Humanoid Road 1 – Jungle and Coins

It went quite smooth for the longest while. The winds were a bit turbulent, but Apexus managed to shake off the salty breeze and eventually they reached ashore. Water gave way to green plain and green plain was exchanged for the dense forest. It sprung up rather suddenly, like a verdant green wall.

With it came the noises. Buzzing insects and singing birds were among the more pleasant things. More discomforting where the screams. Mating calls and war cries by apes and other primates, ready to defend their territory, echoed past the canopies. Large cats and bears roared in response, using the individual might of their lungs to overpower the bellowing of the groups. The jungle was full of life and all of it competed over resources that became limited by the sheer number of different lifeforms it could sustain.

Fundamentally, Apexus found it interesting. A place so teeming with different forms of life should have been heaven for someone like him. There were so many kinds of meat, fruit and fibre to taste and replicate. Unlikely that he could keep anything permanently, given that the time such information was saved inside his nucleus was limited, but that didn’t suppress his curiosity.

The endless torrent of sounds, however, was just horrible. It only got worse when Apexus broke through the canopies, his mass creating a tunnel for Aclysia to follow through. Ivy and taut, rope-like plants spanning between the immense branches blocked their path. Their actions only sent the surrounding fauna into even more of a shrieking frenzy.

Eventually, everything that could scream had cleared the immediate area and Apexus managed to find a spot to land between the trees. The ground was covered in roots, small plants and stone. Very little actual soil was visible. Even the plants were desperately competing for what nourishment they could find. Moss and mushrooms capitalized on every last weakness they saw, infesting bark and other surfaces.

While Reysha slipped off his back, Apexus said, “Screeching forest.”

“Jungle,” Aclysia corrected in a friendly fashion, landing elegantly. “Rainforest, perhaps, but ‘screeching forest’ is not something that is said.”

“Am aware… I am aware,” Apexus made a sour face, of all the mistakes he made speaking, that one just refused to go away completely. “I do remember those words, I just think that’s a more apt description of the way things are around here.”

“I can certainly see your point,” the metal fairy nodded, looking up to a pack of monkeys that was reclaiming the branches they had crashed through. They started mockingly shouting after just a few moments of observation, jumping in the trees. Especially the juvenile primates seemed intent on getting a bit closer and throwing pieces of dead bark at the trio.

They had encountered adventurers before and knew that even the winged ones couldn’t harm them up there in the trees. By the time Aclysia would have opened her wings, they would already be three trees removed from their current location. As far as Apexus was concerned, even after morphing back into his humanoid shape, he was simply too large to take off the ground. The space between the trees wasn’t large enough to gain the necessary speed to break through the canopies. He was, effectively, grounded.

“SHUT UP!” Reysha screamed and grabbed one of her throwing knives. It cut through the air but ultimately missed the target. Not because of the loud warning she had given, but because she simply missed. The knife slammed into a branch next to a juvenile’s head and got stuck there. Intimidated enough, the pack decided to move somewhere else for entertainment.

“Did you have to use a knife?” Aclysia asked.

“What, did you want to keep those fuckers around?” Reysha wondered and brushed some of her crimson mane back. “No idea how bad it is for you two, but hearing them scream with four ears is ABSURDLY obnoxious.”

“I would simply suggest you use a pebble.” The metal fairy bowed down and picked a moss-covered rock off the ground. It was a bit too big to be thrown properly, but it served as an example. “Since you effectively just threw a silver coin away.”

“Ah, uh,” Reysha looked down on what she had remaining in terms of throwing knives. Then she looked up the tree. “Right, can’t really retrieve that from way the fuck up there… Well, I guess I could climb?” Before she could test that thesis, Aclysia had already taken off the ground and hovered up to that branch. It took her a bit of pulling, but she eventually freed the knife and returned with it. “Couldn’t you have done that from the start?” Reysha asked, as she took the knife back.

“Yes, but would you learn if I did so?” the metal fairy answered with a question of her own.

“Why a silver?” Apexus asked out of nowhere.

“I require a more elaborate question, darling,” Aclysia turned to him with a patient smile. Everything that gave her an excuse to converse more with her beloved smile was a welcome topic.

“I want to know why the throwing knife costs a silver.” He gestured at the weapon as it slid into the holster among its nine brethren. “It’s just sharpened iron. Shouldn’t they take the amount of iron needed to forge such a thing as coin, plus a little extra for the work?”

