The Mimic in Monsterland

Mrs. Warbler pulled out her chair. She looked over at my stunned face and giggled. She patted the table. “Come, dear, the food will get cold. I made those, what did you call them? Moose steaks, was it?”

The plate that sat across from her held three slabs of meat, still steaming, along with a small plate filled with similar bright veggies to the one her guest was currently snarffing on.

I stood there, stammering, wanting to complain about the guest and ask a hundred questions. Then something inside me snapped, though it didn’t take long to suss out the damage. My internal give-a-dammer broke and as such, I sat down and proceeded to shove food in my mouth. I did not care about how she got here before me, how she knew this was my destination, or even why Mrs. Warbler gave her food. The slices of meat in front of me were all that truly mattered in life. Nothing else. What Legion? Ferals? Nope. Who’s Len? This meat and this meat alone was it. I finished the first three slabs without so much as saying a word or acknowledging the presence of our dinner guest.

“You’ve done it again, Mrs. Warbler. I don’t know how, but this meal is better than the last.” I said with a smile, and a grand gesture, at the same time trying to push the plate of veggies further down the table without her noticing.

“Suck up.” The girl said in a low voice, her mouth filled with food. I squinted at her as a response. Nope, not worth it.

Mrs. Warbler’s face beamed the whole time. “Thank you dear. At least someone’s grateful. Now eat your veggies, suck up.” She snickered.

The cloaked girl nearly spat out her food at Mrs. Warbler’s last comment. I grumbled and slid the plate back in front of me. I picked it up and dropped its contents in my mouth in one fell swoop. The coarse vegetables were cooked to perfection, not too soggy and still had some crunch. They honestly tasted fantastic. I’d have loved them back on Earth. But the mimic gene taste buds detested them, that, and picking the leaves out of my sharp teeth sucked.

I leaned back once I finished and patted my belly, now thoroughly satisfied. But with my stomach sated, my ability to give a damn turned back on. I looked at the girl and then back at Mrs. Warbler. “Would you mind introducing me to our guest?”
She turned to the girl and raised an eyebrow. “Really now? You told me you talked with him already.” The girl shrugged. “I did.” The elderly woman rolled her eyes and exhaled.

“I’ll never understand you, Hun. Her name is Ingrid. I’ve known the brat for some time now. Her mooching off my kindness is old hat now. She’s a good kid with a terrible knack for mixing with the wrong crowd.” The girl cut her off by clearing her throat.

“You know that’s not my fault. And that’s not important.” The girl responded, sliding her empty plate away.

“It’s the truth. You don’t need to work for those dirtbags.”

“We’ve been over this, Gran. I’m not working for them. I never really did. It’s just a debt. And besides, new gig, remember. With his boss.” Ingrid said while pointing her thumb at me.

“Whose boss? My boss?” I ran through the multitude of people that could be. Fennel, Len, Daila, Jaren. Damn, when did I get so many bosses?

“Which boss?” I asked her. She gave me a side eye, then stood up.

“Thanks again, Gran. But we have places to be tonight. I promise I won’t keep him out too late.”

“It’s Len, isn’t it? Yeah, got to be Len.” I said, still hung up on the whole boss thing.

Mrs. Warbler stood up and collected the empty plates. Concern filled her face. “Are you taking him to the Gloom?”

Ingrid nodded.

The older woman walked the plates over to the sink. She sighed. “Must you?” I decided I should be the one to answer this question.

“Yes. We, no I have to. You and everyone from the Explorers guild are great. But every other person in this city has treated me like dirt. You know, I officially joined the Legion today. Which means I'm locked in and going to risk my life for this city.” I shook my head.

“But that’s not all. This is my world now, and I want to learn as much about it as possible. And if I’m going to keep being labeled a Feral, I’d at least like to know what that means. Is it something to be proud of or to despise?”

Mrs. Warbler must have understood my reasoning, she nodded once. She turned to the cloaked girl. “Just don’t stay out too late, you hear. He has training in the morning. And you could probably use the extra sleep as well young lady. Your skin’s been looking a bit rough these days.” The feathered woman raised her palm to the girl’s face, she backed away from it and then moved to the door.

