Greetings ladies and gentlemen, GhostNobody here checking in with everyone to see how everyone is doing, I do hope that you've been enjoying Hybrid Wars so far, I've been getting a lot of positive feedback from it and I always love reading your comments and reviews so please keep em coming, you have no idea what they mean to me so if you enjoy the work please take the time to tell me so.
And now for an exiting development, I'm now running my own Podcast called Ghost's Fan Fictions, it's avalible on a multitude of platforms like Anchor, Spotify and Google Podcasts to name but a few, so if you'd like not only read my work but to hear me read it out to you come and give it a listen, you'll actually get to hear my utterly unsexy voice to boot.
: / / open. Spotify show/ 6y2xaiE3t1EuYpHJcngntb
If it removes too much of the link to find it simply go to Spotify and search Hunter Hunted Chapter 1, it will lead you right to it.
This is the Spotify link just take out the gaps placed into it to get it past the damn web site filters that erase this stuff and go and give it a listen, at the moment only Hunter Hunted Chapter one is on there and I will be updating it weekly adding a new chapter each time, so if you'd like to revisit where this crazy trip started and hear me read it to you while you do other things please go and have a listen.
Full list of Podcast sites avalible on my Discord
discord .gg/ hES52zn
Again just remove the spaces in the link to get yourself invited and join us in the land of crazy alien love.
Next up and on the same topic I'm starting a new series and this will only be avalible in Podcast form, so you'll have to be subscibied to one of my Podcast channels to hear it, it will be my first trip outside of the AVP universe of Fan Fiction and will be set in the Fallout universe, so if you'd like to hear a unique story about crazy science, loony robots, Super Mutants, Sexy Deathclaws, unlikely romances all told by your's truely in my own voice please come along and listen to it, it's called Radiance and it will be going up very soon.
So with all of that fun stuff out of the way and just to assure your worries there will be no slow down in Hybrid Wars or to any other of my planned works before anyone panic Emails me, its all going on as normal, so this is GhostNobody signing off and hoping you'll come along and give my Podcast a listen while we get on with the show...
Chapter 21: The Roots That Bind.
Vippy and her pride didn't say another word to Smoke as they dragged him across the underground city towards their home, he got the feeling that they were all pretty pissed at him for ditching them they way he did to run off and fight the Mimic, though he was also picking something else up from them as well, surprise maybe?
He noticed it in the way that even though they hadn't said a word they were still glancing at him, he hadn't lowered his helmet since the fight with the Mimic so they couldn't see his face properly behind his mask but he could tell they were dying to ask him questions, but they were probably saving them for when they got him back some so they could shout at him in private for scaring them they way he'd done, he was already bracing himself for a pint-sized Tik eleth worthy bollocking when they finally got where they were going.
They finally arrived at the base of one of the huge turret shaped towers which given its truly breathtaking height and width he couldn't help but wonder how many Raptorian pride's lived inside one, to him he just couldn't help imagining an ant farm with thousands of them running around in there.
A pair of glass doors opened as they approached and they led him into a lobby which was like stepping into a negative photograph for him, the entire inside of the building appeared to be white, they'd lined everything with white marble which compared to the utterly jet black outside really threw your senses for a loop as you stepped into the brightness of it all.
Powerful lights lit every surface and made the entire place look utterly shadowless, the inside was shaped like a giant corkscrew that ran from the ground floor all the way up with floors denoted by their raised walls at each level, dead centre of the large circular lobby were a bank of twenty elevators in a group that looked like someone had tied a bunch of flower stalks together to present to their blushing Xeno girl, Xenos always did like flowers for some reason, even the boys seemed to like getting flowers from their suitors.
As they marched up to the elevators a set of golden metal doors whooshed open to reveal a pride that had just ridden it down, it was a pride of eight females in a circular formation and planted right in the middle much more obvious now because of his attire, makeup and jewellery was a little male who utterly gawked up at Smoke as his pride passed by Vippy's patiently waiting one with him smack in the centre of it, in fact the little male wasn't the only one gawking, all of the females in the pride looked utterly stunned as well.
"Good evening," Smoke said with a nod of his head, he would have given them a cheery and playful wave but both Vippy and Sema were holding both his hands in death grips to ensure he didn't vanish on them again and rush off to hunt down the cities predators while maybe strapping on a cape while he was at it and becoming super male the masked crime-fighting alien hero, or at least that's the odd image that flashed through his head caused the grip that both of them were exuding on him.
The little male gave Smoke a little wave before going wide-eyed and chittering to his pride so quickly that Smoke's translator couldn't keep up, he appeared to be pulling out something that looked like a phone from a little highly decorated leather man-bag that he was carrying and showing something on it to his pride while pointing at Smoke, but before he could find out what had his tail in a knot Vippy's pride dragged him into the circular elevator and punched a button with an odd marking that somewhat reminded him of Yautja what with its sharp curved lines that looked like they were drawn with a claw tip.