Between copper and silver were actually two more kinds of coins. The categorization of coins followed the kinds of identification cards the Adventurer’s Guild handed out, being ten different metals of ascending value. Copper, bronze, iron, silver, gold, platinum, titanium, Azurust, Orichalcum and, lastly, Divinium. All were used in equipment forging to some degree, copper mostly in very basic magic channelling charms, giving a guaranteed basic value to all of those coins. A value that, of course, shifted between leaves.

Which was also the answer as to why Apexus didn’t encounter any bronze or iron coins so far. “My assumption would be that all iron immediately wanders into blacksmithing. People around here have more use for an extra pair of swords than they have for an additional silver necklace. Without any enchanters around, silver, gold and platin are likely quite useless. As for bronze, it might simply be that they don’t have the necessary metals around to produce the alloy.” Aclysia presented what explanations her mind had already come up with. Since this was a fairly obvious question, she had asked herself the same thing in the past. “Around here, they seem to have simply skipped out on those two coins went directly from copper to silver.”

“That’s okay?” Apexus found that confusing.

“Fundamentally, a coin is worth as much as the trading partner is willing to give up to acquire it. The money system may have been popularized by the Trader’s Guild for ease of inter-Leaf commerce, but local deviations, or even entirely different currencies, are to be expected.”

The more he heard, the less Apexus understood. “Why not stones, then?” he asked and picked up the very same rock Aclysia had used to exemplify moments ago. “Why not make stones the currency.”

“It needs to have a basic rarity so people cannot simply inflate the amount of money present in the marketplace, but certain shapes of stone could serve as currency, certainly.” Aclysia pointed at the rock Apexus was holding. “Moss covered stones could be a currency.” Her hand wandered on towards a tree. “Bark of certain plants could be a currency.” She pointed at Reysha, hesitated enough to interrupt her flow, but finished her examples regardless. “Cute tiger girls could be a currency.”

Reysha started giggling a lot, while Aclysia blushed a fair bit. Despite the fact that she had said it and that she had meant it, it was still embarrassing. “Love ya too, babe,” the redhead grinned and gave Aclysia a quick kiss.

Apexus was still trying to wrap his mind around money. “So, what the money is isn’t important? It's just a token for understood value? The whole system works because it is agreed on that the coin has value?”

“Essentially,” Aclysia nodded. “In the case of metal coins, it is of course easier, since they always have a base floor of value.”

“How does a system like that not collapse?”

“Oh, it does collapse,” Reysha yawned. “All the time. When I left home, we had a random influx of gold and silver, because a huge caravan came in and bought stuff to sell to another Leaf. Prices for everything went up. Except jewellery, of course. Not a perfect system.”

“Periods of decay aside, it allows for greater efficiency than trading things for things. Because money has been agreed upon to have future value, even if that value might fluctuate, it removes the necessity to get an immediate return out of a trade.”

Apexus could see the lines connect, even if it wasn’t easy. “So, you hunt and you give some of the meat to someone else, so you can buy meat later on? And If I sell more than I buy I can eventually buy stuff that’s worth more than any individual transaction because you have saved up the value of numerous.” He didn’t need to see Aclysia nod to know he was right. Humanoids were clearly a thousand time scarier than ant colonies, if they used a system that complicated and ingenious to exchange value.

Every time the slime heard about this ‘economy’ thing; he felt a bit smaller.

“And all that on the fact that people just believe that round pieces of metal are worth something,” the slime mumbled, while Reysha continued to giggle. Then her stomach growled, reminding Apexus that he, with all of the transforming he had recently done, was also quite hungry.

Reysha alleviated her hunger by reaching into her bag and retrieving some edible monster remains. “Want some?” she offered Apexus, who shook his head. She didn’t offer enough to sate him. She couldn’t. If she did, they would be out of suitable rations for her in one day and she would have to subsist off things she found disgusting. Since Apexus did not suffer from that problem, and he was also capable of eating just about anything organic, he instead clawed off whatever plants or bugs he found around him and shoved them into his mouth. After having to keep on that robe for so long, he had gotten used to eating all but the largest things through that opening. It wasn’t the most efficient way, but it was the easiest.

Once they were both filled up, Apexus was handed his usual clothes. Slipping into the robe was a bit complicated, courtesy of his wings. There were slits at the back for them to squeeze through, but because the robe was tailored for people with wings in general, they didn’t exactly fit him. The slits were a bit too tight. It helped with preventing people from looking past the base of his wings and see his skin, or proper lack thereof, but actually pushing through there was a neck breaking endeavour. Quite literally, as Apexus usually turned his head around to see what exactly he was doing.

