Chapter 1

>the sun was just beginning to set on the Mojave wasteland, and a lone courier slowly strode along the road, his hands full of bounties printed on paper sheets
>you were silently waiting for his arrival near an NCR outpost for his arrival so you could get another quest under your belt, and hopefully afford to pay your way into renting a room out in Novac for another month
>life was hard when you were all alone in the Mojave, but you and most everyone else near you were also in the same boat
>a small band of unaffiliated mercenaries with poor gear, no self-preservation instincts, and who were most often found in the ruins of the Mojave after weeks of having been unseen by anyone
>the few anthros in your mix didn't always carry any gear either, since their claws or teeth could serve in a pinch, or they could just handle eating raw meat
>unfortunately for you life was harder, everything sucked, and your usual meals were centuries old food that had become near toxic to eat
>your pip boy made things slightly easier, such as being able to help you stay away from radiation sources or have some music to listen to, but it only took the edge of your sad and lonely existence
>the much less depressed mail man cheerfully nailed up his bounties of the week, each one having a different reward and supplier whom you had to contact to get said reward
>standard fare for most of them: Kill this raider, collect this many pounds of mantis meat, go and kill some crazy old man on a stockpile of locked up ammunition
>however, one which had been printed on fancy blue plastic caught you eye, the crowd clearing it quickly and groaning about how it was impossible for anyone but you
>the note was from some place called "the Big MT" and a secure two-way channel to call on your pip boy was the only thing printed
>figuring it was worth a shot you walked over to a nearby bench and dialed it in, your screen filling up with a weird brain in a jar talking to you
>"Hello! This is Doctor 0! I'm calling to tell you that another, much less brilliant Doctor has made a massive mistake with his genetic experiments! But I'm being much too forward, what is your name, lucky wastelander?"
>you tell him that your name is anon, and he laughs
>"Oh! I get it, big mysterious stranger, right? Cool leather wearing gun slinger going to pacify our dangerous beast for us?"
>you respond by simply telling him that you don't even know what your mission is and he seems to search around for a moment, metal arms clacking on a computer keyboard
>"Fair, fair. My bad. Says here you'll be catching an escaped experiment! A very large, dangerous night stalker that we recently escaped because our mailman left his slip-space emitter on and it just kind of walked out of the lab through the hole."
>you don't care who did what, and just want to know what you need to do to claim whatever it is they're offering
>"Contact us on this pipboy when you remove her collar. It isn't explosive, just a tracker. Pacify her however you want, pull the collar off, and... Actually, the file's been corrupted. That's it. Just take the collar from her freaky body. Keep it if you want. She's apparently a rare new breed of copperhead and desert wolf. The normal ones are just rattlesnakes and coyotes. Apparently Borous didn't think taipans and foxes was quite far enough..."
>you sigh and ask what you'll get, angry at his rambling over bullshit that some other idiot floating robo-brain had caused to happen
>"...BUT OF COURSE, DON'T ASK THE GREAT ZERO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BLEND A GUN WITH A GILA MONSTER, THAT COULDN'T POSSI-oh. I uh, don't know. Guns? Drugs? Her body weight in gold? Maybe a really angry, hissing revolver lizard? Just call me when you get the collar off of her. I'll help you get what you want after that. Oh, and one last thing. She heals up quickly enough she may as well be "biologically immortal", since bullets and explosives aren't generally a natural cause of death. On top of that, her venom is super deadly. A single good chomp and you've got, I don’t know, 5 minutes until complete organ failure? Anyhow, have fun with that traveler! Take your time getting it done, she hasn't moved much in a few days"
>he just ended the call after that so you angrily check to see that your pipboy now had her tracking marker on, and gathered your supplies to head towards where the beast had last been seen
>after hours of walking under the hot sun, you agreed with the bitchy soldiers about wanting a nuclear winter
>your last clean water bottle was only up to half after your last sip just a moment of so ago, and your feet hurt
>the entrance of a cave was clear ahead of you, and you dreadfully checked your pip boy to find that it was in fact your final destination
>walking up to the edge of the winding labyrinth you can only hope the beast doesn't get their fangs into you before you could try to knock its collar off with your compliance regulator and hopefully fry the collar
>no way in hell your dinky, nonfunctioning taser could kill them, so getting that collar and saying you killed them with an electric trap was you only hope
>that was, if you could escape from it in time, or get the collar without it noticing
>you walk down and into what is surely your grave content in knowing that if you die your miserable existence will finally end

>it doesn't take you long to reach the end of this natural dungeon, the beacon pointing to a small camp at the top of a tall ledge you’d have to scale by hand in order to reach the very back of the cave and get at your prize
>the smaller inner cave at the top of the mini cliff was most likely where it was sleeping, you had no quick safe way down, and the cave had turned out to be a long empty winding trail instead of a place in which you could at least hide in
>you think about how this is where you die when you realize that there's a crack in the ceiling through which smoke is pouring, and you could make out the faint glow of a fire in the recess at the top of mount doom
>a hooded figure stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down at you from underneath their ratty patchwork robes, their voice much more feminine and a tad bit wild than you expected
>"Who are you, and why have you come to my cave?"
>you holster your energy pistol and let your hand rest on the hilt of your combat knife, the only other real weapon you had to your name
>"I'm searching for a night stalker. It's apparently a dangerous mutant that some kind of think tank wants me to take care of."
>you're surprised to catch a glimpse of a tail under her cloak as she moves, her stance much more aggressive now
>not only had she taken down the beast, but she was a female anthro traveling alone, probably a rival who didn't have the pip boy but listened in and had the steel ovaries to try to sell the corpse to someone in exchange for contacting the number with a working pipboy
>"I killed that 'dangerous mutant.' So leave this place, and leave me to my business."
>you take a step or two forward, hands both in the air, telling her you just need to check out the body and make sure it was all squared away before leaving her with her bounty
>you immediately regret that as she leaps down upon you with a wicked howl, arms outstretched and ready to attack

