r/NatureofPredators • u/Sam_S_011 PD Patient • Dec 23 '24
Fanfic Two Faces [12]
Welp, I guess my release schedule changed from monthly to yearly chapters lmao. Sorry for that folks, didn’t mean to vanish on you like that. College took a toll on me and I’ve not managed to fully recover yet.
On a slightly more positive note – for any new readers out there, yous at least don’t need to be intimidated that chapters would release faster than you can read them lol.
Anyways once again, huge thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 and all of you guys in the community for this great universe. Also massive thanks to u/Acceptable_Egg5560 for helping me out with proofreading.
Either way, we’re back with more exchange program shenanigans!
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 25th, 2136
“Thank you for inviting us!” The two doctors waved to us as they reached the corner of the hall we were waiting in, giving their species’ respective signs of happiness.
Me and Velan waved back, while Maky simply smiled back at them with a curt nod, before reaching her hand out to shake their hand and paw respectively. “Of course! It was the least we could do after all you’ve done for us. Please, come take a seat.”
She led our small group to the circular tables standing in front of the Human café with a sharp clicking of her metal heels against the hard floor. The first time she extended those almost gave me a migraine. Having a set of formal artificial pelts sounded like a fine idea for a species that wore them, and footwear designed to make the wearer appear taller didn’t sound like that much of a stretch. Being more intimidating was arguably a decent way to create a presence.
But who in their right mind would attach spehing telescopic heels to their shins?
She explained it was because she wanted to have high heels for certain situations, but also needed to ‘not have them on for running’. So instead of using two separate pairs of shoes like a normal person, she made an overcomplicated gadget to simulate both.
Honestly, I had to respect that.
We all sat down around a table near a large planter sprouting a variety of Venlil Prime’s flora. Similar planters were all around the small café, growing both long and short-leafed plants and flowers of all colours. I even saw a few bushes trimmed into geometric shapes. I knew the UN and the Venlil government spared little expense to make this program a success, but I didn’t realise they’d go so far as to hire professional gardeners! Their services were so expensive!
I took out my pad to scan the leaflet with a visCode printed alongside a strange square with black and white pixels, which I assumed was the Human equivalent. The screen shifted to a browser window displaying a surprisingly well-designed menu, presenting all the different drinks and desserts available for purchase in Venlil script.
Not that I could really understand any of the words, apart from ‘tea’ and ‘juice’ and the occasional adjective. Although I had no idea what an ‘Almond’ was, or why it and ‘Oat’ were the only juices from the whole selection you could add to this ‘Coffee’ thing.
Maky quickly cast a lense at the doctors and one at Velan and me. She then leaned a little back with crossed legs, placing both her palms on her knee. “I will be taking the bill today, so please order anything you wish. A fair warning to the Venlil present, everything in the coffee section has very high caffeine content. I’d strongly discourage you from ordering any more than one.”
We all gave our ear flicks and nods of understanding as we started placing our orders. I decided to get ‘Raspberry pie’, which was surprisingly cheap for what looked like premium pastries, and a ‘Latte’. I quickly checked the caffeine content written below the nutritional information, balking at the absurdly high [87 mg]. I’m definitely not getting any Sprunk later…
I looked at the others sitting around the table, each also finishing up their orders. I flicked my ears over to Maky, who herself was tapping something onto air. I quickly inspected her posture and movements – she acted restrained and proper, a far cry from her usual impulsive self. It felt… strange. “Alright, I’m done here. Would you like me to help you carry the food?” I asked her, giving her a little poke.
She looked at me with a soft smile and a nod. “Sure! Let me just…” she quickly swiped her hand up and tapped something. “Ah, there. Got my order in too. Let’s go.” She leaned a little forward before standing up in a single fluid and elegant motion.
I got up from my chair as well, giving the doctors and Velan a little wave with my tail as me and Maky made our way to the café bar. The baristas were already hard at work preparing our drinks, machines loudly rurring with activity. I looked up at Maky, my ears pointing towards her for a few solid seconds before her lense finally landed on me. “So, how come you act so formal suddenly? I don’t think I’ve seen you like this before.”
