#I really like the shading on riv

[sunflowers-son]

I was inspired.. so I made the BEST drawing I’ve ever made.

(Textless version under the cut)

[foxstens]

scavenger reputation sure is confusing

[comet-forgot-you]

Can you please write bottom river x fem reader 🙏🙏🙏

crave

river x fem!reader

summary: river fucks herself on your fingers. (based on this.)

warnings: 18+ pls, smut, fingering, degrading, begging, think thats it tbh.

a/n: another one thank you. enjoy this river fic, its the last you’ll EVER get. no its not i’m just a jokester. enjoy. do not repost for any reason.

work was killing you. constant paperwork piled up for you to do, forcing you to work it out on your off days. when river was at your house, the time you were meant to be spend with her was spent on your computer typing away at whatever stupid work your boss had given you. it made river so mad.

she missed your gentle touches, missed hearing you talk about whatever, she missed laying in silence watching whatever movie the two of you had heard about, and fuck did she miss the way you fucked her.

she was so pent up, it had been weeks since you had touched her and she was starting to go insane. she had never craved you more than she did now, and seeing you, blue light glasses perched on your nose, in an oversized shirt you had stolen from her, and those pretty panties that just barely peeked out from the way you sat, it only spurred her need further. she needed you, and she needed you now.

she set the glass previously full of water down into the empty sink, eyes trained on you. her fingers gripped the edge of the counter, you were so hot and you weren’t even trying. river let out a huff of air, pushing herself away from the counter. you looked up at her as she made her way across the living room, sitting down right next to you.

“hmm?” you hum, returning your attention to the laptop in your lap. river shrugged, her shoulder rubbing against yours as she did so. you look over to her, the familiar look of want painted on her face. her eyes were darker than their usual shade of brown, a slight pout on her lips, it sent a wave of heat throughout your body. you sigh, “river, i can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s up,” you whisper, setting your laptop down on the coffee table.

its quiet for a moment, river’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. “just need you s’ bad,” she murmured, leaning closer to you and pressing featherlight kisses against your neck. she takes your soft hand into hers and guides it to cup her cunt, a soft whine falling from her lips.

“fuck,” you mumble, eyes shutting tightly at the feeling of her hardly clothed cunt.

“you won’t even have to do anything, i’ll do all the work, just need you s’bad.” her voices is breathy and needy against your ear.

“fine,” you mutter. river smiles against your neck. she’s quick to pull her underwear off and straddle your lap. you cant help but run a finger through her wet folds.

“fuck,” she hisses, bucking against your fingertips. she grabs hold of your wrist, guiding you to her dripping hole. she sinks down on your fingers, grinding into the palm of your hand, drawing a needy moan from her lips.

she bounces on your fingers, grinding so your fingers hit that spongey spot that has her eyes rolling back. “you’re such a slut riv,” you mumble, curling your fingers as she grinds into your palm. “so fucking needy, look at you, your fucking yourself on my fingers.” her walls flutter around your fingers at you degrading words. a high pitched whine leaves her throat at your teasing words.

she keeps a steady pace for a few minutes before she’s breathless, moans falling from her lips. she wraps her fingers around your wrist, guiding you to fuck in and out of her. “please, can’t do it, need your help s’bad,” she whispers. you let out a humored huff of air.

“really? said you’d do it all by yourself and look at you now.” you roll your eyes at her and her walls flutter around your fingers once more.

“stop being mean, please js’ help me,” she whines, contouring to fuck herself with your fingers.

“really want me to stop being mean? i know you like it, don’t try to hide it,” you mumble. river groans at your words, letting go of your wrist to continue riding your fingers. your free hand is quick to grip her hip to halt her movements.

you curl your fingers inside of her, your free hand lifting her shirt over her breasts. you wrap your lips around her nipple, fucking your fingers in and out of her at a fast pace. moans fall from river’s lips uncontrollably as your thumb moves to circle her clit roughly.

“fuck.. fuck- i’m so close, please, can i? please js’,” her words are cut off by a loud moan, “i’m gonna cum, please, baby. need to cum so bad,” she whispers, her fingers wrapping in your hair.

you let off of her nipple with a loud pop, looking up at her blown out eyes. “go on, slut. cum on my fingers,” you murmur. her eyes roll back and her orgasm washes over her.

“fuckfuckfuck,” she whines, bucking into your palm helplessly.

“such a fuckin’ slut,” you murmur, pulling your fingers from her leaking cunt. she whines at the emptiness, head falling to your shoulder.

“needed you s’ bad, baby. you dont even know, fuck,” she whispers, pressing kisses against your shoulder.

reblogs much appreciated :D

[shkika]

Lil question! But what are your Headcanons/Theories on Rivulet? Like, who created them? Or do you think they were an organic being who just wandered into an iterator can?

This is a really fun question actually! Glad I dug it out of my inbox.

My personal headcanon about Rivulet is that it isn't made by an iterator and it's adaptations are natural.

I know many people headcanon it was sent by Unparalleled Innocence, but my version of Innie would be dead during Rivulet's time so there is no way for her to do that. I also enjoy them being a fast little freak. Jumping from place to place, iterator to iterator and doing whatever. Then it grew so attached to Moon it unexpectedly settled with her until old age got to dear Ruffles. I'm not sure what led Rivulet to loving Moon so much it wanted to save her, but I think it'd be adorable if Ruffles had met her in another life and is a reincarnation of a creature she has met and been kind to.

Of course Riv doesn't remember. But something inside it makes it know Moon is someone important. It would also make it so Moon's kindness was both her downfall and salvation.

Off topic, but I find it funny how some people throw shade at the Saint campaign for putting too much emphasis on the slugcat character which is very funny when Rivulet over there literally plays hero and reunites the siblings. (I love both campaigns dearly btw)

[psystirene]

we're starting controversy in the rain world fandom? SIGN ME UP! /j

Even if you don't read my extra notes please know that none of this is that serious, my least favorites/"dislikes" are really light LMAO Also sorry if some things are hard to read I'm not 100% used to this brush yet <3

Anyways notes + meme blank below LET'S GOOO

SLUGCAT EDITION!!!

*Liked by everyone but me (and Least Favorite) is Saint because I just have such a hard time coming up with headcanons and designs that I like & find interesting for Saint. It feels like they're everyone's favorite thought experiment (/hj) but for me like. Idk. It's probably also that in a way they feel like they have the most concrete & "stuck" storyline

I used to think Surv was so boring I could NOT come up with shit all for them or for monk, didn't help that none of the fan content was of them (quite a bit of "surv" fanart is just using them as a generic slugcat imo)

*Like the character, not the design is Riv and Hunter to me but specifically the canon designs and trying to translate them into my art, Riv's gills end up looking like clown hair and Hunter's pink gives me the ick to work with for fur. But I love to make Hunter fluffy anyways

Blackcurrant (Gourspearnot) SUPREMACY!

No hate to artimonk or monksaint shippers but these ships out of any non-problematic ship. Kind of give me the ick

ITERATOR EDITION!!!

SRS is fine and it usually depends on individual interpretations of them but I have a mild distaste for SRS overall, I think they're a good character & well written though

SOS is more of a plot device than a character to me and I don't find her all that interesting, I do like individual fanon versions of her though

Purple moon = good, purple moon in-game has like. A shade of purple I dislike + a blue that's SO CLOSE in value to it. Oh my god.

