Nestlock

>Go over to see where the light is coming from.



The light appears to be coming from this one.

They look young, certainly no older than you are. You suppose this scratches your theory about
your species naturally shedding their horns when they reach maturity.
But then again, maybe you're the weird one for having horns?

The state of their body certainly explains where all the crunching and flesh-tearing sounds were coming from.


>CANNIBALISM.



Uhhhhh. You're pretty sure you've already shot down this idea before. Several times, infact.
You can't eat this body. Because... because... it's already half-eaten!
Your lusus has clearly claimed this one as her own.
If you went ahead and had a nibble behind her back without her permission, why,
you'd be no better than a lowly scavenger!

Boy, is it hot in here?


>Eat the other one, then.



Uhhh. Uhhhhh.

You know what? Saying that you're "starving" may have been a bit of an exaggeration.
Infact, you've never felt better! Predators ought to be used to going long periods of
time without food anyways, it makes them tough and resilient!

Oh stars, you're about two seconds away from gnawing off your own arm.

Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.


>Don't think about it.



Don't look at them, don't look at them, don't look at them, don't look at them.

You're not a scavenger, you're not a scavenger, you're not a scavenger, you're not a
OH HEY, LOOK, SOMETHING TO SCAVENGE.


>Get the light source already.



Is it... the ring? You've never seen a glowing ring before.
It appears to be made of a solid chunk of carved jade. It's kinda pretty, actually.

You'd feel a little more guilty about looting the body of a fellow kid,
but honestly this is normal for you. You have a pretty sweet stash back at your den.


>Next.



..!

O-oh! You guess it's a... heat-activated... ring? Is that even a thing?
Maybe it's MAGICALLY ENCHANTED to only glow while it's being worn by someone.

... yeah, you have no idea why something would be created
to work that way, but whatever. It's yours now.

>Now, can you loot the blue guy?





Yeah, that'd be way more fun and rewarding than looking at that mangled
kid any longer than you need to. Seeing horns like that makes your head itch...


Besides, this body over here's got a nice TREASURE that you wanna check out!






Oooooh! Whatever it is, it's the same color as your other new
treasures! The, uh... LONG-DISTANCE... WOUNDERS. You would even go so
far as to think that it may very well be... a WEAPON!!


... well, either that, or the world's worst musical instrument.



>This blue stick is called a "bow" ... probably.





A... bow? You may not know a lot, but you're fairly certain you know
what a bow is. Your first couple WRIGGLING DAY TREASURE CHESTS used to
have brand new silk bows nestled among the rest of the loot.
You used to actually like them!


That is, until your FRIEND kinda ruined bows for you.
And ribbons. And beads. And darn near anything CUTE AND FASHIONABLE.
Pretty much the only GIRLY thing that you allow yourself to indulge in anymore is using makeup.


... charcoal. Your makeup is charcoal.
You don't like getting your face wet.



>WHO CARES WHAT YOUR 'Friend' THINKS! Do what you think is right for you.






You fondly look back on your younger days and your innocent love of playing dress-up.


You used to love anything with frills and lace, bows and ribbons,
sparkles and glitter... and you had plenty of cute stuff to experiment with, too!


Did you go a little overboard sometimes? Maybe.
But who was ever gonna see you messing around and having fun?
You needed something to do as you spent your sweeps wandering these old caves!


Could you, maybe... start doing that stuff again..?





For a moment, you could almost hear your friend's wise words of wisdom echoing in your head...



>Maybe later then, when no one is looking.






Hmph... what does Friend know, anyway? It's not like playing
dress-up has ever hurt anybody.


You know what? The mere act of destroying your current set of clothes
to craft new items has been strangely liberating. It's, like...
basically dress-up adjacent. Look at you with your badass gloves and
torn-up shirt and pants! You rock sooo hard, Friend doesn't even know!


Once you get out of these caves for good, you'll show everybody!
You can be cute and badass and there'll be nothing anyone can do about it!







Rrgh..! Your previous bad mood has come back in full-force.
You're still COLD. You're still EXHAUSTED. Your clothes are ALWAYS DAMP.
And you're still...






... still...





HUNGRY.





Need food... need to eat... need...






MEAT.


>CANNIBALISM.






You need it... you need it... you need it...


>YES YES YES YES... YES!






Flesh... blood... bone... you want it all... you need it all...


Need to... consume...





Need to eat... need to make it all... disappear...


Need to...


Need to...


...

... NO!!!



>NO?!







You quickly drop the arm of the FRESH CORPSE as if it were some
disgusting diseased creature and promptly fall backwards onto your bottom.
A myriad of strange thoughts and emotions swirl around inside
of your young thinkpan, leaving you frozen in place as you
struggle to make sense of any of them.


The pain of starvation is briefly overshadowed by feelings of confusion and disgust.
You've been hungry so many times before, but you've never... what was that??
For a moment there, it was as if you'd completely lost yourself. Like you were
turning into... some sort of BEAST.


You've always promised yourself that you would never sink so low as to eat another one of your kind.
But you've never been this desperate for nourishment before.


Is this going to happen every time you go for too long without food?
Is this just... a part of you now?






Even now, as the smell of FRESH BLOOD invades your sniff nub and
clouds your pan, you feel compelled to RIP AND TEAR into the maimed adult before you.
To render them completely unrecognizable as you lose yourself to the
euphoria of pure, unbridled savagery. Your lusus would be proud.


... but you're afraid. Afraid that, if you allow yourself to
indulge in these new and powerful urges... even if it would save your life...


...



>Calm down, dude. Shit happens. It's your attitude that counts.






Your attitude..?


You mean, like... just roll with it?
You're not sure how you could possibly take this new development in stride.


... or... maybe you do.











You are a MIGHTY HUNTRESS.


You will use your newly awakening BLOODLUST to push yourself more than ever before.
You will explore the darkest and most forgotten depths of your twisting stone prison.
And you will find food... on your own terms.


As much as it pains you to leave behind your TREASURE and your newly-acquired LOOT,
you can't afford to weigh yourself down with trinkets.
Your NIGHT VISION is exceptional, even for your nocturnal kind,
but the critters in the dark have senses even keener than yours.
Trying to hold onto all of your items could create unwanted noise,
and that JADE RING hasn't completely lost its glow yet.


You'll thank yourself if you find something else that you want to keep.
And if you find lots of stuff? You'll just have to retrace your steps and drop them off here.


But you're not really worried about LOOT right now.


Your HUNGER grows.



>It's time to HUNT.






Your lusus taught you almost everything that you needed to know to get started as a proper hunter.
How to track prey, how to listen for even the tiniest of sounds, how to cling to the deepest shadows,
how to move as quietly as possible, and how to go in for the kill.
Patience isn't your strongest quality, but you're still learning. You're only six, afterall.


You're not totally clueless. You know that you're not actually a tiger like she is.
Your muscles and your senses will never be as powerful as hers,
and that's just something that you'll have to live with.


You certainly wouldn't be opposed to growing as big as she is, though.
Your laughable frame has been tossed around by many large prey over the sweeps,
and just once you'd like to pin something down and squeeze the life out of it with your MIGHTY JAWS
rather than get slammed into a wall and kicked in the gut.


If only a vegetarian diet were more feasible to indulge in around here.