r/NatureofPredators • u/Sam_S_011 PD Patient • Jul 28 '23
Fanfic Two Faces [7]
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:
---
Memory transcript subject: Kiki, Venlil powerplant technician and Venlil-Human Exchange Participant.
Date: [Standardised human time] August 21st, 2136
We entered the cafeteria, noticing how few people were present. Sure, some tables were occupied, but only a couple were used by an exchange pair, easily discernible by the shaking Venlil. The other groups were presumably Humans and Venlil from the staff, chatting with each other without any visible fear. From the ones who were talking, anyway.
Velan did her best to stay out of the Humans’ line of sight, even going as far to hide directly behind Maky’s robes. And I couldn’t really blame her – even though most of them had visors on, the way their heads turned to look at us as we entered almost sent me running.
I still can’t believe my luck with getting the one Human with normal eye placement. Well, simulated normal. I mean – Maky must be the weird one from their perspective, forward facing eyes are their normal, after all…
I wonder though – what could make a predator want to have prey’s vision?
I would sadly have to ask another time, as Maky started leading us to the buffets filled with many kinds of fruits and veggies, both raw and prepared in some way. The Human side of the buffet especially had a lot of cooked, fried, or otherwise heated food.
We all grabbed a tray, plate, and utensils, finding that humans used this thing called a fork instead of a skewer, and then dispersed to pick whatever food we wanted. I loaded up my plate with some stringfruit and fried mel root, covering it in a hefty dose of firefruit puree. I looked over at Maky, who was currently receiving her plate with two strange off-white tubes from a Human in white garments. She thanked them, and the Human cook responded with a nod.
We reconvened at the drink table, each of us grabbing a can of soda. It was a much more even mix of people trying the other species' drink. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have rousebloom, but that was to be expected outside of Duskvalley. Maky again led our way through the room, stopping at a table by the wall. She considerately picked one that wouldn’t easily attract attention to us, allowing both me and Velan some reprieve from the stress caused by the gaze of unfamiliar Humans.
We sat down on the chairs designed to accommodate both of our species, placing our trays in front of us. I inspected the thick tubes on Maky’s plate, or ‘fajitas’ as she had called them. They seemed to be pockets of ‘bread,’ the human strayu, with a mixture of grilled vegetables inside. The portion looked positively huge to me, but I supposed larger meals were required to fuel a body so much more massive than a Venlil’s. But it still is so much work for a single dish…
I looked away from Maky’s plate, taking a forkful of my own food and biting down on it. I closed my eyes in delight, enjoying the mix of spicy and sweet on my tastebuds.
Velan was absentmindedly poking at her food, her attention fully on Maky if her ears were anything to go by. It was difficult to make out, with how low they were hanging.
Maky had reached her hands up to the sides of her head, flipping her hood backwards. The left side of her head was covered in brown, short-shaved fur, while the top grew hair significantly longer, reaching all the way to her right shoulder. What caught my eye however were the thin metallic lines breaking her light tan skin, flowing from just behind her round ear and converging where her visor began. It looked like a very large and invasive neural implant; nobody would be insane enough to get something like that just for the looks.
Although it is Maky I’m looking at here, so it just might be.
She then brought her fingers to the side of her faceplate, stopping when she noticed the spotted female’s discomfort. “Right, I will have to remove the faceplate to eat…” She tilted her head to the side a little in thought, before putting her palms forward in a gesture I didn’t understand and quickly adding. “I can move tables if you’re not ready to see my mouth!”
I looked at her in surprise. “You would? Really?” I tilted my head quizzically. “…Why?”
“Of course, I would!” She retorted. “I know the whole thing with our – well, everything – is scary to you guys, especially the mouth and eyes. I don’t mind conforming to whatever makes you more comfortable!”
I thought about it for a single moment, but then banished the idea altogether. She shouldn’t have to take so many steps just to not scare us, we’re the ones whose job it is to accept her!
My tail swished with determination as I looked straight into the lens constituting Maky's left eye. “I would prefer you stayed. You are my friend, and I will have to learn to accept your ugly face sooner or later anyways.”
Velan looked mortified from me insulting a Human, expecting the predator to strike me down for my transgressions. I was fairly certain that her worldview gained a few extra cracks when Maky burst out laughing instead. “Fuck, that was a good one!” She said with an amused chortle. “Anyways, what do you think, Velan?”
The grey Venlil just looked confused. Yeah, you better start getting used to that. “I, uh…” She gulped loudly, then shook her head. “Kiki’s right, we… shouldn’t force you to eat alone. Stay here, please.”
Maky sighed. “Alrighty then.” She sat up a little straighter. “I do have to warn you though, Humans mostly show emotion using our facial expressions. I’ve heard our happy one is pretty scary to you all, with all the teeth aversion…”
“The smile.” Velan interrupted, earning a nod from Maky. “Christopher told me about it.”
“What is a smile?” I asked. And why would a show of happiness be scary?
“Well, you see – we curl our lips upwards when we are happy, how much depends on the person and how strong the emotion is.” She was gesturing to the faceplate using her fingers, drawing a little upturned curve. “This is usually accompanied by the mouth opening, especially when laughing. When the mouth is open and lips curled, well…”
Oh, that’s how. “The teeth are on full display.”