“That looks freaky no matter how often I see it,” Reysha commented, when Apexus’ head turned back forwards and lodged into the proper position for humans. Since the slime had just the skeleton without all the cartilage or nervous systems, he could do such things with just some manipulation of the structure. It was rarely useful, but it was a thing regardless.

“I am the most flexible vertebrate you will ever see,” Apexus declared, while binding the robe close at the waist, collar and at the height of his knees. One mask later and he was as hidden as he could be. He went with a light brown skin tone today, about the same as Reysha’s. As much as he loved Aclysia, her pale complexion wasn’t pleasant in overly sunny environments. Somewhat ironic, given that she was  an angel of a summer god.

“That hurts my pride!” Reysha playfully complained.

“Why?” Aclysia wondered as she gestured in the direction they had to take.

“As a feline person, I’m supposed to be the most flexible thing in the room!” she declared. “Ya know how many guys I got salivating just by showing that I could tuck my legs under my shoulders?”

“It’s a very sexy position,” Apexus commented. “Delicious butt showcase.”

“Case in point,” Reysha stated.

“I can do the same, albeit I admit that you’re still more flexible than I,” Aclysia commented.

“Which reminds me how weird it is that you have bones,” Reysha got a little bit side tracked. Squeezing Aclysia’s upper arm, she felt the outer and inner layer of the angel’s body. All of it was metal, but it wasn’t all equally structured. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had areas that were so much like flesh, particularly her big bubble butt, that it would have been impossible to tell her apart from normal people.

“I am as my father created me. This is beside the point. What makes you think that races partially related or inspired by felines are supposed to be the most flexible?”

“You know what they say, cats are liquid.”

“Who says that?”

“You know, the people.”

“The people are not a reliable source of information.”

“Fact is,” Apexus got involved. “I am liquid, so, at worst, we should be equally flexible. You can dislocate your joints at will, so we’re basically equal.”

“Not my neck though.”

“Yet.”

“I guess? I won’t try.”

“Didn’t plan to ask you. I love you being alive. You’re gorgeous.”

“So many compliments today,” Reysha purred. “Don’t feed my ego too much, it might bubble over into being horny.” She glanced at the trees. The closer they got to the outskirts of the jungle, the quieter it became, but it never went silent. “I kind of like the idea of screaming against that cacophony.”

“We will be travelling for a little while. That opportunity might present itself,” Aclysia dared to suggest and got herself a grin from Reysha. “What is it?”

“Its just that every time you say something like that, I remember that you’re a kinky, submissive girl that likes outdoor sex. You really don’t look the type.”

Aclysia ran a hand over her hair in a shy motion. “I honestly prefer beds and caves over the open sky, but whatever inhibitions I have are usually… greatly diminished when I’m horny…”

“I kind of like the idea of being watched,” Reysha purred in response. “What about you, Apexus?”

“Hmm,” Apexus thought about that for a moment. “Are we safe, in this theoretic situation?”

“Absolutely safe,” Reysha nodded, wondering what the answer was going to be.

“Hmmmmmmmm,” Apexus thought a bit more. “I like doing it under the sky because that feels more free…”

“Right?” Reysha smirked and nodded some more. The wind on her skin, the nature around them, it just added to the wildness of the lovemaking.

“…being watched, though, I don’t know. Depends on who and why, but in general I don’t lean either way?”

“You don’t want to show a group of people just how thoroughly you can fuck us?” Reysha wondered. “Because I think it’s a shame not to at least SOMEWHAT show off what you have. Feels like a fucking waste.”

“A not particularly virtuous stance,” Aclysia chimed back into the discussion.

“Girl, ya know me. I got plenty of vices, even if I’m now trying to reign in the worst of them. Let’s not rehash the entire ‘Why is it that important for you to fuck?’ discussion.”

Apexus raised one hand to his chin and tilted his head in a thinking pose. “I don’t know if I have anything to show off. Historically, revealing myself to people didn’t work out that well.”

“If you have nothing to show off? You’re a sexual beast!” Reysha declared. “I haven’t had any sex as good as the things you could do with your tentacles alone. All the other shit your body continued to evolve isn’t even required; it just makes it better!”

Apexus noted that silently and took it as a slight ego boost. He knew that he didn’t leave them dissatisfied, that much was obvious, but he didn’t have any chance to compare himself to normal shaped males. “Still don’t think I would find it appealing or unappealing to have sex in front of other people. All I want is for us to feel good. Everything else is optional.”

“D’aww, listen to you, being all earnest and adorable,” Reysha put the ending line under the topic, as the edge of the jungle came into view between the trees.