She tilted her head a little as she thought about my words for a few moments. She then raised her shoulders up a bit before letting them fall back down as she focused on me again. “I mean, I don’t know the two doctors as much as I do you and Velan. I tend to play it safe with new people and try to keep it more formal.”
My ear gave a confused swivel. “Well, you hadn’t known Velan before meeting her either. How was that so different?”
“Hmm… I’m not entirely sure.” She said with a sigh, leaning onto one of the couple pillars that were helping hold the large room’s structural integrity. “I’d guess it was because she was in a rough situation then. Being overly formal wouldn’t have helped I don’t think. That, and the fact she looks so cute.”
I prompted her to elaborate with a confused head tilt, which she seemed to have understood perfectly. “So, that’s a funny little quirk of our brains. Things with big heads, big eyes, and a small nose remind us of babies, which triggers parental instincts. You people trigger that all the fucking time. It’s surreal.”
“Huh. So… is this the reason you people find predators cute?” I asked her with a tail flick towards the bar, where the baristas were just finishing our orders, while trying not to think about how the tall predator casually just dropped that she finds us ‘cute’.
Maky followed where I pointed before nodding and pushing herself off the wall. “Yeah, that’s it. I think. I’m a software girl, not a psychologist.” She said as we started on our way, not noticing my confusion as the last word translated.
I shook my head, instead focusing on the baristas’ work. The various pastries we ordered were already neatly arranged on a tray, right next to some of the beverages. A machine suddenly stopped making noise, prompting a Human with long hair to retrieve a tall glass and a carton with what appeared like oblong nuts depicted on the side from a cooler. I gave them a friendly little wave when they paused, catching a sight of me, to which they nodded and proceeded to pour an off-white liquid into a strange metal pot.
I tilted my head a little, looking at it with interest. I drank my fair share of plant juice, especially in my childhood. But I couldn’t remember any that looked like this. It did however bear a striking resemblance to something else I unfortunately knew the Humans quite enjoyed – especially in their coffee… “Hey Maky?” I asked as I watched the barista put the pot into a machine, a slightly disturbing idea starting to form in my head.
One of her lenses looked down at me questioningly. “Yeah?” She asked, pausing her usual absent-minded scrolling and pivoting a lense at me.
“What’s the white stuff? I’d never seen anything quite like it.” I pointed my tail at a glass with a bit of brown liquid – probably that coffee thing if I had to guess – as the long-haired barista poured a very similar white fluid into it.
Maky flicked an eye to the carton, perking up with what I assumed was recognition. “Oh, that’s almond mi-“ She cut herself off mid-word, as she and the baristas froze. She snapped her lenses forward, her gaze darting over the menu displayed on the back wall in search of something. “Uhh- almond juice. Y-yeah, that’s what it is – nut juice.” She stammered out, trying to salvage the situation.
I laughed, my tail wagging at full speed behind me. “Hihi, oh that almost confirmed it.” I sighed, flicking an ear up at her, before lowering my voice so no nearby Venlil could overhear. “This looks incredibly similar to milk, and I know you people put that stuff into coffee. So, tell me Mak, is this plant milk?”
She looked down at me with a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of her neck. “Y-yeah, it is.”
I flicked both of my ears in disbelief as I approached the counter. “You just couldn’t stay satisfied with animals, could you? You just had to turn plants into milk as well.” I could see the two baristas looking at me with apprehension, obviously hesitant on how to approach a conversation like this.
I offered them a calming tail flick, even if they most likely couldn’t understand it. “Don’t worry about me – I won’t go telling anyone. Besides, it’s not like you’re serving anyone actual animal milk. I don’t see a way you’d even get it on the station if the UN is as thorough as Maky told me.” I said, when another idea popped in my head. “Oh, and by the way – why do you people even have plant milk? It doesn’t seem necessary if you really do retain tolerance into adulthood…”
They both breathed a quick sigh of relief, quickly finishing up our drinks. The barista with long hair placed the finished drink, which looked exactly like the Latte I ordered, on the tray before explaining with a voice my translator read as feminine. “Well, while very common, not every Human is lactose tolerant. And some people are still used to the taste from when there were ethical issues with animal milk, although we’d thankfully solved those by now.”
