#but slime rancher is so colorful and beautiful so I wanted to give it my best shot.. 🥺🥺

[factual-fantasy]

As soon as I got done drawing the refences for my Slime Rancher submas AU, I turned right around and got to work on Ingo's disappearance arc XDD

I'm thinking how the story goes is Ingo, Emmet and Elesa came to the far far range out of their love and interest in the slimes that live there. They truly had a passion for this planet and wanted to explore and learn everything about it.

Now Elesa was super invested in the gadgets and life on the ranch, while Ingo and Emmet were big on the exploration side of things..

One day while the brothers were out exploring they discovered a new area covered in curvy pink trees..

For a while they explored together, but at some point they split up. Looking back Emmet doesn't even remember why they separated.. he wishes he never left Ingo's side..

About an hour passed when Emmet started look for Ingo. When he couldn't find him right away he tracked him on his Rotom. Following the signal he found a hole in the ground leading to an enormous cave..

At the bottom of the cave laid Ingo's abandoned Rotom, and a trail of blood leading to an old broken teleporter.. Ingo was nowhere to be found..

...

I would love to draw more for this AU right away! Though it might be wise to take it easy somewhat. This was a lot more drawing and backgrounds than I'm use to.. 😅😅 Either way don't worry! An Ingo and Emmet reunion hug is on its way! XDD

[kerikaaria]

Borahae Slimes Haul #2 Review!

Dean ( @eternalseokjin​ ) restocked with some new slimes, so of course I had to snatch a few!

Full disclosure, Dean is my friend and knew my birthday recently passed so he gave me some extra goodies (a free full slime, extra candy, and I’m pretty sure the amount of photocards and stickers were extra too lol. Dude gave me 3 Yoongi photocards because he knows how soft I am for that man) with this because he’s just amazing and sweet like that ^-^ Thank you, Dean!

First, here’s the link to Dean’s Etsy store, so if you would like to purchase some BTS-themed slime, definitely give his shop a look! And check out the store’s tumblr @borahaeslimes​

I was lucky for the order to come really quickly, especially during this time of year. And once I started opening up the package, I got so excited! He didn’t tell me he had added Until Spring for free as a birthday gift, so it was such a pleasant surprise! (And a surprise blessing with the extra containers as well, for reasons I’ll explain later). Keep reading for a detailed review with pictures!

Also. my apologies for the pictures not being more condensed. Every time I attempted to adjust them on mobile, tumblr decided to give me an error so... ugh lol.

I’ll Show You

I’ll Show You is themed after the song ‘Magic Shop,’ and has such a lovely, relaxing scent. It comes with little iridescent flakies (if you’re a fan of Simply Nailogical like Dean and I, you’d probably call it Unicorn Skin) that are optional to put in, as well as a key charm. The flakies do somewhat poke your hand while you play with it, but it’s not hard at all so unless you have very sensitive hands I don’t see it being a problem.

The color is a gorgeous iridescent cream, and the flakies add another really nice layer to it as well. It’s a very beautiful slime, and I easily see myself taking it out when I’m having a rough day because of how lovely and calming the chamomile and lavender scents are.

Anpanman

The slime is themed after the song of the same name and comes with a  custom-made clay charm with a comic-style onomatopoeia (recommended to NOT store inside the slime). The version I bought is the Bingsu one, since I didn’t know if I’d enjoy larger blocks being in my slime.

There is an option to leave it unscented to keep the clear slime from getting cloudy/tinted by it, but I really LOVE the blue raspberry jolly rancher scent and am so glad I opted to keep it! I enjoy the soft crunchy texture to the Bingsu, and this slime is just jam packed with them so it’s super satisfying to play with!

Until Spring

This one is themed after ‘Spring Day,’ and comes with 4 individually packaged colors which you can mix as you please, and a snowflake charm. One is a thick white snow fizz, the pink a bingsu (not quite as packed as Anpanman), and the blue and purple are clear-based slimes. The metallic shimmer of the blue is GORGEOUS, and I almost feel guilty for blending it all into the overall mixture.

The end result is this beautiful pastel purple, with the sporadic snow fizz and pink bingsu adding a unique texture. The smell is also very soft and lovely.

Sweet Life

Sweet Life is themed after BTS’ recent single, ‘Dynamite!’ The clay donut and record charm (again, recommended to NOT store inside the slime) are both handmade by Dean, and it also comes with a small bag of fake sprinkles. The donut came wrapped in plastic wrap and inside a smaller plastic tub than the slimes. And the slime itself is a very sweet scent - a little too strong to me personally, but nothing I can’t handle.

Alright, now this is the only hiccup I had in the order, so I’ll explain what happened. 

While I did think something was a bit odd when I tore the donut in half, I didn’t pay enough attention before I started trying to mix it with the slime. It turns out, the container the donut was shipped in ended up getting cracked during shipment, and the clay had half dried by the time it got to me. So it was rather hard trying to mix that part into the slime. You might be able to tell in the second picture above, that there are chunks hardly mixed, if at all, into the slime.

Knowing that it was because the container ended up cracked doesn’t personally make me too concerned that others would have the problems I did. I spoke with Dean about it, and he helped me figure out what to do. The part I already started mixing with the slime started to absorb moisture from it and became softer and easier to work with as I let it just sit for a bit. The other half, I put into a (not cracked, airtight) container and poured just a bit of water on it. I let it sit while I was working with Until Spring, and periodically went back to it to mix up the slime or knead the water into the clay to help it along.

It didn’t take too long before it was able to all mix together and I ended with my final slime! I really love the texture. It’s really thick, almost like a putty and super satisfying! Also a side note, Dean said he isn’t quite sure how the slime he used for making his shop post ended up so brown, because his personal slime of this also ended up a similar shade of a blue-gray to mine. I do really like the color though, it’s a neat muted, almost teal color.