The elevator ride was smooth and silent to the point that without his altimeter clicking upward in the corner of his HUD Smoke wouldn't have been able to tell that they were moving, with a lively ping noise the elevator announced that they had reached their intended floor which given that Smoke had been watching the little scratch marks clicking upwards rapidly as they'd moved he estimated to be floor two hundred and thirty, what shocked him the most was that when they stepped out and walked along with the utterly enclosed glass and metal walkway that lead from the elevator doors to the floor itself they only looked to be about a quarter the way up the tower making him wonder just how high the bloody thing went.
They swiftly reached a door with what Smoke assumed was a number scratched into it and it required two handprints to open it given via the two scanners one either side of it, two of the pride that Smoke didn't know by name yet stepped out of formation and pressed their hands to them to ensure that Vippy and Sema could keep hold and he assumed control over him, just in case he made a vertical break for freedom over the side or something he assumed, as soon as the door opened with a cheery artificial voice that welcomed them home in Raptorian they ushered him inside Smoke just managing to duck in time so that they didn't run him headfirst into the door frame.
To his utter surprise Smoke instantly noticed that the pride were clutter bugs, he also noticed that they noticed he noticed, though it was kinda obvious when someone seemed to have left a set of underwear laid out on what looked to be a clothes horse next to a flat panel heater of some kind, the owner instantly became apparent as Sema made a high pitched eeeep noise and rushed forwards letting go of his hand to snatch them away and hide them behind her back, but not before Smoke was able to see what looked like little pink animals of some kind on both the small bra and panties.
While Sema vanished into another room off to their right to stow her embarrassment along with her underwear, the others initiated a panic clean, with Vippy pausing only to lock the door preventing his break for freedom that she seemed convinced he had planned before they scattered and began putting things away and generally cleaning up, Smoke got the distinct impression that they were not expecting company, least of all of the male verity.
Their home was pretty small but nicely furnished and to be fair it looked like their station afforded them the ability to afford nice things for themselves, the front door opened right into what appeared to be their circular living room, around the left wall a kind of semi-circular leather couch was pressed flush against the wall with a large circular table that was obviously where the pride took both their meals and relaxed together, on the wall opposite was some kind of viewing screen that reminded him of something that the old Earth humans used to talk about called a TV which was a device that they used to watch for entertainment as it broadcast all kinds of fiction and other programs, the living room had a thick white fur-like carpet covering the floor that showed the little footprints of the pride as they zipped about placing things back where they should be.
On the walls there appeared to be framed photographs of the pride with what Smoke assumed were their extended family, that's when he noticed something odd sat on the edge of the sofa and he leaned down to look at it, it appeared to be some kind of stuffed animal in the process of being sewn together and stuffed, it kinda reminded him of a little dragon in a way, one of the other pride members made the same eeeeep Sema made when she realized her underwear was on display before snatching it and the sewing kit away and vanishing into one of the side rooms with it.
That made Smoke chuckle as he summoned up mental images of the big bad rough tough Surface Stalker elite soldiers of the Raptorian army cuddling with her little stuffed dragon, "Please remove your boots before entering this room" Vippy snapped a little tersely appearing briefly in front of him before vanishing again into the scrum of super cleaning, Smoke glanced down and looked at his armoured boots, easier said than done given that they were part of his suit, he sighed heavily to himself, well it wasn't like they could either steal his armour or weapons from him, hell they couldn't even touch them unless he permitted them, so with a huff he deactivated it and it began to retract.
First, the helmet retracted into the neck, then the gloves into the wrists, the entire arms unlocked allowing him to lift the upper section off after the seals at the waist disconnected from his lower half, allowing him to turn and place the entirely self-contained upper section down on the floor next to where they'd all placed their boots in a neat little line he now noticed.
Next came the lower half which kinda collapsed down his legs to his knees allowing him to step out of it before lifting it and placing it next to the upper half, because he hadn't unlocked his weapons from the main body of the suit before disengaging it they were now Perma locked to it, only Smoke could remove them and only if he put the armour back on and repowered it to remove the mag locks, the only thing that could be removed was his rifle and he doubted they wanted to touch that again after last time.
As he turned around he noticed that the ultra-clean had stopped dead and there were six sets of curious eyes on him, "What?" he asked his embedded translator another gift of the Hunter core doing its job as he glanced down at his skin-tight jet black inner suit to see what it was that had them so fascinated, all six of them seemed to utterly explode before vanishing back into the panic clean.
He shook his head curiously as the Raptorians buzzed around him sorting out their home, he decided to take a brief look around as they'd locked him in he didn't think they'd mind, off from the main room were a series of four additional rooms, first was the kitchen which contained a verity of very colourful devices intended to make modern Raptorian life easy, though he did notice what appeared to be a rather large microwave like capable of holding eight meals at once, he wondered if bachelor meals were a thing here, or was it bachelorette meals?
