kazehita

[kazehita]

B Plot

Isabeau still can’t confess, and Siffrin needs to clear their head. Which means it’s high time for a sidequest. 

Act 1, Scene 2. West Dormont. Isa’s hand hovers near your shoulder. You try to look inviting, but you must not be very good at it. He’s already pulling away. Okay. This is it. Go time. “You can touch me,” you blurt out. “Wh— Hwhuh???” No turning back now. “It just. Seems like you think you can’t? But—you can.”

(Full disclosure, this is literally just 5k words of Siffrin trying to flirt, because he's not the only one who needed a break. Spoilers thru Act 3)

You don’t make the pun for Isa. You don’t say hi to Loop, either. You just sit on the ground and stare at the grass.

“Wow, stardust,” Loop snorts, “thanks for the warm welcome. I missed you too! But tone it down a little, will you? All that enthusiasm could get a little overwhelming!”

Near your foot, there’s a leaf growing out from a fallen branch, glossy and bright like it thinks it’s still attached to the tree. Like it thinks it’s still alive. But of course you know better. It’s already dead. It just doesn’t know it yet.

“Sooo~, what’s up? Give me the scoop! The latest and greatest, teehee!”

The leaf is always growing out of the branch, and the branch is always on the ground, splintered and slowly drying. Does the loop last long enough for the leaf to dry out, too? Does it die every day, like you do? Or will it spend the rest of eternity in a state of blissful ignorance?

“You beat the King again, right? That’s cool! You’re getting pretty tough! Keep it up and pretty soon you’ll have nothing to be scared of! Aside from, you know. All the existential dread.”

You watch your hand reach out to close around the leaf. It comes loose with a gentle pop.

“Oh, come on, at least pretend to listen. You’re good at that, teehee!” When you still don’t react, their tone sours. “The silent treatment is really not a cute look on you, you know.”

Even with nothing to hold onto, the leaf still looks offensively alive. You crumple it between your hands and then shred it into tiny little pieces. There. Now it’s just like you.

—There’s a startling clap! as Loop claps their hands about an inch from your left ear.

“Stardust,” they say firmly. “I’m a patient star, I really am, but if you keep ignoring me, I’m going to get grouchy.”

Very slowly, you look up. “She didn’t know anything.”

“...The head housemaiden?”

You nod.

“About Time Craft, you mean?”

Another nod.

“Oh,” Loop says softly. “Well. I suppose that’s to be expected. Maybe no one does, anymore.”

You shrug.

“B-But you still have leads, don’t you? Didn’t you have a few more questions for the K—”

“I don’t want to talk to the King.” The last time you tried to talk to the King, your actors looked at you like you were something monstrous. Subhuman. Like something they’d scraped off the bottom of their shoes. You wound up letting him kill you just to end the loop faster. But you’d forgotten how much the King’s final blow hurts.

“Okay, but—”

“Will you stop?” you demand. You don’t want to talk about this. You just want—

—but there’s no point finishing that sentence.

The two of you sit in silence for a while. Probably you hurt Loop’s feelings. Somehow, you can’t bring yourself to care.

“Stardust,” Loop says at last, unexpectedly gently. When you glance up, they’re looking away, picking at the—not skin—the gummy celestial membrane that covers the pads of their fingers. They don’t have a mouth, but if they did, it would be frowning. “I think you might need a break.”

“Haha!!!! Ahaha!!!!! Do you think???”

“I don’t mean from the loops,” Loop says impatiently. “I just mean… Ohh, I don’t know. From fighting the loops? Of course I can’t directly relate, but—from an outside perspective, I think that trying to break the loop is probably sort of… not-good. Ah. Psychologically.”

You stare at them in stony silence.

“So maybe you need a B plot!”

“…A what?”

“You know. A B plot! Like in plays? It’s what the side characters get up to while the important people are off dying and falling in love and things!”

Wait. “You watch plays?”

“I am a star of culture, you know,” Loop sniffs. “I just think you could use a win! Take a break from fixing the laws of physics to focus on something a little more achievable, hmm~? Just for a few loops! Just to clear your head!”

Your mouth scrunches to one side. Unfortunately, they’ve caught your interest. “Like what.”

“Like, ah… oh! What about your touch therapy? That was fun, wasn’t it? Here, look, I could hold both your hands!”

“It doesn’t count,” you mutter.

“Oh, no? And whyever not?”

“It just doesn’t.” You can’t really explain why Loop doesn’t count. You just know that they don’t. The first time they elbowed you, you didn’t even flinch. To be honest, it barely registered. Like knocking your elbow against something not alive, or trying to tickle yourself.

Loop rolls their eyes. “I’ll try not to take that personally.”

* * *

They’re right, though. You need a break. But you’re not going to get it by holding hands with Loop.