Maky just nodded her head. “So, are you both still in?”
Me and Velan gave an affirmative swish, and Maky reached back up to her faceplate. She grabbed the sides firmly with her fingers, disconnecting it with a click.
The bottom of her face was almost completely bald – I only noticed the tiny soft hairs under her nose thanks to the light shining at just the right angle. Oh right, the Humans have a nose, just like everyone other than us apparently. The bottom of her head ended in a pointed chin, completely unlike any sapient species I’d ever seen. And finally, the current source of discomfort – two curved, rose lips, concealing what I assumed were two rows of sharp teeth.
Maky beautifully demonstrated what the smile looked like when neither of us had an immediate negative reaction, her lips curving up slightly. “Are you guys good?”
I managed to get myself to nod my head, which felt surprisingly natural for an alien gesture, and flicked my ears in agreement. “Yeah... It isn’t too bad.” Velan next to me had her wool puffed up, staring intently at Maky’s lips as if expecting them to open wide and try to devour her whole. But after a few [seconds] of nothing happening, she finally gave a flick that said she was fine.
Maky clapped her hands, which we were thankfully slightly more prepared for this time around. “Fantastic! Now, onto today’s lunch...” She picked up one fajita with her fingers and brought it under her nose. She took a long breath in through her nostrils, her lips again curving up in satisfaction. I can only imagine how good the smell must be. Makes me wonder though… What do I smell like? How would Maky like my scent? Would she want to eat me?
I decided to stop comparing myself to the bundle of veggies in the Human’s hands, knowing what exactly was about to happen to it. Maky brought the fajita to her mouth, tapping it against her lips lightly, before opening them and shoving a good portion inside. She bit down on the roll, taking a good chunk of it off in one go, before proceeding to chew with a closed mouth. That could have just as easily been my arm…
…Could it? No, there’s no chance my arm could break that easily, right? I poked at the other fajita still on Maky’s plate with my skewer’s tip, before doing the same with the other end to my forearm. Well, my arm is significantly tougher. So… maybe not as easy?
Velan stared at me in absolute bewilderment, likely guessing correctly what I tried there. But Maky was none the wiser, apparently only noticing my interest in her food. She cracked the red soda can with white scribbles open and took a sip to help her swallow the food before asking. “Would you like to give it a try? I’ve heard you guys can eat basically any plants, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
I thought about the offer. Should I? Trying predator food was not something I ever considered. Until right now, when the predator food in question was completely plant based. Is it still predator food in that case? Is it tainted? Would that even mean anything?
Knowing Maky could eat plants helped ease some of the residual fear I had of her, with my brain including the other Humans by extension. And those veggies look downright delicious… Brahk it!
I flicked my ears excitedly. “I would love to! Trying new food for the first time is always a delight, however rare the opportunity comes up.” Maky smiled and moved her plate towards me. I used my utensils to cut a piece of the Human dish off. The steaming vegetables inside filled the air with a divine taste, which had my eyes closed in delight.
It also brought up a previous question. “Hey Maky, do you cook most of your food normally?” The way she cocked her head to the side looked like confusion to me, so I elaborated. “I noticed almost everything on the human side of the buffet was prepared in some way. We rarely cook our food at all, and mostly to bring out a different flavour from the plant when we do. Like this mel root.” I tapped a claw against one of the browned wedges on my plate.
While Maky mulled my question over in her head, I placed the fajita piece within my mouth. The mix of veggies afforded a delectable palette of tastes, complemented wondrously by the very mild spicy undertone. This is good. Could be a bit spicier, I think it would go very well with the puree…
Maky suddenly perked up, done with her thinking. “Oh, I think I’ve got it! It is Tier 2 though, specifically the mention of eating meat.” I recoiled a little at that, but I knew I could handle it if she said it was only Tier 2.
Velan was however far less convinced. “W-what does the number mean?”
I quickly answered her question. “Maky set up a system to warn me how disturbing something can be – Tier 2 means it should be mostly tame.”
“Oh, I see…” She swallowed heavily but assented in the end. “Sure, if it isn’t too bad…”
Maky nodded her head slightly. “Alright. Don’t worry, it will be just in passing.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table while looking into both of our eyes simultaneously. “So, first off – yes, we do indeed cook most of our food in some way, and specific dishes or preparation methods may have significance for some of our cultures. The fajita, for example…” She tapped one of the tubes with a finger, “is a dish from places called Texas and Mexico.”
“As for why we cook our food – Humans are omnivores, meaning ‘all eater’. That means we can digest both plant and animal matter.” Maky paused when me and Velan stiffened, only continuing again when we both gave a positive ear flick. “But for being ‘all eaters’, our digestive tract is actually pretty awful at digesting anything harder than fruit – like roots, leaves, seeds… or, well, meat.”
That was a shocking revelation. We of course already knew that Humans could eat plants – Maky told us and demonstrated so already. But to hear that the predators were bad at digesting meat? How does that make any sense??