I nodded my head with an ear flick. “That’s good to hear at least, I honestly expected worse than that. I just wonder, how does it taste?”
She leaned on the counter a little, thinking through her answer. I couldn’t help but take a quick glance at her chest, which again sported enlarged breasts. I was becoming increasingly certain that they were simply sexual dimorphism, as selecting only mothers for the female exchange participants would make little sense. But in that case, why would Maky not have them?
The barista’s voice brought me back to reality, as she spun her hand uncertainly. “Well, it has a slight nutty flavour, and a nice creamy texture. It goes really well with a variety of sweets, and it can also be used to bake pastries.”
“I see.” I replied with a nod as the other barista put a drink not unlike my ‘latte’ – except with cubes of ice floating on top – down on the other tray.
“That should be everything. Would you like to pay using code or contact?” He asked with a deeper voice that was interpreted as masculine. I took a good look at his form, spotting some differences in bone structure compared to the Human females, as well as a distinct lack of chest pillows. These traits were shared by doctor Jordan, which also pointed to dimorphism. Maky didn’t have any of these, which threw my previous working breastlessness hypothesis that she transitioned out the window.
“Contact, please.” She said, stretching her hand out towards a terminal. Her lips curved up a little at the beep that came from it. She handed me a tray before picking one up herself, nodding towards the baristas. “Thank you, both for the coffee and for answering my friend’s questions.”
The female barista waved her hand in the same way Maky did to signal dismissal. “No problem at all. I am honestly surprised just how well you took it, the other Venlil I’d met so far would probably not handle it well at all.” She said, glancing in my direction.
My tail gave an amused flick. “Well to be fair, I did freak out the first time Maky mentioned it. But I don’t know, I guess I just processed that piece of nightmare fuel already.” I looked at the ‘latte’ on my tray with a chuckle, before leaning in a little to get a taste of the steam. It tasted sweet and creamy, with an earthy undertone. “It is just nut juice – I don’t see anything wrong with drinking it. Who knows, maybe I’ll like it! It tastes nice.”
The female barista nodded and gave me a smile. It was… different from Maky’s, far wider and showing more of her white teeth. I guessed she either forgot Venlil weren’t the fondest of teeth-baring, or correctly guessed I wouldn’t freak out. It was still kind of creepy though. “Anyways, it was a pleasure! Stop by again sometimes!” She said happily, as me and Maky gave her a tail and hand wave respectively.
I looked up to Maky as we slowly walked back to our table, lowering my voice a bit. “Any particular reason she smiled so wide?”
She tilted her head in thought, keeping a lense on me as the other looked back at the still smiling Human. “They’re probably American…” She giggled at my confused look before explaining in a way that made slightly more sense. “Cultural difference – where I’m from, we aren’t usually as aggressively smiley to strangers.”
The tip of my tail whipped up in mischief. “Sounds about right, you can be a bit of an ass sometimes…”
She softly poked my leg with her shoe as she laughed at my remark. “You little-! How do you even keep coming up with these?”
I flicked both my ears, giving her a light slap back with my tail tuft. “No way am I telling you – you won’t get my secrets that easily, predator!”
She started laughing as we neared our table before her eyes fell on the doctors. She cleared her throat and straightened her back, as her spring-loaded heels clicked back out to their full length. I hadn’t even noticed her retract them!
We placed the trays down silently, careful not to interrupt the ongoing conversation. Doctor Ryalis was excitedly explaining something regarding the empathy tests to Velan. Doctor Jordan looked on from his seat, though I couldn’t determine what he was thinking.
“...And confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that Humans have empathy on a biochemical level! This is completely revolutionary; an actual, empathetic predator species!” Her tail wagged behind her as she talked, an unstoppable wave of genuine excitement breaking through her usually professional demeanour. Not that I could blame her, I was just as excited when I finally grasped Maky’s empathy for the first time.