The second room was their bathroom that contained three what appeared to be toilets, a large communal bath that reminded him of a large clamshell and an equally large shower unit that looked like it should be used on farm animals by the number of heads inside it, though curiously it only had one sink and mirror.
The next room was the pride's bedroom and this was the room they were running in and out of the most, the entire floor was one big mattress with pillows scattered about everywhere, in the walls of the circular room curved drawers were set into it and half of them stood open as the pride hurriedly stuffed them full of various garments they found laying around making him chuckle somewhat as he got another impromptu glance at a bright yellow set of panties being hurriedly stuffed out of sight.
But the last room made Smoke's mouth fall open, it was easily the size of the other three rooms combined and then some, it was a gymnasium, they had weights of all shapes and sizes everywhere, a couple of benches for doing bench presses, a couple of multi gyms, mats of various designs for a verity of exercises, but it was the centrepiece that really stole the show, they had what appeared to be a full-sized boxing or martial arts ring compete with brightly coloured ropes strung around it and turnbuckles at the four corners.
Around the ring was a series of small benches and racks for what looked like sparring armour as well as what appeared to be practice weapons of different sizes, Smoke picked one up that to him looked like a wooden short sword but in their hands would probably be full-sized, the blade was about the same length as one of his wrist blades, it was made from a dark rich brown coloured polished wood that shone under the bright lights of the gym.
Smoke placed the surprisingly heavy sword back in the rack alongside the others and walked around the ring looking at it, it took him back to the milling sessions and general sparring sessions that all Hunters and indeed Saviours had to take part in, their Grand Matriarch had called it hand to hand combat and controlled aggression training, it essentially involved getting into a ring with an opponent and trying to beat the living shit out of each other without either breaking bones or killing one another, which was easier said than done when you opponent was a Yautja girl and some smart ass whispered in her ear that you thought her bright red sparring helmet made her predlocks look fat before she got in the ring.
Smoke absentmindedly ran his hands over the ropes as the memories washed through him making him both smile and cringe, he'd never really been much of a fighter, preferring the more mental and cerebral sides of his chosen profession, he far preferred to sit there and unpick the locks made of codes and numbers that drove most people to the brink of insanity but for him brought on a kind of bliss, there was just something supremely satisfying when you finally got all those segments to line up correctly and like the tumblers in a digital lock hitting the sheer line pop open revealing to you the secrets they hid within, some people like to do puzzles, some liked to build things, some liked to pump iron till their muscles were basically made from iron, Smoke liked to rearrange digital chaos until he created harmony.
But that having been said he was no coward, he was proud of the armour and the badges he had earned and wore and what they represented, if the Lady of the Eternal Hunt pur combat in his path he would not shy from it and he would do his duty like any Hunter, just given a choice between running headfirst at giant alien creatures pretending to be trees so they could eat him and sitting at a desk staring at page upon page of numbers and symbols the code always won.
"Do your kind spar?" a voice from behind him said making him snap out of his memories and whirl on his heel.
To his surprise one of the prides whose name he didn't yet know was stood only four feet from him and was leaning on the base of the raised ring, he had never heard her approach at all, not even a whisper, it seemed stealth really was second nature to Surface Stalkers, he glanced at the raised ring, the ceiling of this room was much higher than the others and he figured that he could easily stand up without stooping even inside the ring.
"Yes, we do hand to hand combat, martial arts and even something out Grand Patriarch calls Milling, which is basically getting in the ring and punch the living shit out of each other for about two minutes," Smoke said with a soft chuckle despite the painful memories related to the subject.
The female Raptorian shook her small orange and brown scaled head in disbelief, her golden eyes looked utterly shocked at the revelation, "I still cannot believe that your kind allows its males to fight, such a thing is utterly unbelievable to us, it's akin to sending younglings out to fight" she said making Smoke bristle.
"I'm not a child" he snapped a bit harsher than he'd intended and it made her jump a bit, it seemed aggression from a male was also an alien concept to them.
"I know that and my apologies I chose my words poorly there, I did not mean to insinuate that you are not capable, your actions in the recreation zone more than proved that, to think a single person took on and killed a Mimic and a male non the less, unbelievable," she said looking at him with a mixture of surprise and wonder in those almost feline-like golden eyes.
"Are they common down here? Those Mimic things and what are they exactly? Oh and I never did get your name Miss?" Smoke asked deciding to steer the conversation away from gender.
"Oh! Of course, where are my manners, Surface Stalker Freeda Ringtail at your service and to answer your question no not that common, though we believe the conflict going on on the surface may have forced more of them to seek shelter in the underground as the local fauna which as you have undoubtedly noticed is rather aggressive has been very disturbed by it" she said and Smoke nodded thoughtfully.
