Shapeless Heart [Jeufufns and Sigr]

[Sigr]

In that verdant forest, full of life and basked by the sunshine, it was a day like any other. The rumor of a distant creek sounded under the rustling of the leaves as the wind went through, punctuated by the intermittent chirping of the birds. But for the slime that dragged its amorphic body through the shrubbery, it was the first day of a new life. A life stolen with violence, a life born from horror.

It was the creation of a wizard long forgotten, a sorcerer of some kind that operated in a laboratory that a disaster and the decades gone by had buried underground, giving sepulture to a thing that shouldn't be, a creature that defied the natural order. Adventurers, being the curious and greedy lot they are, managed to find an entrance in the bottom of a cave, a place that brought no attention to itself unless you were the kind that looked for forsaken treasures. In there, part self defense mechanism, part fulfilling the task it was made for, the slime proved to be a tougher and more lethal foe that the bunch of looters expected, suffocating them with its form, digesting up to the last trace of them, as they had never existed.

What that dead wizard didn't expect, nor the slime had way to know, was that eating those few sentient beings allowed it to change, to adapt. All of a sudden, in a bout of panic and horror born from having taken half a dozen lives, the slime was sentient, aware, intelligent. It could remember the ages before, the mindless lurking in that dark place, its continuous awareness making it blame for the things it had done when it wasn't much more than a living weapon. Horrified by the act, curious about the world, and wanting to get away from that dreaded place, the slime ventured outside.

Everything was new, everything was interesting and sadly, everything was scary. The slime was slowly comprehending what its surroundings were, as it had assimilated part of the knowledge the looters had, but the scattered thoughts tasted of fear, and it lacked the experience to put them together, to make sense of them. Moving along just to not be still, dragging its shapeless bulk around without a clear purpose, without destination, the slime stumbled with a big cougar that looked in its direction examining what kind of creature that was. The slime didn't know what to do, or what it was facing, the only thing it was sure of was that it didn't want to absorb any living thing ever again, taking a life for its own.

Making an effort, extending its capabilities in a newfound way, the slime was eager to communicate. Taking the shape of a young woman with a tunic, a crude imitation of the first adventurer it has stumbled upon, the slime tried to speak with that creature in the only way the slime had watched that woman do. Rising an arm towards the animal, "No! Please don't!" the slime yelled with a high pitched voice, still working to know what those words meant, the last ones that woman made before getting eaten.

 

[Jeufufns]

The forest was a beautiful place, animals of all kinds roaming the lands that have only recently been tamed by the humanoid species of the world. Protected by the fierce mountain ranges, the caverns that provided cover for the slime for so many years were being explored by a people eager to expand their newly formed society. Ever since their ancestors first settled here, society has formed a tribal stronghold with a reach far and wide over the Grasslands. Mankind has learned to use metals to their advantage and has even started processing plants like cotton or to craft clothing with the help of inventions such as the loom, some of which have traversed the newly founded trade routes to make it to tribes previously in need of such efficient technology. Merchants out for a coin, trading foreign inventions for luxury goods facilitated the first exchange of culture between these tribes over distances previously thought a myth.

The mountain ranges themselves however provide much more than simply a natural border and a symbol of belief. The caverns provide valuable bartering tools to deal with neighboring tribes, so looters have begun to try and delve deeper into the forest and mountains to find valuable resources before the tribes do. And some unfortunate looters met their demise in one of the many caves throughout the land.

However, the forest that separated the grassland from the mountains was much more than that. It was a place of beauty and a food source for the growing population of the tribe. Collecting berries was as vital a task as threshing the grain for the common folk. A people unfamiliar with the concept of civilization and society has formed a tribal structure around the central founding families who have centralized the agriculture and commerce around them. The high families were powerful and recognized by the people as such. They have always had great respect for them and what their families stand for. Their power goes unquestioned, seen as the natural state of the world.

Far less philosophical was the arrival of a woman in the lush forest, a woman in her prime. She was almost mystical in her beauty, almost too fitting in this kind of beautiful environment. Like many had to in these times, she was here to pick berries, a basket on her arm. But for her, the forest was something else. She wore jewelry that looked like it would cost a fortune by the standards of the region, well-crafted from foreign material. Yet, forging jewelry had become a form of art almost, with higher families using it to display their status in the world. This gemstone in particular was of local origin, received through a trade with the mountain folk, the Zadea.

The woman's name was Emaline, and while she bore a beautiful set of jewelry, her dress was simple. She wore a short-sleeved brown blouse, one of the most comfortable and cool choices in the dry periods. Her lowers were covered by a knee-length woolen skirt, complimented by typical leather shoes. She was only moderately curvy, her assets barely more than a single overflowing handful, even after pregnancy. As such, they fit her clothes rather modestly, though the genitalia still had to be stored differently. She still remembered her visit to Nora of the Talderi tribe. The women there often wore skirts that were tight below the nethers, so that their genitalia could rest inside a pouch specially woven into the fabric. Still, the way her tribe did it by using belts to secure the balls and manhood in separate bags was just as nice. As much as she liked the way the Talderi did it, she couldn't imagine reliving her young years without being able to easily slide off the coverings on her shaft in case of emergency, or to do things she wasn't supposed to....

That was one of the reasons she liked to come to the forest. Not because of any particularly naughty reason, but because it reminded her of the old time she had with her mate. Whether they talked, kissed, or more, the forest had always upheld their secret. But now that her mate has passed away, the forest reminded her of these secrets. Every berry picked was like an old memory and while she was always happy to visit the forest, she always left it with sorrow in her heart.

There was a tree, an old one. Most trees were thick, resistant against the strong winds that sometimes swept over the grasslands. This one even more so, a tree that all others seemed to respect, keeping their distance. It had been a nice place for her and her love to pause and talk and it was the place that marked the end of her little journey. There were less berries on the way back.

But something else caught her attention, something quite close. A person yelling. She'd been looking around this whole time, there shouldn't be a soul around here. Yet, a few meters away, there was a woman. Worse yet, a cougar. Did this woman have any idea what she was doing? Yelling at a cougar, raising your hand, doing things that would simply trigger its fighting instincts. As she predicted, the cougar didn't seem particularly impressed by the woman's motion. It was showing it's teeth menacingly, hissing at the woman. She had to intervene. Even if the woman was dressed for combat, she seemed terrified of the cougar.

"What are you doing, you're triggering its hunting instincts!" she hissed at the woman when she finally arrived. Seeing another person join, the cougar staged its attack, pouncing forward as Emaline pulled the stiff looking woman out of the way. She felt cold for some reason. She had heard rumors of cold-bloods but didn't think them true.

"Run!" she called out to the woman next to her, letting go of her arm as she started charging away. That was another reason why she liked these kinds of skirts. Mobility.

Coincidentally, seeing the woman run would allow the slime to copy her movements.

 

[Sigr]

The slime turned to the new source of sound, another human it seemed, and yet oh so different from the unfortunate ones that ventured into the cave. Even if the slime had trouble to make sense of what she was yelling, it could garner some meaning from her expression. Those pale blue eyes, were different from the brown ones it was mimicking, and not just in color. The slime lacked the words for the fear in the brown ones, or the determination in those blues, but they were as different as night and day. Dragged away from the path of the cougar, the slime's instincts to defend and dissolve briefly returned, although they didn't shake its borrowed form. The slime didn't want to hurt no more living things, and it yet couldn't make a difference between animals and people, so it's only option was either to get mauled by that creature, testing the unknown limits if its endurance or follow that newcomer of the blue eyes.

"Run!" the slime echoed, soon seeing that they could move along the forest quickly, dodging shrubs and trees. The ones that interrupted the slime's rest didn't do any running, even if they could as well have, they stood their ground and tried to fight it in vain. Why was that? It's superiority was clear after engulfing the one it was mirroring at that moment. The slime had a most generic knowledge of the composition of a person after dissolving the looters in its form, but lacked the background to make sense of the most of it. Those beings felt like they had a lot of fluid in their bodies, and yet they didn't seem capable of changing how they looked, although the slime haven't seen two that were identical, and they covered their forms with things that didn't belong to their bodies.

Beyond seeing like a person saw the world, the slime was able to perceive the surroundings with it's body. The heat of the woman in front, of the cougar further behind, the vibrations of their movements and the sounds around them, the changes on the air. It was that keen perception of vibration what allowed it to make a voice as easily as it could reproduce the cougar's growl, vibrating its own body even if the slime didn't know what a vocal cord was. It seemed that the creature they were fleeing from had lost interest, or at least it's presence was vanishing into the distance. With the minimal grasp of what words may mean the slime said, even if it was with a borrowed voice, what was its first sentence of its own. "No run, no run. Run no" it tried the order in both ways, seeing if any of them had the desired effect of making that woman stop, as there was nothing to run from anymore.

 

[Jeufufns]

Emaline would have liked to think she was doing the right thing but the girl was making it hard. She was stiff, she was cold, she didn't seem to know what was going on. But she didn't have time to dwell on it, and the stiffness was forgotten after she let go. They were running from a cougar after all. She still couldn't fathom this girl's reaction, but perhaps it was the shock that made her so unresponsive. Who knows, maybe she would have reacted the same way at her age.

Hearing the woman talk made it less a question of who and more a question of getting away from that damn Cougar. She had a little head start on the girl and was thus further away, yet her words still reached her. 'No run' and 'Run No'......the girl didn't seem able to speak Taracian. Was she of another tribe? Perhaps now that she got a better look at her.

