Prey Predator x fem!reader, slow burn to eventual smut, developing relationship
You continue to be held captive by your terrifying caregiver.
Amishta - name, meaning fearless, limitless
Tenahpu - Comanche/nʉmʉ tekwapʉ word for man
Whoa, thx for the ♥️ on the first chapter!! I’m just getting to the “good stuff” 😜 in my writing process, so Imma be posting more soon.
Part II
***
You cracked one eye open furtively. It was sleeping, its breathing heavy and even. Your throat tightened in anticipation. Now you would strike.
It rolled over to face you, mask off. Its mandibles twitched slightly, then stilled. You swallowed hard. It was time. You felt for the small stone you had been shaping into a dagger. It seemed to not notice or not care you had been doing it; either way it would be its death.
You looked at its face again. Its eyes remained closed. You inhaled and held it, your muscles tightening. An owl hooted. The golden eyes flew open, so bright they almost seemed to gleam in the semi darkness of early dawn. It sat up, stretching carefree as it always did. You sat up, knowing it would shake you awake shortly anyway. It nodded at you, chittering softly as it did after rising. Discreetly, you hid your weapon.
***
A bird woke him. It was not unusual. Stretching languidly, he clicked softly at his companion in gentle greeting. She was already awake. He wondered what she dreamt of.
Igniting a fire, he heated some food for them. He talked quietly to her, watching for signs that she understood his language. He repeated many simple words and phrases, trying to break the barrier. He pointed to the fire patiently, naming it. She watched him solemnly, but didn’t react.
“Someday, you will understand. I know you’re smart enough,” he passed his human her portion. He had learned she ate very little, compared to him. The two of you ate together in silence as the sun rose and the world finished waking up. The sounds of the early day filled his ears. He pondered how he would explain a live human when his kin picked him up. Another problem for another day. He put the fire out.
***
It stomped out the fire when you were done eating. Chattering and clicking, it looked over at you frequently, as if it were waiting for you to respond with your own clicks and growls. It seemed to be repairing something. You looked at it. It was totally unfamiliar to you; alien in every way. It noticed your inspection of the object. Holding it lightly, it extended its hand towards you. You looked at its outstretched hand, then its golden eyes. They were earnest. You took the strange thing from it. It clicked a few times, then was silent. You turned the item over in your hands. There was buffalo horn inlay, halfway completed. You realized it was decorating its possession.
Gasping softly, you looked up at it, wide eyed. In the two days it had kept you, you hadn’t seen anything like this. Granted, you had mostly been focused on surviving and your painful wound, but was it really doing what you thought it was doing? It grunted softly at you, its mandibles clicking. You passed the thing back to your monster. It took it gently, saying something to you softly. You blinked in uncertainty. It was speaking. What was it saying?
***
“Do you like it?” He asked, taking his retractable blade back. He liked the horns of a plant-eating animal he had found. It was making a nice addition to his weapon. She seemed on the verge of understanding him for a split second. But she blinked and sat back. He continued to watch her. “Amishta,” he called her by the name he had given her. She blinked at him. Then her eyes grew wide. She eyed him warily. He repeated her name slowly, gesturing at her.
***
It repeated the same sound several times in a row, waving its hand at you. It sounded familiar… very familiar. Realization hit you like lightning. It had named you? Was it… calling you? Its golden eyes watched you intelligently. You glared at it, trying to make sense of its existence in general, and secondarily of your current situation. Your monster spoke again. The same short growl sounded. You recognized it clearly this time. Shakily, you put your hand over your chest as you looked at it. It rumbled your new moniker. You nodded firmly. You pointed at it. Having no idea what to call it, you chose a simple name, “Tenahpu.”
It was silent, its eyes boring into yours. You repeated yourself, still pointing at it. It grumbled and clicked. Slowly, it brought its hand to its strong chest, just as you had done. You said encouragingly, “Tenahpu.”
It mumbled, deep and scratchy and inhuman, “Tennnnah… Tennnahpu.”
Your mouth slowly fell open.