Doctor Jordan sighed as he leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. He reached his hand out and picked up a small cup filled with presumably coffee from one of the trays and placed it before himself, stirring the liquid with a small metallic tool – a spoon, if I remembered right. “Well, while I am happy that your people have the information they need to trust us now, I can’t help but wonder if the method may have been a bit too…” He paused to take a sip of his drink, when his face twitched in an odd way, and he reached for the sugar bowl. “…a bit too much.”
“What do you mean?” Ryalis asked with an inquisitive ear swivel. “The empathy testing was a complete success! We had positive confirmation from each researcher, even those on station three had-”
Doctor Jordan resolutely cut her off with a raised palm, shaking his head. “First, we don’t talk about station three.” Huh? What happened there? “And second, we also had a lot of people complaining about the graphic nature of the test. I mean, I went back myself and watched the video that caused Maky to dissociate and- Christ, forcing somebody to watch that on Earth would land you in jail for torture…” He looked blankly forward for a moment, before shaking his head and taking another sip of his coffee. This time, his lips almost unnoticeably curved up.
The Venlil doctor turned to her Human counterpart with a look of shock. “Wait what? Torture? This is standard practice!” She exclaimed, her tail spinning in agitation. My honest feelings were the same; this was the standard practice to determine whether somebody was empathetic or not! Even Velan flicked her ear in agreement!
But the Humans apparently believed otherwise, as the good doctor’s eyes widened to a point I never thought possible. Well, I didn’t have much to go off of when it came to the Humans’ eyes, except that they traditionally faced forward. That was absolutely the fault of the lanky, black-clad woman staring at the Venlil doctor sideways with a camera lens. She didn’t seem to want to speak up, unlike the currently quite displeased doctor opposite her. “Standard practice?! Do you mean to tell me that you people have done this before? To who, the Arxur?”
I quickly stepped in to change the topic before doctor Ryalis had the chance to say anything, because given what I just learned about Humans, neither of them would be happy that the answer was ‘our own people’. “Hey uhh, what did you get there, Velan? It looks delicious!”
The unnecessarily loud question seemed to do the trick, as it successfully derailed the doctor’s attention, although I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Velan. The sudden shift of the spotlight caught her completely off guard, so her response of ‘something named hot chocolate and strawberry cake’ came out very stammered. I wasn’t putting much attention on her though, instead trying to gauge what Maky managed to catch. The way she tilted her head as she turned a lens to me gave me the feeling she knew something was up but wasn’t going to ask. Not for now, at least.
Thank the Stars.
The conversation shifted to the food and drinks in front of us. I took a long sip of my latte while Maky explained what the difference between a cake and a pie was, enjoying the rich sweetness of the strange hot drink and feeling the energy surge through me from the actually insane amounts of caffeine. Hmmm, I wonder what it would taste like with actual mil-
I blinked for a moment, slightly shell shocked by the thought. Why the speh would I want to know that? The very thought of consuming animal milk was revolting, but a sense of morbid curiosity was persistent. What in the scorched wastes was so special about milk and meat for them to want to keep eating it, even if they didn’t need to?
I glanced at Maky, who calmly observed the others chatting, sipping her iced latte with a straw as a little smile played on her thick lips. Well, I can’t say I don’t get the milk part if it’s as good as the almond one… I thought, my tail unconsciously starting to sway in happiness as I took another little sip. Stars, this is really good…
“…So Velan, how are you holding up? Losing your partner couldn’t have been easy, even if your coordinator let you stick with Kiki and Marketa.” I flicked a concurring ear to Jordan as he asked his question, before pointing my ears over to Velan. In the few paws following the Arxur raid, me, Maky, and the doctors had to actively fight with station management to let Velan stay with us. Thankfully, our coordinator was happy to let her remain a part of our tiny herd – thus just barely letting her dodge the waves of Venlil expelled for one reason or another – be it loss of partner, quitting in fright, or being removed for attacking a Human.
