Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 26th, 2148
[Day 19]
We walked along the sidewalk, Silvon’s crutches smashed against the concrete and she wore a grimace that was permanently seared on her face after meeting Jakiv.
“Are you okay, hon?” I asked. The venlil scoffed and kept her eyes forward. “Silvon-”
“I’m fine, Danny,” she hissed.
I stopped walking. “Silvvy, talk to me, will you?”
She halted and turned with surprising ease. “This is going to wait until we’re home,” Silvon growled. “I can’t- I can’t fucking believe you,” she turned again and continued walking. I trailed behind but gave her space.
We finally arrived back at Tinasi’s house. The yotul greeted us at the door and Silvon stamped through.
“What’s up with her?” the marsupial questioned.
“I’ll tell you later,” I mumbled, following the venlil into the guest bedroom.
I closed and locked the door. Silvon threw her crutches aside and sat herself up on the bed, arms crossed and glaring.
“I-” I began, being swiftly cut off.
“I can’t fucking believe you’d pull this shit, Danny. Really? A fucking arxur?!” her face went orange with rage. “What do you think Tinasi is going to say? Huh? It’s not our place to host a dinner party with a fucking gray!”
“Look I-”
“I don’t want to hear it! I don’t know how you can even begin to justify that! They ate my people! They fucking hunted us for sport! How- why- AUGH!” she buried her face into a pillow to suppress a blood-curdling scream.
I sat down at the foot of the bed, making sure there was plenty of space between us. “Silvon, I just wanted you to get to know him. He’s going to be working with us, you can’t just pretend he doesn’t exist the entire time,” I reasoned. “Besides, you saw that yotul he was with, right? He’s not a threat to anyone.”
“Or maybe he’s crafty, hiding his true intentions,” Silvon remarked. “That’s what arxur do. They lure you into a false sense of security, and then they tear you to shreds,” she growled.
“Silvvy, you’ve known me for almost 6 years now, yeah?” she squinted an eye at me and nodded slowly. “What did you think of humans before that?” I could see her stewing over the thought. Her fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly. If it weren’t for her padded hands, I’d be worried about her claws digging into her palms.
“Irredeemable monsters,” she mumbled finally.
I nodded, “that’s right, and that’s true for some humans, just as it’s true for some arxur,” I explained.
“Danny- please, I can’t… I can’t think of them the same way. They’re- they’re different…”
“Are they though? Does eating meat make them exempt from individuality?”
She stayed silent for a while. If I could at least get her to tolerate Jakiv, that was enough for me.
“That… yotul he was with,” Silvon spoke finally, “she seemed nice. If he- if he comes over, I want him to bring her along. I don’t want him alone with just us,” she muttered.
“The invite totally extends to her,” I said. “I’m sorry for scaring you, hon,” I outstretched my arms but didn’t immediately move toward her. She barely hesitated accepting my embrace anyway.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Jakiv, arxur scientist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 27th, 2148
[Day 20]
I woke up with a nasty headache. Again. Groaning, I got out of bed. Damn. I fell asleep with the coat on. I stumbled to the bathroom clutching my head and took off the apparel. I was gaunt beneath it, my skin clung to my bones. I sighed, disgusted by my appearance, but unable to bring myself to eat anything substantial. I turned on the sink and cupped my hands to drink the water.
Look at yourself. You’re a disgrace, Jakiv. The metal in my scales glimmered in the light. My eyes were bloodshot, and the scales beneath were dark and discolored. I tossed the coat into the washing machine after retrieving my holopad from the pocket. I slipped on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, it did enough to hide my build thankfully.
I opened up the fridge, scanning the selection of ‘meat’, lab-grown and cruelty-free. I settled on a drumstick from some kind of Earth bird, synthesized around a fake bone. It was small, but it satiated me. I checked the time on my holopad, noticing a text from Nuri.
“Hey Jaki! Have a good day at work, and cya tonight!”
I tapped back, “Thank you :)” and set off out the door, caring less about the people avoiding me in the hallway. The weather outside was rainy, and I cursed myself for dirtying up the coat the one time I needed it.
