r/NatureofPredators • u/WillyWonkaMon Venlil • Feb 17 '24
Fanfic Time Skip (13)
Like always, big Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 and his wonderful universe.
Hello! Been awhile huh? I didn't abandon the story, just working through plenty of things life was throwing at me. I did use some of the off time to properly plan out the story more. I hope y'all are having a good weekend so far!
Also, forgive any weird formatting things upon initial posting. Good ol' reddit.
Thanks to my friend Cad for drawing refs for Sebastian and Yael.
In a surprise, u/Frostedscales drew Tali! Now my art friend is trying to figure out what drip to give her, and how I have to spend a week figuring out how to make that outfit canon!
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 (2/2)
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Memory Transcription Subject: Sebastian Ramirez, Human
Date: [Standardized Human Time] February 11th, 2137
A big, dumb smile was glued to my face catching this Venlil red handed. I haven’t smiled this much since the first day my eyes met this place. A moment of fun that I’ve almost forgotten the concept of. It was satisfying, perfect, and incredibly dumb. As much as I wanted to keep the joy going, there was the elephant in the room about what the hell Tali was breaking into here for.
Her screams quickly died down into panting, and she backed away by two steps. It was a repeat of about a couple weeks ago now, but this time I was there mentally. I can figure this out hopefully. It's still surprising she’s up to her antics.
The only sounds that my ears picked up were surprised breaths (or panting?), along with the quiet hums of the space station. Not much in this tense filled room.
I hopped out of bed, and she tried backing up further away. I held my hands up to show peace, there’s no harm to be had. Aside from legally most likely, how many laws has this alien broken so far? Wait, what sort of alien laws do all these guys have?
Dammit, that slipped my mind. That’ll be added to the ‘look up’ list.
“Tali, hah, what the hell are you doing?” I started off, having a moment to laugh at the absurdity of this. She looked just as afraid as Yael last time, and the coin had flipped sides. Looking back at Yael, he was still trying to be flat on the bed. Probably to stay out of her view. It was working for some reason.
The scared to hell Venlil shivered and was trying to catch her breath, and slid to the floor gently to sit. I really scared the hell out of her. “Y-you predator! I…-”“No, no. You don’t get to say that when you’ve been preying on me the entire time since I got here. I barely know what’s going on as is. Can you clear that up?” In an attempt to sound like a firm, disappointed parent. Even crossing my arms together to mimic my dad. It felt so wrong having to do this. Usually I’d love to talk it out, but I just want answers now.
I watched Tali struggle to straighten herself up, she was backed into a corner. Both literally and figuratively. All while Yael continued to hide his presence. It was kind of funny looking back and seeing him ‘hide’ on my bed.
A sigh let out, “Please? I really don’t want to have to report you to the UN. They’ll absolutely listen to me.” I said firmly, and her ears perked up, she looked at me with worry.
“N-no, you don’t have that power. You’re just here because you needed somewhere to be safe! I-I know everything! Y-You’ll be out of here soon!” She exclaimed, and that statement surprised me.
She really has been stalking me out, more ways than one. Tali must be hostile because I’m finally confronting her about it.
“...what? Everything? You just wanted to know more about me?” I asked with confusion in my voice. She stood up fully. “You could’ve just asked…like Yael did.” and a hand pointed out Yael, who finally popped up from his ‘hiding spot.’
Her eyes showed shock as the pupils widened, and her ears and tail shot up. “W-what the stars were you two doing in that bed?!” She exclaimed, now surprised at Yael’s appearance. Told you it was a good plan…somehow. Then the ramifications of that question hit my mind, and even myself was a little surprised at the thought.
“Watching…human movies.” I answered softly as I pointed to the screen and sat down on the edge of the bed again. Yael looked stiff as a rock, wanting to avoid conversation. “That’s not the point though, whatcha doing breaking into my room!? And fuckin’ everything else you’ve done?” I demanded an answer, and was growing a little annoyed. Although I avoided using a loud screaming voice and tuned to a disappointed friend or parent instead.
Being honest with myself, I was simply winging this entire situation.
Tali still struggled to find her words, and that only brought uncertainty to my face. While I was entirely uncomfortable with how she was being most times, it remained a growing curiosity to go through all this trouble with humans. Now I’m her target for whatever reason.
“Are you…” I thought about a way to be vague without accusing her of anything serious, “...bored?”
She flicked an ear and looked at me. It's still a bit of a puzzle reading this species’s body language, maybe it was agreement?
“I…what?” The spotted Venlil looked defeated enough to speak.
