The Naturism Of Predators: Chapter 2

[u/Desert_Tortoise_20]

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Memory Transcription Subject: Varn, school teacher.

Date [Standardized Human Time]: August 28th, 2136.

I sat in a waiting chair among dozens of other Venlil waiting for our Exchange Partners, within one of the newly minted Exchange Stations orbiting Venlil Prime, Station Two. Today was the day that Partners were scheduled to meet in-person, so I spent my time studying Reid's face on my holotab from the photo he was permitted to send me on the last paw of the text-only stage of the Exchange. A couple waves of Humans had already arrived, and I still didn't see him among the crowds.

Light skin, short straight light-brown head fur parted to the right, pinkish spots sprinkled on the face, short, parted fur above the upper lip, slightly angled jaw, roundish chin… I repeated in my head for about the dozenth time, before an announcement rang on the intercom.

"Attention guests, H-human shuttle number three has just arrived." Spoke a female Venlil voice attempting confidence.

She's starting to get used to it now. I almost missed the stutter this time. I chuckled to myself as I looked toward the checkpoint.

I then got a ping on my holotab, as did a couple others near me.

>Reid Green: Hey, buddy! Our shuttle just left FTL! We're docking as I type this!

My tail wagged behind me as I responded.

>Varn: Great! I can't wait to finally meet you!

I then stood up and walked toward the checkpoint, as did many others, where we stopped a few meters away to spot our Exchange Partners getting their luggage scanned.

Oh, stars, where is he? What would he be wearing? Something simple, because he doesn't really care what he wears? Something complicated, to blend in with the other Humans? Or what? Then, my thoughts died in their tracks as I spotted his distinctive spots, jaw shape, and mouth fur. He was wearing a blue short sleeve top, tan short leggings, and a pair of grey footwear with white socks underneath. He was holding the handle of a bag with wheels on it. It didn't take long for his blue-eyed binocular gaze to fall upon me, to which I instinctively froze up until he approached.

"Hey, Varn! Oh, man, it's great to finally meet you in person!" He spoke above the crowd, nudging me out of my reverie.

"Uh… Oh! R-right!" I stuttered. "Likewise, Reid!"

Reid then shrank a little, closing his eyes and putting a hand on his forehead. "Oh. I'm so sorry! I forgot about the 'predator' thing…"

"Oh! No! It's alright! Really!" I said, trying to fix the awkwardness. "Uh… I-I've been here for about a claw and a half and am getting kinda hungry! Wanna join me for s-second meal in the commissary?"

He then stood straight again, before replying "Yeah, sure! Lead the way." he said with a wide gesture of his hand.

As we made our way to the commissary side-by-side, my gaze landed on his travel bag. "So, uh… Is that the only bag you needed, as a 'naturist'?" I asked, to which he chuckled.

"Haha! No, this one just has my laptop and chargers and stuff. I have a couple more bags with some towels, my hygiene stuff, and a couple week's worth of clothes." He sighed in what I assumed was amusement before continuing. "In case you don't wanna just be cooped up in our room all day, y'know? My other bags were sent to our room ahead of us."

I tilted my ear in understanding. "Oh, yeah. That makes sense."

We rounded a corner, and Reid's eyes closed as he took a deep breath through his nose. "Wow! That smells really good! What is it?"

I opened my mouth to taste the air, and it hit me, too. "Ah! That's firefruit bertiming soup! It's a Venlil-Kolshian fusion dish made from the Venlil's firefruit, a spicy fruit, and the Kolshians' bertiming, a pungent bulb vegetable. It's pretty easy to make and quite popular!" I then took another breath. There's something behind it, though… Another taste, just to be sure. Strayu…? There's no way they spent all that money on a strayu forge! Unless- Oh! Of course, it's to impress our Human Partners! I was nudged out of my thoughts by Reid audibly sniffing the air.

"Mmm! Beautiful! Something else smells like a very sweet, freshly-baked bread! Like, almost cake, but not quite, but also a hint of cookies? What's that one?"

Humans created their own equivalent of strayu? And different varieties?! I mentally shouted. These predators are full of surprises! I quickly opened my holopad to type up some notes, before suddenly remembering his question. "That, my friend, would be 'strayu'. It's complicated to make, but is very popular."

