it shouldn't be long now."

You smiled at her, making yourself comfortable at the base of the tree, and waited. Odile came to sit beside you, resting on one of the large roots rather than the ground. She didn't ask questions, though you could tell that she wanted to. You were glad that she had decided to wait.

Once the stars were visible in the sky, you stood up. You went around touching each crane, thinking your wishes loudly as you could as you climbed the branches of the tree. You looked to the sky, finding the brightest star, and you whisper your wish one last time.

For a long time, nothing happens. The world is still.

Then suddenly, it isn't. You look up in time to see a ball of heat and light falling toward you. You raise your hands above your head to catch it.

You don't know why, but you know what to do.

The Universe leads…

…you decide to follow.

You open your mouth wide…

It burns all the way down. It coats your mouth with sugar, feels sticky and thick, like syrup. You want to scream, it hurts so badly, but you can't. You can't! All you can do is swallow over and over again as you try and force the hard, hot lump down your throat.

With every swallow you feel the heat infusing you with more and more heat. You feel like the Universe is breathing a wish into you, instead of the other way around.

You blink and you find yourself on the ground.

"Siffrin!"

You… fell. From the tree. But you don't even feel your own body.

Your eyes are drawn to the cranes as they start to light up, until they're as bright as the stars in the sky.

You open your mouth with the intention to say that they're beautiful…

You scream instead.

You scream and scream until your throat is raw and ragged, until you're so breathless that you can't breathe.

You can't breathe!

You don't breathe.

You pass out.

You wake up with a gasp!

Your body is cradled in Odile's arms, which is odd because she's only rarely touched you before this point. It's nice though, so you don't fight it. You don't feel hurt, like you remember being. You don't feel hot or raw at all. Around you, the area around the Favor Tree seems to have come to life.

It worked…

It worked! Your wish worked!

"Thank the Expressions, you're alright!" Odile exclaims. She pulls you further into her arms and you… breathe. You breathe. You relax like your body has been wound tight the entire time and you feel everything pour out of you. "Don't scare me like that, Siffrin."

"Sorry," you say softly. One hand is on the arm she has wrapped around you, as if you can keep her there, though you'd never try if she pulled away from you. Luckily she doesn't. "It's working though!"

Odile seemed startled, as if she hadn't noticed the change happening around you. Maybe her eyes had been so focused on you that she hadn't looked away. Now, they're wide as she watches the way life slowly seeps into the land around you both. The curse is receding. Not far. You knew, somehow, that this process would be slow. One town at a time.

It could kill you if you tried to do more than that, and you weren't sure it would work that way besides. You weren't sure how you knew, but you did. You knew.

Just like you knew that the nagging feeling leading you this whole time had been from the Universe. Making a wish just like you always did.

Maybe it hadn't been that only you could do, just that the Universe needed someone to do it and you were the only one that had answered its call. It made you smile, that you could do something for the Universe, for Vaugarde. Your first home had been lost, but maybe…

Maybe you could build another one after all. Maybe you could breathe life into Vaugarde the way that it had breathed life into you.

"I think you owe me an explanation," Odile said, her expression steely even as she still seemed to be looking over you.

You laugh, happy and exhausted and a host of other emotions that you weren't fully sure how to explain or even name. "Yeah, I guess I do."

[lostuntothisworld]

Okay so I think it's time for another spaghetti theory:

Lilamoth isn't collecting moms. She's collecting sisters (or siblings)

Let me explain my thought process here. So a big complaint the fandom has is that we don't have a proper rogue gallery for villains. It's just the butterfly, and nothing else. It worked for early seasons, but things might be getting stale for some folks.

Enter new characters connected to Lilamoth somehow.

So she has 3 moms so far (that we know about.) All but one have something in common: dark hair and blue eyes.

From left to right we have Mrs. Rossi (red), Mrs. Bianca (white), and her third mother who is deaf could possibly be Mrs. Verdi (green).

Then we have this fourth lady that we see Lilamoth watching on her phone in the season 5 finale. I would NOT be surprised if Odille is going to be her 4th mom. Dark hair and blue eyes, and she is also disabled, just like her third mom.

(And I would not be surprised if we find out her surname is Nero (black), or Viola (violet). More on that aspect of this crack theory in a bit...)

Anyway, back to the concept of a rogues gallery. In the finale we see Lila in a disguise that 's VERY reminiscent of one of her moms:

Certainly she can't expect to disguise herself as a woman in her 30's-40's, and especially not with glasses and bangs. But she can pass reasonably as a teenage girl with a dark bob and glasses. You know, a sister.

So we know a certain main character whose name is in the title and wears red with black polkadots has dark hair and blue eyes. We don't know Lilamoth's motivations and and end goal, but we can surmise that she wants to take the place of Marinette.

(And I KNOW I've seen at least one other person theorize this, and I cannot find the post(s) so if you can find it please let me know so I can link it here!)

The pictures we see is one of Marinette with her classmates on the Liberty where Zoe is accepted in the friend group, Marinette with her parents, 3 pictures of Marinette with Kagami, and one picture of Marinette with Luka.

It's interesting to note that there isn't a picture of Marinette and Adrien together shown to the audience. You'd think they'd emphasize that, but no, it's mostly Kagami. I know it's because it's because the episode focuses on Kagami, but still. Other than her, it's just Marinette's parents, Zoe and Luka (Luka! Marinette's ex!) showcased in the closeup screenshot.

I got sidetracked! Anyway, I think other than similar coloring (and color-themed surnames haha) Lilamoth is trying to find other teenagers who are willing to join forces with her. She probably will get her hands on some Miraculous for them, somehow. But I don't think the new jewels will be from the Chinese box.

Here's where things start REALLY going off the rails with this theory:

All of Lilamoth's rogue gallery of villains are her adopted sisters (or siblings) and they are all Luka's exes. He's got a type for Italians with dark hair and blue eyes...

Going back to the surnames, all the surnames have something in common: they share the colors of all of Adrien's various transformations over the course of the series so far:

Rossi: Mister Bug

Bianca: Chat Blanc

Verdi: Aspik

We're just missing Chat Noir (could possibly will be the surname Nero, as it's Italian)

and Ephemeral (it's interesting to note that the surname Lee in Chinese can mean plum, which of course, is purple)

So naturally, my crack theory circles back to Lukadrien is endgame.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

{{{{{{Edit as of April 3, 2024.}}}}}

I will NOT be surprised if this girl with black hair in an extremely recognizable style is a disguise of another sister.

Is Lilamoth collecting blackmail to manipulate them later? She's very obviously walking disguised in areas where there would be lots of cameras (The inside of the Agreste mansion, and the hotel).

(Edit as of April 27, 2024!)

Now we know the synopsis of the London Special, I believe the disguises are to hide Lilamoth's tracks because she knows Maribug's identity. Bonus points if these girls were previous Ladybugs in past time lines that Lilamoth stole the identities of...

[[[Edit: May 4, 2024]]]

I think I found the names of the previous Ladybugs: Marina, Shone, and Mio. (Please enjoy a silly extremely rough draft of where I'd personally go with the show)

As for the rest of the spray paint on the walls, this mural is an actual feature of the Paris Catacombs:

And while I think that most of the other tags on the wall are functionally meaningless and just there for ambiance, I do find the 777-777 tag to be of note. 7 Ladybugs till Lilamoth's goal? What's the deal with the arrows and the floating away 3 7's? Are 3 already "gone"??? Fascinating stuff! My mind is reeling!

[Edit for May 6, 2024]

Possibly figured out the source of the lightning in the season 5 finale. For whatever reason it's not showing up in the tags lmfao tungle is a functional website

[lightgirlification]

In Stars and Time: After Story Chapter 6

CW for slight negative thinking

Sorry for the wait with this one! The holidays were a bit overwhelming and then I got sick XC I hope to update faster in the future! Please enjoy!

Chapter 6:

Siffrin double checked the bags with important items, such as tonics and crafted water, with Mirabelle. They also made sure they had the map and compass ready, of which Odile was making final adjustments to the routes they’d be taking. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Isabeau were making breakfast together for everyone to eat before the group was to set out again for Bambouche. Siffrin couldn’t believe they’d be there in a month already; it seemed like only yesterday they had left Dormont, but it felt nice to be far away from the place. He wouldn’t dare badmouth Mirabelle’s home, but his anxiety spiked being there longer than they had to be.

He couldn’t even speak much when saying goodbye to the Head Housemaiden; no one seemed to blame him for it, which is good. It’s not that he felt the woman was a bad person, he didn’t believe she was, it’s just he felt if he spoke to her, it would be the end of his ‘happily ever after’. It didn’t matter how silly it sounded; it was real to him. He did make one last trek to the Favor Tree, to thank Loop once more before leaving, though he couldn’t bring himself to say goodbye. He wanted to see them again someday and he had this uneasy feeling, however silly it was, if he said goodbye then they’d never meet again. So, he said his thanks instead, hoping with all his soul that Loop would come back someday.

