Chapter 39: Wild Heart.
"RWAAAAAAAH I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Rose Screamed, launching forward, her blade held high above her head and rushing forward so fast her body was a blur, Ryan laughed and vanished before her eyes and suddenly she felt something cold against the nape of her neck and, turning her head, she saw the tip of his blade resting against her throat.
"Your anger gives you great strength, but it is also you're greatest weakness, Rose, you need to learn how to harness it, focus it, use it as a weapon, Yautja use it like a weapon, we call those who manage to learn to harness it to such a degree that it becomes both a sword and a shield Berserkers, I sense in you the potential to do the same, but your fear is holding you back, fear of failure, fear of disappointing, fear of further loss, you need to let these things go," he said, and Rose sagged, they'd been at this for hours and while it was going well this part was utterly eluding her, no matter what he did she just seemed to utterly lose her shit and go utterly off the rails, letting him beat her easily.
Ryan stepped back and let her up, he was an incredible teacher, he just seemed to have this incredible ability to look right into your soul and know exactly how to bring out your strengths, he'd taught Rose such incredible things over the last few hours in this odd place.
Granted, it had scared the ever living shit out of her when he'd taken her to the scary room with the two tables and the odd octopus thing with needle covered arms, but they hadn't hurt when they'd put them in, just like they said they wouldn't, and it made her feel safer knowing that there was a cute Battle Angel watching over her as she was under the spell of the Dream Warrior Tamer.
Ryan was utterly incredible, the way he moved, such speed, power, and focus in every move he made and every strike he performed, he was like a force of nature and she was under no illusions that no matter how long she practiced that she would never be as good as him, but he seemed to sense that fear and reservation in her and began to coax it out of her, to confront it and to break it.
"Hmmmm, I think we need to rethink our strategy here, I need you to utterly let go of your fear, a good Tamer needs to be utterly confident in all that they do, how can you expect to be the Alpha of a pack if you can not dominate them and get them to respect you? That is what a Tamer is, you need to understand the ways and laws of nature, young one, to embrace hem as your own universal truths, pack leaders lead through strength and confidence, if an Alpha is afraid of challenge then a subordinate will challenge them and they will fall and lose their place in the pack, so we need you to be without fear, a being of pure strength and confidence, so let us see what makes you fear, shall we?" Ryan said, and Rose felt a cold shiver run down her spine like a droplet of icey water trickling its way down her back.
Reaching up, Ryan touched her head and suddenly hell was unleashed, it was like Ryan reached into her skull found the worst of the worst of her memories and tore them from her skull and made them into the world around her.
First up she saw the first time she had ever gotten close to a girl, she was beautiful, a girl called Jean, and the first time she'd seen her she wanted to be just like her, she was calm, collected, cool, confident, so when she'd started taking notice in her she'd never been so flattered in her life.
She was utterly charming, she was just this nerdy girl who loved rabbits and carrot cake who had a cybernetic arm thanks to the accident, something that gave her a constant source of self conscious embarassment, the hell was she that this goddess would take notice of her?
But still they got closer and closer until one day they were in Jean's room and Jean made her move, Rose was just so scared she didn't know what to do but she rolled with it, calmed only by Jean's confidence and charisma, she let her undress her to look at her body and then Rose's worst nightmare came to reality, she started laughing.
"What the hell are those? You into bondage or something? You a kinky girl?" Jan laughed, pointing at the scars that crisscrossed Rose's skin, her back looked like a naughts and crosses board, and that wasn't the end of it, from the damage her body had sustained she had had extensive reconstructive surgery, one to rebuild her shoulder so that the cybernetic arm could be implanted and attached, some to her rib cage to both rebuild it and strengthen it to hold the mountings.
Jean's laughter echoed from her ears to the back of her brain and the pain came screaming back into the front of her mind, here she stood, naked, vulnerable, alone, afraid, and here she was, someone who was supposed to care for her laughing her ass off calling her kinky girl and gimp girl.
