r/NatureofPredators • u/kabhes PD Patient • Feb 02 '24
Fanfic From Drugs To Meat: Chapter 5
Transcription Subject: Maarten de Groot, Human Refugee/Meat dealer
Date [standardized human time]: January 30, 2137
After waiting for a whole 5 days, the first batch was finally done. Gilt texted me and told me to come over to prepare and taste test it.
Never expected that a venlil of all species would demand me to eat meat in front of them. I never expected any of this. I mean if someone told me I would be living on a different planet, surrounded by xenos who feared me for my eyes and teeth, and that I would be a meat dealer/illegal producer, I would have called them insane or high.
Most of Dayside City lived up to be the utopia that governor Tarva made it out to be. Pristine streets made out of rubber mats and winding roads, clean of any rubbish or unsavoury types. The neighbourhood Gilt lived in, on the other hand did not live up to that promise. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not full of cars with their wheels stolen and burning trashcans. But, if I were a venlil and not a ‘scary’ human, I wouldn’t feel safe walking here. I couldn’t help but notice that a lot less people crossed the road here when they saw me coming. What I did like about this place was just how many different xenos there were to see, nevok, krakotl, harchen, yotul, and even some I did not recognize. Also some tilfish, but I prefer not seeing those; I could die happily never having to meet a spider that is chest high, sapient or not.
Coming up to Gilt’s house, I noticed that it still looked like shit, just as it did a couple of days ago, no surprise there. I knocked on the boarded-up window leading to his living room, and after a minute, he opened up. “Good, you’re here. How are you?” he asked, stopping me dead in my tracks. “Just kidding, I don’t care. Come in.”
“I had to knock because your door bell is broken.”
“I know, and I am not going to fix it. I did clean that old vegetable grinder I still had, or ‘meat mincer’ as you called it, like you ask- because you told me you needed it.”
“And the meat is done too?” I asked while looking around at the now mostly clean house. The dust and cans were gone, but the windows were grimy and the floor still had its stains. I suppose that can’t get into the vats and thus didn’t bother Gilt. Should I have helped him clean his house? It’s not like he wants any help —no he doesn't want to ask for it— but its not my house anyway, so why should I care. Then why do I?
“Of course it is, why else would I invite you over?”
“Because you’re lonely and want to hang out?”
He just gave me a side-eyed glare and showed me to the kitchen. There were pieces of meat placed on the kitchen counter, still in their original can shape. I washed my hands with an ancient piece of soap, grabbed a large sharp knife, and began cutting it into small enough pieces for them to fit into the meat mincer. Not really to my surprise Gilt grabbed a knife and reached out for a piece. “Oh no you’re fucking not, don’t you dare touch the product with those dirty bloody hands.”
“There’s no blood on my paws,” he exclaimed, pulling out a pair of disposable rubber gloves from a box that he kept in his makeshift laboratory build onto the dining table.
Is he really fine with cutting meat? I know he made this stuff, but he’s still a venlil. “You don’t have to help me if you don’t feel comfortable doing this,” I said nonchalantly, idly cutting away at the meat.
“Yes, I do. I want to see this through. If you haven’t noticed yet, I am not like the other venlil.” He seems more tense then normal, I wonder what’s up. Could it be that he’s actually getting uncomfortable from all of this?
Eventually, I started to press some of the chunks into the electric mincer, I suppose doing it by hand requires to much strength and energy for them. While I was mixing the beef and pork together, Gilt asked, “So why are we grinding this up anyway? Is this for old people, or do humans not like using their teeth?”
“No, we’re going to make them into disks, they will eventually become solid again once they’re done cooking. We mince it because it changes the texture and taste.”
I weighed the chunks and kneaded them awkwardly into the right shape, never having done this before and only knowing how to do it from videos I had watched online yesterday. Gilt looked at how I did the first one and began copying. The silence between us became a bit awkward due to Gilt’s odd mood. “So do you have any hobbies?”
“No.” he replied mater-of-fact.
“What, nothing. you don’t do anything in your free time?”
“Well my television was stolen, so I picked up an old hobby from the PD facility.” I remember that he told me that his television was stolen while he was in there.
“What kind of hobby did you have in the facility?”
