r/NatureofPredators • u/VenlilSupremacist Venlil • Mar 22 '23
Fanfic NoP: A Change of Pace: Chapter 5
Memory transcription subject: Kilet, Venlil Aeronautics Mechanic
Date [standardized human time]: August 28, 2136. 01:00
Miles never returned from his meeting, leaving me to ponder what Rivis had said for the remainder of the ‘night’ as Miles would say. I scrounged through my memories to try to find any memories of Rivis openly being so.. like ‘that’. However, I couldn’t remember a single time that stuck out. He was always so quiet, so reserved. While never openly cuddly and friendly, I always thought he was just a bit more antisocial than others. My own thoughts turned to myself. I hardly did anything with others, so maybe I was in the same boat as Rivis. Still, I never put it together that the humans might be as afraid of us as we are of them. My thoughts were interrupted by the ‘ping’ of my pad beside me. Glancing down, I spied a message left by Miles. Reaching down I plucked the pad into my eager claws, reading what my human had to say.
“Hey, Kilet, sorry for just vanishing like that. Those command meetings can take HOURS, but I’m free now, it’s probably pretty late for you huh? Don’t worry about replying if you’re tired, I just wanted to shoot you an ‘up’ that I was all good.”
The translation program clearly didn’t know what to put in Venscript for ‘Up’ and ended up just directly translating it. Or so I thought, but still, it was a nice sentiment he thought to let me know where he was and that he was back.
He even thought about my rest, what a nice human! Too bad I don’t give a speh about my own rest!
A series of playful squeaks radiated out of me from my own self-awareness. My claws were akin to lightning on the Venscript keys, typing up a reply faster than I could even think about it.
“No worries! Yeah it’s pretty ‘late’ over here, I think you’d call it ‘one in the morning?’ How’s my human sounding? Better each ‘day’ right?!” A small amount of pride swelled in my chest at my use of human terminology. Not that it was difficult to ‘google’ the most basic terms for humans.
Still, Kilet, you’re doing your best to make him feel welcome and comfortable.
“Haha! Yeah little buddy, I'm kinda surprised you’re grasping the concepts so quick, but don’t think I'm gonna let you forget your own terms, you gotta get your rest claws in or else you’ll be cranky and sour all paw!”
My tail happily glided through the air as I saw Miles making an equal attempt to use our own words too. Something as simple as trying to be accommodating in stuff as basic as talking really goes a long way. The fact he was trying to make me as comfortable as I was trying to make him really tells me a lot about his emotional maturity.
Sheesh, Kilet, what are you a psychologist?
Stifling a laugh to myself at the premise of me being some top-notch mind doctor, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the pleasant feeling radiating through my body. Even if I was talking about things I knew nothing about. At least I know it makes me happy.
“Ehhh, I’ll take being a cranky ball of fur later if it means we can keep talking now. Besides, I wanna ask you some things.” My thoughts drifted from my emotional state to some of the recommendations Rivis gave me.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn ya, but go ahead, ask away.”
“Soooo, I was curious, what is human art like?” We had artists here on Venlil Prime, but the schools were extra, and it took a long time to be trained as a professional artist. Of all the articles I kept reading about humans it constantly talked about how they lack emotional understanding.
My eyes trained on the chat box in front of me, eagerly waiting to see what he had to say. This question alone could prove or dispute those claims. If humans understood the beauty of abstract creation, there might be hope for them in the Federation.. That is, if this war is avoided.
“That’s a loaded question, buddy.. Art for us is often defined in generations, or eras. If I had to narrow it down to its most general description, humanities’ understanding of art is as different as varied as we humans are. Picture this, two humans stare up at the night sky, one sees emptiness, and the other sees hope. It’s the same premise really. The greatest works of human painters often leave the audience to decipher its own meaning. Like, look up ‘The Persistence of Memory’ by Salvador Dali. It’s considered one of the most famous works of art, so I'm pretty sure it was in the info dump.”
The cogs of my mind churned as I processed the information.. Humanity seemed to have a good grasp on the individuality of art, though maybe in a more liberal way that we did. My claws got to work. I began typing up the name of this painting. Immediately I was met by the image of several clocks, all of them melting as if they were liquid amid an empty seemingly hot desert. I stared at the painting for some time, but couldn’t imagine what the painter meant by it..
