#arti echo au

[skylq]

My citizen, I knew you’d come back,eventually.

[slink-a-dink]

…We are more alike than it seems.

[izelandzero]

XMAS/ NEW YEAR WITH MUTUALS AND ARTISTS!!!

Featuring: Pipo and other scug shenanigans (includes Beyond life,Fern and Warper)

Anthro Hunter and Artificer from @pansear-doodles Anthro AU

Enot and Surv from @cosmikazie (Rainworldrascals)

Surv,enot and Monk from @scrufflesksunnide Echos in Time AU

TAFY iterator OC from @artist-quinn-famdo

@defective--turret's Sona

Glitch!Artificer and the Archivist from @elsa-rain-world-stuff from messed up timelines (glitch!arti's looked hungy bruh)

@flickering-nightfall and their scug oc!!

@mewguca and @druidshollow 's Scug OC!!

[pretend-my-art-is-good]

Ignore my shitass font I'm using flipaclip.

Concept for the au under the cut (ISAT OR RW SPOILERS BELOW)

So yeah I'm making this a full au now lol. The plot will mostly follow the Isat plot with some of the rw lore elements. Also if not obvious the time freeze thing has been replaced with the rot, it's also why I didn't give hunter the rot as I wouldn't be able to make it work.

As for the cast!!

Survivor/Siffrin: I'll probably redesign them but blame that mal du plays vision I had that surv is siffrin. As for some lore they had fallen away from their colony during its disappearance/flooding.

Rivulet/Mirabelle: So I had orginally planned to make them Monk but after deciding to make lttm the housemaiden, I had to make them rivulet; also them being immune to rot worked better.

Hunter/Isabeau: it was either him or spearmaster and I felt like spearmaster didn't fit all too well. I like to think that when Rivulet had came nsh had just grab hunter and threw him at rivulet and just went "take that one". Also in this au he lost his eye instead of survivor

Saint/Odile: the only correct choice. Lore wise there's a big chance I might make them actually be blessed by SOS and just refuses to tell anyone. Also instead of a familytale they ask surv to help them with finding an echo.

Artificer/Bonnie: child arti, that's it. Their two younger siblings had been infected.

As for the other characters:

Inv:Loop

The king:Five pebbles

Euphrasie:Looks to the Moon

And the enemies are just rw enemies.

"Where's monk?"

.....who's monk?

[wanderingcoyotes]

sait...

ive had so much going around in my head about sint. hmm

(hopefully this readmore works right i dont really know how they work! ->) headcanon/au rambles below :3

OKOK so they werent that bad at 1st. after their 1st "incident" when they tried 2 ascend the void worm and got sent back, that!! that was their turning point. i think they were good friends with arti and pebbs pre-incident. they were cheerful, kind of like gourmand? happy with the way the world works. unaware of their true power. this strays pretty far from canon by itself but it gets . way wackier

(the incident) they communicate with every echo, and reach their max karma. i remember i had a comic? animatic? idea with them, enot, nightcat, martyr, (which all work together in my (anthro) au, anthro specifically because i use it for more of my serious headcanons? and stuff? i guess?) and some form of sos. they snap and end up ascending enot, or hurting them significantly. nightcat begs for them not to go to rubicon. they know something bad will happen. but they push past everyone and go anyways (theyre clueless, they just want the thrill they get from mass ascending creatures. horrible little beast.) they let the greed get the better of them and end up trying to ascend the void worm, restarting the cycle. except it gets worse. the cycles end up slowly becoming more and more screwed up, every time they attempt to ascend the void worm, trying to find the "perfect" or "correct" way, they were determined. except. they realized that they were getting nowhere. the same exact thing happens.

somewhere. sometime they rip a way out, did someone do it for them? did they figure it out themselves? not sure. they find their way into the main timeline. (fun fact! they arent the only one that does this, so do enot, nightcat, and martyr. theyre all kind of funky, enot and nightcat are glitchy little beasts/twins that do what they want. lol) they arent any different, with their previous knowledge of how screwed up the cycles become if they give in again.

they become part of the colony, learning the ways of the normal colony-living slugcats ("normal" glances at spears and riv (enot and night also live there. so)) and become curious about gourmand and monk's study of the world, taking an interest in their natural medicine.

