Chapter Text
The Present
Sadnesses had been increasing in size, frequency, and aggression since the King’s curse began, but the Paper-type that had been pursuing the party for a day and a half now was really straining Odile’s suspension of disbelief. Sadnesses weren’t intelligent, and it was unheard of for them to continue chasing a target for very long, not after that target had gotten out of sight. But this one had used its spindly arms to drag its slug-like body after the party like spilling Mirabelle’s blood was its only reason for existence. Maybe it was. Odile hadn’t yet discounted the idea that the King could be controlling Sadnesses, and this was a solid contender for evidence to support that theory.
They’d dodged the Sadness twice the previous day without realizing it was the same one, thinking they’d evaded two different, but similarly-shaped Sadnesses, but everyone needed rest eventually, and over the night it had caught up once again, lunging from the cover of several bushes just past noon. The resulting battle was going poorly; they’d been ambushed, and Isabeau had taken a terrible hit to protect them and was now on the ground. Odile’s Scissor attack was still cooling down, and Mirabelle was torn between trying to attack and trying to heal Isabeau. Odile was just starting to consider if it’d be better to order the two other Saviors to retreat, while she held the Sadness’s attention, when the situation changed.
The side of the Sadness rippled under a pressure wave, a heartbeat before the gelatinous creature exploded around a Scissors craft so strong Odile could smell the ozone tang of it from ten feet away. The chunks of the Sadness pitter-patted to the ground in the resulting quiet. To her credit, Mirabelle immediately staggered over to Isabeau and began channeling healing craft into the ex-defender. Which left Odile to ascertain the newest threat.
The threat looked to be a traveler, cloaked in thick darkless fabric and with a matching pointed hat with a wide brim. They were not quite running, but approaching at speed. Odile heard them call out, “Hello, hello! We found you-sought you!”
Odile immediately moved her tired body in between the stranger and Mirabelle. The stranger slowed to a stop, just shy of uncomfortably close to the Saviors. They clapped their hands together in glee. “Mirabelle! Isabeau! Odile! We are here, we found you!”
Odile prepared a Paper attack.
“Are you okay? Is everyone okay?” The stranger asked, then paused. The stranger’s face was badly scarred, and only one eye was tracking them. “It’s okay! We’re here! We’re here to help!”
“Hold up!” Odile finally spoke. “Don’t come any closer!”
The stranger visibly faltered, slowing to a stop with a confused look on what remained of their face.
“Odile..? They whispered.
“Who are you?” Odile demanded, “And how do you know our names?”
“Of course we know you!” The stranger declared, a smile fixed on their face. “We’re-- we’re Siffrin! No middle names, no last name! Siffrin! And for pronouns, you can use the Royal We!”
The stranger’s smile slowly fell, as Odile remained silent and Mirabelle finished healing up Isabeau. “Yes, you’re right, it was funnier the first time. Yes, yes, better to try again.” The stranger nodded to themself. “Okay people, from the top!”
<<<<<<
--The side of the Sadness rippled under a pressure wave, a heartbeat before the gelatinous creature exploded around a Scissors craft so strong Odile could smell the ozone tang of it from ten feet away. The chunks of the Sadness pitter-patted to the ground in the resulting quiet. To her credit, Mirabelle immediately staggered over to Isabeau and began channeling healing craft into the ex-defender. Which left Odile to ascertain the newest threat.
The threat looked to be a traveler, cloaked in thick darkless fabric and with a matching pointed hat with a wide brim. They were not quite running, but approaching at speed. Odile heard them call out, “Hello, hello! Is everything okay? Is everyone okay?”
Odile immediately moved her exhausted body in between the stranger and Mirabelle. The stranger slowed to a stop, just shy of uncomfortably close to the Saviors.
“We heard fighting? We heard struggle?” The stranger commented, tilting their face towards Odile in an unusual manner. It took a moment for the researcher to realize the stranger’s face was badly scarred over, including over one eye. They were tilting their face to keep the party in as much of their field of vision as possible, peering at them from under the wide brim of their darkless hat.
“What are you doing here?” Odile demanded. The stranger frowned.