“Tennnahpu,” it was having a bit of trouble enunciating, but it was speaking a human language. Your heart pounded. Suddenly you realized you were talking with your brother’s murderer, “You motherfucking bastard.” You lunged at it without thinking. It chittered, grabbing and restraining you easily. It sat you down again. Releasing you, it grunted your name in a disapproving tone. You screamed at it, angry. It went back to its work, saying something long and opinionated sounding. You sat listening, dejected.
***
He liked his new human name. He hoped it wasn’t an insult. He talked to her gently. She was angry about something. Eventually she seemed to mellow. He decided this would be a good time to check her leg. Moving slowly, he sidled up to her. She let him unwind her bandages. He made pleased clicks. She was healing nicely with the help of his medicine.
“You’ll be running again in no time,” he pondered aloud. Would the running be away from him, again? She was no trophy, but he would still hunt her down regardless. He had decided she was definitely leaving this planet with him. She was too… interesting to leave behind. He sighed, having finished dressing her injury. “Amishta, soon we are leaving,” he explained. “I will show you many planets on the hunts we will go on. You will be afraid at first but I will protect you.” He purred soothingly, rubbing her head lightly.
***
You sat as it dutifully tended to your wound. It clicked and grumbled as it worked. It continued talking to you after it was done, seemingly explaining something. You heard your name once. Then it was petting your head, surprisingly gently for all the power it had. It rumbled rhythmically deep in its chest as it ran its hand over your skull. You had no idea what to do or what it was doing. But it seemed satisfied to just sit and pet you. Soon it would restrain you for the day, so it could hunt without worry. As if you could escape right now anyway. But, soon you’d be ready. Your chance would come.
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I love being an adult because you know what actually happens when you run your car into a curb and scratch up the bumper?
Nothing. You get it fixed, or you don’t. Whatevs.
You know what actually happens when you are depressed or sick or on your period and don’t cook dinner?
Nothing. You still get to eat something, nobody scolds you, it doesn’t have any real bearing on your future success, and you don’t get soft shunned for a week by your family.
You know what actually happens when you break stuff, forget stuff, get sick, fall asleep, are rude, miss a flight, don’t know how to do XYZ thing on fixing cars or canning food or whatever, lose things, get lost because you can’t read a map and forgot to charge your phone, buy the wrong groceries, plant the wrong plants, not make your bed, make your bed wrong, jump on your bed, sleep on your bed, eat crackers in your bed, have emotions literally anywhere?
Nothing.
Nothing happens.
No one is mad.
No one can hurt you, and if they do there are laws saying they can’t and that it’s an actual crime with legal consequences.
All there are are outcomes and different paths and different problems and different situations and you just bumble your way forward into dealing with those and that’s it. That’s the whole thing. It’s not the wrong choice, having problems isn’t indicative of your inherent badness or inadequacy or lack of applying yourself. It’s just life, and it’s happening to literally everyone.
I’m not even kidding.
You just do stuff and nothing bad happens. Walk around existing? Nothing bad will happen. Wild.
You can cry. In public. And the most likely outcome is not that you will get taken away to receive the beating of your lifetime, it is that people will mostly ignore you and some will be kinder to you. 🤯
On Saturday I got pulled over because it turned out I’d been driving on expired tags for a year and hadn’t even noticed.
I got told to “take care of it soon please” and let go with a warning. Today I went to the DMV and paid a $5 late fee along with the 2-year fee for registration, got new plates and stickers and that was that.
A year late. No big deal. No one was shocked or appalled. It was just a thing that happened and then I took care of it. No biggie.
Turns out, people expect you to make mistakes because they’re people and they make them too. More often than not, you can just fix them and move on.
People who love cold weather are fucking weird. You like to freeze? You like to shiver?? You like when you take a step outside and the air stings your skin???
Female main character (cis) x Male Human (cis) x Nonbinary Monster
He’s handlers are Thirty-Six and Eighty-One, and both have human bodies, although I have yet to see them. He’s told me about them and the Kennel where he was taken. The Kennel are apparently the top breeders for what He calls the Hive, but their main female hasn’t gotten pregnant in years now, so they’re hoping to get another baby from me and He.