>rolling out of the way of where she lands, your body goes numb with fear as her robe falls away to reveal she's only wearing tattered and bloody wife beater with moth eaten old bikini bottom
>well, a nearly naked fighter probably wasn't the fear part of your surprise
>the fear came from seeing the copperhead scale pattern on her arms, the variously colored desert wolf fur on most of her body, and an almost out of place rattle on the end of her tail
>not having time to think about your attacker being THE dangerous creature your bounty was set on, you pull your knife and ready a stance to fight her to the death
>she runs in rapidly on all fours, leaping at you and allowing you to pommel strike her in the back and throw her off course
>when she whips back around she's furiously huffing, and your weak attempt at a lightning fast jab ends with her disarming you and smacking your ribs with her tail
>she's gone from angry to enraged in a matter of seconds, and you can already tell how this fight is going to end, so you drop the tough guy act and stop blocking her entirely
>you instead try to dodge her punches and kicks, but she gets a solid combo in on you, and it all ends with a vicious bite on your shoulder
>you reel in pain as the flaming liquid begins to run its course rapidly, your muscles already tensing up as she kicks you viciously up against the rocky incline of a wall
>"You should have left when you had the chance, wastelander."
>you lean up and look at her, your eyes catching two brilliant and fiery amber reflections from her eyes before she kicks you back down against the wall harshly
>pain shoots through your body as your heart pumps the venom deeper into you, your arm already beginning to lock up

>"You don't deserve to sit up in my presence! You are my bounty now, my defeated reward. You came here to take me back to my prison, so until you are unable to respond you will be my prisoner!"
>she stands above you, glaring angrily at you, as if waiting for a response to a question she hadn't yet asked
>"Why did you even come here, fool?"
>you feel miserable, zero's warning being painfully obvious as your throat begins to tense and lock up slowly but surely
>"I came here to pacify you! They didn't specify how. Just... I don't know. Make sure you didn't kill anyone, or at least get your collar so that they can't be blamed for it."
>she crouched in front of you, glaring at you still with a harsh aggressive smile
>"You said you were a hunter! What kind of hunter would just get my collar and leave?"
>still able to speak, but the pain rising to near agony, you do your best to respond
>"I said I was searching for the nights talker... you told me you killed it... and when I tried to confirm it had died, you attacked me. I'm not a hunter. I just wanted to get your collar off of you."
>your throat begins to choke up properly, and you find it harder to speak by the second; the speed of her venom and its effect on you are both horrifying and impressive
>She seems momentarily confused, and her anger turns into wonder "Why something so dangerous?"
>"Hoping for death... Found a beautiful grim reaper... to help me with it."
>she looks away from you for a moment, and you can see regret creeping into her face, she only wanted freedom it seems, not to kill everything in sight like you assumed her dangerous combination of genetics could lead into
>her hand sails through the air and smashes across your face with a loud and heavily audible slap
>she sits down beside you, holding her legs close to her body and she seems like she's flustered "I can't believe you’d tell me something like that and not be bluffing or lying, you jackass."
>you slowly and painfully choke out a short comment about how no one ever helped you growing up, how life was always hard, and dying at least would end your lonesome drifting
>she seems to try to respond with an even more sad look on her face, but your sputtering gasping cough for air as your throat begins to fail and lock up snaps her back to reality
>she grabs your knife and looks as if she's going to cut into her tail for a moment, before seeing the mortified looks on your face and losing her nerve, stabbing it into the ground
>instead of using the knife she scrambles to grab your empty water bottle and uncaps it so that she can access it, for reasons that you can't even begin to understand
>she runs her long forked tongue into your water bottle, and her saliva flows freely from her mouth into it, surprisingly quickly filling the remaining half
>carefully opening your mouth, she sets the bottle onto your lips and tilts it gently, using her hand on your neck to force you to swallow the lifesaving elixir
>"Don't think, drink. My bodily fluids can counteract my venom. I'm going to stop you from dying so I can try to learn why someone with so much freedom would be so sad."
>when you finally finish the last of it and cough, she takes your knife from the ground, cleans it on your pant leg, and carefully jabs you on the arm
>you try to choke out a "what the hell" but her healing juices were diluted too much to work enough to get you past grunting, but you can tell at the very least that you are slowly getting better
>she licks your wound carefully, her tongue very gently dancing around and into the wound, forcing her saliva into it so that it can reach the limb quickly
>there's something almost loving in how she's tending to you, and you can't help but wonder if it wouldn't have been enough to be less gentle and give you deeper gouges to drain fluid into
>she repeats the process on each leg, and your other arm, to which you do your best to endure and not scream out during because of how gentle she's trying to be
>cleaning the blade on her already dirty shirt, she puts it back into the sheath on your side
>she then takes a seat right next to you, listening to you breathing in slowly before she continues to talk to you
>"I have the ability to control how much or how little venom I put out at any time. I regret giving you a full normal sized dose when I should have just given you several rapid small ones just to keep you in place... but since you're here, and you're getting better by the second... I want you to tell me why you came here. No bullshit. Why you really came here, and after the dangerous mutant."