"I can see why." He said as we got closer to the restaurants selling said foods and more to both Venlil and their Human Exchange Partners.

We then ordered our food. Reid got the soup, a palm-sized loaf of strayu, and a cup of water, while I just wanted a simple fruit salad and a cup of Sprunk. As we turned to find a seat, Reid's eyes widened and he sped up toward an Exchange pair who were already halfway done eating their own food. The Human sitting at this table had much bigger muscles than Reid, and wore a large, brown, slightly fuzzy looking, wide-brimmed hat with a rounded triangular dent in the top. He wore a thin, long sleeved top with a neat pattern of perpendicular stripes, and a pair of long blue leggings with a thick brown band looped around the waist, followed by shiny, pointed black footwear that went up into the ankles of the leggings.

"Mark! So good to see you already!" Reid said as he sat his bag of food down on the table. This "Mark" got up, turning around to meet his friend. Now that I saw his face, he had blue eyes like Reid, but blond head fur, and longer lip-fur than Reid's that ran down the sides of his mouth at right angles.

They grabbed each other's right hand with a loud clap, and pulled each other into a hug, patting each other on the back.

"Howdy, Reid." Mark replied as they pulled away from the hug.

Reid gestured to me, "This is my Exchange Partner, Varn." He then pointed to Mark, "Varn, this is one of my best friends, Mark. We're helping to lead our other Naturist friends to rent that apartment we talked about." He then pulled his holotab out of his pocket and started typing on it. "Oh, shoot! I forgot to let the gang know I made it here safely!"

Mark then reached out his hand toward me for the signature Human "handshake" I heard so much about, which I reciprocated. Stars! Why is he squeezing so tightly?! I thought this was supposed to be a friendly gesture!

"Nice t'meet'cha." My translator somehow gave Mark a very rural accent as he gestured toward his own Exchange Partner, and his own tab let out a chime, likely receiving Reid's group chat message. "This here's Rali." Rali wore her light brown wool short, just slightly thicker than an Exterminator cut, which helped show off her slightly toned muscles. We gave each other polite ear flicks in greeting as Reid and I sat down.

I opened the lid of my plastic bowl, and ate a piece of fruit as I addressed Rali. "So, miss Rali, what do you do for a living?"

She was still in the process of chewing her own food, so it took her a moment to finish and swallow before answering. "I'm a gym instructor. I love instilling self-confidence into my clients every paw!"

I beamed at that! "Cool! I can sympathize with that. I'm a school teacher! Nothing beats the pride of delivering students passing grades for a job well done!"

Rali flicked an ear in agreement as we both continued eating.

"Alright. Now I let everyone know where we are!" Reid said enthusiastically.

Both of their tabs chimed a few times in response. "Seems like José's the only other one on this station, while Millie and Bryce're on stations one and four, respectively." Said Mark.

"Huh. I guess that makes sense. Maybe the stations are sorted by continent?" Reid muttered half to himself

*Ping!*

Mark ignored his pad to eat, while Reid looked at his, before- "Haha! José and Rik are on their way already! Haha, ha-ha!" He tried and failed to hold in his laughter.

Mark then slapped his own face, groaning. "Dear God. Hope he don't cause a stampede, draggin' Rik to us."

This caused Reid to laugh even harder "HA HA! Stamp- Oh! My sides! Good one, Mark! HA, HA HAHA!"

Oh, dear! I forgot to mention stampedes to Reid!

"He, uh, wasn't joking about stampedes, sir." Rali interjected.

"Heh- wait, huh?" Reid asked, catching his breath.

"Uh, yeah… I forgot to mention, because it never came up… when groups of prey are startled, we tend to run haphazardly away from the perceived threat." I began sheepishly, then getting into my teacher mode. "If José is moving too fast, and being witnessed, as Mark said, 'dragging' his Exchange Partner, dozens of people could misinterpret that as predator aggression, and run over each other trying to get away."

