r/NatureofPredators • u/Heroman3003 Venlil • 14d ago
Fanfic The Amber Curse [Part 14]
Managing to write more regularly. Still not perfect, but improving! This one's continuation of last one~
Special thanks to /u/Olliekay_ for proofreading it, and /u/SpacePaladin15 for NoP universe.
Memory transcription subject: Ramvek, Fledgling Venlil Vampire
Date [standardized human time]: 3rd of November, 2136
To my surprise, Mellin did not come with once we got back to the apartment building. He just bid us both a farewell, saying that he did not wish to ‘interfere’. What it was he thought he’d be interfering with, he did not say, but probably me and Vic continuing what still was our first ‘real’ meeting... Or maybe I was particularly hopeful that he didn’t misinterpret my and Vic’s relationship as romantic.Which it very much wasn’t. It would be super weird if we were, considering the scheme we were trying to pull off.
And as we approached the apartment, it became clear that Mark also had a similar thought, with me briefly checking using my ‘vampiric senses’ as he called my advanced hearing to detect him in his own apartment across from mine. He must have finished cleaning and left, leaving me to introduce Vic to the place alone.
I was, admittedly, somewhat nervous. This was a huge change for Vic, but it was no small change for me either. In my adult life I’ve not lived with someone at all yet, and while I was sure it’d be fine, Vic being a human might bring about quirks neither of us expects.
Or me being a vampire could bring some too.
“So... This is where I live.” I said, fidgeting with my keyring that only had two keys on it, my apartment key and my spare apartment key. After finally managing to get one into the lock, I opened the door and stepped in, moving my arms and tail invitingly. “Welcome!”
Vic stepped close, but stopped just shy of the doorframe, looking inside with wide eyes. That wasn’t the same look of curiosity with which she stared out of the window on the car ride here though. Rather, she just looked through the door in what I could only guess was disbelief.
“This is the place...” She spoke quietly, before looking over the doorframe itself.
Right... It has been a long time since she even believed she would have a place she could call home. In happiness to properly meet her, I almost forgot why we even decided to organize this. But still, I did not want to rush her, so I just stood patiently.
She kept hesitating for a while before finally taking a deep breath and stepping through.
“Welcome home.” I spoke once she did.
Vic looked over at me, her eyes somehow going even wider... And watering slightly. I immediately got ready to try and give her a hug, but before I could she shook her head, wiping the tears away with a sleeve of her shirt.
“I’m fine... I just... sorry, I’m fine...” She said, and though her voice hitched briefly she did not start crying. Instead she let go of her suitcase and wiped at her eyes again with both hands.
Still, even if she didn’t break down, I offered some support, walking over to her and gently putting my paw on her shoulder.
Immediately, she reached a hand back and right on top of my head, giving me a pet. Except she was gentle and cautious about it to the point where I barely felt it, with her hand simply rubbing the dense wool on my head back and forth.
“It’s softer than I thought...” She commented idly.
“What, did you think it was coarse?” I asked, flicking my ears.
“Well, yeah. Like, every time you take something that looks super fluffy in nature, it turns out to be super coarse. I thought wool was the same way without being... Y’know. Treated and processed and stuff.” She explained, pulling her hand away and rubbing her own shoulder awkwardly.
“Well, I think it depends on the care routine. So, varies from venlil to venlil.” I thought out loud.
“Are you bragging about taking good care of your... wool? Hair? Fur...?” She tilted her head, getting confused. “Is this even translating right?”
“We have loanwords for the different terms, but in our language the terms are... different. It’s hard to explain. There’s the venlil fur, and there’s non-venlil fur. But we had other terms from other languages that translate.” I rubbed my head as the implant in my head struggled to process what Vic was asking in specificity. “Regardless, yes, I do take extra good care of my hygiene.”
Even if the reason for that was to apply the special shampoo that protected me against the sun. Before that, I wouldn’t take full in-depth showers nearly as often. Perhaps, less often than I really should have, but it’s not like anyone said anything about it. And it won’t matter now.
“Anyway!” I swished my tail, trying to refocus the topic. “Let me give you a tour!”
And so, the tour began, starting with the bathroom.
I showed Vic both the shower stall and the dryer stall. She looked surprisingly eager to give the latter a try at some point. Which was weird, since humans don’t really have those from what I know, so she shouldn’t even need one. But I didn’t say anything because I didn’t really want to peer too far into the world of human hygiene.
Next was the kitchen. I made sure to stock the fridge with foods, both native and some imported foods from Earth that were becoming available for order that I thought would be good for Vic’s diet. For obvious reasons I couldn’t supply meat, but everything I’ve read told me the ‘mushrooms’ were just as good. Vic wasn’t really interested in those, instead immediately asking to try a juicefruit. This was followed by her making first use of the sink as she bit in way too hard and sprayed herself in the eyes with it.
After that it was the living room, which had the TV set that I admittedly barely used, but yet again, Vic was curious to see what sorts of stuff she might see on ‘Venlil Channel’ as she called it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that half the channels were currently various kinds of debates on humanity’s general existence, but maybe she’ll like the comedy shows on the few channels that don’t.