He supposed his hopes came true after all; he didn’t even have to wish for it. Good thing too because wishing was off the table, it didn’t matter how small they were Siffrin was afraid to even think the word, flinching slightly when he did. He would read up on wish craft and research it with Odile when he felt prepared, but for now it was off limits, as was the place of Dormont in general. Everyone seemed to silently agree that Dormont never be brought up, at least until Siffrin was ready. Hopefully with enough traveling and his talks with Odile, perhaps therapy as well, he’ll be able to visit again one day.

“Do you think we’ve packed enough fire starters?” Mirabelle asked, “Maybe a few more couldn’t hurt.” Siffrin arched an eyebrow with a smile,

“I am pretty sure we packed around 50. And by the time we are close to finishing them we should be near our next town. There’s also travelling merchants we can run into, so I don’t think we have to worry too much.” Mirabelle seemed to think some more,

“E-Even so, you can’t predict just how long it will take to get to the next town, or when a traveling salesman will show up! Or-!”

“It’ll be okay Mira. We are always prepared no matter what! If not you, Odile makes sure of that.” The rogue gave a thumbs up, and the woman blinked before thinking for a bit,

“Well, Odile did check everything with me the night before as well…Alright!” Mirabelle placed the bag to the side, “I think all that’s left is to check our personal bags! The others already did theirs.” Siffrin nodded and reached for their bag to check its contents. He would say he didn’t need a refresher at this point, but he wouldn’t deny the opportunity to have one, especially with how his mind worked. It didn’t matter that he remembered Isabeau’s favorite dish or that he’s recalling things easier, it can always turn around for the worst, because he was the worst, because he didn’t trudge through the waters enough to grasp memories and treated them like garbage.

He felt something sharp, and he froze. He wouldn’t dare look down at this moment, held his breath as if he was saving himself from the harsh waves above him. He wouldn’t deny he had the want to use the sharp edge of his dagger against his neck in the beginning of the new journey. It was so easy to forget he wasn’t in the loops, so easy to stop the negative thoughts in their tracks if he just gave in and tried to carve new stars or even other types of imagery on the canvas that was his flesh. But he wouldn’t now, not after remembering the first time when he used the dagger and his family’s reactions, especially knowing that Isabeau saw him first. Isabeau picked up on Siffrin’s changes in behavior more than anyone, so much that it scared the Traveler. But it’s also why Siffrin loved Isabeau, knew their heart was safe; cradled so gently yet shielded in a protective hold.

He only considered using the dagger once after the loops. His thoughts were racing and clenched his temples like a vice; his stomach twisting causing him to feel so nauseous that he believed he’d loop. He couldn’t go through it all again, if he woke up in that field and Loop wasn’t there to guide him…

When he heard Isabeau’s voice however, he wasn’t sure what to do. Siffrin was scared that the man would yell and yank the weapon away from them, scolding them as if they made the biggest mistake ever, but everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Isabeau wasn’t mad, or upset, he just approached Siffrin calmly and asked for the dagger. Siffrin didn’t want to give it up at first, they even gripped it tighter in fear, but Isabeau continued to speak gently until Siffrin felt safe enough to hand it over. After retrieving and placing it far away, the man hugged Siffrin tightly, thanking his God that Siffrin was okay and apologizing that he didn’t notice how the other felt that day. Siffrin then realized how much Isabeau was trying to hold himself together, from his expression to his voice; trying to hold it together before letting it out once the Rogue was safe in his arms. It led to Siffrin breaking down, saying sorry like a mantra as if it would erase what he was planning to do. Isabeau just said it was okay and cradled Siffrin in his arms, the older not understanding what he did to deserve this love. How was what he did to Isabeau, to all of his family, in that moment okay? Siffrin was too scared to ask then, and never came around to doing so out of shame.

He couldn’t hide how he felt about the dagger after that, though he made everyone promise not to tell Bonnie. It would be too much for the preteen…

Taking a deep breath, he quickly made sure everything was in his bag before closing it up and placing it with everyone else’s belongings. Stop thinking about this too much Siffrin. Isabeau said that a person pushing themselves too hard will have the same effect as not trying at all, so calm down. It’ll be fine, everything will be fine.

“Are you alright, Siffrin?” Siffrin straightened up at Mirabelle’s words, and he sent a reassuring smile,

“I’m all good. Just a little too much on my mind.” Mirabelle seemed to not believe him, and he shifted nervously a little, “I promise, I was just thinking a lot.” The Housemaiden held her hands close to her chest, an action she normally did when gathering courage to say something,

“A-Alright then. Would you like to talk about it?” She sounded concerned, way to go Siffrin…He rubbed his arm, trying to wrangle in his thoughts,

“It’s just…” Come on Siffrin, talking helps, “When I was looking through my bag, I was starting to…think poorly about myself again.” Mirabelle nodded,

“You seemed to freeze at some point when sorting through your things.” Siffrin felt a chill go through him, “I-I didn’t want to say anything since I thought you were very focused, but you were also very quiet, so I felt something was wrong.” The woman paused, “Are you worried about your memory still?” The stare she received all but confirmed her thoughts, Siffrin couldn’t help it though. Mirabelle had hit the nail on the head, though thankfully she didn’t consider his dagger. Siffrin didn’t plan on using it truth be told, it just startled him when he was stuck in his head. Mirabelle hummed in thought before blinking as her eyes lit up with an idea, “Oh! Have you thought about keeping a journal Siffrin?” The said Rogue tilted their head,

“A journal?”

“Yes! Journals are a great way to put down your thoughts or recount what happened to you during that day. They’re great for recalling wonderful memories or getting out emotions when you need to.” Mirabelle’s smile grew, “We can go buy you one before we leave this town! I-If you want that is!” Siffrin mulled it over for a bit. He felt maybe this would be a crutch, but Mirabelle’s personal items for her anxiety weren’t ever ‘crutches’. They were things that helped her become stronger, so perhaps this would do the same with Siffrin.

“I can write anything in it?” Mirabelle nodded,

“Yup, anything! You can personalize it as well!” Siffrin began to really enjoy the idea, maybe he could sketch in the journal as well. He returned the woman’s smile,

“Okay, I think I’ll take you up on your offer.” A few little jumps of happiness showed Siffrin how much his answer excited Mirabelle, and Siffrin couldn’t help but giggle at her reaction. After a few more minutes checking over everything, mostly to reassure Mirabelle, they made their way out to the dining area where Bonnie and Isabeau were beginning to plate the food. Isabeau sent the two a smile,

“Hey you two, everything good on your end?” Mirabelle and Siffrin sat down at the table as younger woman spoke,

“Yes! We can set out once we are ready.”

“You guys took a while!” Bonnie huffed, “Did the bags suddenly come alive or something?” Odile smirked,

“I think we’d hear shouting throughout the entire house if that happened.”

“W-We can handle ourselves thank you very much!” Mirabelle pouted, Siffrin crossing his arms,

“Yeah, we would have to…” There was a feline expression on his face, “Strap in and fight them off.” Mirabelle had to hold back her giggles as Isabeau, of course, began to laugh heartily. Odile and Bonnie groaned, the latter opting to stick their tongue out,

“No! Bad!” Siffrin’s cat-like smile simply grew. He eyed the food and couldn’t help his mouth from watering. He came to appreciate meals even more since the loops ended and delighted in any recipe Bonnie made. Maybe he could write some recipes down in the journal he’ll be getting soon. Siffrin wondered what his first entry would be, though maybe thinking too much about it would defeat the purpose.

“Ah! Before we leave, Siffrin and I are going to stop by the bookshop. We’re looking for a journal!” Odile raised an inquisitive eyebrow,

“Oh? I didn’t realize you were interested in journaling Siffrin.” A smile lined her lips, “I think it would be good for you; journaling can relieve stress.”

“Is that why you’re always writing Dile?” Bonnie said as they began serving themselves, and Odile grinned teasingly,

“Oh yes. I’m writing down how you kids are always fraying my nerves and giving me more than a few ulcers.” Siffrin snickered, having long picked up on at least a few of Odile’s witty remarks. Isabeau gave a feigned wounded look,

“You wound me Madam, I would think us kids at least give you positive energy!” Odile laughed,

“I suppose that’s true.” She looked down, her grin fond, “Yes, you all give me that and much more.” Everyone smiled. After breakfast, Siffrin and Mirabelle went to the nearby store, the latter carrying the money pouch with her. The rest of the party had told the two to go look at the various journals for sale while the others finished up at the house. Afterwords, everyone would meet at the town’s second exit to continue their journey to Bambouche. Bonnie was excited to get moving again but agreed to be patient; Siffrin and Mirabelle would be quick for them anyway as they understood the preteen’s patience wasn’t their strong suit. Siffrin chuckled at picturing Bonnie’s reaction to such a statement, but also knew Bonnie was rather mature for their age, which he respected. Mirabelle picked up a journal with some floral patterns, and smiled at Siffrin,

“What do you think of this one Siffrin?” Siffrin looked at the cover for a bit, thinking, before shaking his head,

“I think I want to look at more first.” Mirabelle nodded,

“That’s fair!” Siffrin joined her in looking at the blank books as she continued, “We’ll have to get you some writing utensils too.” The Rouge tilted his head,

“Can’t I ask Odile for a pencil?”

