help

TK: yaya werewolves Au where people from the island are werewolves They view it as a blessing that connects them to the universe but he forgor and is mentally ill ab hurting people bc its siffrin also for the fun of it werewolves weren't completely forgotten bc they exist elsewhere (although in smaller numbers) they're remembered better in places farther from the island bc the werewolves there would be farther removed from their origin

also the king is a werewolf i like to imagine hes in permanent wolf form (or partial wolf form) bc of his whole night sky frozen around him thing also makes the siffrin torment nexus worse because whoopsie the house is in an artificial full moon state have fun with that :3 (he does not) is it clear that i've thought about this a fair amount I was like "nooo i don't need a werewolf au i have enough inhuman siffrin aus those are close enough"

"but what if" <- person who is very normal about werewolves Lem: you can never have too many inhuman siffrins TK: werewolves are so fun also it fits with the whole universe thing of the island also inhuman siffrin is just so fun what if we gave this guy who has so many problems more problems yaya for siffrin who fears abandonment and also closeness bc he doesn't want to hurt the people he cares about imagining he like bit someone as a kid bc he didn't know better and that's how werewolves play and show affection and then from then on he's super scared of himself i like to think that there are remedies and stuff to prevent the bite from becoming infectious but they were forgotten (at least in places nearby) with the island like damn the people at the house/orphanage/whatever had that on hand but couldn't remember to use it

crack idea: you now have an orphanage full of werewolf kids bc they saw one kid turn another into a werewolf and they all want to be one too not canon to the au just funny

au timeline (in my head) siffrin runs away from home the night before a full moon next night a wolf pup in a boat washes up on shore people go "what the fuck why is there a wolf pup in a boat" then the wolf pup is a child eventually gets brought to local house or orphanage or whatever i like the idea that adults have a hard time remembering him bc he reminds them of the island espec remembering wolf = child

i imagine werewolves can switch between forms at will but not on a full moon they're just wolf then and it takes the most energy to maintain an 'inbetween' form (some wolf traits, some human traits)

and anyway siffrin pup (probably not siffrin at this point tho) is playing with some of the other kids in wolf form playfully nips one of them, accidentally bites a bit too deep whoopsies now the other kid is a werewolf and it's your fault siffrin when he realizes what happens runs away bc its siffrin we're talking ab (also sidenote i like to think that this kid, after the initial fear anger and confusion learns to cope better with being a werewolf than siffrin does)

he lives alone after that, mostly hunting as a wolf for food also probably stealing and begging bc he's a child thats not sustainable as he gets older, he travels around visits other places and learns a bit about werewolves particularly very stilted views from people who do not like them because unfortunately for him the people who remember them the most are the people who have the least connection to their culture

at some point in another place far from the island he meets another werewolf someone who was turned into one unwillingly siffrin's view of themself as a horrible monster gets worsened/validated they offer him some 'supplies' restraints made of/coated in silver tells him that they should use them if "they're one of the good ones" he takes them, but doesn't use them for a while instead they continue their usual thing of staying away from civilization whenever a full moon is near but they always keep the 'supplies' on them just in case

before long, they're back in vaugarde and not long after that, the country begins freezing in time siffrin, being a depressed self deprecating idiot goes "guess I'll die" "this place is nice, and it's not like I have anywhere else to go." he probably helps other people traveling to escape the freezing country but doesn't go himself bc he feels it would be selfish to 'take the place of someone who has something to live for' we don't know in the games why exactly he stayed in the country but i don't feel like this would be ooc for him especially a version of him with extra lowered self worth he spends his time fighting sadnesses and clearing paths, helping other people make it through the apocalypse while remaining overall a loner he wouldn't want to intrude on anyone after all, and it's not like he could stay with them for long and then, he meets Mirabelle and the others helps them with the sadness they're fighting and when she asks him to join so honestly and earnestly wanting him, needing his help? who would he be to say no to that? it's not like he had anything better to do and if he really would be of use in saving the country, why wouldn't he try? and when the next full moon nears, he realizes something he can't leave them behind they were so kind to him, and they needed any of the help they could get it would be so cruel to agree to help them and then just run away but he didn't trust himself around them in his other form but he did have something

so on the evening of the next full moon, once camp was set but before the moon was out, he slipped away into the forest, with a bag of silver supplies that he was glad that he had kept he wraps the chains around himself as he had been instructed and he waits

