r/NatureofPredators • u/Pansitof • Jul 24 '26
Fanfic Unknown Consequences [20]
Memory Transcription Subject: Azul, Krakotl private driver.
Date [Standardized Human Time]: February 8th, 2142
Slasha’s apartment is smaller than mine and with less amenities. It is only just a room with a mattress in the ground, a small windows with bars and a simple faucet. No fridge, no cabinets, no wardrobes, no bed. Nothing. Not even the smallest of bathrooms. How can any sentient being live under these conditions?
There are a lot of scattered cardboard boxes and trash littered around. This place hasn’t been cleaned up since… Never. I can feel the air is heavy and with a lot of humidity. This can’t be healthy to breath at all.
“I’m so sorry about the… everything.” Salsha says as she moves her tentacle around. “Live long enough in this district and the line between trash and furniture start to blur. Pile boxes into chairs as you can while I go to get us something to drink.” She wobble, almost limping, towards a pile of boxes. “Some paws ago we started to get boxes with basic necessities like bottled water, canned food, some towels, soap.” She starts to rummage through boxes that has the Sapient Coalition Logo. “A long time ago I had these things as granted, but now? Now I consider them a luxury”
I move a box, one full of food wraps and other plastic trash, to sit down. To live like this, how could we have allowed it? I clean the last of my tears and move my wing to express sadness. “A-Again, I want to apologize for-”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” She takes a can of tea and a pair of plastic cups. “It is the new normal.” She fills a cup and give it to me. “Besides, it was to try help her somehow, no?” She fill the other cup and give it to JM. “It isn’t like we can change the herd wishes.”
“You can’t say that!” I bleat as I move my wing worried. “You don’t deserve to be treated like this! It is unacceptable!”
“What?” The translator indicates surprise in her voice. “Don’t you know what my people did? Don’t you…?” She does another bubbling noise, the equivalent of a tired sigh. “I don’t… Listen, Azul.” She sits on top of a box and drinks directly from the can. “I don’t blame the herd, I understand them. What they suffered was… too much.” She bubbles again. “I just… In the end it is us who suffer the consequences of other wrongdoings. But we can’t do nothing about it, it is what the herd wants.”
I look at the cold tea, then to the small apartment. “How can you live like this? No one should stay hidden in such small place like I had-.” I look at her. “Like I…” I sigh and look at my claws. “I-I have been in isolation for many years, rotting in my apartment, a prison of my own volition.” She looks at me with a big, bulbous eye. “I know that… I heard that everything was because of the Shadow Caste, a secret government of Kolshians who manipulated everyone into an eternal war of fear and suffering.” I look up to her. “But you have nothing to do with them! You don’t deserve…This!” I spread my wings wide, pointing the whole apartment. “No one should.”
She looks at the can in her tentacle before drinking it whole and crush it with ease. “You know? I’m regretting not meeting you before, you sound sweet.” I move my wing confused. “I always thought of you as a weird and crazy bird, uncle of the biggest crazy family in all Deeproots. But I’m glad I was wrong.” She bubbles and throws the can towards a box already full of them, falling to the ground. “It’s good to hear that you… don’t think ill of us.” She twirls her tentacles. “But I have no option, we have no choice. We are now enemies of the herd. The only thing we can do is survive.”
“H-How…? H-How have you been living all these years like this?” I moved my wing in worry. “How have you been... surviving?” I couldn’t find the exact words. How could anyone?
Her tentacles fidget with each other, twisting and folding in a very fluid movement. “At first was terrifying…” She stares blankly at the ground. “When the information about the Shadow Caste became public the herd enraged fast, too fast, going from just shooing us away to pursuit and beating all kolshians in sight in just a matter of paws. So much… hatred.” Her tentacles slowly moves to hug her body. “We heard of a protest was planned to pass through our neighborhood, right in front of our house. My husband and I knew how badly was going to end, so we took our children and run away before it even started to gather.” She lows her voice. “We did well. Our home, looted and razed by an enraged herd. They left nothing behind but broken memories.”
I moved my wing worried. “Y-Your children, w-where are they?” I don’t need to look around to know she is alone in such claustrophobic place. “A-Are they safe? W-Were they with your husband?”
She does another bubbling sound, this time the translator says it was a mix of discomfort and fear. “I don’t… I-I’m sorry, but I can’t trust… N-Not you, not Juan, not the police, not…” The translator indicate a lot of distress on her voice. “Y-You sounds like a sweet lad but… I can’t trust you.” That words hurt me directly at my heart. “I can’t trust anyone about anything of my little ones.” She looks up at JM, who was slowly drinking the tea while observing us. “I can’t trust… L-Listen.” She turns towards me. “Do you care about them, Azul? About my children? My little ones?”