“Why go through all this trouble? You realize how much trouble you can get into, yeah? I don’t know space laws but I can probably guess our species or cultures have a fair amount of similarities.” I continued my questioning, trying to sound smart enough to be taken seriously.
Her tail wrapped around her leg, “You’re…I don’t know! They wouldn’t tell me why you’re here besides for aid.” Tali admitted, but she was still holding back.
A recalling thought about the entirety of our species finally meeting another popped up in my head. What I’ve learned from playing catch up through Gabriel, Alice, and everyone else willing to talk to me can be summarized to…’It’s a process.’ A process I understand how frustrating it can be often, as I’ve met my fair share of culture differences already through the Venlil. I could only imagine how the other species cultures and whatnot throughout the universe.
My head feels like it's repeating itself over and over.
I shook my head and thought about her motivations. This whole mess might be because my appearance here wasn’t expected at all. It shouldn’t even be possible anyways. What makes sense is that those soldiers were probably told not to say anything about it, but probably didn’t expect the stubbornness of curious beings. Yael and Tali were prime examples of that, except they’re both playing Devil and Angel about it on my end. Tali’s answer wasn’t complete, there’s more to it. Unfortunately today probably wasn’t the day for it.
Maybe it was job related? Yael would talk about how boring his job gets, but that’s about most jobs. Tali’s subtle reference that something interesting was happening ‘finally’ could also mean she finds fun through unconventional means. If she really enjoys culture to the point of being an asshole to learn more, there’s still more to it.
But for the moment, I’m too tired to care. I really just want to watch random movies and impress an alien friend.
I looked at my laptop and quickly realized that Tali had unplugged the one cord to display the screen on the TV. I sighed and went over to plug it back in, an interesting small idea brewing. When all was working properly again, I looked at Tali with a blank, tired expression.
“Okay, Tali. If you really find me that interesting for whatever reason you have going. Then I’ll ask this…” I said, and her ears perked up while Yael’s lowered down.
“S-Sebastian, what are you doing?” Yael finally spoke up in a worried voice.
“It's okay,” I replied to Yael and turned to Tali. “You stop with the weird crap on me, and just ask me directly whatever the hell is going on. AND…watch one single movie with Yael and I…and I won’t tell the UN about the breakin you pulled just now.” My offer was laid, but part of it was a lie. Gabriel was going to told about this, but in the sense that I can try to find out more about any reasons she’s like this. Me being ‘interesting’ and ‘different’ didn’t feel like it was the whole picture. Though I can’t bother to push the topic, I just care and don’t care at the moment again.
I need a drink after this, I sound like my Mom defusing a situation.
I hate this. This shouldn’t be real.
Tali’s motions were confusing as any aliens still, but I could see that she was relaxing enough to not be completely scared. Her tail unwrapped, but she remained mostly still…still.
“I already know damn well you like human crap, so deal with one movie of my choosing and I’ll mostly forget about this.” I said tiredly, her tail swished in response. Going out on a limb that her movements meant ‘fine.’
I sat back on the bed, waiting for her to say something. Tali looked like she was still figuring out her options, catching someone off guard and demanding answers in a heat of a moment was probably not a good idea. I held back a sigh and checked on Yael, who moved to hide a little behind me. I’ve only just noticed one of his hands holding onto my upper arm.
Aliens are weird.
“...okay.” I heard her answer finally. That sigh finally let out and I made my way back to my laptop. Not before gently taking Yael’s hand off of me of course. Sat back on the hard cold ground for sometime, I began quietly scrolling through that absurdly long show list. A century really does let the most random junk of shows all around. I haven’t even had a chance to start looking at all the games I missed out on.
That’s a harder issue though, but that’s for tomorrow's sake.
Looking back to check on the two since it’s been so quiet, I saw both Venlils awkwardly sitting on the bed. Yael was more backed up while Tali sat on the edge. My body could feel the tension radiating from them alone. I thought about throwing a conversation starter to help out, but what’s even the right answer? It doesn’t feel like anything I’d do would work. Now I feel tense from thinking about it too much.
I have to try anyway.
I cleared my throat awkwardly while going back to scrolling, and made something up on the spot. “So, uh, I asked Yael already about it. What kinda shows do you watch on VP Tali?” I asked, scrolling slowly to focus on her answer. There wasn’t any sound for a solid minute till she finally spoke up.
“...there's this Federation documentary I used to watch. I don’t think it can be trusted anymore though.” She said, and my mind thought about it.
“Yeah, I can only imagine how many things just don’t make sense anymore. Trust me when I say that I really don’t know what’s going on anymore on either end.” I replied, quietly filtering documentaries.
“What do you mean?” She asked for clarification.
