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UTO: Meeting an... Apex predator?
Mari squinted down at the transfer pad jutting out from the table near her hips. Her assigned human charge stood in the center of the pad, almost as if he were being served up to the red panda on a shining silver platter with a side pocket-sized baggage. Had the UTO ever considered the unfortunate shapes of their transfer pads? Probably not. But that amusing thought did nothing to dampen Mari’s jitteriness. The desperate desire to make that perfect first impression.
She steadied her trembling hands. This was her first human encounter. The fateful moment she’d dreamed of a thousand times since cubhood.
You can do it, Mari! He’s barely ankle-sized. You’re the apex predator, and he’s the adorable prey. Nothing to fear here. Just first-meeting nerves. Confidence surged through the wasaya’s pounding veins upon remembering that she was, in fact, a 70-foot-tall predator. The same frigid wind blowing in from outside the hangar that set the human shuddering merely rustled Mari’s fur harmlessly. Refreshed her even. Another reminder, if any were needed beyond the obvious size disparity, of the sheer differences between human and meso.
Okay, no more pep talks. Mari took a quiet breath…
“Wow… you’re bea… uh, you’re a wasaya,” the human said none too gracefully before she could give her introduction.
Mari’s ears quirked repeatedly at the rightful note of awe in his tiny voice. So cute! Wasaya were indeed impressive. Proof in Mari’s glittering eyes that this human must be her ideal charge. Everything was already going so well! Why had she been so worried?
The red panda nodded approvingly and grinned wide, careful not to expose her teeth to an unfamiliar human. Exactly as she’d been trained in her integration courses.
Lesson one: Don’t scare the human. Make yourself look smaller.
Mari bent down at the waist. Her muzzle hovered a whisker’s breadth from the transfer pad. The human didn’t flinch at the proximity of her dangerous maw. Impressive.
“That’s right!” Mari chirped softly. “I’m Marillis Mahkwa, true apex predator, and your new partner. Nice to meet you, human.”
“I’m Jake Leiter. It’s nice to meet you too, Miss Apex Predator.” Jake chuckled.
Mari jolted as if stabbed. A hiccup in her perfect meeting?!
“What’s so funny?!” she growled indignantly. On instinct, Mari bared her enormous fangs. She slowly leaned closer to the ideal prey species, her nose nearly bowling the puny man over.
Darn it! So much for lesson one…but it couldn’t be helped.
Jake took a cautionary step backwards. Wise choice. An angry wasaya was no joke. “Oh… uh… That was a nervous laugh. I’ve been a merc for years, but in all that time, I never encountered a predator so dangerous,” he answered quickly, his hands raised appeasingly at the looming giantess. His answer had been too calm…
The man’s pale face—attractive as humans tended to be for some strange reason—was tiny and admittedly difficult to discern in detail. Jake’s features betrayed no signs of deception. Countless viewings of guardian-charge media had imparted in Mari a good sense of human expression. She held her gaze a while longer, then relaxed. He must be telling the truth. Odd that she didn’t smell fear. Maybe the cold or his clothes were thwarting her superior senses? Yes, the alternatives were unthinkable.
Oh well, at least Jake hadn’t compared her to those lazy imposters on Terra…
“In that case, sorry for the scare, Jake.” The colossal red panda drew back from the pad to reduce her threat level. No need to give him a heart attack. “We’re partners after all. I wasn’t trying to intimidate you. I only wanted you to know that you could rely on a fearsome wasaya for protection.”
Jake smiled, clearly reassured by her undeniably true declaration of intent. “Understood, Marillis. My poor, helpless life is in your capable claws then. Try and go easy on me, partner. Deal?”
“Deal! But call me Mari!” instantly replied the red panda, tail whipping back and forth like a storm-tossed windsock. “You won’t regret having me as your guardian. I promise.”
There it was. Guardian. The title Mari had longed to possess. Leaving Amenity’s Cradle to enlist in Section Blue was the best choice she’d ever made.
“I’m sure I won’t, Mari. Now let’s get out of this hanger. The cold’s killing me. And I don’t have that amazingly fluffy fur of yours.”
A human complimented her fur! Mari couldn’t hold back the thick, syrupy purr rumbling in her throat. Its happy intensity might have shaken the snowy planet apart.
“Absolutely! I’ll get you and your bags. Just leave the heavy lifting to your amazing partner.”
An excerpt from an old draft of Section Blue I was going to throw away.
