#For those wondering what’s up with the slugcat it’s supposed to be in the iterators vision and they can’t see very well

[solace-of-solitude]

The piercing silence of a dead gods corpse

he’s not doing too well

[owololcat]

Slugcat Dashboard Simulator!!!

💥 scavslayingchieftain

what in void’s name are these fucking thingies? /pos

⦻ vultureculture-deactivated119023

those are yeeks! They're normally native to outer expanse, though you may occasionally find a few in farm arrays if you're lucky! :3

💥 scavslayingchieftain

I love em gimme like 20

🍯 gourmdan-ramscug

I just saw a pup get carried into the treetops by a squidcada. Their mom was able to grab em before they could get hurt but now I'm wondering how many squidcadas it’d take to lift me…

🍯 gourmdan-ramscug

clerik dem

🎭 long-live-4pe

I think catboy pebbles would kill a wildscug.

🐁 the-johndoe

Wildscug from Outer Expanse here, can confirm. I only got one second to process the glory of an iterator in a catboy costume before I got my brain nuked and woke up back in The Wall.

🎭 long-live-4pe

… Not what I meant, but this is most certainly funnier than what I intended.

��️ ripples-and-reflections

heyyyy sorryyyy your mate went down to the void sea and became an echo. yeahhhh he’s stuck between life and death with no escape to either. his attachment to his worldly desires was just too strong, sorryyy.

🌀 ur-getting-eepy

OE scugs, today is the day we finally decide...

🍯 gourmdan-ramscug

This is actually a fun way to gauge the colony's opinions on my antics. I’ll be keeping tabs on this! Thanks, Hypnotist!

🌀 ur-getting-eepy

OH HI DAD

🐟 moons-secret-lovechild

I just found 2 dead noodleflies with their needles shanked into each other. Can any nature-smart scugs explain why they do this?

🌼 fren2all

actually it's just a simple territorial dispute, which are always battles to the death in noodleflies. but what's really interesting is that if there's a winner left alive, they'll actually adopt the baby noots of the loser!

🐟 moons-secret-lovechild

Huh. Talk about a custody battle, am I right?

💥 scavslayingchieftain

my iterator just gave me a pearlreader and a cluster of pearls with a graphic novel series called “Spinning Top’s Folly” on them and WHERE THE FUCK HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE???

🪡 slash-srs

A new face to share brainrot with is always a welcome sight.~

💥 scavslayingchieftain

oomf, you don't get it.

i used to be a wildscug.

this is my first taste of iterator entertainment.

i can never go back.

🪡 slash-srs

OH SHIT, THAT IS A BIG DEAL. Anyways, your iterator picked a great first series for a creature who's unfamiliar with the benefactors and their history! If you're interested in fanfiction, I recommend trying to get your paws on some of the “Eternity Confluence” pearls by The Werelizard! Its this really silly canon divergence fic where Howlite Skies follows Spinning Top when they run away from the creche, resulting in extra shenanigans and a happier ending for both.

🦎 da-littlest-lizor

imma lizardcat, actually, but ty for the shoutout! I had a lot of fun expanding upon the sibling dynamic they had in the early chapters :}

🪡 slash-srs

H-HELLO?????

🐁 the-johndoe

I stole an egg with plans to eat it the following cycle but oops looks like I'm a dad now. forgive the shitty quality but meet batnip bread everyscug

🌼 fren2all

Pretty fucked up lookin slugpup

🐁 the-johndoe

monk ur supposed to be the nice one, don’t insult ur niece! >:T

🐁 the-johndoe

#so this is the fabled found family

@gourmdan-ramscug MOOOM HYPNOTIST AND MONK ARE BEING FUNNIER THAN ME ON MY OWN POSTS AGAAAAIN!

🌼 fren2all

Fuck kinda dad runs to the grandparent to solve his problems? lol

🐁 the-johndoe

I will suplex you into a patch of protorot grrr

🎭 long-live-4pe

Guess who finally got their title? The Gentleman, at your service.~

🦎 da-littlest-lizor

holup i thought u were a messenger how tf u get a title?

🎭 long-live-4pe:

I actually reside in a colony atop Four Painted Easels. I am a messenger by employment rather than by purpose!

As for how I earned a title in the first place, the scavengers took a pearl that was of great importance to 4PE, so I swiped it back from right under their snouts. Apparently I greatly resembled a gentleman thief from some old novels from the benefactor era.