"So what are they exactly?" he asked.
"A shapeshifter of sorts, its body when in its original form is basically a pink gelatinous mass, kinda like a ball of pink putty, but it's not one you'd want to play with, it secretes some form of highly acidic enzyme that breaks down organic matter like flesh on contact, they hunt by disguising themselves as any objects they observe in their local surroundings, when something is unlucky enough to wander within striking distance they strike and they are extremely fast, changing part of their body into a sharp piercing like weapon, they use this to impale their victim and then grow tiny barbs like hooks all along the appendage so they can drag it into their mass which engulfs them and suffocates or crushes them to death before they enzyme breaks them down and they are absorbed into the Mimic through its epidermis," she said in a matter of fact voice as if she were reading it from a biology book.
Smoke remembered what happened to the little aquatic bird that had wandered over and got lanced and a shudder ran through him, "Yeah saw that part, thing ate a bird before I cooked it" he said.
"How did you even find it?" Freeda asked curiously.
"Well I didn't not at first anyway, I found the group of males and children hiding in the public toilets, they were so clustered together I saw their heat bloom through the wall and I thought it was the creature until I got a look in through the window and saw them inside, once I'd checked in on them they told me they'd seen it nearby and were hiding from it in there so I told them to stay put and climbed up on the roof for a better view, that's when I saw the bird and saw what appeared to be a bench eating it, I then realized they don't show up on thermal but they do on another view mode, one that our Yautja originally designed to locate and detect Xenomorphs, seems it works on Mimics too and I saw through its camo," he said and Freeda looked utterly stunned by this little nugget.
"Wait, you actually have a device that can see Mimics!?" she exclaimed and Smoke nodded.
"Well, not exactly a device par say, the visor of my suit can see in a verity of visual spectrum's like thermal radiation etcetera which allows us to spot our targets a lot easier in environments like the jungle, but the one designed to detect Xenos which don't show up on thermal thanks to their biology instead detects bioelectric fields generated by both muscles and nerves, its actually sensitive enough to even pick up the micro discharges of cellular mitochondria which lights them up like a freedom day tree, so yeah once I could see it the next part was easy, I simply shot the fucking thing, though I quickly worked out that projectile and bladed weapons don do shit to it as it just reseals the holes you make as quick as you can make them, but as it happens it really doesn't like plasma, seems to be rather flammable, a couple of hits from my rifle and my shoulders casters and it went up like a living blob of napalm," Smoke said remembering the blue flames engulfing the Mimic.
Freeda looked both amazed and thoughtful, "If you have a technology that will allow us to see through a Mimic's camouflage I know our science division would be incredibly interested in it" she said sounding kinda hopeful.
"And I'd be pleased to share it with you, once I get confirmation from my superiors, as it is it's not like I could just give it to you anyway as it fully integrated into my visor, but I know we'll be able to give you the specs to build your own, but for now you'll just have to rely on my eyes if need be," he said tapping the side of his temple miming the visor that was absent.
Freeda looked rather uncomfortable with that, it was obvious that the thought of letting him go anywhere near any other form of danger or hazard was playing merry hell with her instincts and Smoke could actually see it on her surprisingly prettily little reptilian face, she was very similar to Vippy in build, through the form-fitting suit she wore he could see that he was utterly muscle, she had powerful digitigrade legs with thick bunched thighs that looked like a set of steel cables bunched together, leading down into thinner but no less solid calf muscles, again her feet were long with vicious looking claws at the tip of her toes as well as one at the back, she had an incredibly thick and powerful looking tail that she kept about two inches off the floor that was tipped with feathers at its very end.
She had a distinct hourglass shape with a pinched abdomen which from what he could see seemed to be made from two rows of utterly solid abdominal muscles leading up to a small chest and broad shoulders, she had an athletes build that was for sure and as deceiving as her size was he knew first hand of their incredible strength, the phrase small but mighty came to mind.
"I know Vippy would be most incredibly displeased at the thought of you going anywhere near any further hazards, let alone Mimics," she said tapping two clawed fingers together somewhat embarrassedly, she also ruffled her feathers sending little shifting flashes up and down her head and neck.
Smoke sighed heavily and nodded, "Look I know and understand that your culture is different from my own, I respect that and I don't judge it I really do, but you guys have to do the same for mine, I'm not a Raptorian, I'm a human, I'm a trained warrior, it's my literal job to protect people, just like you, you can't wrap me in cotton wool and sit on me and expect me to be ok with it," he said softly but sternly.
