Radiance Ch. 71

"Oh? So if I were to say your tail looks damn good but it would look a hell of lot better arched over your back till it touched your horns or draped over my shoulder that would be fine by your standards then?' he said instantly baulking as a cold shot of worry that he had gone too far and overstepped a line of decency here hit his heart like a bullet made of ice but before he could begin to begin to figure out a way to retract it Lia let out a deep throaty growl and dropped into what almost looked like a fighting stance like she was about to pounce on him making him brace himself.

"You flirt like a Claw!! This is excellent and I knew I had chosen to hunt the right male! Oh this is going to be such a sweet hunt, just you wait and see Raymond you will know the truth and joy of Claws soon enough this I swear before my ancestors and the Great Pack!" she snarled but oddly not in a menacing way.

Then without another word she drew herself up and strode ahead off ahead of him giving her tail a flick and a swish to draw his eyes to her very shapely scaley rear end as she drew ahead of him leaving him standing there with his mouth hanging open trying to figure out what in the name of hell had just happened?

Suddenly someone patted him on the arm making him jump and turn to find Spectre standing there grinning at him, "Way to go big green you seriously don't hold back do you?" she said with a laugh.

"Well I err Ummmm...." he began as he turned to watch the big female Claw bend over to investigate some tracks she had found ahead of them before letting her tail drift lazily upwards but only enough to hint at what she hid under it.

"boy you seriously let her have both barrels gotta say the man was not expecting that, you always seemed like the quiet type so that fucker seriously came out of the left field, gotta say I'm impressed and she definitely is, think that's what she was looking for you know, someone who can match her blow for blow, well we know you got the strength and now we know you got the wit too, so stay the course, my man, because you seriously got her attention now, so good luck oh glorious leader get the feeling this is gonna be a pretty wild ride, Claw girl versus super mutant boy now this is gonna be a show and half, wonder if can find some of that prewar popcorn stuff hanging about somewhere?" she said playfully patting his arm before heading on to join the others.

"Err yeah right," was all Raymond managed to say as he fell back into step as his inner monologue began to replay the events on a loop to be picked apart and analysed.

Mercifully Runs jammed up a hand to make the whole group all halt and drop into combat stances covering arcs and looking around them, he beckoned for Raymond to approach and he did so.

"What have you got?" he asked.

"Tracks, not human or animal, look to be super mutant," he said.

"Ok I'm sure there's probably quite a few of them around here get the feeling we are gonna to see lots of them," Raymond said quizzically.

"Yes but not like these, look here they wear boots as you do and they are pulling a cart, not just this but the way they are moving is orderly, not like mutants at all if had to guess they are moving as soldiers do," Runs said and that got Raymond's attention.

"What type of cart?" he asked and Runs moved around the track in the dirt analysing them from a few different angles and judging directions.

"I say four-wheel, large bout size of two brahmien but not pulled by a brahmin, pulled by two mutants side by side," he said and Raymond's mouth dropped open, no way it just couldn't be, he never imagined that'd actually make it, no one did.

"What issss it Raymond?" Riss asked upon seeing his face.

"The Ronin, I think it's the Roaming Ronin," he said quietly.

"Who the hell are the Roaming Ronin?" Spectre asked quizzically.

"Smart Mutants like me and Shauna, they were Greasers or well technically they still are, but they didn't want to stay in DC like the rest of us, they wanted to set out, specifically for Boston they heard about this Insitute and the synths so they figured that anyone smart enough to make synthetic sentient people would be smart enough to possibly undo what had been done to them, so one night they packed up all they had and set off, we never saw them again and we all through they die on the trip, well they packed all their gear onto a large four-wheeled cart that took two of them to push it, there were twelve of them how many sets of tracks have you found Runs?" Raymond said and immediately Runs began to cast around the cart tracks before looking up.

"There are twelve just like Raymonds says," he said making Raymond's mouth fall open again.

"Holy shit they fucking made it, they actually fucking made it, they walked all the way from DC to here! Jesus H Christ on a fucking pogo stick!" he exclaimed.

"Shall we follow them?" Spectre asked and Raymond thought for a few moments then nodded.

"Yeah I think we could use their help and they could definitely use ours, they were good guys every last one of them and they were not chucked out of the group before anyone asks, they are still Greasers but we decided to call them the Roaming Ronin in honour of their dedication, roaming warriors looking for hope and for answers, well given what this group has done for me and for Shauna I'd say we have plenty of both to offer them, so if we can find them I'm pretty sure we can steer them in the right direction maybe even help them to make peace with what they have become and hell who knows maybe we might even find the answers they are looking for along the way," he said and Cho gave him a thumbs up.

