#Crit'Yun

[wolven91]

Skin Deep

The crit'yun are an ancient race.

Chitin instead of flesh, feather, scale, or fur. A mind that was vast enough to include all their kind, but also individual minds, all working towards a common goal broken up into hives then castes. They were like ants of old, but massive.

As for the hives, in the deepest, most protected parts of their worlds, there were pools of a biological soup that gave birth to new and needed bodies. There was no 'set' appearance to the crit'yun. If they needed pincers the most, then the creature that crawled from the ominous goop had pincers. If they needed size or bulk, the goop would recede as a titan lifted itself clear of the liquid, allowing it to cascade from it in great waterfalls as it stepped into the galaxy.

The crit'yun had been around since the various races that now dominated the galaxy had begun to crawl from their own primordial soups millennia ago. They watched the galaxy and recorded its comings and goings with a careful eye. Nothing was forgotten, everything was shared. Perhaps once the crit'yun had spread themselves across the galaxy, like a grand empire? But that wasn't the case now.

Their territory with a sliver that spanned several arms of the galaxy. They stayed there, watching and listening to the galaxy that appeared and grew now that they stayed dormant.

But the modern galaxy feared them, even before their most recent awakening.

Not just because they had perfected what was important to the current races, war and weapons, but because they were an antithesis to what was considered beautiful within the galaxy. Skittering. Twitching. Eyes that didn't look like eyes, or none at all, still watched without blinking. Legs and hands that were weapons.

They were judged on their first introduction. The crit'yun were aliens, even to the aliens.

When humanity appeared, it created an almost visible ripple amongst the insectoids. Something new. Something they hadn't seen. Something they hadn't recorded with their incredible minds. Something, that was dying.

Like a locust swarm amassing, the crit'yun, after thousands and thousands of years in isolation and refusal to engage with the wider galaxy; was suddenly abuzz with activity. The galaxy feared the crit'yun despite the diplomats they sent to assure the Galactic Community of their honourable intentions. They avoided crowded systems, sent only the most appealing of the crit'yun to parley when needed, but they were still shunned as dangerous, foreign things.

This was where Max came in.

Max had been in the 'care' of slavers. He was one of the lucky ones. He hadn't even been aware of their foul intentions. They had lied, placed him in comfortable quarters and began their journey towards a buyer before being found by the crit'yun.

"We are still sorry. That this. Was your first step. Sorry, that we, no... you... did not find... ally, friend, family." Chittered the creature. It was the size of a large dog, perhaps a Great Dane? It's red membrane wings flutters and twitched, but the numerous black dots, that Max had come to learn were its eyes, watched him carefully. Its speech pattern was strange, but it sat next to the human on a raised bench of resin that coated the inside of the crit'yun ship.

"It's alright. I should have known, I just didn't... think I suppose?" The human said with a sigh, gesturing with his hand before it fell back down against his knee.

"Absence. No. Lack of knowledge. Ignorance. Not worthy of fault. " Assured the creature as its head tilted one way and then the other.

The human smiled idly, more to the floor than to himself or a crit'yun. His hand, ever moving reach over without thought and rubbed a hand against the almost perfectly rounded head of the alien insect. Although there was no fur there, the distracted human merely felt calmer by the action. It reminded him of his own dog, Max missed him.

It was almost a whole minute before Max turned his head to the crit'yun and blinked, seemingly surprised that he was petting the insect and immediately withdrew his hand.

"I'm sorry! I didn't-" Blurted the human, holding his hands up in apologetic surrender.

"Why?" Asked the creature. It's perfectly round head turning, the beady black eyes rotating with it. It was a perfect impression of a puppy tilting its head.

"I wasn't thinking." Replied the human honestly, lowering his arms once more, paying attention to the creature.

