#escaping timeloop -> immediate fight

[thebirthofvenusfly]

loop during act 6

[foone]

I wonder if it would be possible with ebook tech (probably with epub?) to make a book that changes as you read it. Like, a short book that's about a stable time loop, where at the end of the book they end up causing the events at the beginning though time travel.

but if you read it again, things are different. the stable time loop isn't so stable. they remember things from the previous iteration, but things eventually end up the same.

the next time, it's more pronounced. things go massively off course. they aren't sure why, but everything seems familiar. the timeloop gets triggered again, but only barely, and only because of a fight between the different sides, some of who want it to continue.

the next time it's clear from the beginning that it's a time loop. the other side tries to trigger it early, the protagonists attack immediately, knowing what happens. the time loop is prevented. there's a considerable epilogue, they retired and grow old and happy.

then it starts over again anyway. they didn't fully destroy the enemy, the time travel tech still existed, this iteration of the timeloop just went long.

the final time, the battle is decisive. many are lost, sacrificing themselves to stop the time loop. after all, if they fail, they'll come back. if they succeed, they've escaped this endless torment. the enemy is completely destroyed. the time travel tech is eradicated and the knowledge of how it was built is intentionally lost. the survivors spend their remaining days ever vigilant for anyone trying to revive the time loop. but it ends, with no time loop triggered.

you open the book for the last time. "Chapter one: It was a beautiful day, and everyone was happy."

You turn the page. It's blank. So are the next 200 pages.

[the-bitter-ocean]

oceaaaannn hiii! let's go with 3, 5, and 15 for the isat ask game c:

(MAJOR A6SE / 2HATS SPOILERS + FULL GAME SPOILERS AHOY) Thank you for the questions @dekupalace ! Since I’m going to be talking more in depth about the game for one of these questions I’m going to put my responses under a read more:

3- favorite soundtrack?

Oh god that’s such a hard question the whole game has certified bangers. The musicians at Studio Thumpy Puppy were not messing around or pulling any punches. The soundtrack of the game elevates literally every emotional beat. If I was forced to choose only one song out of the soundtrack my favorite track in the whole game has to be “How Can You Help Me, Stardust?” aka the theme that plays when you fight Loop at the Favor tree during act six. Hearing that for the first time while getting the full context of loop’s backstory made me go crazy. It was so fucking emotional and well done. That and it’s just objectively a super intense high energy song that makes me wanna dance around. If anyone deserves the coolest fight theme in the game, it’s Loop.

5- favorite optional event?

Ooh this is also a hard one! I adore a lot of the optional story events because each of them really shed light on Siffrin’s mental state /characterization, as well as gives depth to other aspects like the other character of the world building as a whole which strengthens the themes of the story. Aside from the obvious choice (2Hats Ending/ Act six loop encounter) I think my favorite optional event would have to be the “Who Was Phone” achievement (Change God event). There’s something so fascinating about learning about the Change God. Someone who clearly adores their certified little guy (Mirabelle) and is willing to offer words of kindness and assurance in her identity even if it knows she won’t remember in one instance..and then in the very same breath tell Siffrin that they enjoy watching Siffrin in the timeloop torment nexus because they’re curious to see how they change in a situation where everything is forced to stagnate. It was so genuinely fucked. I will think about it always forever.

15- anything you’d change about the game? be it game mechanics, a new feature, a change in plot, etc

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the game both in story and gameplay actually. I think Adrienne did a good job writing and expanding on the characters and story that was set up in the prologue. The quality of life in terms of gameplay got improved since the previous game as well ( those who played the prologue can attest to this) . The fact that it was a in universe story reason as to why makes it all the more satisfying (if you want to know what I mean by that please read my mutuals @felikatze analysis about it here.)

I just am happy that Siffrin got to be happy in the end and stay with their family, to be able to talk things out and escape the loops. I know some people didn’t like that or expected a more darker/sadder ending or wanted the gameplay to be more challenging … my response to that is Literally Just Play Start Again: A Prologue. To me it would be extremely reductive to have Siffrin just suffer with no reprieve or escape from the loops (because that’s just a repeat of what happened in its predecessor) or have the group just split off from each other immediately after everything happened. It would have been extremely unsatisfying and ultimately missing the point of the themes of the game as a whole gonna be real lol.

The only things I’d maybe change or add is like it would’ve been cute to see Euphrasie and Claude be together/ reunite on screen in act 6. They should kiss. Lol. (That and just I would’ve personally loved to see Euphrasie in canon expanded on a little more but that’s not necessarily needed she serves her purpose in the narrative. I just like analyzing her and giving her more depth and I like when others do too, but that’s what fanart/ fics and aus are for so I’m not fussed.) 

I don’t mind that the game is sort of open ended and doesn’t answer all the questions. I think that gives artists, fanfic writers, Au makers and people who like to analyze the game more freedom to come up with their own interpretations for things that happened in pre canon and post canon which to me is more interesting. I know Loop disappearing at the end of the game in both endings is sad/ bittersweet but I wouldn’t necessarily change the way that was structured either. I like that their fate was ambiguous because it leads the viewer to come up with their own theories as to where they went. ( personally I love seeing stuff where loop gets to travel on their own and form a new life and identity outside of the loops and learn to heal, as well as post game getting to meet back up with the party and learn to navigate this new life/ change one step at a time. )

[fictionkinfessions]

For canon disabilities: quite a bit, hah...

The first is a media-exclusive one. Because of just how much Craft I used throughout the timeloops, and then because I used it immediately after I escaped due to fighting Loop, I ended up with a pretty bad disability regarding Craft use. I could still pull off all types of Craft, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't use it at all for long-term projects. Something about my body not being able to handle that amount of Craft ever again after I spent so much power looping.

