#rw spicybun

[amerricanartwork]

RW Headcanon: How Arti Gives Back

In the RW community on this site, I’ve heard quite a few Artimand thoughts about how Gourmand would help Artificer heal from her trauma and grief. And while that’s all good, something that’s continuously puzzled me when shipping Artimand romantically is, “but how would Artificer help Gourmand?”

Let me tell you, one of my all-time favorite qualities in a ship is the characters helping each other improve themselves, especially in ways no other character pairing can. And while it’s easy to see Gourmand helping Artificer improve, given the vast amount of grief and lust for vengeance she has to overcome, and since Gourmand probably has a natural inclination to help others in need, what would she give to him in return? And to add to that, why would Gourmand fall in love with her and choose her as a mate, as opposed to just casually looking out for her and straight pitying her at worst, especially when she’d most-likely appear very un-qualified for romance initially?

Well, I’ve developed some thoughts and headcanons for that, and I’ll put them below the cut! Please let me know if anything could be improved, or if you can add to it! I’d love more reasons to think of these two sweethearts!

Option 1: Combat

Arti would help Gourmand improve his combat skills. The way I see it, Gourmand is a very strong warrior, but doesn’t often engage in combat simply because he doesn’t see a need for it outside of defense. Even then, due to his kind nature, he typically only fights back enough to deter predators, not kill them. However, with Arti being a carnivore, and having LOTS of experience with more complex combat situations than just defense (mostly from scav encounters), I like to think that Arti would give Gourm more combat tips and they may even end up bonding on occasional hunting trips together. And it would circle back to Arti because Gourm, with his cooking skills, would make the resulting meals from their hunts taste SO much better than what Arti is used to, allowing her to slow down and really enjoy food in a way she hasn’t been able to with her warrior lifestyle!

Option 2: Motherhood

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Given Arti was a mother once, and Gourmand’s story ends with him getting 2 pups, I could easily see him wanting Arti to stay around to act as a mother for them. Not only would that give her the chance to embrace motherhood again, but it would take some pressure from Gourmand because he has a partner (and an experienced one at that) to help him with parenting! I mean, don’t get me wrong, Gourmand is undoubtedly great with pups, but even so it’s good to have some help! Even more so since (depending on what general age you headcanon the pups as) he’d likely have to leave his pups alone while getting food; it’d be nice to have someone with her own experience caring for pups who can look after them during those times and, to add onto the first option, even help teach them how to hunt and survive on their own!

And heck, I personally actually like to imagine that, a little later, after she gets comfortable enough and fully overcomes her grief, Artificer would actually have a second litter with Gourmand (naratively-speaking, this would signify the completion of her character arc)! Of course it’d be a big deal for Arti, but just imagine how much fun Gourm would have exploring the new experience of getting to raise biological pups this time! And I can just see him being so, so thankful that Arti somehow managed to give him even more family to love!

Option 3: Passion

So this one’s the most personal-headcanon-based, and built off my personal depiction of Gourmand as a character. In my headcanon, Gourmand starts out as a rather reluctant leader of his colony. I have this whole idea of what specific event led to him becoming the leader, but to summarize, it seemed like a very sudden chance event at the time, yet from it he was more-or-less unanimously chosen to lead by the other Outer Expanse slugcats due to him having shown great creativity, survival skills, and protectiveness. Gourmand himself, however, doesn’t really feel he’s fit to be a leader; he’s used to an easygoing life just peacefully surviving and doing his own thing, not managing and defending an entire colony! He’s so used to seeing the simple parts of the world that he often underestimates himself, so something as “grand” as leadership often appears too great for him.