LILYPAD SUPREMACY

Ragequit depends mostly on interpretation but it could never work in my canon/interpretation, I'm just uncomfortable with my NSH and my FP dating

And here's the blank for you other rainheads

[saffronstoats]

please read!

pinning this until i get info on if people would read it because I actually want to make it so bad... my profile will be back later

gang i have a rw au idea [ shocker ]

inv infection thang. inv starts appearing everywhere and eventually starts basically weirdmageddon. all the guys have to team up to beat it [ umm during the great migration because i want gourm and crew to have to like. have a cool scene idk i have a really cool thing planned in my head

all the scugs will be in it. yes, truly all of them: even both nightcat and inv. yes even survivor and monk's unnamed sibling. yes even monk and survivor's parents. yes literally every scug featured in gourmand's outro scene. and more

what do yall think and what should i call it

it may be invenot based but it's not a crappost

past the keep reading is more details. i lot more. i rambled whoops

inv is less "haha dating sim" and more "im gonna ruin your life :) in the funkiest way possible! *does a skateboard trick and opens a pocket dimension*" "*puts on shades and suddenly reality is distorted* heheha!"

inv closes off the void sea ( probably pre story events or hunter would have already ascended ) so hunter surv and monk all are just like having to team up. surv monk happy family scene and hunter saving them from an inv clone or domething. yk the cool one in zombie apocalypse movies

monk and survivor are basically kids. again this is migration. so hunter is like their stepdad [ genderneutral ]

hunter cycles ending ( trying to avoid spoilers ) is probably inevitable. they might be able to meet pebbles to get it extended but I still don't think hunter will make the entire thing because there's no way this thing is >25 cycles long. sorry hunter ( you will be missed dearly /gen )

thought it would be sick if arti appeared too so i had to. extend her lifespan. also shes huge like. 2x normal scug size

spearmaster is genetically modified to be a messenger for who knows how long suns intended it to be so thankfully i dont think it's as much as a stretch that they're alive

saint is an eldritch being so they could probably mess some stuff up too

dont really. see how in the world rivulet could fit timeline wise ill be honest. they are literally the only one left out. ill have inv bring them in through a pocket dimension or something because otherwise there would be no ruffles and that would be sad

forgot to mention this but having so many attack oriented slugs just being the main cast without being together doesnt make much sense. so spear and arti are a team but they dont really get along or talk to each other much and also theres no firecracker sorry guys

ill probably be generally avoiding ships in this comic besides maybe some like enot shenanigans?? but i don't think ill really do much of that either because this isnt romance this is a bunch of rodents fighting a choatic rodent glitch god

the iterators exist too. tell me whether you want them off the strings or not. ill give you examples of what happens on either side starring suns

off strings: spearmaster and suns are the duo of all time and artificier is there too. she dragged pebbles along but he doesnt want to be any part of this

on strings: suns videocalls spearmaster a lot and cheers whenever they make a slight achievement

nightcat/watcher is probably gonna be part of the colony. theyre the scout

moon and sig will also definely be there, potentially innocence and wind too if yall want them. also maybe more itties idk. we'll see

rip sliver. because its your average timeline mostly sliver is dead ( rip )

all of the iterators if off the strings are actually terrible at combat and they cannot parkour so that would allow some funny moments. funny pebbles cannot jump to save his life or encouraging wholesome suns which do yall prefer

i find it funny how half the scugs are the cool one and then theres survivor monk riv and watcher. and then theres the iterators who are even more pathetic [ silly ]

sofanthiel's nickname will constantly change highlighting their chaotic nature. one panel they're enot then they're inv then they're paincat then they're sofanthiel then they're gorbo then they're blueberrycat- you get it

actually ill use a random number generator every time their name pops up. this is minimal priority but suggest enot nicknames.

current ones are: enot, inv, sofanthiel, paincat, thanksandrew, thanks andrew ( with a space ), gorbo, blueberrycat, ???, invenot ( one word )

if i make it i'll turn on scheduled posting for it and make sure to actually like. link throughout on like next previous first. if I have anything to say or elaborate ill post it in the comments

it would also be in a genuine artstyle instead of my little 10 minute lineless thangs. id line it and give backgrounds and stuff except maybe on April fools day

anyways yeah, what do yall think?

again what do i name it because i want to call it something cooler than enotpocalypse

[snailfen]

not that anon but who's your favorite sluggy

so i never played the original MSC, but originally my favorite was the saint. i loved the idea of being able to just Leave situations and have a grappling tongue at all times as a newbie. i really struggled with platforming and survival back then, so i really liked them. fuck losing all karma upon dying, i could just Leave!

out of the vanilla scugs, monk was also my favorite back then. i REALLY hated the lore removal, but my gaming skills were already just Piss Poor in general so rain world was almost nigh impossible at first. also i liked being friends with lizards and scavs and i couldnt bring myself to attack scavs back then.

so, between then and now, my favorites have changed. between the MSC slugcats...

this is one of those few times i can answer from Every Possible Aspect of the candidate, like gameplay, campaign plot, etc. Which is really cool! when MSC dropped, Riv was the one  I played first using the "unlock all campaigns" cheat. I REALLY wanted to play saint first, but knowing from the start that the slugcats were ranked by difficulty and saint was locked behind 2 slugcats as opposed to 1, I curbed that urge and went for Riv since they were my second favorite.

now, their super exaggerated movement was hard to get a handle on, i will admit- but i hadn't played this game in a long time so i was just rusty on top of that. but i can confidently say im used to them! i love using their abilities to see just what i can do. there was a time i was playing with a randomizer and it was really fun having to adapt to each new situation like an opportunist. i wish i recorded it! but riv really helped me get over my hesitance when i was faced with predators, which was a bad habit I'd had for a long time.

campaign gameplay tested my lay of the land as well; especially by starting out in drainage system. i practically never set foot in drainage system back in the day, so i didnt know where in the world to head. I luckily detected the garbage wastes gate like, right away. trying to navigate the parts of the game more beaten off the main path of vanilla was difficult but fun! having only so much time to get from place to place was a fun challenge. then, after getting the rarefraction cell, trying to see how far i could go in 1 cycle was even greater.

now the plot is really where riv got me for sure.

looks to the moon has been a favorite character of mine for years. i never really stopped thinking about what happened between her and pebbles; every few months or so i would think about it. just how... hopeless things were for moon. It really made me sad. i think i speak for a lot of people when i say i wished that i could help her in some way. but the only thing i could do is bring her neurons, really. i never really made sense of pebbles side of the deal, like i knew what was going on with him and i felt bad, but it never really hit me how horrible things were for him. it all just felt so... tragic, yknow? that things ended up the way they did for the two of them.

exploring their superstructures was an experience. i originally planned to go to pebbles through shaded citadel after visiting moon on my first playthrough, but plans changed when i considered dealing with memory crypts, and the leg, AND underhang with my cycle limit (i had already sort of guessed that riv was after monks point in the timeline, but i didn't know that those areas got worse for riv so i was just thinking in terms of vanilla) so i went through the wall.

I kinda wish I saw at least memory crypts, but thats ok because the low gravity in the normally zero-gravity access shaft, plus the proto dll at the end, told me everything I needed to know before facing Pebbles chamber. Floating through his decayed structures... it hurt. I remember my first encounter with him in vanilla felt just a word away from being downright incomprehensible. he really came off as some god I couldn't percieve. but now, seeing the walls corroded by nothing but Rot, only small parts I actually recognized just barely peeking out amongst the decay, I just couldn't look. I felt like... like my arteries were clogged just by seeing his condition. Hearing him listen to Halcyon Memories, a favorite (previously) unused track of mine created a special kind of somber that I will Never re-experience.

Then, Moon's structure. This one is special. I got suuuper lost in here, but im glad I did. Up until a certain point, I had been taking the scenery in with a kind of reverence you would have while walking around a graveyard. I wandered for a few cycles, and at some point, Random Fate started playing. I didn't recognize the bass line yet, but when I had stumbled into what I immediately recognized as Moon's Memory Conflux, the Sundown melody kicked in.

Recognizing both things at once, I got all... like, choked up. Like... I'm finally helping Moon!  But... what about Pebbles? Why can't I help him? ...And like, I knew why; he brought this fate upon them both. But that didn't make it hurt any less. He asked me to do the only thing he wanted: to give all he had to redeem what he did. So in the end, this was all I could do to help him; in the same way that this was all Pebbles could do to make up for what he did to Moon.