"Ah. This one knows this. Nature. No... Natural action... To act by instinct. True Freedom. Fear no. Fear not. No offence made or received." Confirmed the alien, bobbing its head. Unbeknownst the Max, the instinctual drive it spoke of was its 'purpose'. Every crit'yun was born and made with a goal, a true purpose in life. The broodmother's was to birth and care for their young and vulnerable. The guards was to defend and destroy threats. To this drone? It was to reapply the resin to the ceilings of the crit'yun craft.

Since the human had shown preference to it, it had already been replaced, its purpose was now to stay by the human and ensure it wanted for nothing until the broodmother's craft arrived.

Max gave a smirk as this giant insect spoke in such an odd way, struggling to find the correct words, all the while he had accidently just treated it like a favoured pet. His brow furrowed as he thought about it though.

"How come the translators don't work for you?" The man asked curiously. He was aware that translators normally just adjusted any word heard for the word the speaker meant, in the listener's language. It shouldn't have been hiccupping over the insect's words.

"They do." Replied the creature smartly.

"But you mix up your words?" Pointed out Max.

"Ah. Translators fine. It is mind that is... limited." The insect explained, bobbing on all six legs.

"Mind?" Max was only more confused now.

"Yes. This one. Crit'yun you see with your eyes. Is only drone. Mind limited. In time... We will present acceptable crit'yun to you." The drone explained, speaking the words the broodmother sent through the hive's mind. It was a delicate thing, to speak through a drone, but doable. They didn't normally have the drive to talk or even need to. It was pure luck that this done was a talkative one, often humming to itself as it happily worked. The broodmother could only whisper simple concepts and the drone would repeat them as best it could.

"What does that mean?" Enquired the human. The crit'yun was pleased with the new specie's curiosity but feared that this was the moment they would lose this creature's trust. The crit'yun knew what they looked like, and the diplomat form could only look so much like them before it caused distress.

"We hide. Will hide. What makes us. Robes will hide chitin. Our eyes will be only... One... Two..." Counted the drone, repeating the broodmother's words. Her signal was getting stronger, straining the creature's mind.

"You don't have to change for me you know? I don't mind." Promised the young man.

"You... flinch." Pointed out the drone.

"I'm not going to lie, its intimidating, being surrounded by bugs, but I bet I don't look great to you."

"Clicks for this one. True. Truth is spoken. Very well. When this drone... is returned to the hive. Hive will not attempt... much... to hide selves..." Promised the drone, settling down onto its folded limbs. Tired now.

"Good. I was always told be proud of who you are. And you guys saved my life, so in my book you're alright."

"We wish to record your book. Please present it." Asked the drone, it's mind growing tired now that the broodmother had relinquished her hold on its mind. She was on the ship now. The idea the drone could record new history and present it to the broodmother? As it slipped from the waking world, if it could smile; it would have.

"Oh. Uuhh..." The human said, unaware he was the only one present now.

[r/WolvensStories]

[AO3]

[Ko-Fi]

[wolven91]

Creepy, Loving, Universe

Charles lost traction as he attempted to turn the corner at full sprint. His trainers should have been replaced long ago, but whilst he had loathed to let them go before now, in that split second of him flailing, he wished with every fibre of his body that he’d gotten space faring boots.

Skidding and tumbling he slammed into the wall before dropping into a crumpled heap. The man was dazed but unhurt, opening his eyes and risking a glance back the way he came, he saw the abomination of chitin, legs and pincers scuttling over the ceiling, down the wall and low along the floor he had ran over not seconds before. It moved far too fast for something that big.

Pushing off into a full sprint again he found new energy in the terror that was gripping his chest. His legs pumped like pistons whilst his heart thundered against his chest as he willed himself onwards.

His panicked mind despaired; he was on a preservation station, they were small and designed to protect and host any space faring sentient who found themselves in distress, there was nowhere for Charles to run or escape to! The escape pod had no controls! It would just come straight back here!