She stopped as commanded, turning to face the slime. She was still kind of weird in the way she moved, but nothing she could spot. But there were other weird things about her. Her skin was so....glossy. Plastic, of course, hadn't been invented yet so the best thing she could compare it to was wet skin, only a lot more clear and obviously not wet. And everything looked a little....fake, as if the details were off, the little almost unperceivable movements that could still make a difference in how you were perceived. And she wasn't breathing.....that was a thing. Emaline noticed and immediately put a hand below the slime's bosom, trying to feel her breath. She wasn't breathing. In all her days she had never encountered a species that didn't breathe.

"What are you even....." she murmured, looking quite surprised as she stepped to the slime's side, taking in her profile. She was more intrigued if anything, a new expression for the slime to analyse. "What....language do you speak? Oh....nevermind..." she murmured, thinking herself silly for asking such a thing. How would the girl understand her enough to answer?

"We...." she started, trying to figure out what to do as she tried to think of some hand signs. Sometimes they were necessary, or at least were when she was still travelling as a young woman.

She gestured to both of them with a sweeping hand motion, before mimicking the walk of a humanoid with two fingers. Then, she straightened her fingers, pointing towards the nearby village. You couldn't see much of it since it wasn't as big as Taracus, but it was a nice little outpost with a few families and a lot of younger women. Not that she wanted anything from them but she thought her daughter might enjoy the company of people of her age. She only hoped this woman would understand her. It was best if she tried to properly communicate with her once she got home.

 

[Sigr]

The words seemed to have worked, as Emaline stopped. The slime was glad that it worked, as it meant hope to do anything else but kill of be killed. As Emaline looked at the slime, inspected it, touched its abdomen, the slime also inspected back. That being was as complex a creature as the ones it had consumed, all sorts of moving parts that acted seemingly independently even if they were one being. The slime could feel her heat, the subtle noise and vibration of all the stuff moving under the skin, but it couldn't quite understand it yet. As Emaline touched, the slime caressed back, noticing that the skin felt differently.

Shifting a bit, like a ripple in water when a stone was thrown, the slime's skin approached Emaline's soft touch, fleshy look and pleasuring warmth. "Language" the slime nodded, not understanding what it meant yet, but sounding something desirable. The people it had engulfed had fed it a universe of information and also made it self aware, but the slime had trouble parsing it all, ordering it, giving it context. Memories muddled with feelings, mixed with knowledge and mingled with stories, the slime couldn't separate what the ones consumed knew from what they believed, what fiction they told or what they felt.

The gesture to use the legs at a lower speed than run was fairly easy to understand, so the slime followed Emaline around. Maybe it could learn more from the woman that helped the slime, saved it. It sure was willing to do so, there wasn't a way to really return the ones it killed to life, but maybe it could try and make up for it, stop being something bad and start being someone good. The slime now absorbed knowledge at the same speed that it was designed to devour everything else, perceiving all small details and painting a picture of how things were. The surroundings and their workings were easy, even if beautiful in their own way a rock or a tree were mostly simple things.

But people? Just the one in front of the slime seemed a universe of her own, and there were bound to be more and more of them where they were going.

 

[Jeufufns]

Looking at the woman before her she was starting to realise how difficult this was going to be. Teaching a woman Taracian was....unprecedented she dared say. Perhaps some have learned the language in order to negotiate a trade, but there was certainly no institution dedicated to teaching it and certainly noone she could ask to help. She didn't even know what species this woman was so even if she knew where to find someone that person probably wouldn't speak this girl's language, to begin with.

On that note, she didn't even know what was good for the girl. She didn't seem to be breathing...maybe the mountain air was better for her? But she had met people of the mountain before as she recalled just minutes earlier. They breathed more than her own species if anything.

Just at that moment, a ripple went through the slime's skin that caused Emaline to nearly jump in surprise. She removed her hands, watching the skin shift in such a clean, fluid motion that it was almost a work of art. In seemed almost.....godly to the woman. No, surely something godly must not be afraid of a cougar?

Looking somewhat frightened, she returned her hands to the girls' cheeks, gently cupping them with her hands. The skin felt warm, Taracian. Not at all like the skin she had felt a minute prior. It was in a way calming to feel something familiar, but it was still a little disconcerting. After all one couldn't just shift warmth and skin of your body like she did. Whatever race she was must be an incredibly powerful one.

The more she thought about it the less she knew what to do, but for now, she had to get this girl to her home. Thankfully, the girl seemed to follow her willingly. Seeing so little of her move or react in any particular way was still very disconcerting, but she tried to ignore it. Was she wearing something metal underneath, or why did her curves not move at all? It was perhaps something quite unimportant to obsess over but she could still have attributed the lack of muscle movement, maybe even breathing to the light or her clothes playing tricks on her, but the girl could walk without a single movement from her genitalia or her bosom or anything. Emaline's curves were smaller, so she was good at running and things like that. She would have laughed remembering some other girls' difficulties if she weren't so confused right now. But even her bosom shook with her steps, not to mention her genitalia, and this girl was on the smaller side of things but still at least as well-endowed as she was. Yet everything just sat there rigid and unmoving.

Tripping over a stone, she moved her eyes away, trying to calm herself a little. She was just a little more excited than she thought she'd be. She did kind of like a mystery and this girl certainly provided it. Trying to look forward apart from checking on the girl from time to time, they made good progress towards the village. The village was surrounded by a pinewood forest and a large, ore-bearing mountain the village had been draining of its precious metals for decades. The tribe has been profiting greatly from the process, especially when the mined ore comes back as bronze from the forge when mixed with foreign tin.

But for now, the harvest was on. Fields outside the village were full of the valuable commodity, and the youth of the tribe was busy with threshing the rice from the villages closer to the sea for consumption. Or at least, they should be. From her own experience, they were often too busy with each other. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that she came back so early.

But for the slime, this was much more interesting than that. It had never seen more than three people at once. Now it could see houses, multiple rows of a settlement built of wood. The areas between them without plant-life from decades of being trod on. A woman was making baskets on her doorstep, another two slamming bundles of weird-looking grass onto the ground, another simply walking by with a basket in her hand and another bringing another bundle to the two working ones. And they were all so uniquely different too! Their clothes were mostly the same, but their belts differed, or there were subtle differences in the weave or different materials used in the skirts. Even greater were the differences in their body types! Some were taller, some had slightly bigger muscles or slightly wider or thinner areas of their body, some were curvier, some were more hung than others.......

Some even had really significant differences, whether it was the size or something entirely new. One of the working women had a third leg, another had a second pair of breasts judging by her clothes, another had a very big, plush and soft looking middle. And there were many more differences, but before she could study them in more detail, the woman with the basket turned to her with curiosity. Her eyes were again a different colour than Emaline's, more like the ones from the girl she was currently mimicking, but still not quite the same. Seeing a stranger in the village was rare and if unannounced people weren't sure how to take it. But Emaline was still somewhat respected due to her relationship with someone of the higher families so noone asked any questions.

The house was made up of wattle walls and a wooden roof, like all the other houses. It seemed to have been crafted over some time with great care, as complicated as the wood woven into the cone-shaped roof looked. The wood also covered the floor. The house had no door and as such was facing east so the sun would give light for a longer period of time. A hearth sat in the middle of the single-room house to provide warmth or even light later in the day. Pots stood around with various substances in them, small bowls stacked in a corner for meals. Bronze age beds, wooden frames with woven mats in them sat near each other at the opposite side of the hut. A woven carpet laid beside them, as well as a few pots of water from a nearby river. A few seats made of large slices of a tree trunk stood around a table near the hearth. A few wood planks that seemed glued together were lying against the side of the entrance, presumably to block it off at night.

"Would you like something to eat?" Emaline asked, walking towards the pots that were quite far from the entrance for understandable reasons. "Oh...uhh......" she said, grasping one of the bowls. She had to bend over to get it, which allowed the slime to peak at one of the features of the humanoid body she hadn't been able to gaze at. Two round objects, lap-filling balls laid in a grey sack, though that only seemed to be a covering. She could see it join the rest of her body with a skin-like sack, so she could most likely figure out that a second sack was keeping these rather large orbs at her body. Above them was a long, thick organ, somewhat floppy that rested on top of the balls. It too was covered with a covering, but less generously so. Both grey sacks were held against their respective organs with small belts. They seemed so huge and out of place. What might they be there for? The most prominent part of her anatomy though was something beneath her balls. Her womanhood was big, it's lips round and plump. It protruded from her lowers, far enough to sit between her thighs. It looked about as thick as her balls, which was quite a feat in itself. It might even be bigger. From its sheer size, it was a wonder the slime didn't notice it earlier, but the skirt did a good job of covering her up usually. Seemed like this was her unique part since she hadn't seen this before. There was some deeper personal history regarding it as well, but of course, the slime couldn't know that now.

The slime has had quite some time to study Emaline's body for now. She'd seen her plush, firm rump move behind that skirt, her bust shift in her blouse, her genitalia shift, her hips shake~

The small peak behind the coverings was quite helpful for understanding the human body.

Of course, the skirt wasn't supposed to ride up this much, something that Emaline promptly corrected when she stood up. Usually, it would just reveal the edge of her balls or her plump womanhood when she bent over like that, but it had ridden up during her run and subsequent walk. Maybe she should be paying more attention, now that she had a guest. Not that it usually offended people but it still wasn't polite.

