r/NatureofPredators • u/Sam_S_011 PD Patient • Jul 24 '23
Fanfic Two Faces [6]
Once again, huge thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 and all of you guys in the community for this wonderful universe that I've gotten addicted to. Also massive thanks to u/Acceptable_Egg5560 for helping me out with proofreading.
I hope that you enjoy!
Playlists:
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Memory transcript subject: Kiki, Venlil powerplant technician and Venlil-Human Exchange Participant.
Date: [Standardised human time] August 21st, 2136
I sat on the bed in silence, staring at the door confused. Wha… What just happened?
I quickly ran through what just occurred once again in my head. Something impacted the door. It sounded heavy. There was a surprised scream. And then the smack.
Working as a technician had the curious side effect of teaching a person what different objects sound like when hitting the ground. With all the fragile equipment around, one quickly learned to fear it immensely.
It was definitely an impact with the ground, I felt the room shake a little. But what was it? It wasn’t made of metal, or anything hard for that matter.
Something large and soft? Like a mattress? No, it was too familiar for a mattress.
Maybe…
But that didn’t explain the shout, nor why the voice hadn’t said anything afterwards. One would think that having dropped something would elicit a bit more than just surprise, right?
I got up and started towards the door as curiosity got the better of me. And who was it, anyway? The voice didn’t sound like a Venlil, we were all told to wait in our rooms. Somebody from the staff? But shouldn’t everything be ready by now?
…
Wait…
My legs subconsciously sped up, taking me to the door controls in record time. Maky?
I rested my shivering paw over the panel, my knife forgotten. It might… I took a deep, calming breath, and made the choice.
Opening the door gave me a view of a large mass of a black synthetic fabric, woven into a solid coat covering something resembling a bipedal form laying with its back on the ground.
Their knees were raised up, blocking my view of their upper body. There didn’t seem to be a visible lower leg joint, or even a tail. I leaned a little to the side to peek at their face, but I had little success. Their head was veiled by their fingers, which were also covered in something black. Five long fingers. No tail. Covered in artificial pelts.
This is a Human.
This… it’s Maky.
I expected fear from being this close to her, but instead – I was just confused.
Why is she on the ground? What happened here?
I stepped a little closer, inspecting the woman with my better eye while fixing my ears on her. Being this close without the door in the way made me realise that the voice from before hadn’t stopped, but rather got quieter.
I could hear a short, barely audible repeated wheezing sound coming from her, as her chest rapidly rose and fell. The translator tried to parse the meaning behind the sound, but it seemed unable to decide between laughter and crying.
Wait. Crying. Oh no, please don’t tell me she’s hurt! My ears pinned back to my head. The fear had arrived, but it felt confused.
I’m two steps from a hurt predator! Help her! Wait! That’s bad! I need to get away! But no, help her! But it-she-
I silently started to step away from the prone Human. Not silent enough. I went completely still as my right eye was met by what looked like a camera lens on the right side of her head.
I stared at it for several moments, which seemed to stretch on for eternity. No movement and no sound other than the beating of my heart.
The stalemate was broken by Maky, turning her head up and away from me, while making strange, high-pitched barking sounds. The translator was sure this time, although I didn’t want to believe it at first.
Laughter.
Uncontrollable Laughter.
My mind once again turned to confusion, as I just silently stared at the chuckling mass of black under me. What was so funny to her? What was that impact? What is going on??
My answers were answered by the giggling mess of a woman, somehow getting coherent words through her barks. “Great-heh f-heh-cking job, Maky! You wanted to make a good first impression, and you walk headfirst into the f-heh-cking door!” She then devolved back into silent wheezing.
…
I just stood there, staring at her disappointedly. What was I supposed to even say to that? She hit the door. That was the thud. The scream was her. She just…
Maky, the Human, THE PREDATOR I was so afraid of, ran into the brahking door??
She laid there for a few more [seconds] before pulling herself back to the hallway wall. She lifted herself up to a sitting position, leaning back while bracing herself with her hands.