>you swallow your spit in your mouth and slowly but surely choke out that you came here for a job, and that death would have been fine as well
>she slaps you across the face again, her smooth hand leaving a stinging red mark, tears in her eyes as if you had just directly insulted her 
>She starts to cry and she gently sobs a response "I don't believe you. I refuse to believe that someone with as much freedom as you came here just to die. I especially can't believe your dumb flattery."
"I... mean... it. All."
>she seems taken back by your honesty, and swears under her breath before crawling onto your legs to opening your mouth again
>you expect another water treatment, but instead she locks her lips yours, her tail sliding across the rocky dirt floor while her tongue carefully glides around inside of your mouth
>she tilts your head back a bit, giving you short breaks to breath and swallow during the long intense kiss, finally letting it end with an almost sad huff from her mouth so that you can speak with her properly
>Her tears are flowing gently, and her tail is swishing as she speaks 

>"Why would you want to die?"
>clearing your throat, and hoping you have full control of yourself after that rather hot and intense kiss, you give her a proper response
>"I'm a scavenger. We're usually people with no name, no history, no home to go to. We wander around as free as can be, barely scraping by on our lonesome. Usually we end up being found dead in raider camps, or we get in over our heads and people randomly find our corpses strewn about the Mojave-"
>she tries to interject, but stops herself as you continue into a long rant about life alone in the desert, how everyone just turns their backs on you, and how no matter how "free" you were, that you would always be the lonesome drifter that everyone just leaves behind to die because you're worth less than the sand in their boots
>she puts her hands on the sides of your face, her unusually smooth scales gracing your unclean, rough skin
>she seems almost happy when she pipes up "I could travel with you! I can protect you from wild creatures, make you look dangerous-"
>she stops her sentence mid-way through as feels you shiver in the cool cave air, and wraps her tail around your back before bringing you into a close embrace
>her body is surprisingly radiant with heat, and you can't help but be surprised by how soft when laying against you; her wolf DNA must really be giving her the better deal on how nice her body is
>the near whisper she utters to finish her thought catches you completely off guard as your mind wanders 
>"I could even keep your bed warm if you need it."
>you spill your blamco mac and cheese all over the place as you stammer and your face goes deep red, giving her a stammered response about how she shouldn't be trying to turn your favor towards letting her join you by offering to let you be so close to her beautiful self every night
>her eyes widen and she also seems flustered when you say that "Do you really mean that? Me, actually pretty? Not just a, you know, giant ugly snake thing... or an experiment-"
>"I... I..." she just sits there, her fur ruffled and tail rattling against the wall behind you, flustered with the thought that you had been brutally honest with her the entire time 
>"I've never had anyone call me anything that wasn't a number. They describe what I am, or my current state."
>she gently places her hand on your chest, the other on the side of your face "But no one has had the kindness to tell me how they see me."
>you realize she's being candid to a point as well, and her feisty demeanor is entire gone as she locks her golden eyes with yours
>"You're average as humans go, I think. But... You're honest. Kind. You're giving the big scary snake wolf a chance to get to know you."
>you still feel a bit of a sales pitch in how she's acting though, and respond as politely as you can as her ex-attempted murder victim/prisoner
>"I wouldn't lie to you. Not then when I had the fear of death in me, not now with you sitting on my lap. You need to stop teasing me by the way, I can feel my crotch again, and you're driving me crazy with your incredibly direct teasing. That isn't going to sway me more in one direction or another, especially since I'm tempted to take your collar off the second I can get out of here."
>"Wha- oh." She notices your bulge and backs off from on top of it, saying she thought it was armor while her tail is now very loudly rattling behind you
>"I'm sorry if I caused that. I... I just didn't think about how I'm almost nude, and how the venom makes your body... rigid."
>she's staring intently at it, her forked tongue peeking out from between her lips
>"I was going to try to find a way to apologize before you left, and uh..."
>the rattle is so damned loud you aren't sure if she's about to "strike" at you or if the wolf in her is just uncontrollably excited and happy
>her response leans more into the former though "I can handle that if you want."
>you laugh and pat her on her fluffy head, causing her to angrily puff her throat out like a proper danger noodle would
>"I'm dead serious! I want to prove to you that I'm trustworthy, and I also want to pay you back! Besides... maybe you're kinda cute..."
>You look deep into her eyes and can tell that she's gone from anger earlier, to confusion, to caring, and finally they seem somewhat excited if not a bit lustful
>you attempt to shrug your still barely working arms, and respond "I don't want you to do anything you don't want to. But if you absolutely feel like you want to, and it isn't entirely guilt, then I can't stop you really."
>she leans in closely to your ear, her forked tongue dancing close to your ear lobe, honest concern in her voice "Would you want me to not do it?"
>You look away from her, face as red as the all-American blood currently staining her thin shirt "I wouldn't really mind. Especially since you know I think you're pretty darn sexy."
>without a word after that from her, she lets her hand crawl towards your crotch, carefully unzipping your pants, undoing your boxers, and taking hold of your now twitching member with a smile 
>"you know, anon. You said I was beautiful... not sexy. That just made this so much more even for the both of us~"
>you watch as she opens her mouth, and in a moment of realization, you stick a finger into it to stop her
>being a tease, she takes the moment to gently suckle your finger, a gentle "Hmmmm?' audible on her lips
>a shiver runs up your spine and you twitch for a moment as you collect yourself
>"I don't even know your name yet, though. What should I call you, if we are going to go out together... what name should I say if I want to tell you how this all feels."
>she looks into your eyes, her twin reflective golden pools full of happiness at your question, and she simply responds that she was never given one, and that you should give her a name
>you smile towards her, the grin infectiously spreading to her as you speak "How does Amber sound?"
>her tail rattles near your ear gently as she crawls towards you, your rigid member twitching against her soft belly as she gently kisses you on the lips "I adore it... and yours?"
>"Anon." you say, rubbing her neck gently with one hand as the other sits on her shoulder
>she gets in close to you and whisper something to you before taking her current task back into her hands
>"I'll have to remember that, for if I need to scream it out at you tonight."
>you twitch right as she pounces onto your swollen head, as if it was her prey
>her long tongue works a spiral around your hard member as she dutifully sucks on the head
>the spiral shoots in and out of her mouth as she rapidly begins to plunge back and forth, taking your length into her mouth with a hot and steady stream of breath from her nose hitting your pants every time she retreats back up your length
>she continues for a while before she suddenly pulls back and takes it into her hand, baring her fangs at you devilishly while fully robbing you of your pants
>"my venom isn't just deadly, but a bit more slippery than my spit is, so as long as I'm putting it on a place that doesn't have any open wounds on it..."
>she lets a steady stream of her green venom gently drip from her massive canine fangs and onto you, no saliva in sight as it makes contact with your skin
>if she had dripped venom on you earlier you would have panicked, but with all of the hot tension in the air you really want to let her try whatever devilish thing she can think of with you
>before she goes back to working you she tells you that if you start to feel the venom hurting to grip her ear and she'd suck the venom up and away and switch back to her boring saliva sucking
>you take charge as she speaks and grab her firmly by the head, sending a shiver up her spine as she remarks about how "that's the spirit" before she slams back into your crotch at full speed
>her spit was cool to the touch and had a bit of a gentle stick to it, but the venom she was currently lubin' and groovin' to was a slick as could possibly be