At the Kennel there were more humans like him. Some were nomads like us, some could speak, and others had been raised alone, so they were nonverbal and had to be taught. There were some who had lived in small colonies, and lived together before being caught by the Hive. Due to the nature of the Hive, once they take over a human body, the body is no longer able to reproduce, hence the need for more offspring. For a while, the Hive just used, never thinking there would be an end to the supply.
The Hive remains in one central location, where He’s Kennel is. Those who do not have a human body use something else, like Twenty-Two and Forty do. He told me about a place, a ‘city’ with buildings as tall as trees, lots of sounds and lots of others around. But it was all the members of the Hive, and He and the other humans were kept in the Kennel, only taken out for experiments or entertainment.
I fear the end of my cycle, because that’s when Twenty-Two said I would be fertile again. I don’t want to be kept this way. He reassures me he will stay with me, and together we can escape. We try to plan, but sometimes, if the music plays, we get distracted. It’s frustrating, especially since He’s made me aware of the music and the possible influence it holds over us. Aside from delivering food to us, we have no contact with those from the Hive. They’ve left us alone to bond and get used to one another. I wonder if they have any sort of inkling that He and I already knew one another. They’ve been watching us this entire time, I’m certain. If they know, that could be trouble. But the music makes it hard to worry.
“What do they call you here?” He asks.
I barely open my eyes. I’ve been enjoying listening to the beat of his heart. “Darling. Do they have a name for you?”
I called to see if I qualified for the Covid vaccine, since it’s not currently available to the general public in my state unless they are 65 and older, a healthcare worker, or age 16+ with an approved pre-existing condition, and I discovered that tracheotomy patients and ASTHMA PATIENTS are not eligible for the vaccine.
But you know what is? Obesity.
Now, I’m not fat shaming; all bodies are beautiful (and I have a BMI of 50, after all) but what exactly is it about being obese that makes that demographic more at risk from the disease than asthma and tracheotomy patients, people with genuine pulmonary conditions? This is a genuine question, someone please help me understand. If there are any healthcare workers familiar with this subject, I would love an answer.
So, I can still get the vaccine (for which I am grateful, don’t get me wrong) but not for my actual pulmonary condition… CDC, whyyyyyyyy?
As a healthcare worker, I can offer a little insight. COVID-19 doesn’t simply affect the lungs. That is a common misconception. It causes systemic damage to ALL organs due to its tendency to promote extremely massive blood clots that block and rupture blood vessels. The resulting tissue damage can be devestating. The worst affected organs are actually the heart, liver, kidneys, brain, and bowels.
Initially they assumed that people with diseases like asthma would be more gravely affected, however, that’s not true. Why? The same medicines that are used to stop or mitigate the lung damage component of COVID-19 actually ARE asthma medications. So the risks are actually lower for asthma sufferers.
Someone with conditions like lupus, MS, congestive heart failure, issues with the pancread, liver, kidneys, or cancer is actually more at risk of dying than someone who merely suffers asthma. Because COVID-19 will attack their already damaged organs.
Where do obese patients fall in all this? They have the highest rates of these conditions. No patient that is obese is just obese. They have obesity AND diabetes….AND heart failure… AND reduced pancreas function… AND poor circulation…AND asthma. Furthermore they frequently require the involvement of multiple carers, multiple doctors, and the involvement of family to help them manage their myriad of conditions. That puts them at an increased risk of exposure… AND an increased risk of exposing others simply with their regular day to day activities. Unfortunately, due to the increased likelihood of their death and/or exacerbation of their conditions…they need to get vaccinated first.
I’m sorry that we have to triage people’s lives by staggering access to the vaccine, but resources are thin. I wish they could just mass vaccinate everyone, because that would mean that I’m less likely to bury another friend or attend another goddamn virtual funeral, or spend another day curled up in bed, unable to even see my godchildren or hug my last living grandparent for fear of bringing death to them… But we just aren’t there yet. Please be patient, get your vaccinations as soon as you’re able and stay safe.