IM not very good with coming up with stories so there probably is bad consistency or things that dont make sense. i just see saint in a very unique way i think so i have . many thoughts but i dont know how to perfectly align them with words. i made alot of this up on the spot to make their story flow a little better, but im not the best writer. shrug

OK im done typing my hands hurt. goodbye gang

[scrufflesksunnide]

Echos of Time will do what pretty much every other rw au does (that is not meant to be mean btw!) and bring back arti's kids Oh I'll bring em back alright. I'll bring em back alright. rubbing hands together evilly

[pansear-doodles]

what's your process for making comics ? how do you plan them out ? the panels ? the dialogue ? do you plan it all out in advance or is it more spontaneous

sometimes if the comic requires a lot of dialogue, i make the transcript first. (and it helps because once i get to the step of actually putting in the dialogue to the comic, i make improvements along the way)

usually the process of paneling it is... very mixed. im not an expert in comic making and there are honestly better rain world artists out there who do much better in that field (trying to not compare myself to them is a mental struggle i really fucking hate but it does help me strive to work better and study how they do it(pansear i swear to god stop looking at the NUMBERS)). ive actually been one to make comics and story telling for quite a while but not much a full length big comic series.

when i make anthro au comics, i usually have the "ok this is what i want to go" in my head. since a majority of them are sketched, i dont really worry about how itll layout. i just need to get the idea out of my head. sometimes i think really hard on a scene and think to myself "ok this part is really dramatic and important so i must make it bigger than the rest". sometimes it is for comedic effect like in helm where there is an entire page dedicated to the lizard exploding over a jpeg, sometimes its for scenic feels (like echoes showing themselves upon the characters and making foreboding(though also strange) dialogue), and other times its when the character is saying something or doing something incredibly crucial like whatever saint was doing to arti in heretic.

sometimes id do it without dividers (which is actually easier for me personally). sometimes id do it experimentally like with the ghost arti and zombie hunter comic.

i suppose what i prioritize more is to tell a story rather than to tell the story in flair, so its best to not entirely heed to my advice if you want stylized-looking comics. it probably doesnt help that i might have some sort of attention deficiency because its difficult for me to get back on a project thats stored away for another.

some of the really great rw comic artists i can think on the top of my head are:

@lynxmisnomer who has a really great ongoing series called The Curse of Metropolis and has made a really cool comic of Monk and Survivor

@ninten-draw who makes really colorful stylized comics about certain rain world characters including the ones you wouldn't think of and nails on the story-telling without words

@lyss-butterscotch who puts a lot of effort to her gijinka au stuff (if you ask me which of her comics is my favorite- come on. you already know the answer based on who's writing this LOL)

@snailfen for having cutesy and detailed comics (i read ruff and ruff like garfield comics- they're not as frequent but i get this unexplainable feeling of happiness whenever i see it)

@toxictoxicities whose comics are??? scenic??? holy shit.

and you of course!

[malwarechips]

in my rw au arti never defeated the scav king but she did get into metropolis . the reason she stopped was she ran into the metropolis echo .

"You are stuck in a cycle of wrath and destruction, simple being.

Gripped by raw emotions whose chains bind you, destined to this land.

Shortcomings of the past haunt one and all like whispering phantoms.

Listen. Let this be a warning to you...

An unrewarding battle awaits, culminating in a path of no return.

A perpetuity of struggles begetting more of the same.

Find a way out, if you still can."

[apparitionism]

Confection

For the holiday this year I offer you a culinary AU I’ve been thinking about for basically forever but only now started to write down. It’ll be in parts, as I chip away in the spare minutes, with littler bits of story at a time, as when I first ventured contributions to this surpassingly wonderful fandom, years ago. I miss those long-gone Bering-and-Wells days: the speed, the inventiveness that so many brought to bear... anyway, however many parts this ends up being, it’s all just for fun. (And maybe a little ontological inquiry. Also just for fun.)

In any case, on this random Sunday, I wish everyone their preferred form(s) of activity and/or rest, as appropriate. Good feelings. Whatever it is we’re here for.

Confection

“Cutthroat.”

So says the talking head on screen in response to the offscreen question, “Describe your style in the kitchen in one word, Chef Helena Wells.”

****

“Chef Myka Bering, describe your style in the kitchen in one word.”

“One word? That’s a challenge. Diligent? I’m really diligent. Or, no: focused. I definitely think ‘focused’ is more descriptive.”

Senior Producer Claudia Donovan, upon viewing this footage, had said to the editor sitting next to her, “Can you cut that to ‘focused’ and make it sound decisive?” But then she let herself have a second thought. “You know what? Leave it all in. Compare and contrast.”

