Chapter Text
The thing that looked like a man opened the door to the master's private chambers. A plain looking woman followed, almost tripping over as she entered. The thing has learnt that people who lose their balance often are easier to trick. The thing has learnt what people do that makes other people accompany them to places alone. The thing does not know the word, cannot think the word, does not understand concepts themselves, only how they connect, but the thing is good at flirting nonetheless.
The woman meekly clambers onto the bed and starts reaching to undress herself. A hand stops her though. The thing that looks like a man, the thing that looks like the master, the thing she thinks is the master. She pauses. It pulls her hand toward it softly. She leans toward it, against his body h- its chest explodes outward as struts made of wood and flesh both where its ribs should be grapple around her, as more of its body reveals openings, one opening, a gigantic maw which engulfs her before she can even scream.
The closed maw, a lumpy parody of life flecked with steel and wood and flesh reassembles itself into a box shape. No sound can leave its innards, and its food isn't going to die that quickly. A rope wraps itself into existence off the top of the box shape as the box shifts about to become wooden. And at the end of the rope a human sized glob of flesh deposits itself, forming up to become the man shape it wore earlier in a few moments. The rope is attached to its hand, but looks as if it is held. An effective enough disguise, if another person comes to enquire about the man.
"Oh, her? She left in a huff, I must have offended her," the thing practices with the man's tongue. But no one comes for that lie to be necessary. The box on the floor slowly does its work, stewing the woman into soup and soaking up that soup in turn. This kill wasn't special, this mimic had killed over a thousand people over its 158 year long life. But if a camel has enough hay on its back then it only takes one more straw, after a thousand failed experiments the truth might be behind one more, and with a million bricks already laid in place the last one completes a magnificent wall. Those thousands of kills, all those beings consumed, their strength and proficiencies gained little by little...
I look at my hand. I flex it in and out, and then ripple the surface of my entire body, just to see what it feels like. The noise of my boxy stomach creaking reminds me of something. It sounded nothing like it, but it felt similar to the sound of her stumbling into this room. I've never thought of things like that before. I've never...
Ah. I'm awake from that dream.