In a fit of confused anger, Rose grabbed her clothes and ran and ran and ran, only stopping to put her clothing on before she left the house, but not once looking back, eventually she stood in the field of her home colony underneath her favorite tree, a place she could come to watch gigantor bunnies play and she screamed at the sky in pure rage and pain.
Why couldn't anyone see her? Really see her? See who she was and not just what she looked like? Why were people such assholes all the time?
The gigantor bunnies scattered, it was like watching bunny shaped clouds running in every direction, these things were big by bunny standards, about the size of a bob cat from Earth, but while they may look fat and doughy and slow, boy, could they fucking run.
Rose slumped to her knees and took her head in her hands, feeling the cool metal of her cybernetic hand against her face and began to sob uncontrollably, her body racking with sobs and pain, all she'd wanted was to be loved and accepted and that bitch couldn't even do that, she'd lured her there, given her hope and then smashed it with a hammer of laughter and cruelty.
Suddenly Rose heard a voice, "You're forgetting something, Rose," Ryan said, and she looked at him, realizing that tears were streaming down her face again.
"Huh? No I'm not," she insisted, and Ryan smiled at her.
"See, young one, this is what pain does, it blots out the good and pollutes it with bad, did you forget your new friend and confidant so easily?" he said, and Rose cocked her head in confusion, but Ryan simply pointed and she turned to see herself sat hugging her knees tightly to her chest and sobbing
But slowly slowly slowly, approaching from the grass, one of the gigantor bunnies was lolloping toward her, sniffing the air and pricking its huge ears as if listening to her intently, until, finally, it reached her side and nudged her with its head, she looked at him and a ray of hope ran through her chest as she remembered the feeling, "Bun Bun," she whispered to herself, and Ryan smiled.
"From pain came friendship and trust, you see, young one, this beautiful, innocent creature sensed your pain and your grief and he didn't like it, he wanted to heal it, but he didn't know what to do, so he did the only thing he could, be there for you," Ryan said, gesturing, and as she watched, the big bunny climbed his awkward fluffy ass right into her lap and just let her pet him and cuddle him, she remembered how fluffy he felt, how warm, how cuddly, he just sat there and let her vent her anger to him and he just sat there with his ears up listening and twitching his cute little nose as he let her stroke his super soft fur.
Ryan turned to her, "You see the power of nature, young one? He didn't know you or what you were, but he'd seen you here before, knew you wouldn't hurt him or his family, he trusted you enough to know you weren't a threat and he didn't like your pain, he remembered how you would come and do nice things for them like bring them carrots and lettuce to eat, so now he wanted to help you, and he did," he said, and Rose got to see her friendship with the big fluffy bunny in fast forward, how every time she came to the tree he would make a bee line to her side and he would feed him and the others, then he would just sit with her and listen to her problems, he was her big fluffy pain sponge.
This was how it began, this was the fluffy straw that broke the camel's back, over the next few hours Ryan subjected her to more and more painful memories but each time he broke them down and analysed them with her, showing her the good in them as well, right up until her battle with the undead that killed her family.
"How can any of this be good?" she asked, looking around the scene of gory carnage, Ryan smiled and pointed to the bodies, "Out of the two hundred and one people in here, which one is actually alive?" he said, and Rose looked at him strangely.
"Well, me, obviously, but they were dead before I even got to them," she said, and he nodded.
"Exactly! You fought two hundred dead things and beat them, on your own, with no training and no help, far less of these things took down battle hardened soldiers and police officers on the world where they were spawned, but you fought them and won, young one, you should be proud of your strength and determination to live," Ryan said, sweeping his large hand over the scene to prove a point.