“You could, but it’s nice to have your own. Also, you can have different designs on the pens and pencils too!” Siffrin smiled at that idea and nodded, then pondered for a moment,

“Have you kept a journal too Mirabelle?” The woman nodded,

“I have had several in the past! I did stop for a time, but my therapist helped me start writing again!” Siffrin did recall Mirabelle speaking about a therapist before, it helped her a lot apparently. Siffrin shifted to his other leg,

“Therapy huh…?” Mirabelle tilted her head knowingly, a soft smile on her lips,

“I know the idea of it worries you, but therapy can truly help you come to terms with a lot of things. You aren’t any different for needing help Siffrin, and I promise you I’ll tell you everything I know about therapy if it helps.” Siffrin nodded,

“I’d like that. I just don’t know how to even share my problems with…a stranger of all things.” Mirabelle’s smile remained, though her eyebrows knitted together knowing how Siffrin felt,

“I understand. I felt very much the same, however therapists are there to listen and help you work through your issues. My therapist gives me building blocks to work with and am much better than I was. Though again, I know it’s easier said than done, so you give it some thought first.” Siffrin nodded again. Another reason that scared him about therapy was, well he didn’t think he deserved help after all that he did back then. It was hard for him to ask for help, more over ask for anything he wanted, but if his family wanted the best for him perhaps it’s time for Siffrin himself to start wanting that too. “I have an idea, let me handle the writing utensils! You pick out a journal you really like!”

“Okay, sounds good.” Mirabelle then went to look at the area that held the items she was looking for. Siffrin turned back to the books and took in their designs. Flowers, shells, animals, there was anything and everything for people to pick out. They all looked nice of course, but none of them really grabbed Siffrin’s attention, that is until his gaze fell on a journal with stars on its cover. It had beautiful shading, and the stars were drawn as hanging ornaments alongside a crescent moon. Siffrin picked it up and turning it a little, the stars and moon shimmered slightly. Siffrin felt himself smiling, it was like this journal was made for him! He excitedly headed over to Mirabelle with it, and saw she had already picked out some things,

“Oh? Have you found one Siffrin?” Siffrin beamed, showing Mirabelle the said journal. Mirabelle’s eyes grew wide at it, as she began to beam too, “It’s lovely Siffrin! It suits you perfectly.” Siffrin giggled and held the book close to him, jumping up and down a little. He couldn’t help it; he really liked this journal! Mirabelle then showed Siffrin the items she picked out, “I thought you’d like some star themed items, so I decided that these designs would work best!” A pen and pencil with stars on them, moon shaped erasers, and even a pencil sharpener with sparkles on it. Siffrin couldn’t help but giggle more,

“Thank you Mira, I love these!” Mirabelle nodded, joining in Siffrin’s laughter in united glee. They went to purchase the items, and the bright haired rouge wondered what his first entry would be. Perhaps he could keep track of day-to-day tasks, or maybe just important things. Then again, writing about Loop’s nightly visits would be good too! Siffrin almost didn’t realize they were done at the register, and they left the shop.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Pitching up tents had become second nature to the group by this point. Everyone pitched their respective tents, so that meant Isabeau and Siffrin were working together. They usually worked fast, but Siffrin’s mind wandered a lot this time, from his journal to Loop’s visits, his brain wouldn’t settle down…Speaking of Loop, they and Siffrin had met twice so far, the previous night’s visit being nothing out of the ordinary. It was still nice to just sit and talk with Loop and catch them up on everything that happened the past few months. He also encouraged Loop to speak about how they felt and even share their stories, but to no avail so far. Siffrin had to wonder what he could do better, would writing it down and planning it out in the journal help with that? What else could he write down to help him?

“Penny for your thoughts, Sif?” Siffrin looked at Isabeau, who gave a lopsided smile. Siffrin smirked,

“Depends. Does the ‘Big, Strong, Handsome Isabeau’ have an answer I desire?” Isabeau blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, an embarrassed chuckle leaving his lips,

“I think it’s worthy for the ‘Cute, Witty, Amazing Siffrin’.” Siffrin chuckled as well, and Isabeau continued, “I have a feeling you’re thinking about what to write in your journal.” Siffrin blinked. Isabeau was sharp as always, especially when concerning them. Siffrin scratched his cheek, a nervous smile now on his face,

“That obvious huh?” He knelt to put a peg in the ground, “It’s just…There’s so many things I could write about. There’re things we do every day, like what Bonnie cooks, Mirabelle’s fireside stories, down to us just relaxing with each other. Just…so many memories.” Isabeau hummed,

“Well, you don’t need to write down everything every day. You can start by writing down what you feel is most important.”

“But that’s the problem, everything is important.” Isabeau nodded,

“That’s true, but we’re also here to remind you of what you mentioned. Not to say you can’t write down stories and recipes that are your favorite.” Siffrin started laughing softly,

“Another problem, cause everything Bonnie cooks is my favorite.” Isabeau laughed as well,

“Point is, while every memory is special not all need to be put down on paper. Sometimes it’s best to just experience the moments instead of recording every single one.” The rouge began to understand, it did sound better when put like that. Odile seemed to have heard the tail end of the conversation and approached,

“I agree with Isabeau, in fact it’s the same with my notes. When it comes to studying, I am thorough with the details. However, since traveling with all of you I decided to put the notebook down and let the moments speak for themselves.” Isabeau nodded,

“Same here, it’s like being with my family again.” Odile raised an eyebrow with a smile,

“Well, we’re honored. I recall you have several siblings, are we as chaotic as them?” Isabeau let out another laugh,

“You’d be surprised how calm some of them are, but even if the others bounce off the walls I say that’s okay. They each have a way they like to live, it’s good to have variety in life.” Odile chuckled,

“Indeed. I’m sure they all have the Isabeau charm.” A warm compliment, but Isabeau shifted a little,

“‘Isabeau charm’ huh?” Odile tilted her head,

“Hm? Did I say something wrong?” Isabeau shook his head, a smile returning to his face,

“No, I just thought it’s better for all of them to have their own charm is all!” Siffrin frowned a little. Isabeau had been slow with becoming comfortable showing different sides of himself, and he still didn’t see many of his own good qualities. Siffrin could tell when Isabeau was thinking about himself; the wrinkle in his brow, a distant gaze in his eyes, and his hands gripped his sleeves as his arms were crossed in front of his chest. It was like Isabeau was trying to calculate how he could be better than he was, and Siffrin didn’t like that their boyfriend thought negatively about himself. They wished they could grab Isabeau’s brain by the throat and force it to think positively, but all they could do was try to distract the other when he looked too deep in thought. They weren’t as good with words like Isabeau was, so they couldn’t comfort him like the former defender did them. Maybe they could one day…Odile seemed to take in the situation, and crossed her arms,

“I agree, individuality is good. However, I think taking after you wouldn’t be a bad thing.” Isabeau looked at the woman, whose smile returned, “You have proven time and time again your care and support for others is unmatched. If your younger siblings feel that support, which I’m sure they do, I think you have done more than enough as a brother.” Isabeau looked as if he was truly taken aback by the words, before he looked down, an emotional expression lining his features,

“I…I see.” Siffrin became concerned and was going to call out when Isabeau rubbed his face down and stood up, “I’m going to see if Mira needs help with the fire! I’ll be back Sif!” Watching him go, Odile sighed,

“Did I overstep?” Siffrin shook his head,

“No, Isa would have told you, promise. He just doesn’t want to believe the good things about him.” He sounded more frustrated than he intended, but it came from a place of worry. He wished he could just hug Isabeau’s fears away, squeeze them out of the man until he felt better, but that’s not how the mind worked; Siffrin understood that better than anyone…Odile pushed her glasses up, collecting her thoughts,

“We should be there to halt that negative thinking then. I assume you wish to be on the front lines Siffrin?” Siffrin chuckled,

“You know it.”