With her skirt back to knee-length, she raised the bowl, making some shovelling hand motions towards her mouth. "Eat?" she asked, hoping the girl would at least know how to confirm that she understood. She should probably eat something too, she did still have that basket of berries with her.

 

[Sigr]

For a moment the slime was afraid that it had scared the woman off with the change, something unfathomable for the creature, as it was about being more like her, but Emaline's hands soon returned to the slime's face. There was an element of discovery, of exploration, of curiosity in that touch, but the slime also felt something else. Care? Worry? For the creature such notions were hard to pin down and give them an specific meaning based on its short lifespan and the minds it has consumed, an act that chased its mind.

The pair walked together for a while, with the slime trying to decipher the expressions Emaline made every time she looked back. The slime partially understood duty from its days as a mindless weapon, and worry, after the things it has done, but the emotion it felt easier to understand from the complex range that appeared in the woman's face was curiosity. The slime wanted to learn, wanted to do good even if it had a hard time what good was supposed to be, so it will have to know more of the world beforehand. That same hunger for understanding, the eagerness to discern things beyond the self was what the slime saw in Emaline's face.

Reaching the settlement was an information overload, as the slime fidgeted restless, even if it still followed that kind woman. It was hard to take it all at once. It was the first non natural environment the slime had been in since the lab it was made in, a place where everything spoke of purpose, from the crude pathways to the rustic houses, it seemed a different yet similar extension of the idea that permeated their life. While the slime adapted to its surroundings changing itself, those people lacked the ability to do so, but what they could manage was changing said environment to better suit their needs. It was fascinating by itself, making the slime wonder if it could do both things, and the vast range of choices that such a thing opened.

And that was only the beginning, since more complex, varied and interesting than the surroundings were the people that crafted them. So many people, so different beyond the craft that covered them. The slime felt like it could start to see patterns that matched the people it had met. The heads were more or less composed of the same stuff even if it was differently shaped and colored. The bodies, even if weren't two alike, seemed to have the same amount of items on them, or so the slime thought until it saw some diversity in the number of lower appendages and those bulges in the midsection. Learning to difference clothes from body was getting easier, and it was still a mystery how those women were below those garments.

Confused and eager to experiment, the slime wanted to try those forms, to see what suited the moment, but remembering the gesture of surprise if not fear Emaline had shown with such a small change, it decided to stay as it was, even if that borrowed form only brought bad memories. Joining the woman inside her house, the slime looked around to all the small trinkets and tools, all that stuff that the people used each day. There was a practical side to them, their purpose mostly clear as the function defined their form, so the slime could only wonder what was the purpose of the things that didn't seem to have one, like the jewelry the woman wore.

"Eat" the slime echoed, knowing what it meant. It didn't need to, even if it well knew that consuming other beings could gift it more knowledge, it didn't want to. But those people had to eat something else, as it had seen them garnering different plants around, so the slime was eager and curious to try those kinds of things. But such search for knowledge, for experience, soon was clouded by a new discovery, part of what Emaline's clothes were hiding. It seemed that people had a whole complex set of things down there, from a meaty and soft looking shaft to a couple of lumps under it and a quite interesting set of lips even below. What was completely lost for the slime was the purpose of those things. It had seen how legs and arms worked, how hands were versatile, and more or less understood what eyes were for. The mouth was still tricky, the nose seemed to serve no purpose and the ears were also weird, but at least the slime knew that they had to do something, as they looked intricate in design and were free of covering clothes. After all, what use did those parts have if everyone had them clothed?

As Emaline covered herself and returned with a bowl filled with something that the slime couldn't identify, the slime soon understood her gestures. So the mouth wasn't just for talking, but eating too. The slime had no need to put food in an orifice, but it complied anyways, slowly emptying the bowl in her mouth, soon absorbing it in its form. "Eat" the slime nodded. Now that she had complied with the request, the slime hoped that it could learn more about... well, everything.

"Language. Language" the slime repeated, nodding to the woman. It wanted to learn the words for things, to be able to properly communicate. Without a way to understand each other, there wouldn't be a way to learn more. "Run" it said, mimicking the motion in place. "Eat" added, repeating the gesture Emaline had made. "Something..." the slime said doubtful, pointing at the pots that Emaline retrieved food from, then the bowl she had given with that food. "Something. Eat something. We eat something" the slime managed to compose, pieces of words gathered here and there. It had an easy time garnering the meaning of things, even if it could get confused, but it lacked the words on Emaline's language to give them sound.

 

[Jeufufns]

The slime was right to see curiosity in Emaline. In all her years she hadn't been this curious about something. If only her mate were here....maybe she'd have some answers......

At least the girl seemed to be echoing words she understood. That was good. The small bowl of berries was quickly consumed by the girl. She seemed to be mimicking the handsign in the process. She didn't seem quite aware of how to eat these berries, sometimes damaging them. The juice however seemed to disappear on her skin, or was she simply lucky and hadn't spilled any onto it? It would be strange not to.....

Perhaps she didn't yet know the extent of how exotic this girl was. She certainly seemed eager to learn though, almost excited to do so, if her face would show any emotion. The fear she had shown towards the Cougar was gone and hadn't really been replaced by anything.

What she definitely didn't expect though was for her to say 'something' and point at the pots. Where'd she get that from?

Oh right...she'd asked her if she wanted 'something to eat'. Maybe she should correct that...

The use of 'we' however caused her to blink in surprise. She couldn't remember using that word. Maybe she just forgot...or the girl heard it outside, but still. The proper use of it was a surprise.

"Yes!" she said, gently lifting her hands.

"Bowl" she said, her voice taking a gentle, almost motherly tone as she raised the bowl a little. It reminded her of when she taught her little daughter. Of course, she'd learned most of the language from being a baby, but there were still some unspoken words that needed to be taught when they were little.

Lowering the arm, she raised the other one a little higher, to raise the basket she was still carrying. "Basket" she said, smiling as she gently put the two on the table next to her. "Table," she continued, tapping her finger on the wooden surface. "Seat" she said, pointing at the stumps below. "Blueberries" she continued, taking one of the berries from the basket, before putting it down again. Finally, she said "food", carefully letting her hand roam over the content of the basket. It was all still new for the girl, best not to over do it for now. But she found it important that she should learn the names of things. Teaching her the meaning of I and you and everything of it....she probably knew that already did she? Other tribes did...

For now, being able to say things such as 'eat' would be enough information. Still, the girl seemed very curious about her surroundings. Perhaps she should continue while it lasted.

"House" she said, gesturing to the walls and roof. It would be important for the girl to be able to return here whether by telling her or someone in the area. "Wall, roof" she continued, pointing at them in long intervals so that the woman would know the difference between them and house. She then approached the pots, but remaining somewhat turned to the girl so that she could watch her. Not because she was suspicious, simply because she was curious as to her reaction.

"Pot" she said, pointing to the pots, before picking up a small pot of grain and holding it next to a larger pot of water. "Size" she said, making her hands flat after putting the pot down and putting them at the top and bottom of the pot. "Bigger" she said, raising the upper hand. "Smaller" she said, lowering the hand again. It was a simple concept, the challenge was to make her understand without her thinking she meantt he pots. The next step was perhaps a little trickier.

"Big" she said, pointing at the pot. "Bigger" she said, pointing at the water pot before she directed her finger at herself. "Biggest" she said before pointing the finger at the slightly smaller girl. "Smaller" she said before turning the finger back at herself, "bigger". She hoped the girl wouldn't lost her patience with her since she was treating her like a child, but from what she saw the approach seemed to be the right one. The woman was certainly no child, yet she saw a kind of child-like enthusiasm in her. She kind of wished she'd see it in more people.

 

[Sigr]

"Yes!" the slime echoed, not knowing what it was about, but trying to mimic the woman's happiness. It seemed that they were on the right track, but those people were so complex, interesting and strange, that the slime thought it would take it days, perhaps weeks to fully understand them. Oh, how wrong it was, as the deeper mysteries of human nature had eluded people for generations.

"Bowl" the slime repeated, moving towards another one of those and grabbing it, leaving it on its proper place afterwards. "Bowl" it repeated. "Basket" the slime said, pointing at the thing, then outside. The memory it had even for the smallest details was wondrous. "Basket" said once more, awkwardly imitating the gestures the woman outside was doing to weave the baskets she was making.

"Table. Seat. Blueberries" it repeated diligently, as things were starting to get more difficult, the slime's absorbed knowledge helped it a bit, but not too much. "Food" the slime said a bit doubtful, even if its face made no gesture. "Blueberries. Food" it repeated, it seemed that one thing could be more than one word, and would have different meanings. As the lower appendages were good for running and going slower, those small berries from the woods could be both blueberries and food. "Blueberries. Food. Eat" the slime ordered its thoughts. "Eat blueberries. Eat food" the slime wandered around, picking a bowl and a few blueberries with it. For now it was easy enough, it didn't know it yet, but limiting itself to nouns for things that it could see and touch made it comprehensible.

Awkwardly resting on a seat, the slime left the bowl on the table, then picked up a blueberry and dropped it inside its mouth. "Seat table. Blueberry bowl. Eat food" tried to get together, having heard a few sentences from Emaline helped, but not too much. The next step was a bit harder. "House. Wall. Roof" the slime now had to work with the idea of a group of words forming a different one. It was already an odd notion for a being that was just one thing, one substance, while people seemed to be formed of many weird parts. "Wall. Wall. Wall..." the slime repeated, moving in a circle pointing at every wall as Emaline did.