the silver burns everywhere it touches, but he tells himself it's the price he has to pay it becomes much worse once he shifts into his wolf form then, the chains which sat loose around his body were tight, digging into his larger form his mind, in it's altered state, though it knew that he chose this, that is was to protect the others, didn't care as much, didn't understand as much why it was happening so you have a miserable wolf, howling and whining into the night, waiting for the pain to end while vaguely knowing that it did this to himself

siffrin, in the morning, no longer a wolf, goes "yay i didn't hurt anyone" ignores the sheer amount of physical and emotional pain that caused him he gathers up his chains, puts his clothing back on, glad that it hides the wounds from the chains (sidenote, his cloak and hat are crafted to transform with him when he transforms into wolf but his other clothes are not and would rip) Lem: oughhh ok so probably unintentional but that specific wording hurts me because he doesn't see himself as part of anyone or at least anyone important agnd :sifWibbly: killing him with the lasers btw TK: yeah that was unintentional but yeah he doesn't 'my own pain is meaningless in the face of other's pain'

after this, he heads back to camp isabeau is awake, sitting worried by the fire (whoopsies) was initially going to say they were all awake but i figured it's early enough they wouldn't be isabeau sees sif, goes "where were you i was worried something had happened" siffrin brushes it off "dw ab it, i took a walk and fell asleep in a tree" "it happens sometimes, don't worry about me" "i'll be fine" isabeau looks skeptical, but doesn't push

Lem: as you do TK: tbh they probably have seen siffrin sleep in trees at some point and he probably mentioned it as an anecdote when he was talking about traveling Lem: ok actuallu yeah siffrin does fall asleep in trees you're right TK: Isa: "just, try not to do that in the future? or tell someone first?" siffrin's sudden disappearances lend to several odile sus points she mentions them in her drunken conversation with isa

over the next few months, they continue this pattern disappearing the night of the full moon, tying themself up miserably, and returning in the morning, exhausted the next day the others all know something's going on, but with knowledge ab werewolves being kinda hard to remember/focus on (especially for vaugardians which 2 of the 3 of them are) even over a decade later, nobody is able to figure it out exactly without seeing it directly it also doesn't help that odile is focusing on 'that's suspicious behavior' rather than 'hmm werewolf?' Lem: she has no reason to think hes a werewolf atp though TK: tbh there are some signs pointing towards it Lem: ok but i also dont know if its a reasonable conclusion to jump to immediately TK: (siffrin disappears on full moon nights, they hear miserable wolf noises somewhere relatively close by, only on those nights, he reappears in the morning, looking exhausted and miserable but pretending he's fine) Lem: ok i was going to ask if they heard him at all TK: yeah he's not exactly being quiet Lem: whhhich would be a much bigger clue TK: i also like to imagine he just accidentally makes wolf noises sometimes instead of the nya he yowls whines like a dog begging isa for food sometimes without realizing it growls at sadnesses i think mirabelle, the only one who has seen the wolf king, is probably closest to the truth but never says anything ab it bc that's not her place isabeau finds these traits very cute and endearing

the part that's rough with this is i think it only happens ab like 4-6 times total not really enough to establish a pattern especially when it's a month apart each time odile is suspicious after the first time he disappears, and only grows more suspicious after not sure how much exactly i want them to know ab the king's powers/connection to the moon, but if that realization is there, by the third time she's very suspicious with his timing also with the knowledge of the king being a humanoid wolf… the wolf noises only add to her suspicion she can be very smart but can also jump to fucking wild conclusions

"what the fuck is he doing with those wolves?" "is he doing some ritual to power the king?" sus i just find odile being wildly offbase and thinking hes like torturing wolves or something (which i guess technically…) really funny especially because when she finds out the truth she'd feel both really embarrassed and really bad about it