Second one's just a general one, I guess--chronic pain. To the stars, around Pluto, and all the way back. So much chronic pain. Most of it was, again, from the loops (dying over and over and over again certainly does things to the human body, huh!) but also just as a thing I'd had for a long time. And the chronic migraines, can't forget those, not when thinking too hard about my own special interest would give me a headache smh. I ended up using crutches sometimes when the pain was bad enough to the point where I couldn't walk properly.

The chronic pain and migraines passes over to now unfortunately, but I don't really have the Craft limitation... because Craft just doesn't exist here. Oh well.

~ Siffrin, In Stars and Time

Siffrin (In Stars and Time) back again! Forgot to include the mental disabilities:

Stars above I had so many. Most of which I still have, I'm pretty sure…

I had, uh… ADHD, autism, harm OCD, anxiety, depression, and who knows what else. So yeah it was a time for sure.

Anonymous asked:

Hi, yeah, Siffrin In Stars and Time back for the 3rd time because I keep forgetting stuff--

More canon disabilities wopeee! Let's see uh…

PTSD I'm pretty sure… yeah, the more I think about that, the more I definitely have that

Colourblindness but I don't count that for myself completely because. Everyone was colourblind. Colour just didn't exist, except for the time I brought red back for a bit

And! My eye! Not plural, I only had one of those. Lost my left eye protecting Bonnie from a sadness. I don't regret it and I never will. I'd do it a thousand times over--a single eye will never matter more than that kid. Plus I got a sick eyepatch out of it!

Aaaand my horrific memory can count too I think. I forgot the word for stuffed animal once. I forgot everything about my country, my childhood, who I once was. So when I landed in Vaugarde and started travelling, I built a new me in a way. I still forget things often though.

Okay! Phew, pretty sure that's finally it. Sorry for flooding your askbox, hehe

[larrythefloridaman]

Y'all like your deities with or without the shell?

Under the readmore is aaaaaaaaall color god observations and musings based on them, because I am studying to become the world's Premiere Chromatheologian and RGB Understander so under the cut is pretty much Oops! All Spoilers! up to the most recent episode of season 3.

Apparently Universal Color God Attributes:

Damage to their domain hurts them, but fixing the issue, or lashing out by using their powers destructively, can help them to repair the damage.

If they sustain enough damage, it can temporarily paralyze them and send them into a strengthened but 'exposed' state (chartreuse's spirit activation in the last fight of 19) and further damage after that will activate a failsafe, which is unique by domain but seemingly designed to give them the chance to balance things, but can get… very out of hand or backfire depending on circumstances. (see: cobalt’s failsafe sending mark's universe into a never-ending apocalyptic war because word of the cure for death became too widespread for the killing urge failsafe to affectively balance anything because every side could simply revive their fallen.)

Chartreuse's failsafe is something of a stopped time bubble quarantine where processes that require the passing of time cannot complete, allowing her the time to wear down the offending party to beat them to death or plan around finishing them.

Cobalt's is inciting war, the casualties serving to balance the scale. I'm not sure we know Crimson's yet- he's never taken enough direct damage without doing damage to compensate in order to trigger it, although i dont remember season one well enough to recall if any of the universe stuff in it tracks with the pattern bc season one is a bit fucky

Connected in a fashion that allows them to simply Sense the overall status of the others to some extent, although they don't know Why theyre in the state theyre in without asking (chartreuse [and by extension, folk, presumably on her information] confronting crimson via crimsonaut for pretending to be dead, Cobalt confronting both his siblings about how they are handling their duties improperly but not knowing about Folk. He knew about the constants deaths because hes a death god, duh, but he didnt use their names like crimson did, possibly implying they're erased upon death so thoroughly that only crimson and the constants can really recall a shattered constants' existence, not even the other guardians.)

Abilities of the guardians can be replicated by mortals through three apparent methods- through machines (dimensional bus, the time machine, presumably J0hn's part in Sephiroth's resurrection,) simply through advanced enough individual skill (Home MD curing death, potentially Dantoinette's universe portal travel, maybe Genwun's sped up time bubble that evolved them into Genfour? although that could very well have just been an illusion and theyre just like, a fuckin theater kid that was doing pretend character development for the Bit or something given GenFive turned out to be a zoroark) or through stealing some of the power of the relevant god (Dr. Order stealing Chartreuse's power, Dani maybe having stolen some of Crimson's when she beat his ass. Dani's one woman universal travel is like, wicked ambiguous)

Cobalt:

Can seemingly perceive or act through any living material. (The Tree. Cobalt instructed Larry to slap his hand on that tree, that shit glowed and he had a new deal tattoo without Cobalt ever having been physically present)

Can influence the resurrected by giving them a killing urge. Represented by an aberrant brainwave and a ringing in the undead's heads. This doesnt appear to be direct control- as the Grunk could clearly restrain himself from killing people that genuinely didn't deserve it (like nightly and cha cha, who WERE grunk event targets but not fatally so. Nagito was a crimson thing so it really doesn't count here. God poor grunk his life really is just a constant plaything in the hands of the gods huh) and Sephiroth very much had personal motivation to want to kill Folk. failsafe activates this ability on the scale of war.

Deals. The extent of what Cobalt can do with these is unclear but Iggy's god powers were taken from him as his part in the deal so what he can take isn't limited to physical things or things obviously related to his domain.

Weaknesses:

Deals. While this ability is impressive his preference for making deals for those that offend against his domain is potentially very exploitable- Larry's knowledge of the cure for death is, if word of it were to ever get out beyond Larry, wildly dangerous for this dimension, so technically the safest thing for the iron-fisted cobalt to do would be to nip the problem in the bud and get rid of him. But, fascinatingly, that wasn't even put on the table, the first thing Cobalt does is threaten J0hn, prompting Larry to make a deal. While Cobalt enforces death, he also doesn't like unnecessary death, and Larry demonstrably knows how to keep a secret for the good of the world even at great cost to himself and Cobalt is aware of this- easily clarifying to Larry the aberrant thing endangering the universe wasn't his timeloop business. So while he's clearly not letting his resurrection fuckery go unpunished, he's being pretty merciful when he doesn't have to be and from a strictly, brutally pragmatic perspective probably shouldn't be.