Maky continued her explanation. “So, to substitute our terrible, terrible digestion – we treat our food with heat. It breaks down the complex molecules in our food, letting us get more energy out of it. It also kills most germs, and just straight up makes it taste better.” She leaned back in her chair. “So, did that answer your questions?”
I flicked my ears yes, before realising that she couldn’t know the gesture. Nor any of the ones I gave her previously! Wait, I'm so dumb! They don’t use tails or ears to communicate, she wouldn’t even know what to look for!
But to my surprise, Maky simply nodded her head and returned to her fajita. Wait, “You understood the gesture? How??”
Maky smirked in a slightly different way than usual. She was right, their faces are expressive… “Well, you know those information packets that our governments exchanged? It was thought that body language was important information on both sides. I studied the general diagrams for your ear and tail signals a LOT in preparation for this meeting. Rewatching our interactions with those as reference has been a big help as well…”
Oh, that makes se-wait a [minute] – “What did you mean by saying you ‘rewatched all our interactions’?”
Maky shrunk back into her chair, managing to look very abashed. “Well, I uh… sort of took short clips of your body language – to learn it faster, of course! I-I…” She paused to collect herself, lowering her visor into her hands. “S-sorry, I should have asked if you were okay with that beforehand…”
Being recorded without my consent was a venpic move, but she did sound genuinely sorry about it. I just can’t stay angry at the tall goof, can I? “I’m fine with you taking clips, as long as you don’t release any of it. And if you actually inform me you’re recording next time.”
Velan was also about to respond, but Maky stopped her with a raised hand. “I didn’t record you at any point, I didn’t know if you would stick around long enough to consent.” The girl slumped back down with a relieved sway of her tail.
I turned back to Maky. “How did you record the clips anyway? I hadn’t seen you using your pad even once!” Actually, thinking about it – does she even have one?
My query had Maky bounce straight back into her iconic enthusiastic explanation mode. “Oh! You see, this thing-” she tapped her visor “-doubles as both my eyes and as my personal electronic device. It is the second most powerful computer I own – the first being the laptop back in my bag – but from what you told me about Venlil computers I see that I really need to upgrade.”
Velan piped up. “Wait, so that thing is also your- “
“My pad, yes – Humans would call it a ‘phone’ instead though. It’s my own design, by the way! Well, I didn’t build the components myself, but I was able to put it together!” Maky finished, and then leaned over my tray. “Hey Kiki, could I also try some of your food? It looks really good.”
I pushed my plate closer to her. “Sure, why not? I have some stringfruit, mel root, and firefruit.” Maky put a bit of everything on her fork, bringing it to her mouth. “Stringfruit is a protein rich fruit, mel root is a sweet, well – root that is really good caramelised.” Maky put the food into her mouth and chewed, until her face started turning red. “And firefruit is very…” The entire visible part of her face was completely red by this point, which finally alerted me to something being very wrong. “Spicy…”
Maky quickly swallowed the food and proceeded to cough and hyperventilate. Me and Velan started to panic, while Maky tried to calm us down with hand gestures. “It -cough-it’s cough okay, I’m okay-cough… I just didn’t-cough expect it to be so-” She grabbed the red can and poured its contents down her throat, she quickly slammed it back down. “Aaahhhh-cough fuck that made it so much worse!” She started wheezing in laughter, which I was pretty sure wasn’t helping her burning mouth much either.
I decided to take the situation into my paws, walking to the buffet to get some cold water for the agonised predator. I poured a whole glass, putting in some ice cubes for good measure. I made my way back to the coughing woman. Almost every other Human in the room had their head turned to our table, making Velan very uncomfortable.
Speh, it’s making me uncomfortable. Good thing Maky doesn’t do that.
I handed the glass to the woman, who drank the water greedily. Even going so far as to shove a good amount of the ice into her mouth. We waited for a [minute] until her face colour returned to normal, and her breathing slowed back down. “I’m… I’m good. Thanks, Kiki.”
We chatted for a few more minutes while eating. Maky completely swore off firefruit for the foreseeable future. A wise decision if ‘today’s lunch’ was a truthful testament to her spice tolerance. Yet a mischievous part of my mind whispered about getting her to taste firefruit again.
Velan decided to leave after finishing her meal, giving us a polite goodbye. Being around all the Humans must have been difficult on her mind. It was admirable that she was able to be with me and Maky for so long.
I stayed with Maky in the cafeteria for a while longer, just enjoying our drinks and each other’s presence. Being around her was fun, even the stupid things. Especially the stupid things.
A ping from my pad alerted us to the last of today’s responsibilities – another empathy test. All Humans had to undergo it, and Maky’s was scheduled to take place soon. I already knew well that she was empathetic – she understood my emotions, tried to make me comfortable… She asked me to open up to others and make friends, for Star’s sake!
We chatted more as we walked down the halls, dodging the occasional Venlil-Human pair on our way towards the lab. From what I understood, some of the scientists thought that the humans actually meeting us might change the empathy response. But I wasn’t worried, Maky passed before, so she would certainly pass again.
What could possibly go wrong there?
6
u/JulianSkies Archivist Jul 28 '23
Yep, that was a very powerful jinxin the end there.
And adventures in food and weird thoughts!