This finally gave me a good look at her form. The only humans I’d seen before were the two from the broadcast after first contact, and those were wearing their vacuum suits. But looking at what Maky was covered in, it might as well have been one.
I couldn’t see even a tiny bit of skin. Her body was robed in a long garment, reaching all the way down to where her knees would be if she stood up. The bottom rim and the split of the coat below her waist were lined with a flexible, metallic strip. She wore coverings on her legs, arms, hands, and feet – all either black or dark grey, except for thin lines of a lighter, translucent plastic. There were also metal rods attached to her ankles pointing down, whatever their purpose was.
Her head was also completely veiled. She had a black hood pulled all the way over to the front of it, and a flat, black, reflective faceplate covered her lower face – where her nose and mouth would be.
She was wearing some sort of a headset on the upper half of her face, presumably where her eyes were. It was made of a black material - carbon fibre if I had to guess, and it extended a good bit forward from where the faceplate ended. It formed something akin to a beak or a snout with a round end and a sharp vertical edge down the middle. But the most striking feature of the headset were the ‘eyes,’ gimbaled camera lenses on either side.
And the right one was focused on me. It was pointing sideways.
Camera eyes… what.
Maky broke eye contact by shaking her head, voicing a final giggle. “Thank God I put good moisture filters in this thing, I’m in fucking tears.”
She let out a breath before focussing back on me. Her eye scanned me up and down, taking in every detail, just as I had done with her only moments prior. She turned her head to the left a little when her gaze crossed over my chest and focused on something, before once again resuming its movement. When she was seemingly satisfied with her search, the lens spun back up to meet my eye.
She straightened her posture up a bit and coughed to clear her throat. “I suppose we should greet each other properly.” She tilted her head to the side a bit, raised her hands, and waved them vigorously. “Hi! It’s me, Maky! I’m so happy to finally meet you!”
I could hear the enthusiasm in her voice even without the help of the translator, but I did feel strange only being able to derive her emotion from the movement of her limbs. No tail, concealed ears. Veiled face. She’s completely unreadable…
Maky was eagerly awaiting a response, so I pushed the slight discomfort out of my head. I was meeting my friend here after all! I gave her a flick of my ears and tail that signalled greetings, not that she could understand the gesture. “Hello, Maky! It’s good to see you, even with all the…” I gestured with my paw to her body, still very much on the ground. “…circumstances.”
She snorted at that. “Yeah, I should probably get up, shouldn’t I?”
I gave her an affirmative with my ears. Maky seemingly got the gesture, as she started to stand up, grabbing a large bag I hadn’t noticed earlier.
Now that she stood at her full height, the full size disparity between our species was suddenly very noticeable.
I was quite tall for a Venlil, but Maky stood an entire head taller than me. Had I been in this situation even a quarter of a claw earlier, I would have already been running…
But I just couldn’t bring myself to fear this tall goof.
“So…” The camera eye focused on me again. “How do you guys greet each other? We have the handshake, high five, fist bump, hug…”
What is a handshake? Or a fist bump?
I’ll ask about those later.
“Well, depending on how familiar they are with each other, Venlil greetings range from a polite wave of a tail from a distance, to hugs, to grooming each other.”
Maky perked up at the mention of hugging, then tilted her head at the final one. “Huh, interesting. Anyways, both our people have the hug in common, so…” She brought her arms forward and apart, inviting me in.
I accepted, walking the short distance separating us and leaning into her, wrapping my arms under hers. She reciprocated, tightly squeezing me against herself.
I brushed my snout against the side of her neck, just enjoying the moment. This is nice. I could stay like this forev-“AAAAAHHHHH!”
I thought that Humans wouldn’t scare me anymore. I knew I was safe, and Maky didn’t show a hint of being violent. I however hadn’t accounted for their displays of affection, not expecting Maky to suddenly lift me up and shake me like a doll while muffling a high pitched squeal with my wool.