His control over the undead manifests as a ringing and an aberrant brainwave trackable by J0hn's equipment, and could probably therefore be accounted for and circumvented? J0hn has, wisely, largely sworn off fucking with people's brains after the sephiroth fiasco went So Wrong, So Very Wrong, Oh God Oh Fuck Someone Cool Almost Died, but if he hadn't, and if J0hn let his dislike for authority and keeping Larry safe outweigh reason like he let safety, spite and comedic value outweigh good ethical sense when reprogramming sephiroth, in theory Mr. 'hacked a time machine for breakfast?' could. y'know. probably do it. what is a god's authority to an anarchist, what better to challenge life and death than the cold and eternal machine, you get the point its a fun scenario

Olive Garden Breadsticks and Small Cute Dogs, apparently

Chartreuse's:

Time Clones: taps into parallel timelines to retrieve alternate versions of herself to utilize.

Time Travel: what it says on the tin. Travel to the past creates painful splits in the prime timeline, but through careful action and traveling back into the past, these can be weaved into a time loop. A split from the timeline is a wound, and a successful timeloop is the surgical scar it can become with attentive care, to use a medical metaphor. Carefully closed and healing. Keeping Folk here is essentially akin to chartreuse pulling out her stitches on the initial incision.

Time Stopping: creates a space wherein things that take time to complete cannot complete, where things can move, but everything within is in a perfect unchanging stasis until the bubble drops. This is the form her failsafe takes.

Timeline Creation: can create timelines from scratch.

Can fuse alternate timeline versions of the same individual to allow them to coexist. (Ryan's confirmed in the discord that Dantoinette experienced both failures in 20, because Chartreuse fused the two instances of her to save the post-raid instance from fading. Could... theoretically do this to Folk and save herself the pain, but while Folk and Therapuppy are the same person, there's seven years and untold amounts of difference deriving from the time and circumstance between them and the inherent cognitive dissonances that would result from attempting that would be wicked fucked up to inflict, and that's assuming there isn't some reason that it wouldn't be possible anyway. while the two Danis had like. A day or so's difference between them, so she could be safely fused with the only dissonant thing being that she remembers both being too slow to prevent order's time escape and beginning to dissipate post-raid, AND losing that fight to her pre-raid. RIP Dani, that perfectionism must be kicking her ass)

Weaknesses:

Unwilling to use her powers destructively in her pursuit of domain repair and thereby much easier to damage to the point of paralyzing her, making her particularly vulnerable to Power Theft

Morally Optimistic. At one point in 19, she briefly justifies Crimson's shitty evil actions to herself after experiencing for herself how Wack the kerfuffleverse is firsthand, ("and all he did was kill a couple people!" Chartreuse. Honey.) and when she fights Crimsonaut she seems to actually believe for a second that he's actually worried about her when Crimson asks if she's okay after he beats her. Additionally, as D+, she concerns herself with trying to understand doctor order's motive, and after Larry defeats Order, he makes a point of confirming she feels no remorse before making his request for what Chartreuse does with her, and appeals to the idea of letting Order fulfill her desire to be a god in a way which isn't a problem for anyone and Chartreuse is more than happy to oblige under these conditions after what Larry's done for everybody. Then immediately threatens to evaporate him for playfully teasing her about having a crush on folk. Fucked up a little bit

Crimson's:

Universe Shifting: Travel between universes.

Universe Correction: appears to replace an aberrant individual with the 'correct' version of themselves for that universe, presumably sending them back to their own. (Mario from super mario was universe corrected, but still seemingly exists in wario form as evidenced by smashup kerfuffle, and was simply temporarily replaced with his corrected universe counterpart. But like. The dimensional bus system is still active crimbo doing the Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me routine aint gonna work if they can come back with a shrug and bus fare. you're fighting the symptoms without treating the problem)

Universal Constants:

Three individuals per universe that serve as the pillars which stabilize said universe, created by absorbing red orbs Crimson creates. Becoming a constant grants power, but also makes the constant fragile, and death wipes them from the face of the multiverse, only crimson, those he's possessed and the other constants seemingly able to recall they ever existed, although some physical evidence is still left behind (Larry's record of Nagito's death, which is just as redacted as everything else relating to him but still is very much something Larry has. Kind of a Voidfish adventurezone type beat ironically enough? Taako really has seen all this shit before no wonder he peaced tf out)

To counterbalance the weaknesses the constants have, they have a sort of spidey-sense to alert them to danger, and an intrinsic bonded connection to their fellow constants, and additionally, Crimson apparently doesn't suffer any pain from the death of constants or the structural instability of a universe.

Possession: what it says on the tin! Seemingly can only be done with permission to living things- none of crimson's direct hosts seem to have entered that agreement unwillingly, Valentine lost a bet, Hamburger and Crimsonaut have been by all evidence intentional allies to Crimson- but electronics are fair game, as seen with The Guy's suit. Kinda curious how that rule applies to bitches that are half and half, like J0hn or the clonebot gang, as its unclear whether The Guy's suit was yoinkable without permission because it was mechanical or because its not sentient. could go either way but if it's the former that's potentially very frightening

Fusion: Two individuals from alternate universes can be fused into one shared body which can take on aspects of either depending on which is currently in control. (possibly allows someone who traveled into a given universe to become a fixed resident there without it being an issue for Crimson, whose job is to prevent interdimensional travel?) Monday Mark and possibly T.O.M. are our main examples.

Corruption:

Unpleasant As Hell and can even kill you instead of changing you if you cant handle it.

turns the corrupted individual into a twisted exaggeration of themself, allows them supernatural control over their shape, and makes them very difficult- if not impossible by traditional means- to kill, based on Garfield.