Freeda nodded and blew out a sigh of her own, "I know this but you too must understand, that from birth every female here is taught to value male life above their own, we are taught the importance and value of their lives and how even a single male loss can be utterly devastating as this means a minimum of six potential children not born, two males and that number becomes twelve to sixteen, you get what I am saying? It is our most powerful instinct and not one that we can ignore because trying to do so feels like the back of your brain is on fire, when you ran off in the recreation zone all of us felt a fear like nothing we ever had because our pride has never had a male life to protect before well not like this anyway, obviously as Surface Stalkers we carry the weight and lives of all Raptorians with us, but our pride has never been personally responsible for a male pride member before, it triggered every instinct we have" she said.
Smoke looked at her curiously but also blew out another sigh, "I'm not a member of your pride Freeda please try to remember that, I am my own person and a member of Clan Mason, I answer to them and them alone, while I am sworn to obey your laws by the honour of the Clan I am also sworn to obey and uphold the principles of the Clan as well and our oath absolute is that if innocent lives are in danger we do not hesitate, we fight, we protect and if need be we die to defend them, it is the creed by which we all live and die by, it is unbending and unbreaking" he said his voice filled with pride as he actually felt not only the weight of the words of the creed and oath he'd sworn echoing through his mind, but the passion and fire behind them.
"But you are a member of our pride while you are here! Your life was entrusted to us by command pride, that under our laws makes you a temporary member of our pride until released, so as a male alien or not we are directly responsible for your life and well being, if any harm befalls you it is we who will be punished for it, male loss or harm is an intolerable thing to us and it is our sworn oath and duty to protect you, not just as Surface Stalkers but as proud Raptorian females!" Freeda said proudly.
Smoke sighed again, it was time for diplomatic mode, "Alright you win, I'll try not to go rushing off to find any more Mimics to fight alright?' he said and she smiled and nodded.
"We'd certainly appreciate that Smoke, it's going to be difficult enough for us to explain that little stunt to the command pride as it is," she said and Smoke cocked his head curiously.
"Surely that wasn't that big of a deal, it was just a wild creature that got loose in a park, I barbecued its arse with plasma, the end right?" he said and she shook her head and beckoned him to follow her which he did right back into the living room where some members of the pride were still busily buzzing around cleaning stuff, she motioned for him to take a seat on the couch which he did after squeezing in behind the table, she hopped up next to him and retrieved a small tube-like device before aiming it at the screen and pressing a button.
The screen flickered to life and lit up before forming into an image, the first thing that met them was an image of a load of what looked like smartly dressed males all sat around on a large sofa talking about something that looked like makeup or possibly clothes, "Uggh Skeeva's been watching Loose Males again I swear to the Great Tree" Freeda muttered under her breath before changing the channel with a button on the what must be a remote.
She flicked through about six of them before finally settling on one which appeared to be a pride of smartly dressed very business-like females in a circle behind a desk, behind them was an image of the recreation zone park they'd been in earlier and it was cordoned off by the guard prides, Smoke could just make out them cleaning up the smouldering remains of the Mimic int what looked like a bucket with small spades.
"An eye witness to the incredible events told Pride Life Today News that he and his child's life along with the lives of four other adult males and five child males were indeed saved by an alien male of all things," the news reading pride said together each saying a word each in that odd group speech thing they did.
The image flicked to the male that Smoke remembered from the public toilet, he was sat at the back of what appeared to be some sort of ambulance surrounded by medical personnel and still wrapped in the blanket he'd been given, beside him was his young son and he was being checked out as well by very tender looking medics.
"So can you tell me in your own words what happened? an unseen interviewer pride said well Smoke guessed it was a pride by not only the multitude of microphones aimed at him but the various voices he heard in that question.
"Yes it was incredible, I'd taken my son for a day out in the recreation zone while his mothers and our pride were in work, we'd met up with a couple of my friends and their sons and we were having a nice time when the alarms went off, we tried to get to the shelter but thats when we saw it, it was attacking the cave geese and eating them by the lake, so we ran into the toilets to hide from it and it trapped us inside, then out of no-where this huge figure dressed all in gold shows up and tells us not to worry that they're going to kill the Mimic, I didn't know what to think, but they just vanished and we could hear them up on the roof then there was all this noise like shooting, minutes later it comes back in and tells us the Mimic is dead so we look outside and sure enough it's on fire on the other side of the lake, utterly dead, the gold suited one had killed it all on their own, so I thank her for helping us but that's when the figure tells us that she is actually a he! A lone male took on a Mimic all on his own and beat it! It was amazing, that's when all the guard prides showed up and what looked like a pride of Surface Stalkers showed up and hurried the male in gold away" he said.
'What would you like to say to him if he's watching?" the interviewer pride asked and the male looked right into the camera.
"Thank you so so much mister alien, you save all of our lives today, mine my sons and all of our friends, without you that thing would have got us for sure," he said.
