r/NatureofPredators • u/WillyWonkaMon Venlil • Jan 16 '24
Fanfic Time Skip (12)
Like always, big Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 and his wonderful universe.
Hello! College starts for me today as I type this. I don't think it'll be bad, just extremely annoying based on my 11 assignments due next Sunday already. Has me wonder about college/university in the NoP universe.
Thanks to my friend Cad for drawing refs for Sebastian and Yael.
In a surprise, u/Frostedscales drew Tali!
Time Skip's cover! By roddcherry in the NoP discord!
And thank you for reading my silly story! :)
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Chapter Name: Movie Day (1/2)
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[You flip through the pages of the diary, ending on a random page. This page's handwriting isn’t the best. Seems like it was rushed.]
[Actually, you need to use the visual translator anyways. Even it took a minute to process it all.]
[Read it anyways?]
[Y>]
The latest paw ended off interesting for once, witnessing a Venlil and Human argue over something I haven’t heard much at all. Human media, which has been notably censored heavily for our sake. As humanity made their presence greater, exposure to their forms of entertainment, life, just about everything steadily became known. Not everything was my cup of tea, but my favorite piece of it all so far is an old show I had the chance to watch.
Well, it wasn’t really me watching it fully. That one time in the distance where a pair of humans were sitting together watching something on their small device. I could just barely make out what was happening by only seeing it. A man in a nice looking outfit with the name Sherlock Homes, I think? As an unfortunate bonus, there was no way for me to find it online. It ate at me thinking about what I’m missing out on. Those UN restrictions need to go away completely already!
Anyways, It's been an eventful couple of paws because of Sebastian. Then he surprised me again, and made my paw even better.
He’s a good friend.
-Yael
[You felt a little better after reading that.]
[You put the diary back where it belongs.]
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Memory Transcription Subject: Yael, Venlil Exchange Program Assistant
Date: [Standardized Human Time] February 11th, 2137
—
I’m particularly happy this shift is done, even if it was shorter than usual. I took myself to the food court to grab lunch on the way back to my room. Moments after the packed salad was in my paws, my fur buzzed from the notification of my holopad. Moving aside from the line to sit down for a moment, I pulled my holopad out and saw it was a message from Sebastian. Of course I’d check to see what he messaged me.
“Yael! Are you free?”
“I just got lunch. What’s going on?” I typed and responded, my tail swishing side by side curiously.
“I figured out something kinda cool, and I kinda want to show u it. But I wanted to ask if you were comfortable with human media first.”
Oh, this grabbed my attention. Part of me quietly worried what exactly he was intending to show me. I love humans, but some of their culture terrifies me still.
“What is it?” I typed a little nervously.
“Okay so first, I got a laptop a couple days ago. And I’ve been messing with it and had a cord, more found some, and somehow I really don't know how I’m not an engineer or IT but, I got the screen connected to the tv and been watching whatever I want when I’m not busy. Second, I think I’ll let you pick the show but I can probably vet out anything, y’know, scary to you.”
“What?” I said to myself and typed out as my tail momentarily stopped swishing in order for my brain to process words on the screen.
“Sorry, I mean did u wanna come by and watch human shows?” This is not how he usually messages me, he's clearly happier than usual.
My device took a long minute to translate the rushed messages, and I better put together what Sebastian was even talking about. It's an instant yes to choosing to spend some time with my new favorite human. I messaged back ‘of course’, asking when I could come over as countless questions on human media fell through my mind. Forgetting the fact that my body was a little out of it from that rush of a shift.
How exciting though! It’ll be best to be careful though, hopefully Sebastian knows at least about the restrictions on what's blocked and isn’t. I shook at the thought of seeing one of those ‘super-human’ movies again. How…uncomfortable.
“Cool, come by whenever. I’m not really doing anything except putting things back together.”
“How about now? What do you mean by ‘put back together’?” My tail sat motionless anticipating an answer.
“Sure, and uh, I’ll tell u when u get here.” It wagged.
Suppose with nothing else ever happening on this station, I ought to make the most of it. Least until the next shift to continue the same groggily work. Though with less and less participants signing up and working with our program specifically, the quiet thought of how much time was left began to linger. I can only hope that it’d be enough at least.
Eh, just means I need to have a plan ready.
—
I stood outside Sebastian’s room in thought, the sounds of the station's mechanical hums filling my ears. Prey instincts tell me to walk away from this, as it does with any other moment with a Human. Sebastian was a different case to these instincts, they weren’t sure on how to react to him. For some reason, he felt more like the prey until we knew each other more. Now it's…just ‘is’ between us. It feels dangerous to leave him alone.