Time had passed quickly, and dinner time had arrived to which everyone gathered around the fire to eat. Siffrin sat next to Isabeau which was normal as they were together, however tonight Siffrin wanted to make sure his boyfriend was okay after earlier. Isabeau wore a smile right now, but over time Siffrin came to understand that the man held onto feelings and thoughts for a while, mostly if it pertained to him. He never blamed Siffrin for their breakdown and horrible words, in fact Isabeau was kind of into it which was honestly amusing. However, the rogue still felt he wronged Isabeau by dragging the man’s insecurities in the dirt and laid them bare in front of them both. Isabeau didn’t deserve that at all, none of his family did, if he had just talked to them…

“Siffrin? You alright?” It was Mirabelle’s voice, and Siffrin felt their face uncrunch as they blinked a few times, they must’ve been making a bad face just now. They gave a reassuring smile,

“Sorry, I was just thinking.” Mirabelle frowned in concern, which is what Siffrin was trying to prevent,

“Do you want to talk about it?” Did they? Would it be too much with Isabeau sitting right there? Speaking of which, the man nudged Siffrin’s side with his,

“What’s up Sif?” Siffrin’s feet shuffled slightly,

“I just…Was thinking about what happened a few months back.” He decided not to bring up the specific conversation, it was probably for the best considering how Isabeau reacted earlier. Bonnie huffed,

“Well, we’ve already forgave you! You don’t got anything to worry about no more!” Siffrin smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Bonnie frowned more, “I can tell you still don’t believe you earned it, which is your brain just being dumb!” There was a chuckle from Mirabelle,

“While I agree, Siffrin’s brain apart of him.” Bonnie shook his head,

“Frin’s not being dumb because Frin doesn’t like how this feels. He cares about us too much to keep saying all that stuff to us.” Bonnie took a bite of their food, “I don’t really know all that Frin went through, but I know that he is doing his best to get better and that’s what matters right?” Siffrin blinked, before looking down as he tried to hold back his tears. Bonnie had such a wonderful outlook on the whole thing, Siffrin hoped they kept that mindset for a long time. Odile nodded,

“I agree. You’re doing very well Siffrin, and improving on your own volition is a great step forward.” Siffrin tucked his chin in his cloak, trying to hide his embarrassment. Praise was still something he wasn’t used to, though he did really appreciate it; in fact, he adored hearing it to the point it was like an addiction. Maybe he should talk to Odile about that, it might be a problem he has…He could feel Isabeau’s sunny smile beam onto him,

“We’re very proud of you buddy. You get stronger, and cuter, everyday!” Siffrin blushed and shut his eyes tightly in embarrassment, but he giggled all the same. Bonnie stuck their tongue out, “Yick! Dile, Za and Frin are being lovey dovey again!!” Odile chuckled,

“How scandalous, whatever shall we do with them?” Mirabelle smiled, “They must listen to one of my stories as punishment!” The laugh that left Isabeau’s chest was always music to Siffrin’s ears,

“Can I stay with Siffrin while we do?” Mirabelle nodded,

“Of course!” Isabeau smiled at Siffrin. Stars, Siffrin will never get tired of looking at this wonderful man.

Mirabelle read the next issue of the Cursing of Chateau Castle they were currently on that night. Bonnie loved to make comments, but it was obvious they were very much into the story, and Odile seemed as if she was taking mental notes. Isabeau was also absorbed by the tale, Siffrin could tell from his concentrated expression which was trying to figure out what was going to come next. Siffrin loved how all of them reacted, it was very like all of them. He did already know how this tale ended, in fact the whole reason Mirabelle wanted to read the entire series with everyone was so they could react to the ending together, but Siffrin didn’t dare ruin it. It was ‘spoilers’, and he wouldn’t speak of those because Mirabelle wouldn’t appreciate them.

“Lord Joséphandre looked at his friend with despair in his eyes, ‘Don’t do this, Pierre! You can still make it!’ Pierre simply smiled at his friend before pushing the lord away to safety as his castle continued to crumble. The man, who would forever be known for his betrayal, simply walked to the back of the room and sat down, looking up at the painted picture. It was a memory of a long-forgotten past, one that was shared between old friends and could never be re-lived. He closed his eyes, and the castle’s magnificence soon crumbled to nothing.” Mirabelle closed the book, and was quiet for a while, but then she smiled, “And that’s issue #68!” Odile hummed,

“I see, a self-sacrifice from a character looking to redeem his wrongs. An old tale but I admit it was done well here.” Bonnie frowned a little,

“I don’t really get it. Couldn’t they have saved him?” Mirabelle smiled softly,

“It’s complicated Bonnie. With the whole world against Pierre, he wanted to do something that would have helped his friend. If that meant cutting off the magic that came from where his castle stood, he’d do it. The whole reason he had to die was because of the pact we learned of in issue #64.” Bonnie still looked conflicted,

“I still don’t like it.” Isabeau looked up,

“I think I get it. He wanted to protect the people he felt mattered right? In the end nothing else matter because they were all he had, even if there was no going back for him.” He closed his eyes in thought, “I can understand that.” Siffrin could too. Hell, he was willing to do terrible things if it meant keeping his family safe. It morphed into him becoming possessive, and while he was still working on how he felt about it all, he liked to think he was getting better at it. Odile stood up,

“Well then, I think it’s time we all turn in. Isabeau and Bonnie, you’re both on cleaning duty tonight.”

“On it!” Isabeau announced, and everyone else went into their respective tents. Siffrin decided to take out his journal and try to write down something. Settling down on his sleeping bag, he opened the book and began to stare at the blank page. What could he write down to start? He thought back to what Odile and Isbeau said, and perhaps it’d be easier to just keep it simple. He decided to write about how the group left town today and how he looked forward to continuing the journey with everyone. The words just flowed from there, it wasn’t exceedingly detailed, but it still felt enough. It also made Siffrin feel like he was able to keep track of everything without help from the others; his memories would be safely stored here, and he didn’t have to worry about them. Siffrin really liked writing in this journal, he wondered why he didn’t ask about these earlier. Hearing the tent rustle, he quickly finished up and placed the journal to the side. Isabeau climbed inside and laid down while Siffrin blew out the lantern. He snuggled close to Isabeau, who wrapped his arms around the shorter, and Siffrin fell asleep with no problems.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

There was a warm breeze as Siffrin opened his eyes to the meadow’s grass tickling his nose as he laid on his side. He sat up to see the Favor Tree not far from him, Loop sitting underneath it as if they had been there for a while. They waved at Siffrin with a cheery grin,

“Good evening, Stardust~.” The rogue felt himself beaming at the star and he quickly got up to make his way over. This was the third time they were meeting, so he could finally believe this was going to be a normal occurrence! Thank the stars! Loop raised an eyebrow, “Well you seem chipper. Did something extraordinary happen today?” Siffrin simply chuckled,

“Well, I get to see you again, so there’s that.” Loop looked a little taken aback at Siffrin’s words, then their eyes looked away,

“I see. Well, whatever strikes your fancy I suppose.” Siffrin’s smile faded, not liking how Loop reacted. Did they not like that he was happy to see them? Perhaps they were still getting used to being back, or maybe they didn’t believe Siffrin saw them as more than a guide; he had to fix that quickly. He sat down, smiling again,

“It does make me glad to see you yes. I wanted to talk to you outside of the loops, just have normal conversations.” Loop’s gaze returned to Siffrin,

“Normal huh?” They let out a bitter laugh, “Depends on what you define as ‘normal’. Last I checked Stardust, I’m far from ‘normal’.” Watch the phrasing Siffrin. The rogue gave a reassuring smile,

“Aren’t the best people far from ‘normal’?” Loop stared at Siffrin, genuinely not knowingly what to say. They turned away again, their eyes distant,

“Not me.” Siffrin lost his smile once more. Loop sounded so convinced of what they said as if they rehearsed it like a mantra. Siffrin didn’t agree, of course; the idea settling in his chest with extreme discomfort. He clenched his hands once to quell his unease before speaking again,

“Whatever the case, I’m happy you’re here.” It was quiet between them for a while. Siffrin shuffled his feet a little before Loop said in a soft, genuine tone,

“I am happy you’re here too Stardust.” Siffrin smiled.