Thank you for explaining. My biggest concern is, as a trach patient, I don’t take the same medications as asthma patients do and am immunocompromised because of the trach, so I am at higher risk. The only thing I can think is, because permanent tracheotomies are so rare, it simply didn’t occur to the people compiling the list. I wonder if I could contact the CDC and ask about it.
Thank you for your help. I’m sorry for your losses and I’m extremely grateful to you and other healthcare workers who are on the frontlines, battling for people like me. I can’t begin to imagine how exhausting and heartbreaking it is from your perspective, and it may seem trite to hear at this point, but you are a hero and have my utmost respect.
You know, and this will sound bad, but it is very likely that they did not consider it when they were drawing up the list. Some conditions took arguing and petitions from healthcare workers to get them added.
You represent a unique case that's pretty rare, so people in your situation slipped through the cracks. This whole thing has felt like trying to escape a burning burning, soaked in gasoline so I'm not surprised that some unique cases were missed. There's loads of blind spots with this thing. Please keep yourself safe.
I called to see if I qualified for the Covid vaccine, since it’s not currently available to the general public in my state unless they are 65 and older, a healthcare worker, or age 16+ with an approved pre-existing condition, and I discovered that tracheotomy patients and ASTHMA PATIENTS are not eligible for the vaccine.
But you know what is? Obesity.
Now, I’m not fat shaming; all bodies are beautiful (and I have a BMI of 50, after all) but what exactly is it about being obese that makes that demographic more at risk from the disease than asthma and tracheotomy patients, people with genuine pulmonary conditions? This is a genuine question, someone please help me understand. If there are any healthcare workers familiar with this subject, I would love an answer.
So, I can still get the vaccine (for which I am grateful, don’t get me wrong) but not for my actual pulmonary condition… CDC, whyyyyyyyy?
As a healthcare worker, I can offer a little insight. COVID-19 doesn't simply affect the lungs. That is a common misconception. It causes systemic damage to ALL organs due to its tendency to promote extremely massive blood clots that block and rupture blood vessels. The resulting tissue damage can be devestating. The worst affected organs are actually the heart, liver, kidneys, brain, and bowels.
Initially they assumed that people with diseases like asthma would be more gravely affected, however, that's not true. Why? The same medicines that are used to stop or mitigate the lung damage component of COVID-19 actually ARE asthma medications. So the risks are actually lower for asthma sufferers.
Someone with conditions like lupus, MS, congestive heart failure, issues with the pancread, liver, kidneys, or cancer is actually more at risk of dying than someone who merely suffers asthma. Because COVID-19 will attack their already damaged organs.
Where do obese patients fall in all this? They have the highest rates of these conditions. No patient that is obese is just obese. They have obesity AND diabetes....AND heart failure... AND reduced pancreas function... AND poor circulation...AND asthma. Furthermore they frequently require the involvement of multiple carers, multiple doctors, and the involvement of family to help them manage their myriad of conditions. That puts them at an increased risk of exposure... AND an increased risk of exposing others simply with their regular day to day activities. Unfortunately, due to the increased likelihood of their death and/or exacerbation of their conditions...they need to get vaccinated first.
I'm sorry that we have to triage people's lives by staggering access to the vaccine, but resources are thin. I wish they could just mass vaccinate everyone, because that would mean that I'm less likely to bury another friend or attend another goddamn virtual funeral, or spend another day curled up in bed, unable to even see my godchildren or hug my last living grandparent for fear of bringing death to them... But we just aren't there yet. Please be patient, get your vaccinations as soon as you're able and stay safe.
For a second I didn’t realize it meant “high” as in a stoner--I thought “High Geologist” was like a rank of geologist or something and he was insulted you would challenge him to naming stones
I’m not good with the science of this or anything (someone who knows more feel free to add) but fish can play??? Fish can play like any other animal?? People saying it couldn’t breathe, do human kids not hold their breaths to go under water for fun? It’s just the opposite. Air is water, water is air. In the same vein as a kid being thrown up and into the pool and enjoying it, the fish is playing.
okay… as someone who studies marine biology I need to clarify something:
fish are unable to hold their breaths. They literally cannot take a deep breath like mammals do.