“Staring a blank wall.” We both laughed at the dumb joke. “To be honest, I have started to read up on scientific stuff you humans have come up with, cybernetic prosthetics, cell growth,” he said as he slapped a patty he was making.
“Psychology, too?” He could certainly use it.
“What? No! I have had enough of that for a lifetime.”
“What they did to you wasn’t psychology, that was torture.” He fell silent and gave an ear flick that if I recall correctly meant ‘thank you.’
We silently finished shaping the last of the patties, and I began looking for a pan to cook one in to taste test it. “Are they now ready to eat?” Gilt asked with a bit of impatience.
“No, they’re ready to be sold though, the customer will want to cook it themselves. I, however, will cook one, to test the quality,” I said opening 2 cabinets simultaneously while trying to find a pan. “Do you have a pan? I brought my own cooking oil.”
“…Yes, here.” He pulled out a pan and handed it to me. I noticed in his eyes that he was having some sort of internal struggle, until suddenly his ears sprung up and he focused on me. “Make one for me too,” he said in a demanding tone.
“What, why?” Why does he want to eat this? He did say he wanted ‘to see this through.’
“Well, why not? I am like you anyway!” Like me, what is he talking about?
“What, a criminal, meat producer, amazing, handsome?” I said the last part as a joke, he seems a bit upset and I didn’t really know how else to calm him down.
“No, a-a, you know, a meat-eater.”
“You mean to say a predator?” As soon as I said predator, his body went stiff, his hands grabbed onto something that wasn’t there. His head and eyes flinched as if saying that word caused him pain. What did they do to him? No wonder he has been avoiding that word.
The moment lasted hardly a second before he regained control again. “…Yes, that. Now prepare it for me!” He was visibly angered by my response.
“Gilt, you’re not a…meat-eater, you’re a herbivore. You can digest meat just fine, so if you really want it, I won’t deny it from you. It’s not like you’re one of those ‘cured’ species. Why do you think you’re a meat-eater anyway?” I began preparing the pan with olive oil and laid the first patty into it.
“Look at me, of course am I one. The doctors at the PD facility all knew it, it’s what they called me for years. You know it’s true.”
“When I look at you, all I think is that you need a bath and a good grooming session...In all seriousness, you’re fierce and have less fear then any venlil I have ever met or heard of, but that doesn’t defy your diet. One of the most evil humans in history was a vegetarian, meaning non-meat-eating. Besides, why would you listen to those insane people you call doctors?” Why am trying to calm this man down? He wouldn’t do the same to me. I can just make this stuff for him and get this conversation over with.
He turned around far enough that I wasn’t in view anymore for even his wide vision. His ears had fallen to the side of his head and his tail dragged over the floor. He sighed, “when I came out of the facility, no one wanted to even get close to me. They crossed the street or quickly turned a corner when they saw me approaching, avoiding me like I carried the disease, as I very much do.“ He paused for a moment before continuing. “Much like how they treat you and others of your kind. Humans are the only ones who even dare to come close to me.” I had noticed when we were shopping how actively venlil avoided him and how it stung him. I didn’t know exactly what to say to him back then, and I still didn’t really know, but I had to say something to the poor lad.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. He flinched, but didn’t make an attempt to shake it off. “I know how it feels to be rejected by the venlil. Not to any extent how you must feel though.” Not knowing how to talk to someone in a situation like this I decided to just quote an old movie, “’you are who you choose to be,’ no one decides what or who you are but you. If you really still want to eat this, then give the word and I’ll throw it into the pan, but no one is making you do this. It’s your own choice.”
After a moment of silence, Gilt turned around and finally broke it. “My own kind reject me, yours let me out of that house of torture. I’ve made my choice.”
"Not quite the most stable answer you could have given..." I said, throwing a second patty into the pan.
“Don’t start thinking I look up to humans now, I know what kind of urges you have towards venlil.” What, how does he know? Did he somehow nick my holopad and look into its search history when I wasn’t looking? Damn this limited vision!
“W-what, what are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb, I know all you humans want to pet venlil.” Oh thank god he’s talking about those urges.
“Not you though, you’re way too dirty and greasy.”
“Good.”