"Wall. Roof. House" it said. "Blueberry. Eat. Food" added, trying to reach the same conclusion. In the slime's mind there wasn't yet much difference between putting a roof on some walls to make it a house or eating some blueberries to make them food. Satisfied by the advances, Emaline's next lesson confused the slime.

"Pot" it repeated. Understanding it wasn't hard. "Pot. Pot" echoed when Emaline left it besides another different pot. As much as the people outside, even if the differences were less striking or nuanced, the slime could understand that both things were a pot since they had more in common that they had different. Different pots were still a pot and different people were still people. It was the gestures that came next the ones harder. The slime knew that she wasn't referring to a thing, as Emaline was still focused on the pot. Was the pot full of that size she spoke about? But each pot had different stuff in it, maybe it was like the food and many things could be size.

When Emaline added herself and the slime to the mix, for a moment it felt completely lost, since people and objects had little in common. Remembering the gesture she had made at the start, the slime thought that it had finally understood it, but wasn't sure. "Bowl" it said, emptying the last blueberries it had back to the basket. Getting close to the grain pot, the slime scooped a bunch of it with the bowl. "Table. Seat" repeated, returning to its spot back with the full bowl. Emptying its content on the table, the slime worked hard to make three different piles on the table.

"Bigger" a finger tapped from the smallest one of the piles to the middle sized one. "Bigger" repeated, the finger moving from the middle sized one to the largest. "Biggest" this time the finger stood on the biggest pile of grain. "Smaller. Smaller" the slime said twice, the finger making the same trip backwards until it was at the beginning. Knowing what was bigger, biggest and smaller, the slime struggled to find a pattern. "Smallest?" it asked in the same questioning tone it had heard before from her.

"Bowl smaller basket. Table bigger seat" the slime tried to use the newfound knowledge with the rest of the words. "Blueberry smallest. House biggest" added, trying to assign the proper size to the things it had learned.

 

[Jeufufns]

Emaline could see that the slime was having a little difficulty understanding, but she hoped that she illustrated it well enough. She's never had to try and teach a language to this extent before and honestly, she was surprised it was working. The girl was soaking up knowledge way easier than any adult she's ever met. The girl was young of course, but the age where information was being sucked up like a sponge was still long behind her. She knew some kids that weren't learning as quickly as this girl was. She immediately recognised the motion the slime was doing as well since she herself was someone who crafted baskets. For the girl to copy the motion in such detail...it was fascinating.

She stepped out of the way to let the girl do what she wanted to. She was obviously onto something. She was even using the words she'd taught her. It was nice to see her work in action.

At first, she was a little worried when the girl grabbed some of the rice and dumped it onto the table. She usually wasn't a fan of food being dumped like that, since cleaning it was a pain. Still, she didn't complain, the table wasn't bad after all.

She watched as the girl sorted the rice into three piles, one bigger than the other. She couldn't help but smile when the girl sorted them by size and proclaimed one bigger than the other and the other way around. she even figured out smallest. With a gentle smile, she stroked the girl's hair from above, though she removed her hand when she felt the rather stiff hair the slime had. It wasn't like hair at all, it was a solid mass, stuck together. For a moment, she didn't know what to say but composing herself, she managed to get out a 'well done' before she gently put a hand on the table, moving the rice back into the bowl. Perhaps she was being too much of a mother right now but she couldn't stand seeing good grain lying around like that.

Now came a point where she was struggling to figure out what to do. And that was the exact thing she was struggling with, teaching her the unknown. There was nothing she could point at with the unknown. Nonetheless, it would be vital.

Wrapped in a piece of fabric were small wooden lids she liked to use to prevent insects from attacking her berries. She took one before she stood up again from her crouched position, looking around for a pot they hadn't used yet. An empty pot would mean she could teach two lessons at once!

Grasping the nearest empty pot and the pot of rice, she moved both to the table the girl was sitting at, gently putting them on the table's surface.

"Rice," she said, gently tilting the pot so that the girl would be able to see the inside. "Rice inside the pot," she said, gesturing to the rice and then the pot so that she would understand what 'inside' meant. The word itself wasn't necessarily all that important on its own but she needed it to continue her lesson. She proceeded to put the lid on top of the pot of rice before once more tilting it for the girl to see while she held the lid on so it wouldn't fall down. "What is inside the pot?" she asked, putting emphasis on 'what'. She removed the lid afterwards with the word 'rice'.

Quickly checking on the girl, she waited for the telltale sign of her processing this new information before she continued by putting the lid on the empty pot.

"What is inside the pot?" she asked, holding the pot closed with the lid before opening it up for the girl to see. "Nothing," she said, hoping the girl would understand what she meant. Of course, any normal person would understand what she meant, but she had gone full mother mode at this point. Besides, the things she thought natural seemed foreign to this girl. Perhaps it was best to teach her like you would a child. It was what she was best at after all.

Looking around for something else to use, she left the pots behind, swiftly slipping over to the wooden barricade. She lifted it off the wall which didn't look like an easy task, though it was more because of its size and how uncomfortably hard it was pressing against her genitalia.

Setting it up in front of the table, she held it so it wouldn't fall, positioning herself next to it. "Emaline," she said, pointing to herself. She hoped the girl would understand that that was her name but didn't count on it. That was always something that could be revised on later.

"Emaline is next to the barricade," she said, gesturing from herself to the wooden blockade when she pronounced 'next' and to the barricade when she mentioned it. On second thought she should probably have done these in separate sentences but she didn't realise until she had already spoken it.

Now that that was taken care of, she moved in front of the barricade, careful not to let it fall. "Emaline is in front of the barricade" she explained, putting emphasis on 'in front'. This was advanced stuff, but she was confident the girl would understand with one or two more examples. She seemed adept at learning their language after all.

Moving behind the barrier so that she could hold it with both hands, she continued with the lesson. "Emaline is behind the barrier," she said, though she noticed she probably should cover the basics of questions first. Perhaps the girl would think her name was who if she continued like this.

Stepping back to the side of the barrier, she adopted a softer look because she was only focused on addressing the girl now. "You, " she said, pointing at the girl, "know that blueberries are smaller than the house. You know that rice is inside that pot" she explained, pointing at the pot of rice on the table. "What is unknown. um..." she said, trying to find a way to explain it. Satisfied with her choice, she pointed first to her and the girl and the roof and the table. "You and me are different. House and table are different. Known and unknown are...differentest. Differentest is an opposite. Known opposite to unknown."

She pointed at one of the pots the girl hadn't looked in, a larger water pot at the bed. "What is inside pot? Unknown. What is unknown." she repeated, hoping the girl would be able to puzzle the pieces together.

Ever since she'd moved closer to the table the bowls were out of reach, but she could still push one of the stools behind the wall with her hand, even if it was a little awkward and time-consuming.

"What is behind the barricade?" she asked, before pushing the piece of log out with her foot. "Seat!"

Now came the tricky part, but she thought the girl would be able to understand at this point. Moving behind the barrier, she waited for a second before asking "Who is behind the barrier?"

Waiting for another second, she popped out from behind the barrier, moving next to it once more. "Emaline!" she said, smiling victoriously. It wasn't exactly methodical with how much she was revising in the middle of doing it but it was pretty good for spontaneous language lessons.

 

[Sigr]

The slime was somewhat proud since it noticed that the woman was content with the response to her lessons, but also felt a bit of a pause when she touched the slime's hair. Maybe it needed a change, but for that the slime would need to check how hair was and then shift it, something that unnerved the woman before. The slime set those thought aside, as the woman was moving on harder lessons.

"Rice. Inside. Pot" the slime nodded, there were other words in the language the woman spoke that added nuance or helped ironing things out, but that would come with use once the slime knew the basics. "Pot inside house" added, looking for a smile or a nod that confirmed it had the notion right. The next word was harder to handle, it wasn't about material size or position, but about the absence of something material. "Nothing" the slime muttered, unsure. Taking one blueberry more, the slime left in on the table. "Blueberry table" it said, then taking it and eating it added. "Nothing table" looking once more for confirmation.

Getting to learn next, behind and front was easy enough after the explanation, knowing that the thing used by the woman was a barrier or barricade. Maybe it depended on the use, like food. The slime also got the word "Emaline" that seemed to describe the woman, but there were things still to be learned before the slime could get into that notion in detail. "Know table bigger seat. Know barricade inside house" the slime tried to use that new notion about the things it understood, tried to use it in new ways. "Know smallest language. Emaline know biggest language" the slime said, using the size in a quite broad manner.

When it came to explain the notion of what was not known and the questions, many new words were presented to the slime, who tried to parse them all in silence. Like a stone faced spectator, the slime looked at the woman's explanations, adding new ideas to the language it knew, but it was as confusing as interesting.

"You. Me. Different" the slime said. "Pot. Seat. Different" continued. "Biggest. Smallest. Differentest. Opposite" tried to structure, garnering from the woman's reactions if it was in the right way. "Known opposite unknown" the slime paused after that, working with a few words that the woman had said but not explained, trying to learn meaning from their usage. "Pot. What. Rice. What. Table. What" the slime repeated. "Emaline. Who" added afterwards. "What different who" the slime was starting to feel uncomfortable exploring the notion.