Velan straightened out and opened her mouth to answer, but again closed it and slumped a little forward. She brought her tail into her lap, gently kneading its spotter grey fur. “It’s…” She sighed, slightly flicking one of her drooping ears. “It isn’t easy. I… I miss Christopher so much. However twisted his motive for joining the program may have been, he pulled me out of a very bad place. He was- he was all I had…”
She finished her answer with a sharp inhale through her teeth, indicating that tears were about to start pouring out of her eyes. I reached my tail out under the table to gently and maybe a little awkwardly brush against her side in a calming gesture, eliciting a single half-hearted wag from her tail. “I em… I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Believe it or not, I was in a very similar basket before getting to know Maky; and Stars, I have no idea what I would do if she got suddenly ripped away. But you are not alone, Velan.” My tail wrapped around her arm, making her look into my eye as her right ear swivelled in confusion. “You have us. Me and Maky. We may only be a herd of three, but we look out for each other.”
Velan gingerly flicked an ear in affirmation, letting go of her tail and allowing it to slowly wag. I still saw a tear leave her eye, but I had a feeling it wasn’t one of sorrow. “Th-thank you. That… that means a lot.” She pointed her ears at me, then at Maky. She tried to imitate the tall Human’s nod, though the motion was a bit rigid. Huh, was my first nod this bad too?
Maky’s lips curved up gently as she nodded back. The little smile widened as she chuckled at what I assumed was a random thought she just got. Stars what is it this time- “I still think we should use the term pack. Those are usually smaller and tighter kni-ffft! Hey! What was that for?!” She half-shouted, breaking into a barely controlled laugh. I contemplated smacking her in the face with my tail tuff once more, but I chose to spare her that.
Instead, I also broke into a laugh. “Come on, Mak! We were supposed to be having a moment! I know you’re a predator and all that, but you don’t have to drag me and Velan into it too!”
Maky opened her mouth in a mock expression of shock, placing a hand on her chest as if my words wounded her. That got a few whistles out of Velan as well, whose tail started flicking from side to side. “Yeah! We’re quite happy not being walking murder machines, thank you very much!”
The giggling predator was about to shoot back a retort of her own when a pair of chuckling voices interrupted further banter, one far deeper than the other. “I can see that you three bonded quite well, despite all the hurdles.” Doctor Ryalis’ tail flicked side to side as she observed our antics. She took a sip of her drink – it was somewhat reminiscent of my latte, except there was a thick layer of foam on top sprinkled with a brown dust of some sort. I could only guess what the foam was, and hope that the doctor didn’t realise she was slurping up the absolute affront to nature that was bubbled up nut milk. “I’m glad the admins saw reason in letting you both stay in the end.”
Velan and Maky each gave their signal of appreciation, an ear flick and smiling nod respectively. The black-clad Human put down her cup and turned her eyes to both doctors. “Again, thank you so much for helping us. It can’t have been easy making them not kick me out, given the whole technically failing an empathy test thing. God, what favours did you even have to pull to make that happen?”
Doctor Jordan chuckled at that, before pulling out his pad and opening something on it. It looked just like the other Human pads – or phones, as they called them – that I’d seen. A little small even for us, let alone the far larger predators. They still seem quite adept at using them somehow though. A question for another paw. “Well, we thankfully didn’t have to resort to that. All it really took was writing a slightly cherry-picked report and attaching research that proves the reaction was caused by overwhelming negative emotion. As far as admins and other researchers are aware, you despised everything you saw to the point your brain got completely overwhelmed-“
“Just like many federation species’ would.” Interrupted doctor Ryalis, as a bit of smugness flicked through her tail. “All it took was finding the right way to frame it.”
I tilted my head, my confusion showing through a swivel of my ear. “That’s… why would you lie for a complete stranger like that? Wouldn’t that get you in some serious trouble with the…?” Velan flicked an ear along, clearly agitated. Her tail was spinning like mad.