“Let’s go.” She said to me and walked into the storefront.

“Thanks again for the meal. I appreciate it so much.” I told Mrs. Warbler before chasing after the girl.

Ingrid was already outside. I joined her. “Try to keep up.”

“Wait, where are we go…ing?” My speech slowed down as she walked away.

She jumped on top of the fence next to the clothing store with immaculate grace, then up to the rooftops without making any noise. Apis form was already back up, so I shifted and attempted to mimic the movements. It was…less graceful, and much louder. But I made it to the roof. I looked for my guide. She was already one rooftop over and almost at the next. I rubbed the bridge of my nose. This is going to be a long night.

We bounded along the roofs of the city. Ingrid stayed one rooftop ahead of me at all times, but I kept up just fine in Apis form. Starlight blanketed our nighttime run. That was one thing I loved about this world. Just how wildly beautiful the night sky was. The night sky seemed so empty back on Earth due to all the light pollution. But the Kniyan sky positively glowed.

At some point during the run, I realized we were heading for the district due west of the Merchant District. The Academy and Barracks districts lied to the east. Excitement grew in my chest as we neared the foreign district, not that Apis form wasn’t already getting me excited. A tromp through the city at night already had my heart aflutter. This was just icing.

Ingrid slowed down once we neared the western edge of the Merchant District. I looked upon the huge roots that sectioned off the city. Sure, we were on the rooftops, but not a single building in this district came even close to the top of the roots. Why aren’t we going through the gates? Then an image of climbing up the giant roots played in my head. Ooo Yes, please tell me we’re climbing these. I’ve wanted to ever since I saw them. Where do we start? I rubbed my palms together. Just as I was going to voice my eagerness, Ingrid ran her hand along the root wall.

“Are.” She shushed me immediately. “No talking. Not until we’re inside.” She whispered, her hand still searching. After a few moments, she found what she was looking for. Her fingers found some small divots in the root. She twisted her hand, and with a click, part of the root creaked ajar. A small, and I mean small, door opened a foot away from where we stood.

She walked over to it and pulled it, then waved me over. “You first.” I looked at the hole. It was a circular opening with a diameter of maybe three feet. She would fit just fine in it, but me. Not so much. “Does it get any bigger?” I asked in a hushed voice, trying my best to ignore the blatant innuendo that just came out of my mouth.

“My answer is probably the same you give to all your partners. No.” My companion answered with a completely straight face. Which made the hurt so much worse.

Yep, walked into that one. “Is there another way?”

“Three districts away. It would take all night to get to it. You’ll be fine, just squeeze through, it gets roomier further in.” She whispered as she gave me a shove.

It did not get roomier. If anything, I got slightly tighter the further we went. I found out right then I wasn’t claustrophobic. Thank heavens, or that would have been the most traumatizing experience of my life. Dark Sight made it bearable, the thought of crawling through this in pitch black darkness sent a chill down my spine.

It actually reminded me a lot of being in Log form, and it helped quite a bit when I thought about it like that, oddly enough. That and Gremlin form was at the ready the whole time, so I was never in any real danger. I just had a feeling more rooftop obstacle courses were waiting for us on the other side, and Gremlin was not suited for that at all.

I saw the end of the tunnel coming up. I noticed a surprising lack of an entrance, the tunnel just stopped. “We’re at the end. Is there some button I need to push to open it or a lever to pull?”

“Nope, just knock.” She answered.

“Any special rhythm I need to know? Or just go for it?”

“Just knock already, and stop flicking your tail in my face.”

“Sorry. It has a mind of its own most of the time.”

“Just knock.” She yanked my tail.

“Ow! Fine, I’m knocking, stop letting the intrusive thoughts win. I know it's temptingly fuzzy, but it feels weird being touched like that.”

She yanked it again as her response.

Once we arrived at the end, I did as I was told and wrapped the root wall. Nothing happened for a solid minute. My tail flicked out, a nervous tick in this form.

