'Easier said than done.' I think as I near the busted doors.

I've been stewing in frustration in the hours I continued towards the doors, but nothing came to mind on exactly how I could get revenge. I don't even know which God that was, let alone any way to bother them.

'And now' I pause, looking at the pebbles that had long built up at the bottom of the doorway 'I've got to deal with getting around these.' I think "pebbles", but standing roughly half my own height at the largest they may as well be small boulders.

I stick out my tongue and use it to push a moderately sized stone away, only to teeter forward before using the base of my tongue to catch myself. Twisting it around I find the rock stuck to the tip of my tongue, the weight threatening to throw me off balance.

I attempt to throw it off, shaking my tongue around without success. I've had a few moments while "walking" that it was hard to get my tongue off the floor when the dust wasn't thick enough to help reduce adhesion to the spot. I found out my tongue produces the adhesive, and my spit is a solvent. Trouble is I can't exactly "spit" with my tongue out.

So I pull the rock into my mouth and start turning it around to loosen it up, feeling as if I was sucking on a large Jawbreaker.

'Speaking of jaws, how on earth are my teeth connected if I don't have a jawbone?'

Focusing on the sensation as I adjust my mouth, my lips definitely are pulled by the muscles around them, but I don't feel any exterior structural change when I open my mouth wide. Inside my mouth space grows larger, and a section of my body expands down with it, but it doesn't feel like a proper jawbone.

I move the stone to the back of my mouth and feel around the base of the backside of my teeth. I do feel an upper palate behind my top teeth, and hard sections directly under the bottom. The bottom teeth do seem to have a structure under them, and once I swallow the stone I can feel around where my jaw hinge should be– but it feels like the bone near my teeth flexes like a - what?'

Gluttonous Gut

You have consumed a [Limestone Rock], which has been deposited into your Gluttonous Gut for storage.

You may choose to do the following at your convenience:

1: Devour it for Nutrients [Not Available]

2: Disgorge it

3: Absorb it for use in Mimicry [Increases maximum size and mass]

Choosing any option will cause the item to no longer be eligible for other options.

Items available:

Tiny Limestone Rock (1)

My thoughts are lost as the window appears before my eyes. Crap, I've gotten choked on food like that before, and I'd likely choke to death if something got stuck in my throat now.

'Wait, do I even HAVE a throat?

'Add to that thought: where is my stomach? That rock wasn't huge, but big enough to weigh me down, so where is it now?'

I explore the back of my mouth and discover I don't have a gag reflex, which is probably a good thing, but discover nothing else.

Looking back at the window I remember the Gluttonous Gut description said my stomach "knows no limit" and things stored in it "don't count toward my weight".

I pause for a moment before deciding to "Disgorge" it, the stone appearing in the back of my mouth as if it was there all along. Testing it intentionally this time I swallow the stone, the experience feeling as if the stone simply vanished as it pressed against the back of my mouth.

Turning myself slightly I pick up and swallow another rock, watching the quantity tick up to (2), then open the Menu and verify my weight hasn't changed.

'So I really can store stuff.' I think bluntly. It seems like a weird idea, like watching a sword swallower at a fair. I look back at the submenu, wondering what else I can do with it.

'Can't get nutrients from a stone, spitting it out works as expected, so– "absorb" next?'

Selecting the Limestone Rock, I mentally choose to absorb one and… nothing happens. Well, the quantity decreased by one, but nothing else?

'I've got to be missing something.' I think, closing the submenu and searching the main one. 'My weight went up by… 0.1 ounce. Talk about a featherweight.' Nothing else appears different, but I feel my attention drawn to the Species info, my focus opening a new submenu:

Species: Mimic Modification Menu

Available Forms

1: Mimic [Default]

2: Limestone Rock

* Appearance: Tiny Rock

* Texture: Rough Surface

* Material Bonus:

* – Damage Resistance [0]

* – Force Resistance [0]

* Weight: 0.5 ounces [max]

* Display Information:

* – Mineral: Limestone

* – Description: "A rock."

* – Detailed Description: "A small rock."

* – Identify Spell: Juvenile Mimic

Material Options

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

1: Limestone Rock

2:

Form Options:

A: Rock

B:

"Woah, actual Mimic stuff!" I gurgle with glee seeing the first actual indication I can change my appearance.

'So I'll have Material and Form options, with currently available forms of "meatball" or "pebble".'

I watch in annoyed surprise as the Available Forms change to "Mimic Meatball" and "Limestone Pebble."

I quickly remove the "meatball" addition and focus on the second form of "Limestone Pebble" to activate it.

I feel a tingling sensation cross my skin and… that's it.

'Well, I can only assume I look like a rock. It'd be nice to have a mirror. Or a hand mirror, and hands.' I think, turning back to the submenu. 'Damage and Force Resistance are zero; does that mean I can get those later? Does every material have its own bonus?

