So I Was Playing An Undertale Fangame Demo, And I'm So Brainrotted By Memes That When Flowey Went "See

You know, considering how Siffrin was almost certainly still a child when the Northern Island got erased- I tend to assume they were around thirteen, but we know that they were "a teenager" so even the oldest they could be is still pretty young- it's interesting that they wound up completely on their own.

Sure, maybe the time period is a little too pre-modern to have Child Protective Services or something- but considering how open and welcoming Vauguardians are to strangers, it's a little surprising to think that they'd look at a clearly-not-okay kid who just washed up on their beach, doesn't speak their language, and looks extremely lost and just go "rough luck, buddy, here's a croissant and some hiking boots, you go do your own thing" instead of like. At least trying to see if there's a House or a household willing to take them in.

It could be that one did for a little while and that they just moved out when they were old enough, but given how attached he gets to the party in like six months when he's a fully-grown adult who had time to process and heal (sort of), if they had a foster family it'd be weird for them to never come up at all.

It's also interesting how Siffrin's memory trauma seems to manifest not just as being frightened of forgetting, but also of being forgotten.

So, here's what I'm thinking: maybe, when Siffrin first arrived in Vauguard, they were easy to forget.

Not because there was anything wrong with them, but because they'd just come from the Northern Island. Everything about them, every single little detail, would remind people of it.

And that place is impossible to remember.

When they first washed up on the northern coastline, of course people took them to the nearest House- that's a shipwrecked child, they need help! And the Housemaidens treated them like any other patient, caring for the heatstroke and dehydration that come from being adrift in a small boat on the wide sea for a day or two.

But once they were recovered enough to do things like talk, they just kept... losing track of them, somehow.

He just didn't stick in the mind very well, leaving a trail of headaches and confused people trailing off in mid-sentence, unable to quite recall what they were talking about.

So he left.

Because clearly they were busy, they must be! They were doing important work, with no time to care for one lost child. That's very clear to him, otherwise why would they keep forgetting about him so much? If they wanted him here, they would have said something.

And it's hard for a child to support themselves, wandering around alone with nothing but what's in their pockets... but, as it turns out, it's surprisingly easy for someone Very Forgettable to just. Slip quietly into a group, without anyone noticing.

They'd get to a new town or city, look around and find a group of kids their own age- a school trip, a birthday party, a pack of them wandering around the local park- and just sort of fall in line with the rest. If a teacher or parent did a quick headcount, they'd slip easily out of their mind.

And that turned out to be a pretty good way to get a meal, and learn useful things- watching the others, picking up helpful tricks from what they say and do, learning how to speak Vauguardian or act like a local, getting an education in bits and pieces of other people's classes.

After a year or two, it stopped working- people didn't go all glazed over or wander away when they spoke to them (because they learned Vauguardian, could communicate and not leave himself and everyone in earshot nursing a headache). Their gaze didn't just slide over him like it used to.

(They picked up more and more from the land they were travelling in, to fill the empty spaces where the things they couldn't remember used to go. Smoothed out their mannerisms, changed their habits. To a fellow countryman, they would still always be unmistakable- but to people who'd never lived and breathed their homeland, the Island, they were vague enough to be just another traveler, now.)

But by then, they were old enough to work little part time jobs, ways of getting at least a bit of money here and there. They couldn't do their old trick anymore, but they didn't need to, they were strong enough to survive without it. Like a cuckoo chick finally getting its adult plumage and flying out of a stolen nest.

It's fine. They didn't want to take more than they needed, anyway. It wouldn't be fair to keep doing it anymore when they had other options.

...Incidentally, Siffrin would be very surprised to know that, to this day, there's a number of towns and cities on the Vauguardian coastline that all have urban legends about a Child-Ghost.

A little waif of a thing all in white that disguises itself as a playmate for a group of living children and tries to hide among them. If you confront it, the story goes, it wails in grief and disappears, leaving your head and your heart aching terribly.

But they don't mean any harm, and if you just give them a little food and let them rest for a moment, they'll be on their way and not cause any trouble.

(Sometimes, even the people who forget you still remember.)

I'm still not normal about him after years

I just stopped drawing a lot of fandom stuff because I wanted to task myself in actually drawing oc art.

ohhh yesss!

I am very serious about that Gordon Flowey au

please please please please never assume an artist’s work is about something and then shove your theory in their face in hope that they would validate your “headcanon”. there’s a fine line between interpreting an artist’s art, which is fine (it is, after all, what art is about), and making your own assumption that said art might be about something that goes with your narrative or that something must be on the artist’s mind when they made this. it’s rude at best and extremely insensitive / disrespectful at worst. especially when you never know if the art is something that’s personal to the artist, (and so by making your own assumptions that their art is about something you want it to be about, you’re invalidating their feelings / experiences / anything they might’ve held in their heart creating the art; you’re turning their emotions / experiences / possibly trauma into something that’s about you, whether or not it’s your intention).

this goes for every other artist out there. if you appreciate their work or respect them as an artist, don’t do this. even if you’re just “joking”. because trust me, your joke isn’t worth the risk of unknowingly undermining someone’s feelings / experiences / pain in the process.

please respect artists and their art and try to be more considerate.

i feel like siffrin would be really good at a bunch of unexpected things both from being from the island and general travelling.

like the family goes to the circus and they see someone on aerial silks and he's just like "I can do that" and their all incredibly confused until after the show he asks to try it out (and they let him bc omg the saviors are at our circus)

and he just goes crazy on that shit like he's being doing it for years. and he's just like "oh y'know I picked it up travelling."

slightly more angsty, he has an absolutely incredible singing voice, and somehow knows how to play a number of instruments. one day some kind of instrument from another country, and sings a folk song none of the family recognize, although based on the grammar it sounds like it's not originally from Vaugarde.

the family loves it, and odile lightheartedly asks "when did you learn how to play that siffrin? And where's that song from, I've never heard it during my travels!"

siffrin smiles and starts to answer, then just. Stares off for a while and says "im... not sure. i just know it, y'know?"

he tries to sound okay, but deep down he knows where that songs from. and he doesn't say because he doesn't want to forget it.

also he goes so hard at karaoke. and isabeau blushes every time he gets to hear their voice. maybe they'd serenade him with love songs teehee.

I had to take a piss test for a job I got hired at today, and this is the name of the fuckin company that makes the tests

oxidized copper is such a beautiful color palette. The rich reds with the cool teals. Such a vibrant combo. No one is doing it like her.

I will testify that even if I strongly dislike, utterly hate, and cannot stand a character, I will never go on someones post talking about liking that character and say so. Basic decency and all that