Cutthroat Wells first, indecisively diligent and/or focused Bering second... the third competitor’s response had been, in retrospect, hilarious. Claudia did appreciate how radically his pronouncement had failed to match his performance: “Awesome,” Walter Sykes had described himself, with no sense of irony whatsoever. He’d been cast as a sacrificial lamb in the first place, but Claudia still snorted at the completely useless dudebro swagger.

The fourth chef, Artie Nielsen, had been brusque rather than bro, but with no less swagger. “Classic,” he’d said, like the idea of anybody even asking the question was a “don’t you know who I am” insult. The editor angled a glance at Claudia and said, “You were real with him about what show he was on, right?”

“The old-school thing sets up the B plot,” Claudia told her. “He’s known all three judges for decades.”

“Don’t you think the A’s a lot more fun?” the editor said. She clicked quick on the Wells “cutthroat” clip—and Claudia had never in her life heard such an all-facts no-swagger saying of a word—followed by a bit of the Bering: “I definitely think,” Chef Myka said, as if in answer to the editor’s question.

“I definitely think,” Claudia echoed decisively.

****

“The name of our show,” Steve Jinks explains, as he does every week at the start of the program proper, after the contestants have described their styles, “is ‘This Without That.’ What this means, contestants, is that in each of three rounds, you will be asked to prepare a classic dish... but without its defining ingredient.”

****

“You gotta do it,” Pete Lattimer had said. “Because it’d be so cool. Gottagottagotta.”

Myka was leaning against the at-last-closed-for-the-night door of the restaurant where they both worked—Myka as sous chef, Pete grilling and frying—and she wanted to ignore him, for her fatigue weighted her such that she could barely convince her spine to support her head. Forcing that head to lift, accompanied by actually working her jaw, felt well beyond possible.

And she would have ignored him, but she was the idiot who’d made the mistake of telling him about “it”: a producer from “This Without That,” the wildly popular cooking competition show, had called to express interest in having her compete next month (next month being August) for their Christmas championship, to air in December.

Having been that idiot, she couldn’t ignore him, but she was regretting the telling, so now she said, “No I don’t. I don’t ‘gotta’ do anything.”

“But you wanna.”

“I don’t ‘wanna’ do anything either. And as for this, I don’t want to do it.”

First, television. Second, a competition. Third, a Christmas competition. In August. She didn’t want to. In fact she’d rather have gnawed off her knife hand than do it. But then Pete moved from “gotta” and “wanna” (Myka hated those pseudo-word elisions) to “hafta,” adding “for the restaurant”—the one they planned to partner to open someday, when they had saved enough money and/or could talk investors into believing in them—and Myka gave in. “I’ll try,” she told him, and she meant she’d try not to tank her upcoming interview with the producer, Claudia Donovan. She told him that too... but for integrity’s sake, she added, “I hate the whole idea of that show. ‘This Without That.’ It seems so dumb.”

He waved a hand at her, but slowly, showing that he was tired too. “Little piece of non-tanking advice: don’t say that to this producer. Besides, a hugeity-huge-huge audience loves it, which means it’s smart. Say that instead.”

That, she did ignore. “Smart? It’s insipid.” Mimicking Steve Jinks, the show’s host, she quoted his dismissal of each round’s losing contestant: “Unfortunately, this competition will continue without you.”

“I knew you watched it,” Pete crowed.

Ugh. “Once.” She didn’t tell him why. “But it bothered me.”

“Bothered you because you knew you could do better at making a thing without its major thing, right? Say that’s why.” He added, “And by the way, I know you could too. So you should say it twice.”

His faith was sweet, but she told him the truth: “No. It bothered me ontologically.” She didn’t expect him to understand, but she tried to explain anyway. “Beef Wellington without the beef, for example, like they did in the one I saw. That’s just... Something Else Wellington. And then at the end, the judges pick whose Something Else Wellington they like best. The beef part—the constitutive element!—falls by the wayside. The thing itself doesn’t even matter anymore.”

Pete shook his head. “It’s like you don’t understand games. Something Else Wellington is the whole idea. If it isn’t Something Else Wellington, then it isn’t Beef Wellington without the beef. You’re just ticked that the judges don’t spend all their tasting time splitting ontological hairs about how close to beef that Something Else really is. Or isn’t. Whichever way makes you happier, but it doesn’t matter, because that isn’t what they’re there to do.”

Myka hadn’t known he would—could—come up with “splitting ontological hairs.” That was another point in favor of her trying not to tank.