The image flicked back to the news anchor pride inside their studio, "Truly incredible, military sources refuse to comment on the presence of an alien male in our fair city but Pride Life Today News has obtained this footage which confirms at least some of this story" they said before flicking to what appeared to be a phone camera video of Smoke before and after the incident, first of him pulling free of Vippy's pride and vanishing, but not before the camera managed to get a close up of his face, a close up that was detailed enough to reveal his Adam's apple in his neck before he deployed his mask back up, then cut later to him being rushed away by Vippy's pride after having dealt with the Mimic while the other males were being rushed away by the guards.
"So there you have it folks an alien male in our fair city and not just an alien male but a defender of other males as well, a hero male who runs to the aid of helpless males and children, truly incredible and on behalf of this fair city we are proud to call home and more specifically on behalf of the prides who's future and loves he protected at the recreations zone today, we at Pride Life Today News would like to say a big thank you to this gold suited mystery male, to us and to those prides you will be forever a hero," the anchor pride said before Freeda flipped the remote again and the broadcast image died and the screen went black.
Smoke blew out a long breath before running a hand through his slightly damp and somewhat greasy hair, "Oh boy, looks like I'm famous" he said and Freeda nodded.
"And what's more a good many prides will have seen you coming in here with us," she said her voice displaying a hard edge of concern and that's when Vippy reappeared behind her and by the look in her eyes Smoke knew he was in for it, she was wearing the same look that Grand Matriarch Tik eleth Mason wore that time someone spiked her predlock care shampoo with some kind of dye and she wound up with bright neon blue predlocks for three days, as funny as that was her hunt for the culprit (Turned out to be Ryan Mason) was utterly relentless.
"What you did today as good-natured and well-intended as it was was foolish and dangerous, what if you had been hurt or worse killed? We would have been held responsible for it! While you are here you are a temporary member of this pride, that makes every one of us responsible for your health and well being and to lose any male is an absolutely horrific thing but to lose an alien male the first of his kind on our soil under our care would have been a disgrace like no other!" Vippy yelled her anger bursting forth, rather than retort Smoke just decided to whether it, it was probably best just to let her vent than talk to her when she had managed to calm herself down.
"We are your guardians Smoke I hope you can understand that, like it or not while you are here your actions reflect on us as well, so if you go charging off to fight battles against opponents that you have absolutely no understanding of it makes us look utterly irresponsible and negligent as females! To anyone watching that now they are going to be thinking what was that pride thinking letting their male run off on his own to fight! You might be a warrior among your kind but they don't know that! All they see is a male who got himself into danger because his females failed to protect him!" she yelled, she also began pacing around the room and while she had the others had come in and were taking seats on the couch with Smoke right in the middle of them, Freeda was sat right up against his right side so close that he could feel her thigh against his, when Sema went to sit against his left Vippy shot her a death glare so fierce that she shuffled back leaving an obvious space there.
That actually struck Smoke as odd as he figured that they were all equals, so one showing authority or perhaps a form of dominance over another seemed kinda counter-intuitive to him, Vippy breathed out a huge frustrated sigh and then like someone flipping a switch changed, she went from raging Vippy to parent talking to a child or concerned teacher scolding errant pupil Vippy, she moved around and took that vacant seat to his left slotting herself into the gap perfectly against his left thigh, she reached out and grabbed both of his hands in hers and for the first time since he didn't have his armoured gloves on he felt her hands, the scales were tough but smooth, the underside or palm of her hands were soft while the upper side were hard and tough, like two different types of scale, one a natural form of armour, the other softer and more sensitive.
"Look I don't mean to yell at you, but you scared the hell out of us with that little stunt, we'd been made directly responsible for a male for the first time in our lives since we left out family prides and formed our own pride, plus not just any male but an alien male, one who came here to try and help our people and you've been placed into our pride and then you run off to do battle with a Mimic of all things, you scared us all to death and we're Surface Stalkers, we do not scare easy, so please don't do that again, it's our job and duty to look after you, we can't do that if you go pulling stunts like that, plus it could very well lead to us being disgraced," she said in a much softer tone of voice all the while rubbing his hands in hers in an oddly soothing motion.
Smoke sighed again, "Look Vippy I'm sorry I really am, I didn't know or mean to get your pride into trouble, that was not my intention, I simply wished to show you all that I'm not helpless or defenceless, I wanted you to see that I am a warrior too and to treat me like one, not like a naughty child who hasn't done his homework, look I don't pretend to fully understand your people or your ways just as you obviously don't understand mine, but that's kinda one of the very reasons that i became a Hunter in the first place, for the chance to go to other world and to meet new and different people and to see how they live, as well as the chance to prove my worth to the people who gave me life, trust and love, in other words my Clan, so if you can try and see things from my perspective then i can promise that I will do the same with you, that way maybe we can find not only common ground but understanding as well, unity is what Clan Mason is all about, many different peoples and cultures coming together as one and hell if my race can find common ground and love with a race like the Yautja who used to hunt my kind for sport in years gone by then I'm sure we can find it with you" he said softly.