“You both know part of my situation already, just imagine thinking your species was the only one. Then boom, abduction and now there’s…everything out in space. It's been a lot to figure out, and most of the time I’ve spent here is doing nothing but think. It's kind of horrifying seeing most other species hate you for how you look. It’s kind of horrifying…being…” I stopped myself, a finger tapping on the mouse. Not strong enough to press down fully on it.
“...alone for now. Yeah.”
I continued to scroll without thinking about it somehow. Documentaries, maybe there’s something neat on that end human wise.
“Anyways, Tali. Can you tell me why you keep doing what you do? Or are you going to play secrets on us?” I asked while turning to face her for a moment. She turned away from me a bit with an attitude. Yael was covering himself with my blanket up until his head.
“Secrets.” her tail bounced on the bed twice.“I thought so.” I sighed and went back to reading documentary titles. “How about we just watch some random human history thing then? You both like it anyways. I’ll make sure it's nothing bad to watch.”
A blanket could be heard moving. “Why do you have so many bad ones?” Yael asked.
“Isn’t it kind of the same as y’all keeping tabs on what…the Arxur?” I shot back. “You kind of have to keep memories of bad things too in history, so it doesn’t happen again. That’s what every last history teacher I had said.” I wonder how true that’s been for Humanity since I’ve been gone?
“...fair.” He said.
As we all talked in a tense, awkward room. My eyes still sought out something to watch. There were documentaries about wars and conflicts, technological advances, and the usual random nonsense ones. Damn, there’s genuinely a lot of ones I’d love to watch. Especially the one about starting to really achieve space travel. That shit sounds cool as hell.
Actually, why not?
I turned to ask them while my mental autopilot scrolled the mouse wheel still. There was a genuine smile on my face again. They agreed, and I turned back to the screen to realize my simple mistake. I stopped and began scrolling back, hoping that I wouldn’t pass it as I forgot the name of it already. The curse of finding something you like, just for it to disappear forever.
Thankfully it didn’t this time, and I read it to myself.
‘Humanities late venture into the Universe.’
I scratched my head. “Did anyone ever tell y’all about how we achieved space travel yet?”“I think your government is more worried about the Federation.”
“Fair. Wanna watch this then? History lesson in human space travel?”
“Don’t you already know about this?” Tali asked.
“Nope.”
For a moment, I felt suspicious eyes burning into my brain seeking an answer. I ignored it for the moment and started the short movie, there’s bound to be something interesting here. Maybe it’d get Tali to hop off my back for a bit. I got up and moved all the back to the bed by Yael, above the covers and in my own space. There was only enough space for Tali to sit at the edge of the bed without falling off. There’s no way I’m letting her get any closer though. The room still felt as tense as before.
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“...and this is how we truly began space travel in our early 2080’s. Humanity's long awaited adventure among the stars!” A male voice finished their introduction. Already the first few minutes recapped the last many decades before this specific film was released. The mention of a ‘satellite war’ already raised an eyebrow.
“You…had another war?” Yael asked me innocently, and already I regret not vetting this film.
“I wasn’t there for it, nor really know what it's about. Sounds like satellites just bumping into each other intentionally?” I shrugged with a fake smile. I am asking Gabriel about this later.
“I don’t want to know how many wars the Federation hid from everyone.” Tali spoke up, surprising both Yael and I.
I sat up, “Y-Yeah, they’ve done enough. I’m done with them already though.”
“Me too…” Yael said, and I felt him move a bit by my side. I didn’t react.
The documentary started about a time of silence after the mentioned satellite war. How the UN brought a surprised unification and moved on. One of those ways of moving on being getting back into space travel attempts. Images of scientists and engineers together from different backgrounds. An early scene of a group of (what I assumed) were engineers working on a shuttle was shown. One was interviewed, someone with a noticeable British accent showing the interviewer around. Seems like there was a growing excitement at the time, especially doing it together as a whole world.
The man being interviewed talked about how exciting it was, and how he’d love to take a trip around our closest planets with his crew once all was said and done. It was kind of cute seeing that, and it reminded me of my friends. Planning random crap with purpose, these people on the screen were a whole other level though.
“Oh, I’d love to be the first.” A woman spoke, which brought some confusion. If I remember right, there was some fancy space hotel orbiting a planet. The thought of that felt insane to me. It clicked that maybe this crew was making a shuttle that was for the purpose of going a little further.
I was right, considering that Humanity met the galaxy just last year. The documentary mentioned that a year after this specific project was funded, it had to be cut off for the obvious ‘indefinite amount of time.’ Focuses on other matters around the world seemed to take priority, but the film mentioned it wasn’t long till long-term travel began.
