SyncaBlade

I’ve been crying for the past like, 10-20 minutes

I’m sorry what the fuck

What the FUCK

THE SHIP CAN’T LAND

NODEN SAID IT CANT LAND

WHAT THE FUCK

I’VE DOOMED THEM ALL

And Ati

Why did she have to die with Mio?

There was only one

Voice

Why

Why

But worst

Worst of all

Shii.

Ever so patient, ever so caring towards the smallest of systems.

I cried when I realized I had to fight himI went through so many conflicted emotions you have no idea. There was guilt, there was fear that he would just die and not get back up the way ati did not get back up, I knew him. He was my safety during the entire game.

I even said to him before one of my attempts, “It is time for you to rest my friend” (Yes I talk to characters even tho they cant hear me. I also sang along with Khlia’s theme though my tears T-T)

Oh Shii.

“Please bring Mel back. I really liked her”

“I’m scared, Mio.”

All of the kind things he said every time a pearl was severed

“May they be remembered.”

Mel was right.

Lying on the floor doesn’t suit him.

What horrible foreshadowing.

When he fell I genuinely started crying, I knew he would fall through the empty floor, but I genuinely had so much hope he wouldnt. When his head hit the ground i actually screeched, and when he just fell to the canopy below I cried so hard.

And then I saw Ati holding Mio’s dead body.

Then they both died.

Then the ending cutscene, Shii was not there.

Unlike normal ending

SHII WAS NOT THERE.

Then that kid at the tree.

Did anyone survive the landing? Mel? Samsk? Capucine? Anyone?

I can’t tell if i like normal ending better. At least Shii, who only wanted the best, only wanted survival, only wanted to save everyone, only wanted to fulfill his beloved pearls last wish, doesn’t FUCKING DIE

But Khlia

She deserves her rest.

I’m

Gonna go back to crying now. Maybe post that Dr Hayln fic I was working on, or draw my Mio OC to share.

I genuinley

Could talk about any of these characters for hours.

Thank you so much Mio writers, devs, artists, coders, animators.

Thank you so so much.

Artificer and saint are two characters that never met, yet if they had, it could have been so beautiful.

Note that I wouldn’t change the way rainworld is and would not want this ship canon, this is for dynamic and fanfiction only. Also note that the slugcats are very ambiguous characters, and my characterizations of them are not canon, and even their first meet is based on headcanon. This could go a million different ways even after they do meet. I am not saying this ship or the headcanons that power it are canon. I am simply stating what could be.

A ship does not have to be plausible in canon to be good, but artisaint could technically work. Artificer cannot ascend and cannot die. Therefore, she would have lived until the ice age and met Saint. The creatures of rain world do not seem to age past adulthood, so there she would be. Fighting her way through life forevermore.

We start with their first meet. Saint has been traveling, ascending anything they found. They wait and watch, approach the creatures carefully, and gently let them rest before putting them to sleep for good. The more violent creatures cannot be given the luxury of comfort, but they are committing the karmic sin of violence anyway, so they might not deserve that kindness. They are bringing a gift, and those receiving are so very ungrateful. This thinking is hipocriful, and unjust, but to Saint who was created by an iterator who was taught these ideas of sin and virtue, deserving, etc, it seems quite natural to them. I will write another analysis of the hypocrisy of the void and this thinking, but it is what guides Saint through their life and will be treated as fact by them.

When they meet artificer, they find her in a deep cave surrounded by lanterns. She may have more firepower and has the ability to survive the cold; she still doesn’t have the fur Saint does.

As Saint approaches they do the same for her as they would anyone else. They approach gently and are ready to ascend her.

Yet it doesn’t work. The void rejects her, just as it does in her other ending. She simply gets back up and raises her spear.

I imagine it would be a rocky start. They’re a pacifist, and she is genocidal. They are a vegetarian, she is carnivorous. She would ask questions and be angry and filled with hate.

But Saint has no hate. They do not hate her for attacking, for killing, they do not hate. They are not a hateful creature like she is. Artificer is not a good person, but they do not hate her. That can lead to guilt. A long, long road. They have every right to hate her. The mindless killing is not only a sin in their thinking, but it makes their job so much harder, having to chase these creatures into other cycles. Yet they do not hate.

And so, she might reevaluate her thinking, if they show her that hatred is not the only response to wrong.

The second reason why this duo works so well, is that both are trapped and unable to ascend. Artificer is too hateful to ascend, and Saint is bound by duty. They are both stuck here, so they might as well be stuck here together. Artificer is useful, after all. She can create lanterns from flashbangs to keep them warm, and she doesn’t have anything better to do. Most scavengers are dead by now. The ones that have survived in the many outposts found in saints campaign have likely been cleared out by her and by Saint by the time they meet.

They start talking, having conversations. Saint does not fight with her. Saint does not try to tell her how horrible she is, but they do explain whatever she asks. They do not speak often, but when she goes raving on hateful speeches towards the scavengers, they respond. Calmly explaining how she is inflicting all the suffering she has felt tenfold, how she is doing exactly what they did to her. Killing their loved ones. They aren’t even the ones who did it to her.

If Saint were a violent soul, and an arguer, she wouldn’t listen to them. She’d see violence and meet it with violence. But Saint is not violent. Saint is calm. Saint explains.