🦎 da-littlest-lizor:

oh those scavs are gonna send they best elites after u lmao. i can def see how a colony would see you in that way tho, congrats! u earned it!

[ask-rain-world-characters]

to all the slugcats and iterators : what do you think about each other and whats your relationship with each one?

OOC - We felt like it was a little too early to give super detailed elaborations about all the relationships between the characters. We thought it would be better if we explored them a little more slowly and thoroughly, so most of our answers here are short and fun and vague - though there are certain exceptions here, of course (after all, some of these answers were recorded a lot earlier than others). Survivor's Answer:

Monk's Answer (written and recorded by ARK, the previous VA):

Watcher's Answer:

Gourmand's Answer:

Rivulet's Answer:

Spearmaster's Answer (written and recorded by Daikon, the previous VA):

Saint's Answer:

Enot's Answer:

Five Pebbles' Answer:

Seven Red Suns:

Transcripts below:

Survivor: "Well I mean they're very wonderful people! I uhh... I think Gourmand's cooking is pretty great. Enot's... funny. That's the nicest way to put it. Monk's my cool lil sibling. Uhh... Not much else to say."

Monk: "I have created a poem specifically for this" "Hello~. If I were to... Make a reason and a fault for every - single - one of these slugcats around me, I would come up with..." "How about the Survivor first: 'You remind me of myself—a wanderer trying to survive, but you carry so much weight in your heart. I hope you find the family you are looking for.' " "How about you, Hunter?: 'You seem so strong, but also burdened. I can see the urgency in your every move... Are you running out of time?' " "And for you, Gourmand?: 'Ah, you enjoy life in ways many of us cannot. I admire how you savor the little things. Perhaps you see can beauty in this world that others can miss.' " "Artificer: 'You have faced so much pain... You lash out at a world that has wronged you. I wish I could show you a gentler way, but I fear it may already be too late.' " "Rivulet: 'You are so swift—like water flowing freely. I hope you always move forward, without being swept away by the currents of time.' " "You, Spearmaster: 'Your way of survival is so different… It seems lonely, feeding off others' energy. Do you ever wish things were - huh - different?'" "Saint: 'You move with such grace, as if you are already halfway beyond this world. Are you seeking peace, or are you simply done with everything here?' " "For you Enot: 'There is something odd about you, like you don’t quite belong. I hope you find your place and a way to connect with others.' " "And for you, Watcher, the Nightcat: 'You seem distant and lost, like you’ve seen too much and grown weary of it all. I hope you find warmth in the cold places you wander.' " "Thank you for your time."

Watcher: "... I guess, they are very great. Except Enot." "Hmm? Oh... I was supposed to tell more... I... I don't feel great, maybe next time..."

Gourmand: "To be honest, I had reservations about many of the others here - they're a little strange, and you can't just let anyone near your tribe. But I'm certainly warming up to them. They do seem like good fellows. And the iterators... well, they can be helpful and interesting, but it also seems like they have lots of problems themselves. Problems I'd prefer not to stick my nose into. Though their Neurons do taste very funny!"

Rivulet: “I like all of them for the most part! Maybe not Enot, they’re kinda weird and just keep, hitting on me? That’s like, very weird, and not the good kind. Otherwise, I like being around most of them, especially Moon!”

Spearmaster: “Too much to say in this one, just know that all of them have their own special place and that’s what matters. …and I guess Enot, is there too. sigh”

Saint: "They are...acquaintances. I enjoy the company of some more than others, but ultimately not by much."

Enot: "Oh I absolutely adore each and every one of those slugcats, I could ramble on for ages but to keep myself concise, I'll simply say every attribute of them is worth my love, and some day those feelings will turn mutual." "The iterators though, I've only ever met Pebbles, and I guess the blue one but they were in a comatose or something last I remember, but Pebbles is cool, he makes this pretty nice drink called 'Five Pebsi'. It comes in 3 flavors, Daddy Long Legs, Halcyon Memories and my personal favorite, Triple Affirmative" *sluuuuuurp "ahhh, tastes just like-" *THUD

