#I don’t even necessarily mean this in a shippy way but dang I see the appeal

[local-redhead-bookworm]

Dream “Why would any sensible creature crave an eternity of this?” of the Endless vs Hob “Death is a mug’s game, I’ve got so much to live for!” Gadling is such a wild and interesting dynamic

[whatyouwantedmetosee]

so there is shipping going on with the human slimes, right? there has to be some shipping

The camera pans over to me in the corner, smushing together action figures of the human slimes and making kissing sounds.

I mean.

Yeah! Dang right there's shipping. I don't necessarily think the AU has to be shippy just because they’re humanoid now, but I personally love shipping, so there’s shipping. I just think it’s neat.

(And, just to have it on record, while the original Slime Rancher game's slimes are relatively unintelligent, I consider the slimes in the BatIM Slime Rancher AU to be more intelligent than you might think. They're still slimes, so it's not like they'd naturally know about human concepts. They have their own slime concepts they know more about. But they're able to learn and understand human stuff easier than you might think.)

Anyway, on to shipping thoughts. Putting this under a read more, since I accidentally rAMBLED FOR 20 YEARS.

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First, and one that I feel is very important, is that the slimes have no real concept of exclusive relationships. It's a basically unknown concept to them, and nobody's taught them about it, so it just wouldn't be something they'd think about. All of these slimes are real dang polyamorous.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they all get along. There are reasons they might not be fond of other slimes - like Sammy and Tom fighting over the Cuberry supply, or Wally's... uh, being Wally. But generally speaking, they’re not going to consider affection as exclusive.

I also feel like, at least at the start, the slimes wouldn't really get the concepts of friendship and romance being separate. They might learn about that sort of thing eventually, but at least at the start, it's just Strong Affection overall.

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Most of the more human interactions the slimes picked up were learnt from Henry or Joey. Hugging in particular would be a big one they got from Henry, and a bunch of other comforting physical touches that require hands. Head pats would be another. While he might be grouchy about it, Sammy is part Tabby, and does love a good pat. Norman too, though you might have a harder time finding him to do that.

As for what they picked up from Joey... Well, uh. Let's just say that somehow, slime Sammy learnt what a kiss was. The action, anyway. He's still not entirely sure of the human implications behind that - it's just a thing you do to people you like, when you're happy? Either way, eventually the concept was passed on to the other slimes, so that's a thing they, for whatever reason, know about doing. And enjoy doing.

It'd take a bit for Henry to find out about all of this - with the slimes in as bad a condition as they were when he returned, it took a lot of care to get them to a point where they were strong and healthy enough to start transforming into human shape again. But once they did start turning humanoid again, well. The human thing was already a shock, but boy howdy, what a surprise to get.

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On a different note, the slimes still have their own slime-specific ways of showing affection for each other! Slime stacks is a big one - happy enough slimes always like to try and stack on top of each other. It's a lot more difficult in human form, but that doesn't stop them. It tends to look more like just a big cuddle pile of slimes all snuggled up together. Very cute.

Likewise, individual types of slimes probably have their own specific ways of showing affection, too. Sammy and Norman's cat traits make them likely to try and pounce at people they're happy to see, with varying results due to the difference in their body shape to usual. They also purr when around people they're especially relaxed with.

Susie and Allison are likely to glow brighter in the company of people they care about, and Susie especially will sing for people she cares for. Jack (having originally been a Puddle slime) is extremely shy, but less so around people he cares about and trusts. Tom, as a Rock slime, is more stoic, but very protective of those he cares for. Wally... might steal you things. Or steal from you. Results inconclusive.

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As far as actual relationships within the ranch... Things are a little tricky due to the Everything that went on, but there's definitely sets of slimes that care a lot about each other. Sammy is protective over Susie and Jack, and Tom is protective over Allison. Wally and Norman were pretty close from early on.

Even the combinations of slimes that are less friendly, I could see getting along at least a bit, with time. Especially given that they went through all this ink nonsense together, they all understand each other more than outside slimes probably would. Also, more slimes for the cuddle pile slime stack is always a good thing.