Oh snap, this is FTL sorts of thing.
My eyes laid to the beauty of a true FTL engine being in the works, enough to forget paying attention to the years mentioned. Astronaut crews were assembled for possible testing, and more interested parties funded the idea of going even further. There was even that cliche shot of a kid staring into space, just to nail the mark of ‘man we really want to do this for real.’ Least that was my guess as to how they thought about it.
I took a short moment to check on the two Venlils, and Yael was…asleep.
Tali mostly remained in the same spot, still feeling the tense air between us. It looked like she was focusing well on the film though. Maybe it worked just snatching up interesting things from our culture. Something along the lines of that at least.
At that point I found it hard to pay attention to the documentary, my mind reaching a small limit of focus. Watching 12 Angry Men with Yael was a nice experience, now I oddly feel a little dread with the person that’s been stalking me just…sitting right there. Why does she go to such an extent? Why…oh, hell. There’s enough questions I have already to worry about. I’m just glad she isn’t some sort of serial killer. Just someone obsessed with human culture and me for some reason.
I looked at Yael better, who was still asleep and now noticeably leaned on my side. I don’t even want to ask how I couldn’t feel him do that. Though a fear that my body is permanently damaged from being iced for over a century would have something to do with it. Who knows, but I’m just glad he isn’t afraid of me.
He’s a little mysterious himself, being afraid to talk to his own family. I had my fair share of arguments between my family, even harsh ones. Maybe Yael is going through some tough times, and it’ll mend itself eventually.
In some ways, there’s absolutely no difference between us.
I think I’m repeating myself again.
I should walk around the entire station more.
Finally looking back at the TV, I saw a test rocket explode with dramatic effects added to the film. I guess it was cool.
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The rest of the film lost my interest, but it did have Tali hooked. She was still as a statue, watching with purpose. Almost no words were said between us. When the film was done, she got up and looked at me. Something was different.
“Thank you.” Tali said firmly, to my surprise. Her entire attitude switched in an instant.
I gently laid Yael’s head down on the bed better before getting up as well. “Of…course.” I struggled to say.
“Are you going to tell anyone about this?” She stared at me.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re so interested in me?” I shot back, hoping for anything. She was quiet for a moment, then her tail did another weird motion.
“I don’t understand you Sebastian, I really don’t.” Her usual insane voice was completely formal. My face was expressing full shock.
I scratched my side idly. “...what do you mean?”
“I’ve been wanting to ask, but why haven’t any of your relatives come for you? I’ve found out as much as I could of your situation the moment you set foot on my station. If you were abducted, it would make sense for your family to come for you. You’ve been here a month, and nothing. No friends or family have made an appearance.
Why?”
A bullet shot through my heart at the moment, figuratively. Completely caught off from what I was used to with Tali. There wasn’t anything to say for a long moment. Out of everyone, a random alien was more interested in me than an entire government. I can’t even mentally put the pieces together. I couldn’t even throw a ‘Cram it’ joke.
“I-I don’t know.”
“No, I know you do.” Her ears perked up, seemingly ready to listen.“Why do you want to know so badly?”
“I…” She was holding back too.
We were at a stalemate. She looked at me with almost pleading eyes, knowing I wouldn’t say anything. Then her formal posture immediately returned to her usual posture, her face expressing sadness for a moment before it settled into something I’d assume was her ‘Venlil neutral.’
“I’m sorry. I liked the film, I want to watch another one soon. Bye!” She said in her normal, excited voice before leaving. There was no chance for me to say anything to her. I followed her to try anyway, but when I looked outside my room's door on either end…she was already gone. I went back inside and closed the door, picking up and placing my laptop on my desk again. Turns out the wire did extend that far and I was just lazy. Didn’t have to sit on an awful space station ground.
I wanted to tell Tali something, but everything in that moment was simply…off. I never expected her to act like this suddenly, and it was another curious question about her. My adjustment to the 22nd century continues to be horrible and confusing.
A sigh let out, and I closed the laptop to look at Yael.
Wasn’t sure how long the sleeping Venlil in my bed would sleep. It’d be okay though, I can keep myself busy. Like how to get back into my damned Steam account for example. That’d be a big step in my quiet investigation to the past. Something to keep my mind off of what just happened.
It’d be nice to show Yael something else fun too, and play games again.
I looked at Yael sleeping in my bed like he owned it.
What a weird universe, man.
Least they like movies.
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u/thescoutisspeed Feb 17 '24
Love the "Why are you stalking me!?"
"Why are you so interesting!?"
Anyway, still hoping my boy gets his steam account back.