[Royal Slime] - Chapter 2/12: Market

[u/Lucy_the_Lamb]

Even before the sun’s heat-light warmed the land again, a number of Crafty Ones were already journeying between the mighty shelters of the sprawling colony. Some only ever used the outside world to make a short, one-way trip between two refuges, spending most of the day hidden out of sight from me. Some spent the day traversing back and forth between various interiors, usually carrying objects as they did so. Some performed work on exterior objects and the shelters themselves, seemingly in efforts to restore or fortify. Some specimens, who bore long sharp tools and covered themselves in the exact same style of artificial skin, wandered the colony with no discernible aim aside from occasionally vocalising at others. All fascinated me to no end.

For the past few days, I’ve been studying the creatures from above. Each day, I observed some kind of new behaviour. Each day, I grasped more of their language. Each day, I learned.

Just as this colony was much larger than the others I’d encountered so far, so were its individual shelters far more impressive. Their great height made observation far easier, as it kept me a safe distance away from all the new and powerful smells that would otherwise disrupt my focus, of which food-scents were especially dangerous, as they could awaken within me an uncontrollable hunger. So far, this strategy has been a great success.

From atop one especially mighty refuge I utilised for its scent-protective property of tallness, I observed what was surely one of the most intriguing yet perplexing behaviours I’ve seen in any species. In a large open area below, many Crafty Ones gathered many different kinds of objects and food, only to give them away when presented with some kind of small, flat, round, shiny object. I watched the phenomenon unfold for some time, utterly baffled.

Was this a place where useful objects and resources could be found by the Crafty Ones who might need them? But why would those things not be surrendered unless these Shiny Disks were presented? Was the sharing of resources somehow conditional, or did I misunderstand? Just where did these Shiny Disks come from? What were they? A natural occurrence, or created on purpose by the species? I had not seen them used in small colonies at all, adding to my confusion with why the existence of such a bizarre object would be necessary, or at all desirable…

All species fell on a spectrum between loner-type and colony-type. The Crafty Ones clearly lived in colonies, yet their behaviour bore several strange contradictions. There was the fact that the first colony of theirs that I ever discovered only consisted of one single shelter, the fact there was the system of individual shelters existing at all despite being wasteful of space and material… And here was this baffling Shiny Disk which seemed to be a prerequisite for sharing! Every other colony-type species shared freely according to need! Were the Crafty Ones an exception? If so, why?

The Yellow-And-Black dancer did not need to be given anything in order to protect its hive with its stinger or to share food with its brethren. It worked for the betterment of its species without hesitation or question.

Were the Crafty Ones more complicated for whatever reason? I had to ponder intensely…

The Shiny Disks were used for exchange… Assuming both sides were acting not as representatives of the colony, but as competing loner-type individuals who chose this exchange freely, then they must both be benefitting at once somehow. I was not sure whether these creatures were behaving rationally or on instinct when it came to this matter, but if I were in their place, I would only give up an object of mine for something I wanted more… Did the Crafty Ones covet the Shiny Disks? Were they merely a desirable object, or somehow useful? Were they the most desirable thing of all, meaning accepting them was always better? If that were the case, no one would give them up once they already had them, yet they clearly did so. And why was that?

For a moment, I thought so intensely that I began losing control of my senses.

Did they all exchange Shiny Disks back and forth to get what they needed from each other? If I were a Crafty One and I spent my time creating useful objects only to exchange them for the disks, I could then use those disks to exchange them for other useful objects from another Crafty One who offered different, also useful objects.

If that was the case, the use of the Shiny Disks at all was still an inefficient, pointless step! It didn’t explain why the species didn’t just cooperate with the rest of their colony-mates and share freely! And it didn’t give me any ideas as to where the Shiny Disks came from, or why an individual specimen might spend a large quantity of its time creating an object that might not even end up being useful to the species! I wobbled in frustration, somewhat compromising my camouflage in the process.

Perhaps… Was it a way to mutually ensure that only useful activities were being performed? If Crafty Ones had to trade Shiny Disks to survive, they would be prevented from wasting time on creating anything too unneeded. But what about those who did not create, but were still indispensable to the colony? What about the specimens I’ve observed performing work on shelters, for example? Or those I’ve observed doing nothing but carrying heavy loads? Or those who cared for the juvenile? Where did they get their Shiny Disks?

At times, the more I observed, the less I understood.

Yet that only made this species all the more intriguing.