Don't get me started on the ending. Seeing Moon restored to even a fraction of what once was had me so happy! It was exhilarating to say the least. But I was tearing up on the edge of my seat when she reached out to Pebbles. Watching the messages roll in slowly, seeing what she had to say, all the while praying that Pebbles could hear her.

Seeing Moon call herself Pebbles big sister is what broke the dam. From what I saw back in the day, people usually skirted that title of hers when it came to Pebbles, or never really acknowledged it. Even I did, for some time. But it never made sense to do that! Moon and Pebbles would never feel such anger, betrayal, or regret over everything that had happened if they weren't very close. I found it very important that that's who Moon was to him. Not just a great friend, but a big sister. I'm so glad the MSCteam felt that was important as well.

Speaking of which, seeing the names of community members and fans that I recognized in the credits got me sobbing again when I thought I was done. This expansion was a loveletter to the game from the fans, brought in officially by the actual developers. The Rivulet campaign especially enforced that feeling of love for the game- by having compassion for the tragedy two iterators and finally helping them reconcile.

I finally felt satisfied, not only because I was able to help Moon- but because I had also realized the tragic life that Pebbles had led. Those two things had never really left my mind.

anyways WOOOOO that was a lot of rambling. hope you enjoyed......

[editoress]

Sunburn healing salve | heatstroke | “if my pain will stretch that far”

Puts @soartfullydone's Scottish/Irish elves in the fantasy desert

*

The shade had moved. Riven wasn’t sure how long ago the outcropping’s shadow had passed her by, but she had spent that long trying to convince herself to get up and follow it. It wasn’t working. Her mouth was full of cotton and her eyes were full of sand. Worst of all, she felt feverish all over, like she’d gone from being an elf to being a baked chicken.

Tielese had been right. Jorst was awful.

When a new shadow fell over her, she could have cried, except of course for not having any energy or water to spare. The shadow said, “Fucking hell. Riv—”

A hand touched her raw, chafed face. She pried her eyes open and whined, “Ow.”

Erry jerked his hand back. She recognized even the blurry sight of him, which she blinked clear. After cursing quietly, he told her, “Sit up a minute.” He helped her upright, which she didn’t care for until he pressed a canteen to her lips. She gulped down lukewarm water. It ran out after only a few swallows.

Eravin scanned the area around them. Riven knew there wasn’t much to see: just sand, rocks, and more sand, with the blazing sun above them. “Can ye walk?”

Riven, limply sagging against him, considered that very hard. “Eh… no,” she was forced to admit when she couldn’t convince her legs to move.

“Alright.” He laid her back down; not much she could do about that. From the sand, she watched Erry pull his shirt over his head. She didn’t have the wherewithal to wonder what for, because there was only room in her cooked brain for the realization that she’d never seen him shirtless before. She’d joked about him being built, but he was really built. Huh. Wow.

Nooo, she shouldn’t be thinking about that. Riven tried to reorient her mind around how little she should be ogling her friend and why he would be stripping in the first place. Eravin helped by throwing his shirt over her, veiling everything with slightly damp white cloth.

Riven tried to pull it off. “I donnae want more clothes,” she said, muffled. “‘S too hot. I want less clothes!”

Eravin mercilessly pulled it back over her face. “You’re already burned to a crisp.” He helped her up again, wedged an arm under her knees, and lifted her with a grunt. “It’s a long walk back.”

Eravin was warm to the touch, but Riven reluctantly decided it was better than hot sand. Besides, she was moving. Someone else was here with her and she was leaving this fucking desert. “I wanna go home,” she muttered.

“Aye,” Erry rumbled. She could hear it in his chest from here. “Fuckin’ worst, this place.”

She smiled faintly. Her eyes were closed; no point in trying to look at anything. “Don’t hold back, Erry. Tell me how ya feel.”

He snorted. There was a steady rhythm to his heavy footsteps and deep breaths. “Hot as hell. No shade, no plants, no nothin’. And the dragonborn are arses. Gods, I cannae wait tae get back.” It was strangely soothing. His motions rocked her back and forth a bit. She was still in pain and radiating heat, but there was nothing she could do about it except lie there and listen to his heartbeat. “Riv, ye with me? Riv?”

[dino-boyo-agere]

This amazing art piece of my human OCs was made by @littledinosaursposts!!

It's the first ever art piece of these OC's, that are incredibly important to me & I'm absolutely in love with it!! <3

So, thank you again for bringing them to life!

I've been planning on telling y'all about them for a while, but it's so much lore and some of it is a little dark.. uh.. so anyways, here is a "tiny" summary..

Who is who on the picture:

Frank is the tall black man sitting on the floor, he is Chrisses best friend and future husband. In his lab is sitting Nate (yes, I choose the same name for me lols) . On the couch are sitting Nate's big Brother, Chris and Riv, who is Frank's child and Nate's best friend.

About the characters:

Frank - A 25 yo black man and single father of River (Riv). He became a dad at the age of 16, took full custody and raised his kid with the help of his mum. Rivs mother always wanted to be a career woman and Frank always wanted to have children. Frank is now a preschool teacher and LOVES children so much. He's autistic and likes how honest and direct they are, he is very good with children. He calls his kid "Muffin", Nate "pipsqueak" / "Pip" and Chris "Chrissy"/ "Love". He's an absolute rock for Chris and never fails to support him. He knows exactly how to handle a traumatized kid like Nate, since he was a child psychiatrist for a while.

Riv - is 8, goes by they/ them pronouns. Riv loves heavy metal and spending time with their dad. Together they often play video games, DnD or make music (Riv plays the drums and Frank the guitar, bass or piano.) Riv has a hard time connecting with their peers, they are also autistic. Frank did a really good job raising a very intelligent kid, emotionally and generally. Riv knows exactly what they want and are really good at communicating their needs. They share a lot of interests with Chris and the both of them often enjoy horror media or metal music, while Nate and Frank partake in calmer activities, like crafting. Nate is Rivs best friend and "sibby". Even though Riv is bodily younger, they feel like a big sibling, since Nate is permanently regressed and mostly stuck at ca. age 5.

Chris is the big (half) brother of Nate, he took his sibling in after the police removed him from the house of their father. He didn't know the kid existed, no one did (more of that later). He's 26 and trying his best to take care of this deeply traumatized kid. Frank is his neighbor and best friend.. and even though he thought he was straight, he's beginning to realize that he has a huge crush on him. Chris is very loving but a bit overbearing and overly cautious & overprotective with Nate. But Frank is pretty good at grounding him. Chris is trying his best at raising his traumatized sibling.

Nate - ❗Tw - mention of abüse & deäth❗ The police found him chained up in the basement when looking for drugs at the father's house. Any type of abuse one can imagine, he had to go through. His mother was found after he told the police "she sleep in roses." Her body was buried under a rose bush.❗Tw over❗

His left arm is amputated under the elbow and he has many scars. He's still a little underweight, but he's getting better. Nate is intersex and his gender is ambiguous. He has no construct of gender, so he doesn't care what pronouns ppl use for him. The kid has heterochromia, with his right eye the same shade of blue like his brothers eyes, and the left one a turquoise. He also got the same blue streak his Chris has, bc he wants to be like him. He is permaregressed, with his age moving between 3 and 13, depending on the day and possible triggers, tough he's mostly stuck at about 5. He's semi verbal and has selective mutism. His bio age is unknown, since there is no birth certificate. He loves his brother, he calls him "Kiss" because he has trouble pronouncing the name Chris and he calls Frank "Dad" because he keeps hearing his bestie Riv call him that. Nate is obsessed with dinosaurs and the kid would drop everything and anything for an apple.. he loves apples so much. That's because when he was found by the police, one of them gave him some apple slices, that was the first time Nate ever tasted anything sweet.