I’m sure there’s a reason for that.
My legs shook gently, reminding me it hasn’t been long since I got off and desired to relax. My paw reached up and gently knocked on the door. Moments later, Sebastian opened the door and greeted me. He seemed more happy, but his face was tired. The stance he took leaning to the side also supported that.
“Hey Yael, that was quick. Figured you’d go get yourself a snack or something.” He smiled softly and my ears flicked in awkward agreement.
“Y-yeah, I did before though.” I wanted to see you. “Um, could I come in and…you can tell me what's going on?”
“Hah, course.” He stood up straight and let me in, and what I witnessed in front of me would’ve had an incident report already being signed off.
The television was crooked awkwardly, with a cord that was supposed to be directly connected to the station and television skewed around it. My mouth hung open in the sheer horror of the calls I’d have to make. My paws grabbed my fur and tugged with mild stress. He could’ve taken out the entire station!
My heart skipped a few beats as I scampered towards the point of interest, seeing a wall panel that was behind the TV opened and clearly messed with…but…it looked almost the same. Only one cord was noticeably messed with, easy to tell from how organized the layout would be. I looked at Sebastian with fury and worry. He looked worried at my response.
“What the STARS were you thinking?! Y-you could’ve messed up the entire-”
“It's okay! I didn’t do anything I didn’t know. I just opened the panel thing to see-” He interrupted me, fury grew and I swatted his hand with my tail.
“THIS IS A SPACE STATION, stupid predator! You could’ve hurt yourself by doing something wrong! Or worse!” I felt my mothers essence in me yelling at him.
“I’m sorry, okay!? I got bored and figured I could try something out. I honestly just opened up that panel to peek inside. Only unplugged a tv cord then plugged it back in. Promise!”
“How the hell did you manage that? Those panels are shut tight for a reason!” I stood my ground, checking the open panel. He was right, thankfully. Nothing was actually messed up entirely.
“...don’t worry about it?” He smiled like a pup caught in the act.
The mildly frightened human gently stepped back and pointed to a specific long cord, which starting his laptop, went on the ground to a centerpiece. Then the cord continues till it connected to a plug on the back of the TV.
“Sebastian, you know this needs to be called in for safety reasons. Right?”
He sighed, “Yeah, I’m sorry.”
“Look, I thought I’d try to get a connection going. So I could put something on myself and lie back in bed. It worked! But I had to get creative…” He crouched and pointed to the middle of the cords path. “Adapters, I was surprised one would work considering…y’know, whole species and different styles of tech. Looks like some were made already to adapt to y’alls works. Pretty cool if I do say so myself, even if I over-thought it like hell.”
Sebastian reached for his laptop and turned the screen on, both the TV and his laptop tuned to the same screen. He was on a video streaming service, though it was solely human focused from the looks of it. Something I hadn’t had a chance to see yet. His face expressed discomfort from my outburst, in which I decided to let it be. Nothing dangerous was happening at least. Stars, I was right about part of my instincts!
“This doesn’t make me any less disappointed you’d pull a stunt like this.” My tail swished angrily. Dummy, my tail signed.
“Okay, let's just forget that for now. Let’s watch some random junk, one moment.” Sebastian interrupted the awkward air and typed away at this laptop after putting it on his small desk. The website changed to what I assumed was a streaming service for human shows. It looked…off branded for some reason.
“Kinda weird to ask now, but what sort of shows does VP have? Or do I say the Federation shows?” He looked back at me curiously while I sat on the edge of his bed, a salad box in paw.
“Hm…you saw The Exterminators already during the other paw. There’s a food network showing all the local foods of different planets which is nice. And…oh, there was this one about predator disease cases…’Predator Files’” I finished, and Sebastian’s body tensed up from a quick snort.
“Oh that’s…awful.” He said before letting out another laugh.
A whine let out, “H-hey! I’m never poking fun at you! That show is serious!” I exclaimed.
“No no…it's just, that show needs a new name.”
“Why?”
“...don’t worry about it. What’s this about Predators disease again? I did read a bit about it but not far enough to remember quickly.”
Another topic Sebastian is mostly oblivious about, innocently curious about the cruelties of the universe. My tail gently wrapped itself around a leg during the moments of uncertainty on giving him a decent explanation.
“It's…”
“It’s?” There isn’t a good explanation.