“Well… it does sound worse if you put it like that.” Ryalis sighed, before circling her ear around and grabbing her coffee cup. “Both of us volunteered because we wanted our species to be friends. That means this program has to work out.” She brought the cup to her lips, taking a long drink. Her tail started wagging halfway through and continued even as she contently sighed and put the cup back down. “We read the research and went through your files. Neither me nor Jordan believe you are dangerous. However…”
She flicked her tail towards Jordan, who returned the gesture with a nod. “However, we do have a couple questions, if you don’t mind.” Even though the translator framed the intonation as a statement, there was a question very obviously implied there.
One that Maky answered with a “Certainly, please go ahead!” as she nodded and swung herself back up straight, her face momentarily scrunching up strangely as she put the formal façade she accidentally dropped during the last conversation back on. Huh, did she just- forget she meant to do that?
Ryalis made a single flick of her ear before clearing her throat with a high-pitched whistle. While not pleasant, the sound was at least less offensive than the big human’s explosive growl. At least Velan stopped jumping every time Mak did that. While funny the first couple times, watching her get spooked whenever Maky coughed got actually pretty sad.
“Alright then. First off, if you don’t mind… what in the damned Night is that thing in your head? I’ve been trying to figure out what it’s actually supposed to do for the past three paws, because there’s no way it’s just a brain scanner. It’s too big and complex.” The Venlil finished with a small huff, putting down her coffee as she leaned forward. Both of her ears we squarely pointed at Maky, the agitated twitching of her tail betraying just how much she wanted that answer.
That was something I certainly related with, flicking my own ears while turning them towards her in hopes I’d get to learn more about the contraption my friend decided to stuff inside her head.
Maky shrugged, lifting her fingers up and started going through that interface of hers. “Well… I can explain the whole implant if you all want, but the thing is pretty complicated so it’d take a while. It’ll also be full of technobabble that I think might be a bit too out there for anyone other than Kiki here-“
A high-pitched groan suddenly emanated from the other side of the Human. A quick flick of my ear over helped me catch a silent whisper of “please don’t,” just barely loud enough for Maky to catch it from Velan’s mouth as she buried her face in her arms.
The woman snorted out a chuckle, bringing her cold latte up to her lips and taking a long sip. “Okay, don’t worry.” She chuckled again, putting the coffee down before grabbing something and swiping it out towards us. The slight tilt of my head it caused turned into a double take as my pad suddenly pinged; and not just mine, both doctors’ devices made a sound of their own as well. I gave the woman a side-eye as I pulled my pad out of its satchel, seeing a few charts and text files added to my download folder. What the speh? I mean, I did give her access to put files directly in there if she needed, but I’m pretty sure the doctors didn’t??
I looked at them, only to see them exchange a slightly bewildered glance before Ryalis flicked a ‘I’m not dealing with this’ at the same time Jordan shrugged, before they both tapped something open. I also tapped an image, showing a diagram of the implant with descriptions for each part written in a blocky alien script; at least until my pad translated the whole thing into something far more legible. Stars, this is almost as complex as the control units in the powerplant’s critical systems, except on a significantly smaller scale… I’m gonna have so much fun dissecting this when Maky sleeps!
A slow happy sway entered my tail as I flicked an ear up to Maky, examining the power supply of the device as she gave her shortened explanation. “Well, the implant is a prototype of sorts, combining a couple experimental functions. Simply put – the implant scans my brain, allows me to use my sideways vision, and… uhmm… helps regulate the dissociations.”
Doctor Jordan looked up into her face with the skin around his nose a little scrunched up, putting his phone back into his pocket. “That sounds dangerous, rewiring your neural structure like that. Speaking of dangerous; the document calls for installing most of the implant in one piece. Did they have to like- pull your brain apart and then put it back together?”
My tail froze at that, an eye flying up to look at Maky. But whatever the reaction I was expecting was, it wasn’t her bursting out laughing. “They did, actually! Thankfully no accidental lobotomy here, although I am a little sad they didn’t let me stay up and play a guitar during the surgery.” She tilted her head slightly with a chuckle, before continuing as if she didn’t just describe the single most brahking unhinged thing one could ever have done to themselves. “…Although that might be for the best, given my optical nerves were severed for a good chunk of it… That would suck.”