[starsofthestorm]

More whiteboard doodles !!!

Asked people what I should draw to warmup today and these were what they wanted !!!

Individual screenshots under the cut !!

the request was just "green lizor"

this one was for "fluffy gourmand" !! lots of fun, im not great with long fur though

"silly saint" i enjoyed drawing this eheheh

"riv being silly" which was then specified to be "walking in a silly way while holding a rarefaction cell"

and cyan lizor !!!!

this was LOTS of fun i really like doing these, trying to shade and make the right colors on whiteboard is a fun challenge for me :0

[hammythehanner]

ok i was bored so heres my slugcat tierlist judged entirely by gameplay/the campaign. not many people are prolly gonna read any of this but i love rambling anyways💥💥full downpour spoilers ahead!

RAHHHH I LOVE RIV AND SAINT THE MOVEMENT IS ONE OF MY FAV THINGS ABT THE GAMEPLAY RIGHT NEXT TO KILLING EVERYTHING THAT CROSSES MY PATH (except scavs but i will get to that later) riv is the first dp slug i played on the day the dlc came out and i finished it the same day and bro my expectations were blown out of the water holy FUCK. i wanted to explore rotting pebbles soooo bad and i actually got to do that!!! it was hard of course but i had fun!!!! i liked having to look at rooms and having to carefully calculate how i would get through them. it made pebbles funner to explore bc i wasnt stuck in 0g baby jail all the time. submerged superstructure was cool as hell too but i kept getting super lost in it while trying to find rhe right way to go… exploring after the campaign though was rlly fun!

basically riv is the most slug ever but oh man. does saint come close. it was BRUTAL getting out of sky islands and farm arrays (i didnt have a lantern, i didnt know it would warm u up) but once i did and i acquired a lantern it was fun! finessing predators with your epic tongue swinging skills. but at the same time man i have NEVER gotten a more overwhelming sense of dread from playing a video game before. especially at the part where i went to go to the wall and it just. wasnt there. i had to just pause and stare at the screen because What. and then when i went to shaded citadel, only to realize it wasnt. uh. shaded anymore. and connecting the lore dots in my head right before getting to the husk. gahdam. finding pebbles made me want to cry and throw up so hard (but i didnt. yet) and yeah. that ending. ehat the fukc. shit went crazy. didnt cry tho until i was watching a saint playthrough on youtube and like. bro wasnt even at the end of the game or doing anything in particular but MAN i just started sobbing for like an hour when i thought abt the ending again. i dont rlly even know why in particular the saint ending just Does that to a mf i guess. also shoutout to that one echo that says “I put my faith into the hands of random gods. Now I must endure it to the end” rawest line ever. goes so hard

SPEARMASTER WAS REALLY AWESOME TOO i lovvedddd being the predator and kill die kill kill slurp up everything i see with straw spear. i love how each of the slugcats makes u think like the slug ur playing, and spearmaster does that so well. i love that it makes u think like a ruthless predator, and i love playin on my save file every now and then to see how many kills i can get in a cycle. also exploring moon before she collapses was just as incredible as discovering five pebbles for the first time AIAGSJSGSJ i love her version of random gods so much it goes so crazy. also the bisexual lighting is cool. i hope the miros birds in her underhang explode tho i love being one shot before i can react at all

hunter. i love and hate the cycle limit. on one hand its super unique and changes up how u play the game alot. u gotta plan for stuff and be able to improvise sometimes. but also its really stressful LMAO. right before dp came out i did a hunter run so that i could unlock riv as soon as possible. and like bro wtf shit gave me heart palpitations. i wasnt even close to failing either i deadass ascended with like 9 cycles left idfk why i was shittif myself so hard at certain points. also why can slugpups spawn in their campaign bro thats mean.

GOURMAND. oh gourmand. this is the one i thought i was gonna hate but ended up really enjoying. the tuckered out mechanic isnt usually that big a deal. also bro is a straight up killing machine wtf 3 spear damage????? i didnt use the crafting mechanic much but it was pretty cool when i remembered it existed in a sticky situation and it saved me. also their endgame region….. oh my god that shit is BEAUTIFUL. i could just stare at some of the rooms for hours. and that big tree with a view of pebbles and the communications array? gorgeous. the food quest was fun and the ending is super cute.

survivor was my first experience with the game! i took multiple long breaks because of how frustrated i got at points, i even had to restart my first playthrough cuz i got stuck in filtration without max karma, but i just. kept coming back. the game just kept sucking me back in. i had the biggest ragequit ever at the jump to the wall in chimney canopy (didnt know about throwboosting so i died like 84538363 times. not just to the jump of course you know how chimney is) but i was back literally the next day. i could Not quit. not too much else to say abt them other than that ive replayed survivor like 4 times since it was all i could really do before downpour came out LOL. theyre the standard campaign so it goes in tha middle tier.

arti and monk were originally swapped but i judged arti too harshly i think. i loved the double jump so much, but when i played it i had scav kill squad leniency off and i had no idea how to parry. (also that one long trek between those two shelters in the upper section of metropolis (on the way to house of braids) can fuck right off to hell. ik i could have taken a diff route but ouygh my gowd) artis story is so cool and the ending art is SO badass i love it but scav combat sucks so bad. also i dont like killing them anyways theyre silly and i always get chieftain in my playthroughs :(

monk isnt actually even bad really. its just “ez baby mode”, which is fine! i think monk serves their purpose very well but honestly its not for me, esp after downpour. im a sweaty gamer guys i admit it im so so sorry plz forgive me💔💔💔🥀 i love monks cutscenes tho theyre very cute. a simple but effective story👍👍👍👍awesom

wow ok i wrote way more than i meant to erm. hi. im 🙂🙂normal.🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

[stoopid-noah]

This amazing art piece of my human OCs was made by @/littledinosaursposts

It's the first ever art piece of these OC's, that are incredibly important to me & I'm absolutely in love with it!! <3

So, thank you again for bringing them to life!

I've been planning on telling y'all about them for a while, but it's so much lore and some of it is a little dark.. uh.. so anyways, here is a "tiny" summary..

Who is who on the picture:

Frank is the tall black man sitting on the floor, he is Chrisses best friend and future husband. In his lab is sitting Nate (yes, I choose the same name for me lols) . On the couch are sitting Nate's big Brother, Chris and Riv, who is Frank's child and Nate's best friend.

About the characters:

Frank - A 25 yo black man and single father of River (Riv). He became a dad at the age of 16, took full custody and raised his kid with the help of his mum. Rivs mother always wanted to be a career woman and Frank always wanted to have children. Frank is now a preschool teacher and LOVES children so much. He's autistic and likes how honest and direct they are, he is very good with children. He calls his kid "Muffin", Nate "pipsqueak" / "Pip" and Chris "Chrissy"/ "Love". He's an absolute rock for Chris and never fails to support him. He knows exactly how to handle a traumatized kid like Nate, since he was a child psychiatrist for a while.

Riv - is 8, goes by they/ them pronouns. Riv loves heavy metal and spending time with their dad. Together they often play video games, DnD or make music (Riv plays the drums and Frank the guitar, bass or piano.) Riv has a hard time connecting with their peers, they are also autistic. Frank did a really good job raising a very intelligent kid, emotionally and generally. Riv knows exactly what they want and are really good at communicating their needs. They share a lot of interests with Chris and the both of them often enjoy horror media or metal music, while Nate and Frank partake in calmer activities, like crafting. Nate is Rivs best friend and "sibby". Even though Riv is bodily younger, they feel like a big sibling, since Nate is permanently regressed and mostly stuck at ca. age 5.