Vippy seemed to consider this and she looked around her pride who all seemed to be doing the same, then there were a series of nods before as one every one of them said "Deal" in perfect unison.
Smoke blew out a sigh of sheer relief and he felt the tension ebb out of his body, "Good well I'm glad we could lay the groundwork here, that will make all our lives easier I'm sure" he said smiling and they all seemed to agree.
"We too are pleased, now we should begin fixing an evening meal as we're sure that you could use some refreshment, what do your people eat?" the pride asked.
"First before we do that can I get some names? I mean I know Vippy, Sema and Freeda but I haven't been introduced to the other three yet" Smoke said.
"Lima Ringtail," the one with yellow and green splotched scales said.
"Uma Ringtail," the one with red and blue swirled scales said.
"Skeeva Ringtail," the one with green and brown camo like scales said.
"Ahh, so you're the one who likes Loose Males then?" Smoke said and Skeeva's feathers flared and bristled in waves down her neck in what Smoke took to be an embarrassment reaction.
"W-W-What gives you that idea?" Skeeva exclaimed all on her own this time which interested Smoke even more, it seemed of you spoke to one in particular then the pride let them answer for themselves, but if you spoke to the pride as a whole then they would all speak in that work picking thing they did.
"Oh, Freeda said something about it when she switched your broadcast device on," Smoke said and Freeda's feather twitched as a guilty look appeared on her face as her sister gave her a death glare.
"T-T-They have interesting articles," Skeeva said now sounding as embarrassed as she looked.
"Oh and I'm sure it has nothing to do with how shiny Lumas's scales are or how long and luscious Velma's tail is" Uma giggled making Skeeva's death glare switch targets, now that she'd mentioned it Smoke had noticed that the man's tails seemed to be longer than the females, must be anther trait and seemingly one that was an attractive quality to them, well with zero tail length that should put him right out of the running then but any Xeno boys that finally made their way down here were in a whole world of trouble.
Now the whole pride were giggling at their embarrassed sister, "So what if it is? Is it a crime to look at pretty males? they go to al that trouble to make themselves look pretty the least I can do is enjoy the sight" Skeeva grumped making the others laugh harder, the tension seemed to be going right out of them now which made Smoke happier.
He chuckled along with them and decided while the mood was good to throw out a question so that he might gain some cultural understanding about them, "So is that an attractive thing to Raptorian girls then, a long thick tail?" he asked and they all nodded in perfect unison.
"Well, that and a nice cute compact short snout, smooth soft scales, pretty eyes and well-groomed and colourful plumage," they all said together.
"What about humans? What do human females look for in their males?' they asked.
Smoke scratched his chin, "Honestly it varies from person to person, like I said we're pair bonders not group bonders, some girls like big muscles, some like skinny and slender, some like facial hair or fur as you'd probably call it, most like their guy to be taller than them, most like them to smell nice and to keep themselves well-groomed, so a whole spectrum of things really, but then you have to factor in both the Xenos and Yautja too" Smoke said.
The pride looked curious, "Oh why is that?" they asked.
"Humans are popular among their races, that's why they came to join Clan Mason in the first place, so they could practice interspecies love without fear of judgement or bigotry among other things, human males are very popular among both Yautja females and Xeno females, Yautja girls are usually about nine foot tall and are basically a wall of solid muscle with a face and anger issues, but to the one they love they are the sweetest most gentle creatures you could imagine, just don't ever fuck with a Yautja girls claimed ooman male which is their word for us, not unless you want to be force-fed your own tail," Smoke said with a soft chuckle.
"How can you tell a claimed male on your world?" they asked curiously.
"Oh, it's pretty easy, with the Yautja both wear a mate mark which is the result of a bite from human teeth to the Yautja and their mandible tusks to the human, its located in the shoulder and neck joint here," Smoke said pulling his suit to one side to show off the skin where the mark would be made.
"A lot of them also go for a traditional human display on top of this by having a set of matching rings made that both wear on this finger on their hands, it's usually a gold band with no stone so if you see that they're taken," Smoke said holding up his hand and pointing to the ring finger with his other hand.
"What about the what did you call them/ Xenos?" they asked and Smoke nodded.
"Little more difficult, they usually make a mate mark of their own, it used to be a bite on the human much like the Yautja but in more recent years a more modern trend has emerged and that is for them to use their blood to draw a small set of symbols which means claimed, beloved and protected in their language on either the shoulder or the cheek of their claimed one" Smoke said and the Raptorian's looked shocked.
"With their blood? Isn't that a little impermanent? What if you get wet wouldn't it wash away?" they asked and Smoke chuckled at their innocent ignorance and confusion.
