A/N: I guess we can call this an intermission? I like the idea of peeking through the eyes of another character.
XXX
She had no idea what caused it…
The cravings… the pain… the hunger…
It's one of few memories she's had since her awakening. The one force driving her actions... to varying levels of barbarism. The hunger wasn't satisfied with the nourishment that came of a typical human meal.
Humans… were her meal.
The actions of her children, unfortunately, left her with dwindling options in her homeland. This world, fortunately, had a bountiful supply of humans for her harvest.
It should have been easy, what with the amount of towns and villages in this world. Drop into a settlement, gorge herself, and move on. Simple.
What made things difficult… was the voice.
She'd committed numerous atrocities in her lifetime, since she was awakened, at least. But, the voice had been pestering her, much more than usual as of late, about the horrible things she'd done in the name of her cravings.
When she feeds on some poor sap, there goes the voice whining and bugging her about it.
When some nosey fool caught her in the act of feeding, thus forcing her to raze an entire town, there goes the voice again crying about it.
Between the hunger and the voice, she was being driven to lunacy. Thus, she had to reach a middle ground of some sort. Only feed when she absolutely needed to. When she absolutely could not hold it any longer.
Now, was a time in which she could no longer hold it.
She sat on a town bench, blue eyes scanning the people around her, like a predatory animal studying its prey. The denizens of this small town went about their business, the fools completely unaware of the monster among them.
She saw a woman carrying bags with groceries. That could have been easy. Just ask her if she needs help with her bags, and then take her when she got back to her home, assuming she said yes.
She looked to another possible target, a man who stepped out of a bar, drunk and pestering the random people around him. She doubted he would be missed.
She saw a child, walking alone. The popsicle he held with him probably bought with parents money. Children were incredibly easy targets… but that wouldn't do. Not today.
The last time she… indulged in a child, the voice had cried bloody murder for days on end…
A sigh escaped her throat. Drunkard it is.
She didn't exactly plan out how she would lure the man away from the crowded street. She knew that, with this man being intoxicated, he'd be a tad bit more difficult to handle. A sober person she'd simply need to think of a weak story to convince them to follow her. With men, it came easy; her good looks and the idea of sensual advances all it took.
It took her only a couple seconds to reach the man, her hips swaying underneath the black and red kimono she wore, an outfit she appropriated from an earlier meal. The drunkard leaning against the wall. She gave him a convincing innocent look, puppy dog eyes behind her glasses and a pout. She timidly brushed some of her wild auburn hair behind her ear, an act she learned gave her an innocent facade to the humans. It must not have worked this time, because the man sneered at her and looked away.
"I ain't falling for it, lady." The drunk said, voice slurred and rough with an aggravated tone, "I ain't waking up robbed again."
"Um, mister," She started, "I was needing help-"
"Didn't you hear me, tramp! Get lost, ain't got the money to burn anyways!" The man snapped before he started walking, slight stumble to his steps. She let out a small growl, one the man didn't notice.
The hunger was getting worse, and the woman was getting impatient. She was tempted to find another, easier target, but if she lost focus now, she may lash out and devour someone she shouldn't have on impulse. She took steps after the man, the drunkard turning back to her as he heard the footsteps,
"You're following me, now? Didn't I tell you to get lost, bitch!" He turned to look at the monster in disguise behind him, who furiously watched him walk away. "Take your ass back to the kitchen or something..."
No.
That sealed his fate.
She would have this man, and she would only be satisfiedwith this man. She would devour him simply on account of him being an asshole.
She ran up and grabbed the man by his wrist, "Mister, I need your help! I lost my cat in an alley and I'm too scared to look back there by myself." She said desperately, her desperation coming from feeding right then and there, "I only need your eyes for a few minutes, please!"
Snorting, the drunkard tried pulling his hand away, but her grip was iron tight. His droopy eyes appeared bothered by that, but he relented.
"Fine, I'll help ya look for the worthless animal." the drunkard said.
"Thanks." she nodded, eager to drag the man off to his doom.
She led him down a near empty alley, a simple trash can and cardboard box the only things lining it.
After looking behind the trash can and flipping the box, looking for a cat that didn't exist, the man huffed at her, "Guess your animal ain't here. Tough luck."
"Yeah…" the monster sighed as she stopped, before she turned to the man, giving him one of the most sinister glares he'd seen in a human being, "for you." Before he could react, the woman punched the man in the gut, burying her fist in him up to her elbow. The man, now fully sober, dropped to his knees, holding his stomach as blood spat from his throat.
She followed up with a kick to the man's jaw, breaking it and sending him skidding along the ground. He could now scream nor run… he was tenderized enough. She could have fed on him her preferred way, one much less messy, but because of his earlier comment, she would do to him something much more gruesome.
Pink snake like tendrils slithered out of her body, the drunkards bloodshot eyes widening in horror at the sight. The tendrils lashed at the mans flesh, melding and fusing with it on contact. She wouldn't know how it felt, but given the reactions of her victims, it couldn't have been pleasant. Such as now, the man's eyes widened in agony, a pained sound emanating from his throat. The tendrils drained nutrients from her victims body, the drunkards form becoming shriveled.
She couldn't help the blissful sigh that escaped her throat. The feeling that came with feeding, it triggered a sense of ecstasy in her brain. Like an addict, it was her dopamine fix. She couldn't help the addiction, and she didn't want to.
Taking his hand away from his jaw, the man tried crawling away… that wouldn't do.
More tendrils seeped out of her body, ensnaring and molding with the man's ankles. To keep him from making anymore noise, she sent out another tendril to ensnare his throat, suffocating him as she dragged him towards her.
Smiling maniacally, unable to hold back anymore, her body flared apart into a borderline amorphous mass of tentacles and goo, most of which eagerly and ravenously swallowed up her hapless victim.
The man's struggling body went from a fighting and wiggling shape within the blob, to a twitching lump, until it completely disappeared. A flat puddle all that was there.
The woman quickly reformed, standing completely normal in the empty alleyway. She sighed, her body tingling all over. That should hold her for a few days, as long as she didn't have to be too active. The voice didn't like it, but it didn't complain too much.
Now, she could blend back into the humans again. Be a monster that lurked-
A scream tore through the air. She turned around, eyeing a woman that had apparently seen enough to garner such a reaction.
Damn her luck.
She sighed, before she turned to the unluckier witness. The voice would have a fit over what she was about to do. Ki filled her palm,
"Oh well…"
XXX
A/N: I won't lie, I took some inspiration from NeonZangetsu for this piece. Like I said in my top authors note, I like looking through the eyes of a character like her.
I added some more edge to 21's absorption methods, mainly because she's meant to be a much more powerful and terrifying creation than Cell. While Cell eats you from the inside out, 21 can basically swallow you up and dissolve you from the outside in. Call it a cross between Buu's goo absorption, and Cell's absorption. She can still 'Candy Beam' you, but I feel like her other method is a bit scarier. Go to my authors page if you want some more gruesome details...