Chris is the big (half) brother of Nate, he took his sibling in after the police removed him from the house of their father. He didn't know the kid existed, no one did (more of that later). He's 26 and trying his best to take care of this deeply traumatized kid. Frank is his neighbor and best friend.. and even though he thought he was straight, he's beginning to realize that he has a huge crush on him. Chris is very loving but a bit overbearing and overly cautious & overprotective with Nate. But Frank is pretty good at grounding him. Chris is trying his best at raising his traumatized sibling.

Nate - ❗Tw - mention of abuse & death❗ The police found him chained up in the basement when looking for drugs at the father's house. Any type of abuse one can imagine, he had to go through. His mother was found after he told the police "she sleep in roses." Her body was buried under a rose bush.❗Tw over❗

His left arm is amputated under the elbow and he has many scars. He's still a little underweight, but he's getting better. Nate is intersex and his gender is ambiguous. He has no construct of gender, so he doesn't care what pronouns people use for him. The kid has heterochromia, with his right eye the same shade of blue like his brothers eyes, and the left one a turquoise. He also got the same blue streak his Chris has, bc he wants to be like him. He is perma-regressed, with his age moving between 3 and 13, depending on the day and possible triggers, tough he's mostly stuck at about 5. He's semi verbal and has selective mutism. His bio age is unknown, since there is no birth certificate. He loves his brother, he calls him "Kiss" because he has trouble pronouncing the name Chris and he calls Frank "Dad" because he keeps hearing his bestie Riv call him that. Nate is obsessed with dinosaurs and the kid would drop everything and anything for an apple.. he loves apples so much. That's because when he was found by the police, one of them gave him some apple slices, that was the first time Nate ever tasted anything sweet.

some more pictures:

I drew Nate and an Instagram friends (@/baby.anels.space) OC called Noah. Yes, I may have picked my name partially bc of my OC, leave me be.. Also their OC has my other first name, so it was destiny!

This was an ych from @/baby.anels.space on Instagram!!

[foxstens]

hnfhgnfg gonna talk about rain world some more

i'm listening to this guided tour video about downpour and i'm not liking the opinions in there therefore i must talk.

apparently the crafting tutorial ruins the game bc it shows that gourmand has knowledge you don't. and then the ending does the same bc it's not a surprise to him but it is to you. uhhhhh okay? but you can't really compare gourmand's campaign or personality with survivor since they're completely different therefore they of course have different goals and different knowledge

gourmand is a grown slugcat i guess, he came on an adventure from journey's end, with the intention of going back, but it's not like he's suddenly born in shaded citadel when you start his campaign lol. he probably learned crafting back home or on his way to shaded, but yea. we don't start at the start of his journey

whereas we survivor we kind of do. presumably they get washed down through facility roots and then end up in that room in outskirts, so they have no idea wtf is going on or where they are or what's waiting for them - kinda the opposite of gourmand's situation. i'd argue even the survivor has more knowledge than the player does since they probably know what they can eat due to, you know, having lived in this world until now. which the player doesn't know until the game tells you. but whatever.

anyway the point of gourmand's campaign is to be kind of a sequel to hunter and a prequel to survivor and monk, to show more of the slugcats - where they came from, how they live and all that, and to show gourmand, one of two characters in the entire story who refute the idea of ascension - the other being best boy undegrowth echo. i can see why you'd dislike that if youre so attached to the base game's message but i like seeing more sides represented in the story. in that case you should also dislike hunter's campaign since it does the same thing but eh.

i'm also expecting this person to dislike arti, spearmaster, and rivulet as well since they, too, have a completely different purpose, but i personally don't agree. like would you rather have 5 additional campaigns with the same message and same structure rather than what we actually got, which imo adds so much more to the lore and makes the message so so so so much more complex.

as a sidenote i 100% think that gourmand - spearmaster - rivulet - saint is the best order to play the downpour slugcats, with arti wherever but preferably after all of them. this is bc playing arti before spearmaster spoils most of the world changes except for moon but playing the two back to back can get a lil stale world-wise. gourmand forces you to learn so much about the game and can be a great intro to more combat-focused slugcats if you didn't play hunter previously, whereas arti might be a bit too difficult to play as the first downpour slugcat. the order above probably makes spearmaster the best experience it can be while also being a very interesting experience lore-wise especially on your first playthrough since you can't and shouldn't do them chronologically. also doing riv after spearmaster makes submerged superstructure and even bitter aerie much more poignant imo.

this person keeps going on about immersion and currently about how arti has different motivations than the player, which. okay. if you want the exact same experience as survivor then just play that jfc. it's the freaking self-insert vs full-fledged protagonist argument but with different words and im not here for it. survivor was one experience the other scugs are completely different, get the fuck over it ugh. personally as memorable as my first survivor run was it was only that because of the world, the lore, the creatures, but not at all bc of the scug since survivor is as bland as you can get

whereas the downpour scugs i can actually rank based on how much i like them personality/movement/motivations-wise, and i very much appreciate that. but that might be partly bc i hate self-inserting and because i was more interested in the lore and the overarching story as opposed to the survival-sim from the very beginning.

aaaaaaand now they say the campaigns feel the same, like the worlds as arti or gourmand aren't different enough. i'm not even gonna say anything, i just 1000000% disagree.

on a sidenote why do people not go to moon first??? sure in survivor there might not be much of a point to doing that and as hunter it's no the most optimal path but to me that's the best path. go to moon, then to pebbles, then go back to moon or ascend depending on who you're playing as. as riv making the trekk from shaded to pebbles is an amazing experience, and if you're smart and went to moon first, you can just passage back there after you get the cell. as spearmaster you'll be missing out on a lot of things if you don't go to moon first, and once again if you're smart you can just passage there. as saint the routing can be a bit more flexible but it goes very smoothly like this. oh i keep forgetting that a lot of people hate going through underhang and five pebbles... and then they wonder if they're missing out on stuff, especially on a first playthrough.... oh well, their loss :')

and now they say - bitter aerie is difficult to access as other characters and doesn't connect to other regions, therefore it ends up feeling like a story section. which apparently is bad, for some reason. okay? but it's fun. and the same could be said submerged superstructure aka one of the best area in the entire game, so should that not exist bc of this or what? this could be said for so many regions and subregions i really don't get it lmao.

oh my god while i respect this video for the effort put into it so much of it sees the game through such a game and gameplay-focused lens which imo is the wrong mindset. idk how they ended up liking survivor with this mindset but eh whatever.

hahahaha the radio broadcasts are bad bc they pause the game and 'tell' you things :) i have nothing to saaaaaaaay hearing other opinions should be fun but this isn't when i so vehemently disagree, and not just on a conceptual level but because the things this person doesn't like made the game so much more fun and emotional for me. i cried the most during spearmaster despite having been spoiled about everything previously. and now they're shitting on my favourite food aka the gooieducks. this video was made to piss me off wasn't it lmao.

well, at the very least it seems they liked saint. but did not figure out that the tongue is much better than a grapple worm hah. OH AND NOW APPARENTLY THE BEST ECHO IS ALSO A HYPOCRITE. i mean this person did say they're not one to speculate on the lore which explains some things but not all ancients ascended successfully or willingly, it says so somewhere so like.