Five Pebbles: "These slugcats are a form of nuisance. Barging into my facility, poking and prodding around, slipping through my superstructure… I can just barely tolerate them. If I wasn’t a merciful iterator, I would eviscerate them on the spot. Yet I do hold a fondness for The Artificer primarily. It is welcoming to have some form of company in my existence. And The Rivulet has helped me assist Moon. So I suppose I owe a debt to both of them, in some way. …As for the iterators… I’m sure you know my opinion of Sliver of Straw. Our ultimatum. She’s the successor, possibly the only one out of us to live up to our creators. The icon of what we devote our existence to… and yet one of the direct causes of my illness, save for.. Seven Red Suns. …I am disappointed in Suns. Small disagreements between us stacked to create a larger gap. I was upset at him for cycles upon cycles, and I’m- I’m not ready to forgive just yet. In the end I hope I can, perhaps in the future if any of us survive. And Moon…. she’s my superior, as you know. I care about her, and I regret my actions. We have had a complicated relationship, and… I.. I suppose even gods can feel guilt, can they not? My only wish is that she finds hope, or peace, or whatever she has been grasping for. I may deserve what I have to deal with now, but she certainly doesn’t. It’s never been her fault. I don’t care if she never forgives me for what I’ve done, all I need for her is to survive."

Seven Red Suns: "This is admittedly quite a difficult subject for me. Pebbles and I were once great friends, he looked up to me as a mentor and I listened to him and tried my best to support and understand him.... then I made horrible, horrible choices and I gave him information I absolutely shouldn't have, and I regret those decisions deeply. I should have known better, and now he, Moon, and potentially many others are hurt because of my actions. Sig and I are good friends, though I admit his teasing does somewhat bother me at times. I look to him frequently for guidance and to get more opinions on things. Despite his demeanor, he is extremely knowledgeable about various things like purposed organisms and his input on those subjects is very much appreciated. He has helped me a lot with answering questions and giving me ideas about what I can also do. My Messenger has become a very dear friend of mine. They're quite expressive and I enjoy communicating with them as best as I can, they have shared many stories of their travels with me and many things they have seen and done. It's quite nice to have someone to talk to since communications are decayed."

[0uterrim]

TIL about the rain world steam cards

there's not that much information on them, but there are some interesting… implications, i guess? to what there is. interesting to me at least. and as I did not previously know about them, I'm making a post! this is partially copypasted from something i said on discord (hey sqs people btw)

the screenshots used here are taken from the Rain World wiki, because i do not have them all.

anyways! on to the analysis

first of all, surv they/them canon

the cards seem to be written from the perspective of an unknown slugcat--they're clearly written by an intelligent someone who lives in rain world and isn't an iterator (they don't know what an overseer is!) or a scavenger (the scavenger card very clearly refers to them as not being one:

), which pretty much means 'slugcat' is the only remaining option.

there are only three cards wherein the narrator refers to themself directly--Daddy Long Legs ("I feel as though I am being watched...") and Overseer ("A strange glowing creature. They don't appear to be hostile. / They want me to follow them. To where, I wonder? // Can they be trusted?") (both Iterator-created creatures!), along with Survivor.

Otherwise, they only use we/us on the rare occasion that they speak in first person (Red Centipede, Salamander, Scavengers, Rain Deer). Other than that, they only seem to speak in hypotheticals. I'm not certain what all of this means, but it's Interesting to me.

Unrelatedly, what the fuck does 'type' mean.

it's so?? arbitrary?? Lots of them just have their species name, or what could be assumed to be a clade that they're a part of, but then what the hell is up with 'tribal'???

(tumblr does not love me for including all those images christ)

the narrator is clearly knowledgeable about this world and experienced with its dangers, but without the context of why it is the way it is (i.e. not knowing about iterators)--about the level of knowledge I'd expect from your average slugcat! Their speech patterns and the things they choose to mention about each creature offer some level of characterization for this faceless, nameless chronicler, as well. who are you, little guy...

anyways, I don't think I've much else to say. just wanted to bring a bit of attention to this little piece of lore, I suppose.

[aquilamage]

more thoughts from playing Spearmaster so far (under the cut because oops I wrote a thousand plus words):

I wonder if there's an explanation for why the bits of overhearing broadcasts are things we can understand without having a Mark of Communication. Maybe because it's being beamed right into our brain? or it's just for the player and the slugcat doesn't get anything at all.

I'm pretty confident I will get the ability to understand at some point if only because we gotta find out what's on the pearl that was in Spearmaster. Especially with the emphasis on the game making sure you have a hold on the pearl when Five Pebbles kicks you out.