As language gave shape to ideas and focused them, the slime started to better understand the difference between what and who, thing and person. It felt bad for eating persons, but not for eating blueberries. But that arose a question, since it was different from the woman, even her said so.

"You Emaline. Me different you" the slime said, its voice sounding lower, even if the expression barely changed it seemed unsteady, doubtful. "You Emaline, you who" nodded. "Me who? Me what?" the slime asked, sounding vulnerable. "Me unknown. Me unknown. Me unknown" repeated, feeling horrible. How to share its troubles with Emaline was difficult with the limited language it had, but wanted to try.

"Me different, me what. Me... house nothing inside" the slime tried to explain. "Me eat. No blueberry. No rice. Me eat... me" the slime touched the face it was wearing. "Me who eat. Me..." the slime doubted, but tried to use a few words from their first meeting. "Me hunting instincts" tried to find an excuse, an explanation, even if it was a poor one. Every feeling was new for the slime and felt overwhelming, as it was the first time it shared the guilt with someone else. "Me nothing. Me empty..." it muttered, clearly in trouble despite the lack of ability to show expressions on that borrowed face.

 

[Jeufufns]

The girl seemed to be grasping things well but as Emaline expected, things were getting a little more difficult for her. Still, she couldn't believe how easy this was so far. Then again, this girl only had to assign meaning to words she already knew in another language right?

The nuances were still missing but she was confident the girl would pick them up at some point. Besides, they weren't that important, at least that's what she thought.

She nodded diligently as the girl tried out the different words she'd just learned, putting them to use, like a child exploring the world. And she got it right too...most of the time. After she'd learned 'on top' as well, she knew how to redo the 'blueberry table' sentences from before.

Smaller and bigger language wasn't exactly correct from a linguistic point of view, but correcting it would only confuse the girl. Better to give her a knowledge of broadly used words than to hammer around on the little things.

Her smile grew a little when the girl grasped the meaning of difference. It was getting harder and harder to see this girl as a grown-up woman. She was learning things like a child. She's had this thought a few times before, but perhaps that had just been her reminiscing over teaching her own child.

But the girl was trying to tell her something. Her voice lowered, doubt flowing into it. It was to be expected when she tried to form sentences with such limited knowledge of the language, but this seemed to be on a whole other level.

Her smile disappeared as the girl continued. The answer to who regarding herself would be Emaline. The question of who regarding herself would be unknown. Perhaps...perhaps this girl was suffering from memory loss. Maybe that was the reason she forgot her language. But usually, that wasn't how it worked. But they didn't know enough about memory loss to say, even Emaline could realise that.

She was describing herself in a very odd light as if there were two of her? She said she housed nothing inside, that she hunted herself? Sounded somewhat philosophical but the girl seemed too confused to be talking about some kind of religious quest.

"You eat......yourself? How?" she asked, realising the girl had no idea of knowing what how meant. This was going to be tricky...

Yet, her curiosity was craving an answer to this mystery.

It was quite practical that she had left the pots and lid on the table. Grasping the lid again, she closed the grain pot before gently tilting it so that the girl could see.

"What is inside the pot?" she asked before lifting the lid, revealing the grain inside. "Grain is inside the pot. I showed you what is inside the pot" she said, growing a little impatient out of excitement.

"Now show me," she asked gently, hoping the girl could elaborate some way. She knew trying to squeeze information out of her was just going to make her lose confidence even further, so she tried to be very gentle about it. She was a very gentle woman, something the slime could clearly feel, so it wasn't hard.

 

[Sigr]

Communication came to a break as the words didn't cover what the trouble was, what the slime felt. There was no way to make Emaline understand, as the slime didn't know her language yet. Even if the slime was feeling down and terribly alone again after finding someone that may had helped it know the world, Emaline didn't give up so easily. "Show. Show..." the slime understood the notion of translating an idea into gestures, visuals, but how to do it with such a complex thing was almost impossible.

If Emaline wasn't going to surrender, the slime wouldn't either. The slime went to the rice pot and returned with a bowl full of it to the table. "Emaline, seat" the slime said, pointing to a seat beside its own. As quickly as possible, the slime made a crude drawing in the shape of stick figures with rice, then next to them, a big circle made of rice. "Me. Different. What" the slime said, pointing at the circle, hoping Emaline understood. "No! Please don't!" the slime added, pointing to the first figure, repeating exactly the first words of the slime Emaline had heard in the forest.

Then, moving the rice grains that formed the circle, the slime surrounded the three figures. Grain by grain, in a gesture that seemed deliberate and painful, the slime undid the figures, incorporating their rice to the big circle. "Me. No what. Who" the slime said, trying to explain how it had stopped being a thing, turned into a person. Using then the grain that formed the circle, it moved them until it became a human shaped stick figure. Picking more rice from the bowl, the slime made some kind of four legged creature and another human. "No! Please don't!" the slime said once more, pointing to the circle turned person. "What are you doing, you're triggering its hunting instincts!" the slime pointed to the new human figure, repeating the same words used by the woman. "Emaline. You" she added, moving its finger from the stick figure to her.

"Me. No what. Who" the slime said sad, pointing at its stick figure, then at its own borrowed face. "Me. Who. Unknown. Nothing. Empty" said, sounding more and more heartfelt as time passed, slowly starting to be able to convey feelings on the tone of voice.

"Show" the slime said, picking up the rice and putting it back as it had seen Emaline do.

 

[Jeufufns]

Emaline felt a little bad for not understanding what the girl was trying to tell her the first time. Of course, she couldn't expect her to teach her perfect language in the span of an hour but maybe she should have tried understanding it more. It definitely sounded logical, but the conclusion was odd. The girl was describing herslef as an animal. She obviously wasn't, she was obviously a person was she? There were a lot of things weird and wrong about her but surely she couldn't be as feral as she described herself?

She looked at the girl with no little amount of curiosity as she scooped up some rice from the rice pot, trying to think of a way to illustrate what she was saying. Sitting down when asked, she watched the girl create a small scene with the help of the grain. The drawing was crude, but nonetheless descriptive enough for her to understand. What confused her was that the girl portrayed herself as a somewhat round object. She was obviously trying to show her difference, but she could still have done that with stick figures if she were a different race. A young girl was protraying herself as some round entity, it didn't add up.

Emaline didn't notice that it was the same set of words she'd heard in the forest, but she understood the meaning of them. The way she portrayed it, it made it seemed like she killed these people. But, the painful expression on her face, unusual for her previous stiffness, told Emaline more than she could have asked for. The girl was no killer, on the contrary. Whatever she was portraying here had deeply effected her.

What she did notice however was that the figure she then created was the same as one of the three people she had displayed earlier and when she also said the same thing, Emaline began to realize what the drawing meant. The girl also shifted her voice when she recited Emaline. Since your own voice sounded different to you, Emaline wasn't able to exactly source this voice to her, but she did realise that the slime went through the trouble of imitating her voice while intentionally leaving out the girl's voice. What happened, why was she like the girl?

In thought, she watched as the girl put the rice back into the bowl. She remembered the girl saying something about hunting instincts before. She was desperately trying to portray herself as some kind of animal yet she couldn't figure out why and she couldn't really ask within the boundaries of the girl's limited vocabulary. And the girl's tone was starting to sound desperate, sorrow mixed in with doubt and regret. There was only one thing a good mother could do.

Without putting any thought to it, Melanie gently leaned forward, carefully wrapping her arms around the girl so that she wouldn't be surprised by it. The hug was gentle, motherly, calming as she shared her warmth with the girl. The still somehow bone and jointless girl. She was really a mystery....

"You.....you said you were nothing. You are the opposite of nothing..." she said, trying to find a way to get more out of the girl. "Thr circle..." she said, reaching over to the rice without breaking the hug. She laid them in a circle before putting the rest back. "Is this...you?" She asked, hoping to find the reason why the girl portrayed herself like this. "But this is you here," she said, rearranging the rice to create a small stick figure. "What changed? Change.....wood changed into roof, barricade, table, seat," she said, forced to explain the word change on the fly. "Show me!" She said, some of her excitement slipping through. She was close to solving the mystery she thought, but she was in for a surprise.

 

[Sigr]

The slime gasped, feeling Emaline's embrace, her gentle touch. That gesture went above and beyond words, making the slime feel better. It still knew that such care, such acceptance even if welcome, was also based on seemingly not understanding the whole story, or so the slime thought. Who would hug a people devouring creature after all? The embrace also gave the slime the chance to feel her close, to learn more about the hair, about the clothes, almost an unconscious process for the sensitive creature.

"The opposite of nothing?" the slime wondered as Emaline broke the hug, having trouble around the concept of being everything. It was true that it could shift into many shapes and that the boundaries of what it could do had been barely tested but still... "Yes, circle" it insisted when Emaline asked, but she soon turned the circle into a human shape, showing that she still didn't quite understand. "Change" the slime nodded, maybe they were on the right track, but Emaline was anxious to know, eager to see. She needed to understand and it seemed that there was no other way to do it, even if it scared her away. "Show? Show" the slime said, getting up from its seat and standing on the room.

It wouldn't be its truest form, if something could be considered that, since the room wasn't big enough, but since it could easily shift its size, the slime decided that it could reveal its true shape without worrying about the size. The girl's started to turn bile green, both skin and clothes, features blurring like a fresh painting drenched in water, until the girl was no more and what remained was a formless emerald lump, a gelatinous sphere that resembled a circle the best it could. Flattened at the base for better support, the slime just stood there, if standing was a definition for something like that.