>every second of her dangerously fast assault on your even harder member was punctuated by the arousing danger that she was a properly dangerous woman who could have killed you earlier with a single snap of her jaws
>and yet here she was, acting almost like your sensual pet and obeying the ludicrous speed at which you were making her head bob with, not even seeming to gag at every wiggle and turn you made in her mouth
>as you began to feel the buildup of your hot release, her forked tongue dances on your head inside of her mouth, coiled around the shaft and moving in the opposite direction of her sucking and pulling
>you had to wonder if she had practiced this on something in the lab, waiting for the day she could properly get her hands on a male to let her indulge her predatory sensual urges with
>you stammer her name, and warm her you're about to finish as you feel her push you gently back against the rock with one arm, the other wrapped around your waste and forcing your crotch as close as can be to her voracious maw
>you can feel your hot release crashing down against her tense muscles violently as her mouth clamps even and firmly around you, constricting all of your long and rigid member as much as possible so that not a single drop escapes her hungry lips
>she viciously but carefully tugs up and down your length with her nearly air tight grip of her lips, resting as she sucks with as much force as she wants on your throbbing head as the final spurts of cum she has somehow figured out how to drain from you dance onto her swirling fork of a tongue
>she finally lets you go with a disturbingly loud pop, and your member still pulses viciously in the air, clean of any and all liquid that could have possibly been on it
>"The best part of my tongue is that I don't just taste the sweet and savory release you just let me have, I can smell it as well. Your strong manly scent most can't catch behind the dense smell of a freshly given creampie... mmmmmm. It's divine."
>she playfully palms your still massive and throbbing erection in her palms, carefully and gently moving them up and down
>"You wouldn't believe me, but that isn't the venom's fault, dear. That is most definitely you, and only you."
>she begins to slowly work a motion over it with her two hands, carefully fapping it as she looks into your eyes
>"I would love to continue this amazing little party... but we need a bed, or something close enough to one, for that."
>she carefully grabs you and puts you over her shoulder, erection twitching near her face as she climbs the rock cliff up and into her small makeshift camp
>you make out her fire not far from a couch that's been shredded, and a table that has two bedrolls on top
>she looks embarrassed as she sets you down, with how poor her camp is "not much of a home for the supreme predator you were trying to find... sorry it's not as exciting as the last few minutes."
>you assure her you can make it work, immediately go around and pick up loose cotton and the half-destroyed couch cushions before roughly stuffing it into the larger canvas bed roll. It manages to fill out to roughly wide and longer than a cot, but a bit thinner than any mattress you’d ever seen
>you manage the strength push the table aside and throw down your makeshift sex nest thing onto the hard ground, getting it into a nice flat spot
>she walks up to you, tail flying back and forth with a loud rattle as you peel her shirt away from her body, throwing it aside before slowly and surely laying on your makeshift bed beside her
>she stammers out a compliment about how it's better than the couch before you begin to slowly run your fingers up and down her body
>her nipples, which had earlier been pressing against her fabric shirt, were now free and erect in the cool air
>clambering on top of her, mustering all the strength you can as your body tries to play catch up with your mouth, you suction onto her breasts one by one, swapping only to give the other one attention
>your tongue then rolls along her nipples, teasing and carefully gliding along the small hard knobs on her chest, before you squeeze her chest together and gather both in your mouth at once
>you lick and tug on both for a short while before you let them go, the panting mess of a "supreme predator" you are currently pinning down is begging for you to take her by the hips
>letting her roll over onto all fours and grabbing the smaller cloth bed roll for her to use as a pillow, you grip both of her ass cheeks firmly as she sits patiently in the most obvious position a half wolf would go for as her first, to your knowledge at least, sexual encounter
>teasing her only slightly, as you can feel the shivering her wet mess of a hot and waiting body, you lick her for a moment before ripping her bikini off with your teeth
>she tenses up in shock just long enough for you to suddenly slam yourself full length into her waiting body
>she's so suddenly and powerfully moved she bites viciously into the bed roll she's using as a pillow, letting out a guttural scream of monumental pleasure
>but that's not even the start of things
>with no time to waste in letting her feel your full wrath, you pull her off of the pillow so she's screaming blood murder into the air as you viciously assault her lovely tight body
>your hands move to her hips and her tail wraps around your back and onto your neck like a collar when you suddenly realize what you forgot to do
>using her tail as an unconscious rope or sorts, you maneuver it with your arms so it grabs your nearby pants and pulls them in
>you silently pull the energy pistol and charge it as her tail goes back to trying to keep you as close as it possibly can to her hips you are currently decimating
>you announce to her that she absolutely has to trust you 100%, and she moans back at you that you can do whatever it is you're planning on doing
>you tell her to roll onto her back and she lets you keep up slow thrusts as she slowly pivots on your hot and pulsing member, her tail between your legs and trying to pull your back as close as possible to her, providing a muscular wall you can lean against to thrust your hips optimally
>feeling that you're both close to finishing you snap your pistol into her neck, pull the trigger resulting in a sharp "pew" and a mechanical click as you rip her momentarily disabled collar off of her neck
>she's dazed and confused, on the brink of orgasming but doing her best to hold it in for you as you roll her legs onto your shoulders 
>"I want you to be as free as you can to enjoy this next part" you all but whisper to her
>you thrust into her with every single ounce of strength you have in your hips as you cum, the warm rush of fluid she wasn't sure you had any left of filling her tight hole nearly to the brim, and finally sending her over the edge, regardless of how much she had been resisting
>her head rolls back against her makeshift pillow, and her mouth opens up, screaming your name with the intensity of a bestial war cry as two twin streaks of venom sail into the air and splatter on your shirt, her legs somehow darting from your shoulders around and sharply against your back
>you take a moment to slowly and surely work your rhythm to a halt as her body continues to involuntarily milk you of all of the hot fluid it can spare, holding you as closely as every part of you can
>wait a second... did she just squirt on you?
>no. double wait. She just squirted VENOM when she orgasmed, all over your shirt in an amount that was almost impressive
>that's the cutest thing you could imagine; the big scary "supreme predator" got so hot and bothered when she finally got her 60-minute man that she squirted venom in her lapse of bodily control following a sexual explosion that must have felt like a second nuclear apocalypse inside of her inner thighs
>"So you're a squirter, eh?" You say, laughing into a harsh moan as her insides still try to remove every single drop of smokin' love you have inside of you, as if they could pull the very fluids from you on the sub atomic level somehow
>pulsing steadily with a vice like grip, she just laughs back at you, letting out a feeble "Absolutely..."
>you slowly and carefully lay down on top of her, legs still harshly holding your hips against her, and listen to the gentle music of her tail as it spasms softly in the night air
>you could care less about the reward for "pacifying" her, and just lay there and enjoy that this intensely passionate moment was just a taste of the "perks" of having her around, and you can't help but crack a smile
>this good rocking tonight was just the start of the easy living, happy times were bound to finally be ahead even if you knew that in each life some rain must fall, and for once the wanderer wouldn't have to worry worry worry, because your atom bomb baby would be right behind you when you eventually walked back out into the land with the orange colored sky