And this is where the extra containers due to the four individual slimes for Until Spring came in handy, since the tub containing the donut was cracked. I was able to use the little 2 oz containers for the rest of the slime that wouldn’t fit in the big container after mixing in the clay, so I didn’t need to go finding something else to put it in. What a happy little coincidence!

Extra Slime - Anpanman Block version

The extra slime I got this time was a sample of the block version of Anpanman, probably because Dean knows I’m new to exploring different types of slime and wanted to let me try it out. I can say that I’m glad I got the Bingsu one in my purchase, but I also don’t hate the chunky blocks as much as I thought I might. It’ll still be a very nice one to fiddle with here and there.

So overall, I’m incredibly happy yet again! I don’t blame Dean for the hiccup with the clay donut, since the tub getting cracked most likely happened in shipping - and everything was very well packaged, wrapped in bubble wrap and then tissue paper, and in a padded mailer so he did everything he could to try to keep it safe. And besides, although it was extra work, it still blended into the slime in the end so I’m happy :)

If you want to support small shops, Dean’s is a great one to go to! Unfortunately because of shipping prices being crazy, he can only sell in the US, but if you do live here and are interested, then definitely give his shop a browse! Here is the link one more time. --> Borahae Slimes on Etsy

[juurizumi]

After all this time, I Just wanted to tell you something important. You should play "With Those We Love Alive" it's a simple text game, and all I ask, is for you to upload your adventure. And remember to design all your marks by yourself. See you at the Empress Throne!

Well, this was the longest request i’ve ever gotten. But you know, for you sweetheart, anything.

First, here are my sigils.

And now, story.

Warning: “With those we love alive” spoilers.

Bold: my commentaries during the game.

—-: Whenever the day ends

Before living this life, have a pen or sharpie nearby, something that can write on skin.Purple links change. Pink links move forward. The colorblind version is here.There is music, so headphones are good. But it’s okay if you can’t.Content warning for violence, self harm, blood, abuse, unreality.Alright, i have the stuff, bring it on.Okay

Please remember, nothing you can do is wrong.

Okay, weird intro. I know nothing about this game except is all text, which is already odd.

Which month were you born in?

I won’t put this in public, sorry

What is your element?

Feather

What color are your eyes?

Ah, ugh, i can’t tell to be honest, i’ll check in the mirror i guess.

Green

When you came of age, your parents used this information to give you a name, running their fingers along the indexes of a book, as by custom.

But in the morning when they were gone to work, you found the other book, and you held a different name inside.

Casence Ophidet.

That’s a pretty name, it sounds nice.

And ten years disappeared

The agent of the Skull Empress came to your apartment and spoke to you:

“The Empress’s larval stage is almost complete. We invite you to reside in the palace and share your talents.”

An artificer.

You make things.

Oh. That’s cool.

You were noticed, perhaps, from your showings, and sometimes victories, in the festivals.

And now you are going somewhere

I wonder where.

Dead brown leaves cover inky black lake.

Something is rising from the lake.

What? Sounds creepy? Um, are there any jumpscares in this game?

The Empress rises from the water, dragging her train of leaves and ichor. Her larval skin floats across the lake like the carcass of a pale leviathan.

Oh, so she’s the empress. I see. That got me nervous for a moment.

Her aides pick wet plant matter from her skull.

She greets her new court by placing thoughts in their minds.

Her aide says, “Go to your chambers. You will know when we have need of you.”

Okay?

She returns to cleaning the skull of the Empress, running her tongue along the effluvial curves.

The palace courtyard.

A balcony looks upon the outside world. The throne room is closed for the Empress’s inaugural blood bath.

Blood bath? Aw, i wish i could see.

Your chambers are on the second floor.

The garden sprawls over there. Your workshop is in a cabin down a shady path.

The city is through a vast archway hanging with vines.

There’s a lot to see here! Where should i go first?

Garden

Glass flowers on iron stalks. Canopy of leafbone. Statues sunk into the earth.

Pretty landscape. I wanna lay down on the grass and stay forever.

The lake is down that path. Or back to the palace.

Lake

Dead brown leaves cover inky black lake.

Mm. Would something interesting happen if i meditate?

Do your meditations

Take a deep breath.

The game stopped i think?

Oh wait no. I was actually supposed to breathe. This game is interesting so far, because i can imagine everything since i’m getting no pictures at all.

Exhale.

I am holding my breath

It seems like this does nothing. I’m gonna stop for now.

Stop

Return

Statues

Some carved of stone from this century, others the husks of machines from beyond your reckoning.

It is easier for the gardeners to call the machines statues. But they were no aesthetic object.

They weren’t? What were they for then? I wonder if i will get to know at some point.

Look away

Palace

Balcony

Death jungle chokes the land to the north. To the south, ashen wasteland.

You lean on the railing.

This sounds like a very dark view for a balcony. The music doesn’t say otherwise.

Leave

Wait i have a workshop! Should i try to make something?

Workshop

Vials of melter. Magnifying lense. Meltless gloves. Scarred worktable.

Can i do something with this?

Melter

The power to sculpt metal and stone with your fingers.

It doesn’t seem like i can. Disappointed.

Put it back

Worktable

Stained schematics depict a metal tube with a glass lens. You tried to build one before but didn’t have the materials. The glass is fine and pure here.

Work on telescope

Too tired to work.

Oh. Maybe i should get some rest so i can work after then.

Get up

Return

Your chambers

A chest under your bed.

Is this a treasure?

Chest

Estroglyphs. Spiroglyphs. Identical to the ones on your body.