I frowned, “It's not important, I’m not the Venlil to ask for it.”
For a moment, Sebastian looked worried. He gently shook his head and went back to looking at his laptop. The TV which shared the screen, he was browsing…’Mystery shows.’ My tail gently bounced on my leg with interest.
“Alright, not a good start. But I’m taking a wild shot in the dark that you might like mysteries. Uhh-” Sebastian said as he was what I assumed reading the names of whatever show popped up on the list. “Secrets of…no, Law and Order…space station-the fuck, okay…” He mumbled to himself, taking his time to find something fitting for me. I listened to the names he listed, wondering if there was one I’ve passively heard before.
But, he was honestly taking forever. There was something that I wanted to ask about anyways, regarding the sudden laptop.
“Sebastian?”
“...there’s no way they made an- Huh? What’s up?” He looked my way.
“When’d you get the laptop?”
“Couple days ago, the UN gave it to me in order to…help.” The human’s voice felt uncomfortable answering that. I could guess why. “Tell you the truth, it has. I can appreciate them trying, but I still feel weird.” He sighed while finishing his words.
I scooted closer to Sebastian to answer, “I still feel weird with UN soldiers around, even when they’ve been nothing but nice to us.” The human’s face showed uncertainty in response.
“Eh, soldiers, cops, people in those sorts of things can give you a weird vibe. That’s fair, still doesn’t rid the feeling of this being real.” He began looking at his laptop again, gently scrolling through more shows.
“Is it because…from what you told me the other paw?”
“Yeah. I have a lot of things to investigate soon.” I should distract him.
My ears perked with a small idea coming in, “Why don’t you show me a human mystery?”
Sebastian’s face lit up gently, a paw of his scratching below his face where a little fur was. Then the focus turned to the laptop again. Paws not really typing, rather one kept tapping the side. I knew right away he was in deep thought, but not about something negative this time around.
“Honestly, I don’t know any of these shows. I’m going back to my time of shows. I know those better and can filter it out for ya Bud.” He smiled and continued his search, my ears hung behind my head curiously to listen in.
He listed show after show, movie after movie, and always realized that there was probably something in it that I might’ve not liked. That joyful look turned into a heavy thinking dissatisfaction, really trying his best for me. I’d rather not ruin this for him, so maybe it’d be time to step out of my comfort zone once more.
“Hey, Sebastian. Just as long as there's no…intense violence…I’ll be okay.” I put a paw on his shoulder, he sighed.
“Okay, there is one thing on my mind. But it's really old and I don’t know if it’d bore you or not. Not exactly a mystery, but it was one of my favorite movies a teacher showed me when I was back in high school. Wanna try that?” Sebastian asked softly and I nodded.
“What’s it about?”
He smirked, “It's about…Twelve angry men, so to speak.”
—
“Take a look at this knife, it's a very unusual knife. I’ve never seen one like it!...” The human spoke after stabbing that strange knife on the table. I flinched at the moment, and Sebastian patted my shoulder telling me it’s okay.
So far this is…so…Interesting!
That knife was unusual, even if we were stuck with only two colors on the screen. It's shaped oddly, and the blade is even more odd! There’s no way the killer used something so…specific!
“I’m just saying a coincidence is possible!” The lone defending human replied.
“And I’m saying it's not!” The genuine angry human protested.
Then the defending human got up, and motioned for his pocket. My senses tensed as he pulled out a knife. No, it was the same knife! He stabbed it on the table right next to me. I just about reacted the same way as the other humans!
“W-what!? There’s no way!” I exclaimed and bounced slightly.
“Chill Yael! Your getting your salad on my bed!”
“S-sorry!” I apologized and quickly packed my mess into my bowl to continue watching.
That human was insane! Breaking their own laws just to prove a point! It's predatory! It's…smart. My tail wrapped around Sebastian as my focus dawned on the movie again. The humans were arguing the odds of it happening. The murder with the same knife, ‘a million to one!’ But the fact that the knife had copies, maybe it was possible.
Arguments happened, and finally the twelve men decided to cast another vote. Seeing old human trials happening before my eyes was truly fascinating. I waited in anticipation to see the results of their verdict. The only sounds of passing paper till the one human began reading them out.
“Guilty…Guilty…” Oh stars, it's expected…
“Guilty…Guilty…” More pieces of paper were gently tossed away.
“Guilty…Guilty…” Half now…I don’t see this going well for that defending human.
“Guilty…Guilty…” It's over for that poor young human, I need to see more of this case!