Chapter 2
>Your last few months with Amber had been wonderful by every metric possible, as far as your relationship had been concerned
>Not a single problem arose between the two of you, regardless of how much she dwelled into her past with you in her spare time
>A lot of painful memories haunted her, and her strong shell seemed to crack a few times to show you that she truly was vulnerable
>She remained strong however, in the face of adversity
>No matter how far you trekked into the Mojave with her in search of her home, she followed happily and willingly as far as you would go
>It was clear after a few weeks of walking the barren sands outside the edge of new vegas that her home was much farther than she thought
>At one point she found a relic of her past buried in the sands, which was a long since broken down dual gunned tank sitting in a small crater
>The inside had been rigged up with all someone might need to live in it short time, but only a short time
>The cramped space had power from the engine's remaining fuel cells but little else
>A nest made of shredded and matted bed material was your sleeping and lounge area for the night when you found it
>A small cooking stove existed in the tank, and even a storage area for food that had some preserved meat inside of it
>The optics on the commander's hatch even extended up and flickered to life so you could peak out over the sands
>But it wouldn't suffice for a long term home unless you could get it out of the crater and drive it nearer to the strip
>No way in hell could you just live out here in this rust bucket for longer than a few weeks... but she and her sister had tried
>Until the Raiders found them at least
>Amber held back tears that night, holding you close as she told you about how they threw a gas grenade into the tank to drive them both out
>She was shot in the back with an anti material rifle, and when ZX-13 tried to crawl out to cloak her they lit her up with rubber bullets
>Amber had already been known to kill anyone who was brave enough to try to attack them, but her sister lacked her strength
>They left Amber to bleed out, and simply beat her sister until she stopped resisting their attempts to put a collar on her
>That night you spent with her in the tank you held her as closely as you could, refusing to let her crawl out of your shared nest for the night