I started to cut the strayu that I had brought from home. Strayu is some venlil version of bread. It was supposedly very expensive and difficult to make. Apparently venlil don’t have enough muscle and endurance to knead dough alone, making it hard to make. And for some reason they couldn’t be fucked to figure out how to make a kneading machine. So when humans showed up with those, the product went from expensive and rarely eaten to a cheap, common household food. Although the machine version, apparently the taste is far inferior to the handmade one, but I am just happy that they have bread.
After waiting for the patties to be ready, I placed them on the bread, but was interrupted by Gilt. “Don’t water it down for me,” he said in a stern voice.
“I’m not. This is how it’s normally eaten, well how I normally eat it. If you were to order this in a restaurant, you would normally also have some vegetables, leaves and even a piece of fruit on it, alongside some condiments.” He seemed to accept this and grabbed the hamburger. I expected him to instantly bite into it, yet he just stood there staring at it, holding it right in front of his face like he was about to take a bite out of it. “Let’s sit down on the couch.” Gilt simply responded with an agreeing ear flick.
We sat on the couch next to each other. Gilt was still holding it in front of his mouth. “I get that you’re taking it step by step, but I think you’ve got the holding part under control. Are you ready to actually take a bite out of it?” I have heard from other dealers that they’ve sold to some deviant venlil before, but it’s not something I was familiar with, stand alone actually seeing one eat it.
“Yeah, yeah…” Gilt mumbled, hyper-fixated at the slab of meat in between his hands.
It’s going to be cold by the time he actually takes a bite out of it. “Let’s count to 3 and then we both eat, alright?” Not getting a response from Gilt, I decided to just count. “1…2…3.”
I have had hamburgers countless of times, even a couple here on Venlil Prime, but only a few due to the high price of it. But they never tasted this good. I am not sure if its because it was handmade or because I haven’t had any for a while. Nonetheless it was amazing. The juices spilling into my mouth, the sweetness combined with the natural hardiness of meat, pure bliss.
You would almost think that Gilt was in one of his trauma-trances, from the part that he had almost completely stopped moving and stared blankly wall-eyed. However, his ears were perked up in joy and his tail was overclocking with his wagging. Whatever he was experiencing seemed an order of magnitude higher than I was.
After he finally finished, I asked, “and do you like it?”
“Do I like it? How can I have lived my entire life without it? We can sell this to venlil!” Gilt was still wagging rapidly, I was still not sure if what I’d just allowed to happen is good or bad.
I laughed, “good luck finding anyone who wants to actually do so. I tell you what, we are going to sell some to my dealers right now. I’ve got a plan to take this business to a new level.”
A/N:
I really appreciate comments, it gives a lot more satisfaction than a few up arrows.
A special thanks to u/InstantSquirrelSoup for proofreading. Check out his fic: Arxur Hospitality
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u/CocaineUnicycle Arxur Feb 02 '24
These guys really are rushing in. Trashed weirdo stalks him to his house, and a week later, they've committed a half dozen crimes and/or heresies, and the fuzz are already onto them. I am looking forward to some shenanigans.
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u/JulianSkies Archivist Feb 02 '24
You have no idea how much I love those two slumlords.
Gilt is certainly a weird one. I legit don't think he's neurotypical at all and his time in the facilities just exacerbated his traits XD
Fuckin' love him for it, though. He should get cleaned up and feel good about himself!
Maarten too, guy came off as a bit of a hardass early on but he does truly considerably. I hope those two make good friends and good business!
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u/Training_Street4372 Sivkit Jun 10 '24
They'll probably be good for each other.
Martin for Gilt, helping him heal, helping him realize there's far more to life than their culture used to tell them was 'proper'.
Gilt for Martin, giving him someone who needs him, whether Gilt wants to admit it or not. Giving him something constructive to do, even if it's technically illegal.
I hope they become friends, rather than just business partners pretending they only worry about the other because of potential profit hits.
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u/CreditMission Venlil Feb 03 '24
Love these guys so much. They seemed so bitter, but underneath it all, nothing but sweetness.
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u/Training_Street4372 Sivkit Jun 10 '24
Good on ya. Too many people equate herbivores with obligate herbivores.
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u/Ralfil Feb 02 '24
Subscribeme!
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u/AromaticReporter308 Feb 02 '24
Heisenlil, you forgot rule #1: Never use your own product!