#splitmind au

Pre - Moon

Before Moon placed her consciousness in the paws of a slugcat, Rivulet was just an aquatic beast that lived in Shoreline, mostly near the seafloor of the ocean and only coming up every so often to sunbathe or hunt if her normal prey was scarce. (Splitmind Rivulet has true gills, so she can live underwater. She also still has lungs, don't worry, evolution didn't screw her over too bad)

Rivulet lived a solitary lifestyle, only coming into contact with one other slugcat in their life, who simply came and went. At some point, she did visit the local iterator before their collapse, and was given the Mark of Communication before going back to the life she usually lived.

After the iterator collapsed, Rivulet started collecting some of the scraps that washed into the sea, such as pearls, bits of metal and wiring, and even a rarefaction cell (and a lot more damaged cells too). Eventually, she saw another slugcat traveling to the iterator, and out of curiosity, she followed them to watch as they brought the lifeless puppet back to life. After the other slugcat left, Rivulet dropped down to listen to Moon's stories, and would even stay in the chamber when the rains came since she could still breathe.

Post - Moon

After several cycles of living with the iterator, Rivulet saw another slugcat enter the chamber. After initially being hostile towards them, Moon wanted to investigate after the slugcat drew a pearl from a pouch and handed it to her before speaking to both of them, despite marks not being two-way communication. The creature explained that it was an iterator inside of the slugcat's mind, and it hoped this could be a convoluted way to ascend themselves by binding their own minds to another, more feral creature. The pearl contained the instructions on how to do such.

Without lingering for much longer to answer any questions, the creature then gave a suggestion that, normally, it would prefer to genetically engineer the perfect host for such a task, but in Moon's condition, it could be less stressful on her fragile systems to use what was on-hand.

After reading the pearl, Moon asked Rivulet if this was something she was okay with: An iterator in her mind. Rivulet agreed, having grown fond of Moon's presence, and wanted the best for her. Moon went ahead with the process, transferring her mind to Rivulet's.

With a newfound consciousness alongside her own, Rivulet originally wanted to try ascending straight away, but Moon encouraged her to spend some time exploring and showing her things she'd never seen before. Rivulet began doing just that, and Moon offered insight into things that Rivulet didn't understand. The two meshed perfectly, and in the end, the choice Rivulet made was one she never regretted.

Rivulet also met some of the other scugerators on her travels, namely, a feisty and explosive slugcat that had the same telltale eye, but refused to open up on who or why. The slugcat, Artificer, had two missions: Kill the scavenger cheiftain, and then ascend. Rivulet wanted to help, at least with the ascension, and accompanied Artificer on parts of her journey until finally taking her to the new place the scavengers had set up, Bitter Aerie in the remnants of Moon's structure.

After Artificer had done what she wanted, Rivulet took her to meet echo after echo, though both the echoes and Moon told Rivulet that something was wrong with Artificer, as a carnal desire bound her to this world. Despite this, Rivulet still guided Artificer through the world until they'd reached Subterranean, where the guardians (obviously) attempted to attack Artificer. With Rivulet's speed and a bit of trickery, she was able to sneak Artificer past them and eventually, to the void sea.

Riv watched Artificer go, but shortly after could see the golden shimmers in the water and almost saw the red slugcat being fragmented. Confused and worried, especially after seeing what looked like the slugcat trying to claw her way back to the surface, Rivulet dove in to save her. Despite the pain of the void fluid starting to dissolve her body, Rivulet managed to grab Artificer and pull them both out before either could echo/ascend.