I got to the lab sopping wet, and shook myself off under an awning out front. I went inside, dodging looks in the halls, and retrieved my lab coat from the equipment room. Finally, I arrived at the virus lab. I could see plenty of yotul scattered around peering through microscopes and examining orange samples. I slid the mask and goggles over my face and went through the decontamination cycle.
“Morning, Jakiv,” Dr. Stat greeted me from sample storage. Tinasi kept herself to the opposite side of the lab, keeping me in her peripheral. At least some of my other coworkers had warmed up to me.
“Dr. Stat,” I bowed, “I actually wanted to discuss that proposition you gave me last night,” I began.
“Hey, that’s convenient, I do too. I know I said it yesterday, but we’d really appreciate it if you brought Nuri along. We could turn it into a sort of double date, y’know?”
“What?” My eyes shifted around the room to ensure nobody overheard, “We aren’t- we’re friends, doctor,” I mumbled awkwardly.
“Oh jeez, I’m sorry,” he put a hand on the back of his head and chuckled, “It’s my fault for assuming. The uh, the offer still stands though, we’d love to have you both.”
Shit. I was actually wanting to cancel because your fianceé and Tinasi hate my guts. Unfortunately for me, my mouth spoke “Yes, of course, We’ll be over later,” and forced a grin. What a joy this is gonna be. Sitting around a dinner table, being judged for things you had no part in. I didn’t even fight in the fucking war.
“You okay, Jakiv?” Stat asked. I quickly wiped the grin off my face and busied myself with vials of blood.
“I am right as rain, as humans say,” I answered with faux enthusiasm. Stat eyed me for a while as I prepped a slide and grabbed a few antivirals sourced from Aafa to test out. The end of the shift couldn’t come soon enough, yet I dreaded it. I skipped my lunch break because I packed nothing and wasn’t hungry anyway.
I shot Nuri a text while everyone else was out of the lab, “You still down for that get-together with Dr. Stat and Dr. Silvon?”
“Ofc! I can’t wait!” Prophet why.
“Great, I’ll pick you up at 7”
I put the holopad away and groaned, “Fuck- why?” I hung my head in my claws, mentally berating myself. I didn’t even hear the door slide open.
“Are you okay?” A voice sounded from the lab’s entrance. I lifted my head to see that yotul Tinasi.
“Good. Fine,” I replied.
“You don’t really look like either,” she frowned.
I cocked an eyebrow, “What would you care if I wasn’t? You hate me, and I’ve got to go to your house tonight. I don’t want you to put up with me,” I growled.
The yotul stiffened at my words, her legs trembled slightly.
“Well- I’ve uh- thought it over,” Tinasi began, “And figured maybe it’ll… it’ll be okay,” her eyes were squeezed shut as she spoke and her head was hung. She can’t even look at me. I clenched my fists, my claws digging into my hands. Stop crying, I told myself as tears threatened to spill over. Stop. Stop. STOP. My brain roared, my chest heaved and I buried my face in my hands again.
The tears stung my bloodied palms, I couldn’t even silence my sobs anymore. “Leave,” I blubbered to the yotul. She didn’t, but she also didn’t speak to me. She just watched. She relishes your misery. You don’t deserve to be here. You deserve to rot on Wriss. You deserve-
A pair of furry arms wrapped around me. She didn’t speak, not even a whisper, but my crying intensified. I sunk further into myself, a disgrace to everything.
~~~
I was on autopilot for the rest of my shift. I took diligent notes and my report capped out at thousands of words just describing how ineffective all treatments had been so far. Tinasi never mentioned our encounter to Stat. I cleaned myself up before returning to work, thankful my eyes were normally bloodshot and didn’t betray my true feelings.
I clocked out and went outside. The rain had cleared up, and the sun was just above the mountains on the horizon. I sat down on a bench, knowing I had an hour before I needed to get Nuri, and just watched the clouds float by.
Nobody walked directly past me to block my view of the sky. It was nice. I tilted my head back and basked in the warmth on my scales.
A car honked, startling me. Stopped in a parking lane along the sidewalk was my friend.