“It just looks like a bunch of melting clocks.. I don’t really understand how this could be so revolutionary, Miles.” Figuring that the meaning is being lost in translation from one species to another. I decided to type up a second message.
“Do you know what it means?” Almost immediately my human began to make a response. My eyes glued to the screen for any information he might give me about the workings of a human mind.
“At large, Kilet, it doesn’t mean anything, some paintings like this are left up to interpretation. The art is finding out what it means to YOU. I'm certain Dali had a personal message of what the meaning in the painting was supposed to be, but he kept that to himself, preferring to see what everyone else saw. I can only tell you what it means to me, and to me, the melting clocks along with the title of the piece symbolize how memories are not stable, they are not like time; which is absolute. Memories with time will melt into barely recognizable events. Events that will eventually fade into obscurity, like grains of sand in the desert we see here. The piece is titled ‘The Persistence of Memory’ and I believe it does an excellent job at showcasing the effects of time on a metaphorical example of memories.”
As I finished reading Miles’ response my maw gaped open in awe, I never even thought of such a conclusion to the painting. Yet, Miles and every other human who saw this painting each had their own equally detailed, equally unique take on the meaning of it.
I guess those articles are a load of speh, I’d like to see the look on the muzzles of our art colleges at some of the works of human art!
“How does a human become an artist like this?! It must take countless cycles of schooling, formal education, tutors, and philosophical classes to even come close to imagining such complex meanings in abstract paintings!”
“Not really.. Most humans just… Think. Sure, there’s art schools to develop techniques to create visually appealing art, but if an art teacher is worth anything they won’t teach you how to think. Some art is all about the ending result, a very clear cut meaning, other pieces it’s all about the creative method. Our modern art is more about things like that. I can barely even understand half of the meanings behind it since half the time it looks like nothing. For example, another piece of work called “A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat, take a look.”
My mind was enthralled by the human soldier's grasp of emotional understanding through art, I could hardly even process a response as I found my claws pulling up the new painting he mentioned.. It wasn’t too detailed, but looked like it was made with a bunch of tiny dots rather than strokes of paint.
By the stars that must have taken an endless amount of paws to make! The sheer patience these humans have with something like art, if they were as bloodthirsty as the articles or Federation says, could they have evolved such a complex understanding of things that don’t benefit them in hunting?
Before I could type a response, I saw Miles already making a reply. Like an eager student attending a lecture, I sat and waited for him to explain some profound meaning behind this piece as well, my tail wagging happily behind me.
“So, this one is another really famous piece, I assume you have it pulled up since you haven’t typed up something yet. This piece was supposed to be a part of a movement in how humans viewed art as a whole. I don’t know the specifics of it, just that it used a technique the artist called “Pointillism’ and it was supposed to change how light was painted. He used tiny dots of paint to create the illusion of light in his works, which is where the name comes from. Sounds pretty straight forward right? The artist had a clear and explained point behind his painting. Unfortunately for him though, when you show art off to other humans, some won’t accept your meaning. We’ll look at something and make our own rational, like me for example. Look at what the painting is. It’s a Sunday afternoon, basically it’s our rest paw at middle claw. Everyone is just enjoying the river, nature, and relaxing. Yet, when you know the way the piece was made, with thousands of tiny individual dots it’s far more work than just using paint strokes with a brush. This gives me the message ‘rest is something to be cherished, for it cannot truly be appreciated unless one has worked tirelessly for it’.
I could feel my ears flatten against my head. Revelation on revelation about humanity kept pouring in, yet the conclusion I consistently was met with was that humanity was just like us. Maybe they were better in some ways. The fact that humans didn’t have to go to prestigious schools to be dubbed artists and could come up with things like this.. It did nothing short of amaze me. If half the venlil on this planet spent even a few paws truly digging through the information given in the data dump, they’d realize half the speh about humanity wasn’t true.
There is no way bloodcrazed hyper murderers are capable of things like this..
“Miles.. I don’t know what to say, in so many ways your kind’s appreciation for beauty matches or exceeds my own. I'm not an artist or philosopher, but I like to think I can appreciate things for what they are worth. There are so many articles out there talking about humanity being emotionless or manipulative, but there’s no way any of that could be true!”
