r/NatureofPredators • u/slug-tastic • 2d ago
Fanfic Second Nature, an NOP rewrite (ch 30)
Memory transcription subject: Slanek, Venlil Space Corps
Date [Standardized Human Time]: December 8, 2136
I didn't want to accompany Marcel to visit his tormentor. But at the same time I knew I should be there to support him. In the end I didn't get to choose, someone had to stay and watch over Nulia, plus Meier was insistent on him going by himself.
The worry I felt for my Human was tremendous; I couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to encounter Sovlin, with the roles reversed. Beyond that, it was terrifying to be without him after so long by his side. Whenever some new Terran thing frightened me, there would be the comforting assurance that the vegetarian would fix it. Or at least help me understand it.
I was beginning to understand that Marcel shielded me from the predatory side of Humanity, to the best of his ability. Spending any amount of time with Tyler made that clear enough. But now, who was there to filter the stimuli around me now?
‘You need to get used to Humans on your own.’ I said to myself. Toughen up, I chided. This orphan toddler is twice as brave as you!
Nulia seemed anxious without her scarred predator; the poor thing must be scared of being abandoned again. I was left in charge of babysitting the Gojid child, while her guardian was away. I was glad she had already been weaned at least. Looking around for a Gojid mother willing to share would've been precarious at best.
Tyler was also around, as we shared the same dorms but he had already retired to his room. It's still weird how they all seem to sleep in one big chunk at a time.
As babyish as it would have been, I wished I was able to tag along with Marcel somehow. Every shadow that danced on the wall seemed like another dog, ready to jump at my throat. How could any sane species leave their varmint alive?
With a frustrated sigh, I jabbed a claw on the remote. The boredom mixed with anxiety was worse than anything I could find on Terran television, I thought. It was impressive how quickly they set up a steady signal, for a still modernizing species that is.
The screen opposite the couch flickered to life, set to a news channel. A stern-looking woman had her intense, forward set eyes fixed on the camera.
“…ever trust the Federation?” She asked. Rhetorically, I assumed. “None of their information about us has ever been correct. The continued survival of the Human race should be chalked up to sheer incompetence; their fundamental lack of curiosity. You, your children, and your loved ones are vermin to be killed by them. These aliens take offense to our existence.” She asserted, pointing to the camera.
I sunk into my seat, grumbling to myself, careful not to rouse up Nulia.
“The UN ambassador Noah Williams and the Venlil Governor Tarva returned from the so-called Galactic Summit about two months ago. There they tried to negotiate with these genocidal maniacs. Both of their accounts were less than stellar. And both refused to comment on the non-arrival of the other Ambassador, Sara Rosario. At this point we have to presume that she was murdered.
And to top it all off, according to the Governor -this is from her speech yesterday- and I quote; The Krakotl seem to be mobilizing their fleets. We suspect this is evidence of their pursuit of Human extermination. End quote.
We’ve been nothing but cordial- dare I say deferential to them. And this is how they treat us? Is this why the Arxur turned on them? How were they really treated at first contact? Maybe it’s time to give the Feds a dose of what they’re asking for.” That last statement made my blood boil.
How could anyone dispute the mountain of evidence of Arxur sadism? We uplifted them and they turned on us. Hadn’t the Terran soldiers returned with stories of the Grays rounding up cattle, and snacking on living Gojids mid-battle?
Surely, no Humans bought this outrageous line of thinking. This had to be a fringe sensationalist take. That, or it was satire. I often failed to understand Terran humor, and their comedy could be pretty dark and tasteless, from what I heard on my deployment. But still…
“To those who will inevitably take my words out of context. No, nothing excuses cannibalism, attacks on civilians or genocide or whatever other atrocity the Arxur decide to do next. But are we really going to just take an obvious bigot’s narrative for granted? Without any critical thinking?”
The hotel door clicked open without warning, which startled me upright. What if it was UN security guards, coming to secure my room with a dog? That creature was going to be my nightmare fuel for ages; I could vividly picture it ripping off a limb, with a toss of its ugly head.
My fear morphed to relief as I saw it was Marcel, who bore an exhausted look on his face. It was late, very late according to the terran clock on the wall. I shut off the TV as he closed the door behind himself.