"Your fear and anger drove you forward, made you not give up, no matter what, do you see now how it is nothing to be worried about, it is to be embraced, harnessed, controlled and used like tool or a weapon, that is what it can do for you," he said, then, like he was plucking the strings on a harp made from her soul, he tore those feelings out of her and made her feel them again, made her see them, made her endure them until she saw it, she saw that he was right, just as her brain felt like it was going to melt down she experienced what could only be described as a moment of absolute clarity, she saw it, saw herself, saw what those feelings did to her, made her do, made her capable of and suddenly, like a light bulb coming on in her head, she understood.
Thier blades clashed and clanged loudly, Rose rushed forward under Ryan's defence only for him to spin out of the way and lunge at her, she twisted her whole body and rolled under the blade before coming up and meeting it with a strike that nullified his strength and speed and, with the brightest smile she had ever seen, Ryan beamed at her.
"Excellent, young one! Excellent, I do believe we have done it, we have broken through all that fear, all that worry, all that self doubt, and do you see now what you are capable of when you let go of it all and turn it to your will?" he said, and Rose felt a rush of elation as she eased back and leaned on her blade, she felt like they had been in here for years, it was like in this place time didn't exist, it was incredible, but they had practiced and practiced and practiced until finally it all made sense to her and now, now she was a warrior!
"It makes me proud to call you Sister Rose, but you will only officially become a Tamer when you make your first tame, until then you are an apprentice, to earn your final place among my brothers and sisters you must tame a beast and make it yours, with nothing but your will alone, bend it, dominate it, make it serve you and then reward that service with love and care," he said, and she nodded, understanding.
"Thank you, Patriarch, I swear to you, your confidence in me is not misplaced, I will not let you down," she said, and he grinned and nodded.
"I know it, young one, now, come, let's go see your new body, shall we?" he said, and she looked confused.
"New body?" she said, and he grinned at her.
"What, you think we stuck those needles in you for fun?" he said, and, with that, they were gone and breath flashed into her lungs and she sat up just in time to see the mechanical octopus arms retracting and she gasped and patted herself down and she felt solid muscle.
Rose gasped as she looked down herself, she looked like a mini amazon warrior, her body had been utterly transformed, every muscle was solid and pumped, she looked like she'd spent every day since her mother pushed her out in the bloody gym pumping iron!
"Holy shit! I'm a fucking beef cake!" she exclaimed, and Ryan roared with laughter from next to her as he offered her a hand down which she accepted and suddenly realized she felt as light as air on her feet now.
"I take it you like the new you?" he said.
"Like it!? I fucking love it!" she exclaimed, checking herself out.
"Part of being one of us is maintaining this body, young one, we do not mind if you do so by using this machine to do it or the old fashioned way, but do not let your fitness drop, you will be tested routinely in the Guardian Core and, as a Seeker, others look to you as an example to follow, there is only one of us for every hundred Hunters, so make me and your new family proud, yes?" he said, and she beamed up at him and nodded.
"I will, Patriarch, you can count on me," she replied happily and proudly, and Ryan nodded approvingly, obviously feeling it.
"Keep that pride, young one, be proud of who you are and what you are, be forever proud of your clan as we are proud of you, let it shine and be a beacon of hope for others around you, be their example to follow," he said, patting her on the now not so slender shoulder and she nodded and, before she could stop herself, she hugged him, and he laughed before hugging her back.
"Thank you for believing in me," she said, and he stroked her head gently and patted her.
"Now it's your turn to reciprocate, Rose, I believe you, so you now must believe in us and in me, ok?" he said, and she nodded into his chest.
"I already do," she said and he nodded.
"Good, now, go and relax, you've earned it, and try not to use those new found powers of yours to chase to any of the xeno girl around ok? However tempting it may be," he said, and she couldn't help but laugh and nod.
"No promises there, Patriarch," she said with a sly smile, and he roared with laughter again, but then something niggled at the back of her mind and she looked at him and then, showing off why he was a master Dream Warrior, he looked at her sadly.
"You want to know where my most beloved one is, don't you?" he asked, and she felt a little shame and nodded.