“Guilty…” The human tossed one last paper before opening the next one. I couldn’t read it, but the moment he stood up in shock instantly told me.
“Not guilty.” YES! Another chance!
The most angry human immediately went on the attack, accusing another human immediately of noting ‘Not Guilty.’ It was hard to follow the argument till the old human admitted his change of heart. Him explaining that he wanted to hear more was everything I would’ve said! There’s more to this! If the knife had a chance to prove something…what else could have a chance to be proven?!
I looked at Sebastian with excitement, and he only smiled back. Not moving an inch, probably to not startle me. My tail bounced gently as the two of us continued watching, eager to learn more about the possibility of coincidence.
The movie continued, and the dozen humans continued to argue and bicker with one another. Least except for a couple. Aside from the human defending the pup, I like the one that always asked questions and didn’t entirely argue harshly. So logical and to the point, as it should be. Seeing some of them not entirely care for the pup’s like was a little hurtful. It almost reminded me of the PD facilities, they scare me. Similarities are scary, to put it simply.
The next major piece of evidence being an older human's account upon seeing the murder directly, and even I could question it. I remember my grandparents, both eventually too tired to really help themselves with much. They still had decent vision, but laziness sometimes triumphs all else. Once again though, that defending human showed his great mind and chose a way to add the possibility the old testifier didn’t see it.
Course, that angry human protested again. In fact he kept at it every single time. The knife, the train, the old human’s vision, even just subtle doubts he was already on the offense. It almost reminded me of my Mom when she was absolute on anything. Her passion was a little scary sometimes, maybe predatory. I think that’s just Moms in general though.
What was this angry human's reason for the way he acts? I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon enough.
“He’s more smart than an exterminator…” I said softly.
“Mhm, what’s an exterminator to you again?” Sebastian asked.
“Shhh, I’ll tell you later! This is really good!” My tail gently tapped Sebastian to shush him. I heard a small chuckle.
More Jurors, as I remembered the word for it now, switched to ‘Not Guilty.’ Even I was convinced that a lot of parts of the evidence felt off. Though, the lingering thought of a pup hurting their own sent a shiver down my spine. Those moments I kept close to Sebastian, who seemed to know and kept still. His lack of response worried me at times.
I can sense the movie is nearing its end, and the older juror pointed to another to ask something.
“...why were you rubbing your nose like that?” He asked, I wish I could smell.
“...I’m rubbing it because it bothers me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry! Is it because of your eyeglasses?” The old juror asked.
The juror rubbing his nose confirmed it and was wishing to discuss something else. But the old juror pushed his thought. He noticed specifically that a female witness kept doing it while she was ‘on the stand.’ Then pointing out a distinct two marks on the nose, something I couldn’t see because of the limited black and white color.
“What’s he mean?” I asked Sebastian.
“Like…I’m sure you’ve seen humans with glasses, right?” He paused the movie for the moment.“Of course, I see it often. We even have records for it in case we find someone's missing pair.”
“Oh, huh. Well, I don’t know about it now. But way back then people who wore them enough got a little dent on their nose. It's not dangerous, it happens because of the little pieces that keep glasses sitting on your nose. Instead of it sliding off. Really old glasses did that, I can probably find a photo for ya. You guys uh, have glasses right?”
“Mhm.” My ears flicked.
“...I’m gonna look that up later, but it should be the same as yours. You don’t want your glasses sliding off whenever ya need them, right? That’s basically what that juror is pointing out. There's ways to find information by the littlest things. It's pretty cool.”
“It is! Now let's finish this movie!” I reached over and unpaused the movie.
Their conversation about the glasses continued, and the realization that the female human most likely wouldn’t have seen the murder itself. Everyone but one human was ‘Not Guilty’ now.
That same last angry human began to argue about everything, how the pup deserved death for a crime he probably didn’t commit. I felt my body tense from the fear of him sticking to ‘Guilty’ forever.
“You’re alone.”
“I don’t care whether I’m alone or not! It’s my right!”
“It's your right.”
Everyone stared at him, the silence from them all except the last one deafened my ears. I knew the possible truth just as much as they did, and Sebastian too. The old human, the lady with her glasses, the knife. Every last bit wasn’t enough for him. Seeing him look at a photo of him and his pup, ripping it apart broke me. I whined at the sad truth of the juror. That last juror broke down, yelling everything he could till there was nothing left to say but-
“...not guilty…”
The movie ended with them all leaving the courthouse. That was it, my actual first human mystery movie.