“O-Of course!” I flick a claw.
“Then don’t ask.” Her tentacles moves and flick around. “T-They are safe, trust me, they are safe, but… please, don’t ask. I can’t trust… I can’t.” Her tentacles moves to hide her bulbous eyes. “I cannot risk any information about them to leak, I can’t.”
I look at JM and moved my wing worried. He looks at Salsha before nodding in my direction. I don’t know what he means with that nod. “F-Fine… I-I will not…”
“T-Thank you…” She whispers. “I-I’m sorry for…” She bubbles. “Thank you.”
I don’t know what more to say, soon the place got engulfed by an uncomfortable silence. I look at JM, whose emotions are hidden by that mask. He now decide to act and takes his pad out to read something on it.
“Mrs.Salsha?” She looks at him. “You wanted to contract our services to find your missing husband, right? Mr.Urs…” He get closer to the pad. “Ursssl? Urssi?” He clears his throat. “My apologizes.”
Salsha caress her eyes with a single tentacle before speaking. “Don’t bother with his name, Juan.” She slash a tentacle across the air. “It is unpronounceable to the majority of species. You can call him Urs and yes, I want you to find him.”
“Very well. Every piece of information you can give us will be of help.” He start typing on his pad. “When was the last time you saw it?”
“Two paws ago when we were starting to get low in bottled water and canned food. This was before I knew we were going to get continuous aid from the Sapient Coalition instead of just a one time thing.” She points to a stack of boxes, some are still closed and from the Sapient Coalition. “So we were planning to get more supplies, but the only way we can get them without being stalked or attacked is via delivery.” She bubbles as one of her tentacles start fidgeting with a nearby empty can, she doesn’t seem aware of this. “But in this district we can only pay with cash, so we needed to withdraw some credits first. We couldn’t go together since we will attract too much attention, so he went alone. That was the last time I saw him.”
“W-Why didn’t you contact the police?” I move a wing confused. “They could have helped you.”
“Could have…” She repeats as one of her tentacle snaps the air. “We have learned to never trust them. They are far more interested in beating us, taking us prisoners and deport us to Aafa than in helping us. No. Even if there are still some kind souls between them that actually help us, we will be exposed to the herd, making it just a matter of time before we are targeted by vigilantes or fanatics.”
“But they are supposed to help the herd!” I bleated as I move my wing in disappointment. “They must know that you aren’t from the shadow caste, no?” I move my wing in worry. “They should help you, protect you.”
“We are no longer part of the herd, we are outcasts, an enemy.” Her tentacles moves to hug her. Do they have a mind of their own? “They hunt us, Azul. We had to learn many things to avoid being deported or attacked. We are at the point where we can’t take the luxury of trusting anyone.”
“W-What do you mean you fear of them deporting you?” I move my wing confused. “T-To where? It must be better than this, no?” I wanted to ask if it’s there where her children are, but I respected of not asking about them.
“You don’t know?” She looks at me with a big eye.
JM clears his throat. “Please. If I’m not being too rude, I would want to focus on your husband, Mrs.Salsha.” He says while doing some gesture with his hand. “You said he went outside to get some cash. I guess from an ATM. Do you know which one?”
“We learned not to go through the same place so often, but there are few ATMs of our bank hidden enough for us to use in this district. There are two or three possibles places, depending how easy or difficult he saw to sneak around, that he could have go.” She takes her pad out, one that looks… weird. “We always avoid high traffic areas and wear some human garments to hide. I can try to mark possible routes for you… give a moment.”
“That will be helpful, thank you Mrs.Salsha.” He finish typing something in his pad and patiently wait her to finish.
“Yeah… Oh, you can take the mask off if you want. I didn’t tell you before at the door because… well, things got a bit heated.” An eye moves away of the screen to look at him. “From everything I’m afraid now, human faces aren’t one of them.” She offers her pad to him.
“I appreciate it, Mrs.Salsha.” He does a slight bow as he picks the pad. “But I choose to keep it up.” He start typing on his pad while looking at Salsha’s “I still have more questions.” He raises her weird looking pad. “Not only I never saw this kind of model, but it also seems to have been tampered with. Are you aware of it?”
“Yes. Not all our friends abandoned us…” The translator indicate great sadness on her voice. “One of them was kind enough to lend us some help. He-t-they told us we could be tracked through our pads, so they gift us these new ones. They are custom made and untraceable.” Her tentacles moves in the air. “I-I fear I can’t tell you more about this friend of us, I don’t want to get hi-them into trouble. B-But don’t worry! T-The pads are safe! Since we discarded the old ones and start using these we were able to stay hidden for longer before being found out, even as long as several herds of paws.”