“Jaki! Hey! I didn’t know you worked along my route home,” she waved.
“Oh prophet. Nuri, you scared-” ironic, “You startled me.”
She grinned, then beckoned me over, “Hop in, dude,” the marsupial shouted.
I hustled over to the passenger side and buckled myself in. Nuri clicked on the radio to something really thrashy, with harsh instruments and harsher vocals. I chuckled a bit at her taste in music.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“What’s so funny?” she asked while we rode down the street.
“This music,” I laughed, “this is exactly what prey think our music is like.”
“Ironic considering this is a venlil band,” Nuri replied.
“Huh. Is that so?”
“Oh actually I think they have a gojid on drums, but the vocals are a venlil,” she said matter-of-factly.
I couldn’t imagine a venlil even capable of making the raspy growls being blasted by the radio. I always assumed their throats weren’t made for anything other than chirpy high-pitched speaking.
“Hey, so what’s the address of this place?” Nuri asked, turning down the music for a bit.
“Oh uh… Stat texted it to me earlier, let me just…” I dug into my jeans for my holopad and scrolled through my contacts.
“Jakiv, are you well?” a new message read from Vilvit. “Are you eating? Get back to me when you can.”
I sighed and slumped my shoulders. Nuri gave me a concerned look, “You okay, Jaki?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I replied, swiping away the notifications and opening Stat’s contact. “2153 NE Wivitun Drive,” I spoke.
Nuri punched the address into the GPS. “Who were those messages from?” she asked.
I sighed, “Just someone back home.”
“Is it a friend?”
“No… well, maybe? She cares about me I guess, but she kinda has to.”
“What is she, your boss?” Nuri questioned.
“She was.”
My holopad pinged again. “Did you look into those addresses I sent you?”
I turned off the device and jammed it in my pocket.
“Jakiv, are you sure you’re okay?” The marsupial switched the car to autopilot and turned in her seat to face me.
“Honestly? No. I don’t think I am. I don’t want to worry you,” I gazed forward at the passing pedestrians and storefronts.
“Saying that worries me more. What was she saying?”
“She wants to make sure I’m not overworking. That’s what I was doing on Wriss, just filling my time with more work so I don’t have to look myself in the eye and think too hard about my place,” I growled. I looked at my palms, there was still blood between the shiny scales, turning the metal glimmers red.
“It sounds like she does care about you, Jaki. Is that all she said?”
I shook my head. “She keeps sending me psychologist’s addresses out here since we have basically none at home. And she pesters me about eating, and everything,” Nuri put a paw on top of my hand. I didn’t realize my fist was clenched again. “And she doesn’t seem to understand that the entire prophet damned planet hates my guts, and they’d probably refuse to help me,” I mumbled.
“I don’t hate your guts,” the marsupial replied with a hesitant smile. “I think you’re a great person, despite your best efforts to hide it.”
“I don’t know what to think,” I said solemnly. “Now we’re on our way to spend an evening with more people who hate me, and who’ll spend the whole night judging me silently.”
“I’ll be right there with you though,” Nuri told me. “If they have something to say, they can say it to me.”
I smiled, it felt less forced every time I did it. “Thank you, Nuri.”
“It’s what friends are for,” she concluded.
~~~
“This is the place,” Nuri said as we pulled into the driveway of the house. It was a decently large place, made of brick and mortar and distinctively yotul. I got out of the car and waited for my friend before we walked together to the door.
She rang the doorbell and we waited.
“Y’know, it’d be kinda funny if this were the wrong house,” Nuri whispered.
“Giving someone a heart attack isn’t out of the question if this is the right house,” I replied.
The lock clicked and the door opened, Tinasi spotted Nuri first and glanced between us looking awfully confused. “Uh- hi,” she greeted. “I didn’t know you were bringing a- a plus one,” she said in roughly my direction.
“Apologies, I thought Dr. Stat ran that by you,” I mustered.
“He… might’ve. Whatever, uh, welcome in?” she opened the door fully, and Nuri and I stepped inside. We followed Tinasi down a short hallway that let out into the dining room, where Dr. Stat and Silvon were prepping plates and utensils.
