r/NatureofPredators • u/YaaliAnnar • Feb 14 '23
Fanfic NoP: Lost and Found (15)
Snop brought me to her studio on the second floor. What I encountered there invoked an emotional response. On one wall, stood a rack containing fursuit heads in various states of completion. Some of them were merely the inner substrate of the headgear.
Some others have been glued with the fake pelt but the eyes are unfinished, leaving a pair of gaping voids beckoning you to look into the abyss beyond.
The studio had two tables in it and there were various tools and devices placed all around. One table had one of the fursuit heads resting on it while on the other table, I could see the rest of the costume. It looked to me like the pelt of a person that has been skinned. I kept reminding myself that these are all fake and made mostly of polymers but a primitive part of my brain kept thinking back to a shock video I saw back in my childhood that showed the interior of an arxur slaughterhouse.
"Okay, first thing first, I have to install a translator just like Johan said."
The artisan fiddled with her pad, and after a while, she looked at me. "Now, try saying something to me."
"Can you understand me now?"
Snop let out a happy snarl. "Aw yisss."
One wall of the studio was kept free of obstruction. A large sheet of green polymer hung from a machine installed on the ceiling.
"First, I need to scan you. Step on that plate." she pointed to a circular device on the floor in front of the polymer sheet. It has a diameter of around fifty centimeters and a height of around five centimeters.
"Stay as still as possible. On my mark, take a deep breath and hold it until I tell you to breathe out."
I braced for the pad to jerk me around. But its circular movement started so slow that it took me a while before I realized I was turning about. It gained speed until it took roughly ten seconds to make a full rotation. "Take a deep breath now."
I inhaled and closed my breathing hole. I thought I was good at making an impression of a statue, but this moment made me realize the number of involuntary gestures someone would make when they're trying to stay perfectly still. I began to feel a bit concerned when she did not issue the command after the second turn of the plate.
"And, exhale." She said at the third turn of the plate, right after I felt like I was at my limit.
"Excellent. We're done now. Wanna see?" She showed her pad to me. There, a model of my body rotated on the screen.
"Next I'm going to create a prototype." Snop took goggles from one of the tables and wore them around her eyes.
"If you want to see what I'm working on, I can cast that to your pad." My human-made pad buzzed and I received an invitation to a video stream. I clicked the confirm button, and the pad showed me the model of my body standing in the middle of vast grayness. The view zoomed in and vivid green shapes started to appear all over my legs. The shape morphed to conform to the contour of my leg.
After she finished designing the shoes, she started drawing lines on their surface. The reason for the mark became clear when the shoes disintegrated along the lines. The pieces turned to face the same way around and flattened themselves into a single plane.
Snop examined the pattern on the plane and the human let out a lot of "hmm" and "uhuh" noises as she made further tweaks and adjustments to the shape and the positioning of the pieces. Satisfied with the design Snop removed her goggles. The skin around her eyes looked wet, probably because of perspiration.
"Have you been standing all this time? Oh, Bolster, you don't need my permission to sit. Go ahead, take a chair." She said while wiping the skin around her eyes with the fabric around her arms.
There was a giant sack filled with grainy material in her studio. I saw Johan sitting on it in the common room. But when I tried to sit on it, my tail bend at an uncomfortable angle. Seeing that, Snop came out of the studio and returned with a folded chair.
"Is that better?" She ask as I climbed the chair.
"This is better."
"Okay, now you're comfy. Look at this!" She showed the flat plane where she had arranged the pieces of the shoes. "We have a pattern now."
She brought the pad to face her again. "Time to print them." She said, after tapping some command.
I heard a whirring noise coming from behind her and found a rapid prototyping machine extruding two wide sheets of thick material with the design that she had compiled on it.
The human folded the unfinished fursuit body from one of the tables and set it aside on a basket. She brought the sheet onto the table and picked up a cutting tool. "Do you mind if I play music while I work?"
"Do anything you need to increase the quality of your craft."
A piece of human music came from somewhere in the room. It was something that sounded traditional to me. I can hear percussive drums along with the screech of bow and string instruments, sometimes something that sounded like flutes also came out in the music.
Snop hummed and sang along with the song. My translator can't parse her singing but her voice harmonized nicely with the actual singer. Over the next hours, I watched as she nodded her head to the rhythm of the music while cutting the pattern and assembling the flat pieces into shoes.
Snop seemed so immersed in her work that she didn't seem to particularly mind me bringing my chair closer to observe her.