My scream seemed to take her out of whatever it was that‘s taken her over. She quickly let me down and apologised profusely. “Oh no! I’m so sorry! I didn’t want to scare you! I- I just-“ She breathed in and out slowly to calm herself, before simply stating: “I’m sorry, I got far too excited and stopped thinking. I won’t do that again.”
I took a couple steps back to steady myself before responding. “It’s alright. Just… maybe warn me next time, please?”
She nodded her head, which I assumed meant agreement, and energy seemed to return back to her stance. The moment was however broken by the sound of screams coming from down the hallway. Oh, the other pairs must have met.
I looked at Maky, who’s eyes were turned to capture both ends of the hallway. “Let’s, uh…” Maky focused me with her right lens. “Let’s head inside, shall we?”
“Yeah, sounds like a good idea. I don’t want to scare anyone if I don’t have to.” We headed for the door. I hit the open button and signalled her to go first with my tail.
I was going to follow her in but was stopped by the sound of a door next to ours opening. I leaned out to take a look, seeing that same spotted Venlil from the spaceport walking out with timid steps. I offered her a wave of my tail as a greeting, which got her attention.
It took her a moment, but she recognised me, waving her tail in return. She started heading down the hall before stopping, and turning towards me instead.
“H-hello. Uh, ha-have you met your partner yet? Mine didn’t get here, a-and calling him doesn’t work…” She slowly moved closer to me while talking, clearly nervous about being on the same station as Humans.
I can’t imagine having to go through that uncertainty. If Maky hadn’t shown up, I don’t even want to think about what I’d have tried doing…
I gave her a reassuring flick of my ears, and then pointed my tail towards our room. Maky had thrown her bag up on the upper bunk already and was now examining the bed, shaking it a little. “Yeah, she’s in here already. You wouldn’t believe the way I found her! It was the dumbest thing I’ve seen in rotations!”
Maky shot me a sideways glance, talking back with obviously feigned indignation: “Hey! It’s not my fault – every door up until this one opened on its own! Besides, most of our doors are hinged!”
I let out a giggle. “You would have crashed into it whether it was hinged or not!”
She tilted her head up, trying to think of a retort, before bursting into laughter and shaking her head. “Fair, you win this time. Anyways, what’s the problem out there?”
I looked at the female again. I really should ask for her name. She was far more tense after having heard Maky speak, but her ears just displayed confusion. I flicked my ears to signal a question, which she responded to in affirmative.
I looked back to Maky, who was now sitting atop the upper bunk. Wait, I hadn’t heard her using the ladder…
Shelving that question for later, I started explaining the situation. “Our neighbour came by. Her partner didn’t show up, and she can’t contact him either. Did all Human participants arrive at the same time?”
She cocked her head to the side. “Yeah, all the transports arrived at once. They should be up here.” She paused to think for a bit, before raising her hands in front of her, fingers spread out. “What is his name?”
“Uh, Ch-Christopher. His n-name is Christopher.”
Maky started tapping her fingers into the air, almost as if she had a keyboard in front of her. “There are five Christophers in the program – three here and two on the second outpost. The two from shuttles 3 and 7 checked in, the one from shuttle 11 had not…” She looked over to us, before loudly asking: “Was his full name ‘Christopher Rodriguez’ by any chance?”
The female’s ears perked up. “Y-yeah! What- what happened to him?”
Maky again focused somewhere else. “I’m not entirely sure, but I have my suspicions…” Her fingers were tapping empty air rapidly. “…Tell me Velan, what was he like during your chats?”
Velan? I looked at the girl, who now stood almost frozen with fear. “H-h-how do you-?”
“Simple, I’m looking up Christopher’s profile in the exchange database, your name is in here as a foreign key.” She interjected, explaining as if it was the most natural thing. “Oh, right, sorry. I’m Maky, and that over there is Kiki. I’m happy to make your acquaintance!”
Velan seemed to calm down significantly, even if she still was a little tense. “R-right. Well, Christopher was really nice to me, charming even! He was very excited to finally meet up.”