'rain world was a machine built for survivor's journey' what the fuck is this. where the fuck does hunter fit into that. where does monk fit into that. what the heck. the lore existed way before downpour wtf is thissssssss lmao i've never heard a worse take. IF YOU LIKE SURVIVOR THAT MUCH JUST PLAY THAT UGHHHHHHH.

but like i keep saying and preaching and saying, this game is a sad post-utopic sci-fi story with buddhist elements masquerading as a rat in manhattan sim, not the other way around. oh but they don't even mention buddhism in this 2 hr long video so idk what im expecting. and its not like you have to be an expert in buddhism to see it, i know barely anything about it and even i saw it. oh. but according to this person the lore has no inherent value. me and this person are on actually opposing wavelengths lmao. anyway i guess there's people out there with these opinions. cool. i am now tired.

now for some positive closing thoughts, i wanna make a tier list of the slugcats. i've been thinking about it for a long time and i think i have a definitive list, at least for now.

s tier: spearmaster, gourmand

a tier: rivulet, saint

b tier: survivor

c tier: artificer,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, hunter

you'd think riv would also be s tier but i just love gourmand os much and with riv i'm zooming all over the place which is extremely fun and riv is extremely adorable and i love her but... the chonk is so powerful... idk i just love playing as gourmand i love his story i love his mechanics i love love love him

yea i know i said survivor is the blandest but they were still my introduction and they're probably the best to play as for a lot of general stuff, and i just like them more than the other two eh.

as for arti, i really like her story i really really like it and metropolis is hnfhgnf but i don't like explosives and i don't like fighting scavs, therefore im gonna have to use a mod to even get through her campaign. as for hunter, i like the lore and i love pebbles in their campaign but so hard. and honestly the most boring combat scug...

[shkika]

Having trouble with thinking of something to ask hrmm

What part of the rw lore do you find most interesting? Like..what are your thoughts on it? any twists you've thought up or any detail/s you just wanna rant abt?

The rainworld lore is painfully a lot and painfully little at the same time, like why are the pearls focused on garbage worms and what is noise milking oh my goddd

moon isnt lore on her own but her pearl readings are a massive source of it. so if i had to say my favorite thing would be iterators and the relationship they had with their colonies. the fact they can vary and the fact iterators have different opinions of their parents!! (one iterator talked abt havjng to sit through dark political times awkwardly like 🧍🤷 at some points. thats funny)

ahem I looove it a lot!! for example the way moon worded her existence is sad. the way she speaks about them is sad. like in short “ancients must not try very hard so we do that for them. at least i did” <- smth along the lines

she sounds bitter she dislikes them with a hidden passion even when she has 5 braincells left. Not to mention she calls them parasites with bad takes (sheesh). something people dont really ?? recognize enough or at all imo is that moon almost retired (ancients moving away from her city) and she was happy about it. Until it didnt work out and some stayed and she was pissed again.

now pebbles speaks with softness (as much as he has it in him) he liked them! he liked their art! their music! he liked witnessing their stupid arguments even when they were in his name (he found the citadel he shaded funny for being so angry)

he found a lot of things they did stupid but he also was impressed in other aspects! he liked them a lot to the point the last item that he keeps for comfort and keeps him together as a whole is a hymn of theirs. even when abandoned, he finds comfort in the company they used to bring him!!! how sad!!

Another part of the lore. Hm cycles.

I have no idea how they work. Youd believe at first that when you die. You get reborn. Pain!!! never escaping!!

But that cant be the case it has sooo many plotholes if thats the case.

1 artificers kids died! straight up GONE. theyre dead!! thats why shes so insane you cant tell me theyre just lost somewhere and also pups cant ascend (me when i reach spiritual enlightenment at 10). theyre straight up gone.

2. imagine u defeat the scav kind and he comes back an hour later.. nah. thjngs DIE

3 why did the ancients go crazy over killing themselves then idk!

4 suns was basically crying about how they dont know what theyll do if spearmaster dies. yeah no respawning then.

So then the cycle is being reborn into smth new. great. how does karma play in this. how do you raise it. time? do you have your old memories after u go into a new cycle?? i dont know!! no scug has ever been plagued with dreams of being smth else before. !!! how do you confirm its a thing!! idk!! how do you know you are in a samsara! i wish we got ancients talking about it. in pearls or smth.

i havent ascended with saint yet. (reached karma 10 and bonked the siblings) but i doubt they answer all of my questions

random kiki rw lore fact- did you know that the rot area - (riv gameplay) there is a room in it thats just called terror!!! it upsets me greatly. the place is so different because the rot literally eats his walls. it fucks me up sometimes even if it seems obvious

[thistledown-au-warriors]

into the wild - chapter 4

< Chapter 3 || Index || Chapter 5 >

Shocked yowls rose from the Clan cats and echoed through the forest.

Raven Shadow staggered slightly. His right foreleg glistened, wet with blood that flowed from the deep gash on his shoulder. “We m-met five RiverClan warriors beside the stream, not far from the Sunningrocks.” he went on shakily. “Oak Heart was among them.”

“Oak Heart!” Gray Stripe gasped beside Rusty. “He is the deputy of RiverClan. He’s one of the greatest warriors in the forest. If I were there I’d have really—” Gray Stripe was silenced by a fierce glance from the old gray tom who had first sensed Raven Shadow’s return.

Rusty turned his attention back to Raven Shadow.

“Red Tail warned Oak Heart to keep his hunting parties out of ThunderClan territory. He said the next RiverClan warrior to be caught in ThunderClan territory would be killed, but Oak... Oak Heart would not back down. He said his Sunningrocks belonged to Riv-RiverClan no matter what we threatened.” Raven Shadow paused to wheeze for breath. His wound was still bleeding heavily, and he stood awkwardly to keep the weight off his shoulder. Blue Fur reached to steady him, and the apprentice hesitantly leaned on her.

“That’s when the RiverClan cats attacked. It was hard to keep track of what was happening. The fighting was vicious. I saw Mossy Patch chase away a warrior while Oak Heart had Red Tail pinned to the ground... but then Red Tail...” Suddenly Raven Shadow’s eyes rolled in his head and he lurched sideways. Half scrambling, half falling, he slithered off the Highrock and collapsed on the ground below, before Blue Fur could hold him.

A tall black molly ran toward him and crouched at his side, eyes wide. She licked his pelt frantically.

“Leaf Spots!” Blue Fur called out.

Out of a fern-shaded corner trotted out the pretty tortoiseshell Fire Heart had noticed sitting beside Gray Stripe earlier, and a large stone-colored tom hard on her paws. She hurried over to Raven Shadow and mewed for the molly to stand back. Then she used her muzzle to roll the apprentice over so that she could take a good look at the wound. She glanced up and meowed. “It’s all right, Black Leopard, his wounds aren’t fatal.” She turned to the gray tom. "Stone Pelt, fetch cobwebs and marigold."

Stone Pelt nodded and sprinted back to the den while Leaf Spots licked at the wounds.

The hushed silence in the clearing was broken by a mournful howl. All eyes turned to the direction it had come from. A massive dark brown tabby staggered through the gorse tunnel with a gray-brown and white cat, pelts stained with blood. Between the warriors was the lifeless body of another cat. They dragged the tattered creature into the center of the clearing.

Rusty craned his neck and glimpsed a flash of a bright ginger tail hanging limply in the dust.

Shock rippled through the Clan like a chill breeze. Beside Rusty, Gray Stripe dropped into a crouch as grief swept over him. “Red Tail!”

“How did this happen, Tiger's Claw?” demanded Blue Fur from her position on the Highrock.

Tiger's Claw and the other cat let Red Tail's body slip between them and land softly on the ground. The other cat backed away, and looked at Tiger's Claw as intently as the leader through tired golden eyes. The dark tabby  looked steadily back at Blue Fur. “He died with honor, struck down by Oak Heart. I couldn’t save him, but I managed to take Oak Heart’s life while he was still gloating over his victory.” Tiger's Claw’s voice was strong and deep. “Red Tail’s death was not in vain, for I doubt we’ll see RiverClan cats trying to claim our territory anytime soon.”

Rusty  glanced at Gray Stripe. The apprentice’s eyes were dark with sadness.

After a moment’s pause, several of the cats moved forward to lick Red Tail's bedraggled tortoiseshell fur, murmuring softly. Rusty whispered into Gray Stripe’s ear. “What are they doing?”

Gray Stripe didn’t take his eyes off the dead cat as he replied solemnly. “His spirit may have left to join StarClan, but the Clan will share tongues with Red Tail one last time.”