He could hear the creature behind him as it scuttled. It had unfurled itself from one of the beds in the living area of the station as he had entered, unaware of the apparent danger. It was massive; longer than four or five of him laying head to toe, its shiny black carapace and bright red legs had set off every alarm in the poor Human's already frazzled mind, never mind the pair of leg sized pincers that looked like it could dissect him with ease. He could practically feel them connecting either side of his neck and snipping it straight off!

A thought occurred to Charles; the SOS signal was already broadcasting, perhaps he could hide from the giant-space-centipede until help arrived? Oh god he just needed to get away from it first.

Unfortunately he tripped. 

A loose shoelace had tangled around his other foot and the resulting failure to keep up with his torso sent the young pilot skidding to an abrupt halt, rolling over himself as he stop. The giant-space-centipede was upon him in moments, he was bodily lifted immediately and entangled in a long body, surrounded by legs. The human immediately assumed death would be next.

Charles expected screeching, blurbling or outright roars, but the cooing, motherly voice that erupted from it, kind of left his mind in the lurch however. It was a complete disconnect of what he had expected. 

"Oh! Oh no, you poor baby! Mama's here! Did you have a nasty fall? Let me see, did you hurt yourself? Oh dear! Magic pincers! Magic pincers will make it all better!"

He felt uncountable legs all over him, light pinches on what he assumed was a scraped knee as he was carried straight back to the room that served as living quarters whilst occupants waited for rescue. It didn’t bother to take the floor, it traversed the walls and ceiling whilst carrying the confused human without any hint of difficulty, all the while it whittered and worried over him. 

"Why were you running about? You could have hurt yourself-" "If I could just-" He tried to interject, "Your plates haven't even started to grow in! Honestly, your broodmother... Oh you poor thing, you're filthy, let's get you all sorted..."

"Will you get off!?” the struggling human started to demand, but the wiggling mass of chitin and legs corralled Charles towards the (to him) oversized cushioned bowl that counted as a bed according to the wider community amongst the stars.

The Broodmother happily poured herself into the depression encircling the wriggling youngster.

The poor dear was obviously young, possibly only hours old; his pink flesh showed no signs of hardening yet, covered only by thin cloth material. Someone had obviously cared for the little one by providing these rudimentary bandages that covered his four limbs, maybe the dear was a runt? Was that why he was alone? Oh her hearts, each broke in turn for the poor thing, she'd never abandoned such a vulnerable cutie.

The Broodmother, as she was known by her children, had successfully raised millions of offspring at this point. Countless eggs and the delightful youth that came soon after, she was made and born to be a mother through and through.

Those days were behind her now to her dismay. In her old age she missed the feeling of being needed, of giving care and support. To see a child grow from a beautiful egg to a regal centipede with the knowledge that if they were knocked back, she would be there to catch them without fail and without judgement.

But now this, admittedly, odd creature, needed her. He smelt of smoke and fear, her mandibles clicked in worry.

Charles on the other hand was easily manhandled into position at the centre of the bowl and the Broodmother’s body. Her many legs manipulated his far smaller and lighter body so it was also curled up, his back against the softer, warmer underbelly of the Broodmother and her legs curled protectively around his body.

"Sssh, it's okay baby. It's okay. You're safe now..." the motherly voice from above and around him crooned.

Squeezing his eyes closed for a moment, Charles took the opportunity to actually take a breath.  The running had left him panting and the ensuing struggle hadn't allowed him to recover.

"There we go.. Good boy... ssh shh shh..." Her soothing tones continued, feeling him settle.

Some of her legs began to tap gently at this skin in lazy waves, travelling from the back of his neck, down his arms and sides, before following down his legs. His flesh pimpled as a wave of goosebumps rolled across him.

"What happened darling? Can you remember?" Her voice enquired gently, as if she were talking to a vulnerable child that had hurt itself.

"I... it was a micro-meteor shower. There was nothing on the maps, took out my engine in one fell swoop..." Charles explained, hoping to regain some lost authority. He may not have been military, but he was a freighter pilot, he was self reliant, he'd always had to be.

