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(not a draw, just text slop along with some spoilers)

Okay, I had no idea this update came with two chapters instead of one, and I'm not really planning to draw anything until I'm free (from jail), but I can still post a random interpretation... yey!

Ngl, the second act's kinda boring, but it caught my attention that Burning Spice was the only Beast to appear a second time. It kinda looks like he's wasted, repeating the same two dialogues, but overthinking it, it actually makes sense that he's the first against all of this.

At first, I thought Burning Spice was asking for more destruction and I was like, "Why are they arguing? I thought both wanted to destroy." When Shadow Milk sent Ash Cookie to break the jar, Timekeeper said that if that jar broke, the whole original timeline would have been totally fused and erased. So, I was guessing Shadow Milk wanted to get rid of the Ancients' timeline. But now he's saying he doesn't want to destroy it but to "redo" it... Wasn't it the literal point of the new timeline he made? To be the main timeline? (He literally made a timeline where everything is destroyed, and he seemed really proud of it). He already accomplished his purpose, and yet he still wants to change the Ancients' unstable timeline... by turning everything into flames and killing everyone...

I'm so confused. I'm missing something, Shadow Milk is being bipolar, or he simply doesn't want to agree with his past divorce (lol).

But now, rewatching it, I realized Burning Spice is not asking for more destruction; he's against Shadow milk's fantasy of "make the world anew", which is quite interesting. If we go back to Burning Spice's lore, he *was* a creator, he raised countless civilizations from ash, he ruled them, and was venerated as a god, which actually sounds a quite similar to Shadow Milk's goal: he wants to create a new timeline where everything runs the way he wants, destroying everything that doesn't serve him, just to be worshipped as a god.

"And then what?" -Burping lice

Once Shadow Milk reaches his goal, once he deletes all the cookies who are in his way and becomes the ruler of the new timeline—having all important cookies under his control—what's the next step? Time will pass, and Burning Spice knows the outcome of it, as he lived that shit for eons. SM will grow bored of sitting on a useless throne of his creation, eventually searching for anything that gives him a new thrill, just to continue fulfilling the same history.

Burning Spice is practically withnessing how the clown is unconsciously trying to replicate his same cycle of misery; he's looking at the clown slowly turning into him, with his same thirst for destruction included 'why not simply... aradicate it!' The first time he talks to him, it was a (playful?) suggestion, he didn't take the clown seriously. But the second time he appears is when Shadow Milk is closer to breaking the timeline. He sounds more aggressive, like "If you are not going to end this, *I* will" (though, at least in text, it sounds more persuasive than aggressive, but he refers the idea of 'create a new world' as a 'boring old play', bro passed his whole past trying to build better world for the cookies to live in, just to find all paths he walked leaded to the same fate; destruction). Unlike Eternal Sugar, Spice isn't directly insulting SMC, but mostly insulting his fantasy.

or that would be my theory if Devsis even cared to characterize Burning Spice (seriously, his dialogues sound dull at this point). I'd love to see him actually having a heated discussion with Shadow Milk with a good reason, having a fight for control, or maybe seeing how finally being on the edge of death affected him and Mystic Flour—since they had a positive idea of what death was before all of this—now that they've experienced the helplessness their victims felt. I know that won't happen, but I can still wish for all of them to have some development.

at first I wanted to draw a wholesome interaction in a similar style to moominvalley, since I think herald and fount's relationship would be quite similar to moomin and snufkin's in some ways (I'm not gonna elaborate on that)

but then I remembered that trees are supposed to have shadows, and the style went out the window.

also, I put this aside like 3 times, so you can see full illustrations transitioning into a comic

it's not finished and I was kinda hesitating to upload this bc of the sudden change in the artstyle, the weird angles and the childish chatter were pissing me off, but I already did it.

the next part would be fount (still unbothered by herald's presence) explaining how children's books not only can contain political ideology but also show a lot about the author's mindset

(I think none of the virtues actually understood how common cookies saw the world, because they never had the opportunity to be in their shoes. so that's why they never undestood their needs and desires)

then herald would tease him bc 'trying to learn about cookies through books is so him'.

He playfuly threatens to eat the cake— finally managing to get Fount to put the book aside, and they'll end up eating the cake together while cuddling

(Meanwhile sugar of happiness would realise she maybe didn't send the best cookie to convince fount to get his ass off there, but at least she has a nice sight.

And flour of volition...

she'd probably be high in the background)

what if, after corruption, burning spice (idk what's the name of his costume) fell into denial about the fact the cookie he loved is not the same cookie anymore and driven by this he created a virtual version of fount to see him again

just to see the same events that caused fount's corruption repeat themselves over and over again

but the more he resets, the more unstable fount's program becomes, to the point where he has faint memories of each rewind

using that knowledge to find a rift leading out of what he thought was his world

Now begins his search for the truth: where tf is he?