“StarClan?” Rusty echoed.

“It's the warrior ancestors that watch over all Clan cats. You can see them in the Starpath.” Gray Stripe replied, getting up. Before Rusty could ask any other questions, the gray tom padded to Red Tail. "I'm gonna go say goodbye." He mumbled.

Blue Fur had remained silent while the first cats came to pay their respects to Red Tail. Now she leaped down from the Highrock and walked slowly toward Red Tail’s body. The other cats retreated and watched as their leader crouched down to share tongues with her old comrade one last time.

When she had finished she raised her head and spoke. Her voice was low and thick with grief, and the Clan listened in silence. “Red Tail was a brave warrior. His loyalty to ThunderClan could never be doubted. I always relied on his judgment, for it bore witness to the needs of the Clan, and was never swayed by self-interest or pride. He would have made a fine leader.”

Then she lowered herself onto her belly, her head bowed, her paws stretched neatly before her, and silently she grieved for her lost friend. Several other cats came and lay down beside her to mourn.

Rusty watched alone. He had not known Red Tail, but he couldn’t help feeling moved as he witnessed the Clan grieve.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed two young cats staring in horror at the body, a dark brown tom and a sand-colored ginger molly. 

The brown tom finally let out a sorrowful low wail as he rushed forward to lie beside Red Tail, pressing his forehead against his brown and red pelt and sobbing. The ginger molly soon walked in the same direction among her clanmates, but her movements were stiff and her green eyes were glazed with shock and grief. 

As he watched her walk by, Rusty saw Gray Stripe coming back, head low. The gray tom let out a sigh as he sat beside Rusty. "He was a good deputy. I never thought we'd lose him, of all cats."

The ginger tom didn't know how to reply. He had never seen a dead body before, much less of someone he knew. He awkwardly placed his tail on the other tom's back, not knowing how to act around grief. Gray Stripe looked at him for a short moment, before giving himself a shake, and the smile Rusty came to know was back on his face. "Hah, rough that a burial vigil happened the same day you joined the clan. I'm sure tomorrow will be better. C'mon." There was still some sadness in Gray Stripe's eyes as he spoke, but he soon got up and walked towards one of the bushes, beckoning him with his tail. The former kittypet could do little but go after him. 

"This is the apprentices' den. All the apprentices sleep here, and today that means you too." The gray tom showed him a thick bush of ferns that lay behind a mossy tree stump. Rusty leaned forward, sniffing curiously. Surely enough, there was a clear entrance and enough room for several cats to stand under the leaves, and he could see nests of leaves and moss on the ground. He recognized Gray Stripe's scent all around this area, along with cat-scents he couldn't place yet. Probably the other apprentices.

His friend then pointed his tail to the stump. "This is where the apprentices usually eat."

"Gray Stripe?" Both toms turned to look at White Flower, and Misty Step who stood behind him with her face unreadable. "Have you paid your respects to Red Tail yet?" 

Gray Stripe nodded. White Flower nodded in return, and licked him between the ears gently. Misty Step then spoke. "Please show Rusty to his nest while you're here, and get something to eat." Her severe blue gaze was now on him. "Rest well, training starts early tomorrow." Rusty nodded quickly.

"I... was planning on showing Rusty the camp. And visit Raven Shadow." Gray Stripe said, looking between the two warriors. Misty Step paused, and gave a saddened look at where some cats still gathered around Red Tail. Raven Shadow's unconscious shape had been moved away to give room to the mourning cats. "That… Might not be appropriate, today. And Raven Shadow is asleep in the healers' den, Stone Pelt is with him." She paused. "You have a point though. Any clan cat your age should know their way around camp. Especially an apprentice." Rusty didn't know if there was any malice in her mew as she studied him. 

"You can do that in the morning, Gray Stripe, before you two train. I'm sure there will be time while patrols are sorted. I'll talk to Lion's Heart." White Flower said, and the other warrior meowed her agreement.

The gray apprentice dipped his head, and both warriors exchanged a couple words as they left the apprentices behind before splitting up, the white warrior hurrying to join the grieving cats.

Rusty couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. It seemed like seeing a kittypet had upset the clan enough, and now the clan's deputy was dead and it clearly didn't make things better. 

"Rusty?" He heard Gray Stripe say, and saw that the tom had entered the den. "You coming?"

"Ah, yeah." The ginger cat gave himself a shake, and trotted in, feeling some of the leaves on his fur.

Gray Stripe pointed to two nests close together further within the den. "Those are Sand Storm and Dusty Earth's nests. This—" he pointed to a nest beside him. "—is Raven Shadow's. He won't be using it tonight, so you can have it until you get yours. The one you're stepping on is my nest." The apprentice finished, staring at Rusty's paws. The ginger tom's eyes widened, and he stumbled away as he realized he had been stepping on the bracken of a nest that smelled strongly of Gray Stripe. "Ah! I'm sorry!" He saw the other tom twitch his whiskers in amusement, and heard his chuckle. 

"That's fine, I'm not Sand Storm. She would claw you for that." Gray Stripe then sunk his claws onto the nest. "Help me out here." 

The two toms pushed the nests closer together, and Rusty climbed on top of the nest that would be his for the night while Gray Stripe went to grab them some food. The moss felt soft and comfortable beneath his paws, and he could see that the bracken would help with its warmth. As he settled, the scent of the nest's owner — Raven Shadow — hit his nose. The ginger tom wondered if Raven Shadow was okay. He remembered the tom's scarlet blood flowing onto the Highrock as he fought off dizziness to tell his tale, and the way he dropped onto the floor. All that after running from who-knows-where to warn the Clan. Rusty felt a chill down his spine as he pictured himself in the black tom's place, his warm blood dripping through the forest…

"Hey, are you gonna sleep without eating?" Gray Stripe's muffled meow made Rusty open his eyes, and he saw that the gray tom had a large mouse between his jaws.

Rusty got up with a stretch, his brief rest had already stiffened his sore limbs. The two toms sat down in front of the tree stump, where apparently apprentices always had their meals in. 

Gray Stripe dropped the mouse at Rusty's feet. “You still haven’t tasted mouse?” he asked.

“No.” Rusty admitted. He suddenly felt excited by the warm smells that were rising from this piece of fresh-kill. His whole body quivered at the thought of sharing his first real food as a Clan member.

“In that case, you can have the first bite. Just save me some!” 

Gray Stripe dipped his head and stood back to give Rusty room.

Rusty crouched down and took a large bite from the mouse. It was juicy and tender, and sang with the flavors of the forest. The texture between his teeth was like night and day to the dry and chewy pellets he was used to.

“What do you think?” asked Gray Stripe.

“Fantastic!” mumbled Rusty, his mouth still full.

“Move over, then!” mewed Gray Stripe, stepping forward and bending his head to take a bite.

As the two apprentices shared the mouse, Rusty looked back once again to Red Tail's body. Now that some time had passed, his curiosity bubbled over again. "What's… a vigil? And Starpath ?" He asked, recalling the words the gray tom had used before.

Gray Stripe swallowed his mouthful before replying. "Ah. Well. A vigil is when you stay up at night for some important reason. In a burial vigil, the elders and healers will prepare a body for the cat's journey to the Starpath, the thick band of stars you see each night stretching across the sky. Each star is a StarClan warrior. Red Tail will be among them tonight." Gray Stripe paused for a moment to eat another mouthful, and Rusty did the same. 

"The cats closest to the one who passed away will sit together with them for a while, offering their spirit comfort while the cat is making their way to StarClan. Usually their mate, kits or apprentice will stay with the body all night. Blue Fur probably will too — Red Tail was her deputy for many, many moons. She won’t want to let him go too quickly. He was one of the best warriors. Not as big and powerful as Tiger's Claw or Lion's Heart, but quick and clever." He stopped to chew again. "In the morning, the elders will bury the body outside of the camp, so it won't be… You know, stolen by foxes or something." Gray Stripe paused, seeming uncomfortable. 