I have glyphs in my body? That’s badass.

Precious

Alright, to sleep i go.

Sleep

—————-

Exit

The palace courtyard.

A balcony looks upon the outside world. The throne room lies deeper inside the palace.

Your chambers are on the second floor.

The garden sprawls over there. Your workshop is in a cabin down a shady path.

The city is through a vast archway hanging with vines.

I want to see the workshop again but i’m curious if i can speak to the empress.

Throne room

The throne is vacant. The Empress’s portrait covers the west wall.

So, she’s not here hm.

The Empress’ hounds are napping.

Leave

Haven’t checked the city yet. I wonder if i can meet people in this, so, i will give it a try.

City

The streets are narrow, winding, mazelike. Ropes span between buildings like enormous spiderwebs blanketing the city.

The temple is this way, across the dry canal.

The dream distillery is surrounded by scaffolding.

Mazelike

This alley leads to a dead end. The stone is stained with smog and acid rain.

A puddle of green slime is here.

Green slime? Is it Rad? Haha. Sorry, i’ve been playing too much Slime Rancher lately.

Return

Ropes

Laundry, drying meat, lanterns, festival ribbons.

Look away

Temple

A censer burns, filling the temple with smoke. A row of jars sits behind curtains.

The gods are silent.

That’s the thing about gods.

Censer

That childhood smell of spices, so mystical, now reminds you of any kitchen.

Exhale

Jars

Ancient hands suspended in green fluid, covered in sigils, vertical columns of ink.

Some bizarre old practice

That is a very bizarre practice as well as this temple. It’s more like a lab than anything else.

Gods

The gods derive power from silence.

That’s what i said before!

…

Leave

Dry canal

River glass glints.

Dead vines wave in the wind like sunbleached hair.

Sewer holes ooze. Nightmare runoff creeps across the ground.

Urchins sleep in the shade of an upturned hull.

Dust striders dance down the canal like sticks blown in the wind.

These are some odd descriptions for the landscape–Fuck, damn computer turned off! I was getting so into it now! Fuck you windows!

Do i have to redo everything?! ….Oh fuck me.

Look away

Scaffolding

Oily stains unreal the wood. Looks like nightmare damage.

A sign says: Repairs done in a week or so. Come back later to try our free samples!

This place is starting to remind me of Nightvale. I sense a resemblance.

Leave

Return to the palace

I’ll try the workshop again.

Workshop

Worktable

Too tired to work

What? Still? Well, that’s not so different from the current me, tbh.

Get up

Return

Balcony

Death jungle chokes the land to the north. To the south, ashen wasteland. A dead person is sitting on the balcony, swinging their legs.

Well hello there.

You lean on the railing.

Leave

Is the empress back?

Throne room

The throne is vacant. The Empress’s portrait covers the west wall.The Empress’ hounds are chained to the throne. They strain at the sight of you.

Hello puppies! I won’t do anything weird, just looking around.

Throne

Glossy white wood swarming with termites, stained with empress effluvia. Deep gouges in the arms.

Turn away

Portrait

Mm? I can pick the empress’ general look! That is amazing.

Her majestic ram horns, her mantle of fleshrags, her eyes burning with cold fire.

That sounds beautiful to me. I’ll keep it that way.

Look away

Leave

Chambers

Sleep

——————–

Exit

Workshop

Worktable

Work on telescope

Too tired to work

Return

Hm. I dunno what to do so far. I think i re-explored everything already. This is sure an odd game. Is the empress ever gonna ask anything from me? Is there anyone else at all here?

I’ll go get some sleep.

——-

A message is pinned to the door.

He empress needs something nice for the ceremony. Something to adorn her.

Okay

You have work to do.

When they said i was an artificer i expected to be requested some weapons or armor but fuck, finally. Your wish is my command!

Exit

Workshop

Get to work

They’ve left cases full of rare materialsYou’ve never worked with anything like this…

Oh shit. The music is so tense, i hope i don’t fuck this up.I wonder what would look nice in her.

A diadem made of lake crystal

Translucent crystals from the lake. They’ve absorbed a thousand of the empress’ larval cycles. Marinated in her sacred waters.That sounds nice. I hope she’ll like this?

You engraved three glyphs:Angel-breeder

Power over death

Loyal to eternityWrapped in snakeskin

These are very hard decisions, for sure.

The empress’s agent accepts the gift. She strides away.

Okay??? What do i do if she doesn’t like it? Do i run before she cuts my head?? No??

Well at least the music calmed down.

Exit

It doesn’t seem like i can do anything else for now.

Sleep

—————-

The ceremony is in the garden tonight.

Alright. That sounds nice.

Workshop

Worktable

Work on telescope

The telescope is complete. This will look good on the balcony.

What, really? Cool, i want to try it out

Balcony

You lean on the railing. Your telescope is mounted nearby.

Look at jungle or waste

Jungle

Ancient ruins of glass and steel, infested by vines.

Unlook

Waste

Skulldiers are patrolling, spears and armor glinting when the sun pierces the ashen veil of the sky.

Hello human! It is i, Papyrus the Royal Guard! Haha. It’s like looking at his cousins or somethin’, this is crazy.

Unlook

Set telescope aside

Leave

City

Mazelike

This alley leads to a dead end. The stone is stained with smog and acid rain.A slime kid is here.

Uh… hello?

She ripples happily.

That’s sort of… adorable.

Yay

Return

Dry canal

A rat kid is running around laughing as she wears a human skull fragment on her face like an opera mask.

I wish i had something as cool as a human piece of skull to play around when i was a kid. Envy.

Look away

Return to the palace

Oh shoot, the ceremony! I almost forgot.