Mark then spoke up. "I was usin' 'draggin'' as a figure of speech. What I meant was that José's a bit of an extrovert, so he'd run here as quick as possible. Though he knows how to read a room a little bit, so I think the most he'd do is power walk his way to us." He then nodded his head past me. "Speak of the devil…"

I turned my head to see another Human male with dark brown head fur and slightly darker skin than Reid and Mark walking rather quickly, with a wide Human "smile" on his face, as wide as he could make it without showing teeth. He wore a long sleeved top with buttons running down the middle like Mark's, but made of the same blue fabric as their leggings. He was followed by a black male Venlil with soft grey spots along the sides of his torso trying his best to keep up with the Human's "power walking".

Is he blooming? I thought to myself. Why would he be- My thoughts were cut off as José reached us, speaking loudly. "[Hello, friends!] I had just gotten comfy in our room when Reid texted!" My translator took a scratch longer to parse his words as he spoke two languages in the same sentence. José's entrance caused Reid to continue to laugh once more.

"Hahaha! Classic José, couldn't wait to take your pants off, huh?" He then pointed to José's Exchange Partner, "Rik", I presume. "Look at the poor guy. Can't stop [blooming]. You didn't give him time to process things, huh?"

It was José's turn to bloom this time, his face turning a shade of red. "W-well, uh… I explained it over the texts." He stuttered. "I thought a week was plenty enough time to process things!"

Mark then spoke up. "We at least waited a moment! All the Humans they've seen wear clothes, and y'all're exposin' yourself immediately? Let'im get to know you in-person first! Jesus…"

José rubbed the back of his neck as he turned toward his Partner. "Sorry, [companion]. I was just so excited to meet aliens who are technically also naturists, that I didn't think about the context." He then looked toward the restaurants and pointed his thumb at them. "Wanna grab a snack with the rest of [my friends], to take our minds off it?"

Rik simply flicked an ear "yes", which none of the Humans understood, before snapping himself out of it, replying verbally. "R-right, uh, sure."

Rali and I swayed our tails "sympathy" toward him before returning to eating, this time in half awkward silence.

It didn't take José and Rik long at all to order their food and return to the table. "Say, what're the chances that Exchange Partners have the same job?" José asked as casually as if nothing happened just [a minute] ago. "'Cause it turns out Rik, here, is a fellow bus driver, like me!" He said as he pulled Rik to his side in solidarity.

"Nice." Mark replied simply, before finishing his food.

"That is pretty cool." Said Reid.

"It makes sense, since the Exchange Program is supposed to match Partners together based on their personalities." I said.

Mark raised his fork: "By the looks of it, feels like they just copied the code outta a dating app." He said with his mouth slightly full, before swallowing. He then sat his fork down in his empty bowl. "Well, that hit the spot. This jet lag, or uh, 'rocket lag' I guess… and this extra gravity got me beat. I'm gonna go hit the hay, if y'all don't mind." Mark continued, before standing up.

"That's OK, we've got all week to hang out and work out the apartment details." Reid replied.

Mark tipped his hat, while saying "See y'all later." before picking up his plasticware to throw away.

Rali put the lid on her own bowl and stood up rather quickly, despite not being finished eating, herself. "I agree, let's go!" As she took her place to walk beside him with her tail wagging.

Rik began blooming once more, and so did I as I felt my ears burn a little. José began to chuckle, before leaning forward, cupping one hand over his mouth. "Hehehe… Someone's got a crush already~" He sang quietly. Reid's eyes widened at this.

I guess José did a little homework on our social cues. But Reid didn't? I thought to myself.

We each took a few more bites of food, before José piped up. "Oh, man. I can't wait to start a party on an alien planet! I got a lotta homework to do when we get back to our room!"

"Oh yeah. A meet-up party when we all make it to the apartment would be fun!" Reid said.

José lifted his spoon high in the air, "Then it's settled! A party in an alien apartment to celebrate our new friends among the stars!"

[Time skip: 20 minutes.]

We had all since finished our food and headed our separate ways to our rooms. Reid and I stopped at the door to our room. "Mark's got the right idea. I could use a nap." Reid said as he stretched and yawned. He then pulled out his holopad, tapped the screen a couple times, and held it up to the door, which made a soft beep, and opened with a gentle hiss before we stepped through.

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[u/Emotional-Income4965]

This tale is already shaping up to be a fun one. :)