>After that however, things went sour for the two of you
>Mercenary work was drying up for a short while, and the only money you could find was taking a short trip out to Zion to follow in the path the Courier once laid out
>The work out there was brutally dull, and mostly involved hunting down gecko nests so the locals could more easily "farm" them for meat
>She told you the truth behind why you were able to find her as well, telling you about how she managed to get her collar turned off at one point before she escaped
>Dr. Zero didn't know about them because he wasn't normally helping Borous with his research
>She went on to tell you about all of the scientists slowly as well, explaining how they each differed in their goals and if they did or didn't have anyone help them with their experiments
>While Borous worked on making "snakedogs" he made sure they were a secret as long as possible
>She seemed to get sad for a moment before she asked you if you'de still love her if you knew something important about her age
>After a joke that got you slapped about her being young, she confided that she was actually rather old
>She never got the chance to learn exactly how old she was but she remembered walking the strip long before the NCR arrived
>She even once walked it without a disguise... but that was long ago
>Every time she let her past leak out to you a bit more, you held her closer that night
>Even if Big MT seemingly made her for heavy combat she still had a heart that could get hurt more easily than she cared to admit
>Every time she cried out for her family she had your shoulder to cry on, and it made your bond with her stronger

>Your long stay in Xion was near it's end when Joshua Graham stalked his way up to your camp in the night
>He didn't have the same reservations about staying out of the caves his allies did, and because of that he saw Amber's true face and scales in her relaxed clothes
>You expected a fight or for him to tell you to leave, but he instead joined you both for a night to speak of "God's love" and how surely the two of you meeting one another was fate
>He spoke to both of you about the pains of his life, and dealing with his sorrows
>At one point he even unwrapped his face, showing the grisly scars beneath the bandages he wore and joked about how beautiful creatures shouldn't hide in the dark
>His momentary smile was engulfed with grim sadness as he gazed into your campfire and confided in the both
>"Of course, it makes sense that you're hiding. Judging by your exotic appearance you're related to The Desert Rose. I can't tell you exactly where she is, but I spoke with the man who is protecting her. He's the visage of hope that she needs to hold onto to keep herself in good health. I have sworn to not tell you where to find them, but the man who has her is known as Ray."
>The Burned man slowly produces his pistol from his pocket, looking it over carefully and gently rubbing the snake skin grips along it's well kept frame
>"He is fought by my side through darkness three days long. I felt as if he spoke with me from inside of a bush of fire. Many were lost to us, including someone whom I shared a great deal of my pain with. In the end he stayed longer so that he could assist in our recovery, repairing our weapons and granting me a short sword I cannot say I feel as though I deserve. But I shall wield it with the same temper that his mighty voice had all but commanded me to take up arms for his cause."
>Joshua ritually fed his pistol a new magazine and strong armed the slide so that it was armed, seemingly ready for a war that always waited for him on the horizon
>"The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."
>Though odd in how exactly he was telling you you were always going to have a safe haven here, you understood what he was getting at
>After your short meeting with him that night, he sent a notebook of what he knew of the man named Ray
>Mostly praises for his actions, but some of it spoke in more direct but oddly cryptic ways
>"He is a man of convictions, who has carried the chains of slavery over his shoulder many years. The shackles he once wore bind him closely to the knowledge he must see what he sees as his people be free."
>"His hand's grip is strong, the weaker grip of his left having long since been removed. The Rose has given him a strong grip in his land hand, lovingly held."
>"His eyes glow with the fire of nuclear rage, though his temper is reserved for those who have earned it. A House was built up with his hands, and demolished by them as a sign of his free will."
>Of course, you didn't get to read all of what the book wrote as Amber's heat slowly crested as time passed in the cave
>"No read now, my love. I need you to calm my body a bit so I can rest. All of this good food here will make a nice egg for us to share when the last part of my heat cycle ends and I lay another one."
>You kiss her tenderly as she slaps the fire out with her tail, embers dancing in the air as her own hot breath graces your neck and she gently begins to pull your clothes away
>An odd tinge of excitement fills you as you think about the egg she'll lay and share with you, 7 days on the dot after her final night of heat passes
>You would have told yourself you were a liar if you could go back in time to tell yourself about how you'd be dating a beautiful woman that laid eggs within the year
>Much less be happy about getting to share that egg with her!
>For now tough the thought of eggs and books will have to wait
>Amber needs more than just a hug right now, and you can't read if she's nibbling on you because she's getting impatient


