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Dupe sat in the small room that was full of festering meat and a rotting stench. She wanted to get something good for their friend. They wanted to give it a gift. Its friend was a tall, monstrous entity who was also a homunculus. He had sharp teeth just like Dupe and a great growl that could intimidate even the most dangerous of creatures. Dupe had even been practicing her growls to one day be as fierce as its friend. They hadn’t gotten any actual catches, just little bits of flesh that she gnawed off of unsuspecting trespassers. But they saw a chance. It could smell the burning flesh, even though it was several doors behind. The trespasser had to have been weak, which would give her a chance to finish them off. There were hints of wax, must’ve been from a fallen candle chandelier during Seek’s chase.
It knew who Seek was because he would visit her friend a lot. She liked Seek and all, but she stuck to her favourite person. They didn’t like the texture of Seek’s “skin”; it was gooey and weird to the touch. But her friend had real skin. Skin that was strong and couldn’t be torn from just anything. Skin that was smooth and stiff. Dupe’s fur was rough and messy, but she used it to hide well. Seek had nails, but their friend had claws. Giant, bulky talons that could rip apart the walls with ease. Dupe had claws that could rip apart the skin of those trespassers but were yet to destroy anything like bones. Its teeth were sharp and its jaw was powerful. She may not have been able to break bones with their claws, but with enough dedication, they could shatter bones with her teeth.
It waited in silence, yearning to taste the blood and flesh of another trespasser. The other entities only killed the trespassers to make sure they never got past door 60 and especially not door 100. Not Dupe. Dupe hunted. It craved meat from human bodies. It wasn’t anything personal, really. It simply couldn’t contain itself when human meat is on the table. Metaphorically and literally. The only humans she spared were the registered guests and Revive herself, but Revive isn’t completely human anyways. She’s a demon, with demon blood. But Dupe wanted human blood. Dupe wasn’t evil or aggressive. It was simply a hungry animal needing nutrition and humans tasted delicious. She wouldn’t just hunt any human, that would be cruel. But once they enter her home, it’s game. It wishes she could hunt in the greenhouse, with so much punctured skin and messy blood ready because of Snare, but there were no extra doors she could hide in, and Snare said herself that it was simply too crowded by how much Rush and Eyes pass through. It would’ve been a harvest for Dupe. But unfortunately, it was difficult for her to keep themself fed. Many times the trespassers choose the real door, which left Dupe hungry. When it did find food, it was only some flesh, not enough to fill her.
Dupe could smell the trespasser coming closer. She readied to pounce as they tried to control its breathing. There was only one extra door she could hide in, so she had to be careful. It was also quite dark in the room. It heard the door open into the room. A couple of steps into the room and she heard Screech bite them, leaving them near death. Perfect. Not dead yet, but almost. It seemed they were in a bit of panic now. They stumbled to find a door, any door. Luckily for Dupe, they didn’t think Dupe would be there. They grabbed the handle of the door Dupe was hiding behind. She could smell exactly where the trespasser was, which foot was where, where their hands were, everything. As the knob turned, she saw the perfect opportunity, and she pounced.
It bit their head and tore it in half messily. She devoured the brain and ate every last muscle and bit of flesh she could get on the head. Now that the trespasser was completely dead, she continued to eat the rest of the body, leaving everything but the chest. It had already decided what they wanted to gift their friend. The heart. Tossing the bones back inside the room she was in with her hind legs, it carefully bit off the skin on the chest. Carving out where the heart was, she lightly carried the heart in its teeth, placing it off to the side so she could eat everything else. A blue light began to glow around the area the body once was. Dupe could infer that Guiding Light was speaking to the dead trespasser. The trespasser’s flesh tasted delicious, but her focus was to keep the heart as intact as possible and deliver it.
They turned to the heart, she picked it up gently in its fangs. They knew what door they were on; door 41. It ambled through each room with the heart leaving a trail of blood on the already stained carpets. She felt satisfied with her catch and excited to be able to give it to her friend. They hoped their friend would like it. She looked up at door 50, eager to impress her friend.
Using her body to shove the doors open, it opened the door. A low growl escaped the tall entity, it seemed to recognize the sound of padded paws touching the crimson carpet. Dupe let out a raspy meow to announce its arrival. She ran through the opening inside the library between a couple of bookshelves. They trotted up the steps where her friend was. Figure. She rubbed against his leg and let her tail wag. Figure knelt down and petted Dupe’s coarse fur, her ears being pulled back with each stroke made by the ivory claws. Dupe dropped the heart as it hit the ground with a squelch. Blood dripped everywhere and further stained the carpets. Figure set down the book he had in its other hand and picked up the organ, analyzing it. Although Figure was blind, he could easily tell what it was he was holding. He squished it gently and smiled.
“Did you get this yourself, Dupe?” Figure tilted his head.
Dupe let out another raspy meow in response.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Dupe let out a series of odd-sounding meows in different tones, trying to mimic words. She could understand English, but her vocal cords simply weren’t made to speak it herself. They’ve been training their voice to be able to speak though. It could manage to pronounce some vowels but struggled to pronounce consonants. Dupe sometimes carried a small sign that she could use to morph the writing on the sign to properly caption what she was trying to say, but Figure was blind, so it was no use. Luckily for Dupe, Figure could make out the gist of what she was trying to say. ‘I killed them myself’. Dupe was very good at using tone of voice to help make her “words” be deciphered. She also made a small cough-like sound to mimic the sound of certain consonants.
Figure scritched Dupe’s cheek fluff as she purred. Dupe had a very discernable cat-like nature, so it was a bit expected that she would eventually choose her favourite person. Figure and Dupe had some things in common, but one thing especially made Dupe so attached to him. Although all of the entities were some variant of homunculus, Dupe and Figure were the ones closest to being actual homunculi. As well as how Figure and Dupe were generally similar, Dupe yearned to be like him. Her collar, which mimicked the sign of a door, was labelled “50” because of how much they stayed there.
She tended to bring Figure gifts which usually consisted of small bits of the humans they came across, but this time she was proud to give Figure such a delicate and rare part of the body that was usually devoured or left to rot, as it was usually considered a trophy to have among the hotel’s inhabitants. The more intact, the better. Although by now, the heart was moments away from being just a messy slush of muscle and blood. Nonetheless, Figure was proud of Dupe. He sat down and let Dupe crawl into his lap. She trilled and curled up in a little ball. As much as Dupe reeked of rotten flesh and whatever else lurked in the unused and blocked-off rooms of the hotel, she was still an adorable little creature. Dupe really was Figure’s pet.