Biome Contemplations [X Wanderer Prompt]

Last time the two spoke, X had received interesting insight about its own biome from its creation, Panteleimon. From the beginning, X had existed, far before there was such a thing as developed biomes. 

It had often felt left behind, the odd one out. Yet, that little fungus morph they had made, Telei, had given an interesting perspective. Not necessarily an entirely new perspective, for X had considered such a notion before, yet X had dismissed the thought when met with no similar opinions.

Now, X was considering the idea with greater consideration, which brought another thought to mind. Though it hated how it seemingly relied on others to exist, X found others’ ideas more compelling than its own. 

But Telei had echoed a long dismissed thought, and now it wandered through X’s mind. For all intents and purposes, X seemed to rely on humans to exist. But did X truly?

X had been there from the beginning, so developed biomes had always been meant to exist. But did that mean humans were guaranteed to be the ones to develop? Telei did not seem to think so.

And perhaps, thinking back, X was not sure either. There were different paths that nature could have taken to have a species that developed, eventually. Humans might simply be the ones to have gotten there the fastest.

What a thought that was… It felt in a way world-shattering, while in truth it changed nothing at all. X still would tend to humanity as a gardener might tend to plants to help them reach further potential.

But if developed biomes were truly exactly as nature intended, then perhaps it was as Telei said; Even if humans died out, another would take their place in time. Development was as eternal as any other part of the world.

A part of it wondered what might take humanity’s place if they did indeed die out. Their first thought, amusingly enough, were rats. Not sewer rats, though. Rather, the trained domestic lab rats which seemed to learn more with every generation. 

But their lives were too short to develop things such as cities— Though some might have said the same about the creatures humanity evolved from, once upon a time. 

Though rats had some promising traits, such as learning and already exchanging more knowledge with humanity in the present, they had other suitable traits for a developed species. Their paws were good at grasping, though they could only grasp objects of a certain weight.

X was brought out of thought as it felt the nearing presence of an esk. It felt annoyed to be interrupted contemplating such important things, before it realized who the esk was that was approaching. That being Panteleimon, the esk that had helped bring forth these musings.

“Greetings, Panteleimon,” it offered. 

Panteleimon looked downright startled, before beaming up at it. “Hi, creator!” Telei enthusiastically exclaimed. “Nonexistent penny for your thoughts?” The dandelion leaves atop their head swayed as the watched X with an emotion it could not quite identify.

X gave the equivalent of a huff. “I think my thoughts are worth far more than that,” it offered derisively. But it still paused, considering whether to share.

Maybe it might be worth it to at least give a question, since Telei had been the one to voice some thoughts regarding this. “If humans were to go extinct, what animal that currently exists has the most evolutionary potential to replace them as developers, in your opinion?

Telei looked momentarily startled, then their gaze almost seemed to sparkle at being asked such a question. “Oh, that’s a tough one! …But, I think I’d have to choose either ravens or raccoons,” Telei answered. “If we’re only considering the potential of non-aquatic animals, that is. I’ve heard some interesting things about the intelligence of various aquatic animals, so for all I know, they might be promising too for underwater development one day, but I haven’t encountered many aquatic animals personally.”

It was Telei, so X was less surprised by the rambling than it could be. However, it was a bit bemused by Telei’s two choices. Without considering the additional thought now of aquatic animals creating a developed world underwater, those two were already curious choices. “Why those two?”

Telei collected their thoughts visibly before speaking. “Well, raccoons have hands that grasp easily, I suppose. And ravens are already so very smart when it comes to problem solving. But… in addition to those supporting factors, my main reason for both is the same, I suppose. They’re both scavengers.”

X waited, sensing Panteleimon was not finished with this thought.

“I think another developed species, if it emerged on land after humans were gone, would build on the remains of what humans built. That being the case, scavenging species would do well, especially the ones actually smart enough to use what humans had made, in one way or another,” Telei concluded.

That was a pleasing thought to X, for such meant that its own efforts to further humanity would not be in vain even if humanity was gone, for what followed to rise from the pieces that remained. 

It did not say this, but it gave an appreciative nod to Panteleimon, and made a note to observe the intelligent scavenger animals that lived amongst humanity a bit more closely, in order to see their potential for itself.