"I feel your love radiating off you, but it swirls with such sadness," she said, and he nodded.
"She was killed many years ago, taken from me and our beloved cubs, but she fell as she lived, proudly in battle against evil and darkness, her legacy lives on in me and our cubs and every day I live I breathe life into her memory and count down one more day off until I will earn my right to join her again in the eternal hunt, I miss her greatly, but I am not sad for that, she is at peace and I look forward to seeing her again," he said, and, with that, he turned and was gone.
Rose got changed in her quarters and, after checking out her brand new body in the mirror, she decided to go and take a look at the ship, she was a card carrying member of the Guardian Core now, a Seeker Tamer, and she burned with pride and a deep sense of achievement and accomplishment, Ryan had had Seeker uniforms shipped to her quarters for her and putting it on for the first time made her feel proud.
As she walked through the ship people greeted her warmly and she smiled at them, returning the greetings in kind, for the first time in her life she didn't feel invisible, she made her way down to the recreation area of the ship, which was like a kinda mixture of a lot of things, a bar, video game arcade, shit, the ship even had a bowling alley with a few lanes and she couldn't help but laugh at one of the humans from the Guardian Core trying to teach a group of Yautja hunters from the Halkrath how to bowl, he rolled the ball smoothly down the alleyway and scored a perfect strike and the other humans cheered.
He gestured happily to the lane and a huntress dressed in her Halkrath casual wear, which was basically a purple flight like suit, picked up one of the heaviest balls and proceeded to launch it like she was pitching a base ball at the pins, causing them to explode into bits, she still managed to get a strike.
The Yautja all cheered and the humans stood in both disbelief and face palmed as a group as reaper robots burst out of everywhere and began fixing things and Rose couldn't help but laugh, but then that's when she saw them and Rose's heart suddenly turned into a jack hammer in her chest, there were two Xenos in the middle of the room, one was blatantly a queen, a perfect blend of Yautja and Xenomorph that gave her a look of power and grace, her jet black hide shimmered like it was made of liquid.
Next to her was another xeno, this one a regular breed but obviously one of the advanced or evolved genus as she had feminine features like all of them did, they were the two singular most beautiful creatures she had seen in her life, grace, beauty, and power all wrapped up in a hide so pretty that it dared you to take your eyes away, a dare Rose was utterly losing.
The smaller Xenomorph girl headed off, leaving the big queen standing there alone for a moment and Rose wondered if there was anyway in a million years someone like her could catch the eye of a divine creature like her, but then did she even like girls? That and a million other questions ran through her head like a million little screeching xenos playing tag in her brain.
But she was a Tamer now, she was confident, powerful, not scared of anyone or any thing, if she did not try she would hate herself for a lifetime and always be left wondering what if?
As she watched, the queen walked over to a rail and leaned on it, she seemed to be talking to a female Yautja who was watching some others of her species, trying to figure out a game called darts, she seemed entertained at the attempts a human was making to try and dig a dart that was buried up to the flight in the wooden board where a grinning hunter had just buried it.
As she watched the queens tail seemed to dance back and forth mesmerisingly and she felt herself being drawn towards it like it was hypnotizing her, oh, what she wouldn't give to just reach out and touch it, to play with it, to feel it coil around her possessively and reassuringly, and suddenly a heavy hand slammed down on her shoulder, snapping her out of her happy trance and making her reflexively grab for it but as she did and she whirled around to drop into a combat stance she found her new friend Reaper standing there, grinning like an idiot, and she breathed out.
"Heh, sorry I startled you, kiddo, just noticed you, umm, admiring the view over there and thought I'd come over and say hi, heard you completed your training, so, now I guess I call you Tamer Thornwin now huh?" he said, grinning, Rose felt her eyes momentarily drawn back to the queen's still dancing tail and Reaper noticed and his grin grew wider.
"Rose to you, Reaper, you pulled my arse outta that fire, so to you I'm just Rose," she said, turning her attention back to him and he nodded.