[the-bitter-ocean]

( ACT 3/ ACT 4 SPOILERS) This is part 6 of the many responses/ dialogue options I wrote for the conversation that Rewind and Mirabelle have on what Rewind’s identity truly is. To understand the full context you can find the original post here. Writing is under the cut:

{{ “So I suppose you must have a lot of questions for me don’t you? Theories as to who I might be?”}}

{ You do. You can’t help but feel overwhelmed by all of this.}

{{ “Let’s make this like a game so you can get to know me a little better. How’s that sound hm?”}}

{You nod slowly, still unsure.}

{{ “You get one guess for this so pick whatever feels right in your heart.”}}

{One guess?}

{Something about the way Riri speaks to you feels familiar. }

{ Someone dependable and willing to help you even in the most dire of circumstances. }

{ Someone who’s shown to care for you deeply over the course of this whole ordeal and in turn you have done the same for them as well. }

=> { You’re one of my allies. }

{“.. Are you.. Um. one of my allies ?”}

{Riri stares at you confused.}

{{“Which ally of yours do you think I am, Plum? I’m curious” }}

{ Rewind is….}

=> { Siffrin.}

=> { Isabeau. }

=> { Odile.}

=> { Bonnie. }

=> { Siffrin.}

{“… Um well.. maybe Siffrin?”}

{Riri confusion grows even more. She shakes her head}

{{“Mmm..Why’d you say that?”}}

{“.. We’ll you’re so mysterious .. and uhm you make fun of me sometimes, but it doesn’t feel like it’s meant to be in a mean way?”}

{“You seem so..nonchalant? Like you’ve seen it all before.. and well that’s the type of way Siffrin was when I asked him for help on the journey so..it just makes sense?”}

{“I don’t know. It just reminded me of them was all.”}

{Riri goes quiet. She’s lost in thought.}

{{ “..I remind you of your Rogue? For that reason..? That’s very..”}}

{She sighs clearly wanting to say something more, as if to correct you but brightens up in tone again}

{{ “Silly of you! I tease you because you just have the personality that makes it so easy for me to do!”}}

{{“You’re so adorable, don’t you know that?”}}

{Riri gently boops you on the nose. }

{You sulk.}

{{“..You guessed wrong. Sorry Plum!”}}

—————————————————————————————————

(ALTERNATE RESPONSES)

{Rewind is….}

=> { Siffrin.}

=> { Isabeau. }

=> { Odile. }

=> { Bonnie. }

=> {Isabeau.}

{“…Are you Isabeau?”}

{Riri confusion grows even more. She shakes her head}

{{“Wh- Huh?! You think I’m your Fighter? For what reason?”}}

{“.. Well you’re like really uplifting if that makes any sense? It seems like you just know how to cheer me up before I even could begin to tell you if I was upset. ”}

{“.. Isabeau is really good at that sort of thing. Plus you look.. really stylish? Ah in hindsight it’s probably a stupid answer, sorry.”}

{“I don’t know. It just reminded me of them was all.”}

{{“…No, I’m not your Fighter.”}}

{{“As cute as it is that you think I’m anything like him, it’s not true.”}}

{{“I think that even someone who excels at Changing like him… would have a hard time changing into something like me.”}}

{ What’s that supposed to mean-}

{{“Anyway you guessed wrong. Sorry Plum!”}}

—————————————————————————————————

{Rewind is….}

=> { Siffrin. }

=> { Isabeau. }

=> { Odile. }

=> { Bonnie. }

=> {Odile.}

{“…Are you Madame Odile?”}

{Riri confusion grows even more. She shakes her head}

{{“….? You think I’m your Mage? Why?”}}

{“.. You just.. seem to be really knowledgeable about a lot of things and you’re very..reflective?”}

{“You get really quiet sometimes- like you’re thinking of a bigger picture that I couldn’t even begin to understand, y’know?”}

{“..Madame is really good at planning strategies and figuring out the best ways to solve a problem, kind of like what you do when you talk with me.”}

{“I don’t know. It just reminded me of her was all.”}

{{“…Hm. That’s awfully sweet of you to say but no! I’m not your Mage.”}}

{{“If I was anywhere near as smart as her, I’d have solved both of our problems regarding this whole time loop business by now.”}}

{ “Huh? Wait but-“}

{{“Anyway! I hate to say it but you guessed wrong. Sorry Plum!”}}

—————————————————��———————————————

{Rewind is….}

=> { Siffrin.}

=> { Odile. }

=> { Isabeau.}

=> { Bonnie. }

=> { Bonnie.}

{“…Are you Bonnie?”}

{Riri confusion grows even more. She shakes her head}

{{“..?! You think I’m B-..Your Apprentice?”}}

{Rewind looks at you dumbfounded.}

{ Rewind puts a hand over where their hypothetical mouth would be, if she had one and laughs at you.}

{{“Do you really think I’m that childish?”}}

{“Wh- NO!! Not like that at all!!”}

{“You’re just hard to read. N-Not in a bad way!”}

{“I don’t know why.. but I get the feeling you’re trying really hard to not get close to me?”}

{“.. But I don’t think you hate me either. It’s clear you care a lot about me and want to help me. So it’s just a little confusing on where I stand with you.”}

{“..Bonnie gets like that too sometimes. They want to help however they can in their own unique way even if they can be stubborn about it.”}

{“I don’t know. It just reminded me of them was all.”}

{Rewind looks away from you.}

{{“That’s a very strange conclusion for you to reach.”}}

{{“No, I’m not your Apprentice.”}}

{{Rewind puts on a sing songy tone as she speaks.}}

{{“I’ll have you know I’m an adult, thank you!”}}

{{“I consider it a good thing… im thankful that I’m not your apprentice.”}}

{{“I don’t want to even think about the possibility of someone that young being in my..”}}

{{“…”}}

{…?}

{“Being in your what-“}

{{“Moving on now! Point is, your guess was wrong. Sorry Plum!”}}

[lowkey-loki245]

“Nille would be horrified when she found out” like Siffrin wouldn’t ALSO be absolutely mortified. That rogue has completely shit self esteem and mental health, you and I both know they aren’t gonna take this well

Heh, yeah, he would be freaking out so much. But what I meant by that line was that in a previous ask, I said Nille was a little scared of Siffrin since he can freeze time. And stopping someone from aging would be like partially freezing them in time. So this situation would probably drive a wedge between Sif and Nille for a bit.

Isabeau and Mirabelle wouldn't like it, but they understand that Sif didn't mean to.

I feel like Odile wouldn't be too affected since she wasn't that caught up on what Sif had done in Act 6. Plus, she'd be able to learn more with her aging paused.

Bonnie is too young to fully grasp the weight of the situation, but they did catch the "partially frozen in time" part. I feel bad for Bonnie cause they'd be torn between Siffrin and Nille. Both Nille and Bonnie would probably buff less for a while.

Sif would be beating himself up for this the entire time and maybe even start distancing themselves from the rest of the crew. It'd take Loop stepping in and talking to Nille to fix the situation.

Sif's powers would probably be out of whack, too, thanks to him second-guessing himself. He'd be so anxious about using a power he didn't mean to that he'd probably wouldn't even be able to use normal Scissors craft without it occasionally failing. Oh boy, that would just make things worse for Sif.

This stressed marshmallow god needs therapy.

[buffa-z]

WAS ANYONE GONNA TELL ME THAT THE REASON ACE CALLS THE BOOST FOX KON IS BECAUSE HE HAD A CHILDHOOD DOG NAMED CONSTANTINE THAT GOT HIT BY A CAR TRAUMATIZING ACE AWAY FROM ANIMALS FOREVER ONLY TO LATER BE REANIMATED AS A CHEMY???????????

[vulpixisananimal]

(The plan was simple.)

(You're currently sitting at a table in the small yard outside where you were staying. Carving away, seemingly without a care in the world. Just out of the way so that anyone coming to the front door through the yard wouldn't see you at first. Isabeau was just inside, Mirabelle right behind him. Madame Odile was at one of the windows, Nille and Bonnie were staying back, not wanting to put Bonbon in danger.)

(All the actors were in place, they had their stage direction, and you had yours. You were the star of the show, and you even had a speech ready for the big bad antagonist who was to show up soon.)

(You listened to the surrounding sounds. Some people walking past, chatting, gossip, you heard birds and insects. The hustle and bustle of Jouvente. You hear the unmistakable sound of the gate to the yard being pulled open.)

(You breathe in and out. Lights. . Curtains. . .)

(You held your breath as you saw your adversary walk right past you. They seemed, nervous. They paused at the front door. Rubbing their side and taking a few breaths. You wait, and speak up as they're about to knock on the door.)

"Ramos?"

(Ramos jumps, and turns around.) "Y-yes? Sorry do, do I know you?"

(You smile.) "Nope! But I know you! You're looking for Isabeau right?"

"Y-yeah! Yeah I am! We're old friends, do you know if he's in?"

(You shake your head.) "Not right now, everyone's gone out on their own errands. I'm holding down the fort until they're back."

"Everyone else-? Ooooh!!" (Ramos smiles and walks towards you. Hmm. They look genuinely excited.) "Wait, are you one of the saviors who helped stop The King?"

"Mmhm" (You twirl your knife.) "Siffrin your trusty traveling rogue at your service~"

(Rogue? Really? We are good with traps, but why rogue?)

(I read it in The Cursing of Château Castle, 4th issue, seemed like a fun title to have~)

"Haha! Well, I'm Ramos, but you already seem to know that." (They hold out a hand.)

(You wave back instead of shaking hands.) "Good to meet you finally, and sorry, I'm not good with touch."

"Ah that's alright!" (Ramos puts his hand down. Looking at their face, did they seem suspicious? Hmm, not likely. They take a seat.) "So, how do you know me?"

"Isabeau talked about you." (You talked so casually, expertly carving away with your knife.) "Quite a bit actually."

"Wh-" (Hmm? Ramos looked genuinely shocked. Their eyes were wide open in attention.) "I-I, what'd he- what'd he say?"

