Huh?
Yeah, it was probably nothing but a dream... Where was I yesterday? Oh yeah. I was on day 15...
So on the 15th day of my graciously extravagant snail-life, I woke up extra early because I needed to prepare for our meeting with the Spiked-shelled snails. I poked my head out of my shell and felt the humid and hot air. Luckily the sun was still blocked out or it would have been hotter. 'Thank you clouds, whatever your planning, you are doing us a good.' I thought. 'Today is going to be another busy day.'
If only they knew my revenge was still in the works. Remember that 100+ step plan of my revenge against those clouds? Yup, I had not forgotten about it. That day's diplomacy plan was part 3/100+. I knew that I couldn't attack the clouds alone. I knew I needed some allies to fight to clouds with me. For that I must recruit allies that will help me and the Spike-shelled snails were perfect.
Throughout my 14th day of life, my awesome diplomacy team and I made an A-F part plan to quell their spikiness and eventually get them to join us.
Part A involved an offering. Yes, we were going to tear apart part of our leaf and give it to them in an act of peace. I mean the only way to get closer to another snail is through their stomach right? Well, that's what I thought at least.
Part B of the plan was to get more friendly to them. I mean we don't know if we can even talk to the other snails properly. I mean our language that we sort of felt out was made up of some sort of primitive mind to mind connection and body language. I mean our language just popped out of the blue like something just clicked in our minds. Well, at least it was to me. I could only imagine how it was for my siblings. Maybe they had already learned to understand each other first and I was the slow one?
...
If part B didn't work, we would go into part C. Part C was to just "C" their reaction if we stayed for a long period of time. For all we knew, they were actually friendly-snails. What was part D? There was not part D of the plan as we don't have Dic... never mind. Moving on, we had part E. Part E of the plan was the last resort. If our relationship could not be mended and we can't understand each other than it was time to give up. E stood for escape! It was to get the hell out of there quickly.
I know you want to know what plan F was. Unlike the other parts of the plan, part F was thought out by 60 herself. We shut down the idea immediately, but she convinced us to consider it. Just like parts C and E of our plan, the F stood for something. And that was it. That was our multistage plan. I know right? It was hardly a plan. But it was to us at the time.
What? You want to know more about plan F? I don't want to talk about it.
...
After 7, 60, 11, and Timmy woke up, we went to the edge of our leaf. I began to cut parts of the leaf into bits. With the help of 7 and the rest of crew, we stuck them without mucous in a pile to my shell to carry. Soon I weighed probably twice my normal weight. The stack of green on my shell was probably quite a sight. If only we had a camera, the photo would have been hilarious.
Excuse me and my language...
While we prepared for our trip, our adventuring team led by Mistra approached us. She pointed to herself and her group and the branch. She was telling me that they were leaving. I gave them all a gentle pat on the back and told them to be careful and come back in one piece.
They were able to find a leader amongst themselves without my help. It was that day that I noticed that my siblings could probably take care of themselves without my help...
Soon our diplomacy group left as well. "Onwards to peace and new friends," I yelled out. Just as we were about to leave our leaf, I heard or I guess I felt something. It was a crack and some sort of rustling. I moved with my group to the edge of the leaf and looked around at our tree and the branches near us. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The tree was peaceful. I could see the shells of our adventuring team moving down the branch and the fuzzy shells of the Spiked-shelled snails in the distance.
Nothing.
Then I saw some movement beneath our branch. Some large creature with had broken a branch trying to get closer to something. I think it bent over. With two large arms and hands, it began to pick something off the trunk of the tree and into some sort of container.
I pointed downwards and my siblings all stared as well. The size of the beast was colossal. Well, it was the biggest thing we had seen yet. I mean we haven't seen much, but still.
As we watched, the unknown creature seemed to turn its fur covered head around as if it was checking for something. Then it slowly stalked off into the distance. It moved like it didn't want to be seen or detected or something.
'Weird.' I thought. 'Luckily it didn't notice us and pick us up.'
But it did pick up something else. At the time, I didn't know what it was, but now I do. Remind me later. I'll tell you about it after I finish telling you about my 15th day of life...
So as a group, we slowly slid towards our neighbourly leaf. It took a little more than an hour to reach them. I mean if were only me, it would have been faster, but I had to wait for my siblings. As we approached, the Spike-shelled snails began slid up. It looked like they were expecting us as they made a wall of snail bodies that blocked us from entering their leaf.
'Well, I guess our first meeting could have gone better.' I thought to myself as I slid closer to the giant snail that was positioned in the middle of them. I assumed it was the leader snail that chased me off a few days ago.
Slowly, I used my muscular foot and pulled the stack of leaves off my back. 'Don't drop it.' I told myself. I could feel the tension in the air build as they stared me down. Slowly beads of mucous began building up on my face as I stared up at their leader as I placed the leaf pile in from of them.
I didn't know if they were preparing to attack or not. We didn't understand their language, and their leader chased me off the last time. There was no reaction. There was no noise, nor any movement from them.
As planned, I moved back slowly. The leader didn't move and looked at me instead as I slid backwards. 11 moved up to take my place. In a calm voice, she tried to talk to their leader. "This is our peace offering. Let's be fellow snails and try to mend our relationship," she said. In reaction, all the snails started to stare at us, well me.
Silence. Our party stared at theirs and they stared back at us for a few minutes.
I moved up once more. "Don't be afraid I said, I am a snail just like you are. I love leaves. I might eat too much sometimes, but we eat leaves. Don't be afraid. We are friendly snails." I said as I took a bite of leaf pile to show that it was to safe to eat.
Our group kept staring at each other until little Timmy who had hitched a ride on 7's shell slid off and onto the leaf pile. He picked up one of the leaves and carried it on his back. That cute bugger called Timmy moved slowly and offered the leaf to the leader.
And then minutes later Timmy reached their leader. 'How brave of you little Timmy' I thought. Slowly their leader-snail raised their foot and collected the leaf from Timmy. The leader let out a small screech and the wall of snails began to disassemble. It was like they were showing their peacefulness as well.
And that was it for Day 1. "We need to take our time with them," I told 7, 60, 11, and Timmy. "We shouldn't overstay our welcome since we got part A out of the way. We'll come back tomorrow and try to complete part B."
"It looks like they are inviting us to stay. I want to stay." said Timmy.
"Me too." said 60.
Like a controlling father, I grabbed both of them with my muscular foot and placed them on my shell as 7 and 11 watched. "We will come back tomorrow." I told them sternly. I looked at their leader and gave them a nod as I turned around and left.
We returned ate and slept in our shells on our leaf that night.
Well, that was at least what I thought. 60 had other plans. She snuck back without me noticing. She spent her night with the Spike-shelled snails.
Now that I think about it, she probably went for part F of her plan on her own because on the 16th day...
Summary of Day 15: We saw a mysterious creature and improved our relationship with the Spiked-shelled snails.
+ 1 strength
[Quest: Diplomacy with the Spiked-shells] (updated)
[Spike-shelled Snail Colony] (updated)
Relationship rating: 0*
Status: Neutral