Mimic Slime Story: Ch6 · 3:01am Aug 7th, 2020
Actions have consequences and suspicion, once gained, is difficult to divest yourself of. Killing two priests in broad daylight would always result in questions. Our friends do not like questions.
Knowledge. The next book my accomplice got me was knowledge that required a lot of intelligence time. "The All Mother, according to this, is supposed to benefit all. Why did it hurt me?"
"Tess, I got you that so you could understand all this a bit better, but there's an important thing about any book I think you're missing." My accomplice—who had been sitting at the table across from me sharpening a knife—reached across and took the book (I let it, of course). Folding the book closed with a single finger inside to keep my place, my accomplice pointed to the front cover. "What does this say?"
"A Treatise on the Gods, by High Priestess Day Glow."
"What you're reading is all filtered through her. She's a smart cookie, but she's also devout and human. Human thoughts. Human ideals. Fuck, just dealing with you has changed my outlook so much. Also, we need to talk about what you did." It opened the book back up and slid it back across to me—my previous page open and ready for me to continue.
"About—" I was cut short by something knocking heavily on the door. I looked to my accomplice.
"Change your form. Male, pretend you don't know who we are and that you told the two priests yesterday that they weren't here." As always, my accomplice was fast to use its intelligence.
Picking an old, gray male as my form, I took off the more obviously female items of clothing from my form's upper body, then lifted the dress up and tucked it in on itself several times until it just looked like a cloth wound around my form's waist.
Moving stiffly toward the door, as I'd seen examples of such males do, I waited for my accomplice to slip into its bedroom before I opened up to see who it was.
Two male creatures in robes—each with a large weapon on their backs—looked at me. "Where are the young women who live here?"
Reaching one of my form's hands back to scratch my form's ass, I let out a wheeze. "More of yas lookin' for little bints? Don't you keep any records? I told yas yesterday—they don't live 'ere."
"You told our priests this yesterday when they came to this location?" Fear hit me. Fear of how much intelligence these creatures would be using. It looked at me like everything I'd said was wrong and it knew it.
I let my form shrink a little, but only in the manner of such creatures when they appear afraid. "By her light, yes!"
Knowledge. How precious knowledge is. The moment I find knowledge, I immediately find a use for it. As soon as I said the phrase I'd just read, both the creatures backed up a step from the doorway and each dipped their head forward.
"Apologies, brother. Two of our priests were killed today in broad daylight, and we believe these two women were the cause of it. We have an iconograph of one of them. Please take this and come to our holy church if you see them. You know the light rewards those who walk within it."
Reaching out my form's hand, I took the offered paper. Looking at it, it was surprising how perfectly they'd captured the face of the female form I'd used. "Of course."
"Go with peace in the light," the two creatures said together and walked off.
Closing the door behind them, I turned to see my accomplice leaving the bathroom. "They're gone." I also offered it the iconograph they'd given me. "They gave me this."
My accomplice laughed and set the paper on the table. "I heard what you said—good, quick thinking. I take it they were more priests?"
"Bigger. Both male creatures had weapons." To show my accomplice, I adapted myself into an approximation of their bodies. "Should we move somewhere else?"
"Probably, but not right now. If they have anyone watching the place, and they see me leave, they'll be all over us. I'll figure some way to get out, and then you can leave however you want." My accomplice's tone implied both knowledge and experience of this situation.
"Okay. How do you have knowledge of this?"
It stood still and then slowly turned to face me. "This might not be a surprise, Tess, but I'm not exactly the most lawful creature around. I was born here—on these streets—and all my life I only ever had one creature—person to depend on. Me.
"If I wanted to eat, I'd have to steal food. If I wanted somewhere to live, I'd have to beat someone up to take it and then defend it against others. I guess that's why I empathize with a mimic slime, eh?"
The way it spoke was like a challenge, right up until the last few words. It was smiling. "You've killed before?"
"When you killed that asshole who tried to rape me, I was trying to reach for the knife down my top. The reason I stuck around was your method meant he didn't get to the point where he was too distracted to notice me pulling it out. Yeah, I've killed people before." My accomplice let out a sigh and sat back down at the table. "Another option is we split up—"
"No." I surprised myself at the quick response I gave. I hadn't meant to say it sharp and fast. "No. We protect each other in too many useful ways to do that. Like just now. The creatures only said that they had this iconograph, not that they didn't have any of you."
My accomplice let out a sigh and stood back up before walking toward me. It put its arms around my form's shoulders and held itself against me. "You'd be safe if—"
"No. I wouldn't. You have far more knowledge and intelligence than I." I'd seen creatures do this many times. I reached out with my form's arms and I put them around my accomplice. "We work best together, keeping both of us safe."
"Yeah. We do." After some time it added. "And I need to teach you more about deflecting suspicion. The way you killed the priests made it look like an assassination. Sometimes a less covert method that looks like something else is better."
"Like?" I asked.
"Take some of their things. Money, jewels, items. Make it look like a robbery or a religious disagreement. Break their holy items and leave them on the bodies. That kind of thing." It just stood there, leaning against the large form of the visitor we'd had, with its head leaning against my form's shoulder. "You still want to take over one of these cults?"
"They take orders from the top-down and they seem to use as little intelligence as possible. It would be a perfect place for me."
"For both of us. Questions are annoying." My accomplice sounded happier, like it would laugh.
"Then we will move and start planning."
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Fascinating. It has a goal in mind, and it's honestly both absurd and expected.
Why else wouldn't a Mimic Slime want to be the head of a dark cult? It's for similar reasons why any disguised human predatory would (vampires come to mind): stable food and security.
Although in this case the Slime is still pursuing its hatred even if it doesn't fully understand that hatred.
Authorial bias is always important to bear in mind. The only truly impartial source of information is direct observation, and even then, the observer's own biases can color the experience. (And that's before getting into questions of whether one's senses can be trusted...)
Iconography—heh—makes me wonder if the locals have imp portraitists in boxes. Still, this definitely isn't a world as silly or narrativium-rich as the Discworld. Looking forward to the slime's ongoing quest to build a cult of personality.