So far I've found broadcasts in Outskirts, Industrial, Pipeyard, Waterfront, Five Pebbles, and Chimney. It's been one each apart from Waterfront which rocked my assumption that I was good to stop searching once I found one.

really hoping that if we get pronouns for any other iterators there'll be at least one with something other than he or she. because.

Saw Looks to the Moon and Seven Red Suns' overseers on the same screen at least once and it makes me wanna scream. I don't recall seeing any of Five Pebbles' overseers until after I got to them but I could be wrong

Just below the top level of the Wall I found a new gate that has a new symbol I've never seen before! Three rows and three columns of dots in a square. No idea what's up with that but I'm very excited to find out once I figure out how to get that symbol.

I'm really in love with the new weird blue things in Five Pebbles' area, they're very charming to me for some reason. Accidentally threw a spear at one offscreen and it started throwing things back at me, which was cool. Also one wandered into a bug zapper light and they drop larger versions of the overseer eyes so what's up with that. Also if this is in the past I'm thinking those might turn into the tendril beasts since some of them are in the same places and also just their shape/color generally (and then I had the horrifying realization that the other tendril beast color is orangey.....like Looks to the Moon's overseers and probably her version of those things).

I'm currently hypothesizing that the Downpour slugcats but Spearmaster especially might be purposed beings. Partially because that would explain why they're so radically different from both the original slugcats (which were all basically the same) and each other. and spearmaster's biology especially out of the four seems the least like something that would naturally occur (checking their info card, it's literally called an "abnormality").

But mostly because the broadcasts I found in Outskirts, Industrial, and Pipeyard (one each) talk about 7RS having previously sent sensitive info over a pearl and are currently doing it again. The specific wording they use is "I purposed a messenger." That combined with Spearmaster's little info card text about being set out "once again, messenger" making it pretty clear that it was the courier slugcat both times for 7RS makes me pretty confident about this hypothesis.

7RS sending something? sensitive to Five Pebbles the first time that he wasn't in a good mental state to use right. Briefly pondered if that was the Chimney "how to circumvent the self-destruction taboo" pearl (and maybe that was what he was trying to do that fucked up the water supply. I do think 7RS might have been one of the other members of the sliverofocean EP pearl. If they knew EP was Five Pebbles then maybe.....) but I can't think of a good reason why the pearl would then end up there since the message definitely reached Five Pebbles.

Screaming and biting things about the line "The fact is, he really looked up to me. As much as I gave him a hard time, that's not something I took lightly."

I feel like at least Spearmaster is supposed to be set pre-basegame but at this point I'm still not really sure. Past implications: Not-Shoreline having some areas less broken; one of the broadcasts I ran across in Waterfront was of Looks to the Moon attempting to communicate with Five Pebbles, which I've been assuming she can't do in basegame (this one doesn't directly say it's live but for now I'm assuming it is); the easy route through Pebbles' area at least doesn't have any rot tendril stuff (I didn't check the Unfortunate Development section because I didn't want to be dying extra much and by the time I noticed I'd already committed to easy path). Future implications: the convo with NSH and 7RS from Pipeyard I found where they very much seem to be referencing Hunter and NSH getting their help.

The biggest thing I'm obsessing over is thinking about Seven Red Suns vs No Significant Harassment on the subject of slugcat messengers.

First, the bit of dialogue on it where 7RS says "At least I used it for something more...practical." Which assuming they're talking about the Hunter stuff then WOW. Not knowing the contents of 7RS's initial message I can't judge if that's correct (NSH seems to doubt it, but I don't think they know what it was either), but even if they are that's a pretty callous way to describe an attempt to save Looks to the Moon (also I don;t think the "and the messenger even returned safely" bit is necessarily meant to be a jab at NSH but I did have that thought at one point so. noting that)

Anyway for the actual methods, Hunter vs this Spearmaster. The fact that 7RS has an overseer guide them and NSH doesn't is interesting to think about. This one I think might be a bit more of a gameplay difference but maybe not. I also do have to note that I don't know right now what resources the two of them have at the time of the game modes. Which also makes wondering what the reason is for there not being an overseer guiding Spearmaster after Five Pebbles. Again, might just be a game design thing, but it might also be they don't have more to spare! Or maybe they aren't bothering because they got what they needed out of Spearmaster (although my mind does go back to their bit about the messenger returning the first time. That makes it feel like something they might want to happen again. Unless something changed)

On a higher priority than that is the giving of the gift of communication. If 7RS has the ability to do that (and if they made Spearmaster I would assume at least then they would), then what does it say about them that they wouldn't give understanding to a messenger they're using again? Could they be trying to hide something? Is it like a 'you don;t absolutely need it so I'm not bothering.' Or if they can't do that, maybe that's why they're going through the effort of using an overseer to guide Spearmaster.

