In a strange world as a Doppelganger

Chapter 3

By the afternoon it seem like that rat is doing a little bit better. It still isn't particularly active though, so I am keeping an eye on it. My own wound still hurts but the color is slowly returning to a normal pale and translucent tone.

I had a thought while looking over the badger creature once more and made my way to the river. I am looking for a sharp stone of some kind that I can use as a makeshift skinning knife.

Didn't take too long to find one that had a nice shape to it. I washed my wound yet again and proceeded back to the boulder. The rat was eating on the badger, a good sign I'd like to think. Sharpening the knife against the boulder for a few minutes made it quite sharp. The rat didn't really want to let go of the badger, took a few minutes of tug-o-war in order to get it back.

Sitting down on the ground I hold the badger up and look it over. How does one remove the skin off this creature. I am pretty sure that this isn't exactly something I have done before. Improvising I simply started cutting pieces off.

Such a mess! I have hung up the biggest pieces of skin on branches that get a lot of sunlight, hoping it will dry them and make them useful somehow. I have no way of cooking the meat though so I guess it's gonna be a raw diet for a while. Is this even edible? The rat eats it happily, it had a good chunk of a leg and then crawled down and feel asleep in the hole. 

A new oddity that I have found is that my tongue can stretch up to a foot out of my mouth. I was holding a piece of meat in my hand and my tongue just shot out and wrapped around it. This could be useful. The meat didn't taste much besides iron and dirt. It did fill me up properly so who am I to complain.

I still feel like I am lacking in a plan of what to do. Exploring is an option. I would like to make sure the rat is okay before I leave for any longer period of time. I do feel like I should learn more about myself first. Not personality or so, my body and what it is capable of. It does seem like I need to be able to defend myself effectively considering that both of the two creatures I have met acted hostile right away.

As the sun starts to set I decide to do something that feels incredibly awkward. I walk up to one of the trees nearby and start doing my best to slash the bark with my clawed fingers. At first it really does feel stupid and I keep looking over my shoulder instinctively to make sure the rat isn't watching me. 

The sun has gone down and I got into some sort of rhythm while hitting at the tree over and over. I must have been at it for almost an hour when something weird happened. Information popped into my brain, like a brand new idea that lights up inside your head. It was too technical to a normal thought.

Skill [Claws] attained level 1

I sat down to ponder on this information and I made the assumption that repeat actions lead to increase in skill. The terms seem familiar and just as when examining my own body, the weirdness doesn't really bother me. It was hard to really tell under the weak moonlight but I was sure that my fingertips had gotten slightly harder and sharper.

That night I slept on top of the boulder, under the stars. It took a few attempts to get up but I managed. The top of it had a nice amount of moss and I'd say it had a similar degree of comfort to the burrow, with the exception of leg space.

The sun woke me up and I fell off the boulder and straight down on the grass. I landed on my injured arm and  and screeched so loud that a few birds took off and a drowzy rat popped its head out of the hole.

A bad bruise but nothing worse. I made my way to the river to have a drink and wash off my injury. It's looking like it'll heal pretty nice, I should bring the rat over and clean its wound too.

Looking up from the water something heavy hit me in the face. Stumbling backward and falling down in the mud I see a bipedal frog holding a large piece of wood like a club. It croaks at me amd raises the club in a threatrning fashion.

My vision is blurry but my feet steady as I stand back up. Black liquid drips down from my face into my hand. I don't think I can hesitate right now, a swing or two like that and I am out for the count.

I throw my handful of blood in the frogs face as I step forward into the river and swipe upwards with my other hand, claws out.

The swipe connects and gashes open up across its torso. It didn't go deep but the frog takes a surprised step backwards. I push forward through the rushing water grab hold of its club. It tries to wrestle it from my grip as I dig my claws into the back of its hand. Another croak and the frog lets go. I hold the club high and bring it down hard. The frog lifts its arm to cover its face from the brunt of the force. Crunch! One of its arms bends slightly and it croaks out loud. I bring the club up and then down once again.

The frog foes limp and drifts away slowly down the river. I clean myself up as best I can and feel my face for noticable injuries. Nothing too bad I think. I grab the club and make my way back to the clearing.