That’s where Arti comes in. I like to imagine that Artificer is extremely passionate, but that for a long time after her pups’ deaths, that passion was manifested almost exclusively as immense rage, grief, and desire for revenge against their killers. But imagine if, once she gets comfortable with Gourmand’s colony, she begins to show that passion in positive emotions! Not only would she, after seeing what he’s capable of in hunts, help him see that he IS the perfect leader for his colony, but just IMAGINE: Arti hyping Gourm up as the biggest, strongest warrior in the Expanse, just before the two prepare to take down a king vulture; or Arti patching him up after a really tough battle and assuring him he’ll be even better next time; or Arti teasing Gourm and them chasing each other around as they spar together in the OE fields; or Arti getting all dramatic as she recites tales of her epic scavenger battles to his eager pups; or Arti showering Gourm with kisses after he makes a REALLY good meal with her favorite meats!  There are SO many possibilities for hypeman Arti, and I figure that, once Gourm sees her fiery spirit used in a positive way, especially to help him and his family, he can’t help but fall for her! And this idea is part of why I like the Spicybun ship name so much - while Gourmand helps Arti mellow out, Arti literally spices up his life! They just compliment each other so perfectly!!

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MAN do I love these two so much! This is about all I have right now on this subject, but again, I’d LOVE to hear any other ideas for how Artificer would help Gourmand, or additions to these ideas! I just adore the “opposites attract” ship trope (although I personally prefer to call it “inverses attract”), and I think Artimand is easily one of the best examples of that in Rain World! 

Thank you to anyone who made it to the end of this wall of text! And let me know if I should share any more Rain World headcanons, because I’ve definitely got more!

Oh, and if you've found this, @melissa-titanium, hope you like it again! Let me know if you ever want me to stop @-ing you with these Artimand headcanons, by the way!

[mochichoki]

BARBEQUE FROTHING AT THE MOUTH GIVE ME BARBEQUE

barbecue! I hope I didn't take too long to give you a delicious barbecue... Now I'm hungry too!

Gourmand reminds me a lot of the Chinese lucky cats, these little decorations, I usually see a lot of them with those kinds of colors around here and they are so adorable and cute!

I hope you enjoy the barbecue and have a good appetite >:3.

[chocobewyartist]

Part 2 for the Spicybun comic!

Okay, so there's some things that happened when working on the second part:

Turns out there's already a name for this ship, which is "Barbeque", so uh... awkward.

I had trouble to properly execute this comic, which is why it's shorter this time.

I got Aseprite (as a gift)! Which makes drawing this comic easier to draw now lol

So anyway, hope you enjoy this comic! ^w^

-- First | previous | next

[amerricanartwork]

Quick Spicybun headcanon: Gourmand is a firm believer in slowing down and thoroughly enjoying each meal until the very last bite. Artificer, on the other hand, is used to very aggressively wolfing down her meals because, as an ever-vigilant warrior, you never know if the next foe is gonna show up right behind you while you're trying to eat.

So recently I've been vividly picturing this funny scene in the time between their first meeting and officially becoming mates where Gourm has to teach Arti Ratatouille-style how to slow down and actually enjoy food after she instinctively just starts tearing apart their latest catch. This little drawing came from that scene idea!

Also, another doodle...

... because holy cow if there's any concept that's really underrated for this ship, it's Gourm and Arti gorging themselves on food together because one of my other favorite ship tropes is "character who hasn't had a really good meal in a long time (if ever) x character with (access to) an abundance of food". Like, my god it's just such a soft and sweet idea and it's PERFECT for them! And if no one else will the make the content, I will!

[amerricanartwork]

So, I'm looking at your arti and gourmand art (absolutely fucken love the two, you draw them so adorable) and I got hit with an Intrusive Thought that I simply must share:

...

Arti bench pressing Gourm

Firstly, glad you enjoy my Artimand content! I just think they'd make such a funny yet sweet couple, and I love drawing them!

And now I'll address that thought to actually explain a little headcanon I just so happened to be pondering recently along that subject!