"Oh I bet that was scary, it's over now baby, it's over.." yet more claws dragged themselves across his hair.

"Where's your carers dearie?"

"I don't have any, I have no ne-"

A gasp and a tight squeeze silenced him mid sentence as lights from the room were blocked out by the giant-space-centipede ball growing tighter.

"You do now. I'm here.. I'm here little one... you're safe now. Mama's here..."

"It's fine, I'm fine, there's no need for this, you can let me go." He tried to reassure her, but he wasn't released, only caressed lovingly again and again. The sensations, weirdly feeling quite pleasant.

"You're so brave, but there's no need now. We'll rest here, mama will look out for you and when we're feeling better we'll see about getting you under my care permanently."

 "I don't think you'll be able to do that, I'll need to get back to work before long." charles chuckled as he tried to explain again on to deaf ears. Wherever they were on her body. The rippling laugh that came from The Broodmother felt strange. 

"Oh no, it won't be an issue. My children either own or run this system and the surrounding ones too. They likely own the company you work for or are at least contracting for, they'll let mommy worry about their employee if I ask, you'll be mine to look after from now on..." She said with finality.

Charles blinked as he worked over the ramifications of this rather alarming bit of information.

“err..”

The Broodmother enclosed around him again keeping him within the safe confines of her body and love.

After roughly a day had passed, the The Galactic Community rescue crew arrived at the station to retrieve the occupants. They found a healthy, but elderly crit'yun broodmother and an exhausted young male human within. Both were in good health although the human was difficult to extract from the centre of what was a protective centipede ball. It took almost as long as the rescue itself to explain that she didn't have to wait for his skin to harden, they were ‘just like that’.

The broodmother made a solemn vow in that moment to head to the human home planet as the young, soft creatures obviously needed protecting in such a dangerous universe. No one had the heart to explain to her that it was quite the impossible task.

Some time had passed since Charles had the pleasure of meeting the crit'yun known as The Broodmother. Oddly enough, whenever he mentioned her title, everyone had at least heard of her.

In the month that had flown by, he'd found out that his contract with his company had been bought by another company, quoting something about the lost commercial ship as the catalyst. He'd also found out the fine print of said contract left him with little choice but to accept the new company or be forced to not work for a whole year which he absolutely couldn't afford to do.

Upon getting home on board a sluggat station bordering The Edge, his entire hab-block, a building that housed over a million people, had been bought and all tenants had to vacate immediately. He sat on the edge of his bed looking around the cupboard sized home that he lived in.

It was tiny, sad and in desperate need of refurbishment, but Charles was at a loss as to what he was supposed to do. He rubbed a hand across his face as he leant forward, holding his head as the quiet hum of the apartment soothed him. 

When his door buzzer shook him from his meditation, he shouted that he still had 4 days to vacate, they couldn't force him out before then. But the buzzer buzzed again.

He sighed and pushed up off the bed and keyed open the door. His heart jumped at the sight of familiar black chitin and red legs.

"Oh darling there you are! Mommy's been looking everywhere for you!"

She surged into his one room home, her massive bulk instantly filling the place and causing Charles to stumble backwards and fall onto his bed as it hit the back of his knees. Her head and long antennas swung round to check him over. The long undulating appendages gently stroking his arms, shoulders, neck and finally settling on resting against the underside of his jaw.

"Baby, I know you're a big boy now, but I've been listening to the news and I heard about your troubles."

"I have a feeling you might be behind some of this 'Broodmother'." Charles replied, a wary look on his face, unsure just how much control she had over his life.

Her upper body rose up and he was once again grabbed, pulled off the bed, and pressed into the softer scales of her underside.

"I would only ever work for what's best for you baby! Mommy only wants what's best for her baby. Wouldn't she? Yes she would!"