"That you two were friends. Helped each other with the Defenders exams." (That was the lie wasn't it? The one Ramos was spreading? Maybe they were surprised you already knew it.)

"I-. . ." (Ramos blinked, then looked away. They looked, ashamed? Confused?) ". . . He, really remembered me? Mentioned me?"

(You nod in response.)

"That's. . ." (They didn't look you in the eye. They were rubbing their shoulder and sinking into their seat.) "That's, not really true, haha."

(You stop carving.) "Oh?"

(They continue.) "Isabeau he. . . Well. . . I always looked up to him. We were friends, sure, but I was always trying my best to be just as strong as him. Brave as him. Really, he was the one helping me with exams."

(What in the stars. . .)

"I felt like an idiot when I didn't go with him in saving the world. 'That's what a true Defender is' was what I thought. I would have done anything to be as strong. . ."

(Now, cue the dramatic lighting.)

"And so you wished that everyone would see you as his equal." (You say, starting to carve again.)

(Ramos glanced at you.) "H-huh? What do you-"

(You slice off a chunk of wood, it makes a loud sound.) "You made a wish to be just like Isabeau. Strong, brave, loved by everyone."

"I, I don't know what you're-"

"And what you got in return is a new little craft trick." (You emphasize by slicing off another piece of wood.) "Mind craft. Correct?"

(You look up into Ramos' eyes finally. They look terrified.) "H-how, how did you. How do you know."

"I have my ways." (You pause for dramatic effect.) "You touch someone and you change their memories. And You're doing that so everyone thinks You're the best~"

(You could see Ramos starting to sweat. To shake. Clearly, they had no plan to be confronted like this. Why would they? They get to change the script in the middle of the play. Too bad for them, you already had the whole thing memorized.)

"I. . . M-maybe. . ."

"There's no maybe about it." (You say harshly. Another chunk of wood gone.) "You wanted to be the best. Was that your plan yesterday, too? Kidnap Bonnie then show up like you found them yourself? Like you're the hero?"

"Now hold on!" (Ramos stood up.) "I, I-I may have messed around with mind craft but I didn't try to kidnap anyone!"

(You look up at them wearing a bored expression.) "Uh-huh, and so it was some other stranger with a wishing star pendant?"

"Some-" (They pause. Putting a hand up to feel around their neck, and then fiddle with the bandage they had.) "Y-you're just trying to get at me!"

(A strange reaction. Continue provoking them.)

"This isn't a joke Ramos." (You stare daggers into them.) "You tried kidnapping Bonnie. And wanted to change my friends memories. That means we're enemies."

"I didn't- look! I promise I didn't try and kidnap Bonnie, whoever that is." (They're getting desperate.) "Just, just, I can, I can make this right, alright? I'm not even doing anything bad! Right?"

"If You're trying to make yourself be a big strong hero You're doing a terrible job~"

"S-shove it! Go eat a crab! I-It doesn't matter if you know about any of this I just! I-I just need to change your memory a-and then, and then-" (They take a step towards you.)

(You stab your knife through the table. It forms a large, visible crack. Ramos stops in their tracks.)

"I'm not stupid like some people are~" (You wave a hand.) "Come on out."

(There's a click from the front door. Isabeau is standing there, Mirabelle beside him. The rest of the party was gathering behind them. Ramos turned to look.)

(Isabeau's face. . . He looked so pained. No, pained and scared. Scared. Mirabelle was ready to fight. Odile, Nille, Bonnie, all of them looked disappointed. You've seen that look before.)

(Slashing, beating, ripping and tearing away at sadness. That wasn't you, pre-se. But it was a memory you had access to, a Memory of Sadness. You already knew what must be going through Ramos' mind.)

("They're afraid of you")

"I-isa--"

"Why." (Isabeau cut them off.) "Ramos you, you didn't need to. . ."

(They didn't respond. They're shaking.)

(Mirabelle stepped forward.) "Why would you do something like that!? Change someone's memories just so they like you? I know it's hard to, well, fit in sometimes, but doing that's just wrong!"

(They stumble back. Covering their face with their hands.)

(. . . They're starting to cry.)

(You are very good at scaring people.)

(Thank you~ it's all in the eye. All I had to do was act like Stardust did at the last loop. You stand up.)

"You can't just wish your problems away, Ramos." (You walk over to them, now for the great redemption.) "You can just talk to him, y'know. Explain everything and-"

"Siffrin!!!" (Odile's voice, she had shoved past the others and had an outstretched hand. A moment later a wave of force, creative craft, blasted you away from Ramos!)

"M'dame!" (You shake your head and where about to curse out your researcher when you noticed it.)

(Tears. Big, thick tears that dripped like molasses.)

"Gems alive. . ."

"Wh, what is. . ."

"Ramos!?!"

"Look out, everyone!"

[maryonmega]

An unconventional victory

(This takes place around the end of act 3 of In Stars And Time)

Mirabelle is combing Siffrin's hair.

They've been doing their homework for several loops now. Talking, reading, looking at old things with new eyes.

Defeating the King didn't work. The power of love didn't work...

But, having his allies love him was still a delicious feeling. A type that would be saved for particularly bad moments. And, right now, Siffrin needs the support. They need the safety. They're tense.

Because, this loop, he'll try to convince the King to stop.

There's no garantee that it will work. That he'll listen. But, there is the need  to try. And that makes the rogue tense.

But, as Mira undoes the tangled mess that became of his hair, he feels some of it leave their body. Body not as stiff as before by the time the once rat's nest of darkless and lightless became soft waves falling over his shoulders.

And, soon enough, it was time to enter the King's chambers.

This can be the difference between staying imprisoned or freedom-

"Do you remember?"

"Somehow."

-the speech about change happens-

"Maybe you don't need this type of change, either."

-the fight starts.

Maybe it won't be this loop. Not after he released that special attack over Mira's shield. Not after Siffrin also hit him with craft.

But, will he come out of this loop empty handed? This feels anticlimatic at best.

What else can be done, though? They're pretty sure he has asked everything he could. They have that plan in mind for a reason.

...

Well, having a little bit of curiosity satisfied won't hurt anyone.

"Flower for you."

He hears his (allies) family members confusion after the offering. Not enough to back off.

"Will you remember me, Bright One?"

"Of course."

Might as well say what he likely wants to hear.

The battle continues after that, the bright flower protected from the craft inside the sheets of armor.

Siffrin doesn't zone out when the King cries. They prepare the bomb. It's the quickest way to get rid of them...

... Has the King always looked so pitiful in those moments?

Maybe it's the fellow Islander speaking, maybe it was because of the earlier idea still being there, but... they didn't want to throw the bomb at him...

... Which wouldn't be a big problem if the fuse wasn't already lit and burning.

Without thinking, the rogue made a choice: he threw the bomb behind the group, as far as he could. It was possible to hear it hit the door-

"Let's stop fighting."

-and then explode.

Siffrin barely registered what was going on. To him, it was just testing the waters in order to try the real deal in a later loop.

He didn't see someone doing the oh so sool act of keeping one's back turned to an explosion.

He didn't see the way their hat flew off their head, cloak and freshly combed hair waving in the explosion's wind. In a way that shouldn't be mesmerizing, but...

... after someone who "somewhat" remembers showed intent to remember him, after landing in front of him just like that... and a pretty one at that...

... the sweet smell, the mark of the Universe's touch...

... what could it be but fate? A sign, a gift, from the Universe itself?

Only a fool ignores what's in front of them.

"... Yes, we should."

The other four, as out of the loop as could be, need a moment just to remember where they are and what they're doing, and then another to remember how to speak.

"What?" Is how Mira breaks the silence.

"Bright One, Siffrin, they are right. We can stop."

Despite the plan, the rogue himself was also confused.

Even after the fight started, it worked?

Odile, on the hand, still seemed to want to freeze the King with her glare.

"If you actually believe we will fall for this cheap trick, you're sorely mistaken!"

"It's not a trick. I haven't lied to you. And I have no reason to do so now."

Still, the older traveler can't be blamed. The only reason the King himself was accepting it was because of the clear connection.

How many times have the two met? How many different outcomes has this fight have? Yet they continue to meet...

What an eternity to recieve.

But, the Universe is not cruel. It's wise and kind. It's offering something else. Something better. Depending of the angle, a new shape of eternity.

Better to embrance the one that's not under risk of being ripped away.

The vaguely sweet smell in the air starts to vanish.

The others are still staring when he lifts the spell. It's hard to miss. The lightless shade starts to leave the surroundings. It's a funny feeling. He could feel the loss of grasp for kilometers and kilometers. Hear the little housemaiden say with wide eyes that she can feel the people in the House.

It feels like a waste. But, it's the hand that he was given to play with.

The rogue has already picked their hat back up and put on their head. Their shocked face is still visible.

It's, cute.

"Bright One. Siffrin. Look at me."