“We… heard a fight? Heard yells? So we came to help.” The stranger started to fiddle with the pins holding their darkless cloak closed. “We were… nearby? Sleeping?”
“Sleeping,” Odile drawled, disbelief on full display. The stranger flinched.
“Sleeping! In a tree! Like usual!” They insisted, as though that made them less suspicious. They abruptly stood up straighter and clapped their hands. “You have wounded? We have healing Craft!”
How very convenient. Odile started to prepare a Paper attack, just in case.
Her suspicion must have shown clearly on her face, because the traveler clicked their tongue and dropped the happy facade. “Stars, this shouldn’t be so hard. Maybe more shy? We will try more shy. Okay, once more--!”
<<<<<<
--The side of the Sadness rippled under a pressure wave, a heartbeat before the gelatinous creature exploded around a Scissors craft so strong Odile could smell the ozone tang of it from ten feet away. The chunks of the Sadness pitter-patted to the ground in the resulting quiet. To her credit, Mirabelle immediately staggered over to Isabeau and began channeling healing craft into the ex-defender. Which left Odile to ascertain the newest threat.
The threat looked to be a traveler, cloaked in thick darkless fabric and with a matching pointed hat with a wide brim. They approached cautiously, one hand returning a dagger to the inside of the cloak, and the other pushing up the brim of their wide hat. They stopped a comfortable distance away from the party, not saying anything.
“You have good timing,” Odile said as they came to a stop. She moved closer to Mirabelle and Isabeau to check on them. The traveler huffed out a single startled laugh.
“We do try to be just in time, yes.” Their face was just barely lifted from the concealment of their cloak. One of the traveler’s eyes was heavily scarred over and the bags underneath the remaining eye suggested heavy fatigue. Not that their craftwork had suffered for it. “Is everyone alright? Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, thanks to you!” Mirabelle had finished healing Isabeau, and as the ex-Defender got back to his feet, she turned to face the newcomer. Odile could see that both her and Isabeau’s eyes were shining with admiration. She fought to keep the sinking feeling in her gut from showing on her face. These kids were entirely too trusting.
“Yeah, that Scissors craft… whoo! Never seen one so strong.” The stranger used one hand to tilt the brim of their hat back down, shrinking into their concealing clothes like a turtle retreating into its shell. “Ah, sorry, sorry! Didn’t mean to embarrass you or anything! Um, my name’s Isabeau! He/him, Rock type.”
Mirabelle startled, obviously remembering that introductions were necessary. “Oh! Um, and I’m Mirabelle! She/her, Paper and Scissors type!” The other saviors both gave Odile a pointed glance. The researcher sighed.
“Odile, she/her as well. Paper type.”
The traveler peeked out from under their hat again. They started to fidget. “We, ah… call us Echo? They/them, um… Scissors type.”
Knowing the other two would be too polite to ask, Odile interjected, “We?” (Sure enough, she heard a hissed ‘Madame!’ from Mirabelle.)
“...yes? We’re, um… plural. Sort of.” Echo shrank back again and muttered, “It was an accident.”
That-- what? Odile squinted at them. “What sort of accident?”
“Craft experiment,” Echo squeaked.
Before she could ask what sort of craft experiment could do that, Isabeau spoke up. “Anyway, you really saved our bacon!”
“Y-yes! We simply have to repay you!” Mirabelle smiled. “We could-- could we treat you to a meal?”
Echo started to wave their hands in dismissal, right as a low gurgling growl sounded from their stomach. The traveler froze in clear mortification. After a few seconds, when the ground failed to open up and swallow them whole, Echo nodded. Mirabelle beamed.
The Past
“You can call me Loop! Helpful Loop, here to help with the loops! Easy to remember, right?” The star-like being smiled, eyes squinting into crescents.
“Uh… huh. And… them?” Siffrin pointed to the other root at the base of the Favor Tree. Loop turned their head to follow the gesture.
Sitting on the opposite root from Loop, the lightless copy of the rogue stared at Siffrin from under the brim of their wide hat. The air around them nearly hummed with restrained violence.
“That’s just Stardust!” Loop waved off the question, voice brimming with false cheer. “Don’t worry about it!”
“I think I’m going to worry about it,” Siffrin insisted.