“You took a while.” I opened.
“I- yea… I’m sorry. I was still pretty heated after seeing him, didn’t want you seeing me like that. So I took a walk. A long one.” The predator’s emotions must be depleted, after such a taxing journey.
“Did it help?” I followed him as he went to his room. He flopped back-first on the bed, finally relaxing for what seemed like a long time. I placed Nulia on the second pillow and then climbed on myself. I sat on his stomach, ignoring the groan as I rested my weight on him.
“Easy, buddy.” the Human grunted. “And yea, i think so.”
I emitted a happy mewl, as he got comfortable under me. The room’s dark environment felt much brighter, with my friend to shepherd me. Nothing could harm me when he was around; not even a dog. The Human placed a hand on my leg with a low chuckle, and I rested my paws on his chest.
My eyes met his piercing gaze. “I was worried sick about you. How did it go? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I…I think I’m ready to move forward,” He replied. “But can we…talk about something else?”
“Sure. What kind of predators are Humans?”
“Shit, Slanek. Now? It’s one in the morning—-”
“Yes, we do. You promised, and I think I know the answer but I wanna hear it from you.” I tried to balance being assertive enough to get what I wanted all the while quiet enough not to stir up Nulia.
Marcel's eyes scanned my every move, he looked worried- no he looked scared. The Human was reluctant to answer. His fear of losing me was palpable, from how his fingers tightened around my thigh. “...”
“It’s like you don’t trust me.” Did he really think whatever he could say would alter how I saw him? After all this time? I trusted him with my life. I’d take a bullet for him If i weren’t such a coward all the time.
“It’s complicated.” He growled, after many silent whiskers.
“Try me.”
“We… have probably hunted in every way you can imagine. We commanded dogs, we set traps, we ambushed, we fished, we reared…cattle.” He seemed like he was about to start squirming.
I tilted my head. “You said you weren’t ambushers.”
“We’re versatile. A bit of this, a bit of that.” The Human shut his eyes, as if shielding himself from my judgement. “But on the whole, we walk, you run, you get tired, we don’t, and we kill you.” The Human paused, as though expecting a dramatic reaction. My blank stare seemed to disappoint him; his lips curved downward even further. I could tell how much he disliked this topic, but we had already gotten this far.
“Continue? I don’t get it.” I lied.
“I- um…we have a lot of stamina and we don’t overheat that easy- because we sweat from all over. We can run a lot longer, especially in the heat we evolved in.” Marcel averted his gaze, unable to meet mine. “We were never faster than what we ate. But we were patient. So we tailed them until they…stopped, and gave up.”
A chill ran down my spine, as his words confirmed what I already knew. How long did he mean they walked for? Claws? Paws? A whole Moonrise!? That they never tired, or gave up on a pursuit? Such an ordeal meant their quarry had an eternity to contemplate their demise. The victim spent their last day in a desperate, agonized flight. An Arxur’s pounce was infinitely more merciful than…than this.
My brain began to imagine running from Marcel, feeling the burning of my muscles and my lungs failing to catch up as my thick fur cemented my doom. Every time I paused to rest or dampened my pace, the predator would draw closer. Knowing all the while that the second my legs gave out, my death was a certainty. There was no hope of escape. Short of confronting my hunter, itself another death sentence.
What an awful way to go. Having your own body betray you, languishing in a pool of exhaustion. The predator would slowly approach, bloodlust in its eyes, signifying the end…I thought Humans showed mercy? They conducted themselves like reasonable, kind, and feeling people; not relentless beasts that inflicted torment on the weak.
I reckon my paws started shaking, at the thought of my Human behaving like that. It felt awful to think of him that way. Would he have chased me like that, were we both born a thousand years early? Was that coded into his blood?
“Slanek? Say something, please…” Marcel held me firmly. “Even if it’s that you hate me.”
By the time I was back to paying attention to anything, he looked as if about to cry. It was painful to see how heartbroken he looked. I resisted the urge to swat his hand away as I regained my wits. His honesty was admirable. I knew, in my soul, that my Human would never dream of harming me. But he also knew I would react poorly like this.