Garden

The ceremony is beginning.

The garden is strung with lights and thronged with dancing.The empress wears her diadem. You can’t tell where her hollow eyes are pointed.

An agent approaches.I fucked up, didn’t i? Time to run.

“The empress has a gift for you.”For me? Aw, she shouldn’t have botheredThe agent holds something in her hand.Three red berries on a waxy white leaf.You dare not refuse

Their juice stains your fingers. It lingers on your mouth, sweet turning to bitter like sun to evening.Lick your lips

Berries om nom nom…

People are walking toward a clearing in the garden, a grass expanse covered in dark circles.

Jellyfire is released from the metal tubes in the earth where it fermented for the last year. It ripples into the sky in gorgeous sheets of color.Lie on your back and stare

The sky is full of jellyfire like disemboweled rainbows.The old year is ending.

That’s so pretty! Amazing.

Draw a sigil of new beginnings on your skin.

Oh. So that’s the marker for. Alright, one min… There. Done.

Done

Sleep

———————

Standing on the balcony, holding a letter from the people who share your blood.

Why don’t you come home?

What? Someone’s waiting for me?

Unbearable longing.We miss our—Let the wind take it

Okay, that was weird.

You let it flutter away. Loving yourself means destroying the physical reminders of the past.No more

Well apparently i have a very tragic past with my family or whoever that was.

Draw a sigil of severing.Done

You lean on the railing. Your telescope is mounted nearby.

Telescope

Jungle

Swarms of insects rise from the jungle like black clouds.Unlook

Waste

A shardstorm glitters across the waste.UnlookOkay, i explored a bit but there’s not much to do around.

Sleep

——–

City

The dream distillery has a gruesome pull for you.

Free samples yay.

Distillery

Pale, shriveled humans sleep forever on the floor. Pipes run from their heads into iron barrels.This batch has a vivid mauve color.

Heads

A living breathing terroir of flesh.Detach yourself

Ew, nope, nope.

You take a sip.

A bouquet of stormclouds, a subtle flavor of intimacy, and an aftertaste of regret.

That is a very interesting flavor, but i wouldn’t have it again.

Palace

Chambers

Sleep

——————–

You need to re-apply hormones

Excuse me? What the actual… oh well. I can’t argue with this person’s health. Bring it on.

You take an estroglyph and spiroglyph from the chest and press them to your thighThey sink through the skin and glow softly under the surface, intelligent veins of blue and white.

Okay

Exit

Apparently i can’t use the workshop for now. It’s kinda easy to not have things to do in this game, it’s somehow heavy to play.

Sleep

—————

The empress is hunting humans today.

Holy… what species am i, what species am i? I don’t want to die yet! Fuck me that’s creepy.

Her flier hums through the sky, moth wings slicing sunlight.

At the rear of the procession you listen to the always weapons and the sometimes screams.Arcs of light shoot through the canopy. The smell of burnt sap

A custom that persists because people are scared that if they question the custom they will fall victim to the intense cruelty of the custom, which persists because they fail to question it.

Humans and their typical fear of changing customs. sigh

Ideate: Into the seaBreak the loop

Draw a thought loop

Done

You lean back against the engine and close your eyes and let it drown out the noise.And stare at the sky.

Sleep

———————————-

Exit

Apparently some descriptions change when you keep watching around the dry canal and when you taste something in the distillery.

Besides that i’m borderline bored.

Sleep

————

A message is pinned to the door.Finally!

The empress has need of a weapon, something to hang in the throne room.

Omg yes, just what i wanted. I’m so ready for this.

Get to work

You gather materials…And think of weapons

A whip? That sounds adequate for her, i like the option.

I present to you my biggest work of art!

Forged in the cool fires of dream. Not red hot, not white hot, but prism hot, the fresh tip of the whip plunged into a vat of distilled wakefulness, hissing with oneiric heat.A whip made of dream-dripped steel and angel leather, with the invocation, Sharing blood with moonlightThe agent comes by and takes it away.

Hope that satisfies her, otherwise i’m fucked.

Sleep

——————-

Throne room

The whip of the Skull Empress hangs above the vacant throne, along with her portrait on the west wall.

Cool, my baby is there, i’m so proud.

Made of dream-dripped steel and angel leather.You feel little pride

Sleep

————-

So, after exploring a bit it seems like there´s a lot of dead people around here. They appear in the balcony, the lake and other spots and they are always staring. That’s cute. Wish i could talk to them.

City

The temple is this way, across the dry canal. Black petals cover the temple steps.

That’s new

Black petals

Offerings for the dire maidens. Depending on how much memory one has watered the flower with, an offering may be a sacrifice.And in the manner of sacrifices, each petal looks the same, whether it contains a moment or a lifetime.Okay

A beautiful sight of black petals to finish a day.

Palace

Sleep

————–

The empress and her agents pass by your window. Her abdomen is swollen, trailing on the ground.Wha- is she okay?

You can smell her from here. She smells like dead candy.She passes from sight

She had too much candy? Is that it? Haha

You descend the stairs and enter the courtyard. Her cloven hooves left smears of ichor like the stain of rotten fruit.I’m concerned this option even exists but don’t worry, i’ll clean the mess.Get on your knees and lick her stainYou get on your knees, palms flat on the cool stone, and close your eyes. Your tongue flicks out to taste a drop of her putrid nectar.

Deep sigh

I’m actually enjoying this a lot. It’s the sweetest devotion i’ve seen in a long time.

You lick her from the ground until the ground is clean. Your lips and teeth are purple with empress juice. Your breath smells like you’ve been eating the refuse of an orchard or a toilet.

Get up

That was a glorious scene.

