They're... ON HOLIDAY?

Day 6 - Worky time cancelled!: 7/8

It is the "we still haven't decided when exactly, but it has to be a super long way away because 10013 said things are really awesome right now compared to what they used to be, and we'd like for it to stay like that or even get better for a long time to come, please" Big Number melon. For more than "it took too long to count that far on hooves, so just very long" the Queen has set immobile on her "super comfy couch that 65536 brought as a gift one freezy time. Wait, no. Ahem, again. On the throne deep inside the throne room of the Hive... doesn't she stretch from time to time? She has to!" the Queen has set immobile, with the occasional walk to stretch her legs, and some warriors to give her a massage on her very comfy throne. She is the Queen of the Lings by the will of the gods- "wait, what's this god thingy?"

*Whisper whisper whisper!*

She is the Queen of the Lings, because she'll smack you if you disagree and no amount of wibbling will save you! She is the ruler of the thousands of hive tunnels and caverns, by the might of her inexhaustible armies of warriors and infiltrators "who occasionally do have to take a nap, but there's so many of them that she doesn't notice if they swap out smartly.". She is very pretty with long mane and well-maintained carapace, all smooth and shiny. She is the Queen of the Imperium of Ling, who munches the love of thousands every day so that "umm, we kinda all eat love, so... that she can share and ration it because if everyone ate all they wanted there wouldn't be enough and we'd go back to munching each other? That sounds about right."

Yet even on her throne, the Queen continues her eternal vigilance. Mighty armies cross the depths of the Deep Dark, the only route between -Yes, the Hive is too big to run across on hoof, so this is wobbly stuff that plops you out where you need to be, but it's dangerous and spooky! Don't be scared, 99380, I made that up- between the edges of the Hive, their way lit by the Big Shiny, a manifestation of the Queen's will. Numerous armies scuffle in her name in uncounted caverns and tunnels. The greatest of her Lings are her... "Miss 93? Umm, do warriors smack harder than infiltrators?"

"That would take too long to explain. How about you go with high ranks?"

"Eeeeeee, that's so smart!"

The greatest of her Lings are the High Ranks, the best love-infused super-Lings. Their buddies are legion: the brave warriors, countless drones-

"I can count to many!"

"That means 'too many to count', not that they can't count."

"Oooooh!"

-the ever-vigilant infiltrators and the... the... "Hey, 99111, what did you call your guys?"

"The Mechanibugs! They like stuffing a lot and don't believe in silly stuff like the Big Shiny. Oh oh oh! And they have extra legs made of metal sticks that-"

"Gotcha, but we'll get to the details later."

-and the Mechanibugs to name only a few. But for all their multit- mullets- megamlem- big numbers, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from surface-dwellers, traitors, gribblers, and worse.

To be a Ling in such times is to be one of Big Number. It is to live in "times so bad that it's super important they're imaginary because they're even worse than before the New Rules." under a Queen who kinda doesn't care much about drones. These are the tales of those times. Forget hugs, noms, and shinies, for the nice stuff has been forgotten. Forget breaky time and cheer-up piles, for in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only Scuffle. There are no cuddles in the dark tunnels, only an eternity of smacking and biting, and the screaming of fighting hordes.

***

*Sniffle.*

"Uhh, you okay, 99380?" 10013 pokes the shaking drone sitting next to it who is hiding its muzzle with its legs.