>Even as you left Xion for the Mojave again you still felt as if the book was somehow leaving you with less info than you had on this man than before, and silently wonder if Joshua gave you the book to make it harder to find the man named Ray
>Returning to the Mojave however, took away your concerns for someone you didn't know, and brought them back to surviving in the hot sands of New Vegas
>A new found compliance regulator strapped to your side meant you had a solid non lethal weapon for bounties, but the work was still scarce for the two of you
>Weeks passed eating what you could scavenge, robbing you of the strength that Xion had given you with daily meals and plenty of clean water to drink
>So you took up the first bounty you found in your way, from a man named Bill with a ranch not too far from the main roads of the Mojave
>The walk to his ranch was short, and his explanation of what he wanted form you was even shorter
>A select few of his precious cattle had disappeared some time ago, and so had ranch hands sent to kill whatever had taken them in the night
>He suspected they were in a cave not too far from his ranch, but he was afraid to venture out alone to go and deal with the issue himself
>So he offered an unusually generous amount of caps to the both of you in exchange for proof you killed whatever the monster was, and found something of his old ranch hand's belongings to prove he was dead
>He also added that it may not even be a monster, and that he has a sneaking suspicion it was some low down raiders that he refused to sell his brahmin meat or milk to
>Seemed a bit specific for what he said was a hunch, but you assume as a ranch owner he always went for the more dangerous assumption out of habit
>He adds another thing, trying to hide a smile at what you guess must be a brilliant idea he's hatched
>"Bring me it's head! Her head? His head... whatever. Bring me the skull of the thing that's haunting me. Wait... maybe it is her. Bring me her skull. Head. You get the idea."
>Bill surely is a strange man, but his caps will spend as well as anyone else's caps would you guess
>After marking the location on your map and giving you supplies as a supplementary early payment you both began the short hike towards the cave in question
>The walk to the cave is short enough, and your lovely night stalker stops you to point it out to you after you nearly missed it

>You walk slowly up to the entrance of a cave, your hooded guard Amber sniffing the air intently behind you
>"This place smells of other night stalkers. Perhaps it was a nesting ground once?"
>The entrance to the cave has a door on it, so you doubt that the night stalkers were inside unless this was that crazy raider that was apparently trying to raise baby night stalkers as pets
>She gets onto all fours and begins to straddle the rocks around the cave entrance, smelling around as she looks for any sign of other night stalkers
>"Go ahead and go inside. If our target is here then call out for me. A single raider wouldn't kill you immediately, and would only hold you hostage until they could try to figure out where your family was to get more money out of them."
>You frown and look up to her, watching her leap down and land next to you from the rocks above
>"You know I mean that in a good way, my lovely mate. If anyone tried to hurt you they would end up in the ground."
>She gently kisses you on the cheek, hugging you for a moment before going back to the rocks and smelling around for the other night stalkers
>You try the door handle, but find that surprisingly enough it's locked
>Certain that with how unreliable most doors in the wasteland were, they had to lock this thing before heading out to raid rather than trusting it to keep them safe from anyone who wanted to come by
>A few minutes of jamming a rock into the door frame and you think that you may just have it ready to breach as Amber continues to sniff around and look for signs of danger
>A single rough kick knocks the rock into the locking mechanism hard enough to force the door open without destroying it, and the cave inside is now able to be explored
>A careful look inside at the ground near the door shows that you didn't have any traps to disarm, so you whistle to Amber to throw down your gun
>Plucking your only weapon from the air as she drops it, happily checking over the compliance regulator you replaced your old beater laser pistol with, you slowly head into the cave with it in hand
>You take note that it's somewhat more narrow that you would like, and it gently slopes into a bend immediately
>You walk down the slope inside of the cave, turning a corner to find a small camp with meat slowly roasting over a fire
>Whomever owned this place was probably very interested in making it a home, and judging by how the meat was only being kept warm by the fire they'd be home soon
>You slowly look around, hoping to catch sight of anyone here before they did you, but you're thrown to the ground from the corner you didn't check on the way in
>The air is knocked out of your lungs as a large night stalker looms over you, biting into your shoulder and releasing a generous amount of venom
>Your attempted captor tries to ask you a question, but you interrupt it quickly bringing up your right hand to shoot her with your regulator, the energy weapon causing her to go rigid and fall off of you
>She angrily demands to know how you're immune to your venom as you hold her at gunpoint, suddenly aware of a rifle's lever being cocked
>The voice asks you to slowly put down your weapon, and you drop it to the floor as the night stalker before you recovers and angrily draw a knife
>Not without yelling out like an idiot though, in the hopes someone would hear it from inside of the cave
>"AMMMMBBBBBEEEEERRRR!!!!!" 