"Change" the slime said, mimicking the seat that was next to it to perfection. "Change" repeated, into a reproduction of the woman outside, half done basket and all. "Change" said one last time, back to the slime form. It wasn't like the slime was limited to imitate, but it would need more information to really dare to create a shape beyond what it had seen. A small and short tentacle protruded from the mass, pointing at the woman. "Emaline" the slime said with its sad tone, even if there was no mouth to be seen. "Unknown" added, pointing to itself.

 

[Jeufufns]

Emaline nodded reassuringly as the girl tried to evaluate what she'd been told. The girl must understand that whatever had happened Emaline was only curious. She didn't even know if she was supposed to understand in the way she did. This girl was perhaps many things but no killer, surely!

She gently released her from her hug, no longer leaning forward in her seat so that the girl could stand up. She wondered what the girl was going to show her. Whatever she had in mind, however, wasn't coming close to what the girl actually had in mind.

Maybe she should have thought her question over she realised when she watched the girl turn a bile green. Her eyes widened as she tried to grasp the table for some kind of hold, nearly falling off the back of the seat in the process. Her reaction was perhaps understandable, but not very composed with her breath accelerated as she stood up, grasping the seat to pull it away from the girl so she had room to work with.

Old legends of shapeshifters, tales to scare your children if they didn't behave, they didn't quite measure up to the reality of things. Her expression was as much wonder as it was shock watching that...creature changes its shape, yet speak perfectly in every form. The seat was a near perfect copy, the person was...good but the anatomy was off, perhaps due to the distance or angle. Still, it was an incredible display. Just because this girl wasn't able to transform into a human shape yet didn't mean she couldn't teach her.

Wait, was she actually considering teaching this thing? It was dangerous. The drawing made a lot more sense now, but the way it recounted them made her think that the...slime would be more accurate, only realised what she had done afterwards.

That was the whole plot, wasn't it? Emaline wasn't entirely aware what happened, attributing it to a bout of self-reflection after the act rather than obtaining an entirely new consciousness, but she was still right in thinking that the slime regretted what it did and didn't know what it was. Its sad voice and the way it pointed around with that little tendril only underlined her theory. Well...they lived in a world filled with the most wondrous creatures, mermaids, taurs, humanoids of all shapes and colours. There was no reason why there shouldn't be...'semi-solids' as well.

She realised she'd made quite a fool of herself, nearly throwing over that seat, pulling it away, looking frightened. It was her one should be shocked about, not the poor little thing in front of her.

Calmly grabbing the seat she had previously put away, she slid it forward, a little closer than before slowly sitting down, making sure that her smile was calm and her demeanour non-threatening. Once she had adjusted herself a little, she gently outstretched her arm, slowly so that the slime wouldn't feel threatened, before gently starting to pet the back slope of the creature a little. Slowly at first, she soon tried to cover a little more area, not knowing what the slime liked since it was equally gelatinous everywhere. She mainly tried to transmit her warmth, something that seemed to have calmed the slime before.

"I'm a person, Emaline is my name," she said, hoping the slime would understand. "Do you want a name?" she asked, trying to figure out a way to tell her what she meant. But the way she pronounced it and the 'you' and 'name' should probably be indicator enough.

 

[Sigr]

The slime felt bad as it shown that it had not only surprised Emaline, but also scared her. She was brave enough to not panic, to not run outside, but the slime feared that it had lost the first person it had really met, that it had really taught the slime valuable things that went beyond words. But Emaline didn't gave up easily, being much braver than the slime gave credit to. Far from getting away, she approached back once the surprise was starting to fade. The slime flinched a bit when she approached, its form jiggling a little, but it calmed down as Emaline caressed it. The gentle nature of that touch, the warmth she transmitted... the slime didn't have a word for the wide selection of feelings that touch caused, but it was good. The slime hummed softly, strangely similar to the purring of a cat, even if it had never seen one.

"Emaline. Person" the slime said, a little tendril caressing her arm back. "Name. Unknown. Nothing" it added, sounding doubtful. "Name me change person? Me name me person?" the slime wondered if having a name would make it a person. "What change who" added. A name could help the slime being a thing, something to be addressed with a what, and start being who. The slime didn't know who it wanted to be, who it could be, but it knew that it didn't want to keep being a thing made to kill, a weapon. Maybe, just maybe, even if weird, the slime could be a person.

"Yes. Name" the slime begged. "Unknown change known, me person name" added, eager, needy. It just a few hours with Emaline, the slime didn't just learn a bunch of words, but thanks to how expressive she was, how honest she was, it was starting to pick up ways to express feelings beyond words, just with the face and body.

 

[Jeufufns]

Emaline continued her soft, gentle caress of the slime, her smile as warm as sunlight. The slime seemed to like what she was doing, and ultimately being able to trade such intimate actions was what separated the whos from the whats. This slime was obviously a who, she was sure of that. It's humming even reminded her of two cougars she'd seen years ago. They were close together, intimate, purring with content. They were their own type of living being, able to be intimate with each other, but not with people or other animals.

"A name will help make you a person," she said, temporarily forgetting to pay attention to the intricate details of language she had previously so carefully arranged. She felt so comfortable right now...

She didn't know though whether she should give her one or whether the slime should pick one herself. Obviously, the slime had no idea of names, she only knew Emaline's and a few stray words. Perhaps...

"Savia...Savia should be your name," she said, gently petting the slime before continuing to caress it. The slime could change its name later if it didn't like it, but for now, the slime needed to feel like a person and a name was important to achieve that.

"Mother! What are you doing get away from that!" a voice called over from the entrance, filled with shock and indignation.

The voice belonged to a young woman, much younger than Emaline, though since Emaline wasn't that old herself the differences were still subtle.

The girl was curvier than Emaline, a little curvier than any reference might indicate. She was in many ways her father, but her features were very much inherited from her mother. Red lips, black hair with the very slightest curl in them, sharp yet gentle eyebrows. It was impossible not to see the resemblance.

If you knew her father, the rest of her would be easily explained as well. Her father was even curvier than she was, her best greatest defining feature being her well-endowed nethers, something that she inherited. The bulge behind her chord skirt was significantly larger than Emaline's, so much so that you could see the edge of the sack that contained her balls whenever she shifted her weight. The sack was also attached to the top of her manhood with a belt so that it wouldn't hand out even further, but one wouldn't know from an outsider's perspective. From what the slime had seen so far she seemed well above average in that regard, though the rest of her seemed just fine with being average.

Her body had some genetical mutations as well, some that would serve to confuse the slime through the years as they didn't seem to be inherited in most cases. In this case, a pair of cherry-red lips in place of a belly-button which you could see through her white summer blouse.

Apart from her physical attributes and her clothes that seemed identical to Emaline's apart from a different belt, no jewellery and an individualised cut for her, they also seemed to be well-acquainted, at least from the way they spoke to each other. However, none of them seemed exactly happy to see each other right.

"Thiya, you're supposed to be threshing," Emaline called out to the girl, not once halting the gentle ministrations she was giving her new friend.

"And you're supposed to be picking berries," 'Thiya' retorted, obviously in a very hostile mood. Fear of the unknown mixed in with a youthful and rebellious nature.

"At least I have a reason for being here, and you have too now that you brought me on an idea,this'll" she said, prompting Thiya to look even more confused as her mother looked back at the slime.

"She here needs to learn more about human anatomy, what better than a live example. You're going to pose until she can study even single bit of your body, no exceptions," she said, her tone steaming with authority. Even the slime would understand that Thiya had done something wrong. "I've told you before about skipping your duties. Maybe this'll teach you the importance of such matters," she said with an increasingly impatient tone.

While Thiya seemed to dislike what she'd been told, she refrained from giving another reply. Obviously, Emaline seemed to have authority over her.

When Emaline turned back to the slime once more, her voice had gone back to its soft, warm and motherly tone. "Thiya will show you her body," she said, pronouncing the word 'body' while gesturing to her chest with both hands flat. "So you can change to be like us,, " she said, once again gesturing to herself. She hoped the slime would understand, since a lot of the words were grammar-based and the slime had no idea what grammar even was, but this was still something they needed to do. She knew the people around here too well. She was educated, well-traveled, but most others never left their tribe's territory. And there was a difference between accepting a Zadean living in your village and accepting a blob of green goo. There were a lot of things wrong with the slime's approximation from before, so hopefully having a live example would make her look the part. Essentially, this little creature was looking for a way to be someone. So why not teach her to be Taracian? She didn't want to convert her or anything like that, but having a community to grow up in might help the slime develop a sense of purpose it seemed to be lacking. Perhaps she was putting too much trust into this cute little thing she'd only known for today but it was hard not to help a person in distress. And essentially, her not feeling like a person was the problem.

"Is this really necessary..." Thiya complained, but her mother simply waved her off. "The sooner we get this over with the sooner you can get back to threshing. Now please."

"Now..." the mother continued, looking back at the slime. "Don't think of clothing, no clothing. Try to change into Thiya here," she explained with a gentle tone, gesturing to the clothes and Thiya herself when needed. Thiya herself seemed to be in a state of utter confusion, so much so that she forgot to complain about it. Emaline knew that whatever copy the slime created was going to be very off, perhaps not even recognizable as a Taracian, but that was the point of this exercise after all. Soon, the girl could have her own body to be her own person rather than to copy someone she connected some bad memories to.