Also (and she’d been thinking about this since the call from Claudia Donovan): her parents. They were reasons that were maybe (okay, probably) on par with “for the restaurant,” because if she could she impress them by being on television... she really did hate the clichéd nature both of their objections to her career—their dismay that she wasn’t “using that brain”—and of her response, a heels-dug-in “I’ll show you.” These several years on, they hadn’t yet acknowledged being shown. Maybe television would be the charm. Maybe if they could switch a channel and discover Myka there, doing what she did... maybe that would finally do that work of showing.

Pete said, “They judge based on creativity, too—how out-there a Something Else idea you come up with. Imagination what? Plus you gotta do it fast. Thinking on your feet, right? Don’t you love all that?”

As adept as Pete could be at saying the wrong thing, he was also, sometimes, exceptional at saying the right thing. “Using my brain?” she queried, just to make sure.

He nodded, and Myka was pretty sure it was because he knew the history: the family, the pain points. She’d inflicted versions of it on him so many times. “Think it’s a smart idea now?” he asked, at his most canny.

Show them not only by being on television, doing what she did, but also by “using that brain” on television. To do what she did. To do it better than other people. To at last, in the end, show them. “Maybe,” she hedged, but her overriding thought was Yes, yes, at long last yes.

Not for one instant did it occur to her that she might not win.

****

Claudia had started on TWT in the casting department, over two years ago. Even though evaluating potential talent wasn’t technically her job anymore, she did like to tinker. Particularly if she sensed a good story brewing.

When Myka Bering walked in—no, she loped in, her legs looking about as long as Claudia was tall—Claudia really hoped the good-story pings she’d been sensing were real radar.

There was truly no time like the right-now to see what was what, so Claudia said, first thing after introductions: “Just FYI, Helena Wells is already locked as a cheftestant on this one. I hear you know each other.”

Myka, who’d been settling into the chair across from Claudia’s desk, froze.

So far so good, Claudia thought. But then she thought again, as she observed Myka’s dart of eyes, followed by a small-but-visible twist of neck, both signaling obvious discomfort: No... so far so spectacular.

TBC

[skylq]

we’re both freezing and miserable and- well, you know what they say about misery.

[daisyglips]

I think saint and arti would fucking DESPISE each other on principle, at least at first. that being said I agree they should be gay too. also? Spoilers ahead, giving you some space

the fact that they’re both echoes HAUNTS me they have such staying power as a duo. imagine being stuck somewhere with someone you despise (bc of personality differences) but they’re the only one you have. Ough. enemies to lovers potential is STRONG artisaint folks are onto something. and so are fishstick folks but that’s for another time (in my au, riv and spear have a more familial relationship but outside of that I can see the appeal)

[elsa-rain-world-stuff]

hello hello hiii! i'm not a frequent tumblr user but i just wanted to say this AU of yours is so so fucked up and i love it and finding out about both yours and that other regicide redemption artist at the same time is filling a big niche i didn't know i needed! as for an actual ask uhhh. To Arti: are you regretting ignoring the words of advice from that big floating ghost yet? (or alternatively, have any of the scavs met It?)

Thank you! I'm glad that you're enjoying my comic, it's really important to hear that!

About the sk, i don't think that she have seen the Echo. It's really easy to miss it, for example, I vuisited it only after the ending lol, didn't even know that there is one x)

SK maybe have seen it, but i'm not sure. And i don't think it's important here. At least now.

[flecks-of-stardust]

Pinned Post Eyyy

Call me a name enough times and I'll probably start responding to it, which is what happened to me with Fleck. I also go by Stardust. Pronouns are yes and whatever is funny, but as a general rule of thumb, please use neopronouns and they/them for me if I don't know you. I also use mirror pronouns.

Not a spoiler free blog. I can and will post full spoilers of the stuff I'm interested in. Most commonly blogging about Rain World (including Downpour) at the moment, with a smattering of Hollow Knight and Bug Fables stuff. You can blacklist the main tags if need be.

I may occasionally talk about politics related to my home city. If I do, it'll be tagged with #hong kong rants for blacklisting purposes.

If you talk about hating any sort of arthropod and wanting to kill them I don't want you here. I don't care if you have a phobia or if you have a legitimate reason to be afraid, I don't want to see bug hate. Yes this includes wasps, yes this includes mosquitoes, yes this includes generally unpopular bugs. I block on sight if you leave comments like that on my blog.

For those interested in getting a better look at my header image, here is the associated post!

Current main project(s)

I run @innocence-wont-save-you, an interactive fiction game about Unparalleled Innocence! You can find more information about it on that blog and its pinned post.