But his quest is interrupted when he encounters a virus

at first, burning spice wants to cruelly play with him. to entertain himself with what his creation is capable of instead of just deleting it, but the further fount progresses, a familiar feeling begins to grow within Burning Spice;

the more fount's thirst for knowledge grows, the more he shows sparks of the real cookie he's based on.

causing Burning Spice to unconsciously open up, gradually revealing the truth.

(Obviously, Fount isn't satisfied with that, he wants to learn more about that place.)

probably once he knows the full truth fount would try to encourage burning spice to face the reality and speak to his real self, even if he's now an insufferable being, and even if that means his existence will no longer have a meaning and he'll be left behind or even deleted.

Even so, he prefers to disappear so that Burning Spice stops torturing himself in that eternal loop. after all, his job is not just spread the truth, but also to help cookies face it, no matter how painful it is

this was meant to be a joke but I don't think it is a joke anymore, I just randomly created a fanfic lol (I wanted to place a meme but I'm posting at 4am, if this doesn't make any sense say thanks to gemini this is even readable)

the fact this has probably more quality than all of my content makes it even better edit: I found the meme

also some messed sketches bc fount looked like a diva

considering Shadow milk is probably a dog person (There's official art of him having fun with the cake hounds) I'm pretty sure he'd love a huge ass loyal centipede

I'm impressed by Devsis hability to make shadow milk's eyelashes more femenine each update.

moral support to not use the paper sheet as toilet paper while I draw

but I wanted to draw burning milk fighting a dragon anyways

(It ended in two separated drawings pityfuly)

I don't know if their power level is enough to defeat a dragon, but in any case, I don't think FOK would want to defeat it.

(I honestly don't like how this one turned out, the light looks weird.)

Random interaction

Herald of change: 'Impressive. Though, what do you plan to do if the beast doesn't feel like talking?'

fount of knowledge: 'Well, if it wants overbearing,

I'll show it what a real tyrant looks like!'

Herald of change: 'HA! You’re the best at that!'

fount of knowledge: 'Ugh, useless trinket'

Damn, having one hand busy 24/7 holding that key staff while wearing a tiny ahh crown must be really uncomfortable...

Thinking about that, Herald's golden helmet too.

Like, burning spice's main attack is him *jumping* towards the target, so, wearing extra weight on the head and a collar that can get caught anywhere must be very counterproductive.

not to mention it can fall if he leans, either to pick something up or simply bends down to talk to a small cookie.

that's why I like to think after their corruption they changed their souljam's position bc the place their souljams were before was uncomfortable as hell.

and they toring up their godly attire, was not only for the symbolism of them quitting their purposes, but also to finally feel released/comfortable

the reason they didn't before probably was for fear of the witches' scolding

I choose to cut this interaction here, since the rest of this was too corny...

who am I kidding, I already drew this.

there's no escape now.

Ahh, FOK, my favorite Disney princess

(honorific mentions)

-

can this be considerated angst? I don't think so

No one can convince me that there weren't cookies in FOK's kingdom who tried to get rid of him bc they thought he was a liar.

That would explain his trust issues just a bit

(this is just a theory, don't take it seriously)

but, if he don't accept food from other cookies, then why does he accept Panna Cotta?

my theory: the more elaborated a food is, the more easy it is to hide poison or any sharp thing in any layer (dough, apple, icying, filler, etc)

you'll never notice it has something or where until you give the first bite.

in the other hand, Panna Cotta is litteraly just cream, and sometimes cheese (and crk's version also has jelly, I guess?) two sensitive ingredients that can get spoiled just by breathing near them

trying to hide anything on that would be near impossible:

if someone mixes it with any weird stuff the change in the color/concistence would give it away

no to mention many poisons are metalic, and the mix betwen metal and the lactose ingredients would emanate a hellish smell.

you can't hide anything sharp or nasty either, it's not like the rest of desserts on the list; you don't BITE Panna Cotta

it must be eaten with a spoon, that and the dessert’s consistency would immediately reveal any solid object

This would make Panna Cotta the safest food option on the list.

my proofs? none lol

just official art

he don't seem to be picky w desserts or food in general.