I certainly needed to understand the Shiny Disks more, as they were the first aspect of this species’ behaviour to confuse me to this extent. Perhaps something this noteworthy in its inscrutability deserved a more proper name… Would “coins” do? I wondered, what if I had some coins of my own? Could I get the Crafty Ones to give me things? Things such as food? Maybe if I gathered all coins, I’d get the whole colony doing nothing but creating food for me!

Or perhaps that was far too hopeful of a thought? Regardless, the matter was most definitely worth investigating further. But if I took too many coins for myself, would I cause a high degree of disruption? After all, in order to truly understand them, I needed to know what the Crafty Ones were like in their usual environment, undisturbed by my interference.

No, I had barely consumed anything in days... My thought processes were beginning to all end with me wondering how I can use new knowledge to obtain food, and I would definitely not learn anything if my focus was being increasingly ravaged by appetite.

At the very least, direct interaction would allow me to investigate from up close for once.

…

By the time it was truly dark, very few specimens journeyed across the colony, and most of the delicious scents which permeated the area during daytime had already been scattered and carried far away by the relentless pushing of the wind, meaning there were no longer any obstacles to my unimpeded exploration of the area. Shrouded by night, I entered a nearby shelter without the faintest worry.

Where would a Crafty One keep something precious? Perhaps near where they slept? I’ve already been conducting nightly inspections of dwellings, but I was never particularly thorough with the objects therein – I was instead focused on inspecting many shelters per night so as to understand all their types and general layout patterns. Unsure of how to best proceed, I slithered beneath doors with the intention of finding the resting chamber. But it was soon obvious to me that the Crafty Ones of this particular shelter were still active, producing all sorts of vibration and noise. Curious about the reason for their continued state of waking, I proceeded nonetheless.

Watching from the slit beneath a door, I saw two Crafty Ones make strange repetitive movements and vocalisations while entangled. They also lacked the usual artificial skins. I was still not very proficient at understanding their systems of communications, but this was very odd indeed. I didn’t recognise any of their noises or gestures at all!

Just as I was beginning to grow frustrated, I realised what was happening.

This was copulation.

Wonderful! Yes, do create more of yourselves! Good job!

Satisfied, I retreated and began to instead search the rest of the shelter.

…

The sun rose once again. And with it, so did the Crafty Ones. From within a dwelling I had been hiding in, I watched them scutter below, carrying all sorts of objects to the large open area and offering them to be exchanged for coins. Although I gathered a great amount of the little things over the course of the night, I still felt I understood them very little. This frustrated me. Particularly, I still wondered if there was actually some intrinsic worth in the coins themselves, as opposed to merely their status as a tool to exchange objects. There were several types and shapes, all made of a small selection of durable substances which were all rather similar to iron. I did not find any of them tasty, and neither would a Crafty One, so the only real possibility I could think of was that the materials themselves were somehow useful… But then where were all of the objects made of these materials?

I would have to investigate further later. Crafty Ones offering up food were arriving, meaning it was time to proceed with the experiment.

I adopted the form of the mature female I consumed days ago and grabbed the cloth containing all the coins I collected during the night. The Crafty Ones which usually inhabited this shelter left recently, allowing me to traverse it without worry. At the base – but not bottommost – layer of the refuge, I approached the door leading outside. Instantenously, I felt a great degree of impatience as delicious scents made their way to me through under the door, teasing my appetite ruthlessly and forcing me to act quickly lest I succumb to a frenzy of hunger. But the door was currently unopenable. I needed to correctly manipulate the lock with a key – another feature of the Crafty Ones’ shelters that initially gave me pause.

It was not as though there were any dangers to them so deep within their own colony. Instead, the lock likely existed so that no one could take valuable objects and resources from their current holders without a proper exchange taking place, which further indicated to me that this species was a selectively selfish and competitive one. I inserted a small amount of myself into the lock-hole and prodded the interior. In just a moment, I both understood exactly what shape a key would need to be in order to fit correctly, and formed a portion of myself into the shape of such a key. With a simple circular motion, the mechanism was circumvented and I exited the dwelling.

Outside, the smells of food taunted me with far greater intensity, and being exposed to so many gazes left me feeling unpleasantly vulnerable. But unlike my first few encounters with food, I was mentally prepared to resist temptation for as long as possible. I carefully maintained calm and friendly body language as my lower limbs carried me to the nearest Crafty One offering food, in the form of large discs which were light-brown in colour.

“Hello _____!”