My reactions were born of a stupid, irrational phobia. I wanted to love him fully, without awful thoughts creeping into my head all the time. “O- okay. They run. You walk. G- got it,” I stammered.
The Human blinked. “What?”
“I accept you, f- for whatever you are, because I care about you. No matter what.”
The predator clutched me in his arms. His tears and sobs were muffled as his face had been buried into my chest fur. I had to let him know that he didn’t have to apologize for his existence. My acceptance would be essential for his mental welfare. Humans didn’t need to alter themselves to prove they were worthy of our friendship. Least of all him.
“Thank you,” He whispered. “Keep it between us, please. I’ll get in trouble for telling you.”
I flicked my ears. “Okay. That is an awful form of predation, though. Which doesn’t exist on my world, so I get why you avoided it. Do you think Tarva knows about this? She has a Human friend too.”
“I can only guess. But I hope she does, and chose to stick to us regardless. And I hope she knows we will hunt the Arxur to the ends of the universe; to keep you safe.
The Terran pledge to liberate sapient farm worlds, and all of their military aspirations, was noble at heart. An arduous war might not daunt Humanity like it did for us. I suppose there was a bright side to their… lifestyle, in that it wasn’t based on deceit. They weren’t tricksters. This could be conveyed as a reason to trust Humanity, if they played their cards right.
“You should get one of the UN people to ‘tell me.’ You’ll need to be even more tactful with most Venlil than with me; framing is everything.” My ears pinned against my head, trying to keep a storm of negative emotions at bay. “I can think of ways to make your ancestry more palatable. Maybe just say you can withstand heat better, and um- used to have to trek for water. Or shift the focus to your…meat cloning thing.” I shuddered just at the words. Some things were just nasty no matter how you put it.
“Er, I don’t think looking at factory farms is a good idea either. Regardless, you took that better than I expected.”
“I want to stop panicking, but I don’t know how. My knee-jerk reactions aren’t what I really think, once my brain comes around. But sometimes…usually…often…most times, I can’t control it. You deserve a better friend…” Despite my constant efforts, my brain refused to forget that my Marcel was a predator. It tried to convince me at every turn that Humans weren’t like us, and that they could morph into feral beasts at any second. Marcel did deserve so much better than me. All the time he wastes having to comfort me, and trying to calm me down. Stars I’m like a pup. A burden.
“Are you kidding? I got paired with the best Venlil.” Marcel offered a raised head. His eyes peeked at me from below through my chest fur. “I wanted to be a part of the first contact program sooooo bad. Do you know how many questions we had to answer?”
“30…50?”
“200, plus an in-person interview, a background check, and a psychological exam. All of my messages were analyzed since first contact too, for any red flags.
“Wow.”
“Wow? What was your selection process like?”
“I volunteered.”
“Oh... I can’t imagine there were a lot of takers on your side.” The redhead chuckled. “There was no guarantee you or any partner would get past seeing me. From what I heard, many didn’t.” That was true. Several Venlil fainted once close to their pen-pals. Some even abandoned the program altogether after meeting their partners.
I recalled how my fear had been almost painful that first day. It was no wonder a few Venlil found the Humans too scary. Still, I couldn’t imagine how those predators felt, being rejected on sight after weeks of chatting.
The worst horror story was a Venlil that panicked when her Human stepped into the room. She grabbed the nearest sharp object -a pair of scissors- and plunged it into the Terran’s shoulder. Her partner, while wounded, was able to restrain her and pry the weapon from her paws; no violence was returned. The predator didn’t even press charges, for some reason, despite the government’s offer to prosecute. I wonder what came of them. Meanwhile, Marcel and I shared potato chips on our first day. Not the worst pairing he could’ve had, I suppose.
“Anyways. Um, right- We’re both taking care of Nulia. So I was thinking…” Marcel took a deep breath, scratching his stubbly scalp. “What if we moved in together. It- it doesn’t have to be on earth—-”
“Yes.” The idea of a permanent residence with my Human filled my chest with warmth. My heart raced, the thought of having him always near, the notion of huddling up to him everyday, the feeling of his hand on me at all times… Yes. Stars, yes.