"She's quite the looker, ain't she?" he said, and Rose flushed bright red but found herself nodding.
"All the xenos on this ship are, but I just seen her and this other xeno together and I...I've never seen anything like them, the pair of them are...breath taking," she said in a half mesmerized trance.
Reaper nodded in utter agreement, "Oh yeah, she has a tail to die for, doesn't she, and that hide, ohhhh, boy, it just begs for you to run your fingers over it for hours 'till you can tell what part you are touching with your eyes closed," he said with a dreamy smile that kinda snapped her back to reality.
"I didn't know you were a xeno lover?" she said, and he laughed.
"You barely know me at all, kiddo, so don't let that surprise you, both Xenos and Yautja, guess I'm just a sucker for powerful woman who are the perfect blend of beauty and danger," he said with a grin, and she laughed and nodded.
"Well, back off, mister, I saw her first, I got dibs, if she doesn't like girls then you can have a try," she said playfully, shooting him a challenging smile and puffing out her chest, daring him to push it.
Reaper roared in laughter that confused her for a moment, "Kid, I gotta say, I admire your gumption, I like this new you, Ryan really did a number on you, didn't he?" He asked, and she puffed out her chest even more and nodded.
"I'm a Tamer now, or I will be when I tame my first beast," she said proudly, and Reaper stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder.
"Proud of you kiddo, seriously I am, you did us all proud," he said, and she smiled brightly at him and nodded.
"Thanks, Reaper, that means a lot coming from you," she said.
"Though, here's a lesson for you, ok, and listen good, if you're going to be a Xeno lover you have to remember the golden rule, ok?" he said, and she cocked her head curiously.
"What golden rule?" she asked.
"Xeno love lasts a lifetime, they're life mates, you catch a Xeno's heart and they will never ever leave you, no matter what, they will never fall out of love with you and they will be as much yours on day one thousand and one as they are on day one, never ever break a Xeno's heart, or you will make an enemy of their entire hive," he said seriously, and she thought about that and nodded.
"I would never break her heart, a creature like that deserves to bathe in love every day of her life," she said, and Reaper nodded in complete agreement.
"The xeno girls are going to love you," he said, and she smiled brightly, then Reaper leaned in closely and beckoned her in like he was going to share a secret with her. unlike most people she couldn't for some reason read his mind like the others around her.
"Wanna see something cool? I think I can teach you something that could serve you well," he said, and she tilted her head curiously.
"Teach me what?" she said, and Reaper tapped his nose.
"It can't be told, only shown," he said, and now he really had her attention.
"Ok, sure, teach me, oh, wise Reaper," she said teasingly, and he laughed.
"Cool, now, watch and learn, kiddo," he said, and, with that, he stood up, spun around her, and, before she could do a damn thing about it, he was heading right for the Xeno queen, right for her Xeno queen!
"Hey, that's not fair! I saw her first! She's..." Rose began, but as she watched Reaper caught hold of the queen's tail, ran his hand over it and the other he ran over her rear end, right up her back until she turned and embraced him, picking him up to kiss him, locking him in the deepest kiss she had ever seen in her life.
"...MIne," Rose finished as she suddenly realized what Reaper had been hinting at and she felt like an idiot, she was his xeno queen, and that's when it hit her, he'd just saved her from making an absolute fool out of herself, so, once again, she found herself owing the mysterious cyborg human Spirit.
"Hey, Rose, come over here and join us, got the two most beautiful ladies in the universe to introduce you to" Reaper said, waving his hand at her, she balked a little but she walked over all the same.
"Ahh, you're the girl we rescued from that space station, I must say, I was impressed at your strength, young one!" the big Xeno queen said, patting her on the shoulder and Rose felt the incredible strength in her grip.
"Indeed, she fought with such power, I am not surprised she now walks among the ranks of the Dream Warriors," the Yautja female who was sat down said, nodding her head.