They do. They see a hand approach their face. A... much smaller hand then before. Almost as soon as the sweet smell was gone, so was the gigantic size.

... Good. It wouldn't do if their children can't properly hug one of their parents.

"... Let's make those wishes come true."

"What do you think you're doing? Back off! Frin doesn't like touch!"

Oh! Right! Bonnie is still here!

The gauleted hand backed off, not before the wok meets it with a metalic clank. This time, the spotlight was on the others. On the (friends)(allies)(family members) companions.

Isa had his arms crossed and the most serious look Siffrin had seen on his face. Sharing first place with the day after they lost their eye.

"You might have stopped, but you still caused chaos and death. You're not going out on your merry way."

The Defender on him speaking, eh?

Even under the layers of hair, the King's thoughtful glance was noticeable.

"I accept whatever you choose to do, as long as I can stay near him."

Charming, isn't him? Almost like he knew that the fear of resuming the time freezing plan would put the group in an odd situation.

... But, ultimately, the choice would be Mirabelle's, and the Head Housemaiden's...

"I... I would like to believe that everyone can change..."

They will have to talk to Head Housemaiden...

"Gems, if any of you is left alone with him, I might form an ulcer as soon as I step out of this building..."

The King is still nearby as the stairs are climbed. As Siffrin approaches the Head Housemaiden.

This time, when she speaks, time doesn't break.

[crisis-starter]

Hello

I did not expect to write Odile’s moment in less than half a day.

Stars, its twice as long as Mirabelle’s and that took me 2 or 3 days to do.

Well, anyways, I hope you enjoy!

)•{+}•<>+<>•{+}•(

Odile was by the staircase in the final room, waiting to talk with Siffrin. The entire trek through the house was filled to the brim with suspicious activity. Facial expressions, behaviors… it was all strange. And with the knowledge of Wish Craft and Time Craft… she had an idea of what was happening. Bonnie was seemingly thinking about something. She had never seen the child be so quiet before. And Isabeau was looking right at her. Siffrin was chatting with Mirabelle, so she awaited them. Soon they will have to talk to her, she could feel it.

Then she felt the slight twinge of Craft. Isabeau wasn’t looking at her anymore, instead performing an odd kind of craft, if his hand was any indication. And then she heard his voice in her head:

‘M’dame Odile. Please. Whatever you are planning to do right now? At least be gentle.’

Odile copied the hand signal she saw Isabeau making before replying, “He’s trapped himself, and subsequently the entirety of Vaugarde in time! Perhaps even worse than the King! And you don’t want me to say my piece?”

‘I am not saying that you shouldn’t say something. I’m saying that, if you are, please don’t push him. He is already that close to the edge.’

Odile was silent. Skeptical. She had an idea of Isabeau’s stance, but this really couldn’t go unsaid. Siffrin was hiding something that clearly felt like common knowledge to everyone except her. And Isabeau had this… worry in his voice. Like he knew something she didn’t.

‘M’dame. I… I can’t tell you right now. Because we’re on a time limit. But I will tell you what I remember seeing once we get back. Here’s to hoping you remember what happens next.’

Isabeau cut the connection there. Odile looked at Siffrin, and realized why. The rogue had finished talking with Mirabelle. She put her hand down and returned to reading through the notes of her investigation. Siffrin approached her, a seemingly disinterested expression on his face. The two glanced at each other before Odile started talking, “Ah. Woop woop, we did it, we won, etc.”

She wanted to start soft, somewhat. So why not comment on how she feels after the fight with the King? She continued, “Urgh. Whatever. This was… quite a workout. My entire body is screaming.” Odile rolled her shoulders a little. She did feel somewhat sore, “Savior of Vaugarde, huh? That’s something to add to my list of accomplishments.”

Maybe mulling over any future plans may help a smoother transition? She didn’t know. She never said she was… good at this, “But now, I can finally go back to traveling. I’d be curious to visit more Vaugardian cities and hear what they have to say about an event like this. It’ll be weird to travel alone now, but I’ll get used to it again. Or I could just go home to Ka Bue… Hm…” Maybe she could convince the others to travel with her? Not right now, that would be too… embarrassing. Everyone here has their own life. She didn’t want them to put it aside so easily over a grown woman not wanting to leave without a proper goodbye and happy, stress-free memories to take with her.

Siffrin hid in their collar as they spoke, “To do your fake research?” There it was. Another suspicious detail. How they knew her research was fake was a bit of a mystery but she needed to say something, “…Yes. My fake research…” She probably looked a bit… frustrated there. She quickly fixed her expression, “Don’t tell anyone. I’d like to see Isabeau try to figure it out for a little longer. Very excited to hear what he comes up with next. Spoonology? Bananalogy?” Siffrin’s expression changed to that of an odd smile. A fabricated one. Concern began to blossom in her heart.

Maybe Isabeau was right.

Siffrin joked, “Bananalogy would be quite aPEELing.” Odile didn’t find it funny. But… at least fake something, “Hah… Yes.” Her face softened, “Ha… I’ll miss you, Siffrin. You’re a little strange, but you’re a good kid. Maybe try letting down your walls every once in a while, huh?” The researcher felt a smile sneak onto her face, “And come to Ka Bue anytime. Maybe we’ll meet again during your travels.” Odile really hoped so. Siffrin forced himself to smile. Wait.

Odile looked at Siffrin, concern fueling her entire being, “…Siffrin, is everything-“ Siffrin’s expression flashed into something akin to confusion for a second. Odile looked around. Bonnie, Mirabelle, and Isabeau were looking at her, worried. Great. She had spectators now. But… was she the main act? She sighed, hoping to brush off the added tension. She hoped that this would go smoothly. Odile asked, softly, “But really, is everything okay?” Siffrin is back to that fabricated smile, “What do you mean?”

Oh… Oh this is how things will have to go, huh. She continued, “I don’t know, Siffrin. You’ve felt off since yesterday. More withdrawn, mostly. Tell me what’s wrong.” Siffrin continued avoiding the question, “Nothing’s wrong!” This defiance… it was messing with Odile’s patience. But she was trying, “…it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, you know. I’ll find out eventually.” She probably already did. Maybe everyone did, and she doesn’t remember. Siffrin replied, hiding in their collar again, “But I’m not hiding anything.” And that was the final straw. All attention was on them both. She was starting to get a headache. Time to lay it all out, no matter how harsh it felt.

Odile looked at Siffrin, abandoning any kind of calm or leniency, “Is that so.” She made her frustration known, “Is that so? So Time Craft has nothing to do with you?” Siffrin dropped the facade and grew shocked, “No that’s-“ Odile will not let him deny it. She continued, noticing Isabeau trying to approach. No. She needed to say her piece, “And the fact that you knew how to read that book about Wish Craft… Knew how to wish correctly, when no one else did… It doesn’t mean anything, either?”

Siffrin gave that fake smile, only more shaky, “It’s not like that, I-“ She was cornering them. No more excuses, just continue, “And the way you’re acting, doing that stupid smile like nothing’s wrong… It doesn’t mean anything, either?!?” The smile was dropped. Siffrin was looking at Odile, shaken. Silent. There’s more evidence.

She looked away slightly, still stern, “I’m not stupid, Siffrin. If I find something strange, I can do nothing except give it my full attention.” She turned her attention back to Siffrin, “And you are acting strange.” Siffrin looked stressed. Staring at her with this need to run away, but being unable to. Her headache was getting worse. She’ll deal with it later.

It was at this point she made her anger known, “There were so many signs… I did not understand them, but now I do! You’ve been acting strange since you woke up from your nap, yesterday!” She started to ramble on about more evidence that came to mind, “When we talk to you, you act out of it, almost bored… And the way you reacted to the rocks falling… We all jumped, but you just looked at them fall, calmly.” Odile rose her voice again, “And there’s so many other things, the way you reacted to so many things throughout our entire journey through the House!” The researcher faltered a little, “And, and… How every time you found the keys we needed to proceed, you didn’t seem surprised, like you knew exactly where they were. Even that key in the classroom. Almost like…” Odile looked at Siffrin for answers, “…Like you had found them before, maybe?”

Siffrin started to grow panicked, “B-but that’d be impossible, though!” Isabeau was looking at the two of them, nervous yet willing to step in. Siffrin attempted to reason. To save themselves, “How could I have known where the keys were when it’s my first time here?!?” Odile, frustrated, asked, “I don’t know, Siffrin, why don’t you enlighten me?!” Siffrin’s breathing was escalating. Odile continued, “Don’t think I believed that whole ‘I wished croissants would disappear~’ thing, too. So, if you lied about your wish… What did you wish for, then? That’s it, isn’t it?” The researcher looked at her hands, “Did something happen? To you, to us? Did we die against the King, maybe?” Odile looked up, spotting Siffrin pulling at his hair. Oh no. She only had one thing left to say, then she could try to start calming Siffrin down. It’ll be okay. She finished by asking, “Is that why you’re repeating the same events, Siffrin?” She was about to maybe ask Siffrin to calm down and relax before it happened.