actually, i think it'd probably be isabeau mirabelle is also close to realizing though but isabeau pays so much attention to siffrin he notices how Creature they are looks at their extra sharp teeth and slightly off eyes the little animalistic noises and behaviors they exhibit how they only hear that crying wolf on the nights siffrin disappears how it always shows up when they disappear how it always sounds nearby how it only started after he joined isabeau is hoping he's wrong, but suspecting more and more each time they hear it that that noise is siffrin only exacerbated when odile brings it up to him that she thinks the noises are related to him (although her suspicions are wildly different and completely baffle him) but anyway after a few months together, siffrin finds bonnie not completely solid on it, but i think the inceyedent is when they figure out the whole werewolf thing Lem: inc eye dent... TK: :3 regardless of if everyone else figures it out (which i think they do) bonnie definitely finds out it's a day like any other the party is setting up camp bonnie is prepping food, siffrin is setting up the fire, someone's going to the river to gather water, the other two are setting up tents when a sadness appears it's fast, faster than most of them and it's going for Bonnie siffrin's both the closest and the fastest but he wouldn't be fast enough without hesitating, without thinking about it, he turns into a wolf and shoves them out of the way, taking the hit instead a really unlucky shot directly taking out his eye but better his eye than their throat

he goes down for a moment, but gets back up and rips the sadness to shreds and then he turns around, shakily to go and check on bonnie, who is lying on the ground watching in a mix of horror and amazement horror because "oh crab they're bleeding really badly" amazement bc well if you were a child and saw someone you already looked up to turn into a fucking wolf and maul the creature attacking you you'd probably think that was pretty fucking cool too the others see some part of this too, but nobody but bonnie sees him transform initially Lem: i would also think it was awesome if someone turned into a wolf and mauled the thing attacking me TK: yeah

the rest of them i think look over at the moment bonnie screams out "FRIN!" after the sadness gets him except for isa who was out of camp but still arrives in time to watch wolffrin maul the shit out of that sadness and then collapse after checking on bonnie to make sure they're okay after which he transforms back which breaks the others all out of their shock of "WOLF?????" and they immediately go rush to help

TK: bluescreen isa

he's processing a lot here there's a lot of "what the crab" going on in there "is that sif?" "wait is he injured?" "WAIT IS THAT SIF???" "OUPPY???????" "STRONG AS CRAB OUPPY???????"

and then also the dots from earlier things connecting with the "oh crab it has been him crying miserably those nights he disappeared" "is he okay??? what is happening with him??? for how long????? wait crab he's bleeding out right now" also more benign "i guess that explains the growling/yowling/teef/eyes" and all of the others having their own independent versions of this with odile feeling very very foolish after realizing "shit he's a werewolf. oh gems he's a werewolf. oh i feel so bad for assuming all those things about him. he's been struggling, not scheming. how did i overlook this" and mirabelle horror fan going "WOOAAAH" idealization of siffrin increased +cool and mysterious points but then her immediately feeling bad for that being her reaction to this because "that's my friend, who is badly injured right now i should not be thinking of them as a storybook character"

anyway, afterwards they all rush to help him/bonnie however they can Mirabelle does her best, but they quickly realize it's beyond her expertise, so they prep him as well as they can to travel the nearest town is still several hours away, so isabeau and mirabelle go ahead to get him there as fast as possible while bonnie and odile pack up the camp before following he's very out of it during the trip, going in and out of consciousness the whole time, mumbling barely coherently asking about "if the pup is okay" also he's whining like a dog and nuzzling into isa's body whenever he's awake very wolf brained the time, would be very embarrassed later if he remembered it isa found it somewhat cute but also very concerning

oughrgh i just thought of something since odile and bonnie are the ones packing up camp and gathering everyone's supplies (minus whatever important stuff mira and isa were able to grab) there's a good chance she found sif's werewolf 'supplies' in which she would be fucking horrified especially bc there's a good chance they'd be at least somewhat bloody bc he doesn't exactly get a chance to clean them Lem: oughghhhhh also id think its pretty likely theyd find some part of whatever burns or welts or whatever the fuck was left on them by the silver while tending to their wounds which ow. . TK: yeahh espec bc i was thinking the previous full moon would have been somewhat recent as a way to give siffrin a break so they aren't going full werewolf while in recovery Odile: "this bag is suspiciously heavy. I don't think I've ever actually seen them open it? what could they possibly be carrying around???" Odile: peeks inside Odile: +10 guilt points Odile: realizes this is the bag she's seen them carrying back with them when returning from their full moon excursions then she's stuck with the choice of what to do with this information neither option looks great

*change in topic that I will get back to later (adhd moment)*

anyway werewolf culture interlude over back to our previously scheduled programming of siffrin suffering suffrin if you will Lem: i will