He lifted his hair again to reveal the full-blooded mark, "This is what Xeno blood does to all flesh except their own, its a highly concentrated molecular acid that can eat through a spaceship hull like it was made of toilet paper, nasty stuff, this mark here is a Yautja symbol it means Full Blooded and is the mark you get when you are made a Hunter" he said proudly before Vippy grabbed his head and brushed his hair back to peer closely at the mark.
"Outrageous, marking a males flesh in this way! On this world to harm a male like this would have you locked away and your male was taken into protective care where only his birth pride may see him until he is deemed safe and well enough to be released either back to his own life or to the arms of another pride who would love him and care for him" Vippy said proudly and Smoke turned his head enough to raise an eyebrow which she watched curiously before reaching up to touch the furry thing above his eye socket with her claw tips.
"Soft," she said in a very soft voice.
"It is a mark of respect among my people, one we take proudly and willingly, it means I have passed the trials of my Clan and have been granted the honour of joining the Guardian Core of Clan Mason as a full-blooded Hunter, it is a mark that only either our Grand Matriarch or Patriarch can bestow upon a Clan member, though as the Hunters are the unit of our beloved Grand Matriarch she is always the one who marks us, our Grand Patriarch only comes to watch and to greet the new Hunters with open arms while supporting his wife, she does the same when he inducts new Seekers into the Clan," he said.
"You've mentioned these Seekers before, what exactly are they?" the pride asked.
"As I explained to the command pride and yourselves, Clan Mason's military is called the Guardian Core and it is made up of four main branches, the Hunters like yours truely, they are our front line troops and are trained in all forms of combat to the level of special forces, then theres the Saviors which I am also technically a member of having passed out of their training when I became and Electrionic Warfare and counter Warfare operative, they specialise in both very specialized combat and non combat roles like for example all Clan Mason's snipers are trained by the Saviors by Sela eleth Mason herself, then theres things like what I do which is essentially combat hacker and signals all roles into one, but they also do other things like police our streets, prevent errant cubs from wandering off into the jungle, fly our space ships, fix said space ships, all sorts of things really, then there are the Battle Angels, they are our combat medics and field surgeons, they are almost exculsivly made up of Xenomorphs who come from queen Zara and King Cortez's hive, the hive itself is basically a giant hospital dedicated to preserving life and combating all desieses and conditions, then finally you have the Seekers, these guys are basically super bad asses, they are made up entirely of Dream Warriors who are like these super powered versions of their parent species, Human, Yautja and now Serpentinus in the form of Ghost Slitherers, they are incredibly powerful and capable of doing things that not even I can understand and I grew up with them, the Seekers take these Dream Warriors and train them to become Seekers of Truth, each one of them is like having a thousand regular soldiers because of the way the move and the things they can do, they have all these incredible powers like being able to read minds and bend nature to their beck and call, don't be too surprised if your Surface Stalkers begin reporting seeing armored figures in blue riding around on those giant lizards you got up there, thats the kind of thing our Seeker Tamers tend to do, I once saw one tame an entire pack f angry fire tigers by simply walking up to the alpha nad stoking his head and calling him a good kitty, fucking thing was twelve foot long and it rolled over on his back with his legs in the air to have his belly tickled" Smoke said with a chuckle at the end.
"All good males roll over on their back to have their belly tickled if you treat them right," Vippy said on her own with a sly challenging glance at Smoke who huffed in annoyance.
"Not this male sister I can tell you that now, no one tickles this boys belly," he said and she laughed.
"We shall see, now I believe it would be wise for us to offer you the chance to freshen up while we prepare food, the jungle is an awful place to maintain your hygiene, do your species group shower and bathe?' she asked.
"Err no not if we can help it, more of a private thing" Smoke said still a little perturbed and taken aback by her words about the belly tickling.
"Very well then, you will bathe first and we will begin the cooking then we will bathe after the meal and will settle for a claws and snout wash for now, what do your kind eat?' she asked.
"We're omnivores so a bit of anything really, I actually have some food with me in my ration packs in my armour pouches," he said but Vippy waved a dismissive hand in the air under his nose.
"Nonsense you are our pride male and we will not be accused of not feeding our pride male, now go on off with you go and bathe while we begin the meal," they said before he was very unceremoniously steered into the bathroom and left to his own devices, oh boy this day just kept getting weirder by the minute., then a thought struck him, what if he'd said yes to the communal bathing? Would he now be in a bathtub with six very naked Raptorians all trying to scrub his back?
Smoke chuckled to himself before turning to lock the door to ensure privacy only to discover the door was without a lock, he huffed softly and looked at it before shrugging, of course, they didn't need a lock they all bathed together, he just hoped they didn't take any liberal interpretations to what the word privacy meant, so with a final shrug to himself he began to peel off his undersuit and underwear before stepping into the large shower unit and beginning the arduous task of trying to figure out the controls so he didn't get pelted with ice-cold water or maybe sand, he really didn't need to be peeled off all his skin to go with the list of things that had happened to him today.