Rusty decided to interrupt. "Are Sand Storm and Dusty Earth his apprentices?"

The other tom blinked, eyes widened. "No, no. No such thing. Only Dusty Earth was his apprentice. An honor to be a deputy's apprentice, too. Sand Storm — that ginger molly there — is his kit, though."

Rusty's eyes widened, and he turned his head back to where the vigil was happening. Blue Fur and Mossy Patch were side by side, Dusty Earth still had his head in the deputy's pelt. Sand Storm sat behind him, head down, her fur sticking up in some places, head bowed and eyes unseeing. 

He couldn't imagine what losing a father must be like. It wasn't like he knew his own father - was his name Jake? The memory was threatening to slip away - but if he had, he assumed he'd miss him. Maybe. 

It seemed like Clan cats all had large families who they cared for. It wasn't that way for kittypets, he didn't know his littermates nor his birth mother. Would he ever sit vigil for any of them if they passed away?

Near Sand Storm, White Flower was licking a sad gray molly on her head, and he saw the healer Leaf Spots on her other side, grief in her eyes.

Gray Stripe followed his gaze. "Red Tail was my kin. My mom, Willow Branch—" He pointed at the gray molly. "—is Red Tail and Leaf Spots' littermate. They're all too busy to be close nowadays, but… y'know." Rusty nodded slowly. He didn't truly comprehend, but he could see their grief. "I'm sorry, Gray Stripe." He murmured.

The gray tom shrugged as he pawed the remains of their meal. "I knew him more as the deputy than my kin. He was always nice to me though. But well, so is my mentor." Rusty nodded as Gray Stripe sank his teeth on the last bits of mouse flesh. That seemed like the end of the discussion, and he felt awkward about having such a deep conversation with his new friend. He was glad to not have to dwell on the topic for much longer. 

As Rusty stretched with his tongue to lick the last traces of mouse from his whiskers, Blue Fur’s voice called from the Highrock. “A new deputy must be appointed.” she meowed. “But first, let us give thanks to StarClan for the life of Red Tail. Tonight he sits with his fellow warriors among the stars.”

Silence fell as all the cats looked up into the sky, which was tinged with orange as the sun made its way down.

“And now I shall name ThunderClan’s new deputy.” Blue Fur continued. “I say these words before the body of Red Tail, so that his spirit may hear and approve my choice.”

Rusty noticed Tiger's Claw's large shape near the Highrock, sitting near Lion's Heart. He couldn’t help noticing the hunger in the big warrior’s amber eyes as he stared up at the leader.

“Lion's Heart.” meowed Blue Fur, “Will be the new deputy of ThunderClan.”

Gray Stripe perked up beside him. Rusty was curious to see Tiger's Claw’s reaction, but the dark warrior’s face revealed nothing as he moved to congratulate Lion's Heart with a nudge so hearty that it almost pushed the golden tabby off balance.

“Why didn’t she make Tiger's Claw deputy? Didn't he avenge Red Tail?” Rusty whispered to Gray Stripe.

“Probably because Lion's Heart has been a warrior longer, so he has a lot more experience.” Gray Stripe murmured back, still looking up at Blue Fur. Rusty noticed some level of pride in his eyes.

The blue molly spoke again. “Red Tail was also mentor to young Dusty Earth. Since there must be no delay in the training of our apprentices, I shall appoint Dusty Earth’s new mentor immediately. Dark Pine, you are ready for a new apprentice, so you will continue Dusty Earth’s training. You had a fine mentor in Tiger's Claw, and passed your skills well to Pale Tail. I expect you'll do the same for Dusty Earth.”

The tabby warrior swelled with pride as he showed his acceptance with a solemn nod. He strode over to Dusty Earth, bent his head, and rather awkwardly touched noses with his new apprentice. Dusty Earth flicked his tail respectfully, but his eyes were still dull with grief for his lost mentor.

Blue Fur raised her voice. “I shall keep a vigil with Red Tail’s body tonight, before we bury him at sunrise.” She jumped down from the Highrock and walked over to lie beside Red Tail’s body once more. Dusty Earth and Lion's Heart joined her, and Red Tail's kin crouched down beside them.

Rusty turned towards Gray Stripe. "I can understand that Blue Fur doesn't want training to stop, but isn't it a bit early to replace Red Tail? He just died today."

Gray Stripe shook his head. "StarClan would be angry. According to the Code, the choice has to be made before moonhigh after the death or retirement of the old deputy."

Rusty frowned. It still felt rushed. How did Blue Fur know she was making the right choice while still grieving?

Gray Stripe showed him how to bury the remnants of the prey on a sandy part of camp called the Dirtplace, and they headed back to the apprentices' den.

On the way, he saw warriors talking quietly while sharing tongues, others finishing up their meals or heading into dens. Some made eye contact with him and scowled before quickly looking away. Rusty kept his tail held high.

The sky was now darker, and the shadows were deeper. The trees cast black shadows on the clearing.

Rusty followed Gray Stripe inside the fern den. His pelt had been puffed old in the chilly evening air, but inside the den it was pleasantly warm.

While Gray Stripe settled into his own nest, Rusty circled inside Raven Shadow's nest until was comfortable and settled down. His whole body felt drowsy with contentment. 

Gray Stripe yawned, his thick fur warmed Rusty's back. "Good night, Rusty." He meowed drowsily through his yawn.

"Good night, Gray Stripe." Rusty murmured in return.

He was lulled by his friend's breathing and the rustle of leaves.

This was his home now. He was a member of ThunderClan.

[fadebolt]

Personal room ranking:

1 - Shaded Citadel: S09 (9/10) 2 - Shoreline: D05 (8/10) 3 - Shoreline: E03 (8/10) 4 - The Exterior: S04 (8/10) 5 - Five Pebbles: S04 (8/10) 6 - The Rot: AI (7/10) 7 - Pipeyard: B12 (7/10) 8 - The Exterior: A11RIV (6/10) 9 - Submerged Superstructure: bitteraerie2 (6/10) 10 - The Rot: LC03 (6/10)

Extra comment: Weird choice, I know, but like… just imagine for a second what the Memory Crypts experience would be like without the shelter that leads up to it. I suppose S08 could act as a somewhat decent replacement, but still, even just a tiny bit of extra distance to the Exterior gate can be the difference between life, and having to redo that giant and annoying area all over again.

I get the AI votes, the room's layout is frankly incredible, it does some real impressive and effective subversion, and it even has Rivulet in a really random and weird position in this instance (though it's definitely not the first time I've seen slugcats ending up in such weird places/positions on the polls :D). So what's the issue? Well, it's that one goddamn Proto DLL. You know exactly which one I'm talking about. The devs have obviously put it there to get people to see FP's funny comments about Riv dying, as well as to force players to take the longer circular route when coming in and out, but that begs the question… if you don't want players to use the shortcut pipe, then why would you put a shortcut pipe in there to begin with? And why would make the Proto DLL look as if it isn't big enough to grab you no matter what, even though it is? Idk, these things just bother me. Which sucks, cus I otherwise love this thing to death. Why, devs, why?

Having the shelter from The Exterior on the second highest position is certainly an interesting feat. Though I gotta admit, it has both high importance and a unique design, so it's absolutely deserved, even if my general habit of going through MC/Leg/Underhang makes the shelter a lot less useful for me overall, than for many others.

Pick Your Favorite Rain World Room, Day 167.1

This is not single elimination! Every room with at least 10.0% vote will move on to the next round.

There is a hidden slugcat in one of the rooms (they can be in any color). If u can see it comment or reblog with where they are and if u are first, u get a cookie!

Credit for game screenshots goes to: Rain World Interactive Map, Rain World Wiki and me

Congratulations for day 166.1 winners!