“Hey, Jakiv, Nuri, welcome in!” the human smiled. Though Silvon kept her distance, she tried to maintain a happy look.
I pulled out a chair for my marsupial friend and sat down next to her. Tinasi shuffled in from the kitchen, “Uh- you can eat the- the meat substitutes, right?”
“Yeah,” I answered. I didn’t go into detail that the substitutes would provide basically zero nutrition, but whatever. I’m certainly not going to request prey prepare actual meat.
The aroma of some sort of fried… thing hit my nostrils. I knew other species tended to cook their food, but I’d never gotten around to trying it myself.
“So, Nuri, tell us about yourself,” Daniel said.
“Well uh, I’m a reporter, I like long walks on the beach, and my bestie is an arxur,” she said concisely. “We met at a bar a couple nights ago.”
“She annoyed the shit out of me,” I interjected, smiling.
“Well, it was the only way to get you to talk! Anyway, I bought him a couple of drinks and we chatted a bit more. Yesterday we met up at the exact same place before heading out to the square.”
“Both times we were there, she’d order anything but alcohol,” I remarked. She gave me a mock glare.
“You said you were a reporter?” Dr. Stat asked Nuri. “Are you running a story on Jakiv?”
The marsupial shook her head, “Nah. I was tempted to, but I like having him as a friend more than a tool for an easy promotion.”
“That’s terribly unwise!” I commented, “Surely you would want to elevate your career, no?”
Nuri giggled, “Maybe you just aren’t interesting enough for the paper.”
“Ouch!” I laughed.
I cleared my throat and looked expectantly at Stat and Silvon. The venlil was less uncomfortable seeing me and Nuri joking with each other. “So tell me then, how’d you two meet?” I asked.
“Me and Silvvy met in college on Earth,” Danny answered.
Silvon smiled recollecting, “That was my first time off Skalga, we went to the University of California in San Francisco,” she said. “Me and Danny were majoring in similar fields, so we had a lot of overlap in our classes. On my first day, I was still getting used to the gravity, and trying to find all my classes, and I ended up running straight into Danny,” she motioned smacking her paws together, “And knocked over all his textbooks and papers.”
Danny laughed heartily, “Oh and when I turned around, she turned completely orange and just froze,” he snapped, “like that!”
“And I said ‘Oh stars I’m sorry! Please don’t eat me!”
“She’s lucky I had a big lunch that day,” Dr. Stat chuckled.
“Danny!” Silvon giggled.
“Aaanyway, I told her it was alright, and she helped me pick up all my stuff. Turns out, she was actually going to the same class as me, so we walked together and chatted a bit, and soon enough we were friends.”
“And we were dating until I finally popped the question a couple of weeks ago,” she concluded, and then they kissed.
“Aw,” Nuri cooed.
Tinasi popped out of the kitchen carrying a huge pot and set it in the center of the table. Inside were a bunch of steaming veggies that had a very inviting aroma. Then she set down a chunk of ‘meat’ on my plate.
“Thanks,” I bowed.
Everyone served themselves a bit of the veggies from the pot, Daniel popped a couple of pills beforehand that I assumed were to make up for the plant-based diet. The meat was tender and juicy, but I could tell by the texture that it wasn’t flesh. I wasn’t going to complain though. I ate slowly, keeping myself from devouring the meal in one go. I was terribly hungry.
“This is really good miss…” Nuri began.
“Tinasi, and thank you. It’s a family recipe,” the yotul nodded.
“So, Dr. Silvon, when might we expect you to be at work?” I asked.
The venlil swallowed her food, “Maybe in another day or two. I’m almost walking again,” she explained.
“I was about to ask, what happened to you?” Nuri chimed in.
Silvon and Daniel locked eyes, exchanging worried glances. “I uh…”
“If it’s too personal, you don’t have to answer, sorry,” Nuri apologized.
“Oh so now that matters?” I smiled.
“Shut up Jaki,” the marsupial winked.
I could tell it was a touchy subject for the couple. I noticed the bandage on the venlil’s abdomen. It was the same color as her fur, which is how I missed it before. Something bad happened to her. I didn’t comment and instead, finished my food. The utensils were awkward to use, but I got the hang of them quickly enough. It wasn’t much different from using a pencil or pen. A bit more stabbing though.