Chambers

You need to re-apply hormones

Again? I wonder what could happen if i don’t. Maybe i’ll test it next time.

Re-apply

Sleep

————

City

Temple

A censer burns, filling the temple with smoke. A row of jars sits behind curtains. A dead person is riding on the neck of a statue. They watch you.

See, that’s what i was saying about the dead people around, they always stare at me and i want to ask them why.The dire maidens are mortifying themselves with nerve coils.

Nerve coils

Intestines soaked in a nightmare-lye blend, then twisted into whips. Each lash carries a night of terror.Flinch

Mm. Uninteresting.

Leave

Chambers

Sleep

——-

Exit

I wonder if the thing in the temple is still going on so i’m checking that again. It seems like the only current event.

The dire maidens are draining their confessions into black boxes.

Black boxes

The boxes are full of white liquid. They never overflow, no matter how much liquid drains from the maidens.

Infinity boxes? I need one in my room, shut up and take my money.Look away

Chambers

Sleep

——-

The sky is full of pink like a volcanic burst of petals.Now what?

The princess spores have burst from the empress.Everyone is running around laughing and crushing the spores as they drift to the ground.

Is this like popping bubbles? Can i play too?

The drunken hands of the mob pull you along.Alright, i guess i’m one of them now. Let’s play zombies then

You reach the garden and the hands become feet, fanning out, kicking at bushes, stomping out soft pink sporeflesh.Everything that happens today is this question:Are you part of the world, one with others, a person, or are you alone and apart?

I’m apart, i guess?

Alone and apart

You hear a mewling sound.A princess spore is crawling through the leaves. It stares in your direction, lips trembling, struggling to open its kittenblind eyes.So, this things are alive? I want to help them but it seems like i can’t do anything. Wish i had more options.Let it be

The spore crawls into a strangler fig hollow, climbing weakly up the choked spiral.Okay, it seems like they’re safe somehow.

The mob rushes to the courtyard

You spot something pink crawling up the balcony stairs.

Is it another one of them?

A princess spore is wriggling painfully up the steps, shuddering after each movement.Uh, this is becoming frustrating. I want to do something else than let these thingies be.Let it go

The spore reaches the top of the balcony. It starts crying.The mob is going inside the palace

You hear movement in an alcove.Three spores are huddling together for warmth.Let them be

They shrink in terror, trying to press themselves through stone. You back away until you can no longer see them in the shadows.You smell fire

Dehydrated femme carcasses are being thrown in the fire pits. Everyone is drinking and having a good time.Apparently all of this is a festival but the music hasn’t acknowledged it.

And you

Draw the sigil of what you feel.

I feel frustrated! This is a party and i’m not drinking, that sucks.And go to sleep

—

The palace courtyard. It rained while you were asleep.

Hot humid rain flooding downhill into the city.

Ah, i hate rain. It always ruins the weather.Your skin feels stickyTelescope

Jungle

Hot rain spatters across the jungle, steaming from the leaves.

City

The streets are narrow, winding, mazelike. Ropes span between buildings like enormous spiderwebs blanketing the city. A dead person is watching you from a window.

Hello mister. Have your people created my fan club yet? *winks*The temple is this way, across the flooded canal.

Flooded canal

Dream distillery pollution stains the water oneiridiscent.

Rat kids hang out in drainage mouths.

Speaking about the distillery, i wonder what crazy flavor they have for me today.

This batch has a pale crimson color. You take a sip.A bouquet of co-morbidity, a delicate flavor of ecstatic clarity, and an aftertaste of harm

Sweet.

Sleep

————-

When you were very young, it was popular among the rich to distill the dreams of children. This practice is no longer in vogue, but back then, every month or so, some children would be taken.I see. That is so interesting. I wonder what a dream tastes like. Or is it what i’ve been drinking in the distillery?One night your mother stood over the stove and crumbled leaves into a cup of hot water. She stirred and stirred until it was dark green.She gave you the cup. You drank it, because she was your mother.

That night you fell into a horrible fever. You sweated until it felt like strings threaded with broken glass were being pulled through your pores. You hallucinated. You fried. You could see nothing but the inside of your own skull.Did momma poison the shit outta me? That’s some crazy shit.

When you woke up, you could no longer dream. In one night, it felt like you had dreamt all the dreams of a lifetime. It felt like an eternity of fire. Like what should have come slowly, gently, unfolding delicately at the whirling dance of your years, had instead been accelerated at a ruinous speed, burning away.

I can’t dream anymore, holy crap. I want that poison for real now.

Lay awake for a long time

You need to re-apply hormones

Okay, i said i was going to try this, so i won’t apply the hormones today to see what happens.

…

…Well, after exploring a bit it seems like nothing happened except i can’t sleep to skip the day, so i’ll apply the thing and go to sleep.

————————-

You pour endless things into the dark left by your dreamlessness.None of them can replace the dreams. It’s like trying to create air just by thinking about it. Something so invisible and ethereal as to resemble thought itself.But dreams are physical as blood and bone.

It’s sad that i can’t use the workshop for anything without the Empress asking me for it. I would like to have something else to do besides wander around for changes.

——————-

Visitors from beyond the city

Yay, people!

A priestess from the temple of the 17 goddesses, her raiments sewn with bright jagged minerals that pulsate at the slightest change in light.An ambassador from the west, in her cloak of spider feathers and her ceremonial gas mask.

Did you just say… gas mask? *mouth watering*And your friend. Witch green rags, vials of ectoplasm hanging at her side.

I have a friend? Omg i have a friend.

Priestess

Goddesses of anomaly and aberration, their domain is everything not. Their earthly manifestations are permanently burning origami angels.I love origami, it’s such a therapeutic activity.

