Umemag - Skin 2

I nestle in next to the skin of this new material. It is already so tattered, pushing my hand in is almost effortless. Getting to the skin was not quite as effortless, however. I had to move some of my kin away to get close enough to the material to enter it. There are so many of us that we can almost touch one another. I can not remember the last time this many kin came to a single material.

However, I can understand why we all came. The scent this material gives off is incredibly appetizing. And it glows with a brilliant light. None of us would miss the opportunity to eat from such a material. I do not remember a material like this appearing before and I do not know if a material like this will appear again. So we have gathered to eat from it while it lasts.

This material will not last long, however. While most of my kin here are lesser kin like myself, three greater kin are also here. While I am not surprised one greater kin is here, three greater kin being here is strange. We kin are not gregarious by nature, our greater kin are even less so. While we lesser kin will occasionally eat from the same material together, the greater kin are loners to a fault. Or so I thought.

Whether it is strange or whether it is not, there are three greater kin here. So, this material will not last. Several lesser kin eating at once can easily eat a material, and there are more than several lesser kin here. A single greater kin can eat more than all of us lesser kin can, and there are three greater kin here. I do not have much time to eat.

As soon as I push my hand into the material, I start looking for the new things I had smelled. I break several fingers off from my hand and search widely. However, the meat of this material is pushing back at me, so I am not progressing very quickly. If I do not eat the lumps of meat, they will destroy my fingers, so I eat them as I come across them. My hunger is somewhat satisfied, but I am not moving as quickly as I would like.

I have noticed something interesting. While I have not found anything new, the scent of new things is drifting along this material's bones. If I follow a bone, I should be able to find one of the new things I want to eat. Bones taste delicious, too, so there are several advantages to following one.

I have found something new! As I guessed, I found it at the joint of the bone I was following. It seems to be bound up in the light that flows along the bones. While I have seen meat draw light from bones before, I have never seen meat like this that can almost be considered bone. This might simply be how bones and meat are in this material, but I do not think that is the case.

While I have not eaten much of this material yet, I can tell meat from this material apart from meat from other materials. For example, the meat from the material I was at before tasted quite differently from the meat of this material, even though they were made out of many of the same tissues. So, I believe I can truthfully say that this interesting lump of meat is not from this material.

In some ways, this lump of meat reminds me of my kin. I have never eaten my kin before, but if they were made of meat, I think they might taste like this. The composition of this meat is completely different from my kin, though, so I am not worried. I have only eaten a small amount of this lump, but I can identify three distinct tissues. Only one tissue is similar to my kin.

I am thankful that most of my other kin went in a different direction. While this material will not last long, I will make a nest here and explore this lump of meat for as long as it lasts. Not only is this material highly satisfying but this new lump of meat is so interesting I do not think I'll get hungry as long as I continue to eat it.