 

[Sigr]

"Name... Savia..." the slime muttered, the tendril that was caressing Emaline's arm stopped. It wasn't a shock as big as acquiring a conscience, as suffering such transformation and realizing the horror of your acts, but it was important for the slime, and the effects started to feel all along it.

No, not it. Her.

"Savia" she repeated, doubts shed away from her tone, "savia" once more, joyful, her form jiggling a bit. "Who, no what. Me Savia. Me person" she added. Her form was still the one of a big green slime, but that could change, should change, but Savia didn't want to borrow that form again. Not anymore. Her happiness was interrupted as someone new barged into the house, screaming at Emaline, calling her 'mother'. Savia shivered and shrunk a bit, startled, but as Emaline continued her gentle caressing, she started to return to normal, if there was such a thing. It was strange and informative to see that curvier girl that in some accounts was similar to Emaline but in others she wasn't. Savia hasn't been made the old fashioned way, as she was the product of ancient magics, both forsaken and forgotten, so she didn't yet understand the whole scope of the relationship between those two women.

"Thiya" Savia voiced, "Emaline. Savia" she said the three names, making sure she was understanding things well. "Body, change" Savia repeated the key words from Emaline's instructions. "Change Thiya, no clothes" she added. Savia had been keeping herself away from the argument between the two, since she didn't understand part of what was being said nor the context, even if it all got registered by her. Savia moved away from Emaline, slithering around Thiya in circles but still keeping her distance from the newcomer girl that was clearly uncomfortable with the idea. After a couple laps, Savia stopped, humming pensive for a moment. Even if told to avoid clothing it wasn't an easy task, but she wanted to try.

Savia rose to occupy a height that was about Thiya's and after changing color to one matching her skin tone, she started to acquire what was a humanoid shape, but soon started to look more and more like a woman, and after what seemed long but was in fact about a minute after she started, Savia looked more and more like Thiya. There were a lot of details to manage, and while Savia didn't never stop looking at Thiya with her senses, now she had eyes to take care of. The trouble of managing all those small parts was a nuisance, the hair was a pain, including brows, eyelashes... but the main parts of it were more or less done in another minute, leaving a quite good copy, if it wasn't for her body from the upper thighs to the neck.

"Clothes, body unknown" Savia protested. Little she could do for her breasts, working for the size but not only lacking an aureola or a nipple, but also feeling a bit too perky, like hold in position by invisible clothes. The oh so special bellybutton was odd and lacking color, but the worst part was Savia's groin. A lump of shapeless flesh just was there, making up for a bulge, but not much else. She could try matching what she had saw up Emaline's skirt, but since she asked for Thiya there was no way of Savia to know that both women had similar equipment down there.

 

[Jeufufns]

There was perhaps nothing more joyful than seeing a little creature such as this not only come to terms with it but also embrace an identity it previously lacked. The slime had a name now, it felt like someone. And Savia seemed to love it as well, jiggling about. It was adorable.

Now if Thiya could stop looking like fear itself had entered their house that would be very helpful. The slime was like a child, formed by its surroundings even more so due to its nature, or so she figured. Thiya's fear could make the slime uncomfortable, not to mention it was bad manners.

It was a wondrous experience to see the slime change, first rising up to Thiya's height. Of course, the young woman nearly stumbled back in response, her fear growing exponentially.

"Mother!" she exclaimed, prompting her mother to glare at her. "This is our guest, treat her like you would your own flesh and blood as she will be staying with us," she said. Thiya stared at her with a confused glance, but at least it distracted her from the slime's transformation.

Still, it was wondrous for both to watch. Emaline was in awe, yet Thiya seemed somewhat horrified. The girl was making a copy of her and a bad one at that. The face was.....accurate but off just a little bit, though that was more a feeling than something she could put her finger on. Her body though....her body was an abomination.

Thiya looked at her mother with disgust, so much so that Emaline had to intervene.

She stood up, walking towards her daughter, putting her hand on her shoulder as she tried a more gentle approach. She seemed to like being gentle, as she had been somewhat uncomfortable issuing commands like before.

"Please...Thiya. This girl is part of a previously unknown species. She's lost, she doesn't feel like a person, she's lonely. Teaching her our language has given her so much joy, not to mention when I gave her a name. Please Thiya, she will be your adoptive sister for the time coming. Please help her feel like one of us," she appealed to her daughter, gesturing to Savia.

Thiya looked up at the badly done copy of hers, looking much less fearful than before. In fact, she looked disappointed, disappointed of herself. "Are you...really sure about this mother?" she asked, prompting a nod from Emaline. Emaline hadn't been so sure about something in a long time. All her motherly instincts were practically screaming to give Savia a new home.

"Fine..." she mumbled, taking a step forward to be closer to Savia.

Her mother looked quite proud, though one couldn't be sure of whom as she approached the two, taking up a position next to them so she could see where the slime would nee some work. The copy was better than the first one but still needed some work.

"Try to pay attention to the eyebrows, lashes and hair," Emaline said with a gentle tone, gently touching each part on Thiya's body. The slime would notice that her eye blinked when Emaline touched the lashes, something that seemed like a reflex. Not only that but blinking, in general, was something the slime would have to learn if she wanted to pass as one of them. "feel," she said, trying to explain the meaning of that word to the slime as she gently stroked the eyebrow. "Feel them to change better. They are different."

She knew that this was probably the most complicated task after realising that the reproductive organ was probably the easiest and not as hard as she had previously thought. It was important for the slime to realise the difference between the three types of hair the body had, as these would always be used. Or at least on Taracians.

 

[Sigr]

Savia couldn't understand most of the discussion between Emaline and Thiya, but she could feel the tone of their voices changing as it progressed, seeing Thiya slowly go from fear and disgust to a degree of tolerance and trust, all thanks to Emaline abandoning her unusual hard tone and being back to her most gentle self. Savia didn't like how sad Thiya seemed to be, having a bit of trouble parsing disappointment, and she felt lighter, happier, when Thiya slowly stepped up closer.

Emaline approached as well, her tender words echoing her gestures, her touch as she caressed Thiya's face. The closer Savia was, the more wondrous, complex and fascinating Thiya seemed. Her skin, even if smooth, it had small things here and there, be them a small mole or a cute wrinkle that vanished depending on the expression. Savia slowly and carefully extended an arm, brushing her hair with those borrowed fingers, traveling along the brow with a thumb, barely even touching an eyelash. And it wasn't just how it looked and felt, the behavior was fascinating, seeing how the hair fell when left alone, how her face changed almost imperceptibly, not to mention somewhat rhythmic things like breathing or blinking. Savia lacked the need for those, so until she grew accustomed to do them automatically, she had to be focusing on them. Breathing was easy as it followed a mostly stable pace, but blinking was still a bit unnerving, as it seemed to happen at random and Savia couldn't be sure when it was too much and when too little.

After a few minutes in front of that surreal mirror, Savia backed off a bit, her face the perfect image of Thiya, and yet not. A stranger couldn't tell them apart, but for anyone that knew her, it was obvious by her expressions, her behavior, that it wasn't her. "Change better" Savia said. Thiya still looked surprised, suspicious, perhaps even a bit scared or disgusted, but Savia couldn't help but smile and nod, and would give Thiya her thanks if she knew how. "Body unknown. Clothes?" Savia wondered what to do next. The skin wasn't the same in all the body than in the parts she could see, but it was a good enough approach to cover that part. Her torso was still a barren land, a clean slate to work on. She could try to mimic Thiya's clothes and fix what seemed to give her trouble, judging by the look on her eyes, but Savia waited to see what Emaline thought of her efforts.

 

[Jeufufns]

Thiya still didn't quite know what to think, but this thing seemed curious more than anything. Still, she didn't trust it. Why was it here? Why was her mother so keen on keeping it? Why did it want an identity so badly?

Was it even part of the higher races or an animal looking to be like them? Like an adoring pet? Her mother had taught her language, rudimentary language at least, so that spoke for the former. She just felt uncomfortable being prodded like this.

Still it was a little fascinating to see this creature change like this. She didn't want to admit it, but she would be forced to do so soon enough.

Emaline looked proud of Savia as she changed more and more of her body to resemble Thiya. Soon, the skin fit, the hair was different, the muscles were starting to be defined in her jaw. It was fun to watch.

And as the slime took a step back, a look of shock entered Thiya face. She gently reached forward, stroking gently along Savia's cheek to feel the warmth and texture. Furthermore, she reached to the back of her head, gently running her hand through the dark hair that perfectly resembled her own. Even the slight curl was perfectly copied.

"I...I can't believe this..." she whispered, a smile appearing on her face. It grew as she touched the eyebrowd above, gently prodded her chin or traced her jawline with her finger. "It's perfect...absolutely perfect!" She exclaimed, seemingly very excited. It was amazing to see yourself in such detail, having only seen herself in reflections. Not even the bronze mirrors that the higher families sometimes carried were this accurate.

Seeing her daughter prod at Savia in awe, she got an idea. Maybe her daughter would be a little better at helping the girl if she got invested into it. Maybe if she gave the slime something to work with, Thiya would be excited enough to loosen up. At least she hoped so. She wanted the two to be comfortable with each other's company.

"Very good." She said gently stroking through Savia's hair twice, the only way she knew how to communicate a job well-done to the girl.