Fascinating

Gas maskBlack with gold trim, a slender hose hanging with a gold filter, obsidian eyes.Well i already love this character.Wasteland chic

Friend

You look at her and she looks at you. Then she looks away.I think this is one of the persons responsible for that letter.

Stop staring

Ectoplasm

Mercury of the soul. Each sample has its own wildness, its own tendency to warping.Just looking makes you dizzyHer above all things

Her face was a scar palette, her hair was a tar ballet.

Pretty girl, what happened to you?

*singing* No scars to your beautiful, we’re stars and we’re beautiful~

Scar

Her scar is healed, her hair is…

Hey, i couldn’t catch that. The text changed suddenly.

She glides pastThe impulse to say something darts up your throat like fish up a waterfall–and falls down again.

Always down. Always silent. Nothing leaves the fortress of your mouth.Do they die on the teeth? Do they suffocate in the throat? Or maybe no words ever existed, it’s just deluded air rising and falling.C’mon. If you want to say something you just say it, what’s that of letting words die?

She is talking to someone.You disappear.

So, apparently i had the power of disappear this whole time. Why nobody told me?

That was a rough welcome of the visitors. I’ll get something from the distillery and get back to sleep.

—-

When you left, you were both so angry. So ugly with bitterness.

It drowns.Shame taught the ocean everything it knows.Draw a sigil of shame

Alright, another one to the collection

Certain days came to represent those bad times. They visit you, and that day holds all the days in its hands, as the tip of a spear carries the weight of the entire spear.

You were with her that day, as she held your hand, tighter and tighter as the yelling got louder.

It was a cold day

Hard to remember, isn’t it? The feelings were hot and cold, fluxing so fast and intense it seemed like you would crack and split, and they color that day like water damage on a painting.

Everyday is damage

Okay, i guess that was a memory about me and my friend. It had that certain sadness in the mood that i can relate to.

Workshop

A dead person is under the table. Vials of melter. Magnifying lense. Meltless gloves. Scarred worktable.

Dude! These are following me even here! C’mon, not cool. Get out pal, this is my workplace! What’s next, my room?! Don’t you dare.

—————

The empress is naked in her bath of worms.

Wormies. Yummy.She is thinking.

Worms

They pick her bones clean.How thoughtful

Thinking

She thinks, make me a new hand.Her thoughts linger like the fog of a kiss on your brain.

Is she sending me this telepathically? That is awesome. I like that she asks me directly this time, i feel kinda loved.

Hand

Under the worms you see the bonerot in her left hand. Some congenital malady of the skull empresses? A hex from some nemesis?It doesn’t matter.You feel strange.

I think my character is just having a boner, if it loves the juices of the empress i bet seeing her in the bath is just too much for their virgin eyes.

You imagine yourself making more and more things for the empress of increasing intimacy, until you are making her bones themselves, and then the individual components of her soul.

Yep, that’s definitely sexual.

Until she is finally replaced by that which came from your hand alone.

Apparently Casense is really possessive towards the empress. She wants to make her all over with her own hands. Kinky.

Welp, time to make another masterpiece.Get to work

You can feel the pain in the ectoplasm smeared all over your fingers. For an unknown period of time, you can’t tell your thoughts from the thoughts of this ectoplasm.You set the ecto and wipe the trauma from your fingers.

Long sharp nails reflecting like hard ink. Cut from the foot of a volcano at the heart of the ash waste, where even the sky-hungry obelisks are drowned to tips like a bench to sit on.

Perfect.

A hand of tortured ectoplasm, fitted with obsidian nails.The agent takes it away.

The dead person is still under my table *sigh* What do i do with you. Do i get you a treat or…?

Chambers

You need to re-apply hormones

Sleep

——————-

You are walking down the hall when you see her.

Hm? See who, the empress?

She stops and stares, and here, alone in the cool, shadowed corner of the palace, there is no longer any pretense that you do not know each other.Oh, it’s my friend.And she speaks

“The last time I saw you, you were—”A  wreck?“…yes.”

“I hoped to see you again. Now that things are different.“"Hope is a shameful thing.” Her lips twist into a smile.You remember how good it felt to hate the world together.

Before everything got so bitter and trapped. When it was a clean pure hate moving you forward. Out of the city. Away from the people who hurt you.She’s saying something.

“Are things different now?”

I honestly don’t know, my friend.

I don’t know

“I remember something you used to say. Something like, our brain won’t let us know until it’s over. Or else we couldn’t function.”I think that makes sense, somehow.

Silence

“That’s a nice dress,” she says.Pride warms you, as if the summer sun had melted through the cold marble.“I have to go show some asshole all the glorious myriad benefits of ectoplasm, but can we meet tomorrow?”Is that a date? Because if it is i’d rather refuse it, i want the hot Skull Empress instead.

Wait, i don’t have any option. Fuck you game.

“That would be nice.”

And then she is gone and you are alone. Like one of the statues had spoken to you and returned to silence.

—————

Lying on a garden bench. Her vials of ectoplasm are gone, replaced by a bag of hard precious things. She shows you one of the coins.“I think this is worth like, fifty of those fried rolls. Remember the rolls? The ones you ate every day for awhile? You loved that shit.”

Sounds yum“Okay get me fifty rolls.”

“Ha. I’ve never seen anyone explode before so that could be pretty fun.”Time passes in a very nice way

After a while you both go silent.Awkwaaaaaard

“It still hurts, doesn’t it.”

I guess?

“Yes”

She leans close. Her breath smells like sweet salt. You can see the healed scars on her face, like faded borders in a land overrun by sand.“What they did to me on the outside, they did to you on the inside.”