He was bodily swung from one side to the other as he was held captive against her. He tried to struggle, but the fluid hydraulics that powered her biology rendered her incredibly strong and him woefully incapable of escaping her clutches.

"So! Mommy has a surprise. She's going to take you back to hers, where she will pamper you, and feed you and make sure you never have to work again!"

"That's not- I mean.. shouldn't I work? Earn my way... er... mother?" Charles asked, trying to play around her game.

"Mommy." She corrected him firmly. "And no! Look at you, your plates still haven't grown in! Ah ah! You can't expect me to believe those idiots about you not supposed to have plates. I promise not to let you out of my sight,-" She tapped his nose once to emphasise her point. " until they all grow in."

"And what am I to do while I'm there?"

"Why, be my child of course! If we're to encourage your plates to grow in, we'll need to start all over and make sure that we undo the damage your last caretaker did. I'll sing you to sleep, bath you, entertain you- we'll have a marvellous time together." She promised.

“H-hey! Wait!”Charles struggled again as she scuttled out of his apartment and into the hallway, also occupied by more crit'yun.

"Pack up his belongings, we'll decorate the new crèche with his things." She commanded them. The last he saw of his original home was several smaller crit'yun entering it to retrieve all his worldly possessions.

[wolven91]

The Bigot

"They offer nothing to us that we haven't already!" Snapped the well dressed vulptanis, Xingta. Dismissing the preposterous suggestion of submitting yet another human study, although this one was more invasive.

"But we could still learn from their culture, their history. They are not clones or copies from something else." Retorted the vulptanis in green, Xingta's rival in academics. Xingta rolled his eyes before gripping the podium in front of him and pointing a blunt claw back at the idiot. How they had gotten their doctorate he had no idea.

"Nonsense! Our histories are longer than theirs!" Xingta swept a hand at the anatomy pictures of the crit'yun behind him. "The crit'yun have histories that span back to before human ancestors had gills! Why would we not devote these resources to a worthier cause? Such as a crit'yun study?"

The debate was on the final distribution of an approval ticket for a study. It was down to Xingta's crit'yun study or Xupa's study on humans. Whoever won this ticket would be set for the foreseeable future, while the other would risk falling into obscurity.

Whatever the vote, Xingta's final comment hit a nerve and Xupa cracked first, their hands gripping their own podium so tightly the wood cracked as they hissed over it at Xingta.

"Your theories are the result of a drug addled mind, and your citations are spelt wrong!"

That hurt, the small gasp in the auditorium along with a ripple of concerned murmuring confirmed Xingta's expectation that this would not win Xupa the popular votes.

But that didn't mean he couldn't strike back. Effects of 'raised blood' and all that.

"Your thesis would owe my rear an apology if I used it as a wipe!" He snarled, which gained him a series of 'oohs'. Unfortunately, the sniping match was entered with the sticking of a gavel.

"Silence! The speakers will render onto themselves and maintain civility in in this hall! We have heard your arguments and will confer. You are all dismissed. The doctors will not engage with one another for the rest of the day by our order. You will do well as to go home." Ordered the eldest vulptanis and inventor of the Hycene Inverse Halso system. His invention had catapulted him into the prestigious position he now occupied as per vulptanis culture. It was just lucky that he was a fine judge of educational merit, if that was all he was good for.

Xingta gathered his things and swept from the hall. He was offered best wishes from many of the gallery occupants who saw him in the hallways as he made his way home until he all but crashed into Xupa.

Their face was a snarl as they spat and spoke at Xingta who maintained a more stoic appearance.

"Your prejudice against the humans has gone too far! By the time we have a consensus to investigate these creatures, what unique information we could gleam from them will be diluted by other cultures!"

Xinga rolled his eyes, infuriating the vulptanis further.

"And? Why should I care for their culture? It is not in my interest to waste my time on a species that had yet to break free from their own atmosphere!"