Siffrin snapped back, “SHUT UP!!!”

Everyone was startled by the outburst. Odile herself was shaken. Isabeau was right. She couldn’t be a bit softer, huh? And now, Siffrin was on the edge of a breakdown. The traveler continued, breath ragged and irregular, “Even if you figure it out, Odile… It’s too late! It’s too late! It’s always too late!!!” Siffrin looked right into Odile’s eyes as they spoke, a combination of panic and rage in his eyes, “Did you have to figure it all out now, when it’s all about to end? You can’t help me, Odile!!! No one can!!!”

Isabeau was stunned, muttering a quiet, “Sif, Odile…?” Bonnie was hidden behind Mirabelle, asking, “What’s happening? Why are you yelling?” …When did they get so close? Odile’s headache was getting worse. The air started to feel strange. Her heart was pounding in her ears.

Siffrin continued, erratic, “It’s too late!!! YOU CAN’T HELP ME!!!” Odile tried to get a word in, but couldn’t. So she continued to listen to Siffrin’s pleas, “And I think, weirdly, I don’t even want you to help me?” Siffrin gave a panicked smile, “Why don’t I want you to help me?”

Odile felt her hands shaking. What… was this her fault? Was she the final straw? All she could really do was try to ask them to calm down, “Siffrin-“ But she couldn’t even do that without being cut off, “Maybe because I know that if you help me, you’ll start hating me!!!”

What?

“Because I don’t know why this is all happening, but-“

Wait.

“It must be because of me, that we’re repeating the same events!!!”

Siffrin stop. Please, you’ll hurt-

“And if you knew that, you’d hate me-“

Mirabelle cried out, “Siffrin?!” Maybe to snap him out of it. The air tasted like sugar. A taste so strong, it was horrible. A terrible omen. Siffrin continued, “And I don’t want you to hate me. So, so, so-“

And everything stopped before everyone was sent back to their places. Odile was silent. She decided… to say something, “Siffrin, please. You don’t… have to talk to me. But I will find out somehow. What’s causing you… harm.” She already knew. But maybe it was more comforting to claim ignorance. Siffrin quickly fabricated a smile before cheerfully saying, “Maybe, teehee!”

That… that felt unsettling.

Bonnie, Mirabelle, and Isabeau looked at Odile, worried. Odile herself? She wanted to sit down. She felt faint. That was so much information to take in at once.

Just how… how deep has Siffrin buried himself?

Siffrin faced her, the same chilling smile on their face. Odile stated, “Alright, well, if that was all…” Siffrin took this as his cue to leave as Isabeau straightened his act up.

Once Siffrin was gone, Odile sat down on the stairs. Her headache was gone, but she felt guilty. She just sat there silently, internalizing information.

It seemed that her spacing out helped pass by sooner, because she soon found Isabeau by her side, trying to check if she was doing okay. She could barely hear him.

Her eyes were on Siffrin. They hesitated a little before trying to talk to the Head Housemaiden. Then they approached her. They happily told Euphrasie about something. She responded happily.

Then the pressure in the air grew. Something was wrong. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. The Head Housemaiden was dismayed. Siffrin pleaded with her.

She crouched down to Siffrin’s level, cupping the rogue’s cheeks with her hands. She made sure she was close to Siffrin as tears streamed down her face. Siffrin was stunned. He couldn’t move. The world grew darker. Something was happening. Something was oh so horribly wrong.

A lightless shade almost appeared to engulf everything. For a split second, Odile saw something. Hundreds of silhouettes. They all looked just like Siffrin. All looking at Euphrasie. And then…

She awoke and stumbled back, nearly crashing into the shelf behind her. Her heart was pounding. So she attempted to calm down. Then she heard someone enter the shop.

Isabeau was trying to catch his breath at the entrance. He looked at Odile, worried, “Are you alright, M’dame?” Odile just looked at him, shocked. Her hands were shaking again. Isabeau sighed, “So… you remember, hm?”

)•{+}•<>+<>•{+}•(

This was VERY fun to write.

So… those are the 4 “loop awakenings”.

I’ll compile them all in chronological order and post it to AO3 (which was the original plan but I felt like you folks would like it).

I hope you have a good day/night! Until next time!

[aroaceleovaldez]

do you have any 75% god ocs?? like, children of demigods who have a godly parent

i imagine that it wouldn't be a common thing at all but mixing all of this ancestries it's really fun i love doing it, even if they end up kinda op,, sometimes that's the fun of it yknow

I would prefer to not refer to them by any percentages, because that feels extremely uncomfortable, but yes I have oc legacies who are also direct descendants of deities. I talked about Anton in a previous ask (legacy of Mars, child of Ceres), and I have a legacy of Summanus kid in the works who is also a direct descendant of a wind god, but I haven't decided who exactly yet and I only have one doodle of them because they are a Literal Baby and that one doodle is them as a toddler being tiny and babey.

So let's talk about some rogues I've been working on!

These are my waterfowl lesbians. They are born out of me learning that in some myths, the Graeae can turn into swans and I thought it'd be fun to make an Enyo & Nemesis duo who can both turn into waterfowl, plus I also wanted to make an Enyo & Lua combo kid who can just telekentically throw weapons around, because that's cool. Also just playing around with Enyo kids having fire eyes/demigods with nonhuman traits, because Yes Please. It's just fun. Knives ended up with an Odile/Black Swan theme, just cause I thought it'd be neat and I wanted her to look cool. Anser has some swan Valkyrie theming kinda sprinkled in there just for flavor, ergo the Thor legacy (also just fun for her being super loud + a personal hc of mine about Norse rogues being more common) even though she's a goose, not a swan.

I have plenty of other multi-legacy demigods as well, just not ones who are direct descendants specifically, because a.) I always find it fun to think of how powers and themes would mesh, and b.) I actually have a very specific headcanon that multi-legacies are super common in the First and Second cohorts, due to the whole their-families-are-more-likely-to-live-in-New-Rome thing.

I've actually been bouncing around an idea recently of Roman demigods who are children of lares, because there is mythological precedent for that and technically they are house gods. It's just the mortal parent is probably a New Rome citizen and that's sure to get awkward quick some way or another. There's no way a lar parent can not end up awkward, which is hilarious. I also have a fun OC whose concept is based on the idea of two mortals who moved to New Rome with their demigod partners but one way or another ended up single again and then married each other and had a completely mortal kid who just. Grew up in New Rome and joined the legion anyways. I'm just a big fan of getting really funky with riordanverse ocs.

[transflynnscifo]

im sure its been talked about already but what i particularly love abt isat is the way it incorporates culture and language with one's sense of identity. theres honestly a LOT i could say on that matter mostly because i take interest in depictions of fictional languages (even if they are not directly shown to the player) but i think ill hold back from going full-rogue with those thoughts now. i think its so fun to see a fantasy video game that indicates the existence of more than 1-2 languages (where in some cases the second language is some ancient one too) it feels extremely refreshing to be directly told there are multiple languages, as well as acknowledging the existence of accents!

from what i understood while playing, everyone shown in game is speaking in vaugardian. there exist dialects of it, given mirabelle and isabeau's accents differ from bonnies. in turn, this confirms to us that odile and siffrin are bi/multilingual. and i dont know, but the way talks of language and accents was presented in dialogue made me feel really excited because its just something that was treated so casually in the text. again its not often you encounter this stuff in video game stories! not to mention pulling this off without even needing to invent a fictional language to show the players!

and of course my favorite aspect of this is the way language affects siffrin in particular. (spoilers & some speculation under cut)

i dont think i need to go into detail how the disappearance of their country affected siffrin. however, the loss of language is the aspect that especially grabs me because there is an implication that the party, and siffrin especially, are not aware of.

you know how they forget words sometimes? his native language got deleted from his memory, so this means he would have trouble working words out together. thats mostly because ppl generally think in one language without being aware of it.

and even if siffrin picked up on vaugardian quickly, keep in mind that they would probably never know vaguardian the same way they knew their native language. and that's because i think his brain unconsciously is still "thinking" in the forgotten language. for example, if you cant recall the word for "stuffed animal" in your native language, what are the chances of remembering it in your second language, which you had to pick up on in the wake of being alone and with no memory of your home? it's actually notable when you try to interact with certain objects in the pottery room in act 5, for example! (does not help that they are also having a really bad time)

sif's case is unique as a bilingual speaker, so i sadly dont feel equipped talking more on it. however, i want to specify that i dont think the loss of language is the ONLY factor contributing to sif's memory problems. moreso that its one of the multiple ingredients that got added in his brain as a result of the country being deleted, essentially

anyway dunno how much this makes sense! ive been awake for a while so sorry if ive phrased myself badly at certain places lol