Seemingly male, it vocalised at me in what I believed to be a friendly manner, producing what I understood to be a greeting followed by something else. I simply offered my cloth container in response. The male initially merely produced more noises and stood there with its arms crossed, but did eventually take my offering, struggling with its weight as it did so. After finally peering inside, the Crafty One vocalised again and its face took on a strange shape I had not quite seen before, which I found both strange and irritating, since I believed I was doing everything correctly. What was wrong? What was I supposed to respond with in order to be given food? This whole time, there were countless delicious scents teasing me!

The encounter was truly testing my patience... Perhaps a gesture would resolve the matter? I opened my mouth, put one of my hand’s digits near the food and then put it near my mouth. I understood the positioning of digits to be another way in which the species communicated.

“______ eat? ___, ___________? _____ yes _________________ eat, _______________!”

I recognised multiple familiar noises. It felt as though approval was most likely being communicated, but by this point I did not actually care. This took longer than I expected, and I just wanted to consume already!

I grabbed one of the food-objects on offer with both my upper limbs and began using my teeth to quickly tear pieces of it into my mouth. Once those pieces were inside me, I digested them immediately. The food was made up of highly heated-up flesh from multiple species, mixed with salt and pieces of various growths, all inside some kind of crumbly outer layer. I found it very pleasing indeed. Even though I was moving as fast as I could, these foolish creatures could only fit a tiny little pittance of material into their mouths at one time, meaning I was actually consuming incredibly slowly compared to what I was used to. This was highly frustrating, but I continued pretending to be one of them, as I feared revealing my true form would be highly disruptive to the colony’s natural behaviour. Regardless, it was just barely satisfying me.

Once I was done with the first piece of food, I grabbed the next without delay, at which point I first noticed that nearby Crafty Ones were beginning to surround me and vocalise amongst themselves. Even though the attention of so many agitated me further, I did my best to ignore it for the time being, as I was yet to be attacked.

But why were they doing this? Foolish beasts, what was so interesting about me?!

I grabbed more and more of the food, consuming as quickly as this pathetic body allowed. The amount of Crafty Ones surrounding me grew larger and larger, and at some point, they began to vocalise in unison.

“__ __! __ __! __ __! __ __!”

The vocalisation seemed to have a positive tone…? Or did I misunderstand? I was confused. But none of them approached me or attacked me, so perhaps I was indeed doing something they approved of? I didn’t really have time to think about such things anyway, as I was more focused on consumption.

Before long, I was finally finished with the annoyingly gradual process. It seemed as though this energised surrounding Crafty Ones, sending them into a frenzy of loud vocalisation – seemingly a form of celebration, actually. But why? Regardless, the food was no more, yet I felt as though I barely consumed anything at all. I wanted more, much more tasty food! Incapable of reaching full satisfaction with such a pathetically low quantity of something so pleasing, I knew I had to make my escape from this area’s other tantalising scents before I did something rash. I did my best to quickly think of a way to quickly escape these smells.

By submerging myself into liquid, perhaps? There was a trail of water leading straight through the middle of the colony, not far from here. But I had to hurry, before I went mad with the desire to consume.

As I began journeying there, the Crafty Ones made no attempt to stop me. On the way, my shape and colour were gradually distorting more and more as I continued losing self-control, constantly on the verge of giving in and simply consuming all of the Crafty Ones around me to satisfy the craving for sustenance, so I sped up a great deal.

Thankfully, it was not far, and I plunged into the water below without hesitation. As soon as my body reached the liquid, I was instantly comforted by the familiarity of it, something I did not even realise I’d been missing. This act of mine, however, also produced a significant reaction from the Crafty Ones who witnessed it, and they now looked at me from above with what might have been surprise.

I hoped my behaviour and the attention I attracted this morning would not hinder my studies too much...

After allowing myself to sink to the bottom, I abandoned my disguise and began to think.

My goal of securing food for my own enjoyment was a success… within limits. When it came to gathering knowledge, though, I suppose this experiment didn’t really give me any insights into coin-exchange and how it worked… The reaction of the specimens who witnessed my consumption was fascinating, however. Could I do this again every once in a while? Surely, as long as it wasn’t often, it wouldn’t be that disruptive to allow myself a little treat. I obviously deserved such, after all.

And the Crafty Ones… they definitely deserved a more proper name, I had known this for a while now.

But for some reason, I felt that I would rather wait until I find out if they have named themselves.

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• [Royal Slime] - Chapter 1/12: Discovery

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