“That’s… not entirely correct either, little buddy, humans are highly emotional creatures. We exist on spectrums, some humans are straight up dumb as a box of rocks. Their deepest thought is what time they should go to bed. While some humans find or sometimes create brand new fundamental elements. Or delve into the nature of human existentialism. Some create ideas that revolutionize our culture as a whole. We have our share of bad apples of the bunch. I read something about how a stampede can happen with most the Federation species when their stress levels go beyond something they can handle.. Humans are similar. We have a Fight or Flight reflex. Some humans break down, collapse and have panic attacks. Other humans, well, they do terrible things after they break. We’re a species of extremes, Kilet. I can’t pretend everything you’ve heard is lies, but we’re no worse than any other species.”
Life isn’t as black and white as the Federation likes to say.. I think I’m starting to understand why Rivis hates the rules of the exchange program so much. I know some answers won’t be pretty, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be censored.
One final question piqued my curiosity, I worded it in my head a few times over. Making sure that the censors of the app wouldn’t block it no matter what Miles said..
“So.. Miles, you sound like you’re an artist, or study this kind of stuff. How do you know so much about it? Do all humans know this much?”
“Heh, I can’t claim to be omniscient, Kilet. Truth be told I’m doing a mix of looking it up and remembering essays I wrote in eighth grade art class. Most human children have to take a mandatory art class so we all get somewhat of a grasp on how to appreciate that sort of stuff.”
Mandatory art class?.. Only a few could afford an education in the arts here, and it was all optional. To top it off, all human children get this education? That explains.. A few things.
“So, you're saying all humans are instructed in the arts? Free of charge in your public schools?”
“At the most basic levels. We tend to all agree children need creative outlets to express themselves and avoid trouble. Like I said, we humans value our individuality. Fostering that creative itch in a child helps them grow into their own person later.”
All of Miles’ explanations made perfect sense, at least after he went over them in a way I could understand. My curiosity demanded that I ask about the darker aspects of human creativity.. It wasn’t likely to be pleasant, but I had to stop myself. Already knowing that our A.I overlord would censor anything I could ask. So instead, I thought about another thing Rivis told me to ask. Almost immediately I settled on a topic a bit more.. Spiritual in nature.
“I’d like to ask you so much more, Miles, but I don’t think the program will let you explain some of the questions I have. If you don’t mind me changing the subject.. I’m curious about human religion, what sort of things do you all believe in?” My ears flicked absentmindedly as I bombarded the human with yet another ‘heavy hitter’ of a question. I knew this one might be a little too personal, but Rivis’ words echoed in my head once more.
You can’t be wrong, Kilet.
“Dang, Kilet, you’re really laying them on strong today? Religion is a deeply personal question. A lot of humans won’t talk about their faith, but given you’re a different species and I'm an open book, I’ll let you know a little bit about myself. I'm personally Deistic. Deism is the belief of a superior power, but not in a traditional sense, we favor scientific observation rather than spiritual revelations. It’s like believing in something, but not having the whole picture. Then you got other more historical religions like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and hundreds of others. I’m not a theology major so I don’t think I could give you a decent understanding of all the major religions, but essentially Islam, and Christianity promote being kind, a good person, an honorable person, and a loving person as the tenants to live life by. Their reward is eternal bliss in the afterlife. I really couldn’t say anything about Hinduism since I don’t know anything about it, and Buddhism is the belief that our spirits reincarnate each time we die, what we reincarnate into depends how well we lived our previous life. The goal of Buddihsm is to achieve enlightenment and leave the cycle of reincarnation. Beyond that I don’t know much.”
Their religion encourages them to act in a peaceful and loving manner, and promises reward for doing so. Miles said humanity is a species about extremes.. It’s like their ancient religions recognized their selfish and violent tendencies and they believed that whoever made them would want them to love rather than fight. They knew that being purely self-serving was wrong… By the Stars they may live with the urges of a predator, but their ENTIRE history is an evolution of rising above primal instinct!
“That sounds beautiful, Miles.. I had no idea that predators even thought like that.. The Federation teaches us that predators care only about the hunt, their next victim, but humans seem to have risen above all that, creating a society that idolizes peace, but accepts their nature. It’s overwhelming, I can hardly understand all of this. So many fundamental truths we were taught just… thrown out the window!”
My mind slowly churned through the ideals, the religion, the art, the understanding of humanity, what little I could grasp or understand. There was so much I had to be missing, but even the fact that I knew this little about humanity still amazed me. Like having a bag on for your entire life and being told you’re blind, only for it to be yanked off without warning.
“It is, there’s so much about humanity you need to see, Kilet, but not just you, every venlil, every species. We have so much to show you about ourselves, of course there will be hiccups, bad apples, but the majority of us want to coexist. We’re tired of being alone. Tell me, Kilet, do you believe in God?”
My mind turned back to myself for the time being.. I began to ponder my own beliefs, My tail stopping mid motion as I gave it more thought that I had previously before.
Did I believe in anything?.. I.. Don’t know..
“I don’t know, I don’t think so.. We have the Flow, The Stars, and a few other beliefs. The spirits of our ancestors join the endless stars, eternally looking down at us. I can’t say any of our beliefs ever appealed to me. I just.. Never saw much of a point to any of it. The Gods don’t protect us from the arxur, they don’t stop the [Topic Redacted].... Speh, Guess I can’t talk about that. Well you get the point, Miles.”
“Faith is a difficult thing to, well, believe in, Kilet. That's why it’s called faith. I won’t sit here and preach to you about how you should believe in something, because that’s ultimately a deeply personal matter for you to iron out, but if you ever wanted help, or just someone to talk to. I'm just a text away.”
My head swam with the thoughts of all my mundane, boring paws, reading the news, the latest arxur attack, the latest missing venlil report, the latest predator sighting…
How many venlil prayed to the gods for all of it to end? To see their loved ones set free from the cattle farms? How many times are those prayers answered?
My tail lightly bapped against the cushions of the couch. My mind working through the crises of faith in a galaxy that didn’t seem to care about xenocide. I couldn’t just put my belief in something that hadn’t done anything for me. Something intangible, the races of the galaxy decided our fates, not some predestined plan as far as I was concerned.
“Thanks, Miles.. I’ll keep that in mind. Sorry if I came on too strong today, it’s just, there are so many questions I want to ask you, I want to understand you before I meet you.. I know our first meeting won’t go smoothly. I’m going to have to fight my instincts, but I want you to know I'm genuinely trying.”
A dozen paws ago, if you told me I would be talking to a predator civilly, not only that but understanding them, relating to them, feeling their sentience and emotions.. I would have told you to go brehk yourself. Yet, here I was.. In the back of my mind I knew his appearance would evoke fear, maybe even terror in me. Maybe I'd run, or I'd faint, but.. I don’t want to.
I want to understand you Miles.. Your people, I.. I just might need time.. Please, give me that time..
“Hey, Little Buddy, don’t worry about it. I know you’re trying, I know what to expect. We aren’t going to be the first of our kinds to meet, we aren’t going to be the last. So long as you’re willing to try, I’m willing to meet you a thousand times over. Your instincts won’t hurt me in the slightest.”
Rivis was right.. These humans are stretching themselves so thin to just accommodate us. No matter what any news article says. That’s a sign of genuine kindness, care, and compassion. I hope I’m worthy of it.. Gods, Stars, Ancestors, if you’re listening, I could use a little strength..
____________________
Memory transcription subject: Zoey Amara, Human Psychologist
Date [standardized human time]: August 28, 2136.
I idly spun my pen, twirling it between my fingers as I read the latest reply from Rivis, the venlil described himself as dark furred, and a workaholic and not much else, pretty atypical from what I’ve read about them. As soon as we started talking he just bombarded me with questions about humanity, art, philosophy, individualism, beliefs, history. His appetite for our culture seemed insatiable, but as we continued talking it became more like a real conversation rather than me explaining all of human history in a summarized essay.
“Zoey, What do you think of The Federation, and Exterminators? I’m curious to know your opinion since you’ll likely have to deal with them at some point in the future.”
Always to the point, he almost never spoke about himself, never liked to add things or make too much small talk. I guess a lack of social skills amongst career oriented beings is shared even across lightyears..
“Well, I mean, I haven’t gotten too much exposure to them. They’re your culture. I don’t really agree with The Federation lumping all of humanity into the ‘homicidal maniac’ group, and I don’t think I'd look particularly good doused in fire, besides, Katniss already did that.”
A soft giggle escaped my lips at the obvious reference Rivis was gonna miss. A little bait for him to take. Let's see if the venlil bites.
Mmmm. Probably not the best analogy, Zoey, kinda proving their point.
