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English
Series:
Part 1 of Auto-lithification: a case study of the role of trauma and intent on Wish Craft as related to chronoception
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Published:
2025-02-24
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1,084
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1/1
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14
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121
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10
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832

in your head, and yet you believe it’s true

Summary:

[You should come to the Favor Tree when you have a moment, Stardust.]

You send out your call and relax under the tree, waiting for your past self to come barreling down the path.

But who you see is not who you expected.
–
Loop 1. A first meeting.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

You sit at the base of the Favor Tree, and close your eyes as you adjust your position, uncrossing and recrossing your legs. It’s only been a couple of minutes since you sent out your little call, but you’re sure that it won’t be long until Stardust rushes his way over here, confused, shocked, and desperate for answers.

You’re lucky the Fighter’s far enough from the tree that you can’t hear his conversation, though you can recognize the shape of his low tones as Stardust surely makes his excuses to send him away. You lean back a little further into the gnarled roots of the tree, and pretend to not care about the ugly bump that’s pressing directly into the small of your back as you run through your lines in your head.

There’s a steady swishing of fabric as Stardust (presumably) makes his way over to where you sit, and you wait until you can feel the presence of another just feet away before taking a deep breath and opening your eyes - they can’t see you unless you let yourself be seen - prepared greeting on the tip of your tongue–

When it abruptly dies. You hope the person before you doesn’t hear the choking gasp you make because that. That is not your Stardust.

…Why isn’t it your Stardust? Did you do something wrong? Mess up your wish? Did he tell the others about what he heard? Would you have done the same, in his position, all those years–

“Hello?” Oh, and the Researcher is looking at you now, slight frown on her face, single eyebrow slightly cocked as you can almost feel her brain working in overtime to process what she’s seeing, and her gaze is piercing (hah, shouldn’t it be Creative?) as she looks straight into your eyes, and. You realize you’ve been shocked silent for too long (only a second, your thoughts are running a mile a minute; but that’s more than enough for her to tell that something’s wrong, surely–)

“Hello!” You parrot back, forcing yourself to subtly relax from where your shoulders had rode up, giving an enthusiastic little wave. “Took your sweet time getting here, didn’t you?” You smile toothily - though you’re unsure how it translates on your new body - as you wait for her reply, studying her face as you do.

…Hm. You’d always thought her - not cold, not exactly, but. Composed. Unyielding. Inscrutable. But while you can’t name the micro-expressions that flit across her face, you do notice them: her eyes, slowly returning to normal from where they were widened, crow’s feet becoming less taut; her brows caught between hardening and staying raised; her frown, less harsh but still deepening. You don’t think you would have noticed them, before; too caught up in whatever your own face was doing to care about the subtleties of the others.

You watch the Researcher take a deep breath as her own shoulders relax and she crosses her arms, apparently still not ready to talk. No matter, you’re good at monologuing! “Speechless? I don’t blame you! It’s not every day you meet someone as intriguing as me, no?”

You can’t suppress a smile at her minuscule flinch, and barrel on even as she opens her mouth to reply. “I mean really, what a day you’ve had, hm? It makes sense that you’d feel overwhelmed! Considering you just watched your little Traveler get crushed by a giant rock, and all.”

Bingo. Another flinch, bigger this time. So she truly is the one looping, this time! Who knew the only thing you needed to make her easy to read was to watch you–

“And how do you know about that.” Her tone is quiet, even. She’s glaring at you with a renewed vigor as her eyes darken. Ah, well. Better adjust your character a little. Don’t want her distrusting you quite yet. You’re supposed to help, after all!

You steel your own expression. “You know what? Let’s reset, shall we? I feel like we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot somehow, and it can’t do to have you so on-edge. I’m here to help you prevent that kind of thing from happening again, anyways. So… introductions!”

Her glare deepens, but the fire behind it lessens. Progress. “...Right.”

“Right!” You smile again. “How about names, first. For me, let’s go with… Loop! Loop, your ally here to help you with the loops! And as for pronouns… you can use they/them for me. I’m sure you’ll be thinking about me all the time, so I just thought that’d be helpful!” You wink.

She is clearly not amused at you. “She/her for me. And my name is-”

You can’t resist cutting her off, if only to strengthen her scowl. “ Madame Odile, yes? M’dame? Dile? Depending on the person, at least!”

“If you know so much about me already, why are we even bothering with this?” You can feel the force of her irritation bearing down on you as you scoff and point a finger at her.

“Hmph! I told you already, Researcher, I’m here to help! Just wanted to prove to you first that I knew about you.” You place a hand on your heart dramatically and sniffle. “I thought you’d appreciate that kind of thing!”

“And why do you feel that I need your help? I’ll just make sure Siffrin checks that room more thoroughly this time.”

“Hah!” You can’t hold back the harsh laugh that spills out of you. “And then what? The rest of the house will be no problem for you? The King will be no problem for you? If you had so much trouble with the literal first hallway, what’s to say that you can do anything on your own?”

A little more direct than you intended, but you can’t help but love the burst of anger, steadily fading to a grim realization on her face as you continue, softer this time. “You don’t have to like me, but I am, genuinely, here to help. With the loops, with the House, even - eugh - with your party. This kind of thing… you shouldn’t have to do it alone.”

Odile looks back up at you, straight into your eyes, even as alarm bells go off in your head - TOO GENUINE, TOO PERSONAL, SHE’S GOING TO KNOW - and releases the breath she’s holding. “Fine. what do you have to tell me?”

You smile again, and gesture at the root across from you. “Sit down, and I’ll let you know.”

Notes:

inspired by a mix of others’ Odile Loops AUs. i think that both of them get on each other’s nerves in fun ways.

i mentioned this in the tags but i might write more set in this universe! i 100%ed the game ~1 week ago and truly have not been able to stop thinking about it since. if you’re at all interested, keep an eye on this fic, i might make it a series :) comments always appreciated!

(also, wow! i can’t believe this is my first posted fic in almost 5 years! if you’re somehow here from my older stuff…hi?)

[title from The Song with Five Names, a​.​k​.​a. Soapbox Tao, a​.​k​.​a. Checkmate Atheists! a​.​k​.​a. Neospace Government, a​.​k​.​a. You Can Never Know by Will Wood and the Tapeworms]