"Tamer Rose Thornwin, let me introduce you to the loves of my life who helped rescue you from the station, this is Macha, the most beautiful queen in the universe who can turn a man to jelly just by wiggling that cute tail around for too long, girls too, or so I hear," Reaper said with a wink, and Rose blushed as Macha beamed at her and suddenly Rose recognized the badge of a Soul Knight on her head.
"Lady Macha," she said formally, and Macha beamed at her.
"Please, just Macha to my friends, and any friend of my beloved male is a friend to me to," she said, kissing Reaper again.
"And this slab of raw prime Yautja beef cake who can make men of all races drop to their knees and give thanks to the Lady Paya for the fact that they were born with eyes by simply dropping something and bending down to pick it up is Inferno," Reaper said, and he was suddenly grabbed and pulled over the rails by the amorous Yautja female who looked like she was going to devour his head as she locked him in a deep loving kiss.
"Our male knows how to flatter us, my beauty queen, I believe tonight we must flatter him," Inferno growled, and Macha gave an evil grin.
"I believe you are right, my huntress," Macha said, kissing the huntress over the rails and making Rose's mouth drop open.
"Wait, the three of you are together?" she asked in shock, and Macha laughed and nodded.
"Mated for life, little one, three together as one for a lifetime," she said proudly, and both Reaper and Inferno nodded in agreement.
"hey, Rose here was just telling me how she saw you talking to the most beautiful Xeno she has ever seen in her life and, given half a chance, she would spend a life time just washing her tail and how it wouldn't be a wasted life," Reaper said, and Rose went bright red but as she opened her mouth to speak Macha got there first.
"Ahh, you must mean my adopted daughter Jet, yes, she is quite the model of xeno beauty, isn't she? Even though she is not born of my loins she makes me so proud, they all do, which actually presents a potential opportunity most fortunate," Macha said, and Rose cocked her head.
"it does?" she asked, and Macha gave her a huge smile.
"I do believe my daughter likes girls, specifically human girls, but she is embarassed by it and does not know what to do, or to say or even how to approach one without scaring them away from her, so maybe you could do something for me, young one," Macha said.
"What, umm, did you have in mind?" Rose asked curiously, her heart hammering in her chest like a drum.
"Take my daughter out on a, what do you humans call it...a date! Yes, this is it, take her on a date and teach her about humans, show her the way of the human heart and I believe the reward for you will be something you never dreamed of," Macha said, and Rose's mouth fell open.
"You want me to take a girl that looks as good as her on a date!?" she exclaimed, and all three of them nodded in unison.
"Xeno blind date! This rocks, we should have thought of this sooner!" Reaper said with a grin, and Rose went all bashful.
"B-B-But what if she doesn't like me?" she asked, then Inferno placed her hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
"Then at the very least you will make a beautiful new friend, will you not?" she said, and suddenly that made perfect sense, this was actually a no lose situation, even if she and Jet didn't click at least they could be friends and she'd have a cool new Xeno friend to talk to and mess about with and if they did click, then she'd have a... her nerves steeled and she smiled at them all.
"I'll do it," she said, and Raper clapped her shoulder,
"Attagirl," he said, and Macha suddenly scooped her up and hugged her.
"Thank you! You have no idea how happy this makes me, as long as there is nothing planned for tonight I will set it up for you," she said, and, with that, Macha vanished like a black streak.
Oh boy, what had she gotten herself into now?
Reaper turned to Rose with a broad smile on his kind face, "So, how are you liking life aboard the Sword of Silence?" he asked.
"It sure is different, I mean, fuck, I never imagined such a thing let alone being part of it, my Patriarch brought me up to speed during training on what our mission is and I'm utterly down with chasing and murdering the living fuck out of the people who did that to my family and all those other families too," she said.