It makes sense since there's a difference between eating or buying food with friends and accepting food from some random cookie with god knows what intentions.

my verdict: this mf can be ugly, paranoid, and have a kickable face, but at least he takes precautions. (sometimes)

this was inspired by 'Shut up and kiss me' by Orianthi. No reason I just thought that song describes their relationship pretty well someone said ego death by VIAL has their vibe too idk, *insert another relatable hit* first time drawing w a decent reference btw (PoseMy.Art is not paying me)

to be fair I'm pretty sure Shadow milk would also be jealous of golden cheese if he saw Burning spice's dialogs

I need a sitcom about this, the first interview would be like

smc: *sigh* "look, my bf is not dead; he's just... a part of my mind now.

we’ve had our fair share of bumps in the road. we can't touch each other, wich we were okay with that at first, but it's becoming beyond frustrating.

fed up with it, I started scouring the web for anything that could help. That’s when I stumbled upon a solution on this… platform called '4chan', the comments seemed too serious for it to be... a joke...

the post was about tulpas; creatures that inhabits your mind, capable of taking the form of anyone you know, and the detailed steps to bring it to life.

in that moment I thought 'why not, if that can help me, why not give it a chance?', I didn't expect it to be so realistic.

wich means I have two boyfriends now

...and both are telling me to kms"

solution: therapy

I spent the whole chapter 15 thinking dark enchantress was for some reason locking up my cookies in a cell (don't judge me I've never seen an oven door with bars before)

and she always caged my shadow milk and burning spice at the same time, so...

wait, why would they constantly take damage inside a regular cell?

oh.

It took me like 10 stages to realize I had to tap to release them

so I hope they had some fun there

Smilk is a PV hater so of course he'd want to use this opportunity to widdle down his goodwill which he looks none to happy as is

Otherwise pv is there to bear witness to the chaos and timekeeper is watching cus the beef is THAT interesting

you could just place this as a comment, but anyways i get shadow milk is PV's hater, but that's my point. Devsis made the beasts WAY too obsessed with the ancients at the point they don't have desires outside of them (look at eternal sugar, her personality is literally Hollyberry) and is annoying everything revolves around the same subject like, in the end of the chapter 15 shamilk looked way more annoyed with silent salt, since he literaly betrayed him. then why does he cares more about taking revenge on pure vanilla instead of silent salt? he said he wanted 'to tear everything apart and turn the world upside down', how did that motive turn into 'I want to take revenge on my other half in a Uno game'? his mind is full of voices, yet he still finds the focus to hate PV? (assuming it was him who made the game since PV had no idea SM was playing with time lines) also I don't think that can be considered 'equal grounds' since now shadow milk is literally corrupting the time (and has the power of 4 beasts) And even if it were, what’s the difference between this and the games they played in chapter 8? idk it just feels like their dynamic doesn't have anything else to explore, if Shadow milk wins, he'll drive PV to madness until PV gets enlightened, if Pure vanilla wins, SM will get mad and try to kill him. every possibility was already shown. the only interesting outcome would be Shadow milk getting his soul jam back, but I don't even know if that's possible since it changed shape. plus, if timekeeper is just there as an spectator then why make this whole update about time lines if you're going to focus on something else?, why is she just watching instead of taking them back to their own timeline? why's she relying on pure vanilla to solve HER issue? (I guess it is her issue, I don't know the character fully well, but her name is literally timeKEEPER)

we don't really have enough information yet, so all we can do is guess, but considering how Shadowvanilla is Devsis's cash cow I'm not expecting too much. just to clarify, I'm not saying your theory is wrong, I'm saying that, if that's the case, it'd still feel pretty forced. (at least to me) and it's boring that there's no more variety in interactions at this point. there's a whole crew of cookies just to see the same two bantering over and over again each update.

so, in the livestream it was shown what I guess is a sketch of the starting cutscene from the new update. It seems that Pure Vanilla is also going to take the spotlight since he is a big part of it (and I saw the rest of the ancients in the end too). my question: is he even necessary? why's he here? a big part of the fandom claims shadow milk is like a cockroach, well, to me, the ancients look more like cockroaches. think about it, we know everything about the ancients, their lore, their bonds, their troubles, their adventures, etc. but we know almost NOTHING about the beasts. even since their release it feels like their whole personality/characters are entirely around the ancients, like Devsis REFUSES to give them any independence and development for their own. like the beasts can't go anywhere or do anything without them to think on their other half or have them randomly involved and is annoying bc it's not just that we could have seen how shadow milk has to fight a new face alone and watch as all his mistakes come crashing down on him

but seriously

playing chapter 15 and I can't take white lily's scene seriously for this spanish mistranslation

english version:

"that must be part of her plan!"

spanish version:

"that... I think this is that child/little girl's plan!"

english version:

"you mean to say this is white lily's handiwork?!"

spanish version:

"that child/little girl? Could it be... white lily cookie?!"

I'm so confuse, why tf is Pure vanilla calling White lily 'that child'?

now, either Pure Vanilla is on that level with her to call her like that or has dementia.

there's no in between.