"Now, the hands." She said, gently grasping Thiya's left hand with her own and lifting it up. "Fingers," she said, drawing her finger along Thiya's. "Joints" she said, touching all the joints in the finger she was currently on. "Wrist," she continued, drawing her finger down to the wrist where she made sure to highlight the vein. "Arm," she finished, drawing her finger up Thiya's arm, only stoppint to mention the elbow and shoulder. Constructing the arm wouldn't be as easy as she put it though. There was a lot more visible muscle action going on, not to mention joints and fingerprints. A challenge, but if Emaline had learned anything about the slime, it was that she was eager and willing to learn, no matter how hard the lesson.

"Now, change." She said, gently letting go of the arm. Thiya herslef lifted her hand up to Savia, allowing her to grasp it. It felt nice and above all reassuring. What better way to know if you're attractive than being attracted to your own copy? Her age made her think about those things a little more, not to mention she had a girlfriend and seeing herself like this put a positive spin to nearly all of those thoughts

 

[Sigr]

As Savia stood, glad that Emaline's eyes shone with approval, it was Thiya's reaction the one that surprised her. As the girl caressed her, played with her hair, Savia could feel a newfound warmth inside her that she couldn't quite name, a feeling that she didn't have yet a word for, nor an outlet to express. Leaning in to Thiya's touch, yearning for more, glad that her words and face reflected acceptance, Savia smiled back to her. "Hands, arm. Elbow, shoulder" Savia voiced, as Emaline had found a new task for her, to keep completing her mirror form.

As Thiya lifted her hand, this time being more than willing to let the strange newcomer touch her, Savia soon hold her hand with both her own crude copies. Her fingers traveled along the contour of the nails, and delicately picking the tips of Thiya's fingers, she moved them to see how they flexed. If the lines on the palm of Thiya's hands were a map, the ones on the fingertips were a labyrinth, a complex detailed pattern that almost didn't change how the skin felt unless you were as sensitive as Savia. Touching past the knuckles, Savia touched the veins around the hand and specially the wrist in awe, marveling at the pulse of Thiya's blood.

"Thump, thump" Savia voiced, trying to follow the beat along Thiya's arm, caressing her with the palm of her hand as she did so. It would be a task impossible for a person, but Savia had an easier time doing so, so her hand ended up resting above Thiya's heart, feeling her heartbeat and her breath. "Hands, arm, elbow, shoulder" Savia reminded herself, returning to inspect the joints and wonders of Thiya's upper limbs. Leaving Thiya's arm after inspecting the shoulder and armpit with her fingertips, she reached to take Thiya's other arm. "Different" she whispered, traveling the length of it, even if faster since most of the differences were small details that normally wouldn't be visible.

Stretching her arms in front of her, between Savia and Thiya, she focused on changing them, an almost invisible ripple moving along the length of both limbs. They were arms before, but lacked detail, like a blurry reflection or the sight of someone with troubled vision, they lacked definition, specially with their working of the joints. A few seconds later, they were perfect, as Thiya herself had said before, and Savia left them risen for both women to inspect them. "Good?" she asked, hopeful.

 

[Jeufufns]

Emaline looked prouder than anything Thiya's seen in a very long time. Her mother must think highly of this creature and this was...a little more fun than she gave it credit for.

And she had to admit the results were astounding. She still couldn't stop looking at that copied face of hers. It was just so accurate she couldn't believe. The movement was still a little awkward, like the blinking or the muscles, but the slime was getting better and better at simulating them. Not to mention what she had done with the arms. She had almost doubted the slime a little as she roamed over her own, though she should have known that to be a mistake. Now, she was staring at just a little more of herself. Those slender, feminine fingers, they were hers alright.

Taking the slime's hands in her own, she could scarcely believe how similar they looked. Just holding them was enough to make their similarities painstakingly apparent. And they felt human now too, human movement, perhaps a little stiff on the muscles, but with experience...

"It's very good," she said with delight on her face as she studied the changes, her excitement growing once more. And perhaps some more mischievous thoughts entered her mind as well.

She turned to her mother as she stroked gently Savia's hair, showing her approval. It was cute to see Savia enjoy it, even if she didn't show the mannerisms a person would. Now that she thought about it, there were a lot of reflexes and reactions that wouldn't seem entirely logical. The slime would have to learn them. Or was she still child-like enough to be able to learn them simply through being raised by them? It was hard to tell with something like that...or someone she should probably say.

"Thiya, there's still a lot to go over," Emaline said as she withdrew her hand from Savia's hair. She was right, they still hadn't fixed that weird looking torso...not to mention that rather creepy attempt at genitalia.

"Are you sure?" she asked one last time, prompting a gentle nod from her mother. At least it was a sign that she'd taught her daughter well when it came to decency, at least around strangers.

Glancing at the door to be sure there was no way people could look in from the street, she lowered her hands to the hem of her blouse where it was tucked into the skirt before gently pulling it up. This was the first time the slime would be allowed to watch someone disrobe, which probably wasn't too important a practice to remember for now but still rather interesting. It also allowed her to watch how the shoulders moved in peculiar ways.

But above all, it allowed her a view of one of the most pleasing sights a being had to offer. There was a reason after all why they were so squeamish about undressing, even if the slime perhaps wouldn't realise all these things at first. But even the slime would be able to appreciate the sight of a round and full pair of breasts, though perhaps for different reasons.

Thiya's slender torso came into view. Work had allowed her to be in great shape and her bosom was perkier than you would expect, though with average sizes being higher, one would expect such a thing for evolutionary reasons. Nonetheless, it was round, firm yet so irresistibly soft with milky white skin that begged to be touched. Nipples, plump in appearance decorated the tips of those magnificent mounds. So shiny was their skin, so tantalising in shape and form that the concept of clothes would become even more confusing to the slime, at least until she realised the concepts of warmth, protection and reward.

Her lower lips were also quite enticing as well. Plump and red, they had replaced her belly button. They were by no means the same as above, a little plumper and without teeth, yet they were just as beautiful. She seemed to be able to breathe through it as well, even talk, though the slime wouldn't know that yet. Perhaps she was not the best example to start with, as the anatomy of those with a second mouth were a lot more complicated than most other mutations as it required a lot of internal organs to be modified and or moved, but it would be a while until the slime would get a look at human anatomy in detail anyway.

"Ah, thiya! we forgot something!" Emaline exclaimed, turning to her daughter once more. "Open your mouth. What good is it to have two if there's nothing correct inside," she explained rather rapidly, forcing Thiya to have to think for a second before nodding. Shifting her weight slightly, she opened her mouth as far as she could for the slime to study the insides. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about being probed inside of her, grunting slightly when the slime tried to inspect it. The slime wouldn't need to master every detail, it was just supposed to look right...right?

"Change!" Emaline said, smiling as she turned to the slime. "Mouth," she explained, gesturing to both of Thiya's examples. "Lips," she said, this time more carefully drawing her finger over the lower lips of each mouth. "Torso," she explained, running her hand from Thiya's shoulder down to the skirt. Making sure the slime had understood, she continued, her voice remaining as soft as ever. "Waist," she explained, gently cupping Thiya's with her hands before releasing her again. "Breast," she explained, gesturing to Thiya's bosom. Thiya looked a little irritated as if she were afraid her mother would prod her again but seemed to relax again when she didn't. "Nipple," she finished, pointing to the plump nubs crowning Thiya's bosom. Perhaps being thorough and innocent at first was a good approach before teaching the slime modesty. the slime didn't know enough language or just general things about society yet to understand.

 

[Sigr]

Savia enjoyed the compliments, the touching, the caresses causing a strange kind of warmth inside. She leaned towards every pat, every squeeze of her form, brushing of her hair, craving the loving touch, the acceptation. Maybe she wasn't all that bad, maybe she could be good and make amends for what she did when mindless, although those lives couldn't be returned anymore. Savia noticed the questions, the stares between Emaline and Thiya, the younger one glancing at the door. Something was going on differently than it had happened until that moment, and it seemed to be related to revealing the body under the clothes. Savia kind of understood that it wasn't something to be done in front of everyone, although she was far from understanding when and where was appropriate.

The reveal gave lots to think about to Savia. First it was the matter of how the mouth was constructed, how many things it hide inside, each of them with their own function. Savia leaned in, her face close to Thiya's as she inspected her mouth, touched her lips. She noticed a wince of discomfort when she tried to touch the tongue, seeing it move and coil like it was a different living being. It was quite interesting, and the mouth itself was wet inside, so Savia tried to mimic the contents of it the best she could, even if the complexity of it called for a more detailed examination. The navel mouth was a bit easier, as it was simpler but it was still a daunting challenge to mimic parts without knowing the workings that made them useful. For now, it would have to suffice, as she was reserving some interesting bits for last.

Savia touched and caressed Thiya's waist, trying to replicate the curve of it, how it flexed, but her eyes were stuck to her breasts. The shape and color were easy enough to do, but while Thiya's seemed to jiggle when she moved, only to return to their set position. Savia wanted to touch, to explore, but she had seen how Thiya had looked at Emaline and how she didn't touch them while explaining the names of each part, so Savia was wary.

"Ah, feel?" Savia asked, her eyes moving from Thiya to her breasts. "Change better. Feel" she tried to explain, asking for permission to touch her there. Savia took one of Thiya's hands to Savia's breasts, showing that it was fine and so that she could feel that they weren't right, not yet. "Feel?" she asked again.