Reaper and Inferno both laughed and nodded, "Oh, you're going to fit in just nicely around here," Reaper said, leaning back and sliding his arm around Inferno, who wrapped her arms around him before actually hoisting him into her lap and holding him tightly against her like he was a child or something, and Rose felt surprised by this, Reaper was a paragon of masculinity and here he was, sat in Inferno's lap like it was nothing and she saw not one shred of embarassment in his eyes as he lovingly stroked her mandibles before she kissed him, gently gripping a handful of his hair to hold him in place as she did.
When they parted Reaper noticed the look in Rose's eyes and he grinned, "You're wondering why I'm not embarassed, ain't you? Why I don't feel like less of a man for sitting in my girl's lap like this?" he said, and Rose blushed slightly, damn, this guy would make a fucking excellent Dream Warrior, he just saw right through people.
"Well, umm, yeah, I've never seen a guy do that with a girl, you know, outside of some kind of weird bdsm relationship or one of those pet style arrangements or something," she said quietly, she spent waaaaay too much time on the Internet.
Inferno laughed and cracked a smile at her, "You think my male thinks any less of himself because he enjoys to feel my love all around him? You think this male right here is any less masculine because he enjoys the comfort of my lap? i enjoy the comfort of his too, does it make me any less female?" she said.
"Well, you know, it's kinda expected of girls to be able to sit on their guy's lap, but the other way around?" she said, and now both of them laughed.
Reaper leaned over and then gestured around the room, "Please point out a person in this room brave or stupid enough to insult us like that," he said, and Rose glanced around and noticed they were getting some looks and, to her surprise, every one of them was jealousy, female Yautja were aiming jealous glances at Inferno because of the pretty human in her lap and some of the humans were doing the same to Reaper.
"Love is love, young one, never be afriad to express it your way, I don't care if the entire universe knew how much I love my huntress and how much I adore her strength, I know she has nothing but love and respect for me, she knows first hand what I can do, so I don't feel any less masculine like this, hell, I'm as comfortable in her lap as she is in mine, and trust me, there's no feeling on earth like that one, there's just something primal about having a huntress with those big luscious thighs planted either side of your legs and that utterly solid rear planted on your lap, to feel all that muscle and love bearing down and pinning you in place and knowing that, as strong and powerful as she is, she would never harm you but simply wants to be in charge and to show you how much she loves you is utterly exquisite, same goes for our beauty queen," Reaper said, and Inferno purred, stroking his face.
"Goddess, I'd give anything for a love like that, so utterly without inhibitions or reservations," Rose said, and Inferno cocked her head quizzically.
"You have only ever been with your own kind, haven't you?" she asked, and Rose nodded.
"Had a few girlfriends but it never went anywhere, hell, barely made it past first base, they just take one look at me and run for the hills," she said sadly, and Reaper cocked his head quizzically.
"Err, why? I'm not exactly a human lover these days but you're a damn fine example of our femininity," he said, which actually made her blush, maybe because she knew that he had no sexual interest in her that made her feel safe here with him, Reaper wasn't wired that way as was obvious by Inferno currently making a lot of other Yautja girls jealous by slipping her hand inside his shirt and rubbing his chest as he spoke.
Rose lifted her shirt slightly so they could see the scars that crossed her torso and both of them nodded, Reaper did the same, showing off his solid abdominal muscles that looked like the were fucking chiseled, not grown, but the scars were bloody obvious, plus, Rose swore she heard a great many Yautja girls start panting all at once.
"Snap," he said.
Rose looked him in the eye before looking at Inferno, "And you like his scars?" she asked, and Inferno nodded.
"They make my male who he is, they chronicle his life and the battles he has fought and won, of the pains he has endured and the strength he has that he is still breathing and fighting, for my kind, scars are a symbol of pride, not disgrace," she said, nibbling Reaaper's neck with her mandibles.