Xinga's distain for humans was the talk of the university. Where everyone else was trying to find an angle, to find something they could turn into a new discovery they could use to increase their standing, Xingta was famous for telling all those who would listen to ignore this foolish line of discovery and focus on more useful endeavours.

"They had broken free from their atmosphere! They had a space station! They even had the beginnings of space tourism! Isn't that-"

"No. No it's not. I can name you three types of krad who have been capable of escaping their own world's gravity. Do you want to form a study on these krad's cultures?" Xingta interrupted with a bored tone. The krads in question were non-sentient crustations, crustations found on every life supporting planet that had any amount of moisture.

"Xupa, I don't care about humans. They bore me and should bore everyone else. Now get out of my way."

Xingta shouldered past Xupa as she screamed 'bigot' at his back. He allowed that title to sit on his shoulders.

== 0 ==

As Xingta got home he smiled softly as he got the feeling that he was about to be given his grant. By applying pressure to his opponent, he showed their weakness of mind and desperation. Two things that did not bode well for a council voting for who they wished to support with their final ticket of the year.

"Xing?" Came a soft voice.

"It's me, where are you?"

"Bedroom!"

The vulptanis stripped as he walked, folding the academic clothes over his arm until all that was left were his glasses as he entered the bedroom. On the bed, was a human. She lowered the data slate she had in her hand as Xingta lay back on the bed until he was laying by her ankles.

She smiled at him in her odd way of showing teeth.

"Remind me again why you do it that way." He asked softly.

"It's a throw back to our animalistic ancestors. We show teeth as a sign of happiness or submission. 'I'm friendly'." She explained calmly. Xingta knew this, he listened very careful every time Rachael spoke, he just enjoyed her explanations and her voice.

He reached up and grasped the data slate, tapping it with a claw to bring up the current screen.

"You're reading 'Xaxwell's brief explanation on ion drives and excitable materials and its effects of near-space physics'. This is a two thousand page sleeping pill. How do you gain enjoyment from this?" Xingta asked. He was a biological researcher, physics always illuded him. His human guest merely shrugged, the massively oversized t-shirt that bore his former university's logo on the front drowning her in material.

"It's interesting to see what we got right and what we got wrong."

"You people were on the right track?"

"Definitely. I compared it to my book." She reached to the bedside table and grabbed a thick paper textbook before gently placing it on the bed in front of her. It was so heavy, Xingta felt the bed sag beside his head.

"I suspect that if we had a bit more time, more money into pure research, we could have figured out some of this stuff within a year or two. Just a shame we didn't have science for science's sake back on Earth."

"Mm, well... speaking of funding research, I think they're going to go for my project over Xupas. Fucking human 'lover'."

"Good. Did she really...?"

"Yeah. If they go for her project a human will be needed for experiments. They'll either 'get' one from somewhere or vat grow one. Xupa will want a 'real' human though."

Racheal tucked her knees under her chin and hugged them to herself as she considered Xingta's words. He reached out a hand and lightly gripped her leg.

"It won't be you. If it all goes wrong, I already have plans to send you away via a friend."

"Who?"

"He was my study buddy. Smarter than me by a long way, then one day he gets offered a 'government adjacent job'."

"What does that mean?"

"Secret police. He'll want to do right. His moral compass was already better aligned than mine."

"What about your human study?"

Xingta snorted.

"That's a 'side hustle' as you say. My crit'yun study is where I'm focusing, if I can learn more of your people in the meantime I will. You remember how to access the file I have on you, right?"

"Yeah, but I deleted the bit about the other night."

"Mating habits are just as-"

"Not my quote; 'squeals', unquote, you asshole." Rachael snapped, grinning as her hair partially covered her face. Xingta grinned up at the ceiling.

"Very well..."

His eyes closed as her fingers reached over to scratch at the fur right between his eyes. She always enjoyed watching the tip of his tongue peek out from between his front teeth when she did this.

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]