"Now you're thinking like Seven and to think you were worried he'd picked the wrong person for this, alright let's go find us some big green boys, can't have enough of them wandering around here as its beginning to feel like a clam fest with all the girls we keep picking up, mama needs me some sexy green!" Cho said making everyone glance at her to which she just shrugged before they all laughed.

Runs and Riss took point and began the painful process of tracking while the others moved in formation behind them, Lia had noticed that Raymond was somewhat distant and had altered her step to fall in sync with him, "What troubles you beautiful Raymond?" she asked making his head snap up and glance at her.

"Oh sorry I was just thinking about what I'm going to say to them if we find them, I mean I'm not Seven, how do I convince them to join us?" he asked and Lia nodded as if understanding.

"Simple, you show what this group is about and then let them choose, Seven doesn't force people hell he doesn't even really convince them, all he does is show what we offer and what this group is and does and then he lets them decide if they want a place within it, he lets his actions speak for us as I believe it is true what humans say when they say actions speak louder than words because all the pretty words cannot replace someone who is willing to step up and stand shoulder to shoulder with strangers they have never met regardless of species and to take their fight as his own simply because it is the right thing to do, it is a very simple thing but it doesn't just speak volumes it shouts them louder than war roar of a whole pack of battle-ready Claws," she said proudly.

Raymond thought about this and he had to admit she did make a good point, Seven really didn't do a hell of a lot of convincing or cleaver speaking, though when he did it was always pretty damn amazing but what he did do a lot of was stepping up and being counted, he made a point of making sure that people could see him and them so that they could see what they were about, everyone from the little humans in the group stood side by side with mutants, Claws, Nightstalkers and a cutely determined spider, all stood as one ready to fight whatever the threat they faced was, that's when it clicked, it was unity.

Seven showed them unity, he put all these different races and faces together and he showed people that he didn't care a single shit what you looked like, where you came from, what colour you were or what sexuality you were he and they would stand for you if you needed them to, he showed them the power and strength of that unity and this, in turn, lit a flame of the thing people craved most these days, hope.

That's what this team really symbolised, hope, hope for a better future, a new future that was better than what had come before, hope for a new world born from the ashes of the old one and born anew through this powerful unity he and indeed they were trying to forge through their actions, that's how he could reach them, he gave them what they desperately were seeking, hope and a place where they felt they could be accepted without worry.

He also found himself thinking about their search, he wondered what he would do if it did indeed turn out that this institute did have the technology to turn him back human again, would he take it now that he had grown so accustomed to being this way?

He glanced at Lia who was striding along proudly and confidently at his side and he found himself wondering what she would think of him if he turned back human again, would she still be attracted to him as a pink skin?

Lia saw him glancing and turned to look at him and then once again managed to drop his mouth open by reading him like a fucking open book, "Raymond should not worry about being a super mutant, Raymond is beautiful as he is and I will happily claw the eyes out of the head of anyone who would claim otherwise as they are clearly blind anyway so they will not need them," she said.

"H-How did you know I was......" he began and she gave him a sly smile and flick of her long luscious tail.

"Elementary my dear pretty green, I saw your eyes change when you mentioned what exactly they had gone off in search of so it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it is that troubles you now, at the end of the day it is your choice to make should it ever present itself I will not stand in your way and I will ensure no other does either but know this pink or green I will still hunt you because yes you are beautiful on the outside but your biggest beauty is in here, and it is this I wish to make my mark upon as well as carry, so pink or green the hunt will continue!!" Lia said planting a big hand on the centre of his chest over his heart before giving him a warm smile which actually made him melt a little inside, suddenly he began to realise that maybe just maybe being a mutant wasn't so bad after all.

Eventually after what felt like forever Runs and Riss called them up, thankfully the tracks actually seemed to have led them right into the middle of their search grid and given that it was only just turning to evening they had made incredible time, "Tracks end here, have no sight on any others leading away, so I bet soul they are camping in ruins somewhere, I recommend gorgeous and glorious wife and self go in and scout for them so we can have a peaceful meeting not stumble into traps," Run said making Riss flick her tongue at the side of her husbands head while running her tail up his back at being called beautiful and glorious.

Raymond looked up at a large set of ruins ahead of them and he checked his map which Wisp had printed out for them, "Alright there is a relay station not far from here, you two go in and scout the rest of us will quickly go and get that set up, it's so close that we should be able to make it there and back before you guys get halfway in there," he said.

"Roger that let's go get the radio up so we can get back to sexy green hunting!" Cho declared and with that team split up, this sure was going to be an interesting reunion, to say the least.