And then even bigger than that is that they decided to stitch the data pearl message into Spearmaster's body such that the only way to get it out was to rip it out. What the fuck?? Spearmaster's sprite after having the pearl taken looked super bad; that was not painless for sure. This is the one where there really isn't a second way to look at it.

My guess for the reasoning behind doing that rather than just giving it to Spearmaster to hold is that 7RS wanted to make absolutely sure the pearl wouldn't get lost. (my mind goes back to the use of the word "practical" in that one broadcast. I know they were talking about the reason, not the method, but still) And it worked! But it definitely puts them in a light that is not the kindest.

And I don't know why, but currently I'm kinda leaning towards the more ruthless explanations in general for this (ruthless in the sense of cold practical "I see the most straightforward way to get to my goal and I take that no matter what the means are" but not actively purposefully cruel). It certainly would make for the most interesting version of their character, even if it distresses me.

Also if we take those kinds of explanations plus them creating Spearmaster then this is a fascinating story of Seven Red Suns replicating the ancient-iterator relationship. Of creating a being specifically for the purpose of fulfilling something you want, of denying them of something in your creating of them, of using them and then abandoning them to fend for themself.

[fishyaudio]

FINAL THOUGHTS IF ANYONE CARES (SPOILERS FOR THE ENDINGS)

I didn't really change my mind too much

I feel like all of the DLC strengths stayed on paper instead of going into practice. Because, on paper, I really like it - dimension hopping slugcat bonding with an Echo of an Ancient's child with the motive of accepting the next steps in life or/and being at peace woth your inner child is an amazing idea. But it was barely there and barely told?

Half of the Echo encounters I had were dialougeless and with how much of a chore finding this guy around the map was, I forgot I was supposed to even bond with them. I always felt like there was something missing, hell, for the whole game I thought that I'm dealing with an echo of an ITERATOR, only for my friend to notice that "oh wait they're talking about their classmates" after finishing.

I really dislike how the rot was handled in this DLC. I love the idea and the visuals of a rotting world but from what I got from the past campagins, the rot was something so closely tied to 5P and the small world around our two iterators that I fear making it a force akin to the Void made it less special. The roterator was a stunningly disgusting idea which I ADORED, I loved the Throne and the dimensions rotting away, but... it ultimately felt out of place.

Most of it felt out of place for me because of one, single change - the scale. I liked the world of Rain World for being a huge place, an overwhelming maze for such a little slugcat, with its own tragedy in the background... That ultimately turned out just to be a small portion of the world filled with thousands of iterators, also small and meaningless in the grand scheme of things. By opening up to other dimensions it lost this charm. And I would be fine with it if it was something COMPLETELY new. But no - we still have rain and cycles even with no iterators in sight. I felt that there was ultimately nothing explore when hopping from Echo to Echo and from rift to rift (maybe except Outer Rim, that area made me geniuenly interested and felt like it was designed with more sense).

Gameplaywise I think that the regions are a bit too big for their own good. I found myself stuck in countless loops or series of rooms leading to a dead end more often than necessary (the loops were especially irritating, looking at you, Turbulent Pump, my god how I hate Turbulent Pump). Not only that, I haven't really felt what the new karma-nonkarma did. I think it unlocked me more regions with time but because there was around, what? 7?? Starting regions it felt like it didn't make a difference at all. It didn't limit my exploration, I didn't bond with any of then, it didn't have that learning curve like Saint did. Storywise I'm also confused what the Ripples represent and its a bold decision to make them replace THE karma. The force that rules the whole world? The force that every iterator, ancient and scug was in constant stuggle with? Gone. Again, I wouldn't be mad at that if the ripples we got instead didn't feel so underwhelming.