Illustration of Mari done by the amazing
Drunk_ferret
The UTO setting belongs to
Sarya
Marillis Mahkwa is from my UTO story, Section Blue, which can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/62917689/
Mari squinted down at the transfer pad jutting out from the table near her hips. Her assigned human charge stood in the center of the pad, almost as if he were being served up to the red panda on a shining silver platter with a side pocket-sized baggage. Had the UTO ever considered the unfortunate shapes of their transfer pads? Probably not. But that amusing thought did nothing to dampen Mari’s jitteriness. The desperate desire to make that perfect first impression.
She steadied her trembling hands. This was her first human encounter. The fateful moment she’d dreamed of a thousand times since cubhood.
You can do it, Mari! He’s barely ankle-sized. You’re the apex predator, and he’s the adorable prey. Nothing to fear here. Just first-meeting nerves. Confidence surged through the wasaya’s pounding veins upon remembering that she was, in fact, a 70-foot-tall predator. The same frigid wind blowing in from outside the hangar that set the human shuddering merely rustled Mari’s fur harmlessly. Refreshed her even. Another reminder, if any were needed beyond the obvious size disparity, of the sheer differences between human and meso.
Okay, no more pep talks. Mari took a quiet breath…
“Wow… you’re bea… uh, you’re a wasaya,” the human said none too gracefully before she could give her introduction.
Mari’s ears quirked repeatedly at the rightful note of awe in his tiny voice. So cute! Wasaya were indeed impressive. Proof in Mari’s glittering eyes that this human must be her ideal charge. Everything was already going so well! Why had she been so worried?
The red panda nodded approvingly and grinned wide, careful not to expose her teeth to an unfamiliar human. Exactly as she’d been trained in her integration courses.
Lesson one: Don’t scare the human. Make yourself look smaller.
Mari bent down at the waist. Her muzzle hovered a whisker’s breadth from the transfer pad. The human didn’t flinch at the proximity of her dangerous maw. Impressive.
“That’s right!” Mari chirped softly. “I’m Marillis Mahkwa, true apex predator, and your new partner. Nice to meet you, human.”
“I’m Jake Leiter. It’s nice to meet you too, Miss Apex Predator.” Jake chuckled.
Mari jolted as if stabbed. A hiccup in her perfect meeting?!
“What’s so funny?!” she growled indignantly. On instinct, Mari bared her enormous fangs. She slowly leaned closer to the ideal prey species, her nose nearly bowling the puny man over.
Darn it! So much for lesson one…but it couldn’t be helped.
Jake took a cautionary step backwards. Wise choice. An angry wasaya was no joke. “Oh… uh… That was a nervous laugh. I’ve been a merc for years, but in all that time, I never encountered a predator so dangerous,” he answered quickly, his hands raised appeasingly at the looming giantess. His answer had been too calm…
The man’s pale face—attractive as humans tended to be for some strange reason—was tiny and admittedly difficult to discern in detail. Jake’s features betrayed no signs of deception. Countless viewings of guardian-charge media had imparted in Mari a good sense of human expression. She held her gaze a while longer, then relaxed. He must be telling the truth. Odd that she didn’t smell fear. Maybe the cold or his clothes were thwarting her superior senses? Yes, the alternatives were unthinkable.
Oh well, at least Jake hadn’t compared her to those lazy imposters on Terra…
“In that case, sorry for the scare, Jake.” The colossal red panda drew back from the pad to reduce her threat level. No need to give him a heart attack. “We’re partners after all. I wasn’t trying to intimidate you. I only wanted you to know that you could rely on a fearsome wasaya for protection.”
Jake smiled, clearly reassured by her undeniably true declaration of intent. “Understood, Marillis. My poor, helpless life is in your capable claws then. Try and go easy on me, partner. Deal?”
“Deal! But call me Mari!” instantly replied the red panda, tail whipping back and forth like a storm-tossed windsock. “You won’t regret having me as your guardian. I promise.”
There it was. Guardian. The title Mari had longed to possess. Leaving Amenity’s Cradle to enlist in Section Blue was the best choice she’d ever made.
“I’m sure I won’t, Mari. Now let’s get out of this hanger. The cold’s killing me. And I don’t have that amazingly fluffy fur of yours.”
A human complimented her fur! Mari couldn’t hold back the thick, syrupy purr rumbling in her throat. Its happy intensity might have shaken the snowy planet apart.
“Absolutely! I’ll get you and your bags. Just leave the heavy lifting to your amazing partner.”
An excerpt from an old draft of Section Blue I was going to throw away.