“Pthp. Seriously, stop with the tail man. Where do you even hide the thing? I didn’t see it at dinner.”

“Trade secret.”

“Sure.”

Another silent minute went by with only the sounds of our breathing. “Are you sure there wasn’t a special beat or something?”

“Give it a second.”

“Should I knock again?”

“You don’t need to. Once was enough.”

“Doing it again.” I beat on the wall this time. I didn’t know if this door lock was sound based or something. The thought of yelling out crossed my mind. Maybe we’re waiting for somebody to open it. Dang it. Did I just walk into a trap? Mrs. Warbler vouched for her, so I assume it's alright. She’ll let Len or somebody know if I go missing, so I should be fine.

I turned my head as best I could to get another look at the girl. I could just barely move, twist enough for one eye to look behind me. Her eyes stared blankly straight ahead. I made a little wave to get her attention, to alleviate some of the tension. But her eyes didn’t track the movement whatsoever. She must not have a dark vision ability. Oof that blows, this must be terrible for her. Or not, she seems used to it.

I kicked my foot on the tunnel wall and moved it back quietly. Her head darted in the direction of the sound, not my foot that clearly did the deed. That confirms it.

“Sorry, foot was falling asleep.”

The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head. She pulled her hood down, revealing what looked like bunny ears. Her hair was also on the shorter side. Not short short but kinda short. Dark Sight made everything grayscale, so not sure about the color. I saw a tuft of pink back at the office. But that couldn’t be the whole head right. That’d be too anime. Pink haired bunny girl. No way. One thing was for certain: She was very, very cute, that cloak was not doing her any favors. But she probably liked it that way. If she wants to hide that, it's her business not mine. But I wasn’t so chivalrous that I was going to stop myself from enjoying it right now.

A knock came from the other side of the root while I was stealthily (definitely not creepily) examining my companion. After a couple creaking sounds, the tunnel opened up. Torchlight flooded into my retinas, forcing me to shut them and readjust. I reopened them and made my way to the entrance.

Squeezing my shoulders through this entrance proved to be a much more trying endeavor, but I had some help. Handsy and hurtful help, but help all the same. Two men stood outside of the tunnel, who I presumed opened it up, pulled on my arms. I swear I heard a pop sound when I finally got out. Definitely gremlin next time.

The two stood me up but didn’t let my arms go, they linked in harder actually, forcing my arms behind my back.

“Come on, guys, is this necessary?” I wrestled around for a minute. I wanted to gauge their strength. Which came up lacking. They had my arms pinned, and Apis form couldn’t quite get free, but Ursa would throw them off like nothing.

I looked over at my wannabe captors, both were younger boys. Couldn’t be much older than fourteen. It would be simple to tear them off, but it’d leave a bad taste in my mouth, just ragdolling a couple of kids. Besides, Ingrid will probably say something to them. Whenever she finally crawls out of the tunnel.

“Who aRe you?!” The boy on my left, the shorter of the two, yelled in my ear, his voice cracking, completely killing any and all intimidation.

“Here to see your mother. Now let go. While I’m still playing nice.” I replied.

“He’s full of it, Tinn, we’ve got him pinned, he can't do anything.”

I sighed.

“Will you two chill out, he’s with me.” My mysterious bunny girl associate spoke as she effortlessly climbed out of the hole. Her hood, now fixed. “Neither of you are fighters.”

“Shush! Griddy! He doesn’t know that.” The taller boy protested.

“He was about to find out. Tinn’s breathing was about to get real rough soon.” She said as she walked over to the boy. She was not telling any lies, I had my tail ready to wrap around the shorter boy’s neck in case things got hairy. I wasn’t actually going to choke a child; it was more of a precaution, in the event they pulled out a weapon.

“What do you mean? Tinn behind you!” The taller boy yelled out.

The shorter boy turned his head. I waved my tail in his face and then booped his nose. He promptly let go of my arm and ran behind Ingrid. She sighed. The other boy let go of my arm and followed after him, but at least didn’t hide behind the small girl.

She shook her head. “Welcome to the Gloom.”