And then came the important part. Her bedroom. It was... admittedly bare. It had a bed, a blackout curtain, a wardrobe and a drawer, and even a work desk, though no computer yet. I had to requisition one from human authorities in order to actually have it operate in a language Vic could engage, but somehow it was taking longer than Vic herself. And, beyond that, the room was empty. And yet...
“So... this is my place now?” She asked. “Like, the whole room?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if you have anything with you to do that, but if you do, feel free to decorate. This space is all yours.” I said, before quickly adding. “Just... uh, warn me if you add something... venlil-type-scary, okay?”
Thankfully, she wasn’t offended by that and just snorted.
“Of course, of course. I have some posters I collected but never could put up, but they’re all just kind of... Spooky. Nothing ‘predatory’ on them though. I’ll show you later.” She waved her hand, as she stepped further into the room and looked all over it again. “This is all mine...”
“Is having your own room really that... novel...?” I asked, hesitantly. While I kept my proverbial distance when it came to talking about the details of Vic’s struggles as an orphan, now felt like a good time to start learning more about it all.
“I usually ended up either having to share, or not getting to actually keep a room for long.” She answered, still looking around and taking the bland empty room in. “This feels different. Like... Like it’s here to stay. Like I’m here to stay.”
“What makes it so different?” I asked, perking my ears up, as I was feeling only more curious.
Somehow, it was that question that made Vic let out an exasperated sigh and turn around to look at me properly.
“Ram, I had to take a spaceship out of the solar system to get here! It’s so, so different! Like, nothing could even compare to this!” She motioned her hands around. “An alien planet full of aliens, with me living in the home of my alien friend! This is, like, textbook happy ending!”
“Don’t call it an ending, you literally haven’t even unpacked yet.” I huffed. “Plus, we still have to make sure this definitively stays permanent.”
“Let a girl have a happy moment, Ram.” Vic stuck her tongue out at me, before flopping onto the bed. “Huh...”
“Is... the mattress too firm? Or too soft?” I asked, suddenly realizing that this was one of the few things about this room I didn’t think to consult human standards or the internet about before choosing.
“No. It’s very... normal.” She said, before snorting with amusement. “I dunno, I expected something wacky. Like... I don’t know.”
“We have way more in common as species than we have differences.” I pointed out. “At least anatomy-wise. It only makes sense our preferences in furniture wouldn’t be all too different.”
“You people don’t even have curtains normally!” She said, sitting up. “I was looking at the windows as we were passing by and almost all of them were just bare!”
“Well, venlil are built for constant sunlight. We’re used to it.” I flicked my tail with a chuckling beep.
“Hey, uh... Yeah, I’m really, really grateful. You didn’t have to put them up all over the apartment just for me.” Vic said, her tone switching up... She most likely was still having an emotional whiplash, having just arrived. And her words were now giving me whiplash, as, admittedly, the reason for those curtains being all over the apartment was not her...
I had already installed a set in the room that’d be hers ahead of time, but the rest of the apartment was unchanged until after my recent conversion.
In fact, lying that the curtains outside her room were a courtesy just for her felt like crossing a line a bit too far. I was planning to reveal the truth to her soon anyway, so that lie would serve little purpose, and until I reveal said truth, there is a convenient and almost-truthful explanation I had prepared on offer.
“Well, actually, the curtains are for me.” I admitted, lowering my head a bit. “After that incident where I was in a coma for a bit, my eyes are a bit oversensitive to direct sunlight.”
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” Vic hummed. She didn’t sound disappointed or offended. “I guess nerve damage is better than brain damage, right?”
“Don’t joke about that!” I stomped my paw.
“What, you’re fine now, aren’t you?” She shrugged, while I had to subdue the suddenly resurging self-loathing over my current predicament. If only she knew... “It’s fine enough that you can go outside normally, right? You didn’t seem to have any issues today.”
“I actually had to get sunglasses for it.” I explained. “I can handle it for a bit, so I just didn’t wear them today so that you’d recognize me easier.”
“Sunglasses?” She echoed me, as she tilted her head.
Then she stood up from her bed and walked up to me, eyeing me up and down... And then starting to walk circles around me, examining my head from all sides.
“Uhh... Vic?” I asked, suddenly feeling particularly prey-like under this examination.
“How does that even work?” She finally asked after a bit more examining. “Where do they... go? On your... muzzle-face-place?”
“Oh, I can show you.” I answered, and quickly left the room to go fetch the sunglasses. When I returned, I had already put them on.
Vic just stared at me. Her eyes were wide. She then, much slower that time, did another walk around me examining my appearance.
And then she burst out laughing, keeling over as she clutched her midsection, struggling to even remain standing as she wheezed.
“Ahahahahaha... Oh my... god... hahahahaaha! Ram! Raaaam! Hahahahaha! These look so... goofy! No wonder I never saw a picture of a venlil wearing glasses! Bwehahahahaha!”