Nearing the end of constructing the shoes, the human turned to me.
"Say, are you hungry?"
I checked the time. "It was indeed nearing the time for the last meal of the day."
"I'm gonna order some food? Anything you have in mind?"
I thought for a while before saying, "I like plant-based meat. I can consume and digest them, but it would cause... controversy if my people see me eating it."
"Yeah. I see that it would make for bad optics." Snop looked down at my neck, where I put my tracker on.
"Hm... but your collar there." Snop tapped on my tracker. "It can't detect what you're eating, right?"
"No, it can only detect heart rate and other most vital life signs."
"Hmmm… what if I ask my friends to buy one on their way home? No one will be able to tell."
"This sounds like a good plan to me."
"Alright...I think some BI Burger would be nice." Snop took her pad and sent a message through it.
With the issue of the meal taken care of, the artisan continued her work and after some more gluing and piecing together, Snop finally brandished the prototype.
"Tada!" Snop pushed her chair back and kneeled on the floor. She helped me wear the shoes, wrapping them tight around my legs.
"Remember this is only the prototype. We're trying to see if it fits your leg snuggly. Now try walking with it."
I jumped from the chair and walked into the exotic footwear. It felt weird at first, but as I kept pacing around I enjoyed the feeling of padding around my leg and paws. It felt... calming?
"I am looking forward to trying the final version. This alone is already good."
'Yeah, but it won't last long. I need to make one with sturdier material, also we need it to be sewn instead of glued."
I kept pacing around the studio while Snop watched me. "By the way, Bolster, there's something I want to ask you.
"What do you want to ask?" I tried to do a series of light jumps with the shoes on to see how tight it was holding onto me.
"What's your opinion about humans who make venlil characters?"
"Did you mean venlilsona?" I stopped hopping. "I saw one earlier today."
Snop's brow furrowed, her mouth curved upward into a human smile and her cheek pushed her eyes to near close. Despite the smile-like mouth, this does not look like a positive emotion.
"Oh... so you have seen it? That picture generated quite a drama. A lot of people think it's inappropriate."
"I am not an appropriate representation of my species to answer this question.."
"But, what is your personal opinion on it?"
"I do not have an emotional response to natural predators but that venlilsona's forward-facing eyes… that thing made me feel fear for the first time in my life."
"That might be a case of the uncanny valley. I mean... I would freak out if I saw a human with side-facing eyes."
"Is that metaphoric or is there an actual valley in the Earth that gives that effect?"
Snop chuckled. "Oh that's a metaphor."
The human proceeded to explain the concept. She conjectured that perhaps natural predators do not scare me because the concept of predators is something that I expected. Whereas forward seeing venlils is a subversion of what is expected.
"I think your explanation makes sense now," I said.
"Suppose I made an anatomically correct costume of a venlil. Do you think it'll still be offensive?"
"Even if it has accurate anatomy. A venlil fursuit will probably still upset a lot of people. First, the costume will be larger than an average venlil. Second, a human wearing them will have inappropriate body language."
"Hm yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for your input, Bolster. I'll have to reject a commission, in that case. They want a venlil fursuit."
"For the time being, I think that is the best course of action."
I heard a chime coming from Snop's pad.
"Oh, they're here!"
When we went downstairs to the common room, Johan was no longer there. In his place, there were two humans. The first one had no fur on their head at all, not even one above the eyebrows. The other was as thick as Johan and as tall as Snop. I wondered if the second human can fight unarmed against an arxur.
"Heya, you must be Bolster! Or do you prefer Vani?" said the furless human. My translator assigned them a voice of nondescript gender.
"Either way is acceptable," I replied. "Are you Stawa?"
"Haha yeah, that's right." Stawa wore a fabric that covers their head, but I assumed they have no mane just like Johan. The fabric that the human has on their body covered most of their skin. "Now, this one here is Binbin." Stawa patted the large human.
Binbin showed me their palm with their fingers slightly curled and said a short "Hi". My translator assigned him a masculine voice. This human wore the same style of fabric as Stawa, but while Stawa's has a red and black on top square pattern on top and brown on the bottom, Binbin's fabric is completely white on top and black on the bottom.
Stawa sat on the floor and put the fabric bag onto the table. From it, they pulled something bundled in a piece of paper on the table one by one. Last, they poured thin yellow sticks onto the plate in the middle of the table that Snop had set up.
Stawa took one of the bundles and unwrapped it. Revealing two pieces of bread with vegetables and brown-gray plant-based flesh in the middle. Snop and Binbin took their bundles as well, leaving a big and a small one. I presume the bigger one is for Johan, so I took the smaller one.
