Mimic Slime Story: Ch1 · 1:18am Aug 2nd, 2020
We are back once again, and I felt a desire to get inside one of these abominations' organelles. So here you get a thousand words or so of a mimic slime doing what they do best—surviving and eating.
Intelligence is a strange thing. I know I have it, and I can prove others do through destructive means, but it is impossible to tell if a creature has it until then. The creatures I was with right now, however, had it—but were not using it.
Into one of their buildings we walked, our scents masked by the rich odors of the sewers. I slumped my form against the wall and made an audible sigh. "Not much to report."
"You went into the sewers to hunt down whatever it was that killed three guardsmen. What did you find that was not much?" By the insignia on his shoulder I knew that this creature was important, and was likely to use its intelligence more than those I'd returned from the sewer with.
"Dorsey and Carter saw it too. Dozens of those shit-brown slimes. One of them was still eating Dewer's clothes, sir." It hadn't taken a great leap of intelligence to realize that calling those with more symbols on their shoulders sir earned more favorable treatment, though it was a fine line to move down. Intelligence must be used, but not shown.
The creature behind the desk had what I'd call a angry-worried expression. It looked like it was on the verge of relaxing, however. "So no sign of one of those abominations?"
"Not a one. Who let all those brown turds down there, anyway?" Giving answers with questions was a good way to find out more information—and information aided intelligence.
Beside me, another of the creatures snorted. "Fucking waste disposal keeps misplacing them."
"Indeed they do, though dozens is more than usual. I assume you dealt with them?" the one with all the symbols on their shoulder asked.
Turning things into ash was, I knew, one of these creatures' favorite pastimes. I curved my face into a happy smile and nodded. It was what they expected, after all. "Burned 'em up good."
"Hell yeah. Nothin' getting out of that alive," the creature beside me said.
Reaching the limit of what I thought I could passably survive, interaction wise, I straightened up. "Can we go now, sir?"
"Yes, yes. And get yourselves cleaned up—you smell like a sewer."
The moment the creature said it, I registered relief and showed it. These creatures, when not using their intelligence, noticed emotional responses in each other. They expected them. Not giving any cues as to what one of them expects to see causes them to use their intelligence—something I had learned to dislike.
"C'mon. I know a tavern nearby that'll let us get a discount on a bath if we both use the same room." As I parsed what this information meant, I found excitement growing. I had plenty of acid still, and a meal would be wonderful.
A meal meant more intelligence. A meal meant more energy. A meal meant I would need to clean up more disappearances. Unless…
Following the other creature, I endeavored to keep up with its random patter of words. No real information was exchanged, but it expected me to speak of bawdy things that its kind often enjoyed. We entered another building and it called out for another of its kind.
"Hey there, Roach. Need a private bath again? Actually, don't answer, I can tell you do." The creature speaking was a female of their species. It looked, or so I could gather, quite comely. Excitement grew as I realized I might be able to devour two here today.
"Don't you know it, Case. Usual room?"
The female waved at us onward, and I continued to follow my primary target. The room it led me to had two large troughs in it and various equipment scattered around. It started using one such device to fill a bucket with water, then passed it to me.
Intelligence was a useful thing. It didn't take much effort to deduce what it wanted me to do. Dumping the first bucket of water into one of the troughs, I passed it back while exchanging it for another full one. I didn't actually care about the water, the bath, or correcting my scent via any means these creatures used.
It was obvious the female would be coming shortly, and when it opened the door and walked right in with two big metal-buckets of water, I wasn't surprised in the least. "You two just put your things over there and grab some soap, okay?"
I nodded, content to keep playing along. Removing the fighting equipment first, I focused on ensuring my form was just right. It wouldn't do to have pieces out of place when I revealed my form.
Into the tubs the hot water went and I could see steam rising from it. Not having enjoyed a heated pool for some time, I revised my plan to include a little time to relax.
Soaping up and cleaning off was unnecessary, but expected. The soap was slightly harsh on my body, but for the moment I could put up with it thanks to how warm the tub was. Beside me, in its own tub, the male creature started making relaxed-unconscious noises. If I were going to strike, and not waste more of my acid than necessary, now would be the time.
Before I could act, the door opened again and the female entered the room. It walked over to where our belongings were and started to rummage around in them. Beside me, I sensed the male creature's rest disturbed by something and it began to reach for consciousness.
