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.
I don't think I shared these before, so here's some older RW art from December last year! All six scugs were turned into vinyl stickers that I planned to start selling via my Etsy shop. Unfortunately, some important IRL stuff got in the way and the shop is not yet open... but as soon as I get it sorted out (and have a bit more merch to offer) I will make an official announcement here 👍
@ask-the-pioneer Marbles eats a karma flower and experiences... an overlapping of dissimilar cycles. An unexpected development, to be certain. A little fancomic exploring a possibility, where Marbles meets Undergrowth Artificer.
Pages 1 & 2 of The Pioneer and the Arsonist
Related to An Overlapping of Cycles
Finished sculpture of @kalivasquezart 's Rain World OC The Pioneer:
It's about 25cm/9.5in tall, a little smaller than most of my other sculptures. All in earthenware clay except for some epoxy putty for the wrappings, drone, and other details. Painted (hastily) with acrylics.
I sculpted this one in June over the course of about two or three weeks, which is Really fast for me, and so it was scrappy from the start- only so much you can bring yourself to scrape and sand and generally refine a sculpture before you get tired of it. I've made my peace with this one, though. It was fun to make the little ID drone if nothing else.
(Wire? What are you talking about? There is no wire.)
I had some fun with the freehand work on this one. The pattern around the shirt is from one of the artist's other works, and the writing on the back spells out "Eight Marbles Cast in Stone" (which is this character's given Ancient-style name) in Yongasabi, a slugcat conlang developed by @opashoo.
That's pretty much it for this one. Must say it is nice to get something done pretty quickly even if it's not up to my standards. But as I was telling a friend while working on this, my perfectionism is just a bit too tired out from caring too much about other things, so that's that. We'll see what else I come up with to make over my break.
Hey slugchat, just a quick PSA to let you all know that Marbles enamel pin is real. I wanted to reveal this news a bit later, after I research how best to handle international shipping, but I got too excited.
I have fulfilled one of my long time dreams, words can't describe how hyped I am ✨