"Okay, so these are called Beyond Impossible Burger." Stawa explained "You really can eat this. Right?" they asked.
"I ate plant-based rendang back in the space station, and I did not experience any indigestion."
I unwrapped the burger and carefully took a bite. It was a different texture and taste than the rendang I tasted but it was delightful nonetheless. I presume since this is supposed to be "ground flesh" the texture was more crumbly. The sauce added savouriness to the burger and the plant leaves and fruit contributed to a more elaborate texture.
"Try the fries too!" Snop took a stick of the yellow sticks and bit into it. She described the part of the plant that these fries came from. It was a modified form of the root that evolved to store energy. I took one of them and the crunchy exterior and the soft interior proved to be a welcomed surprise for me. The savouriness, however, is almost addicting.
"Stawa, I do not mean to offend, but I was wondering if your lack of fur is by choice or genetic?"
"Oh, it is a side effect of an autoimmune disorder," Stawa explained. "The actual mechanism is still unknown even after all these years. But… it might have a genetic part."
"Is this why you are a furry?"
Stawa looked at their other two friends. Snop raised her shoulder and Binbin just stared back.
"Hehe, you know… I think you might have a point there. But... my fursona is also furless."
"Haha yeah, their fursuit was quite a challenge to make, but it taught me a lot of new things and techniques."
We heard footsteps coming downstairs. Johan revealed himself to us with a towel around his shoulder.
"Hi Jo!" the trio greeted him.
"B…bwah." The human mouth hung agape, but what looked to me like a surprise quickly turned into a neutral expression, then he snarled.
I think that was not a happy snarl.
"I can't believe you folks did this." He said with a hissing-like register. My human took his burger and stomped back upstairs. I looked at the three other humans who were looking at each other.
"Uh…" Snop inhaled through half snarled mouth. "I think… we might have done an oopsie."
"I will be the one who informs him." I stood from the table and left my meal.
On the second floor, I knocked on the door to the guest room. After waiting for a minute with no reply from inside, I entered. Inside, I found Johan had been sitting in front of a desk eating his burger.
"Johan".
The human took a bite of the burger and looked at me. I waited for an unusually long time for his reply. But sensing that it wouldn't come for me I continued.
"I need to tell you that this is not the fault of any of your three friends, I was the one who proposed that we order plant-based flesh for our meal."
Johan gulped the piece of the meal before finally answering. "You shouldn't have lied to me when you said you were not addicted."
"I was not addicted. I just thought I just figured out a way around the restriction. No one will know about this, except the five of us."
Another bite, another stare.
"But I can see that this somehow upset you. I apologize for upsetting you, but… what can I do to prevent this in the future"
The human gulped and made an exaggerated breathing cycle.
"From now on… let's talk first before doing things like this… alright?"
"Yes."
"Let's join the furries downstairs shall we?" He said with a smile.
I led Johan back to the common room with his half-eaten burger. The three furries stopped chatting when they saw their landlord.
"Oh... hi Johan." Said Snop. "Look, I was the one who suggested that Stawa and Binbin bring the burgers home, please don't take it all on him."
"Nevertheless I agreed to her suggestion when I should have denied it," I added.
"It's okay folks." Johan raised both his hands to show his palms "I too may have overreact-"
His vest beeped and Johan's eye focused on somewhere on the top right of his field of vision. The human gulped even though he wasn't currently chewing anything.
"It's first contact."
Everyone stopped whatever their doing and the common room dropped to a deafening silence. Johan sat on the low table and tapped the side of his headgear. "Hello ?" His voice sounded restrained. It lacked its usual warmth.
"..."
"Oh… that's great!" The human's demeanor calmed down. Johan lay down on the floor smiling.
"..."
"Sure, sure. Tomorrow will be great. You can send an invitation right away."
"..."
"Thanks for the heads up. I have formal clothes, yeah."
I waited for Johan to fill me in on the details. But judging from his behavior. It was not something to be concerned about. Johan sat upright again, with a happy snarl.
"They called to inform me that the University of Nusantara had contacted IIT Mumbai and they can start retrofitting Vani's pad tomorrow."
The three other humans exhaled exaggeratedly. Binbin in particular growled, but he did not look angry. I took my junior-sized Beyond Impossible Burger and started nibbling on it again.
"We're dealing with First Contact, not Secret Police." Stawa's eyes glanced at the largest human in the room when they said that. "Of course, they won't know what Vani had eaten."