It's on the subject of where Arti's greater strength comes from. See, unlike other designs that show Arti as being bigger and seemingly more muscular than the average slugcat, I actually like to imagine her as a little smaller than average (about 2'10", to be exact; average is 3ft.), for both more humor and narrative significance. However, this begs the question of why she's the only slugcat who can dislodge regular spears, which implies she's stronger than average too?

Well, my conclusion was that it was a combination of adrenaline-based strength with the fact, by the time her campaign occurs, she's been in and still remains in very frequent intense combat scenarios, so she gets far more opportunity to train her muscles than even regular carnivorous slugcats. It's especially so if her needing to carry around scavenger corpses to pass through Karma gates is canon and not just a game mechanic.

However, if that were the case it would also mean this extra strength would only exist before she gets with Gourmand. Afterwards, I imagine she loses much of it and reverts to more Hunter levels of strength due to 1. no longer being constantly filled with pure fiery rage and an almost instinctive urge for vengeance, 2. being in a much safer environment where she no longer has to fight troupes of scavs every cycle (I imagine she over time reconciles with them too, but that's something for later), and 3. much of her lost muscle at the time of meeting Gourm being replaced by fat as his eating habits awaken her own bigger appetite.

So long story short, given the big size and weight difference, she might have been able to lift Gourm before becoming his mate if she were that angry and determined enough. But unfortunately, there's no chance of her bench-pressing him after she settles in with him. And I'm sure she'd be at least a little mad about it, too.

But, of course, Gourm still loves her regardless!

[amerricanartwork]

Sharing this real quick and messy Artimand doodle that I originally did for Valentine's Day but didn't have the time to post. I still think it's cute though!

[amerricanartwork]

I was bored out of my mind all day last Saturday, so I decided to catch up on some drawing. And what better way to add some excitement to my Saturday by putting the "spicy" in Spicybun?

Although, now that I think about it, what exactly is Artificer planning? Who knows... but whatever it is, it'll definitely be exciting—!

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I got pretty carried away with the iterator stuff as of recently, but since I haven't drawn them in a while I thought it was time to return to some classic Spicybun, especially with Valentine's Day coming up! Hopefully I can make some more drawings with them, as well as my other ships, in celebration!

P.S. By the way, @melissa-titanium you still want these Artimand @s? 'Cause I've still got some ideas to share and they may or may not be coming out soon...

[amerricanartwork]

RW Headcanon: The Omnivores and the Carnivores

Figured I'd start sharing some headcanons! Buckle up, folks, this is gonna be a looooooooong post! With a bit of Artimand sprinkled in (hope you like it @melissa-titanium)!

This was based on an idea lingering in the back of my mind for a bit, but after drawing the above image from a previous post I got reminded of it and decided to develop it a little more! I'll put the full headcanon down below!

By the way, I should warn you that the verbosity habit in my post asking about headcanons was no joke. This headcanon, as I've explained it below, is literally almost 700 words...

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I headcanon that there are two subspecies of “wild type” slugcats — omnivores and carnivores. I like the idea that slugcats were descended from a pipe-cleaning organism (although I still see them as mustelids rather than mollusks, but that’s a headcanon for another day…), so in this headcanon, a carnivorous variant of the slugcat ancestor was made to be more specialized for killing pests. Back when the Ancients were still around, they had a reputation similar to that of real-life raccoons and pigeons, while the omnivorous slugcats were more-often kept as pets.

As of the present Rain World timeline, though, omnivorous and carnivorous slugcats look almost identical. Omnivorous slugcats are still more iconic — they’re what you’d think of when one says “slugcat” — but the biggest differences the carnivorous variant possesses are their sharper teeth, stronger jaws, and sharper claws. Carnivorous slugcats also tend to be more muscular, while omnivorous slugcats have more body fat due to their largely plant-based diet.