"God, I wish human girls were more like Yautja, there was this one girl, June, I really thought she was going to be the one, you know, she made me feel so special, so happy and wonderful, well, one night she gets me home and she makes a move on me and, well, I'm ready as I'll ever be, you know, I fucking loved her, I was scared out of my mind but I did it, I took my clothes off and let her see me and she took one look at me and she fucking laughed, she fucking rolled up laughing! I tore the fuck out of there like my arse was on fire, never looked back, I fucking hated her for it, still do, I didn't deserve that, it's not my fault I look like this, that I have these things, I just wanted to feel the same as everyone else, you know? To be loved and to have something and someone special and she fucking laughed at me, like I was nothing, less than nothing," Rose said, her voice shrinking to a pure whisper at the end.
Reaper tapped Inferno and he climbed off her lap as she let go and he pointed to Rose's right side and he moved around her left, then, to Rose's surprise, the pair of them embraced her and Rose found herself encased in hard muscle from two sides at once, "I know how you feel, young one, it happened to me too," Reaper said softly, and Rose believed him, she grabbed their arms and held on tightly.
"It hurts, no matter how much distance I put into it, it still hurts," she sobbed softy, and Reaper patted her back.
"I know, kiddo, I know," he said, then ,in a case of surprising openness, he told her what had happened to him and Rose sat utterly stunned, if it could happen to someone as powerful as him, then it could happen to anybody, right?
But something about what he'd said caught her attention, a name, "Did you say the girl's name was Gomez?" she asked, and Reaper nodded.
"Yup, Ami Gomez, why?" he said, and Rose's heart skipped a beat.
"What planet were you on at the time?" she asked, and Reaper told her, looking curious, and Rose couldn't believe it, she utterly couldn't believe it, but the coincidence was too great.
"Her fucking elder sister! You got the same treatment from June's elder sister Ami!" she exclaimed, and Reaper looked stunned.
"Holy fucking shit, what are the chances of that? Two bitches in the same family?" he exclaimed with a laugh, and Rose nodded.
"Well, in a way, I have to thank Ami, because of her I got turned off humans for good and now look at me, in the arms of the most beautiful huntress in the universe and the most beautiful Xeno queen in the universe, so, in a way, I should thank her, if she hadn't been such a shallow bitch to me that night, I might not be here with this pair of angels right now, same thing goes for you, kiddo, Jet is a wonderful girl, just do me a favor, go slow and gentle with her, she really has no clue what she's doing, she loves human girls and that's all she knows, so, just guide her slow, you know, if you like her like that, if you don't just let the poor girl down easy, ok?" Reaper said, and Rose laughed.
"You kidding? She's fucking gorgeous, there's no way I'm not going to like her," she said, and Reaper laughed and nodded.
"You know, if you get with her Macha will be your queen and I will be your king, right?" he said, and Rose laughed.
"Sorta like a replacement dad then?" she said, and he nodded.
"More like a step mom and dad, well, technically two step moms thanks to this gorgeous huntress here," he said, stroking Inferno's mandibles with his free hand and a warm feeling lit Rose's heart.
"Two new families in as many days, yeah, I can definitely get used to this," she said, and Reaper laugh and nodded.
Suddenly, Macha reappeared with a big smile on her face, "She said yes! She's nervous and excited, more so since I wouldn't tell her who she was going out on a date with but she's just happy that a human girl noticed her," Macha said, and Rose suddenly felt an excited knot twisting in her stomach and Reaper noticed.
He patted her shoulder, "Don't you worry, kiddo, you're going to do fine, just be yourself, you're a nice, good person, we can tell, or there's no way we'd let you anywhere near our Jet, let alone offer you a date with her, now, go on, off you go, go make yourself ready for that pretty girl, ok?" Reaper said, clapping her on the shoulder and she beamed at him before launching into hugging each of them and thanking them so hard she nearly cried, after that she actually skipped back to her quarters, a Dream Warrior and a date in one day, for the first time in a long time her life was looking up, but that's why fate loves irony, ain't it?