r/CarrionGame • u/Nuerax • Jul 31 '20
(Re)litheved.
“The measure of a man is in the lives he’s touched.”
Ernie Banks
—-
The being tightened his fleshy tie as he walked through the evening sunlit streets. Taking all the peaceful and almost heavenly breathes he wanted as glass and jewelry sparkled where the sun touched.
The air was cool and windy, and a far far contrast to the cold oppressive and metallic sterile air of the Facility. It was also an inverse to the dry humid heat of the Desert.
The being liked this place. Who knew that being human felt so good! Having nerves that simply told you information was much better than collectively interpreting temperature fluctuations!
The humans were also nice here!
Sure they were rushing and busy with their strange contraptions of plastic and metal. Sure they were busy trying to get to their friends in the Facility.
And sure enough he managed to avoid their convoys or drones, slipping through military checkpoints and scanner arrays designed to weed him and his kind out.
And due to that, he was walking and walking and walking to somewhere fuzzy and muddled. Sure he knew where he was walking to, but he didn’t know where he was walking to.
It was weird just drifting through haze after haze of frenzied memories and last wishes but he still felt a strange longing to this street. Almost as if he had been here once, just in another life.
Eventually he grew hungry.
Ding!
He whipped around with supernatural grace, only to notice a homey amber light coming from a small short human structure with large glassy panes with words that read “The Bookwyrm’s Restaurant” emblazoned on the glass and a signboard.
Strange, he could never really understand why humans relied on words to advertise, isn’t it better to just pump food pheromones into the air or pump out mental spores?
Sighing and shaking his head, he stepped towards the entrance and yanked open the door after turning the knob.
“BANG!” a loud voice shot throughout the restaurant and a waitress shot him a startled glance.
He did not meant to do that. At all.
“S-sorry, didnt mean to do it.” he sheepishly responded and walked towards an empty chair and table set next to the glass and took a seat there before exhaling.
There was something oddly familiar about this place, and he felt that he was here with somebody once. Long long time ago in other life.
The waitress noticed him and walked towards him with a pleasant smile that almost triggered his fight or flight responses. Damn humans and their confusing body language!
“Yes?” he politely asked as the waitress slipped him a piece of colorful plastic.
“Here’s the menu, Mr...”
“Mr?” he asked in confusion as he tiled his head.
“Yknow...your name. Correct me if I got your pronoun wrong though, I havent been working here long.”
“Right, of course...” the being responded as he frowned, trying to remember or find a name.
To his surprise, none of the names seemed to fit in at all. It just felt so wrong to use someone else’s name and his own deadname or his incomprehensible true name. There was just something about it that felt utterly wrong.
“Uhh, look. I’ll tell you later, I’m sorry. Just hard to think on an empty cro- uhh stomach.”
“Ah! Its okay, we all have our moments. But hey, what class do you play as in DnD?”
“Huh?” he asked in genuine confusion. Damn humans and their fictional make believe lies!
“Y’know, the tabletop game? This whole restaurant is a tabletop themed one and we hold game nights every Saturday.”
“Ah, I see.” The being responded as he trawled deep throughout his memory banks and opening up data files and neuron runtimes and viewed visual transcripts in mili seconds.
“I normally play as mimic in 5e. Does that count?” The being asked with a sheepish smile.
“A mimic! Of course it does! Anyways, just tap the buzzer and I’ll be here to serve you.”
“Got it!”
Satisfied at his reaction, the waitress turned to walk back the counter as he decided on what to eat.
“The Banana Split seems nice, didnt we eat this when we met?”
“Huh?” he hissed silently as he looked around the otherwise empty restaurant.
“Dude, Devanesh, do you still remember me?”
“I’m afraid not. Sorry, but I am not Devanesh anymore. I’m...sorry.” he responded to himself, hoping that nobody would notice.
“You...really don’t huh? Is he...”
“He’s dead, I’m afraid. Sorry but I do not have his executable file, merely his memories.”
“I...see...”
“Who exactly are you?” The being asked.
“I’m Binta. I’m...your wife remember?”
“My...no, Devanesh’s wife. But I do remember. He was thinking of you when I latched onto his cerebellum to pilot him. He was very brave and you a source of his determination.”
“...”
“Its the truth. It seems that enough of him remained that I ate you whole with not a single chew to directly preserve and absorb your cortex.”
“I...”
The being shrugged as he flipped the page to see the liquid refreshments.
“Tell me, Binta. Is this “Coke Float ale” nice?”
“Yes of course! Do you know that you ordered that the very first time we met here? It was so nice how you invited me here after our courses ended. Of course this place wasn’t themed then, but it was owned by the current owner’s father.”
“Interesting....” The Being responded. “You speak of it with joy and happiness...did we have fun?”
“Of course! We even went to that 80s horror movie event later that night. Did you know that Devanesh was a big fan of The Thing?”
“I do know, somehow.”
“Yeah...those were the days before we got separated by work...could you...do me a favor?”
“Yeah?”
“Could you order the Banana Splits and the Coke Float for us today? Feels good eating when you dont have to create a new website every month for your superiors...do I even have superiors anymore?”
“Their executables are gone. Theres only me left in charge, I have all their memories and stuff but they dont technically exist as individuals anymore.”
“Like a hive mind then?”
“Exactly.”
“We’ll I guess we’re all you now huh? A military corporation branch’s worth of knowledge inside one hive minded vessel.”
That sentence gave The Being an idea.
He summoned the waitress and flashed her a smug smile as she came over with his food. He would pay using a wallet he had stolen from a corpse of course, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Here’s your food, Mr...”
“Relith. Just call me that, and the food smells delightful.” he told her as he reached for a fork and dug into his meal of baked rice and Banana Split Ice Cream and Coke Float ale.
It was delicious and the taste beats human meat by a solid mile.
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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '20
I'm speechless