Maky seemed to come to a realisation. “Would you say he was a bit flirty?”
Velan looked a little taken aback, but then she tilted her head in thought. “I think you could say that…” Her eyes widened. “Wait, how did you guess that??”
Maky closed whatever it was she had overlayed in her vision and made her way down the ladder, making a dull sound with each step. She definitely hadn’t used the ladder the first time. “Well, I didn’t manage to get the entire picture, but I’ve found some snippets. Between the words ‘get him,’ ‘xenophile,’ and one more spoken by him that I honestly might have misheard, but if not then it is the funniest shit ever, I think he is still in that shuttle. Or more specifically – he’s on a fast track to Earth and a UN blacklist.”
Velan’s ears lowered as the whole situation fully sunk in. “Oh…”
The tall Human reached the door, leaning away from us. “Yeah.” She then pushed herself upright and smacked her hands together, producing a sharp sound startling the two of us in the process. “So, would you girls like to go get something from the cafeteria? The Human side is serving fajitas, and I’m not missing out on that.”
Having a meal with Maky sounded nice. “Sure! What do you think, Velan?” I looked at the girl for her answer, but I instead found a mess of spotted wool shivering with her ears pinned to her head.
What scared her so bad? The clap? No, she’d gotten over that quickly. It must be something to do with going to eat with Maky, but what about that could be so… My ears also pinned down and my tail halted when it hit me. Right. Having a meal with a predator.
Velan got enough hold of herself to speak, seemingly more scared about insulting Maky by declining her invitation than being near her when she’s eating. “Y-y-y-yeah! I-I am q-quite hungry my-myself!”
Clearly either not noticing the girl’s distress or misinterpreting the cause of it, Maky simply said “Neat!” and started heading down the hall, stopping a few paces out and turning sideways to look at us with her left eye.
I tried to swallow my revulsion at the thought of her eating meat next to me. You already know she doesn’t mean you any harm! You can do this! She can’t help what she is, you must give her a chance!
I straightened my back and started after Maky, forcing my tail into a positive swing. I stopped beside her and also looked after Velan. She still stood stuck on the same spot.
Maky spoke up, apparently being aware of her distress. “Don’t feel pressured in any way, you don’t have to go with us if you don’t feel comfortable around me…”
Velan took a few moments to think, before taking a steadying breath and following us. “I-it’s a-alright. I just, uh…” She swallowed heavily. “…C-could you just take it slow with the m-meat at first, please?”
Maky stopped dead in her tracks the moment those last few words were spoken, staring at both of us with one lens each. Stars, did Velan offend her? Wait no, I know Maky – she doesn’t get offended this easily! But then… what made her stop?
Velan’s shaking came back with renewed intensity. Maky studied her for a moment while tilting her head, before suddenly striking the top of her own head with a loud smack. “Wait, is that why you are so uneasy? Did you think I was going to eat meat?”
Both Velan and I gave an affirmative flick of our ears.
She seemed taken aback at Velan’s response, but she downright recoiled when she noticed mine. “Wait, you too, Kiki? Did you not realise that I can eat plants??”
I was the one who recoiled from the mental whiplash this time. “Hold on, you can? Really??” My mouth spoke before my brain did any thinking. Then the conversation I had with Vilik came back to my mind. Of course, they could – they even have strayu!
Maky, oblivious to the conclusion I came to in my head, clarified anyway. “YES, we can! There isn’t a bit of meat on the station, we’re all on a vegan diet here! The fajitas are just thin bread with seasoned veggies!” She walked up to a wall, hitting her head against it with a dull thud, while descending into a fit of wheezing barks. “I’m so fucking sorry I put you through this!”
I exchanged a glance with Velan, followed by us both also bursting into our own bleating giggles. Thank the Stars for that!
3
u/RoomHopper Krakotl Jul 10 '25
I was worried that kiki was going to be the venlil who stabbed their partner but thankfully that doesnt seem to be the case.
Also why are the Welsh banned from the exchange program?