Aborting all my plans, I decided this situation was too far from my control to properly feed without—
"You fucking harlot!" The male creature jumped out of the water and rushed over to the female. "Is this what you do? Is it? I thought I was drinking all my money away, but it turns out a thief was taking it while my back was turned! Grady, wake your ass up and come help me teach this bitch what happens to thieves."
Unsure what else to do, I began climbing from the tub as one of the creatures would. I watched as the male held one hand over the female's mouth while ripping at its clothing. It was curious to see one undress another in this fashion—focusing on their midsection—but as I got closer I could see stark horror and something else on the female's face as it looked up past the male at me.
Had I ruined my form? Was I bulging?
"Hold her down, Grady. You get second go." The male seemed to have undressed the female to his requirements and pinned it to the ground with its hand over the female's mouth still.
That's when my intelligence finally made sense of the situation. The female had been doing something against the rules, the male had caught them, and now the male was going to punish the female. The female looked like it didn't want the punishment.
Pressing my form's hand to the back of the male's neck, I let just a little of my acid flow down and to its flesh. Then I added a bit more.
As the male went limp, the female managed to shove it off and to the side. This was probably for the best as the acid would have burned and dripped through the male and onto it.
Ignoring the female for now, I moved to the male and pressed one of my form's feet to its melting neck. The rush of energy as I fed was comparable to no other experience. I drank and drank—devouring not just its flesh, but also its intelligence. The ever-burning hunger inside me was quenched for just a moment as the last of its melting body flowed into me.
"What the fuck did you do to 'im?" the female asked. "N-Not that I—you're one of them, aren't you? There was a rumor one was in the sewers."
"The male was attacking you for stealing." The female could have shouted, could have tried to run, but I sensed it using every ounce of its intelligence right now.
"Raping is more like it. Stealing is—stealing's serious, but that…" It lowered its eyes and let out a sigh. "You're probably gonna kill me and eat me, too, but thank you."
I looked at the female creature in a new light. There were many ways that our kind would interact—most of them resulting in one or the other ceasing to be intelligent—but this was something new. Was it obliged to assist me? Could I make use of it?
"What now?" I asked. Why should I use my intelligence when this female had plenty of its own and knew the situation a little better.
"Now? Now I tell everyone both of you left out the back. You take that fucker's gear with you and we both forget this happened. I'll take this," it grabbed up the little sack of metal the male had been carrying, "and I get the fuck out of this place so you can—so you can do whatever you want here."
"Where will you go?"
"What?!"
"This situation is regrettable, and will be noticed. Where will you go that is nearby such that I might feed more?" There was panic and horror in its eyes again. I'd gone too far, it seemed. "Or not. I will need assistance here, however. Stay for one moon."
"Or?"
"Or I feed again right now, but I won't do what it did."
"'It'?" The female looked confused, then its intelligence reasserted itself. "Oh, Roach. Look I don't know if I—" It closed its eyes and took a long, slow breath. "I'll do it. But only for a week."
I smiled, genuine happiness written large on my form. "That is acceptable. I believe I will stay at this place."
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Lab
Hmm. I do have trouble empathizing with characters that kill others just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but then I agree with their rapist-murdering policy...
Fascinating. I'm reminded of "The Things," except instead of falling from a great height of enlightenment, this amorphous horror is still making its first climb up the ladder. The odd use of "intelligence" really drives home the xenofictional aspects. Great stuff.
5327037
To be fair, I think this is a character you're supposed to grow to emphasize with over time.
For one, this character would be the protagonist of a horror story. And the monster, at that. If you can't get past that in the door, this type of story wouldn't be for you.
That being said, there's ways to characterize such a being without lightening up on the horror element. For one, there's the attitude it has to killing. It didn't enjoy killing per se so much as it enjoyed eating, nor is it ever entirely certain some other being is truly intelligent or just parroting words and meaning with no actual intelligent thought behind it. until it eats someone.
This is a vastly different characterization to starting a story as, say, a psychopath gleefully stalking and killing someone in a torturous way.
There's a creature somewhat like this in the Mistborn series.
Spoilers for The Final Empire:
Mistwraiths are huge, monstrous oozes, transparent but full of the bones of the corpses they've consumed. But some of them become conscious, able to take the form of a person whose corpse they eat, and whose bones they retain.