Figuring out the powers of this guy was also amazing because me and my friend really thought we got softlocked with the Shattered Terrace echo. I also still don't know if using the power of hiding really unlocked the rippling-unopened portals or I just got lucky at the one that transported me to Ancient Urban. Really for the whole game I thought that oh, maybe those are rifts that will open with more of the new karma levels but they never did??? As far as we checked??? Everything felt like getting lucky, not figuring things out after trial and error.

Ancient Urban was an amazing location though, visually and atmosphere-wise I just wish we had more build-up to that.

I liked the new creatures but they rarely felt as interactive and alive as the basegame ones. No wonder, there was so many of them and there was no way to mix them all up and make it a coherent ecosystem like the first time. The most interesting interaction with the new creatures I saw was the Moth thingy eating a Vulture with it's tongue.

Also the shelters were so scarce? It always felt like loosing so much progress to the point I got irritated and started shamelessly devtooling around through the labirynths because I just couldn't take getting lost again and again, looking for another rift only to find myself at the starting point with no savepoint in sight. And even with that it was still a struggle. And its not even a skill issue on my side, I don't consider myself some pro player at all, but I managed to complete Spearmaster cheatless, it was a pain in the ass but I had so much satisfaction. The Watcher didn't make me feel rewarded for trying and being curious. The only reward I was getting were yet more regions to get lost at with no end in sight. Also it didn't help that the rifts weren't marked on the map, it would be such a minor thing but a great help (considering there is around 20 of regions its impossible to remember where connects to what, really), especially since one of the endings REQUIRES you to come back to the ones you had visited before. I know we have the randomized teleport power, but it would be cool to also be aware of well, where the gates to other locations are because they can be in most random of rooms.

This is just my opinion, I still want to have a run of the Watcher cheatless after some patches, I read somewhere that there are supposed to be arena unlocks or other things to find around the place. I got less mad at it with time but I just feel a bit bitter that its more of a showcase of stunning visuals than a campagin I'd pay 15 dollars for. But that might be because of currency exchange for me. Either way thank you for everyone that took the time to read and I'll glady listen to other opinions as well because I see they are super mixed

RAIN WORLD THE WATCHER SPOILERS + OPINION/FIRST IMPRESSIONS/RANT AHEAD

I am so disappointed its unreal

I LOVED the beginning and the build-up with the world slowly rotting away??? Seeing locations blocked off, fruit and creatures getting rotten with time , the echo being playful was so, so great and I had the time of my life...

Until the dimension hopping happened.

My god, I am so utterly confused, lost, left with no hints what-so-ever. The new locations are a visual feast (BIG respect to everyone who stood behind the enviromental design and the art itself, its all so gorgeous) but they feel so empty, lifeless and maze-like in a really bad way. Rain World was all about getting lost and feeling small, but those areas don't make me curious to explore them, there's nothing to explore except finding another rift and they just feel overwhelming.

They just don't feel rainworldy at all to me gameplaywise. And don't get me wrong, I'm super fine with making changes to formulas, heck, Downpour DLC is my favourite part of this game because it has so many unique mechanics to offer which were so different from the base game. I personaly don't feel like the world is alive, the new creatures look amazing but I do not see them interact with me or each other in the same way as they did in the past. They feel more like standalone obstacles which was rarely the case before. Most of the rooms are so empty, loop endlessly, I get no hints of where to go or what to look for and stumble upon things either because of blind luck or because my friend (who I was playing with at the same time) went a different path and by pure chance it was the correct one. If I haven't had that outside info, I would be stuck going in circles in a dimension four worlds away from the random one with the correct tower where the echo was waiting for me. I don't know if I'm missing something

I love the new camouflage skill but it was useful only in the beginning, I rarely used it in the dimension hopping part, only in really dire situations which happened rarely. My biggest enemy was parkouring to places only to find out they were dead ends

I'm on level two of the new karma, around 6 hours in and slugchat, help my doomed soul I am not having fun. I'd love to see something that would go further with the idea of the world rotting away but I feel so, so disconnected from whats going on

Super curious about how it could end and what the echo's deal even is, I'm just lowkey scared that it will be as disappointing as the section of the game I'm dealing with right now.

oh princessa what did they do to you /j

[simcardiac-arrested]

Iterator Looks to the Moon would be lying if she tried to say she wasn't happy when the little slugcat, whom she had started referring to as Sugar, stuck around instead of making the journey deep to the void sea. Considering her state, and the state of the world at large, there was nothing really to do, or anyone to talk to. She spent her days staring up at the few neurons she had, gazing into the swirling waters around her, and losing more and more time with every passing cycle. It was quiet. It was lonely.