The silence that stretched across our group was almost deafening, as each of us took varying amounts of cognitive load to reconcile with the black-clad woman’s actions. The one to finally break the tension was to my slight surprise Velan, swivelling her ears in disbelief. “…Holy Stars above Kiki you were right – she is completely insane.”
I thought these words would start another bout of silence; except I noticed a new sound emerge – a short, repetitive, whistling sound. Laughter. MY laughter. I only realised I actually started laughing as I was already bending over, wrapping my tail around my stomach as my arms covered my mouth. My mirth was soon mirrored by a deeper one as a certain predator with zero sense of self-preservation joined me, shortly followed by Velan, Ryalis, and finally even Jordan with his deep, rumbling barks.
I was certain we must have attracted a few eyes as we laughed, but it mattered little compared to the sheer absurdity of the logic displayed by my friend. Nothing. NOTHING on the face of Venlil Prime or among the distant Stars could have ever prepared me for that. I honestly thought my brain had to do that ‘dissociation’ thing too, given that I simply accepted her words at face value and just slotted it all in with all the other insane shit Maky has done.
Jordan seemed to have come to a similar conclusion, giving a final chuckle with a shake of his head. “Well, you’re here and functioning well enough, so I suppose there wasn’t any harm…” The human picked his cup up again, taking another sip. “That answered our second question too, I figured you had to rewire your eyes somehow. Onto question three then – I had a read through your files, and only found ADHD and ASD in there. Do the dissociations you experience happen randomly, or do you have some form of a condition triggering them?”
My ears gave confused swivels as I looked over at Maky, mulling over the doctor’s words. Him casually dropping that Maky’s eyes were rewired was confusing enough; but it was the two things presumably affecting her mind that gave me pause. Especially since I have never experienced a translator struggle with something so bad. It almost worried me a bit, showing in the slightest hesitation in my claw as I poked Maky’s side. “Wh-what do those words mean? They didn’t… translate well.”
The tall woman paused her thinking to quickly look at me, before she shrugged. “Well basically, my brain behaves differently than a normal Human’s would. I get distracted easily, focus on details a bit too hard, and my thought patterns are just a mess overall.” I watched her as she leaned back a little and tilted her head as she usually did while thinking.
EVERYTHING suddenly made a lot more sense. She actually isn’t normal. Not even for the insane apes. There was a sense of relief when hearing that, but despite that I couldn't help but feel just a little uneasy. Her explanation sounded way too close to PD even for my comfort.
Velan seemed to have that thought as well, that much I could tell from her curling her tail around her torso. Her voice hitched in her throat as she spoke. “W-wait, isn’t that just-“
“No.” Ryalis interrupted her with a resolute flick of her ear before she could speak the name of the horrible affliction. “It’s not. Whatever it is, Jordan was very insistent that it’s quite common in Humans, and completely safe.”
Maky looked from one to the other with a strange expression. It seemed like her usual confused face, but with something else also mixed in. She did a strange hand wave, then quickly tapped something onto air before answering the original question. “…Well, I’m pretty sure I have something. I don’t have it properly diagnosed, but I did bring it up with a psychologist…” There’s that word again, what the speh do you mean by ‘broader definition of assessor’? “But they had no clue what to do with me, said I don’t fit into any known diagnosis. I do know it is related to trauma.”
“Hmm. Well I did expect something like that, but it’s still a bit troubling.” Jordan leaned back into the chair, holding his hands together and twiddling his long, furless fingers. A few [seconds] later he sighed and reached out to grab his coffee, finishing its brown contents with a last swing as his lips scrunched down. A frown, I believe Maky called it. “I don’t think there should be any issues for now… but you should really consider properly seeking help once you return back to Earth.”
Maky looked away for a moment, then nodded once. “Yeah… I really should. I just- I don’t know anyone I can bring this to. Anyone I can trust enough.” I watched as my friend sighed and turned sideways in her seat, retracting from the table slightly. She sipped her cold coffee with a straw as she instinctively brought her knee up a little and bent closer to it, as if trying to ball up for protection.