We have lungs that can take in a specific volume of air, fish have gills that work when they are ventilated enough. There are different kinds of gills, yes. Some fish have something called ‘operculum’ which is like a cap on top of the gills, helping to protect them and increasing the water circulation through the gills. Some fish DONT have this structure and need to swim in order to be able to breathe.
But the fact that they cannot hold their breaths doesnt mean that they cannot survive without water for a while - in fact, fish can (usually) survive being without water WAY LONGER than we could survive being without air.
I cannot tell if this fish does this for fun, but it sure looks like it. But I am not a behavioural biologist, so I can’t tell for sure.
Im not a behavior biologist either, but I have spent a lot of time around fish and ive spent a lot of time talking to and helping people that care for fish. (Former petstore fish guy that took his job too seriously)
That fish is having fun, and fish absolutely DO have fun!
There was a regular who came into the store I worked at a lot, and he kept several varieties of chichlids, a very smart, aggressive type of fish.
He would come in and talk to me about all the drama his fish get into. The different territorial disputes they were having, who had paired off with who, who broke up (yes chichlids are like this)
But he had a jack dempsey in particular that LOVED to chase his hand around the tank, not his wife’s hand, not his friend’s hand, it HAD to be him. He said that as soon as he entered the room where this fish’s tank was kept, the fish would TEAR UP the tank decor, knocking things over and acting a fool off his shits until this dude stuck his hand in there and let the fish chase it around back and forth.
He theorized that his fish learned that if he knocked the tank decor around, his owner would obviously have to stick his hand in to fix it. So when he wants to play “chase dad’s hand” thats naturally how he knows he can get the hand to appear. He wont do this behavior for anybody but this one guy and he won’t tear up the tank anymore after he had received sufficient “play time”, usually once a day when the guy got home from work. He likened it to having a dog that wont leave you alone till you play tug o war for a bit.
I had a betta that would spend twenty minutes at a time just swimming up to the waterfall of the filter, letting it push him down to the bottom of the tank, only to swim back up and do it again, like it was a fucking slide.
Bettas are weak swimmers, and they dislike strong currents, but this guy was using the filter current like a slide. Kinda like how we don’t really like getting thrown around, but we still enjoy rollercoasters.
I also have countless stories about goldfish trying to “give hugs” (re: shove themselves into their owners hands during tank maintenance)
My betta knows how to lie and he will only beg for food in front of those he knows have not fed him yet.
There is so much evidence I’ve seen that fish are waaaay smarter and affectionate than we think. They absolutely have fun and I honestly don’t think enough studies have been done on fish brains and fish behavior in general.
And honestly, having worked in a pet store, fish are generally treated like they don’t have brains by even the fish care brands that claim expert knowledge.
Its definitely worth noting that hard scientific evidence presenting that the very opposite is true would probably lead to more robust animal welfare laws that would definitely upset the aquatics industry. Food for thought.
I think you’re absolutely right on that last point. The misconception that fish are too thoughtless to have feelings facilitates the abhorrent conditions in which they are kept and ways they are treated by the industry.
I used to have a lovely tank, I think it was 50 gallons, and among other things I kept glass catfish. All the research at the time said they were hard to keep in captivity and prone to refusing to eat and starving themselves, and that they did not live long in captivity. But I was fascinated and had to try it. It took me about three days to realize none of the literature said a word about them being nocturnal. I started feeding them at night right before bed, and had zero problems getting them to eat, saw they were incredibly active as soon as the lights went off (I have exceptional night vision) and I kept them in excellent health for years. Exponentially beyond their captive life expectancy.
I think the commercial pet fish trade is abysmal in terms of actual working knowledge of fish.
Fish Intelligence (a link at which you will also learn there is a fish called the bony-eared assfish) has been studied on a pretty broad scale, actually and there’s a lot of scientific evidence to suggest that they are very smart creatures.