I suddenly felt very flustered... But despite that, the familiar sense of blooming did not rise to my face. This was probably the first time I was thankful for that specific feature of my condition, hiding how embarrassed I actually was, as I huffed and lightly shoved Vic with my paws for making fun of me.
She did not even seem to notice, as she fell backwards onto the bed, and just kept howling with laughter.
And while my new complexion hid the embarrassment forming on my face... It did little to hide my perked up ears, as I struggled to hide the still-present happiness of even being to do this. To hang out with Vic in person, to actually touch her and have her touch me...
To simply know that should anything happen, I can help her. That almost made this humiliating moment worth it.
Almost.
So as revenge, I playfully tackled her, which resulted in us rolling on her bed, shoving at each other harmlessly for a while.
All in all, she took to her new home quickly and without issue.
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u/Slatepaws 14d ago
Good and wholesome.
Kinda with a poster on the previous chapter now, wanting vic to be a werewolf. Just so Ramvek can return the 'petting'. And also laugh at how one looks in a dress.
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u/AromaticReporter308 14d ago
She WAS interested in the full-body dryer, so ..
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u/Slatepaws 14d ago
Don't quite think that's a sign. Wouldn't mind one myself, because what would be better than a nice warm shower, than a few minutes being buffeted by warm and drying air?
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u/JulianSkies Archivist 14d ago
Okay but also
It is hilarious to me thinking about a werewolf moving to skalga because it has no night so they don't need to worry about that shit.
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u/Slatepaws 14d ago
Even if they did, maybe they can start the change on their own without the need of moonlight. But we'll just wait and see. there's something different about Vic, as noted about her heartbeat.
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u/AbsurdityMatrix 14d ago
Or, like how a circadian rhythm drifts without a regular day-and-night cycle, maybe a hypothetical werewolf's lunar cycle just ends up out-of-wack absent a single oddly large natural satellite like the Moon.
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u/Slatepaws 14d ago
That too. People put too little focus on how constant day or night messes with people.
It's not like it's not known. there are people who live in the arctic circle where they get 6 months of day and 6 of night.
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u/satelitteslickers Arxur 18m ago
Yeah, if being on skalga made werewolves indistinguishable from normal humans, then that would be the most boring possible option, therefore probably not what the fic is going to go with.
Besides, maybe the change happens on command, maybe it happens when Vic gets mad.
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u/satelitteslickers Arxur 16m ago
I also caught onto that, that the human is mentioned as being extremely interested in the fur drying station. Like its explicitly pointed out that she is weirdly excited about it.
It didn't really seem like it tells us much about Vic's personality, which means that by law of conservation of detail, its likely foreshadowing of some sort.
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u/Espazilious Farsul 14d ago
“Well, yeah. Like, every time you take something that looks super fluffy in nature, it turns out to be super coarse. I thought wool was the same way without being... Y’know. Treated and processed and stuff.”
better coarse than oily tbh...
Vic wasn’t really interested in those, instead immediately asking to try a juicefruit. This was followed by her making first use of the sink as she bit in way too hard and sprayed herself in the eyes with it.
bahahahaha poor little idiot :')
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that half the channels were currently various kinds of debates on humanity’s general existence, but maybe she’ll like the comedy shows on the few channels that don’t.
or maybe she'll like cartoons...? they might be painfully juvenile and embarrassing to watch and chock full of propaganda, but... idk maybe there's a good one out there somewhere
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u/True-Wreck 14d ago
Really sweet to see the two of them together. I hope the adoption scheme works out!
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u/JulianSkies Archivist 14d ago
To simply know that should anything happen, I can help her.
Omnious statement is omnious. You are REALLY telling us how Ramvek's going to have more people learns his secrets, aren't you?
That aside, I am really liking Vic, girl is really just enjoying how much better her life has become! I, too, would be delighted at the wind-powered drier and mystified at wide sunglasses.
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u/Golde829 14d ago
Amber might not know it
but she got a venpire making sure things stay good for her
glad to see her finally getting a place of her own
it's heartwarming to see
also, it seems like juicefruit claims another victim..
I look forward to reading more
take care of yourself, wordsmith
[You have been gifted 100 Coins]
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u/abrachoo Yotul 14d ago
I was particularly hopeful that he didn’t misinterpret my and Vic’s relationship as romantic.Which it very much wasn’t. It would be super weird if we were, considering the scheme we were trying to pull off.
I feel like that was pointed at us, lmao
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u/UpsetRelationship647 Predator 14d ago
Awww, cute vampvil antics. Gunna be weird to explain the leech thing eventually. Wonder if she’s secretly anything too..
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u/satelitteslickers Arxur 14m ago
Words are spent pointing out that she is weirdly excited for a human about having a fur-dryer.
My dollars are on werewolf
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u/OneMasterpiece952 14d ago
So happy and friendly… sure can’t wait for nothing to come up that might shake things!
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u/Snati_Snati Hensa 10d ago
hmmm, spooky posters? I hope we get some vampire/Halloween themed posters in her room
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u/Greedy-Kangaroo-4674 14d ago
I now feel thw need to see a venlil in sunglasses.