Subjects them to control by Crimson, but can be exorcised of this influence just like crimson's direct hosts can, although the supernatural changes to their physiology are seemingly permanent, judging from Shantae.

Notable Weaknesses:

Exorcism can be performed to free a possessed or corrupted individual of Crimson's influence. Its unclear how exorcism works/is learned in CPUK, but confirmed exorcists: dantoinette and yung papaya's snake dad, confirmed non-exorcists: folk

The universal constant orbs are physical objects so they are Very Stealable and they grant a power boost so theres literally an Incentive to beat his ass for anybody who wants to be strong and either doesnt know or doesn't care about the whole 'getting erased when you die' part

Crimson has lots of tools to create pawns, but all of them have drawbacks. Corruption could kill a potential pawn, possession generally seems to require permission, and he has no control over the constants' choices and actions

Manipulative bitch's highest stat is charisma and it shows. This motherfucker is selling snake oil. If he was mortal rather than a Whole Entire God he'd make an excellent ineffectual saturday morning cartoon supervillain and i think everyone, including him, would be happier for it, ngl

Something interesting ive realized that likely wasnt fully intentional, is that a lot of Dr. Order's creations, considering her motive, can kind of be sorted by a color god it appears to be a crude attempt at mimicking the abilities of. My Grunk is a poorly executed resurrection, the clonebot gang vs chartreuse's timeclones (this one deserves special mention because Chartreuse used this shitty attempted mimicry to her advantage with D+, very smart and ironic play, excellent job Treusy,) spirits are somewhat similar to universal constant orbs (orbs which can be absorbed to grant power, but which have physical repercussions- key differences being that spirits require activation and grow stronger while attuning to a user without being used, and having far less severe drawbacks, taking a heavy toll on the body, but only once they've worn off and without the risk of wiping yourself from the face of existence,) and she also augmented Perfect Spriteman and Larry, which kind of track as crude imitations of Crimson's corruption!

Garfield was an acerbic cat who loved food and hated mondays, now its an actively malicious ever-hungry amorphous entity whose only weakness is monday and whose only consistency in form is 'cat-like.'

Shantae was (to my extremely limited understanding of shantae,) a friendly heroic type who had to introduce herself often, and she became something akin to a biblically accurate angel that can *only* introduce herself.

The Grunks a tough but sweet and supportive single dad with stage presence and a tendency to fly off the handle when he or his family are slighted, and now he gets so hype in the audience when his son does well that he bursts into flames and ascends and we get random grunk events along with the associated murder charges when he gets mad and the target sucks enough that he doesn't hold himself back from killing them.

Perfect Spriteman and Larry fit the trend of exaggeration of already present traits- Spriteman fucking loves sprite and became something that only thinks about sprite, and Larry the Florida Man, characterized from minute one by unpredictability and who spent his first matches in the series pre-shapeshifter transformation staying alive keeping stocks for Shockingly Long even despite getting seventh, became literally physically random as well as developing the ability to regenerate, albeit with the ability to feel pain normally very much intact, unlike Garfield just... Soaking up damage like its nothing in his pursuit of Jon. The fact that Arbuckle legit defeated Garfield, even temporarily, is terrifyingly impressive honestly that dude is fucking built different for being so chronically bland

i dont think they're actually corrupted in any meaningful way we have to worry about, to be fully clear, Spriteman was cured with fucking antacids, i simply think they could be a fucked up attempt at making something that kind of seems like it from a functional standpoint, from the wannabe god doctor that brought us green clones whose only fundamental association with time was accelerated aging and who thought an actively rotting corpse thats just reanimated enough that it can throw hands was as good as curing death

[theinsanecrayonbox]

heh, ok a little Timeloop AU musings

so already established that for some reason, Arkady was physically sent back in time. was aiming to get to Edmonton before Zeb locked Victor in the basement, but missed the mark. so Arkady helps teenage Victor escape early, and the two go raising Saul on the railroad for a few years.

this changes things cause Vic doesn’t get with Nightwolf, and Jacob isn’t born...and somehow that ripple changes things enough to ruin Logan’s life, so he gets a temporary time jump back.

the ripple really is that Misha gets born waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early. so Logan’s sent back to stop that from happening.

and he does, he hunts them down, kills Arkady. in the process, the rail camp gets slaughtered similarly like the original timeline, so things go back to normalish. because Vic escaped the slaughter with young Saul, goes home, yadda yadda.

now the new info; Arkady really did his best to avoid the future spoilers. heck, he had to fight off Vic’s advances for the longest time because he was technically underaged here you know...ANYWAYS, that aside, he didn’t give future spoilers. EXCEPT when Logan showed up, it wasn’t an immediate slaughter fest, they had running away time, and when it became clear to Arkady that the only way to protect Victor and Saul was to sacrifice himself, he did give Victor a few spoilers before telling him to run

probably mentions of Weapon X, to ensure that they woudl meet again

but...he also mentioned Leni and Graydon. because he came back in time to try to make Vic’s life better, and loosing out on the relationship with Graydon is something he’s regretted. so in the new timeline, Victor vaguely knows that when he meets Leni, he’s gonna get knocked up; still doesn’t know when, but maybe he can actually pick up on eth subtle symptoms he missed the first time around? so that ;eaves two options that both end the same way;

1) once he realizes he’s pregnant with Graydon, he just ghosts on the mission, and goes back to Clara (and his mom should still be alive then right? maybe??) and he has Graydon off the grid, leaving him with Clara so he can go back to missions as usual 2) never realizes he’s pregnant, but knows that the seemingly stillborn Graydon isn’t, so he runs off with the baby before Leni/Mystique can, and again goes and gives him to Clara to raise safely off the grid

because due to things this time around, Clara and Victor have a better relationship, so sure she’d take her nephew for safety. this also lets Graydon not grow up into a mutant hating scumbag. he...still has some self hating issues and parental abandonment issues sure, since he inherited no mutant traits and you know his parent did dump him on his aunt for the majority of his life, but he isn’t a terrorist now (hopefully)

i also don’t recall if i mentioned this in a past incarnation of this plot, but the Weapon X baby might survive here too? but that’s also the trigger that lets Vic and Arkady (who has joined up with the team/program by that point) know that the program is screwing with their heads too, because at this point Arkady is still sterilized and Victor had not slept with anyone else, so there’s no way he should be pregnant on his own accord. so that lets the two of them defect from the program, and maybe end up back with Clara...which lets Graydon have his venting session with his dad. but then again, Weapon X baby might be stillborn still too...

idk, i’m just slowly piecing ideas for this au together cause it’s self indulgent lol. maybe Kylie belongs here then? hm.....

