#time to think

[sitten1115]

My brain decided to focus on this prompt I put in the isat genfic meme while I was at work today

https://archiveofourown.org/collections/isatgenmeme/requests

The original prompt I wrote:

Siffrin is an escaped experiment from a secret shady lab studying “impossible” Craft. They don’t remember much details from their time in the lab (traumatic memory loss), including what kind of “impossible” Craft they’re supposed to be capable of.

Details:

-Siffrin was kidnapped not too long after the Island disappeared. A lot of people from the Island were because it was very easy to make them disappear without consequences.

-The experiments involved parasitic organisms known for having weird Craft interactions that don’t normally infect humans.

-Siffrin doesn’t currently remember that part but once he finds out, he isn’t sure if he’s actually Siffrin, or just a parasite puppeting their body.

-Siffrin can do Time Craft naturally as a result of the experiments, but they weren’t ever told what the experiment was about because he was just a test subject.

-They’re immune to the normal spread of the Kings curse but not to tears.

-Make up the Time is actual Time Craft here, though a similar effect could be done without Time Craft.

-Siffrin develops their own version of Slow (inspired by Odiles) that is also Time Craft.

-The loops are a result of Siffrins ignorance of their own abilities, with the power to go back being triggered by that first death.

-Siffrin escaped the lab because of the Kings curse, but he doesn’t remember that day well.

Variables

-The King may or may not be another experiment, depends on what feels most narratively compelling.

-The specific kind of parasite can vary as long as it’s a kind that normally controls the host (for the identity angst)

This idea is inspired by a character in Bug Fables but no knowledge of that is necessary. Also any variations on this idea are absolutely welcome even separate from the prompt. Siffrin as something not completely human is very fun.

The new stuff I thought of today:

escape, facility frozen after obstacle course testing

end of Kingquest

Siffrin manages to unfreeze everyone and free Bonnie before collapsing from the exertion. The King freezes the others again and decides to torture Siffrin to teach the lesson instead. starts with breaking arms and legs, then tears out their guts, pulled out with the guts is the Craftworm which is attached to the outside of the intestines.

switch to a split pov with italics for the worm, which suddenly can’t see and yet feels like everything is too bright, feels cold and exposed. Feels like something was ripped from its head.

Siffrin notices the lack of pain in his lower half (spinal cord damage from where the worm was attached there) and an emptiness in their head. They also see the worm and vaguely hear the King remark about it. Burnt sugar smell gets very strong

Euphrasie has a lot of missing person reports in her office, she was looking into how a lot of people went missing from infirmaries with similar symptoms ~15 years ago. None of the missing people had anyone ever step forward looking for them, the only real records of them were the medical records. All of them were suffering from amnesia and had been found lost at sea or washed up ashore. Euphrasie is half islander and felt some connection to the missing persons despite not knowing them.

-Wishcraft gave them the energy to be able to properly rewind, without the wishcraft they’d only be able to go back maybe an hour

-technically the worm is the one using the Time craft, but both of their minds are so reliant on each other at this point that their desires are the same

-The worm technically never dies, using the craft when the host is dead is instinctive for them

-The worm basically lives in the body cavity, but has a strong attachment to the intestines for nutrient exchange and also is attached to the spinal cord to form a mental connection to the host

-The end of Kingquest is what makes them aware of the whole 2 of them thing as they remember both watching the King hold his guts and being manhandled with no proper senses.

-Craftworms usually rely on their hosts senses but the worm itself does have simple eyes that can tell light/dark and can feel touch and temperature

-They were able to undo the party being frozen because they were freaking out and managed to heal it out of the desperation to save Bonnie but this also burned them out

-Siffrin has scars from the lab including vivisection scars (from the researchers giving the worm itself a checkup)

-hospital trauma because of how similar things would be to stuff that happened in the lab

-if the scars and trauma weren’t discovered by the party because of the eye incident, they’ll be discovered when Siffrin passes out from the craft exhaustion

-Mal du Pays has an exposed body cavity because the craftworm is part of the mental issues for both of them

-the worms aren’t usually mentally codependent on their host but they also aren’t supposed to be able to use humans as a host

-obstacle courses were one of the more enjoyable tests for Siffrin, the faster they were the more likely to get a treat

-malnourished in the lab because the researchers didn’t take into account quite how much energy their craftworms needed, this wasn’t fixed until after Siffrin was ~20 years old

-He was allowed to keep his cloak and dagger because it’s important for someone to have a way to channel their craft and they were having a meltdown when the cloak and hat were first taken away

-Siffrin has issues with thermoregulation which is also part of why the cloak was allowed

-Some of the researchers pushed the importance of enrichment so Siffrin was given access to reading material which helped him pick his name

[intheconflux]

It's time to think!

Pete and the gang are trying to figure out what the hell is going on. They need your help!

Below is a list of numbered questions. Through either the replies or the ask box, send in your ideas, including the number(s) of what you're answering. You can answer as many or as few questions as you like, and you're always welcome to add more in further replies/asks.

Asks will be published (with no commentary from the author) in the tag #time to think, and discussion amongst users is heavily encouraged. If you believe you know what's going on, it's your job to convince everyone!