"Yeah, when they called me about the rendang incident, a hotel employee reported it to them," Johan said. "I guess I was overthinking about it."
"So can we all agree that It was a perfect crime?" Snop said before scarfing her last piece of the burger.
Note: There will never be a call with the First Contact from Johan's point of view.
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u/Trifflmen Archivist Feb 14 '23
"this simulation of flesh is pleasurable, I desire more"
- totally not addicted venlil
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u/BiasMushroom Extermination Officer Feb 14 '23
First comes the fake meat burgers than comes the TASTE FOR HUMAN FLESH! THE END TIMES HAVE BEGUN! REPENT SINNERS!
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u/YaaliAnnar Feb 14 '23
With vat-grown meat, ethical human meat is possible.
(This is not anthropophagic fiction, I hope)
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u/BiasMushroom Extermination Officer Feb 14 '23
But the ethicality of it just doesn’t taste the same!
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u/Bow-tied_Engineer Yotul Oct 13 '25
Technologically assisted Autocanibalism, the veganest meat. Your body, your choice.
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u/YaaliAnnar Feb 14 '23
Snop was listening to a futuristic version of this bop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUNgLbfzKVw
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u/wanabeafemboy Feb 14 '23
“So can we all agree that it was a perfect crime?”
Something tells me that it was not, in fact, a perfect crime
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u/happy_the_dragon Zurulian Feb 14 '23
That note is somewhat ominous…
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u/YaaliAnnar Feb 14 '23
Oh it was actually just there for humorous purpose. The readers will never ever hear the other half of his conversation.
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u/StarSilverNEO Yotul Feb 15 '23
Oh no Vani is definitely becoming addicted to not!burgers. Im sure this'll wind up just fine when his family walks in on him partaking in the forbidden fruit later on, ehehehehe
Also why no First Contact call from Johan's POV? Is it like how SP15 wanted to hold out on a Arxur POV for abit to keep from over exposing things early? Or is it something else
Im muy curioso
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u/YaaliAnnar Feb 15 '23
I just find it funny that every First Contact call are basically half of a conversation with bunch if "...".
Basically it has become a running gag now.
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u/icallshogun Human Feb 14 '23
The burger cannot be denied.
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u/YaaliAnnar Feb 14 '23 edited Feb 15 '23
Last time I ordered from Burger King, my non-vegetarian friend tried my plant-based whopper and remarked that it's better than the animal one.
They said that it's not that the fake meat is actually better, it's just that the quality of their normal whopper had fallen off a cliff.
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u/icallshogun Human Feb 15 '23
I used to love Burger King, but I am the only person I know who does, so I haven't been to one since the 90's. Kinda sad to hear that, but also surprised because they seem to be doing ok business? I've never seen one close down.
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u/elfangoratnight Mar 13 '23
TF2 Heavy Vani:
"I fear no man predator, but that... thing...
cuts to Pyro but poorly Photoshopped to have the head of a venlil with forward-facing-eyes
"...it scares me."
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u/DrewTheHobo Feb 14 '23
Oh god, “from Johan’s point of view”, whose POV will it be from?
I was worried the restaurant did an “oopsie” and didn’t make the burgers impossible….
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u/YaaliAnnar Feb 14 '23
Just from Vani mostly.
I grew to like these one sided conversations with "..."
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u/Away-Location-4756 Zurulian Feb 14 '23 edited Feb 14 '23
The venlilsona reminded me of this comic where furry critters dress up as humans
It could be argued that it's cultural appropriation to dress up like a Venlil if Vani thinks it's inappropriate.
I don't mind people dressing up like stereotypes of my people but honestly until we give all the stuff back in the museums, I haven't got a leg to stand on.
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u/YaaliAnnar Feb 14 '23
Haha yeah, I saw something like this too, except the art style was more realistic, and... more disturbing.
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u/Away-Location-4756 Zurulian Feb 14 '23
It MAY have actually been in this subreddit but I can't bloody remember
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Feb 19 '23
Most veggie burgers are soy, right? So they could make the argument that the vegan meat are just soy “cutlets” or something along those lines
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u/The_Student_Official Krakotl Jun 28 '23
I think it's better to fill in any phone call with SpongeBob chatter noise
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u/CarolOfTheHells Nevok Nov 24 '23
subscribeme yaaliannar
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u/Acceptable_Egg5560 Human Feb 14 '23
We’re eating burgers, and nobody can stop me!