Right arrow/space/click right side of the screen to go forward; left arrow/click left side of the screen to go backward. ~ Forum version: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/721861/?page=11#post-8829007 ~ As I'm sure you all know, I love Clair Obscur. In case you don't, let me begin with a brief introduction into what it is. The following is a fanfiction based on the indie video game Clair Obscur by Sandfall Interactive that was released earlier this year. While most of it happens in parallel with events up to the beginning of Act II, it contains spoilers for the end of Act II as well. If you don't want to spoil it for yourself, then I'd recommend you don't continue reading. If you don't have the game or can't get it, I would recommend watching the cutscenes here: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/youtube/r1ppZs_tujI/ Yes, it's seven hours long. It's worth it. Okay, so, honestly, when I was playing this game and got to the end of Act II, I was shocked to the point of near tears—which is saying something, because I'm not the kind of person who cries at media. I won't say more than that, because I really want you all to watch the cutscenes and/or play the game (ideally play the game, asldkfsjl, because the gameplay is so cool as well). Anyway, I don't think I can really understate how much I love this game. The writing, the graphics, the story, literally everything about it is so perfect. I really did my best to write something that is even a fraction of the original quality (thank you, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen for giving me an impossible task), but it was...a challenging feat to say the least. I hope you enjoy! ~ Word count: 1,999 words
Update (7/1): I kept procrastinating on fixing it, but it should finally be finished now. One hopes. Update (3/1): So it’s still missing stuff for some reason. I will deal with it soon, I promise. Update (1/29): Yeah, so something really hates me because I just actually have not been able to get this to stop deleting stuff because I've read it twice since November or something, and the thing has properly showed up on this project but I guess not this time? I don't even know at this point. Just look at the forum version. UPDATE (11/27): Apparently one of my Canva slides got deleted for some reason, even though I distinctly remember putting in the information. Anyway, I've added that back now and have made the transitions slightly faster, but if you need any proof that the writing is still the same, then just read the forum version, sobs- Firstly, wow, thank you so much for making it to the end of this! I really, really appreciate it. Of course, there are a lot of people who have made this fanfiction possible, and I'm so thankful to all of you. Thank you to everyone involved on the Clair Obscur team for creating such an incredible game/storyline/literally everything. In particular, thank you to Jennifer Svedberg-Yen (lead writer) for her absolutely insane writing—you're such an inspiration. Thank you to Lorien Testard for composing a beyond incredible soundtrack to this, which in part inspired this. And, of course, Alice Duport-Percier for singing in so many of the compositions. It's genuinely one of my favorite albums of the year. (I'm listening to “Stone Wave Cliffs - Missing Hope” on repeat as I write this). Thank you to my dad for getting me into Clair Obscur, and him along with my friends for enduring all my rambles, even when I was probably being super annoying. Thank you to my friend in real life and Toko for critiquing this—both of you were so, so helpful, and I really can't thank you enough. As for the notes, I'd like to preface with the fact that I don't speak French. Not yet, anyway. I wrote the title based on my limited knowledge of French words, but it was incredibly grammatically incorrect, so the internet and my French-speaking friend really were invaluable in helping me to clarify (or to Clair Obscur-ify…I'm going to make that joke forever) what I meant in a language I do not speak. The rest of the lines in French in the short story are all from Clair Obscur songs, most from “Une vie à t'aimer,” with one of them being the title of another song. Here are their English translations, according to Google Translate and my very limited knowledge of French. I invite all French speakers to correct me if I'm wrong about anything. Again, I don't speak the language, haha- Update: Toko has also told me that “rouge feu, vie ôtée” would not be a very common or typical French phrase, but oh, well. It's what's in the song. Fermer les yeux, reste le noir • Close your eyes, and all that remains is black Peindre la vie • Painting life Arrête de m’aimer • Stop loving me Je t’aimerai toujours • I will always love you Couleurs embrasées • Colors ablaze Rouge feu, vie ôtée • Fire red, life taken away Lâche ce pinceau, quitte cette toile • Drop this brush, leave this Canvas Une vie à rêver • A life to dream (title of another song in the soundtrack by the same name) Sur la toile, notre vie s'écrit • On the Canvas, our lives are written À travers l'or, son rire persiste • Through the gold, his laughter persists Tendre la main et t'implorer • Reach out and implore/beg you (the next line of this is reviens, which means “come back”) Mon amour reste, attend • My love stays, waits Si nos pulsations jouent à contre-temps • If our pulses play out of time/if our heartbeats are out of sync And, of course, the title means (supposing I got this right) “Our love, painted on a canvas of dreams.” I think it's more meaningful when you have played the game. The interlude is largely based on Alicia's letter to Verso, hence some similarities in language and meaning there. I have also used a couple of other lines from the game, and I thank the creators for their utter genius. The first is “Life keeps forcing cruel choices,” and the second is “She invokes the flowers of the Gommage,” which is adapted from “The one who invokes the flowers of the Gommage” in Alicia's letter, though most of the une vie à rêver part is based on the letter. Thank you so much again for being here. It means so much to me.