I sometimes post IWSY stuff on this blog as well, particularly stuff that is not in character for the IWSY blog. Those posts are tagged with #IWSY, which also includes posts that I find relevant to the overall story. I love talking about the story and the worldbuilding I've done for it, so feel free to talk to me about that! I will gently nudge you over to the blog itself though, because it's designed to take questions like that!

I am also conducting independent research on people's experiences with imaginary friends. If you'd like to participate in the research, this post has more information and a link to the survey.

Other projects

You may have seen me talk about Dreamless and Deathless on this blog before. Those are now split off from their respective source material into an original story universe, Godslayers. Their respective tags, #dreamless au and #deathless au, now serve as archiving, if you'd still like to look through them for whatever reason. They are not linked because I'm unsure of how much I'm comfortable sharing; expect posts in there to be pruned.

I have some stuff related to my Hollow Knight work that I am comfortable sharing, though!:

bug color vision, specifically worldbuilding around non-human color vision that you can use for your buggy writing

language analysis of hollow knight, which is what it says on the tin

and there is #translation complaints, a series I started to talk about Hollow Knight's Chinese translation. It's been a while since I've updated this, but I will go back to it eventually.

Crochet Patterns

I currently have two released crochet patterns! All are free to use, and if you make one with my pattern, feel free to tag me to show me what you've made!

Mini Iterators — Make your own fun sized iterator puppet! (Cloak not included.)

Tiny Slugcats — Make your own pocket sized slugcat!

Tag directory

I crochet and knit a lot, as you may be able to tell from my header! I have dedicated tags for my crochet and knitting projects, which are #crochet shenanigans and #knit mischief respectively.

I have a general tag for my art, #my art, for non-fiber art pieces as well.

Writing wise, I've put a lot of my writing on Tumblr. Rain World pieces use the tag #rain showers, and other writing (usually prose) is tagged #little natterings. Additionally, I've put a few multi-chapter stories on my blog, which are:

#the echo of destruction, a series of seven stories about the iterators.

#avengeance, a four chapter short story about Arti.

#lunar greetings, a five chapter story about Moon and those she meets.

#memory fragments, a series that features the various members of Survivor and Monk's family. This is currently still being written.

All of these stories can also be found on AO3, where I use the same username.

I'm very lazy about following people, so if I talk to you a lot but haven't followed you, don't take it personally. I just like to keep my dash tidy.

For my own use: Pup Masterlist

[mashedcontroller]

I'm just gonna rant about my plans for the slugcats in my Sunspup AU

I've been ruminating on how Arti and Riv will fit into the sunspup au plot. With Arti, I have a good idea on her character, but the problem is lore compliancy. So, I have a very goofy idea for that, but it might be a little too goofy idk. The two leading concepts are echo arti and pebbles interference, which both have their own pros and cons. I'm leaning more towards echo arti tho.

Meanwhile, Riv's lore is pretty simple to justify; sunspup au takes place around the same time as Riv's campaign. But I don't have any bright ideas for their personality. I imagine Riv would be kinda impatient, but that's all I've got. Tho tbf, I didn't have many bright ideas for SM and I think they're doing fine for the au.

Oh, and then I also have a fun idea for Monk to appear and have their own story. The only thing stopping that is I'm not sure how I'd justify Suns or Spearmaster understanding them. Since, like, neither of them are fluent is slug. Monk's and Survivor's stories are related, obviously.

Gourmand and Hunter have been referenced. I was considering making Gourmand an antagonist. The idea being that they're trying to keep Suns and Spears away from Pebbles out of concern for their safety. But I think that concept can just be transferred to Monk, and Gourmand would have since died of old age.

I don't have a cohesive plan for Hunter. I figure Hunter Long Legs could make an appearance because I like body horror. There's definitely something to be done with Hunter and Sig, especially after Arti and Pebbles enter the chat. I don't really have any cohesive post-pebbles ideas yet.

And... uh... I have literally zero idea what to do with Saint. It's like, I'm nowhere close to that road so I'm not gonna think about it yet.

Also nightcat and enot don't exist.