Illustration of Mari done by the amazing
Drunk_ferretThe UTO setting belongs to
SaryaMarillis Mahkwa is from my UTO story, Section Blue, which can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/62917689/
Category Artwork (Digital) / Macro / Micro
Species Red Panda
Size 2522 x 1461px
File Size 491.1 kB
Listed in Folders
Really thought this was a sneak peek of the next chapter until I finished reading lol XD. It seems Mari has a bit of a superiority complex here and funnily enough, It looks like Jake is the one going easy on her, he could had stood his ground and tell her to back off but chose to play along with the "apex predator". Now I'm curious to see how the real meeting goes, really cool stuff!
Love the piece but for some reason also reminded me of problem i always have with UTO verse.
The premise that after some time most humans get used to living with mesos and having their giant guardians. And i'm never buying it. Most people would still be at least anxious among mesos even friendly ones. Not that it's preventing me from enjoying it , i'm still in love with this universe but still thought like that make me want to see some story set long post rynar invasion about people who are still completely terrified of their huge neighbours (even to level preventing them from functioning in society) and how UTO government deals with them.
But anyway great art and great little story. Can't wait for more of section blue.
The premise that after some time most humans get used to living with mesos and having their giant guardians. And i'm never buying it. Most people would still be at least anxious among mesos even friendly ones. Not that it's preventing me from enjoying it , i'm still in love with this universe but still thought like that make me want to see some story set long post rynar invasion about people who are still completely terrified of their huge neighbours (even to level preventing them from functioning in society) and how UTO government deals with them.
But anyway great art and great little story. Can't wait for more of section blue.
You're right to an extent about humans still being nervous. There are definitely limits and fantasy involved on that front. It is fiction after all. But don't underestimate what people can get used to. There are old pictures of construction workers confidently walking on the steel beams of massive, under construction skyscrapers without any safety equipment whatsoever. They did the job for years and got totally used to the extreme heights. The people who are afraid of mesos would stay away, but those who weren't would interact without much fear around the friendly ones. The unfriendly ones would 100 percent be terrifying to most humans though.
As for your last thought, I plan to cover some of that in Section Blue. You'll see plenty of humans and human populations that are not comfortable living with mesos. Glad to see you looking forward to the story!
As for your last thought, I plan to cover some of that in Section Blue. You'll see plenty of humans and human populations that are not comfortable living with mesos. Glad to see you looking forward to the story!
Well you're right tho that's not exactly what i've had i mind. I too believie most of people could get used to live together with their gigantic neighbours. But i also believie there would be small but still significant population of humans (i would say something like few percent) that so terrified of being near mesos (from various reasons) that it would destroy their chanches of functioning in UTO. And i'm not talking that merc from your story type of terrified , i'm talking shaking in fear and hiding in home crying type of terrified. Population small enough thet they wouldn't be everywhere but sitll big enough that general societty couldn't just ignore their existence. Daniel from your Dissonance is example tho i would easily imagine people that are terrified on mesos way more than him. And he as CEO on company so he can just control his buisness from his office easily reducing contact with mesos to absulute minimum. The case i'm thinking of is ordinary human not super rich that's belong to such minority living long post -integration. Person who is extremelly terrified of mesos in world where they are everywhere. Neighborhoods , public spaces , universities and most importantly workplaces. So such extreme fear could prevent them from getting a job. And i'm curious how such person would survive in this world. And also how government and general populace (both human and non-human) would look at such minority.
Also while example with constuction workers is great i still wan't point out that steel beams are just piecies of metal. Accidents related to them are just physics. Steel beam is not sentient and can't suddenly decide it wants to hurt on it's own. While i don't think i will make a big difference the fact mesos are sentient beings and can decide they don't like you would still probably have effect on human minds.
Also while example with constuction workers is great i still wan't point out that steel beams are just piecies of metal. Accidents related to them are just physics. Steel beam is not sentient and can't suddenly decide it wants to hurt on it's own. While i don't think i will make a big difference the fact mesos are sentient beings and can decide they don't like you would still probably have effect on human minds.
Fair points, I understand what you meant better now. I think humans who were as terrified as you say would have no choice but to move to/live on Earth were mesos are scarce. I'm really not sure how the UTO would handle it and I think would make a good story to explore that specific scenario.
Well that's the reason i'm closely following Section Blue anyway. It seems to be first story (known to me) since orginal integration that explores topic of human fear of mesos in deep detail. And even integration is set.. well at beginning of integration so it will be interesting how such people live in the world where mesos are in every aspect of life.
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