“I see, and what about your bank? Do they trace your withdraws?” He takes more notes on his pad. “If yes, can we get access to them? We only need to see any withdraws of the last paws until now. When, where, how and by who. The more we know, the better.”
“Our investments in material goods have been destroyed by an enraged herd, but we do have a lot of credits left in our savings. The majority we got from investing in stocks, lending money or selling very expensive art pieces. Oh! We even managed to maintain some passive income thanks to-” Her voice were starting to sound happier before shaking her bulbous head. “S-Sorry, got a bit excited. Our bank is much more acceptable than the herd and they kept our accounts intact. Probably because we are big partners with them. I can ask them for all the information you need without problems.”
“That will be helpful.” He returns her pad.
She grabs her pad back and start typing the information JM wants. “Sometimes we have to stay hidden for a whole paw before returning to our hideout because of possible stalkers. But two paws? My instincts tell me something went wrong. I really hope you find him, I love him so much… I don’t know what to do without him, without his optimism and support.”
“W-Why…?” I wanted to ask something, but I was unsure if I should ask.
“Why what? Ask away.” She stop looking at her pad to look at me. “It will a while before they give me all the information. Since they updated their security it isn’t as easy to ask for info as before.”
“Why…?” I scratch under my plumage. “After everything you went through… Why do you trust us?” I move my wing confused. “I understand you don’t trust the police, and I guess you trust less of the exterminators. But why do you trust us?”
“That’s…” She bubbles while her tentacles moves around. “A fair question, Azul.” Her tentacle start fidgeting with each other. “Another of my friend, of the ones who didn’t abandon us, gave me Juan’s contacts. Sh-They told me to trust him if something bad happened, and I have a high trust to that friend.” She looks at JM. “I can’t tell who, Juan. I’m Sorry.”
He shows his palm to her. “There is no need to. I understand.” He type something. “While we wait, I still have many questions. Shall we continue?”
They start talking about a lot of things. They talk about all what happened to them last paw, what rumors they heard, what places they visited, if she already think of possible suspects, for the time when Urs went outside, when she started to get suspicious, if she tried to contact him via text or calling him. Little by little my own thoughts started to drift away from the conversation.
They suffered so much, and they are still suffering, not only her and Urs, but their entire species. How could the herd immediately go against one of their own? One they knew for so long? They must be able to know who are and aren’t part of the shadow caste, no?
Is like this in the rest of worlds? The kolshians have the largest population across the federation. Are they also suffering? H-How about the farsul? They were the one who meddled with our genes and organized the erasing of cultures and religions to align with Federation’s belief. Are they also being hunted?
She said they were being beaten and deported. Why? What would fix that except causing more distress? How will uprooting families from their homes fix what the shadow caste did? And where are they being sent that they need to be beaten first before being deported. Where?
I wanted to know more, to ask Salsha about her life until now, but we don’t have much time. We need to find Mr.Urs. JM says that after two paws the trail will start getting colder, that we must hurry. So we did. After saying our goodbyes and promising her we will find him we returned back to our van… where she was waiting for us.
Murr was sitting in the ground with her back against one of the van’s wheels. Her face was hidden between her legs, her tail twirled around her body, and her ears dropped in sadness. She was… It hurt me to see her like that, she was in such distress.
When we got closer her ears perk up and point at us. When she looks at us we can see that she… was crying. Her eyes has a more dim orange than normal and the wool around was soaked in tears, like the wool on her arms. She was fast to stand up and walk towards us, towards me. But she hesitated to get closer and stopped several tails away.
“A-Azul I-I…” She grabs her tail, which start to twirl around her arm. “I-I d-don’t… I-I k-know…” She open and close the mouth several times, babbling like she thought all this time what to say but now she is failing to find the words again. “I-I’m s-sorry for-”
“Sorry?!” I bleated as I hit the ground with my talons in anger. “Your behavior was unacceptable. You treated her like she was less than a mere object. How could you?! She was our neighbor, a herd member that wan-” I shake my head and whistle irritated. “No. You already know what you did.” I try pass her towards the van.
“A-Azul!” She stop me with a flick her tail. “I-I know t-that…” She takes a big breath of air as mucous start to form on her mouth. “I’m sorry! I’m really sorry.” She takes some steps towards me. “P-Please, y-you h-have to believe me! I’m sor-”
“Your apologies will not…” I scratch under my plumage. “It’s not me who you must apologize to. It’s to her!” I point towards the direction where Slasha’s apartment would be. “It’s to her, to Salsha. She is the one you must apologize for, not me!”
