The Auric Floof (Pseudofelis aureus) is, if tales are to be believed, the most dangerous beast in the known realms. Its often shed hair contains allergens known to make even the stony skinned saurians itch. Their claws, retractable and known to scratch diamond windows, are nearly as terrifying as their ability to yowl in subsonics making bones shatter. The humans gasped when they saw these ferocious ghastlinesses, shrieking ‘Kittens! Space kittens!’ The rest of the galaxy’s residents rolled their eyes, shook their antennas or wriggled their sense organs in sheer despair. The Floofs recognized potential laps and moved into humanity’s homes. The other beasts humanity had adopted - the blue howlers (hollow snake things covered with shimmering scales, known for their bellows), the hell parrots (more shriekers but oh so beautiful) and the Cerberus-pups (three heads, big teeth, very good boys) - just adapted.
Veterinarians were pleased.
Animal food stores proliferated. A whole new industry of pet fashion became wildly popular. The whole galaxy waited for the humans to self destruct. Didn’t happen.

Humans are hard to understand in general, but when we found out that they collected all the apex predators from all over we didn’t know what to think. Humans are quite strange some of the most harmless things can concern them; then they turn around and and rub the stomach of the most deadly animal on the planet. Other members of the galaxy went to see what the humans where doing with the animals. When they came back it was so out of this world we thought they were joking. We all went to make sure. The humans had made them into pets. Creatures that can split world and eat stars rolling over and doing tricks. The humans bring fear to us not because they are deadly, but because the deadliest creatures are silly little pets.

It came as no surprise that humans had the concept of domestication. Every major civilization had that. What surprised us was that humanity took it a step further and domesticated even the most extreme of predators that they could find and tame...something others would hesitate at doing. Soon, even those predators became exotic pets before eventually reaching the general pet market. The ones that couldn't be easily tamed but could be tricked to not recognize humans and sapient species as prey soon were given homes in wildlife sanctuaries and zoos.

However, humans soon turned their focus towards sapient species, especially the most aggressive and warlike. They used a similar tactic called 'charm' to help improve relations with each other. Eventually, we saw that these races and civilizations were improving relations with each other. From the wolfish Houons, the spider-like Jeyuns and the tusked, iron-muscled Orcs to the fair-skinned Aurans, the mothlike Varyns, and the scaly, fanged Chyrans, no civilization could resist the pull of the fabled Humans, a species that could be as warlike as Ares yet as loving as Casanova.

Soon, there were reports of humans and their harems of lovers which, although rare, was certainly an impressive feat. Even despite most humans only taking one lover as their bride or groom, there were reports of humans having straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or even pansexual harems. And even then there was the biological compatibility for fertile offspring, which resulted in great joy once people realized that all sapient species were biologically compatible with each other, especially humans.

Aside from those, there was the size. Occasionally, harems may only be two lovers, yet even rarer is a harem of 6 or 7. However, I have seen a man with 36 wives at a nudist resort I frequented, which has subsequently broken the record of 21 lovers in a harem. Before humans, few would think this would be possible. Yet now, we know it can be done.

With all this, you would expect humans to be in danger with the predators in their homes and in their beds, but they are predators too. They hunt for food, snare for study and rehoming, and capture hearts for love. Not only have they contributed to technology, but they have become the catalyst for a closer bond between aliens and the chance of a possible Galactic Union.

Rain. Rain. And more fucking rain.

That was the only thing that I could hear, it was the only thing I could see.

In the middle of a jungle, all I could see were trees and the sight of falling rain drops filled the grey skies.

The reason that I was here, was because my Commanding Officer deemed it important that I undergo a training program.

What he didn’t tell was that the instructor was a particularly dastardly and somewhat sadistic fuck. It has four straight days of tireless combat, tense waiting, and terrified watching of the shadows. If anything as small as a gnat budged, I was already looking and tracking its wings.

I stood now in the middle of a clearing, having only been given a sidearm, my basic training fatigues, and a blade that was mounted onto my wrist.

In the distance, I could hear the hollow laughter that vaguely resembled that of the Officer that sent me on this mission, meaning that my ‘Instructor’ had given them complete authorization of this training session and voice print to boot.

I turned my head and could see the silhouette of a towering figure with dreadlocks, hidden behind a mask that stared into my very soul before tapping a panel on their wrist and vanishing. . .

Giving a flick of my wrist, the blades hidden in the device would extend, tightening the grip on my pistol and taking a deep, calming breath.

“Alright. . . Let’s go!”

This wasn’t a training session, this was a damn Hunt.

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