On August 31st, the event will end and an update will post the following day.

If enough people answer a question correctly, the gang will agree on the truth (although they may still have doubts). If not, they will stay confused or argue about it.

The questions:

What does "glitching" do?

Is everyone glitching, or only specific people? What makes them different? Or, what happens to make someone glitch?

Do people that glitch know that they're glitching?

What is the best way to check if someone isn't currently glitched?

[dimalink]

Unexpectedly for myself, I find myself in a park. In a small forest. In the city. So, trees are high here. Roads are with asphalt. And benches. Whole location. Made out of roads and trees. And benches.

Birds are singing. Trees are high. Without leaves. And they are standing like that around a roads. Like a pillars. And you are walking such road. And road leads you somewhere in a far. So far that you cannot see the end. Like a fog. But there is no fog. It is simply, a big territory. Forest. And little roads. So, you can walk here for a long time. And watch these trees. And listen to the birds singing. Trees are with green moss and that’s gives them even more to be interesting. Looks like all these trees are growing here for a long time. And that’s gives idea one more time, about a whole universe out of trees. Someplace they are covered with moss.

And if you are find yourself tired – you can sit at the bench. Anyway, there is a place for civilization here. Asphalt on the roads. And benches. It is amazing but city landscape is near. So, you cannot be lost here.

And so, this way, it is a whole backrooms place. Where are trees along the road and it looks like it can be endless road! It is a beautiful place to think about QBasic. Or just have a rest, free time. Any kind of these places. Any kind of such park with trees.

[hikayaking]

One of the reasons I like the hiking trial; the pace, the place and the peace you get when you can be alone with your thoughts.

[annagxx]

Why do we find ourselves hesitating before posting something online or choosing what to wear? Why do we feel the need to check everything at least ten times, as if the opinions of others could define our worth? Is it because we fear someone might think we're asking for attention or being too bold? Are we worried about being judged by a random stranger or even someone close, thinking we're flexing ourselves or our bodies?

But why should it matter? We'll be judged anyway, and people will perceive things however they choose. So what’s really stopping us? Is it trauma, paranoia, or simply the fear of being sexualized? Does it make sense to let these thoughts hold us back from expressing ourselves?

In reality, you can't fully understand a person from a 15-second story or a single post. It's irrelevant to judge someone based on that. So, is it really worth overthinking before hitting the share button? Why should we let these fears control us?

[itsmargobaybee]

There are no words to describe the way my body yearns to run back into your arms. Regardless of that fact, I try to put it into words anyways.

[micwrs]

my brain just absolutely EXPLODED thinking about kim within the context of the special

roi singe... what are you up to in that evil verse? oh i need to explore it now.

[shoujoboi]

Liam just asked “what if the crow was a dyke?”

[thesocialgremlin]

This goes for everything. They don't want us to think. Why do you think they use the term "woke" as an insult?

They'd rather you be sleeping

another thought about "gen z and gen alpha don't know how to use computers, just phone apps" is that this is intentionally the direction tech companies have pushed things in, they don't want users to understand anything about the underlying system, they want you to just buy a subscription to a thing and if it doesn't do what you need it to, you just upgrade to the more expensive one. users who look at configuration files are their worst nightmare

[lucybellwood]

Fucking slain in my tracks by this postcard on my friend’s dresser

[intheconflux]

Oh, finally, my time to shine!

1) "Glitching" seems to shift a person or group of people into a version of themselves from a different timeline. Things happened differently there to shape them into much different people- e.g. Max being nice in our timeline and dead + vengeful in the one he glitched into

2) Given the nature of Hatchetfield, I have to guess that the phenomenon is localized on our little town. (Fuckin Clivesdale doesn't even have to deal with it, assholes.) The glitching seems to be spread via physical contact, like a disease.

Note: Pete touched Steph when she glitched. Does this mean he's already glitched or simply immune? More research is required.

3) Both Steph and Max have been disoriented and even felt sick when they reverted to normal, and were entirely unaware of what had just happened. So, no, people who are glitched don't seem to retain memories of that period of time. Possibly because it's not actually them, but a separate version of them.

4) We've so far seen different clothing on glitched people, so that'd be your easiest tell. To dig a bit deeper, ask your potentially glitched person a few questions about events that have recently transpired to see if your versions of events line up! e.g. what happened at the Waylon place, the status of the Starlight Theater or the Lakeside Mall, etc.

Always willing to help! -🪶

.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

"doesn't this charater under insane stress going through extremely traumatic events realize how inconvenient their irrational emotional reactions are to the people around them?" well, see, you're not gonna believe this, but the thing is,

[demadogs]

this happened months ago. i cannot keep it in any longer. a while ago i went on a porn site ive never been to and it asked if i was over 18 and i misclicked and said no and it automatically sent me to google images of puppies and kittens. i still cannot get over how funny this is.

[monstermonger]

~3 months traveling in my wife’s home-country -> 100 journal pages

[yeepof]

I understand that tall men are our POV characters, but surely being like a foot taller than everyone around them would have some occasional consequences