'Description: "A rock" and "a small rock"? Why do I get two descriptions? Wait, "Display Information"? Displayed for who?'

I pause, looking over towards one of the largest pebbles and focus on it. After a literal minute as I start feeling foolish a small window appears near the stone, its contents simply stating "A rock."

… Hua.

I continue to focus and am eventually rewarded with the description of "A small rock". I do so one more time, but get nothing else.

'Well, I guess the change doesn't hold up to the magical scrutiny of an "Identify spell", but hopefully unless I give myself away I'll be safe.'

Feeling slightly refreshed from the moment of distraction I decide to move on while Consuming the stones in my path, storing the smaller ones while Absorbing the larger ones. After a half hour I pass to the other side of the now shattered doors threshold, a quarter inch larger and a half ounce heavier.

I look left, my vision greeted by a long hallway that turns dim then dark past my Darkvision. Turning around I'm greeted by the same, the only difference is which side the busted doors act as a point of reference.

"HELLO!" I shout, disappointing myself when I realize I'm too small for my garbled noises to echo down the hall. I face

opposite the doorway and close my eyes, focusing each earhole down a direction to see if I can hear anything. I've got no idea if being this size would make it harder or easier to hear things coming. Eventually however I do hear a faint noise coming from my left.

'So, right it is!'

I decide for now it's best to avoid… well, everything really. The only thing I can do is lick stuff and bite anything dumb enough to get close to my mouth– and thats not something I'm willing to rely on.

'Oh, right: I can spit acid!' I remember, mentally picturing a queen from the Aliens movie spitting acid, or perhaps a spitting cobra.

Acid Spit: you launch a glob of [minor] acid at your target.

'Hmm. Well, that's not very informative.'I consider as I "walk" towards the right of the busted doors. I know I'm not technically walking, but I'm not really dragging myself either; rather, I've come to slightly lift my body off the ground and pull it towards where my tongue is touching, then reach with my tongue again, lift my body towards it, etc. In all truth it's more like watching an inchworm walk than anything. I'd be impressed with how strong my tongue is if I weren't so small.

'So– Acid spit. I don't seem to have any kind of fangs like a spitting cobra. I've got two kinds of saliva, neither of which are acidic. And I don't seem to have any extra glands in my mouth to produce it with.'

My mind keeps going back to the word "glob" and all I can think is "Please don't tell me I'm hocking a loogie."

And yet, I can't figure out how it could be anything but that.

'So, if that's the case… how do I do it. 'To "Hock a loogie", you either pull mucus from your nasal cavity into your mouth, or clear it out of your throat into your mouth.

Both are disgusting… but now I guess I need to do it with stomach acid?

'So, how do I… disgorge stomach acid?'

I think of stomach acid and focus on the Disgorge feature of Gluttonous Gut, but nothing happens.

I decide to try how I used to make myself burp and belch by swallowing air into my stomach, only to find "Breath of Air (1)" added to my Gluttonous Gut inventory.

'Does this mean my actual stomach is separate from wherever the Gluttonous Gut is? Since anything I swallow goes directly into it, and I can choose to Consume food stored in it, does that mean the Gluttonous Gut is between my mouth and my stomach, like some extradimensional space? Is my stomach actually connected to anything? 'Considering all the rocks I ate its not a big surprise, but still doesn't answer how to spit acid. '

'So next trick, learned when I had a problem of food getting stuck in my throat, is forced regurgitate… oh. That's literally a manual "Disgorge".'

It's odd to do now when I'm not even sure where my stomach is in my body, but since I can still feel hunger pains, I have a vague sense of where to focus. It's not exactly a skill I can properly explain, but when you have health problems you learn how to do a lot of weird things.

So I focus, bringing a feeling like forcing your stomach to squeeze on itself, and am alerted my Gut now contains "Stomach Acid (1)".

I want to shout "success!", but knowing the next step is going to be unpleasant dampens my excitement. Pausing my movement I mentally select "Stomach Acid" and choose to Disgorge it, closing my eyes in anticipated mouth pain- and am subsequently, but thankfully, disappointed.

I pick a spot ahead, and just… spit.

A thick green ball of acid arches forward and lands roughly five inches away. I repeat the act a few times, each reaching roughly the same distance.

'About 2 and a half me's.' I think, still not comfortable acknowledging I'm only two inches big.

Using a rock I wipe off a spot of spit (because I'm NOT going to lick it up), finding the acid cleaned the dirt off the floor but wasn't strong enough to penetrate the stone. 'Maybe it'll be more effective against monsters?'

My eyes twitches at the thought, and I turn myself to look around, finding nothing approaching. 'No Red flags. Try not to curse yourself like that.'

'Well, let's see where this leads.' I decide, continuing down the path to the right of the door.