I wonder who is they. Is it my momma with her weird beverages?"We are the same. Separated from the world. Chasm people”

Are you a chasm person?

Yes

Draw the sigil of your relationship with the chasm.Sleep

—————————

A long time ago she caught you bashing your head on the wall, the red stain getting bigger and bigger.I used to hit my head against hard stuff as a child. A very unhealthy habit.She held you until the feeling passed

The garden is beautiful tonight but somehow this is all you can think of.She sees it in your face."Casence….”I can’t stop thinking about it.She puts her hand on your shoulder.“When the thoughts are really bad, there’s something that really helps me.”

Anxiety buddies, cute.

Five minutes later you’re in the workshop and she’s holding a glass dropper full of green fluid.

Hope is not drugs. Does this friend of mine have a name, by the way?

She squirts the fluid inside beads of melter, like shards of emerald floating in dewdrops.“Trust me, this is the purest way to do it.”A drop of melter lands on her skin. It disappears.“Now you.”‘Kay. I trust you, i guess.The drop falls through your body.

You feel radiant.Yep, i’m high, confirmed. Fuck you! I didn’t even have a choice.

She sinks into the corner. Her dark hair covers her face and she tries to blow it away, finally leaking hysterical laughter.You stare at the inside of your weird psychic meat shit for awhile. When you look back she’s under the worktable sleeping or maybe staring at her own mind. You shake her gently. She curls up, eyes closed, squeezing the leg of the table like a stuffed animal.But you, you feel energized.

Running through the garden. Darkness, leaves, and the ripe surge of life crushed under your boots. You kick them off so you can suffer with the earth.You start talking to your dead friend.

So this friend of mine is dead or i’m actually talking to the dead under my worktable? Am i hallucinating or something?

“tthhiiisisthefirsttimeivefeltnormalsinceiwasakkkkiiid.imsorryimamkingthisaboutme.imsorryihaventbeenthereforyou.imsrryforeverything.

Okay. Casence needs bed, now.

You trail away. The sky is spinning a glowing vortex of radial star lines. You fall to the ground, arms sprawled behind your head, writhing as the universe hypnotizes you.

You feel the grass growing over your face. Feel yourself sinking into the earth. Soft, warm, like the roots are veins, red brown dark, fertile, rich, fecund, churning with life.

I think Casence is enjoying this way too much.

You think about your long life of fear. About waking up as a husk tomorrow. You clutch at the grass. It twists and tears in your hands and the dew feels like blood.

Like being dragged out of a deep pit where you’ve lived so long in isolation you no longer had any reference point, but now that you’ve seen the light and tasted clean air, you’d fight like a rabid animal to stay free.You look around and you can’t see your dead friend anywhere.

Draw a sigil of insight.

Alright, one more.And fall asleep on the grass

So, my friend just literally disappeared and left me high af sleeping in grass. That’s just great.

————–

Sitting on her bed, watching her put on nail polish.

Nail polish

Black.It glistens

I like black nails. It looks so sophisticated in women.So pretty

"Do you want your nails done?”Um, okay?Yes

She paints the seventh nail

What?

Third

Oh. I’m supposed to pick the order. That’s silly.

Sixth

Ninth

Second

First

Fourth

Tenth

Fifth

Eighth

The ritual is soothing.She painted your nails a different color.Green.

Ugly. I know who would like it tho.

You say, “I was so worried when I saw you here. I know you hate these people.”She returns the nail polish to her nightstand. It clicks against the glass. “Time passes. We get over things.”“Yeah.”

This has a very nostalgic touch, the music is really soothing. It does have that sense of two old friends meeting again.

She looks tired.

“Good night, Sedina.”

So that’s her name. It’s very nice.

As you slide off the bed your hip catches the nightstand, knocking her purse to the floor.She gets on her knees and quickly begins putting things back inside.Help her

A stick of mascara.

An estroglyph.A piece of salt candy.

Something that doesn’t exist

A non-existent knife is lying on the floor. Your skin tingles.“When is that knife going to exist?”“Tomorrow.”

Hm? Things have a time of existence here? That is a cool feature.

“Please—”“I just wanted to spend time with you.”

"Sedina—”“Stay in your room and don’t interfere”

What? What is she going to do with that knife??

”…“"Goodbye, Casence.”She closes the door.What a bummer. Everything seemed to be going well and now Sedina wants to play dangerous games with non existent things.

You sit in your room for an hour then find a piece of paper and a pen.Write your note:Sedina,please don’t

They will hurt youPlease understand…you are so much better than those parasites.Signed,Your friend

Leave the note under her doorThe palace is quiet and open and airy. Curtains lift languidly to reveal balconies like portals of moonlight.You slip the note under her door.

Draw the sigil of influencing this outcome.

I don’t think i spent enough time with her to influence her decision tho…

You wake up hours early with nausea eating its way out of your stomach.Get dressed and go to the throne room

Horrible fantasies steal your mind:

Some trophy of her placed around the palace, that you have to walk past every day for the rest of your lifeShe is standing in the center of the room, flanked by pillars of stone and light. An agent is listening to her.“I brought a gift for the Empress, a token of loyalty from my coven.”

Agent

Dark, utile clothing. Blue eyes. Asymmetric brown hair. Broken nose.

Empress

Another agent enters the room, followed by the Empress like a monstrous shadow.Sedina is standing very still.

You try to catch her gaze. She meets your eyes for a moment before nodding and looking away.You start breathing again.

Did i convince her then?