TK: odile is stuck with the choice of leave the stuff behind and take away what siffrin definitely considered a safety net if not an absolute necessity, and also show that she betrayed siffrin's trust when he was vulnerable

or to pretend she saw nothing, and allow siffrin to keep torturing themself while she sits in silence, perfectly aware of what they're doing there's also the middle ground option, where she brings the chains but tells them she saw them and tries to get them to stop not sure which one she'd do bc part of me wants to say she'd leave them, cut off the bandage and stop letting them hurt themself, even if it gets her their ire and loses her their trust she's generally not very delicate with these things, and instead rushes in with whatever she feels is best but she would also likely realize that this situation is delicate, and likely needs more tact than she generally can give it plus i don't know if she'd know enough about werewolves to know whether or not it was justified

I think what happens is she takes it with and gives it to isabeau to deal with who delicately brings it up with siffrin who freaks the fuck out and begs him to let him keep them because he doesn't want to hurt any of them he's so normal nobody else is happy with this all of them could hear him crying in pain those nights mira and isa saw his wounds from the chains actually for that matter bonnie probably saw them too when he transformed odile to a lesser extent too who also would have seen the bloodied chains alongside isa the group obviously isn't going to go "yeah okay sure sounds good go chain yourself up in the woods miserably alone" but siffrin is going to be hard to convince to do anything else especially because none of the others know what they're talking about and siffrin at this point doesn't remember what happened as a kid, it's been a decade at this point and their memory was never good to begin with but they know it happened they remember that they hurt someone the details have gotten muddied over the years, but they've spent so long internalizing that they hurt someone, that they're a monster, that it would take a lot to get them to believe otherwise their imagination of what might've happened is definitely much worse than what it actually was, from years of memory telephone and a worsening perception of themself and what they are siffrin: "i hurt someone… i don't remember the exact details, but i could never forget the fear and anger on that kid's face when he realized what happened to them" thinking they fucking attacked and mauled a kid, leaving them a werewolf what really happened: playful nip to the hand drew blood, whoops, kid's now a werewolf siffrin is really freaked out by the idea of being near anyone as a werewolf and not being restrained at this point it's been about half a year since they let themself just be a wolf and they haven't encountered people as a wolf in longer than they can remember (not counting the recent bonnie thing) so they're completely convinced that they're a dangerous monster who's going to kill someone when the worst thing they've done is accidentally bite someone while playing which, yeah, had pretty bad consequences but also they definitely have (or should have) better bite control as an adult

i think isabeau manages to convince siffrin to let him come with him on the next full moon, just so he's not alone siffrin is very apprehensive about it, but eventually agrees bc he's never managed to get out of the chains before, so as long as isa stays out of biting range he should be fine so next full moon comes around, siffrin is healed enough that they're able to travel by this point isabeau joins them in their self imposed exile siffrin ties himself up, isabeau asks how much of it's really necessary, and siffrin just kinda goes quiet

then isabeau watches the most horrific painful looking transformation as siffrin's body contorts itself painfully against the chains he can see them already digging, burning into siffrin's body, but he told siffrin he wouldn't do anything, and he didn't want to go against his trust like that and then wolf siffrin looks at him with the saddest fucking eyes *eye actually

TK: uh anyways wolf frin looks at isabeau with the saddest fucking expression, making the saddest fucking patheticest sopping wet dog sounds holy shit i just realized ive been ranting to you ab wolf frin for the past fucking four and a half hours anyway continuing wolf frin is stuck between knowing that they didn't want isabeau here for his safety but also he can see him! and he's here! and he's safe! yaya! maybe the pain is worth it! between crying and whimpering in pain he's calling out happily to isa and trying to get him to come closer and cuddle him (not that isa can understand bc he's not a werewolf) eventually isabeau gives in to the puppy dog eyes and goes closer to siffrin who just starts wagging his tail

wolf siffrin does not understand his reasoning as a human. why should isa stay away? he can protect him better if he's close? and if he's close they can cuddle and be happy isabeau, still not sure exactly what to do, but wanting to comfort siffrin while not making him angry in the morning, carefully approaches him away from his face where he couldn't get bitten and sits by siffrin's hind legs siffrin uses the limited movement they have to lean into him

