I woke up on day 14. It was very hot, but the sun was nowhere to be seen. You probably can guess who it was by now. It was the usual culprit. Yup. The gang of clouds had blocked out the sun and that included a specific cloud who taunting me with its fluffiness.
'I guess, the trial by the heavens isn't coming today.' I thought to myself. I didn't taunt them nor did I do anything in response. 'One day I'll get my revenge, just you wait.'
...
'Today is going to be a busy day.' I thought to myself.
I spoke to a bunch of my siblings the day before and I planned to give them some work to do. I was going to hand them out tasks and sort them out into teams.
The experience I had with 7 the other day had cleared my fuzzy mind. I learned from 7 that I wasn't the ultra-snail no, WE were the ultra-snails. We had superior snail-genes running through us that made us superior to other snails. I learned that I couldn't put all the responsibility for everything on myself. I was only one snail. But we were a family of over a hundred snails. 'We should all be able to have some responsibility for our survival.' I thought the night before.
All I had to do was to take the first step and put my trust in them.
...
As I waited for my siblings to wake up, I ate my breakfast of some leaf with some special leaf spread that was also made of leaves. I also drank my cup of daily leaf juice that would power me through the day. Yup. I gorged myself on the leaf. Somehow I was always hungry but I didn't eat too much. I didn't want to destroy the leaf we were on.
As my siblings woke up one by one, I went through the things I had to do in my mind.
On the list of to-dos were: negotiations with the Spike-shelled snails and exploration of our branch. I was already thinking of the teams that we should be making to get these done.
I was sure I pissed off the Spike-shelled Snails from the day before during my immaturity. But can you really blame me? I was only 12 days old back then. Now that I was 14 days old, I felt that I was ready. I needed a good negotiating team that could cover up my flaws.
I thought about who to place into my negotiation team all night. I needed 7, he has proven himself very, very helpful so I had to have him on my team for sure.
I was thinking about 60, and probably 11. 60 was very attractive for a snail. I mean I was honestly jealous of her sleek shiny shell which had a multitude of colours that were perfectly blended and balanced. Her body was sleek and thin. And unlike my giant foot and disgusting mucous, hers gave her a shiny attractive sheen.
'Maybe her charm will be super-useful?' I thought.
And why 11? I felt like she was better than me at speaking. I admit, I probably wasn't suited for negotiating and diplomacy. There was something about her way of speaking that was very formal and straightforward. "Although I accept you as the leader, I demand you respect me." She said to me the day before. "Of course little sis," I replied. Just that firmness and straightforwardness may be helpful. Also, she was little special, her shell was completely black...
'We also needed other teams. We needed a team to explore the leaf. We needed a team to take care of spreading out the resources. We needed a team that specialized in defending the colony... There was so much planning to do.' I thought to myself.
...
When all my siblings had awakened that morning, I walked up to an unoccupied spot and started to preach towards them.
"Sisters and brothers. Today is a groundbreaking day. We need to get organized and I need your help. I have learned that the job of protecting our family isn't for one snail alone. We all need to work together. Today, we will make two teams. The first team will be the negotiating team which would be led by me. 7, 11, and 60 you will join me. I found some other snails the other day and I need your specific skills when I talk to them. Can you three join me here?"
I watched as the 7, 11, and 60 left the crowd of my snail-blings and joined me. I watched as my other waited for me to call them out as well. If felt warm in my heart. Finally, we had our first family moment where we understood each other and I guess we finally became inclusive. I mean I probably became inclusive and more accepting.
Instead of assigning them roles I allowed them to choose for themselves.
"Next I need some adventurous snails. I'm sure some of you are like me and want to explore the lands. If you have that urge to explore, a strength and speed to travel far and wide, and the determination to make it back and report on what you have found to us, please come up and stand beside us."
After a brief pause, a few snails slid up and joined us. They were all named snails: Sim, Hans, John, Mistra, Shadow, and Jenn. 'Good I thought to myself. They are some of the stronger snails.' Then I continued my speech.
"For now, we only need two teams, but I'll be making more soon. Don't worry and keep being your snail-selves for now."
I spoke to the Adventuring team first.
"Hey, brothers and sisters. I'm happy you all volunteered." I said. "It's no problem. I feel like I was meant for this," said Shadow. "Like from our past-lives or something right?" replied Mistra. "Yes, absolutely honey," said John.
I stared at John and didn't question his choice of wording here. Without batting an eyestalk, I continued.
"We need to explore the rest of the branch. I only got to the two leaves closest to us and I ate one of them." I coughed. It was a mannerism that was kind of weird for a snail, but I didn't think too much about my own actions. "On the second leaf is a colony of other snails that 7, 60, 11, and I are going to speak to. We hope to have a good relationship with them. I hope you all can explore our whole branch."
"I can feel the sense of treasure," said Sim suddenly. "Let's go!" And he turned around and left the meeting. 'How rude.' I thought to myself. Hans chased after him and said while sliding away. "I'll go after Sim and bring him back."
I shook my head and continued. "It took me one day to travel to and back from the second leaf a few days ago so you'll probably need a week to explore the whole branch and come back. Take today to prepare and set out tomorrow. Remember to eat extra-leaves and take care of yourselves."
"Okay boss."
"Yes."
"Yasssss!"
"...'
They replied. I dismissed them to let them prepare for their trip. I spent the rest of the day speaking with 7, 60, and 11. As we were discussing our negotiation plans, we were interrupted by a tiny, high-pitched voice.
"Hello Big Brother"
I looked all around me and literally did a twirl. I couldn't find the source of the voice.
"I'm here!" It said.
7 tapped me on my shell and sure enough, there was a snail on my back. It was Timmy, he was one of the smaller snails and he didn't look like he had grown even a little bit since he hatched.
"Hey, what's up?" I said to him. "I want to help! I can be useful" he replied. 'He's tiny weak and probably won't be able to pressure or convince the Spike-shelled snails.' I thought. I looked more closely at him and all the snails around me, I paused and decided to go with my gut instinct...
"Okay! Welcome to the team." I replied. Of course, I said yes. I wasn't going to say no to one the smallest and cutest of my siblings. How could I do that? I'm not a monster. I'm a snail.
We continued our meeting and I looked forward to our attack... I mean our negotiations with the Spiked-shelled snails the next day.
We slept soundly in our shells that night.
Summary of Day 14: I made groups. We prepared.
+ 1 leadership
+ 1 charisma
+ 1 humility
[Quest: Defend the Colony] (updated)
Snails: 147
Adventurers: 6
Diplomacy: 5
Defected: 5
[Quest initiated: Explore the Branch!]
[Quest initiated: Diplomacy with the Spiked-shells]