* * *

You spend the rest of the day thinking about how to take a break from a temporal prison that is categorically, explicitly inescapable.

“Umm,” Isa whispers over dinner. “Sif? Are you, um, okay? You seem a little off.”

You probably should have expected this. Isabeau is always paying attention to what you’re doing and not-doing. But it never goes anywhere, because he’s too afraid to say it.

…Oh. Is that anything? You think it might be something. You already know that Isa wants to touch you. But he doesn’t, because he thinks you don’t want him to. Because you can’t tell him, and he can’t ask. So instead you’re both stuck here, not knowing what’s true.

What would it take to make him brave enough to say it? How obvious would you have to be before he could feel safe?

Your eyes narrow. Maybe you really do need a break.

You can read the rest on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55543246

#OOOOOH OHHH OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OHHHHH #IM SO GLAD I HAVE THE ABILITY TO!!! READ!!!!!!!!!!!!! #i will save this as a lovely treat for when im done with my tasks #rb #isat

[kazehita]

IG : @emperorofmischief

#THEYRE SO SMART I LOVE THEM #OMGGGGGGGGG #thats so smart like if i was a rat theres no way id be that smart #rb #video #rats

[kazehita]

#oh THATS A LOOP #THE EYEBROWS... OMG... #THE GOOBER..................... #rb #isat #in stars and time #not my art

[kazehita]

I made these 👍

#i knew this was you #i was soo like this has to be hoffen #we're here to help is everything everything #not my art #minercraftrb #rb

[kazehita]

I don’t think I’ve ever put more love and effort into a singe piece of fanart ever in my life, and this is literally the first ISaT related thing I’ve made. I just needed a Siffrin to stare at me from my desk since I was too late to get the plush.

#you are who i want to be #omg #isat #rb #not my art

[kazehita]

I have accepted that I'm never going to render this thing

#srb

[kazehita]

The haunting ancient Celtic carnyx being played for an audience. This is the sound Roman soldiers would have heard their Celtic enemies make.

#rb #fav #inspo #insano style

[kazehita]

#useful #rb #music

[kazehita]

I have accepted that I'm never going to render this thing

#kazedoodl #isat #in stars and time #siffrin #isat spoilers if you squint really hard. but just dont worry about it #isat siffrin #isat fanart #isat game #i did this back in feb! and.. oops? #my art #i was like lets make a sick rendered piece and then just never felt it enough

[kazehita]

flower for you!

#AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHH #WHAT A SWEETIE #the SHAPEEEEEEEEEEE #rb #not my art #isat #in stars and time

[kazehita]

nothing in life is certain except that i will always end up drawing blorbo with or as luxray somehow

#LUXRAY AND LOOP MY BELOVEDDDDDDDD #tawney never misses #ugh the them the them the them #rb #isat #in stars and time #not my art

[kazehita]

I know everyone here knows what a crap breeder looks like and we can all justifiably shit on them all day, every day; but can we take a moment to celebrate what a Huge Green Flag this miniature poodle breeder is? I've been following along for this litter, and she does seriously incredible work with them and her dogs.

This is Mostly Mischeif Poodles from Nanimo, BC, Canada.

The amount of work, time, and effort this breeder has funnelled into this litter should be the gold standard for breeders everywhere. Not only does she do health testing, breed for health and purpose (both companionship and sports), but she follows along with puppy culture plus a few extras beyond the PC guide, AND she ensures that the pups experience multiple grooms before they leave her home.

We just see SO MUCH negativity around breeders and breeding - and often justifiably - that it feels really, really important to acknowledge and celebrate when you find a really fucking excellent breeder. I don't think we do that enough, so I'm starting - because I think it's important to share when you find an ethical breeder who does incredible work.

#!!!!! joy to the world!!!! #wish my rescue son had something like this #rb #video #dogs

[kazehita]

Packed my husband a slice of cake with his work lunch and he sent me this

I am losing my mind over this.

#laugh rule #rb

[kazehita]

I am once again thinking about digging holes

It's so fucked up that digging a bunch of holes works so well at reversing desertification

I hate that so much discourse into fighting climate change is talking about bioenginerring a special kind of seaweed that removes microplastics or whatever other venture-capital-viable startup idea when we have known for forever about shit like digging crescent shaped holes to catch rainwater and turning barren land hospitable

#:0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #thats beautiful #i wonder if it applies only to specific climates or if it can be used pretty much everywhere #rb

[kazehita]

Master doc that contains different resources and support for many countries including Palestine, Congo, Haiti, Hawai’i, etc ((op is underneath the link))

#for later #rb #real world stress

[kazehita]

sona

#my lil guyyyy my lil guyyy #i LOVE how this looks and i have never been able to recreate the vibe #srb

[kazehita]

TRANSFORM

#body horror #question mark #i loev my goobers.... i have forgotten them... #srb