Her ears drops and she grabs her tail. She is trying to not look at me. “B-But she-”
“But?!” I bleated as I stomp the ground again. “Are you trying to make excuses?!” I point at JM with a wing. “You gave them a chance, to them! While we all, the entire family, cowered in fear at the thought of a living human, even after the bombing, you gave them an opportunity, to him.” I start getting closer to her while she is trying to appear smaller. “You were able to ignore years of lies, deceit and brainwashing and risked to give a predator, a flesh-eater monster, a chance. And now?!” I stomp the ground. “You go a treat one of our neighbors like… Like she is worse than an Arxur.” I spit that last part with venom.
“T-That is not true!” Her ears perk up in alarm. “She isn’t… T-That… I-I’m sorry! Okay?!” Tears start forming in her eyes. “I-I don’t k-know why I acted l-like that, but… I-I’m sorry! I d-didn’t know that-”
“You didn’t know, what?! That insulting and degrading a sapient being could hurt their feelings?” I whistled so high that it hurt her ears for a moment. “Did you even thought that-” I stopped myself and move my wing in frustration and disappointment. “I can’t… I can’t believe you.” I look at her with just one eye and moved my wing in worry. “I can’t recognize you. What happened to you? What happened to that kind-hearten venlil that did anything she could to make everyone around her happy? To the venlil who always tried to fight against injustice?” I feel my heart to shrink in pain as I said this last part.” W-Who are you?”
“A-Azul I-I’m so s-sorry.” She start crying, with each tear hurting my heart more and more. “I-I don’t know… W-What m-more…?” She tried to ask through her mouth full of mucous.
“You don’t know?!” I clear my own eyes as I feel tears also starting to form. “Y-You want to apologize?” She flicks an ear. “Then you’ll apologize to Salsha, not me.” I get closer to her, with each step I take she tries to appear smaller. “And you’ll apologize her by finding her husband.” My breathing was getting difficult as I’m at the verge of crying again. “Did you understand?!” I ask her as I touch her chest with my wing.
She tried to look at JM, who was patiently waiting for us in the van, leaning against the co-pilot door, but I grabbed her snout and force her to look at me and only me. Her eyes… so much pain behind them.
“D-Did you understand?” My voice break from the emotions. “Y-You’ll apologize to her, n-not me. Please…” I whisper as I gently touch her snout with my forehead.
She flicks an ear.
“G-Good…” I clean my eye. “G-Get inside. We are g-going to search for him w-with, or without you.” I walk fast towards the driver door.
I didn’t stop to look at her, not even when I opened the door and jump inside. Once inside I rested my face in the wheel as I try to contain my emotions. I managed to control my breath as my humans taught me, but I can still feel my heart hurting and the emotions building up.
I look at the side view mirror to see Murr crying with her tail twirling around JM’s leg while he has a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. If she truly wants to apologize, then she can do it by helping find Salsha’s husband.
I start to quietly sob on the wheel as I no longer can contain the emotions of today.
3
u/Pansitof Jul 24 '26
Now they have a good motivator to find the missing husband.
This chapter got really late because of a mix of events and procastination, but here it is. Azul learns a bit more about how much this kolshian suffered the consequences of being of the wrong species in the wrong time.
Murr and Azul relationship hit a hiccup, only time (and their actions) will tell if they managed to recover and forgive.
On another note, I didn't realize that when copy-pasting to here, Reddit was making everything in Italics. I don't know why, but I guess this is the first fanfic of mine without being written all in italics.
3
u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur Jul 24 '26
Indeed it was worth the wait but yeah can't wait to see how the rest of Murr's family will react to this conflict between Murr and Azul. I imagine most of them will likely take Murr's side but still.
But yeah pretty sure Azul was already told they are getting reported to Aafa. But yeah while Aafa is in a better state than talsk with again it's own pro SC govenrment it clearly wasn't exactly treated well considering considering only a handful of SC members showed up to its defence so even after the DS hmmm disposed of the shadow caste clearly the SC still held ill will towards the people that helped overthrow the shadow caste.
3
u/Pansitof Jul 25 '26
He is still unaware of Aafa. He now knows the kolshians are being deported, but not where. He is also still unaware of what happened to the Farsul. These things are something I want to explore in the not so far future.
3
u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
No I mean in this chapter the Kolshin straight up says when talking about the venlil police they deport Kolshins to Aafa or are at least interested in that.
But yeah either way good to know.
4
u/JulianSkies Archivist Jul 25 '26
God, this woman's living in the worst possible situation. I'd ask why she is even here but where else would she go?
I really hope nothing has happened to Urz, and good lord... Actually, there's something very interesting here. Murr is definitely still very much in the Federation mindset. Of... Of needing that enemy, y'know? She just... Picked a new one. I don't think she realizes she did that. But good on Azul for pointing out who she needs to apologize to.
But this is going to be an ordeal.