So, so very lonely. 

Maybe that's why the little creature kept coming back, kept staying with her. Maybe it was lonely too. Maybe it saw it's own loneliness in her eyes, and decided to keep her company as the cycles passed and her body only further deteriorated. The rain cycles had not been kind as of recently and her umbilical had begun to come loose, spilling wires that hung limply across her back. She wasn't sure exactly what would happen upon those wires being severed, but despite everything she wasn't exactly eager to find out. 

But none of that. For now she was.....well. Not fine, she hadn't been fine in many cycles, but she was surviving. Not in the least due to the....almost exorbitant amount of neurons that Sugar had stolen for her from Five Pebbles. Despite all odds, she was still here. Chuckling softly, she couldn't help but muse that their creators *had* built them to last. 

Sugar swiveled it's head around at the iterator, tilting it's head and giving her an inquisitive look as it paused it's gnawing on a small batfly. She waved it off simply. "Don't mind me, little one. Lost in thought is all." She assured her friend. Sugar blinked and raised a brow, going back to it's albeit meager meal but keeping a seemingly disbelieving eye on her. 

"It's nothing, really. Just...." She sighed. It wasn't like she could do much more than talk, now. And she did appreciate having an ear to listen. "I was thinking about...why you stayed, I suppose. Why I stay. I'm glad you did, of course, I just can't help but wonder why when you could have gone to the sea and escaped this cycle. And then decided to stay with me. And then myself, stuck here until my can degrades so far that I can no longer retain consciousness." She chuckled humorlessly. "It's not like I can destroy myself, after all."

Immediately, Sugar bristled and let out a displeased hiss. It shoved the rest of the batfly in it's mouth before scrambling up to dart over, making her yelp as she was nearly bowled over by it leaping up into her lap and smacking it's hands into her shoulders. If she wasn't made of metal, she was almost sure the little slugcat would have bitten her. And even then it looked like her friend was considering it. She had to scramble her hands to keep herself upright, jostling her hanging umbilical uncomfortably.

"Sugar!" She reprimanded. "What was that for?" 

Sugar shook her and hissed again, looking frustrated. Once again, the barrier of language was proving to be a problem. Sugar could understand her just fine, but it could only make the sounds an animal could. She grabbed the creature and lifted it away, as best she could anyway, and glared. "I'm not a rattle, Sugar, so please do not shake me. My condition is poor as is." She said firmly. In response, Sugar's eyes rolled so far up, that it flopped backwards into her lap with a huff. She sighed, and smoothed a hand over it's soft stomach in silence for a moment. 

The little creature could almost pass for a plush, she mused. If it weren't for the short, stiff fur that always seemed a little wet, and not just because of the short swim it took to get to her little island, and the sticky paw pads. It was soft, squishy, and smooth. Not to mention quite warm. In a different world, maybe they could have been bred as pets. This one, at least, was a very good companion in her humble opinion. She appreciated it's company, and it seemed to appreciate hers just as much.

She paused.

"Did you not like me joking about destroying myself?" She asked slowly. Sugar's ears perked up instantly, and it nodded furiously. Pushing itself up, it pressed itself to her front and stared up at her with sorrowful eyes and a low purr rumbling in it's throat. If she had a heart, it probably would have hurt a bit at that. In apology, she scratched between the little creature's ears. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you at all, little one."

She sighed, leaning back. "Sometimes I think about....what if I had been one of my creators, instead of the creation." She began. "Would I have hated the cycle as much as they did? Would I have a family? Would I have gone with them into ascension, or would I have stayed?" She wondered. "Thanks to your gifts, I have remembered some of the details I hadn't before. I think...I used to watch the clouds through my overseers. The sun, the moon. Sometimes I can't help but envy them, being able to live out there. Whereas I am here, instead. I used to feel many things through my can, but I imagine it's not quite the same."

She looked down at Sugar, rubbing a thumb across it's little head. "Do you like the sun, little creature?" She asked. It paused, but nodded happily all the same. She chuckled. "Certainly better than the rain, at least." She hummed, her friend nodding sagely in agreement with her. 

Almost as one, the two suddenly froze, ears and antenna drawing back.