[scrufflesksunnide]

EDIT!!!: THIS IS NOT CONNECTED TO MY AU ECHOES OF TIME, THIS WAS FOR FUN AND BASED OFF OF A DREAM SEPERATE FROM THE AU, DESPITE IT SOMEWHAT USING MY AU DESIGNS IT IS NOT TIED TO MY AU, ARTI AND HUNTER IN MY AU ARE ADOPTIVE SIBLINGS!! FOR REFERENCE IN THE FUTURE, IF I EVER DO DRAW ARTIHUNTER IT WILL BE SEPERATED FROM THE AU. WHAT I DO IN MY AU IS NOT TIED TO WHAT OTHER RW STUFF I DRAW, THANK YOU RAIN WORLD SPOILERS FOR HUNTER AND ARTIFICER AHEAD!

Drew something based on the Artihunter dream I had

Image under text/cut

Hey.

Hey.

...Guessing you're done with your run for today?

Yes. Was getting extremely frustrated.

Aw.

Scavengers were killing me over and over, I'm so damn close to that scavenger king! So close!

I feel ya, cyan lizards were eating my ass left and right, they were getting so god damn annoying I just decided to quit for today and try again tomorrow.

Yeesh. Aren't you close to your little delivery?

Somewhat, I have another 3 regions to go before I reach my destination... Still really worried that I'm not going to make it.

Hey, have some more confidence in yourself, love. I know you'll be able to ascend and have the neuron delivered. You've tried so many times already and You've made good progress thus far, if it means anything at all... I believe in you.

Heh... Thanks. I needed that, love you.

Love you too. Keep trying hard okay?

Only if you do the same as well.

Lovers in Purgatory.

Lovers in a Ferris Wheel.

[pansear-doodles]

Actually I do have an ask of more substance if you don't mind another one from me! I'd love to hear your take on Saint and SOS. We've gotten hints of it from your comics but if you're willing to share any details that'd be really cool :0

hehe

as part of the "SOS made Saint" group, i can elaborate on their relations

keep in mind that my au has them as merged timelines with the other campaigns (or is a funny mix of the events folding)

Typically, iterators don't have sympathy for their creations and simply see them as that- their creations, but most overtime grow fond of them like Sigs with Hunter and Suns with Spear and Wanderer.

Sliver never developed a familial fondness for Saint, seeing them merely as a tool and treating them as such. Due to Sliver's circumstance and limited resource, they could only really create Saint as they are, so most things taught to them had to be from scratch and to be trained for. As a child, Saint was constantly starved and neglected as part of their training in order to open up that "gaping hole" to be a vessel- becoming the triple affirmative.

Slugcats are sociable creatures, so child Saint didn't really understand why they're going through it. Sliver has pretty much broke them. She makes a test run and sends Saint to the void sea to take in the ascension powers onto their body. Once Saint arrives back to her chambers and demonstrates such a power, Sliver was ecstatic from the discovery and starts telling the other iterators.

But having her back turned, Saint, at a fit of rage, ascends Sliver, effectively wiping them off from the face of the earth.

Saint has nobody and nothing else they could care about, so they tried ascending themselves but... they were rejected, finding themselves back to the place they started.

They find themselves karmically misaligned once more, so they spent the next few years training themselves and meeting with echoes... During all that, Saint couldn't help but fulfill their duty. "If all creatures are stuck in the endless cycle, then maybe..."

Then they meet Arti, whom they heavily sympathized for (and was attracted to). They have these conflicting feelings or whether to tell them the truth, to free them of their cyclical curses so they'd no longer have to live on with these burdens, or to settle.

Heretic shows you how that went...

After reaching maximum attunement, Saint attempts ascension once more... only to unveil the horrifying discovery that they were echoing, and finding themselves at the beginning once more- the start of their karmically attuning journey.

They don't know what to make of this.

Throughout their various attempts to permanently ascend as an overall act of desperation to escape their own cycle, they befriended and engaged with the other slugcats and has ascended all of them before. They went through a lot of stories, seen their many angles and all ends with a tragedy and restarting their journey.

Eventually Saint got sick and tired of it all and find themselves on the current timeline we are seeing now. They do not make an effort to befriend all of them this time, nor ascend them. They used to, but they find no point in it, not being truthful about themselves, its all going to be reset anyway.

... But Monk remembers.

This haunts Saint. They feel obliged to be there for them more than ever. They fear of becoming Sliver themselves- and speaking of the such, would at times hallucinate and dream of her, mocking them in a calm motherly voice I'd imagine. Helm showcases that.

Of course, Sliver is dead dead. She can't ever return because that is before the checkpoint that Saint permanently put themselves in for every timeline reset. There are some set events that will happen no matter what Saint does, like Arti losing their pups.

As im writing this, the story rn- Saint hasn't told the other slugcats their deal, but once they do, I imagine a lot of change by dynamic.