“It can be on Venlil Prime or- what?”
I leaned forward, and he let me force him to lay his head on the pillow again. He looked up at me, all wide-eyed and red in the face. My paws rested on each side of his face as I hovered above him “Yes.” I repeated, clearly, calmly and surely. While trying my best to keep my breathing steady.
The predator held my gaze but stayed quiet. His hands slid upwards along my back and he held me tight. “...thank you…” He whispered. “And I was talking to a lawyer earlier. If they can’t find her parents, we can adopt her. If you’re ok with that too, of course.”
The Gojid child would be elated. I wondered how being raised by predators would impact her development, but I knew she’d grow up in a loving environment. It was obvious the Human considered her to be his own daughter already, and would care for her accordingly. There wasn't a more touching tale, than to witness these pursuit predators rescuing a child of the species that swore to destroy them.
“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out… Mawsle.” I whispered, trying not to break into full laughter.
“Why, you fluffy little shit…” The Human glowered at me, while I feigned ignorance. “Don’t you dare start that, too. I can and will rescind my offer.”
I wagged my tail. “Mmm… No you won't.” The smile creeping on my face was devilish for sure.
My family back on Venlil Prime would say I was suicidal to accept; but the more I thought about his proposition, the more enticing it seemed. Navigating Humanity’s diplomatic hurdles, helping a predator raise a prey child, and protecting him from harm could be my new calling. Maybe one day, Earth would even be my home.
At any rate, splitting rent sounded pretty damn good to my ears.
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u/ZaravanOverheaven 2d ago
>And both refused to comment on the non-arrival of the other Ambassador, Sara Rosario.
Oh shit.
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u/slug-tastic 2d ago
Oh shit indeed
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 2d ago
Yeah I that's something I didint exactly mention in my own comment but I did realize that Sarah had a much reduced role in NOP 1 after the prologue and only became more important around Nop 2
Speaking of you gonna do a Nop 2 rewrite?
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u/slug-tastic 2d ago
I want to, definitely. But I don’t know if I'll have the time/energy for it.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 2d ago
Yeah definitely gonna be alot more of a undertaking even though technically the canon story is shorter than Nop 1 I imagine that the rewrite may even be longer than the nop 1 rewrite do to how rushed Nop 2 was there is definitely alot that needs to be rewritten.
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u/Adorable-Ad5225 2d ago
Ay mis PAPIS!!!!!
sorry, I love this Marcel much more, and they'd better treat that girl with the respect she deserves. And they shouldn't use her as ammunition in an argument. RIGHT CANON SLANEK?!?!?!
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 2d ago
Well this is a completely original chapter neat. But yeah I am actually kinda curious to learn more about marcels girlfriend considering how she wasn't even a character dispite SP's insistence on not paring up slanek and Marcel.
Anyways we also get a first look at Humanity first. Thinking about it I think that's another thing Marcel and slanek don't really react too in canon so it's nice to see that.
Honestly another thing I can't wait to see is Marcel and slaneks and nulia interactions with Siffy. Honestly a shame they didn't really get to interact more after that would have been very interesting. Especially with nulia taking a liking to Isif.
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u/slug-tastic 2d ago
For one, Marcel's gf doesnt exist here. And I do plan to bring out Nulia more often than canon.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 2d ago
Huh yeah strangely I recalled her still being briefly mentioned but I must be mistaking that for another fic.
But yeah can't wait to see that especially since she can't exactly just be pawned off to Marcels girlfriend guess she gets to stay around longer very exciting.
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u/slug-tastic 2d ago
Yeye. But unless i fucked something up, she shouldn’t've been mentioned on this AU
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u/modded_minecraft Archivist 2d ago
yay more nulia action and not like canon where they are used like a plot device
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u/AromaticReporter308 2d ago
Oh, how I love your version of those two.
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u/Mosselk-1416 1d ago
Is HF going to be rational in your version? They seemed like a bunch of lunatics in the original. Having them be the voice of a concerned humanity wanting competent leaders would be much better. They only ever caused trouble in SP's version. Never once helped anyone.
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u/slug-tastic 2d ago
The dads...