The rain.

They had forgotten about the rain.

All too little and all too late they had noticed. Only now could Moon hear the sound of rushing water somewhere beyond the confines of her chambers. The deep, terrible rumble of the water hitting her can and draining inside of it. She and Sugar locked eyes, and she could see it's pupils shrunken into slits, the way it's breathing had sped up already as if to make up for air it would soon be loosing. 

Panicked calculations began shooting through her head. There was a shelter close to her chamber. So, so tantalizingly close. In just the next room over. The rain couldn't have begun too long ago or they would have noticed. After a point it became impossible not to. The waters around her chamber were becoming tumultuous, already starting to rise up, but it was not too late. She had to believe it wasn't too late. Immortal cycle or not, she desperately did not want to watch her friend die. Again, she locked eyes with Sugar. 

"Go." She ordered. 

Even without the mark of communication, the slugcat would have needed no instruction. In an instant, it was diving into the waters, becoming naught but a dark blur as it swam quickly out of her chambers. She hoped it would make it. 

For her, this was a normal part of the cycle. The waters coming in and filling her collapsed can, flooding her chambers and loosing her in the cold and dark until eventually it would mostly drain and leave her soaked, battered, but alive and.....as ready as she could be for another round of survival in this harsh world. The anxiety never really went away, though.

She didn't like being drowned. Of course she didn't. But that was simply how it was. A series of bad things compounding until eventually it became normal. Though sometimes now she would look at the water around her chamber and have a shudder of dread run through her. She didn't like to think about it. Luckily or unluckily now, her worried mind was focused on her friend. 

With a sudden splash, said friend's head suddenly popped out of the water once more, scrambling onto what little dry shore there was now. If Moon had a stomach, it would have dropped into her feet by now. 

"Sugar!" She cried. "You cannot stay here! You're going to drown!" She flung her hands up as she stated the obvious. But Sugar shook it's head desperately, furiously pantomiming, or at least trying to. It was now she was remembering the vents and pipes that ran through her can. Now set at a precarious angle and filled with rushing water, one getting into the pipes had a high chance of getting pushed right back out of them just as quickly. Even her brave little friend wouldn't be able to handle getting essentially pressure washed out of the pipes.

The water was lapping violently at their feet now, Sugar was clinging to her legs, and none of it was helping. If only her mind was at full capacity. If only her umbilical worked then maybe she could get Sugar up to the topmost entrance to her chamber but- no, that was leaking water too. They were trapped and she couldn't do anything about it, and even after everything that had happened to her, through her brother diving into self destruction and using up the water and her can collapsing, she had never felt so completely and utterly helpless. Things died all the time, coming back just as quickly, but this was a friend and a friend who was in clear distress as the waters rose further.

A thrashing wave hit the two, and Sugar made an odd noise between a growl and a yowl, jumping in both surprise and panic, driving it to scramble up upon her shoulders and nearly sending her tumbling down into the waters below with a yelp. "Sugar- Don't-" She choked off as the panicked flailing caused a back leg to scrape at exposed wires with fully extended claws, a sensation of being shocked running through her puppet body as she seized and finally did tumble over, falling in a whirl of limbs. Her scream was cut off in the water. 

It was dark it was cold and she didn't have the strength to get up. Claws dug into her shoulders and the already tattered dress her little friend had given her a few cycles ago, clinging desperately and kicking it's back legs into the water. But considering she was made of metal and connected to an even heavier metal umbilical, lifting her from the water was an impossible task. The water was swirling and battering at them now, but she noted that her friend did not let go even as the water rose. It was touching and terrifying all at once. Even in this situation her little friend was trying to save her. It had already done so much, she wished it would swim up and away, even if it was futile.

Moon didn't need to breathe, but she could feel it when the water reached her neurons. A sudden burst of disorientation, all senses washed away with the flood. It felt like shutting down again, in some ways. No up no down she couldn't think or remember she could hardly even feel the weakening paws still clinging to her shoulders despite the fact that they had been down there for days. Minutes? Seconds? She doesn't know.

She does, however, feel when a rush of water flings them sideways and against the wall. 

Something jagged catches on the wires exposed from her back.

Snap.

The last sound that comes from Looks to the Moon is a harrowing electronic wail.

TLAI CHAPTER 1

Do you love the color of the tlai chapter 1