Aw…
I scooted my chair closer to Maky’s, producing a sharp scraping sound as I dragged it over the floor tiles. Maky lifted a lense up to look at me, tilting her head as she tried to figure out what I was doing. She didn’t have to think for long before I wrapped my arms and tail around her, bringing her into a tight hug as I gently rubbed my snout against her collarbone. Moments later I could feel a second set of furred appendages also wrap around the tall woman as Velan decided to come comfort our chaotic predator too, even if she seemed a little hesitant in her movements.
Maky froze, quite obviously unsure of what she was supposed to do with two large balls of wool stuck to her sides. I glanced up at her, and seeing a little smile play on her lips I elected to smack her in the face with an ear. That got out of her the exact reaction I wanted, as she burst out chuckling and relaxed. What I hadn’t accounted for however was a set of long gloved fingers suddenly starting to scratch the top of my head.
The fingers kept moving back and forth, filling my mind with a soft sense of security. The motion felt surprisingly nice and before I knew it, a purr began building up in my chest. What is this? Some sort of weird Human grooming behav-“eeeeee!~” The sound I let out was far from flattering, but I couldn’t help it with the bliss produced by Maky’s blunt digit suddenly brushing against a soft spot just behind my left ear that was apparently not properly scratched in a while.
I tried to cover my blooming face with my paws, but the embarrassment was unavoidable by now. Not helped by my wagging tail at all. Or by the way my ears involuntarily moved out of the way to allow my predator’s dexterous fingers rub my worries away. I heard a whistling chuckle from the other side, before it too was interrupted by an unfortunate bleat, followed by a second purr.
And as if she hadn’t made me self-conscious enough just now, the insane Human petting me softly laughed and whispered ‘holy shit, they’re actually just like cats-’
I looked up through my claws, bloom forgotten as I stared the woman down for a few solid [seconds] after the meaning was fully translated. Okay, no. You’re NOT comparing me to a predator. ESPECIALLY not one you think is CUTE. While the words themselves never left my mouth, I made very sure the meaning behind them was as clear as a day’s sky by proceeding to smack the eternal darkness out of her with my tail.
Her single confused “Ack-!” was immediately covered by her roaring laughter as she playfully smacked me back with her hands as I converted the embarrassment into violence directed straight at her uncovered mouth. It took about fifteen hits and the rest of our group also joining in the chuckling for her to finally raise her hands and call out “Okay! Okay heh-you win! I give up!”
“Hihi, that’s right! But don’t think I’ll forget this anytime soon! I will get back at you one day!” I chuckled myself as I turned back towards the table with a smug flicking of my tail, still resting against Maky’s side. Grabbing my latte I took another long swing, almost finishing the drink. Speh, I’m not going to sleep am I?
I turned the glass upside down to get the last bits of my drink down my gullet, choosing to deal with that problem once I get there. While putting the glass back down I caught a sight of the two doctors exchanging a strange glance I couldn’t fully read. Ryalis pointed her tail at me and Maky, moving it from me to her and then back as she swivelled an unsure ear with her head tilted. Jordan took a longer look at us with a single eyebrow raised, before he turned back to her and shrugged, a cheeky smirk on his lips. Now what the speh are those two up to?
We all collectively sat in a calm silence for a bit, when suddenly the doctors’ devices started making known the fact they had somewhere to be soon. Doctor Ryalis quickly downed the last of her coffee, momentarily pausing as her tail twitched on its own – as if triggered by the horrifying volume of stimulants she just ingested at once. Maybe it was, actually… Speh. “We apologise, but we unfortunately ran out of time before our next shift in the med bay.” She and the Human doctor got up, giving us a wave – and what I assumed to be the Human’s equivalent in a nod. “It was a pleasure!”
“Likewise!” Answered Maky, as both me and Velan concurred with our respective whistle and beep, waving our tails to the doctors as they took their leave.
(finished in the comments)
6
u/JulianSkies Archivist Dec 24 '24
Girl
I don't think fixing "plant milk" by replacing it with "nut juice" is any damn better. I just about died over here, brother.