#Don't think I'm avoiding the topic of the pups and artificer discussing the scav murder they know

[north-winds1]

How does arti react when she reunites with her pups? :0

For the uh, timeline, au posts where the pups don't die

Honestly I'm still thinking about that.

I think the first time arti encounters the pups in metropolis neither of them would recognise each other, afterall the last time they saw each other the pups were... well... pups. However I think artificer would be the first to realise who the two strangers really are.

I think she'd keep a small distance between them and her after realising this. Feeling guilty and ashamed about what she had done as everything up to this point, every scavenger she killed, every time she died fighting them, every cycle since then was for her pups. It was revenge for something that could never be brought back. And yet she never thought to look back and check if they were really gone.

It's that realisation that makes her scared to lose them again, so she watches from a distance protecting them from threats they haven't even noticed. Until she feels confident enough to reach out to them.

Their first few interactions go much smoother than she expected despite the two slugcats seeming somewhat cautious of her alongside the slightly tense mood and artificer's almost broken way of talking (mostly because she hadn't spoken to any slugcat for ages). They speak for a while before the two slugcats leave to find a shelter.

One cycle she meets them and starts a conversation with them using anything that comes to her mind eventually the slugcats get to the topic of why artificer is here. She couldn't say why she was actually here could she? She didn't want them to know. So she said she was looking for her pups which was at least partially true. With the long silence that followed her answer, she felt that the conversation had ended and began making her way to the nearest shelter only to be hugged by the green slugcat who turned to face the blue one before nodding to its direction. Eventually all three of them stood there hugging eachother.

Just a few random drawings: