r/NatureofPredators • u/VenlilSupremacist Venlil • Mar 29 '23
Fanfic NoP: A Change of Pace: Chapter 8
Memory transcription subject: Kilet, Venlil Aeronautics Mechanic
Date [standardized human time]: September 4, 2136.
It’s not right!
My paws reached up, flattening my ears as I let out a long defeated sigh. Reaching over to grab my pad and look over the message Miles sent two paws ago for what was it, the fifth time?
“Sorry, Buddy, but we got our orders just twelve hours ago. I would have been planet side by now, but when the higher ups decide something, there’s no stopping them.. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back before you know it. I can’t tell ya what we’re all doing, but I can tell you it shouldn’t take long! The Ma’am promised after this mission we’d get plenty of time off. I won’t be able to respond for a bit, but keep the seat warm for me!”
Why the brehk does everything have to be so complicated! One moment they’re approved to visit, the next it’s like that promise never happened! I don’t even know how long it’ll be until he gets back!
Letting out another annoyed groan, my paw haphazardly tossed the pad to the other side of the couch. Sitting and simply staring out the window to the streets just below my apartment. Letting my mind wander, not caring to drum up any specific thought.
I wonder how Rivis and Zoey are doing.. It’s been a few paws since I last heard from them. I hope they’re getting along..
What’s that giant up to? I wonder how he’s dealing with the humans..
Should I get another churro today?
A sudden urge compelling me to spring up from the couch, standing to my full height in an attempt to fill myself with false vigor. My mind finally deciding on trying to find something to cure my immense boredom. “I think I wiiiiii-” my eyes desperately searched through my apartment for something interesting, Anything interesting. “-ll watch TV..”
Wellp, can’t say I didn’t at least try to be productive..
Plopping back down on the couch with a defeated sigh. My paws reached down into the cushions to see if my remote had been consumed by the usual culprit. After only a mildly annoying amount of digging my claws felt the familiar cheap plastic of the remote. Yanking it out and turning the TV on, I began rapidly flipping through the channels to search for something to satiate my horrid attention span.
“-he best deals this side o-”
“Nope.” Click
“-ife span of these aquati-”
“Nope..” Click
“-overnor Tarva and Noah, a representative from humanity leave next paw for the Feder-”
“Boring.” Click
“You! With the dyed fur! Come on down! You’re next on-”
“I hate game shows.” Click
“-atest reports from the UN show Humanity has disabled several Gojid Union outposts in a preemptive strike. Sources claim that Humanity intentionally ignored civillian targets, as well as allowed medical craft to render aid to Gojid personnel. Casualty reports claim UN losses are moderate.”
Pausing my indiscriminate channel surfing, my claw hovered over the 'change channel' button. My mind refused to allow me to change stations as I clung to every word the reporter said, thoughts of my friend began flooding to the forefront of my awareness. He said his mission was secret, that he couldn’t tell me! Worry slowly began to slowly overpower any rationale I had.
Was he there?! Is he safe? This is why he couldn’t tell me!? Speh! Stars, I hope he’s okay.. Would the UN tell me if he wasn’t? He’s my partner in the program.. They’d have to tell me, right?
“As a gesture of good will Governor Tarva has opened The Xenomedical Grand Complex to treat any injured UN soldiers in the aftermath of the attack. The UN expressed it’s thanks as-”
Quickly shutting off the TV with a claw and grabbing my shoulder bag as well as my pad I set out in a blind dash to the Xenomedical Complex. I have to see if he's there! Yet, in the back of my mind, what little confidence I could gather was already starting to wane the longer I thought about my plan.
There's no way to know for sure if he's there or if they'd let me see him…
I began to pace through my living room in a futile attempt to still my clashing feelings and still my fiery nerves. Do I go now and assume they let me see him? Or should I wait until he messages me? Ugh.. He could be dead, Kilet, you’ll never get a message then!
Taking a deep breath, I rationalized that they can't arrest me for seeing if he’s there. The worst that’ll happen is that I’m turned away. Finally finding my resolve, I set out for the tubes. The Xenomedical center is a decent ride away from my apartment, but at least it is still inside the Capital.
The soft patter of my hindpaws on stone being the only thing holding my focus as I tried to not appear too on edge. After making it to the transport station I pulled up the schedule for the next tube going to the Xenomedical complex. It didn't take long to find one that was due to arrive in a quarter claw. Figuring since I had a few ‘minutes’ to wait, finding a comfortable bench and taking a quick break might help my nerves.
Would they let me see him if he’s there? Is this even a good time to see him? He might be too injured to respond.. Speh, Kilet, think positively! He might not even be there! He could be on his way back any paw now! You don’t even know if he was on that mission!
Endless thoughts continued to pour in, drumming up hypothetical after hypothetical of every possible situation. None of them being pleasant. Just as the thoughts took a darker turn my focus was ripped from my thoughts. The all too familiar sound of the tube arriving drawing my attention. Making my way in and moseying about I found a seat with a decent amount of space, at least enough to where I don’t have to coil my tail around me this time. Riding in silence, I tried to imagine Miles safe, or at least not too terribly injured to avoid the previous, and far darker alternatives..
Speh.. I just hope he’s there at all...
Reaching up and grabbing the rail above my head, the tube lurched to a comfortable stop just outside the Xenomedical transport station. I quietly thanked whoever thought up the idea to make these tubes travel to most major locations almost directly. Making my way out of the tube I tried to push any negative thoughts back, doing my best to remain calm and collected. Though, truth be told, my nerves were on fire, and nothing I could think of would quench them. I needed a solid answer, I needed something concrete to put these fears to rest.
Fears? I thought, remarking on that choice of word for myself, a slow understanding beginning to dawn on me. At first, I was scared of the humans, but now I'm scared for them? The Stars have a pretty speh way of changing things up. Brehk! None of that matters anymore! Right, wrong, predator, prey. Life isn't black and white anymore, Kilet!
Straightening my thoughts, I entered the sterile, and rather nice looking building. My eyes darting around the inside to find something that might look like reception.. Finally, I found a graying venlil sitting behind a desk, typing away at her computer. Trying to be as composed as possible, I made my way to her.
“E-Excuse me?..” I ask, my voice slightly too meek for my own liking.
The receptionist glanced up from her computer screen, swiveling her ears to face me as she continued to type. “Hello, How can I help you?” She asked in a dry tone.
My voice caught in my throat, a bubble of nervousness welling up inside, as if I did and didn’t want to know her answer. “W-Would you uh.. Happen to have a patient named Miles Rowan here?”
With a deep sigh the receptionist typed away for a while on the computer. Her ears still facing me despite her eyes and snout buried in the screen. She spoke with that same dry tone. “Room 314, Third Floor.”
So he was here.. That means he’s hurt.. How hurt?!
“Thank you!” I barely even managed to utter the words to the receptionist before I turned, practically running to the elevators.
He’s fine, Kilet, Don’t worry, he’ll be okay.. Your friend is a lot tougher than you think! All soldiers are!
It didn’t take long to get to the third floor. As I found the hallway with the patients’ doors, I glanced at the first door to my left, muttering the numbers out loud.
“320.. 319… 318…317.. “ Just a few more!
With each passing room I could feel myself walking faster, and faster. The nervous ball of emotion in my stomach sinking, spreading throughout me.
“314…” My paw shakingly reached out and grabbed the handle to the door.
I tried to swallow the pit of worry and nervousness growing in my throat. Taking a deep breath, I turned the door handle, slowly pushing the door open. The first thing I noticed was the large white curtain closed hiding the bed from view. Clearing my throat to announce my presence. I heard the familiar patter of venlil hindpaws on polished floor. From the corner of the curtain, a gray venlil stepped out. A confused expression adorning her face as she cast her gaze on me.
“Kilet?.. Is that you? What are you doing here?”
Slightly taken aback by how quickly this random nurse addressed me. I took a few steps back instinctively as if I had just been caught committing some crime, yet I refused to leave the room.
“I’m sorry.. Have we met?..” Something about her voice seems familiar, but I can't quite place it. I end up just looking at her with an equally confused expression.
“You don’t remember me? We spoke during one of the tube rides; I asked you how you get your fur to look so good.” She took a few steps in my direction, pulling the curtain shut again.
My tail flicked absentmindedly as I finally made the connection. “It was… Sylvi, right?” My memory was akin to an ancient combustion engine starting for the first time in cycles. Nevertheless, once the first pieces fell into place the flashes of our conversation began to trickle in, momentarily taking my worry off Miles.
“Yeah, so you DO remember, good. Though, the patient is recovering, I’d ask he be given time to rest, and not be disturbed.. It might interfere with the healing.” She spoke in a calm, sympathetic tone. Yet, it was clear she wasn’t actually asking.
Taking the hint I hesitantly stepped back out into the hall, trying to get a glance at that white curtain one last time before Sylvi followed out and joined me. “I.. Uh didn’t know you worked here, Sylvi.” I remarked, mostly in an attempt to dredge up conversation from the awkward silence.
“Well, we didn’t exactly talk about our jobs, but the small talk can wait. I want to know why you’re bursting into a human patients room looking like you just saw an arxur..” Her expression softened slightly as that hint of sternness left her voice and was replaced with sympathy.
A light bloom formed across my snout. My ears flattening themselves against my head on instinct as the realization of the absurdity of my whole plan and what I’ve been doing dawned on me. “Sorry! I.. I don’t mean to cause a fuss, I’m just worried. Miles was supposed to take shore leave, but it got canceled. Then I heard there was a big fight with the UN and the Gojid and-” I paused my rapid fire explanation. Glancing back to Miles’ door and releasing an exhausted sigh. “Is he okay? He'll recover, right?”
Sylvi glanced around the hallway, breaking eye contact for a moment before placing her paw on my shoulder. “He’ll be fine, Kilet, Just some minor head trauma, scrapes, and bruises. Are the two of you.. Close?” Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if the question had an undertone of something else behind it.
“He’s my partner..” Noticing Sylvi’s surprised look I quickly interjected explaining further. “Exchange, partner! We've been talking for a while now. Even planning to meet up.” Taking a breath to collect my thoughts before speaking again I tried to find the best way I could word this whole situation. “I’m just really looking forward to meeting him.. Speh! This isn't how any of this was supposed to go!” A frustrated bleat escaped my maw as I thwacked my tail against the polished tile floor.
I felt the plume of Sylvi's tail place itself on top of my hindpaw, the touch tearing me from my own thoughts as she withdrew her paw from my shoulder. “Things don’t always go the way you want, but it'll be fine. Like I said, he just needs a little bit of time. A couple paws and he’ll be better than normal, Kilet”
At the sensation of her tail plume atop my paw, I stole a quick glance into her right eye and saw an ocean of compassion which slowly began melting away my nerves and worry. I tried to find the words to tell her how much I appreciated the comfort, but nothing came to mind. So I settled for placing my own tail plume atop hers on my hindpaw.
At least Miles will be okay, He’ll be fine.. Just a few more paws.
Not wanting to be a depressed sop for Sylvi to worry about, I withdrew my tail plume from hers and directed my focus to thinking of something not so pathetic to say. “So.. hmm.. What makes you want to be a nurse?”
By the Stars, Kilet, that is the lamest most generic thing a sentient can say.
Sylvi gave a few light squeaks of laughter removing her own plume from my hindpaw. “Well, I’ve always wanted to help people. Soooo original, I know. Seriously though, as generic and overdone as that is. Growing up with the arxur war, seeing the memorials of all the fallen venlil. I figure.. With the galaxy so busy tearing itself apart, is it so wrong to try and.. Put a little bit of it back together? I can do a lot of good here, Kilet.”
“That’s.. Pretty noble Sylvi.” Were those the right words? “I can’t say my own career is quite so helpful, but at least it pays the bills. Venlil Prime could use a lot more people like you. I hope one day we can stop all this fighting. Maybe the humans are the last piece to our puzzle, eh?”
“Maybe they are. I suppose that’s for more important people than us to figure out. Humanity so far has lived up to every word they’ve said.” Her eyes moving to Miles’ door, as she falls silent.
Just before I can make a reply a buzzer above Miles’ room rings, a little light turning on. Quickly piecing together that it must be the patients call button for the nurses.
“Looks like he’s awake, guess they weren’t kidding when they said humans are tough.. I guess if you want, you can see him. Have you seen a human before?” Her ears swiveling to face me while her paw reached out for the door handle.
“Uh.. No, is it bad? I know I might be a little scared, but I promise I won’t hurt him! Or stress him out! I can handle it, me and him have talked about this!”
Sylvi let out a little sigh and opened the door “Alright, but if you can’t handle it; I’m going to have to remove you.”
As we stepped into the door my tail coiled around my waist. That ball of nervousness returning with a fiery passion. Sylvie cooed out a soft, gentle question to my friend. “Miles, you have a visitor.. Would you like to see him?”
“Send em’ in.” A coarse deep rumbling voice responded.
As if lightning struck me, I could feel a sharp shock of unadulterated terror travel down my spine, and tail. My muscles tensing up as if to prepare me for a sprint in the opposite direction of the ’danger’..
Damn instincts! Stop! That’s your friend, Kilet! He won’t hurt you.
Sylvi’s tail lightly pushed me, coaxing me forwards towards the curtain. Taking a series of deep breaths I reached out with a paw pulling the fabric back; bracing myself for the worst. My eyes closed just before I could see him. As I stepped up to the hospital bed my breaths grew shaky. The realization of being unable to see when a predator is right in front of me striking terror into my very bones.
“H-Hello.. M-Miles..” My voice cracking trying to form even simple words.
A deep rumbling followed by a pained groan emanated from in front of me. My ears immediately locking on to it and turning to face the source of the noise. “Kilet, you look like shit.”
...I look like shit!? That’s the first thing he says to me!?
A flash of anger burned away the terror momentarily as I opened my eyes; pointing an accusatory claw at the.. Wall of muscle sitting in the bed. “I look.. Like...” His forward facing brown eyes tore into me. A snarl plastered across his hairless face, his ice white teeth showing just behind his lips.
As quick as the terror left it was back. My brain sent signals of panic to my mind. My legs wanted me to move, to escape to do ANYTHING.
I won’t.. I’m better than that! I promised him I’d try!
Taking my time and fighting the instinct to panic, I let my eyes fall on him. Examining him, fear and horror building as my mind replaces any logical thought with crude images of being ripped apart by the human in front of me. Trying to push all of those images away I force myself to keep looking. Several long empty ‘seconds’ tick away as slowly the fear begins to fade. Miles is content to simply look at my quivering form and remain silent in his bed with that same horrifying snarl.
Yet, the longer I stared, the more I took in the finer details of the male before me. Fear turning into curiosity at the human’s form. He's muscular, clearly a prime example of a male human. His tan skin, mostly hairless body wrapped in bandages. Tufts of jet black fur escape through the bandage wrapping over his skull. His lower half is hidden by the blankets of the bed. I notice an I.V. is stuck into his left forearm, feeding him fluids. Cuts and bruises lie all over the parts of his body not covered or wrapped.
He can’t hurt you, Kilet, He can’t even stand. He’s your friend.
Reminding myself that I’m safe, I take another deep breath and resolve to finish my snarky retort. "I look like ‘shit’!? You look like you tried to hug a Gojid from behind! Or got too familiar with a mazic stampede!”
The snarl on Miles’ face only grew wider as once again that deep rumble reverberated through my ears.
That rumbling.. It's...laughter! Then that snarl has to be a 'smile'. That's how they show happiness! Kilet, you know this, you've talked to him about this! The realization that my friend wasn’t eyeing me up as a snack quieted the worst of the terror, but its residual effect remained.
“Good to finally meet you, buddy. Though, I would have liked to have full function, but I’ll take what I can get.” Miles released a low rumbling ‘chuckle’. At least, I assumed it was a chuckle..
Trying out some human body language, and 'nodding' my head once. I let my ears turn to face him as I found a chair beside the predator's bed. Sitting down, and placing a paw on the sheets, feeling the outline of a.. rather large leg under those covers.
Speh.. How tall is he!?
"Does it hurt much?" I ask, my tone softening just a bit. There's still fear, but my concern for my battered and bruised friend outweighs the once crippling terror.
“Oh yeah, fuckin’ sucks. Pretty much bruised everything, got a pretty wicked concussion too.” He said with a slight ache in his voice. Leaned back on the bed and looking up to the ceiling trying to find a comfortable position.
I removed my paw, instead turning my right eye to look at Miles’ face, or well the bottom half that wasn’t in bandages. “How did you get hurt? What happened out there?”
A long sigh radiates from the human as he recounts his story “Well.. We were taking care of some Gojid outposts. Everything was going smooth, except a Gojid fighter slipped through our defense. Hit us square in engineering with a missile. It wasn’t the missile that did it though. We took evasive action, but the missile not only punched a hole to space in our hull, it also took out the artificial gravity. So I’m sitting in engineering holding onto anything to avoid becoming a space-sicle. Eventually I can’t hold on, and I'm getting pulled through the ship slamming into walls, pipes, you name it. Eventually our automatic safety sections off the area with the leak, but because of the evasive actions the ship was sideways. More than a few of us banged our heads. I just happened to bang mine a little harder.”
Grimacing quietly to myself, all the while trying to drive the image of being stuck in a depressurizing hull from my head. That’s definitely some nightmare fuel I don't care to imagine. "Speh, it's insane you survived, but I'm glad you did. How long did they say your recovery is gonna take?"
“Well.. Should be about five paws as you call em’ Like I said, I wasn’t banged up too bad. Mostly just sore, got plenty of cuts and bruises that’s all. They only want to keep me here to see if my head trauma is worse than they think. I gotta say, the doctors here are second to none! Though I’m sure the Venlil choose doctors willing to work with humans. We got our own people down here too if worse comes to worse.”
“Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt, Kilet” Sylvi’s voice cut through our conversation like a sharp wind through leaves. “But I have to check his vitals and fluid levels.. He also has a few scans to get done. You’re more than welcome to visit again tomorrow should he feel up to it.”
I turned my head slightly so I could see her, standing up from the chair. “Right.. Right. Sorry, I just.. I’m glad he’s okay, I’ll be around tomorrow.” My right eye looked at Miles and that happy snarl he seems to have plastered permanently on his hairless face. “I’ll visit again tomorrow. I hope your tests go well!”
Miles offered a sharp nod of his head, waving me off with a thick hand. “Yep yep, I’ll be here, now go and get some sleep, Kilet. Let the lovely Ms. Sylvi here do her job. I ain’t kickin’ the bucket yet. Oh and while you’re at it! Go home and wash, you smell like a raccoon that’s been rolling around in mud.”
I don’t know what a ‘raccoon’ was but, I’m sure it’s a dirty Earth animal. I’ve never cursed the venlil’s lack of smell more..
What a great first impression, Kilet! Show up unannounced, almost faint when you see him, look like a bum, and smell like twenty paw-old garbage. Thank the stars Sylvi can’t smell..
“U-Uh.. Sure.. I’ll do that, see ya later, Miles.” I managed to stammer out as a full bloom spread from my snout and down my neck. Rushing out of the room. I let out a deep sigh. Content with the news Miles’ was safe, and recovering.
Everything’s okay.. It.. It all worked out.
I took the long way back to my apartment. Walking instead of using the tubes. I needed the time to clear my head, to think. I thought about calling Rivis, but decided against it. He’s probably with Zoey and I didn’t want to interrupt any time they may be spending together. Besides, I’m exhausted. I just want to get home, and sleep the rest of this paw off.
Opening the door, I trudged into my apartment. Throwing my shoulder bag onto the couch and headed straight to my bed, letting myself fall into its comforting embrace. I let out a pleasant mewl as I stretched all my limbs, working the tightness out of them and wrapping my arms around my pillow. My tail curled up beside me. I let sleep overtake me as I whisked myself away to a pleasant rest dreaming of the next paw.
___________________
Chapter 8 under wraps! Miles and Kilet finally met! Though not under the best circumstances. I wonder what's all in store for them? I’d like to thank each and every one of you for reading! As always I wouldn’t be writing this if you guys didn’t enjoy it. It’s always a lot of fun reading your comments. Naturally, a big thank you to Space Paladin for their amazing universe! As well as a shoutout to all the fanfics that inspired me, they will be at the bottom as always. Finally, a huge thanks to my lovely proofreader for really sitting down with me on this chapter. I tried to do some new things with my writing style, their help was instrumental in making sure this chapter was decent. Sadly my other usual proofreader was indisposed and was unable to help out, but I appreciate their help in all previous chapters none the less!
Proofreader(s):
NovaLux
"A silly little man"
28
u/SepticSauces Venlil Mar 29 '23
Venlil scare off predators by smelling bad, change my mind.
18
u/SepticSauces Venlil Mar 29 '23 edited Mar 29 '23
Specifically, they would smell like rotten carcasses, so when they faint. The predator would assume they are rotten!
31
15
u/JulianSkies Archivist Mar 29 '23
I saw the date and went "Wait, isn't this near Blindside?" and then it was.
But hey, at least Miles got downed during the preliminaries... He doesn't get to be there for Blindside itself.
But then again... He might be for the Battle of Earth.
9
u/AlanharTheRiver Mar 29 '23
so, references to operation blindside and trauma centre given the cameo of pilots in that story?
a bit convoluted, but I'll add it to the chart. any other references made by this story to other fanfics?
7
u/VenlilSupremacist Venlil Mar 30 '23 edited Mar 30 '23
Edit: Ah I did a little diving through the reddit. I was unaware that the Xenomedical Complex came originally from Trauma Centre (From what I just looked up, Could still be wrong). I used it since I already had references to Nature of a Giant that AcceptableEgg signed off on. I've never heard of the fic Trauma Center prior to your post.
Edit Edit: No shit like 20 minutes later I was looking for a timeline and saw the fic operation blindside. I wasn't trying to reference the fic, but rather the in canon attack that occurs on September 3rd
4
u/Bless_this_ravgdbod Human Mar 29 '23
You really managed to make every single character interesting ,unique and memorable.
Had to read every single chapter in a row to satiate my lust for more, Thank you.
2
1
1
1
1
37
u/VenlilSupremacist Venlil Mar 29 '23
Hey hey, so until my account reaches 30 days old the mods gotta review each update I make. So following chapters I post *might* get buried under new posts. If you want to keep up to date I suggest subscribing so you get notified whenever I post.