“So, you’re all coworkers, what do you guys study at that lab?” Nuri asked.
“You know about the Skalgan Flu?” Danny questioned.
Nuri nodded, “I was researching it a few days ago when I heard about the-” she stopped suddenly. “Oh shit! I knew your name was familiar! You’re the scientist who reported the virus!”
Stat shifted awkwardly, “I didn’t know my name was so attached to everything,” he said.
“So you’re continuing your research here on Leirn then? That’s so cool!” the marsupial exclaimed.
“Huh. I guess you’re famous, Doctor,” I said.
“I guess so,” he rubbed the little bit of fur beneath his chin.
“Well then- uh, thank you so much for the hospitality,” I began. “But I wouldn’t want to take up more of your time. I’ve got to get home anyway for laundry and stuff.”
“Of course. Thanks for stopping by, Jakiv. It’s been a pleasure having you.”
“I’m sorry for scaring you last night,” I said to Silvon. “I’m glad you gave me a chance.”
Me and Nuri stood, “It’s been real nice, bye everyone!” she chirped, taking my claws and walking with me to the door.
“See you tomorrow,” Danny called.
The door closed and latched behind us. I let out a long, heavy breath.
“Laundry?” Nuri asked. “Y’know, you’re probably the only arxur in existence that even bothers wearing clothes,” she said.
“I mean, we have clothes on Wriss for the cold months,” I told her.
“It’s not cold here,” she replied as we got back into the car.
“The clothes are comfy,” I said finally. “You’ve got all that fur to keep you warm, I’m all hard scales.”
“Oh you’ll never know the horrors of brushing your fur in the morning,” Nuri replied smugly.
“Good! I can’t imagine shedding constantly.”
“Do arxur shed?” the marsupial questioned as the car rolled out of the driveway and bounded down the street.
“I mean, sometimes, but only during adolescence.”
“Gross. Do you like, crawl out of your skin like a spider?”
“Like a what?”
“It’s an Earth animal. It sheds its skin and leaves a mold of its body behind. It’s nasty!” she giggled.
“I guess? You kinda just pull it off and you’re all set. I haven’t shed in… what, 15 years?”
“Is that why you’ve got such shiny scales?” I flinched. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was- I’ll just shut up now,” she mumbled.
“No, there’s no need for apologies. You’re fine, Nuri,” I said. “The uh- the metal wasn’t a choice, really.” She gave me an inquisitive look. “I worked in a Dominion factory for almost 15 years, pretty much since birth. I poured metal into casts, and I was fully grown by the time the Dominion dissolved.”
“I’m sorry,” Nuri said, “I had no idea.”
“I know you didn’t. But I’m okay telling you. It was a long time ago and I’m fine with things now,” I lied. I knew full well that I was still kept up at night by the waking nightmares of my fellow factory workers dropping dead from heat exhaustion, the aching in my bones after a long day’s work, and the barking of my overseers when I didn’t meet their quotas.
“I don’t… know a whole lot about the Dominion,” she admitted, “but I know life under it wasn’t good. Is that why that lady on your holopad wanted to keep an eye on you?”
“Her name’s Vilvit,” I muttered, “and I guess so. I kinda just blame myself for everything that happened.”
“You poor thing,” the marsupial sighed.
“Don’t pity me, I’m not worth that. What happened happened,” I forced my gaze forward. Ignoring the urge to cry. Not in front of her. She shouldn’t worry about me. I can’t burden her with my problems.
“What are you talking about, Jaki? You’re my best friend.”
“Surely you have someone else you care for more. Maybe a yotul. Anything but an arxur like me,” I growled.
“I’m too weird for most of my species,” she sighed. “And an arxur like you is absolutely friend material.”
“I’ll never understand you,” I shook my head.
“I’ll never understand you either. But I know ya love me, Jaki,” Nuri smiled.
I reciprocated, flashing my teeth for once unbothered about scaring anyone. “I’m lucky to have met you.”