[earth-ambassador-jim]

The Missing Month Chapter 5

Loops 17-18

This is a fanfiction that explores what happened during the first 30 time loops that Jim was in in the episode D'Aja Vu.

Fanfiction - AO3

Trigger Warning: Panic attack.

17.

Jim flung himself forward. His head was no longer pounding but he couldn’t see anything. He hit the ground hard. His teeth clicked together painfully and he tasted blood.

There was no time to worry about that. He had to get away from Gunmar. Jim attempted to get up but his feet were tied. He thrashed desperately only managing to make it worse. His breath was coming in short rapid gasps and he was distantly aware that he was close to passing out.

He made another lunge forward attempting to escape his bonds and his head struck a hard pointed surface. Jim curled into a ball as pain roared through his skull. After it abated a little he looked around to see what he had hit his head on and stilled. That was his dresser. His bed was to his left. He slowly looked down and realized he was tangled in his sheets. He was back in his room! The day had restarted!

Jim stared for a moment longer and then started laughing. It was okay. He was safe from Gunmar. He laughed until his sides hurt. His breath hitched. Draal’s eyes had been so empty. He could hardly recognize him. It was like he was dead. It was hard to breathe. He had felt so small before Gunmar. Helpless. Worthless. He had been ready to give up. His chest was being crushed. He couldn’t breathe but his heart was racing. He clutched at his body and his fingers encountered metal. When had he donned his armor? He tried to remove the amulet but it wouldn’t budge. His blood roared in his ears. It was too hot. He couldn’t breathe. His vision was greying at the edges like it did when Bular nearly choked him. He wondered if he was dying. After everything he’d been through his body was finally just giving out on him. He let out a strangled whimper. He wasn’t ready to die.

Distantly he heard someone talking to him. A familiar voice. Toby.

“…imbo. Please breathe. I’m here now. You’re going to be okay,” He was saying.

Jim grabbed at the hand on his shoulder and his eyes met Toby’s. In the dim red light he saw that his friend’s eyes were wide and teary.

“Hi,” Toby said shakily. “Um…. Ah, Right! Try breathing with me Jim.”

Toby started taking slow breaths. Jim stared at him not comprehending. Toby repeated himself and this time it registered for Jim. He followed along shakily. His throat hurt.

Toby was rubbing the back of Jim’s neck with the hand he wasn’t holding. After a few minutes of slow breathing, Toby started to talk. He wasn’t talking about anything in particular just rambling. It was nice. It reminded Jim of when they would hang out in the park during the summer. It was too hot to move or run around so they would just talk. Vaguely Jim noted that he was no longer tangled up in his blankets.

His heart rate gradually slowed down and his head cleared somewhat, but not entirely. It was still throbbing a bit. Unwilling to let go of Toby’s hand he reached up and prodded at his head with his left. There was a bump. He removed his hand from his head and looked at it.

“Is that blood?” Toby sounded alarmed.

“I think I hit my head on the dresser,” Jim mumbled. His voice was hoarse.

“That’s not good. Let me look.”

Toby tried to tug his hand loose from Jim’s, but Jim tightened his grip. Toby stopped, drew in a shaky breath, and used his free hand instead to tilt Jim’s head forward. He started gently prodding through his hair. Jim hissed when he touched the injury.

“Yeah, that looks bad. I don’t think you need stiches, but we definitely need to get it cleaned up and bandaged.”

He paused, searching Jim’s face.

“Is it okay for me to call Claire over?”

Jim thought for a second then nodded.

“Okay.”

Toby tapped something out on his phone then hit send. After a moment the phone pinged and he glanced down at it.

“She’ll be here soon.” His gaze shifted back to Jim. “Can I hug you?”

Jim nodded and released the hand he was holding. Toby wrapped both arms firmly around him and pulled him close. Jim took a shuddering breath and pressed his face into his friend’s shoulder. The Eclipse Armor disappeared in a flash of red. They stayed like that until there was a knock at the bedroom door.

“Can I come in?” Claire called.

“Yep,” Toby responded when Jim nodded.

The door creaked open and Claire’s feet thumped softly against the floor. A moment later Jim felt her kneel down at his side. She hesitated and then joined in the hug.

Jim wasn’t sure how long they sat there, just holding each other and sharing the same air. Around them the room slowly brightened as the sun crept over the horizon.

Easy Peasy…

There was a slight change in air pressure and the alarm abruptly cut off.

Jim pulled back and gave Claire a shocked look.

“Did you just banish my alarm clock to the Shadow Realm?”

Claire looked rather sheepish and attempted to hide the staff.

“Sorry I wasn’t thinking. I swear I just did it on instinct. I can try to get it back…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jim said.

The situation was so absurd that he started laughing. Claire and Toby joined in and for a moment everything felt right. Unfortunately his head injury had to go and ruin that. Jim hissed as it sent a jolt of pain throughout his skull.

“Aaaand I forgot about that,” Toby said. “Are you okay to come down to the kitchen so we can get you cleaned up?”

Jim nodded and immediately regretted it.

“I brought a first aid kit,” Claire said holding it up. “You have no idea how hard it was to sneak downstairs to get that without waking my parents.”