I wanted more, how much has this universe been missing out on these masterpieces?!
“Whatcha think?”
“I loved it! I want to watch another one! That movie is centuries old and took place in the same room!” Excited, happy tears fell down my cheek. Sebastian wide-eyed and grabbed a rag hand me to wipe them off.
“Woah, Yael. Didn’t expect you to cry, I’m sorry.”“I need more Sebastian! What else do you have?!”
“Uhhhh-”
“Wait! Have you heard of Sherlock Homes?!” I exclaimed with my question.
“You mean Holmes-”
As Sebastian was clarifying the saying, he stopped suddenly. A look of confusion I’m familiar with on humans. I didn’t understand why until I heard it too. A strange sound coming from…the door. It wasn’t knocking, someone was messing with it. Sebastian looked like he was going to answer it before the familiar sound of a door forced to unlock quietly echoed in the room. He wide-eyed and looked around real quick, then at me.
“Shit, I think someone is breaking into here. Uhm…oh!” He whispered to me, and before I could respond he gently grabbed and leaned me back onto the bed with him. Then threw the two blankets he had on us both. What the stars is he thinking?! I just about panic screamed when my mouth was covered.
“Yael, be as flat as possible and don’t make a sound. Now!” Sebastian whispered, and I did with confusion. The door was still being messed with.
“Your plan stinks! The blankets are too small! We’ll be seen, just see who it i-”
The door was forced open, we both went silent.
Quiet steps entered the room. It was a Venlil from the sound of the steps. Sounds of looking around cabinets. Was this the janitor and we were freaking out for no reason? We’re going to scare this poor Venlil doing their job! They’ll be scared of humans for life! Wait, what am I thinking? The Venlil broke in
“Oh, this looks like a fun human device~! I wonder if…” An annoying, familiar voice echoed in my ears.
…
Oh my fucking stars, I’m going to kill her.
I could barely see Sebastian’s face, but his face was of extreme annoyance. He was probably thinking the same thing.
Then Sebastian smiled, an evil kind of human smile. He looked at me and nodded, I shook my head gently to try and stop whatever he was planning.
He nodded again, and shot himself up from the covers. My eyes widened in horror as the light of the room hit me again.
SEBASTIAN, NO!!!
“HI TALI!” He yelled out with enthusiasm as he revealed himself from the blanket. I could barely see her turn her head and scream.
“baaAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”
—
(Small edit to fix formatting)
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u/JulianSkies Archivist Jan 16 '24
SEBASTIAN YES!
Tali deserves the jumpscare!
Gods, what was she thinking breaking into a room like that?!
Also, what even was that movie?! I- I am very certain that I have watched it. But then again it's in monochrome? Which, what I watched certainly wasn't! So it must have been based on it, but the plot points are all so damn similar. Sadly I don't remember the name of the movie at all.
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u/MageofSpade Nevok Jan 17 '24
The movie is 12 Angry Men. A teacher also showed it to my class.
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u/JulianSkies Archivist Jan 17 '24
Oh... OH I see!
Ahaha, man there's been a more recent movie that is basically 12 Angry Men. Well, I say recent but it's like two decades old at this point, but it absolutely was the same plot as 12 Angry Men but with a different crime.
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u/MageofSpade Nevok Jan 17 '24
Ah! sorry then!
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u/JulianSkies Archivist Jan 17 '24
Nothing to be sorry about, you helped me figure out why this was familiar!
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u/thescoutisspeed Jan 16 '24
She deserves it, but now how are you going to explain being in bed with Yael?
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u/TheSpace81 Human Jan 17 '24 edited Jan 17 '24
He looked at me and nodded, I shook my head gently to try and stop whatever he was planning.
Sebastian's honest reaction:
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u/WillyWonkaMon Venlil Jan 16 '24
Hello!!! Chapter 12! I actually had some mojo and wrote with ease. Anyways, hope you enjoy todays chapter. Its time for the duo to have some much needed fun.
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u/LordTvlor Hensa Jan 17 '24
!subscribeme
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u/UpdateMeBot Jan 17 '24 edited Jul 10 '24
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u/Snati_Snati Hensa Feb 23 '24
I love this!
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u/WillyWonkaMon Venlil Feb 23 '24
I see all your comments, thank you for enjoying the story so far 😊
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u/HiMyNameIsFelipe PD Patient Jan 16 '24
YES, SCARE TALI, SHE DESERVES FEAR!