She approaches the empress with her hands open and empty.The knife suddenly exists.One second

She’s gonna do it, ain’t she? *sigh*

She places the knife inside the nearest agent, then pulls it out. Blood sprays across the floor, glittering in the sunlight.Two seconds

She steps out of her shoes and darts toward the Empress. An agent stands in her way with a dagger.Three seconds

She grabs the agent’s wrist and bends it backwards, pinning them down like the dip in a dance, driving the blade into the underside of their chin. They open their mouth and a tongue of metal flicks through, drooling red.

Savage, SedinaFour seconds

Sedina runs up to the Empress, bare feet pattering on the marble floor.

C’mon! I really liked the empress! Why i can’t fucking move?!Five seconds

The Empress rakes her hand across Sedina’s abdomen. Skin and cloth comes away in her claws, so bloody you can’t tell them apart.…nevermind then.Six seconds

The knife clatters to the tile.Seven secondsSedina grabs at the Empress, fingers clutching at her skull, filling her eye sockets and nose. The Empress lifts Sedina into the air. You never understood how tall the Empress is until now, when a human is in her hands. She has Sedina like a child.Eight seconds

She smashes Sedina into the wall. All the air comes out of her, and some blood.Sedina slides to the floor. The doors to the throne room burst open and agents fill the room.

Well she´s fucked. I warned her about this.Throw up

You don’t sleep.You have work to do.

What, work? Hm. Alright.

You sit at the worktable. You have no materials.But you have materials

What you mean? More stuff that doesn’t exist but will exist at some point?

You choose bone

You take a chisel and hollow needle and pound it into the bone. You pour drops of melter into the needleA tendril of bone rises through the hole. You wrap it around your finger and pull.

You take out another vial of melter:

Pain

What is there to say? If you know, you know. If you don’t, nothing can show you.Draw a sigil of pain.

Okay, another one. How do i draw pain..

You limp down the hall with the thing wrapped under a cloth. An agent rushes past. Through a window you see the walls bristling with skulldiers.The sovereign body has been threatened.To attack the sovereign body and fail is the same as wounding the sovereign body, because the body is not a body of flesh and blood, it is a body of power.Power is wounded by anything that refuses to be destroyed by it.

The holding cells are down those stairs, in the smell of copper and rat.

You take the thing into the torch-lit depths where the agents stand guard.There would be screams, if the thing did not eat screams.What thing eats screams? I wish i had a pet who fed on screams. I could give them some use.There would be blood, if the thing did not eat blood.There would be death, if the thing did not eat death.

Walk past with eyes straight aheadSedina is bruised, eyes swollen, broken finger, fingernails bleeding, wrists hung in nullhex manacles, spells in chastity.She’s still alive huh. I guess Casence’s plan is to take her outta here so, let’s not waste much time.“Let’s go.”

Chased through the garden, bones tearing you inside.Through the place where fire sleeps underground.

She grabs at the buried tubes, claws at the seals, tears the caps free.Young jellyfire bursts free, smoking the tips of her hair. After so little fermentation they barely float, wafting across the grass like low devouring clouds.

That sounds like a very cool skill to run away in this kind of situations

You hear the sounds of the garden dying, and the pursuers dying. Both are very different, but become the same after awhile.Sedina grabs your hand and pulls you toward the darkest part of the garden, where the foliage is high and tangled and the ground is swampy.Run or die

The lake, black and rotten, is suddenly at your feet.Sedina pushes you behind her. Your feet sink into the cold mud.The sound of mothriders fills the air like sawblades.Blink

Something pink swarms through the underbrush.

Mm? Princess spores maybe?Surges upwards.

You stare into the sky, into the blinding sun.Is it raining?A drop on your face.

Another drop.

Another

You look at the lake and a face covered in red speckles looks back.A few seconds later your face is completely crimson.

Is it blood?

Guts splash the lake and slap the dirt as princesses flit through the air, the teeth of their limbs slung and rippling.Moth riders crash, shrapnel shrieks, skulldiers leap through the trees, arrows fly, spears stab, princesses scream, pink goop melts human flesh.She yells something in your ear.

You and her jump in the lake and start swimming for the distant shore.The water sucks at you, thick and silty and freezing. Your horizon: whirling wet bark, her surging shoulders, dead branches like crocodiles.Your throat is filling with dirt-tasting water. She sees you struggling and reaches for your hand.

Thanks buddy, i needed that. Tho i’m a good swimmer.

One way or another, the dream will come.Fight

A hotel as far as distance.

Rain pours down cracked blue clay, turning the road to mud and flooding the yard with demipond puddles.

Breathe

Your friend the witch is in the common room, lingering over a glass of salt sugar citrus fluid, finger stuck in the crease of a book, watching rain run down the windowpane.Everyone else is asleep. These long rainy days are for resting.So calm. I think everything is alright now.

Breathe

You watch her from the staircase. It feels good to see her at peace. You know she feels the same way about you.BreatheYou enter your room. Take off your dress. The day rolls from your body like dissipating heat waves. Your wrinkles and folds exhale.Put away the dress

A dead person is curled up inside your hamper.REALLY? HAHAHAHA EVEN HERE, these bitches can’t have enough of me! I love them!“I am sorry, dead person, but you must leave”

Why must I leave?“Because I am alive.”

Mm. Was that the ending? Cool. I liked that last decision.

Although it has a very interesting concept this game is very dense and hard to get into for me. I ran out of things to do very often, which made the process boring.

I liked the descriptions, i like how it turns intangible things like regrets or dreams into something you can drink and taste. I like how dead people is still there and still can have a participation.

As i said before i wish i could have done more things in the workshop or the city, the game makes you feel lonely with how little interaction you have with the characters. It’s mostly you wandering around and when you get to speak with someone (Sedina) it doesn’t really give time for you to get attached to her.

I can’t tell if i liked or disliked it. It’s just different, i guess.