Claire looked so pleased with herself that Jim decided not to mention the very well stocked medical kit that was already in the house. His mom always got lots of freebies whenever she went to conferences.

Jim stood up slowly grimacing when he realized his leg had fallen asleep. He leaned heavily on Toby as he massaged out the pins and needles.

Once they got down stairs Claire had Jim lean over the sink so she could wash the blood out of his hair and clean the wound. After she finished Jim sat down at the table while they debated how best to treat it.

“How about you just bandage it up for now?” Jim suggested.

“I don’t know Jimbo, it looks pretty bad. We should probably drop by the hospital just to be sure. You didn’t get this one doing troll stuff so it should be okay.”

The idea of dealing with the hospital right now, even if he did get to see his mom, sounded really unappealing.

“Head injuries bleed a lot, so it’s probably not as bad as it looks. Anyway it will be gone in a few more hours.”

“What do you mean?” Claire asked a wrinkle forming between her brows.

Jim sighed.

“We’re in a time loop right now. It restarts a little before noon. Unfortunately I’m the only one who remembers it.”

He was expecting Toby to get all excited about it like he usually did. For a moment he looked like he was going to, but then he frowned.

“Does that have something to do with… you know… this morning?” He asked hesitantly as he placed a piece of gauze over Jim’s injury.

Jim grimaced; he didn’t really want to talk about it.

“Yeah. The last loop didn’t end well.”

“Are we in one of those scenarios were everyone dies and you have to keep going back until you fix it?”

Jim blinked. “What? No! I just… I kinda did something stupid last loop.”

He looked away but not before he saw Toby and Claire exchange a glance. He felt Claire’s hands on his head as she gently secured the bandage in place. He sighed.

“I went to Trollmarket…”

Claire and Toby both inhaled sharply.

“I thought with the timeloop in play I might as well see if I could check things out down there. Just a quick look…”

“You went alone didn’t you?” Jim winced at the hurt in Toby’s voice.

“Yeah… If it worked out I figured I could bring you guys next time. I just didn’t want to see anything happen to you guys.”

Jim’s hands clenched on the table.

“I messed up. I got caught and Gunmar made Draal fight me. He… He was just about to use the Decimaar Blade on me before the loop reset.”

Jim’s breathing hitched. Toby sighed and put his arms around him.

“Oh Jimbo, what are we going to do with you?”

“I’m sorry,” Jim whispered.

“I know you are,” Toby said squeezing his shoulder. “Listen… I… I’m not going to ask for a promise, but please… Please! …Make sure you at least talk to us before doing something like this again. I… we can’t lose you Jim.”

Beside him Claire nodded. Were those tears in her eyes?

“I’m sorry,” Jim said again, voice cracking.

The three hugged. Jim’s shoulders started to shake and he felt his friends tighten their grip on him. They were shaking too.

Eventually Toby pulled away and gave him a determined smile.

“Okay! No more Trollhunter business today. We are making popcorn and we’re going to waste the rest of this loop watching dumb movies and filling our bodies with junk.”

“I could make a nice breakfa…”

“No,” Toby cut him off. “You are banished from the kitchen. Shoo.”

Toby waved a hand at him. Jim rolled his eyes but did as he was told. He started to head toward the living room but after a quick assessment of his clothes he decided that it was better for him to go wash up first. He was really sweaty.

A half hour later Blinky and Aaarrrgghh showed up. They didn’t ask any questions. Jim assumed Toby must have filled them in. Toby and Claire emerged out of the kitchen with a plethora of junk food and they all leaned up against Aaarrrgghh as Toby put in Gunrobot: the Original.

The movie was actually cheesier than Jim remembered. The special effects were terrible, the plot questionable at best and the acting super hammy but the familiarity was nice. Jim laughed at Toby and Claire arguing the merits of the series and tried to answer Blinky’s questions as best he could.

Jim yawned as the movie finished and Toby jumped up to put in a new one. This is nice, He thought snuggling into Aaarrrgghh’s mane. Claire adjusted herself against his shoulder and Toby came back and leaned against him. Blinky shifted and carefully patted his hair. Jim smiled as his eyes slipped closed…

18.

Easy peasy, Lemon squeezy…

Jim yawned as he turned off his alarm. He stretched slowly and then reached for his cellphone. It rang a few times before he got an answer.

“Good morning, Sweetie. What’s up?”

“Hi Mom. Have you had breakfast?”

“Not yet. I was going to grab a donut from the breakroom. Why?”

Jim grimaced at that.

“I was wondering if I could stop by the hospital so we could eat together.”

His mom took a moment to respond but when she did he could hear the smile in her voice.

“I would love that! I have my break at nine. Would that work?”

“Definitely. And no donuts, okay? I’ll bring breakfast.”

She laughed at that.

“Sure thing kiddo. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

There we go! Jim finally gets a little rest. The poor kid needs it.

The kids are Not alright... but at least they have each other.

Next time... back to hunting Porgon.

[phantoms-lair]

Wormholes AU - Alternate Selves Part 1

“The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised” Coran declared. “It’s breaking down!”

“What does that mean?!” Lance screamed.

“It means we have no control over where we’re headed!”

The castle rocked and the Lions began to slide around in the hangar.

“Shut the hangar door,” Shiro ordered. “We can’t afford to be separated.” The order came just in time, as the black Lion crashed against the closing door, the other lions piling up on him.

“It everyone alright?” Allura called.

“Squished, but fine,” Shiro reported back. “How’s it looking on your end?”

“Let’s check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us,” Coran desperately began typing away at his console.

“Coran look, there seems to be something on the other end. We’re heading right towards it,” An inky black mass, unlike anything Allura had ever seen was blocking the end of the tunnel

“Scanners show there’s no exit. It’s just nothingness. Find an exit before we run smack into the void!”

“I can’t, I’ve lost control of the Castle.”

“Brace yourselves, we’re about to hit!”