Culturally, though, the two subspecies show more contrast. Omnivores are more peaceful hunter-gatherers who focus on trying to passively get by in a bigger, more dangerous world. Carnivores, on the other hand, are active hunters who tend to encourage combat training more and pride themselves on rising up to the ferocity of larger predators. The two tend to live separately in their own colonies, and don’t interact too often. There’s also some degree of prejudice in each group towards the other due to these cultural differences; not enough to cause large-scale conflicts, but enough that they side-eye each other occasionally. In more extreme cases, omnivores are perceived by the carnivores as weak, lazy, and meek, while omnivores see the carnivores as aggressive, loud, and cynical.

To bring it back to the image above, in my own personal fic-idea concept thing of how Artificer and Gourmand get together, this prejudice is a minor, but additional reason why they never expect to fall in love with each other; Arti is descended from a small group of carnivorous slugcats modified with explosive spit, while Gourm and the rest of the slugcats in his colony are all natural omnivores. Combine that with the rest of their attitudes in life, and at first, it seems they’re just too different to ever make a good pair.

A few more quick thoughts about these two subspecies:

Survivor and Monk are both naturally omnivorous. Hunter and Spearmaster, while directly engineered, were both derived from the carnivorous subspecies, while Rivulet was derived from the omnivorous subspecies.

Despite Gourmand being a natural omnivore, he eats larger prey more often than any other slugcat in his colony both out of curiosity for how other meats taste and because, true to his name, he honestly just likes to eat whatever (hey, as long as it’s edible)! However, once he and Artificer get together, he really starts to eat more meat from the creatures he hunts for her. And, interestingly enough, because he likes to use fruits and other plants as side dishes or as toppings to add flavor, this causes Arti to start eating more plants (now that’s what I call a “balanced diet”)! 

Even though the carnivores are culturally more similar to scavengers, the omnivores tend to get along better with them due to their more peaceful attitude, and the fact they naturally compete less with the scavengers for food (I like to imagine scavengers as pack-hunting carnivores).

Carnivores tend to move slightly faster than omnivores.

Carnivores often have bigger, more ravenous appetites than omnivores because they require more energy on average. Again, it’s partly what the image above is referencing!

Back when the Ancients lived, there actually existed a bit of a friendly discourse around which variant of the slugcat ancestors made better pets. It was in a similar vein to the modern “cat person vs. dog person” idea, but, to some degree, it’s actually continued on in various iterator groups, including the main one! FP, NSH, SRS, and CW are firm believers in carnivore superiority, UI passionately cheers on the omnivores, and Moon just giggles in the background and makes sure the debates don’t get too heated (but is also secretly team omnivore).

Anyway, with that said, BIG thanks to anyone who made it all the way down here! This headcanon originally formed as a way to explain in-universe the noticeably different diets of the main slugcat characters, but I just couldn't help adding more to it!

Let me know what you think of this concept, if you have anything to add to it, or if you'd like to see more of my headcanons! I just LOVE developing fictional worlds from ergonomic, analytical, and narrative perspectives, so if you want more, I've definitely got it!

[amerricanartwork]

I just really want to re-iterate how happy I am from my last ask! I am genuinely rather surprised that my Artimand content has gotten so much appreciation so quickly! In general, I'm used to staying in the background and not being noticed much, so it's a welcome change to see so much positive feedback for what I create!

I must sound like a broken record at this point, but seriously, thank you to everyone who's enjoyed my art thus far! I hope you guys enjoy what comes in the future, but for now, I felt like I needed to get my thanks for you guys out this Thanksgiving Day!

Oh, and if anyone has any more Artimand ideas, please send me ALL of them!

[chocobewyartist]

Spicybun comic (part 1) It's finally here! More parts coming soon(?)...

[chocobewyartist]

I've got a new obsession teehee

I call it: Spicybun! Will maybe make a comic about them :3

[mochichoki]

SHIPRUARY DAY 5: BARBECUE/SPICYBUN

I guess it's time for the barbecue, anyway, a delicious centipede roasting under the stars while love can be felt in the smell... It's perfect