There is a brief, tense moment of silence. Arti jumps down from the throne structure with a loud thud, then rushes towards the “guest” who, supposedly, has a scent just like her.
Marbles feels intimidated and she turns away briefly, unable to stand Arti’s sharp scent, which is filled with nose-burning cherrybomb-like powder. In turn, Artificer gives her a sniff back… and finds that there is something very familiar about it. She can’t put a finger on it, though.
Artificer: (in a stern voice) “You. Where you from”
Marbles: (quietly) “Um… outer wall… but born here”
Arti straightens up her posture, then points directly at Marbles.
Artificer: “You smell familiar”
Marbles: (a little unsure) “You smell… like cherrybomb?”
Now that Marbles can smell the scent clearly, something clicks in her mind. Suddenly, she remembers.
Marbles: “Cherrybomb powder and bloodtrunk…”
The scent brings back memories. Her mother used to craft makeshift grenades with cherrybomb fruit, but they had a hint of bloodtrunk in them because of how often she used its gel insides to treat light burns. This aroma combination is unmistakable, and the realization sets in.
Marbles: (in a shaky voice, eyes welling up) “…mom?”
The word echoes in Arti’s mind like a scream tearing through the deafening silence.
This strange slugcat fawning in front of her? She remembers her scent now.
Arti takes the Chieftain mask off her head, and throws it to the ground. The scavengers who gathered around look confused. Their infamous “ruler” was never seen in such broken state before.
The realization is too much for Artificer, and her mind shatters into a million pieces.
Artificer: (in a raspy voice) “Child…”
Artificer: (screaming her lungs out) “MY CHILD!!”
The sudden shouting scares Marbles, who curls up and shakes in fear.
This is nothing close to what One had planned. These two slugcats should be fighting to the death by now. One frowns, feeling that something is terribly off. Three looks back at them, not sure what to do.
Arti reaches out to Marbles. She slowly wraps her arms around her child, and pulls her close into her chest. Marbs recognizes her mom’s scent again, and calms down, then hugs her tightly.
The mother and daughter are finally reunited.
---
Artificer and Marbles communicate in Yongasabi, a fan-made conlang for the slugcats of Rain World, created by @opashoo. Because of this, the scavengers around them can’t understand what the two slugcats are saying.
This update is an improved version of an older comic that I posted on March 2024.
aww all the pins/merch ideas are sooo cute! its really charming to see merch that gives its own spins on the slugcats with more personal designs.. i WILL be there when the shop drops.. id love to have more charms to clip onto my stuff personally! maybe scavenger merch would be a delight to see bc theres not much of anything aside from the plushies.. scav chieftain especially!!
thank you anon! and I hear you, I too see a woeful lack of scav merch.
i would looooove to produce pins of my four elite scavs + some of the fandom favourites like Carl, Gug... the former Chieftain... that would be so cool
but pin production is costly and i'd need to secure funds from sales, first. scavenger *stickers* would probably appear much sooner 🤔
i recently purchased arcylic samples from a manufacturer and they look soo good, so - yes, i can promise you that acrylic charms shall happen in the future 🫡
Alright, time to explain my thoughts on "The Cycle" from Rain World:
It's the reverse of "Pictures of the Past" (as noted by a prominent Rain World YouTube channel, Daszombes, in the comments of this video), and it's at 75% speed as well, which I guessed at by comparing the starting/ending pitches and then confirmed in audacity, which is cool as I could make not one, but two different mashups of "Pictures of the Past" and "The Cycle"
That's all well and cool, but what's interesting is the relationship "The Cycle" has with "Pictures of the Past" in the context of the game. "Pictures of the Past" is present in the introductory cutscenes of both Survivor and Monk, the two slugcat campaigns the player will be able to play first:
(using the Survivor intro, which is very similar to the Monk intro except for the last few pictures, both still use the same song)
Meanwhile, "The Cycle" is present when Saint, the final slugcat to be unlocked, whose campaign takes place at the end of the timeline long after the rest of the slugcats, plays in the last area explored by Saint, Rubicon (particularly before meeting with any iterators ascended before going to Rubicon (if any) and while swimming up through the Void before confronting a Void Worm):
(the music segments that are relevant here are in the first four seconds and then from 0:31 to 4:43)
This little piece, starting at the end and going back to the beginning (both in the music and in the nod to the beginning of the game) reflects the theme of the cycle that's prevalent in the game's lore but especially in Saint's campaign, as Saint is the only slugcat that can't escape the cycle (all of the slugcats can ascend with two exceptions, Saint and Artificer, the latter of the two able to at least see their slugpups in the Void Sea before becoming something that might be outside of the cycle). The campaign puts this into focus by giving the player the goal of getting max karma (the opening cutscene, lack of things that can be done with 5P and Moon until max karma) and then introduces the Rubicon (a point of no return, which Saint comes back from), the dialogue with the ascended iterators, and then Saint's transformation into an Echo undone (maybe, the echo form of Saint is the painting at the end of the campaign, which can't be continued after the ending) by a flash of light at the very end, leaving the slugcat in the starting room of the campaign. All of this theming around the cycle in Saint's campaign and "The Cycle" pointing back to the beginning of itself like it's a cycle and like Saint's campaign is like a cycle is just..... :D
And that's why "The Cycle" is definitely a piece for me and why it's included as an extra on a list of five songs I actually listen to (tagged by @thephantomwolfi3, her post and my reblog can be found here)