The Alteans, Mice, and Pilot’s braced themselves as they collided with the mass. The strangest feeling any of them ever felt passed over them, then-

“Let’s check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us.”

“You just did that,” Pidge yelled over the intercom.

“Coran we’re okay you…?”

“What’s the matter Princess?”

“You’re younger,”

“Boobs!” Lance suddenly exclaimed.

“Lance this is seriously not the time,” Shiro growled,.

“It is when they’re on my chest!”

The rest of the male, er formerly male Paladins looked down. “ Okay, this is weird,” Shiro allowed, suddenly aware of the change in pitch in his voice. “Any idea what’s causing this, Princess?”

“No, but the mice have changed too!” Allura looked at now squirrel-like beings she was telepathically bonded with.

“What are you talking about, they’re always been like that. And shouldn’t we be more worried about the void we’re about to crash into?”

Again the strange sensation overcame them. “Okay, good news, not a girl anymore. Bad news, four arms.”

“And Coran’s even younger!”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, but let’s check the Rift Exiting Position monitors and see where this wormholes taking us.”

“I don’t see how that’s bad news. I mean, the armor’s made for four arms now and can you imagine the stuff I can build with this?” Hunk sounded excited as he began adjusting the Yellow Lion’s controls. “This is great!”

“This is not great, well the four arms thing kinda is, but according to these reading we’re stuck in a time loop.” Pidge rapidly began doing scans. “Allura’s unaffected, we’re not affected mentally, but we’re physically transforming. Corans not transforming, but he is de-aging and can’t remember the rifts. The mice are transforming, and they’re mice so who know what they remember.”

“I do, they remember something wrong, but have a hard time placing what’s changed.”

“Okay why those divisions. What controls who’s affected and how?”

“I will never surrender to the void!” Coran declared as inky darkness swallowed them again.

“I’ve got it!” Pidge declared, the small mass of tentacles that made up her hair writhing in excitement. “The mental anchor is bonds. We’re bonded to the Lions and Allura’s bonded to the Castle. That’s what's protecting our minds. Alteans must be resistant to the transformations, and I bet it’s linked to whatever energy it is Allura uses. Coran doesn’t have the energy, or at least not a lot of it, which is why he can’t create wormholes or do the Balmeran Rejuvenation ceremony. So he’s merely resistant, rather than immune like Allura.”

“That’s great Pidge, but that doesn’t tell us how to stop it,” Keith pointed out.

“Stop, that’s it! We’ll stop the castle, Coran, power everything down.”

“You can’t tell me what to do!”

“CORAN!”

“Fine,” there was a whirr and the castle powered down. Sadly it didn’t slow down at all, and the darkness was upon them again.

“Well that didn’t work,” Pidge muttered, frantically scrambling.

“At least we seem to be mostly normal,” Shiro sighed.

“I don’t know, can anyone else feel the castle, like how we feel our Lions?” Keith asked.

“Now that you mention it, I can.” Lance said, “So what does it mean?”

Pidge’s eyes bugged. She ripped off her helmet and felt her ears. “Everyone, focus on the Castle itself, try to, I don’t know force energy into it?”

“Pidge what are you-” another trip through the darkness interrupted them. “CASTLE! ENERGY! NOW!” Pidge yelled, focusing as strong as she could.

“You heard her.” Shiro wasn’t sure exactly what he was do, so he tried focusing on the castle like he did Black. To his surprise he felt a connection and tried to focus on sending energy hoping it worked.

“I’ve gained some control over the castle,” Allura announced. “I can’t reroute us, but at least we’re not moving forward, and that’s brought us some time. Pidge, what did you do?”

“We got lucky,” Pidge explained, still focusing on the Castle. “The last loop turned us into exactly what we needed to be, Alteans. That’s why we didn’t change this loop, we’re as stable as Allura now. And since we are helping stabilize the ship, at least some of us can utilize Altean energy.”

“Alteans? You’re all Alteans?” Allura’s voice was weak.

“This is not time to rest though, we’ve slowed it down, but we’re not free yet.” Shiro reminded them. “Princess, any ideas on how we can free the Castle?”

“No,” Aluura forced herself away from thinking about the fact that there were five other Alteans present besides her and the now toddler-like Coran. “The Castle is able to home in on the Lions, but since they’re here, that won’t do anything.”

“Then we need to move the Lions,” Shiro surmised. He was beginning to feel tired. “With the energy we’re giving it, how long before the Castle continues towards the void if we leave?”

“A few dobash at least.” Allura answered. “But not much longer that that.”

“Okay, here’s the plan. We open the doors and immediately form Voltron so we don’t get separated. We go through the wormhole’s wall to wherever it takes us, and Allura follows with the Castle.”

“If you go through that wall, there’s no telling where you’ll end up.” Allura pointed out. “You could be anywhere in the galaxy.”

“Anywhere but here, which is all we need,” Shiro pointed out.

“Guys, I hate to be a downer, but are we going to turn back to normal?” Hunk asked.

“It doesn’t matter. If we stay, we’re stuck as Alteans anyway,” Keith pointed out.

“And I don’t know how much time we have before Coran disappears entirely.”

“Right,” Shiro stopped focusing his energy. “Open the hangar doors and let’s form Voltron!”

The action was second nature to all of the Paladin’s by now, which was good, because even as the Lions came together it felt like the energies of the wormhole was ripping them apart. “Hunk, Lance, put everything you’ve got into sending us towards the wall and not into the void. Pidge, keep an open signal to the castle.”

“Everything’s getting scrambled,” Pidge yelled as they hit the wall. “I’m not sure how clear the signal’s going to be.”

Allura stood staring at the map, watching the little blip that was Voltron vanish while the ticks ran out on how long she could resist the void. “Come on Paladins, please…..”

A signal lit and she slammed the button as hard as she could. The exit wasn’t clean by any means, but at least they were out. “Coran, Coran are you okay?”