Fish are a huge group arguably far more diverse than the tetrapod land dwelling newcomers. Generalizing about them honestly always felt silly.
Animals are as smart as they need to be generally.
Also for perspective: under current theory the bony fish with swim bladders are descendants of fish with lungs who lived in oxygen poor. Eventually they got into better waters and didn’t need a lung anymore and natural selection repurposed it into a floatation device, the swim bladder.
They didn’t fail to come onto land as part of a march of progress, they just took a different path.
At my job, we have a saltwater tank. The fish have their favorite people that they will follow from one end of the tank to the other. The puffer fish is my little pal. If he does not see me for more than a few days he turn black will refuse to eat. He literally will lay on a piece of coral and refuse to move for food. Unless I stop by and sing to him. He will also have panic attacks if the tank gets too dirty (he spins around in circles and "gasps" a lot more than usual).
I’m happy so many of you are liking this post our native love god, Lempo.
Unfortunately there are no images of Lempo, only descriptions of him (sometimes her). But Omniverse Battlewiki has a pretty good image of Lempo which goes together with how Lempo is said to look like.
Lempo’s influence is still present in modern Finland, especially in the language. One word for love is lempi which is a direct word from Lempo. In old rimes, lempi wasn’t romantic love but like Lempo, it was erratic, sexual, passionate, consuming and difficult to control. It was possible to bewitch someone under the power of lempi and Lempo himself. One could call out for Lempo to bewitch someone, to make them fall in love with them.
The love Lempo controlled and gave people was All or Nothing. It could easily make people go insane with desire, control, jealousy or heart-break. A woman who is badly depressed over a heartbreak and seems not to be able to heal from this loss (or her love interest not being interested in her) was possessed by Lempo. A man who kills his love rival or his wife when she tries to divorce him was possessed by Lempo.
Women who were in danger of not finding a husband could turn to Lempo and his lempi love, to ask him to deliver them a good husband. Here’s a spell for calling forth such a love:
Rise love to burn wildly
honor to shine brightly!
Travel the moon, return the day
Burn the mind of young men!
Let the heart set ablaze
the chest into a consuming burn
the stomach full with the folk of fire
the mind under a scorching hotness
So that you can’t sleep during the night
nor rest during the day!
Burn fire, burn taula-primer
Burn the mind of young men!
The best for you, not the worst
The best among the young men
The kindest from the church crowd
The strongest one from the warriors
The most brisk from above the waters.
It’s important to know that native Finns practiced widely witchcraft and were known to be powerful witches (so much that vikings pretty much decided to leave us alone). Spellcasting was common and it was done by singing, mixing later with Christian traditions (as you can see from the spell above; the spell asks for a man who is the kindest among the ones who go to church). In the East and up North, people also turned to guidance and help of different monsters and demons, as they were either kind if treated right or stupid enough to be fooled. This included the devil himself.
That you can see perfectly in Lempo, who is both a monstrous, demonic being and a beneficial entity.
good news, you can! the company’s called Tony’s Chocolonely and their entire purpose is to make slave-free chocolate and reform the chocolate industry.
Whole Foods carries it. If you don’t want to support an Amazon-owned company, World Market carries it. You can also buy it directly from the company.
It’s the best chocolate I’ve ever had and it’s 100% slave free. Tony’s Chocolonely works really hard to push for transparency within the chocolate industry and actually has and is following an action plan to eliminate slavery within cocoa production. They’re good people who make good chocolate.
the Lebanese red cross is a charity that many Lebanese citizens endorse and are asking for others to donate to. As of right now (11:30 EST on the fifth), it’s the most up-to-date info I can find.
If you don’t know what’s up, Beirut suffered a chemical explosion the size of a small nuke (which is still fucking huge.) They have a host of other serious and deadly crises (humanitarian/political/social) going on right now, too, and the explosion destroyed their main port, where a lot of their trade and necessary supplies (such as medical supplies) come in.
Please, if you can, help Lebanon recover from this blow and tackle the rest of their problems. They need help.
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