She had never really put her actions into thought before. And she could start to feel guilty when her horror is laid in clear words before her.

This guilt is bound to grow. Consuming her almost as much as her hate. Artificer is a very emotional creature, and all it takes is a little guilt to build towards a mountain. Just like her hate did. Perhaps Artificer would start seeking a path to redemption, anything to make the guilt go away. How does she repent for tearing scavengers away from their loved ones?

The only way she can. She helps the one that is trying to bring everyone together in ascension.

Artificer starts trying to help them in their mission, bringing food and helping them carry on, defending them. Saint teaches her the nature of the cycle, the way that life and death intertwine, and they use that to travel from cycle to cycle, bringing peace to the whole ecosystem.

Eventually, she would lay down her spear and learn to love instead. All she needed is someone to talk to. Someone calm, who doesn’t shout or attack. It took a lot of work on both parts, but what else have either of them ever done besides work? This was no different.

They wouldn’t always be best friends. She would inevitably return to her old ways to hate and killing. Her eternal hatred by the scavengers cannot be fixed in a heartbeat. Despite all the guilt she now feels for everything she had done to them, she keeps returning to violence like an addict. She fears she will never stop hating them as much as she tries not to.

Saint would not like that. They’re supposed to be about on the same team now, stuck in the same boat, so why does she keep making their job harder? They don’t need to keep chasing these scavengers into other cycles. It is painful and extends their already impossible task.

Yet they are calm. They always forgive. When Artificer is met every day with forgiveness, she once again has her own grudge challenged. If Saint can forgive, why can’t she?

Another main reason these two are so great is because, in my head canon, Artificer somewhat adopts Five Pebbles.

A God? No. All she sees is the child he sometimes acts like. Even if her campaign is the one where he seems most stable, she would watch his relapse and decline as he returns to his arrogant childish behavior. Eventually when the rot spreads too far and the rain comes too quickly, she would be unable to visit him. Yet another child lost, and she is alone again. That is, until Saint.

However, in the cold, as we all know, Saint must put Five Pebbles down. A final act of kindness for the dying god, a gift from one to another. Imagine the conflict, when Artificer realizes that Saint, in a matter of speaking, killed the last semblance of family she had left?

They would both learn a lesson from that. Artificer would be angry, violent, but still remembers that Saint had always met her with forgiveness. There is nothing she knows better than payback, and so she pays back the kindness they gave her. She will eventually forgive Saint for what they did, knowing that they did not know any better, saw it as a gift, and Artificer finally recognizing that for Five Pebbles, dying and barely functioning, it was indeed a gift. She couldn’t forgive the scavengers when they stole her children, but she knows Saint. She knows how they act, how they feel. She has finally learned empathy, and for the first time, she forgives. This would lead to the long road to forgiveness of the scavengers as well.

Saint on the other hand would learn about collateral damage, how not everyone wants ascension, and how they need to think before they simply destroy. When they finally are given a real world example, it hits a lot closer to the heart.

They claim that mindless killing is a sin, but they come to realise that they themself have committed what in some eyes would be a massacre. It certainly caused suffering for those left behind.

These two are massive hypocrites. One claims pacifism and to be a gift bringer, but they force their gift on others and cause just as much suffering for their family members as Saint would if they had just killed them. Sure, the dead get to be together eventually thanks to them, but all the time and fear and grief from when they are separated cannot be ignored. Meanwhile Artificer claims justice for her children, what the scavengers did to her, yet here she is doing exactly what they did to her.

For the story, Saint could finally go to Artificer for advice, once they realize their flaw. I feel like Saint would realize a lot later, as they are meant to be the “good” one of the two. It would take some time for them to realize their fault. When they do, they ask how she lives with guilt. The two then have a sweet bonding moment. They are stuck here together, and now they are guilty together. At the very very end of the story, when Artificer finally forgives the scavengers, they can learn to forgive themselves together.

Then, we have the final reason why these two friends are such a good duo. Eventually, Artificer has become kinder. She has learned to let go of hate and love instead. She has done the impossible. She has gotten better. It’s a nice mirror to Five Pebbles’ redemption. Even Artificer is not too far gone. Even Artificer can find kindness.

That is when it all comes crumbling down.

Artificer finally lets go, forgives the scavengers, let go of the past, let go of her hate and accepted reality. Accepted love. The void is finally ready to accept her. And Saint knows, only a monster would keep her from her kids if she has the ability to return to them.

So as the cold creeps closer, Saint knows they have to let her go. With an extension of their paw, for the first time ever, instead of simply making the decision themself, they ask.

Do you really want this?

Whether she says yes or no are both amazing endings.

In the case when she has said no, it shows that she has finally gotten past her hate, and finally past her grief. She is ready to let go of her pups and grief, move forward into the future with someone she loves. It is a beautiful story of forgiveness, letting go of the past, and learning to love instead of hate for her. For Saint, it is about finding those you care about in an endless loop of duty and chains. Finding a way to enjoy life even when it is so monotonous.

In the case where she says yes, it becomes beautifully tragic. Saint can finally give her the rest she needs. There she is. Lights out. And she gets to be with her pups again. She once again learns the beauty of love, finally returning to her pups after helping Saint return so many of those scavengers to the loved ones she took from them. It is hate that kept her from them, and love that returns her.