“Never better, Princess.” Coran dusted himself off, standing from where his toddler self had fell. “Why do you ask?”

“We were stuck in a timeloop, but the Paladin’s got us out of it, they-” A look of hope blossomed on her face, only to be quickly crushed. “I’m a terrible person Coran.”

“Well I know that’s not true. What’s wrong?”

“The effects of the Wormhole loop were causing the Paladin’s to change forms. In the last iteration, before we escaped, they had become Alteans. And for a moment I wished that they would still be as such.” She looked disgusted with herself. “We’ve already taken them from their homes and families, to fight on the front lines of a war they had been safe from. Now I wish to take away their own forms, their identity as a species?”

“You’re not a terrible person,” Coran assured, his voice more serious than it usually was. “Being the last of Altea is a difficult thing, I know. It’s normal for you to wish to see others, by any means.” He smiled. “Now come on, let’s see how they’re doing.”

“Right,” She gave him a small smile back. “Paladins, how are you?”

“Tired, but in one piece,” Shiro grinned. “I’m ready for some food and a nap.”

“Nap sounds good,” Keith agreed. “Maybe a shower. I feel kinda of itchy.”

“TMI,” Lance groaned.

“How can you guys want to sleep? Do you think the Lions were able to record the data from what happened?” Pidge sounded like she was bouncing in her seat.

Shiro smiled fondly at her enthusiasm. “I’m not sure,” He really was feeling the energy drain from helping power the ship. “What about you Hunk?”

“GRoooOOOolf”

The sleepy feeling was pushed back as all of the other Paladin’s sat up. “Hunk you okay buddy?” Lance asked nervously. “Grolffffffffffff” can the sound again, particularly forlorn sounding.

“Hunk might still be under a wormhole effect,” Pidge theorized.

“Let dock at the Castle, Hunk are you good to fly?”

The answering noise wasn’t any more understandable, but the fact that the Yellow Lion turned and flew towards the castle was heartening.

The five Lions landed in the main hangar and as soon as the door was closed, Shiro was out of his Lion. In the future he would look back and realize he’d gotten out too smoothly, too swiftly, but for now all he could think about was getting to Hunk. He was in the Yellow Lion before it’s Paladin got out of it, and was shocked to see what was sitting in the pilot seat. “Hunk is that you?”

The grizzly bear wearing the armor and helmet of the Yellow Paladin made another mournful growl at him.

“It’s okay Hunk, we’ll fix this. Pidge will figure it out, you know how smart she is.” Shiro tried to be reassure.

Hunk smiled back, or at least as close as he could to it. The large bear slid carefully out of his seat. Their attention was drawn by hearing Lance shriek and the sound of several thuds, followed by a weak “I’m Okay,”

Hunk wuffled worriedly as he and Shiro exited Yellow.

“Sorry guys, I think my legs fell asleep.” Lance was laying on his back just outside Blue’s mouth. “I tried to get up and just tumbled out.”

“I think you need legs for that,” Keith said in a shocked voice.

“What do you mean I need legs, what kind of lame insult….” Lance trailed off at he looked at his legs, or rather where he legs had been. Instead the white and blue armor now covered a broad tail, ending in a shape that could only be a fin. “Where are my legs? And-and why is Hunk a bear?”

“A bear?” Pidge joined them. “That’s odd. All the things we were turning into were sapient beings, would going through the wall have changed much?”

Lance blinked. “Okay, I’m a fish and Hunk’s a bear. So why is Pidge in a dress the weirdest thing in this room.”

Pidge blinked. “What are you talking about, I haven’t worn a dress for years, not since I started pretending to be a guy. Oh please tell me that wormhole didn’t.” Pidge looked down to discover the Green and white armor was indeed now more of an armored dress, with pink accents. “I shouldn’t even be surprised should I?”

“At least it’s just a change of clothes, That’s easy enough to fix. At least you’re still human. How about you Keith?”

“I think so, at least I have the right limbs in the right places.” He took off his helmet and the other four recoiled. “Oh no, how bad is it?”

“Paladins, are you okay? We heard the noises coming from-GALRA!” Allura and Corna both entered the hanger before skidding to a stop.

“Where?” Keith turned, activating his bayard, only to find no one behind him. His ears twitched to the side, trying to locate an incoming attack. Wait.

“It’s not me,” desperation colored his voice. “I’m not a Galra. Tell me I’m not a Galra!”

“Keith,” Allura cupped her hands in front of her mouth.

“If it makes you feel better, Pidge in a dress is still weirder.” Lance offered, the futilely tried to wiggle away before being zapped by the Green Paladin.

“Of course you’re not Keith. The form you wear now isn’t truly you.” Allura both reassured and confirmed his fears. “It is an effect of the wormhole and nothing more. We’ll find a way to get you, Hunk, and Lance back to your true selves.”

“Let’s get to the pool. We can figure things out more there.”

“Wouldn’t a lab be more useful?” asked Pidge.

“Normally yes, but Lance is half fish and I don’t know how long it’s safe for him to be out of water.” Shiro effortlessly picked Lance up in a fireman’s carry.

“Only one problem with that, the pool is on the ceiling and I may be a fish, but I’m not a flying fish. I think.” Lance pointed out.

“Oh, it’s just where we store the water, “ Coran explained. “Don’t worry, we can make it any shape you want. We can even do loopty loops!”

“Regular pool will be fine, at least for now.” 

“Are you sure you’re okay, Shiro? You look really pale.” Keith pointed out.

“I’m fine. Charging the castle drained me, and I’ve a a few shocks in the last couple of minutes, I’ll be fine.” He didn’t have time to not be fine. They didn’t know how long till Zarkon might track them down and they needed to be in fighting shape when he did. There was a very real chance they wouldn't have time to learn new bodies. He was only grateful he and Pidge wouldn’t have to.

It didn’t take him long to realize how wrong he was.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Continued Here