they sit like this for the rest of the night when siffrin turns back he starts freaking out bc what the hell why was isa so close they could've hurt him isa reassures him that he was careful and that siffrin never even tried to make a move to hurt him and that siffrin should try to consider that he might not be as dangerous as he thought

siffrin does start to reconsider a bit but unfortunately for them, next up is the torment nexus and like in many aus, it's even worse for him :D the king, like i think i mentioned ab 5 hours ago, has his timecraft frozen night sky around him which is frozen in a version of the sky with the full moon, giving him extra power it's not quite the same as the full moon, as it's not the real thing and not as powerful but it still has similar effects so siffrin gets to explore the house, with a diluted version of the full moon bearing down on him, as he desperately tries not to turn into a monster the whole time :D instead of getting instantly filled with power and forcefully turned into werewolf when entering the range of the king's influence, instead he gets to slowly and painstakingly transform step by step as he fights to hold back as much of the transformation as long as possible :D

going to reiterate the sad wolffrin face here bc i think it's fitting

he is not having a fun time in the timeloops :D

loop timeline: they manage to get into the habit of fighting it down and manage to avoid most of the transformation for the bulk of their loops i don't think they ever end up accidentally hurting any of the family members, although they always fear that they will and believe the only reason it hasn't happened yet is because they've kept themself from going 'too far'

i don't have too much thought out ab the actual loops

although siffrin probably in addition to the wishcraft books finds some werewolf books (yaya he can learn about the anti-werewolf bite medicine somewhere) also act 5 king fight he just straight up turns into a wolf and fights the king like that (still loses tho, which yeah, the king is several times his size and your jaws are going to struggle to get through that armor even if you use them to Just Attack) and also Bad Touch he just straight up bites isabeau wolf brain and human brain get a little mixed up and he just chomps down on isa's shoulder instead of kissing him this obv freaks siffrin the hell out bc "WHY DID I BITE HIM WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME" i like to imagine that werewolves are just affectionately very bitey doesn't matter too much with other werewolves, generally you don't bite hard enough to break skin, and if you do it'll heal very quickly humans tho… softer skin, easier to break, permanent consequences if you do and don't know how to treat it only upside is you won't have to worry about not making that mistake again if you do fuck it up /j

also mal du pays is either just straight up wolf form or anthro wolf like the king double edged bc siffrin both fears the wolf side + has lost it's connection to home its the main thing connecting him to what he has lost but he has lost so much that he can't even appreciate it still being there ok now that i've been talking for over 5 hours and it's 2 am i think imma go to sleep *and now we return to the earlier werewolf culture intermission* TK: sorry just spent like 10 minutes thinking ab werewolf culture i think instead of having specific distinctions between friends and family, they think of people in their sphere as varying levels/versions of 'pack' or 'packmates' with little to no distinction between bio family and close friends

with close family and friends, the people you care the most about and generally interact the most with in your daily life being considered pack/close pack the people those people consider pack/close pack that you don't consider pack would be secondary pack they're people you still care about, especially because of the close community nature of the island/werewolf culture, but they aren't directly your pack then there's acquaintances, the people you interact with and like and care about, but not on the level you'd consider pack, would be tertiary or outside pack like work friends/colleagues or people in your neighborhood that you see on the street frequently if that system makes sense

is much of this relevant to the story? probably not bc it was erased from everyone's minds but it still exists in some written works so have fun rediscovering your forgotten culture siffrin! and also loop

unfortunately there was very little documentation of their culture by outsiders bc of how insulated the community was there was interaction with others (mostly vaugarde) but information was often limited and much was kept secret

and although they couldn't completely hide the fact that they were werewolves and those existed (all it takes is a couple people leaving the island) they still did their best to keep it under wraps as much as possible

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Final notes: Okay, I didn't realize how ridiculously long this was until I spent about three hours making this post. This is embarrassingly longer than any fic I've written, which is not saying much, but is still something... If you actually read this whole thing, wow! Here's a picture of my dog.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT I JUST BEAT THE KNIGHT HAHAHA

IT TOOK ME FIVE HOURS BUT I BEAT IT

so much harder than any of the other bosses holy shit

I almost always died to one of the sword attacks (pattern of 2nd attack), those were the worst

I was getting ready to turn off the game and go to sleep too, but I did it hahaha

was it healthy to keep playing past 4 am to beat it? no. do I regret it? no.