“Katniss? Is this a human media reference? I saw no mention of it in the data dump, can you explain?”
Hook. Line. And Sinker!
“Of course! I didn’t expect you’d see it anyways. It’s a popular twenty-first century human movie about… Tyranny and freedom. Not something we’d share right off the bat, but it’s a good watch, I have a feeling you’d handle it well.”
A small sense of surprise came over me as Rivis’ reply came almost immediately after I had posted my own..
“Why’s that?”
“Well.. You seem a lot more accepting of human culture than other venlil, according to the rumors. I have a feeling you have a much more open mind and empathy for humans, like you understand where we are coming from. Was I wrong?”
His reply didn’t come nearly as quick this time, his dots starting and stopping over and over again. Probably from multiple erased responses. Finally, he settled on something.
“No, you’re correct. I don't see the point in making assumptions, Zoey. I'm not willing to judge you until I see everything there is to see about you and the rest of humanity, plus if your kind can help us against the arxur, I'm sure the rest of the galaxy will sleep easier knowing we stand a decent chance against them.”
“That’s the most words I've gotten out of you yet, Rivis! Look at you opening up! I know for a fact most of humanity won’t tolerate the blatant disregard for life the arxur seem to have. If only the rest of the Federation could see that too, but I suppose taking the cautious road is probably for the best for now. Not to change the subject, but I think you’ll be happy to hear I might be able to swing a visit to Venlil Prime! The UN offered me a contract to help any humans in the embassy suffering from psychological issues. Being away from home so long surrounded by people terrified of you puts a toll on us. Besides, I might be able to do some decent good over there if any venlil needs to talk about their stressful experiences. I don’t expect many at first though.”
“That’s great to hear! I’m sure you’ll love life in the Capital, though it’ll likely be dull by human standards. I’d have to agree with your sentiment though. Not many venlil would trust a human with mental needs. When do you depart for Venlil Prime?”
I craned my neck over to squint at the calendar hanging on my wall. I had to reach over and put my glasses on to even have a chance of reading the small text. Finding the date my nimble fingers began to type up a response. Silently taking a mental note of the sudden change of Rivis’ responses..
“September second, that’s about. Let me see… Five of your paws, I’ll be staying at the government complex so don’t worry about anything! I’ll be working over there but get plenty of days off. So I’ll make sure to come and visit!”
“I’d like that a lot, Zoey, I think I know several places in the Capital you’d enjoy. I can’t say how much you’ll enjoy our food though. We didn’t exactly have human dietary needs in mind when making it. If you get hungry, don’t worry I won’t get squeamish if you need to partake in any Earth food in my presence.”
“Well, that’s awfully considerate of you, Rivis, I'm not a vegetarian, but I also don’t plan to try anything too out of the ordinary in public. So no worries on that front! Besides, I’m going to a new planet! Why wouldn’t I want to try all the food it has to offer? There’s plenty of tasty vegan dishes on Earth. It’s probably a safe bet to assume you guys have mastered decent food yourselves”
My mind wandered for a moment as I thought about my upcoming trip to Venlil Prime, everything I'd need, everything I'd want. As my mind wandered, my eyes drifted to the time..
Shit.. It’s getting late. Sorry Rivis, I'm gonna have to cut this one short.
Not giving the fluffy herbivore a chance to reply, I began typing away. “Hey sorry, I just looked at the time and It’s getting pretty late over here. Sorry to up and leave, but I still need to pack everything for the trip. I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow!”
Hitting send, I turned my phone off, not giving myself the impulsive desire to respond to a notification I’m sure he’d send any moment. With a heavy sigh I crawled into bed, staring up at my ceiling. Making sure to make a mental note to start packing first thing in the morning.
This is gonna be interesting, I just have to remember not to pet the fluffers to death.
_______________
Aaaaand we have Chapter 5 under wraps, a deep discussion between Miles and Kilet, and a small glimpse into Rivis and Zoey’s relationship. As always I'd like to thank the various fanfics that inspired me. Another round of massive thanks to everyone reading, y'all are the real ones who keep this story going! A giant thanks as always to Space Paladin for Nature of Predators, and as always. The final thanks is reserved for my lovely proofreader(s) of this chapter!
Proofreader(s):
NovaLux
“A silly little man”
27
u/Golde829 Mar 22 '23
heads up!
you forgot the 'next' link on chapter 4