Umemag - Skin 3

My kin were eating elsewhere, so I thought I would be able to eat the interesting lump of meat I found at my own pace. I wanted to pull it apart carefully and eat all of its bits and pieces. However, I was interrupted. My kin did not interrupt me; the meat itself pushed me away from it. Then, the entire material began to shake.

It is hard to believe, but this material's bones have started moving. They are pivoting around this interesting lump of meat and pointing in new directions. It is not just the bones around me, all of the bones in this material are moving. They are moving in similar ways, so I think they are also pivoting around lumps of meat. This material's entire skeleton is changing shape.

I wonder what will happen when this material's skeleton has finished changing. I think my interesting lump of meat is responsible for this change, so I would like to eat more of it and see what I could discover. However, it is still pushing me away. So I can not tell what this material will become. I would like it if it retained its flavor.

Thinking that, I pull some of the material's meat up and eat it. It still tastes good. Even though the bones are changing, the meat is not changing very much. So what is changing? A material is determined by its bones, so if the bones change, the material will definitely change. But if its meat is not changing, what is left?

Its skin. This material's skin has changed. The holes we tore in it have completely healed. And the skin has hardened greatly around where we pushed through it. The skin has hardened so much that my fingers were cut off from me. Even my hand is pinched tight; I can barely feel it. Moving it is out of the question.

It is worse for many of my lesser kin. This hard skin has cut off not only their fingers, but also their hands. Our hands are important pieces of ourselves, so it will take them a long time to recover. However, they can recover. They can leave this material and go to another material. Even if it takes them a long time, they can scratch a hole in that material's skin and eat.

I can not. My hand is stuck tight in this material's skin and I can not pull it loose. So I can not leave this material. I can not move my hand and my fingers have been cut off. So I can not eat. It is hard to think so, but I want to cut my hand off and escape. However, I can not manage it. My motions have become unfocused. My thoughts too...