>The night stalker before you seems rather confused, taking your pistol from the ground and putting the knife to your neck and taking you hostage 
>She turns you to face the other human as she makes a comment about how no one could possibly hear you from in the cave
>As if it was a direct response, you hear a very loud hissing snarl coming from the cave's bend, and a cloud of very angry dust rolls towards the man with a rifle aimed at you
>The dust cloud knocks his rifle up, causing him to pull the trigger and for the rifle to click on empty as he seems to suddenly tense up and have difficulty breathing from the cloud
>A very familiarly strange night stalker slowly uncloaks with her arms around his neck, her mouth open and baring massive fangs inches from his neck
>"Greetings sister, I am Amber of the Big Mountain. You have a choice to make with how this confrontation continues. We can either both discuss why someone wants you and this human dead, or I can sink my fangs into his neck and torture you for putting a knife to the neck of my mate!"
>You can hear the rattle of the snekdog behind you jiggle for a moment, anger with what you can only find is a hint of possible fluster in her voice as she hisses at Amber
>"Why should I speak with mercenaries sent to kill us? Much less a fake night stalker?"
>Amber smells the air with her forked tongue before dripping thick venom onto the shirt of her own prisoner
>"I am as real as it gets. I may be different in what snake and canine I am, but- wait a second..."
>Amber sniffs the air with her tongue again, closing her mouth for a moment before using her canine nose on the human in her own arms before laughing for a moment as the snakedog behind you rattles again
>"I can smell your scent on him sister! This human... you've been marking him with your scent, haven't you?"
>The snake behind you loosens up her grip on you for a moment, definitely flustered as she is angry at Amber's statement as she openly denies it
>Amber of course, smiles with a devilish grin, taking her moment to try to broker peace
>"Let's talk sister. You, me, and our humans. No need to be hostile, and as a sign of good faith I'll make the first move for you."
>Amber slowly releases the human from her grip, stepping back and turning invisible again as he looks towards her confused at what Amber had said as much as he was on being let go
>Maggie puffs up her neck in anger like you had seen Amber do plenty of times, but after a second she too lets go of you, and hands you your pistol
>"Fine, sister. My name is Maggie, and I agree for us to talk this out... But you can't stay here unless you make yourself useful. And I'm not sharing a tent with your and your human!"
>Amber slowly turns herself visible again behind you, gently making sure that Maggie hadn't hurt you before kissing you softly on the neck
>"I wouldn't take your nest from you Maggie. If we do stay with you I'll make my own to share with my lovely human. You can keep you and yours in your nest alone together all you want to.~"
>The Snekdog woman angrily puffs her neck out again, but relents.
>She pulls her Human along with her on a small bench near the fire, sitting down with him protectively held in her arms.
>She looks at Amber with a look of distrust, and says to the both of you:
>"If we are going to talk, then let us talk. If not, then leave."
>Amber smiles, trying to show your good intentions.
>"Yes, sister. Let's talk."
>You sit down on the bench opposite to the other pair.
>Maggie didn't seem to trust either of you, but you were confident that Amber could defuse her anger.
>After all, they were both Night-Stalkers.... How hard could it be to get along?

>The chat you have with the other group is long, boring and feels like a grating argument on both sides
>Maggie repeatedly insulted your loving mate about her appearance several times, and if she wasn't related to her in some way you probably would have started a fight
>But you hang on, and ignore what's she saying for Amber's sake
>Even when she learned of how Amber met you she seemed disgusted, which only made you angrier
>Luckily for you, they both seemed to be tired from a long day of doing nothing and head to bed together
>After Maggie all but drags her "friend" back into their sleeping area away from the fire, Amber gives you an affirming smile
>She's trying to prove to you the words didn't hurt her, that maggie just didn't know who she was
>You pull her closely to you without saying anything, Amber's hard shell cracking again and her softer side boiling to the surface as she softly cries into your shoulder
>"I-I... I just hoped... maybe she was another sister. I shouldn't get my hopes up like that..."
>She lays her head down on your chest and sobs a bit as you slowly stroke back to calm her down
>Minutes pass as her sobs slowly die down and she crawls out of her bedroll and into yours
>She barely fits in with you, but at a moment like this you don't want her to leave your side
>Her slowly fading voice whispers how she's going to go hunting in the morning to find food to share with you, maybe find a nice spot to lay her egg
>You'de tell her she could lay it here, but Maggie wasn't exactly making her comfortable about her body's odd nature at the moment
>Even if she didn't insult her by calling her barren (not that she'd know) it still felt like that to your loving mate when she was all but called a failed experiment
>You fade into dreamland as Amber gently kisses you on the neck, taking solace in your loving embrace
>Maggie's going to catch hell when she wakes up in the morning for making her be so self critical of who she is and what she isn't

>When you wake up Amber's already gone out to hunt, but it seems she must have been awake before anyone else
>A single speckled egg is in your arms, nestled securely in a bit of the torn inner lining of your bedroll
>A pang of guilt hits you as you remember Amber being so sad a week after you and her first interaction led to an egg
>Then the time after that, and after that
>Eventually Amber just took it for a fact that she couldn't lay an egg that wouldn't be empty, and seemed to be fine with that
>A lot of night stalkers had nests with eggs a week after heat ended, and they usually ate them to get back a bit of energy and nutrients
>It was weird to a lot of people, but dating a snakedog will change your view on what weird is
>A small poorly scribbled note taped to the side of the egg says it's only for you, along with a few small pink hearts
>You wanted to get onto her for not sharing it with you, but you had more important things to do right now
>You start up the dying camp fire and roll out the unused bed roll next to the fire, slapping a pan over it and cracking the egg to fill the pan with your massive personal omelete
>You strip your armored leather jacket off, then the shirt underneath and bare the sharp green scars on your chest
>Amber's fangs had bitten you in the same spot so much the scar tissue had been dyed the same color as her venom
>The tribals in Xion saw the two dagger like green scars as a sign you had bested a war beast, and considered you hardened by it
>Amber was somewhat happy your mark from her was so unique to you and you alone
>Thinking about what you're going to say you start belting out early morning excercises you'de been slacking on since food had become more scarce
>After working through a few sets of various excercises the door to Maggie's shack opens and she walks out with a yawn
>"Jesus. You cut that green 11 into your body yourself, or did some vault mangle you?"
>What a charming way to say good morning

>You pull your shirt back on, pulling the pan out of the fire as Maggie licks her lips
>"Did your weird mutant girlfriend catch that for you? I hope she ran off to get some more for us."
>You think over your responce carefully, responding wit something polite and appropiate for your first words of the day
>"This is Amber's egg she laid. There's one after an exact week following her heat, every time she goes into head."
>Maggie makes a mocking sick expression and starts up her snarky mouth again
>Fuck being nice, you interupt her by slamming your fork into the pan and setting it down
>"Honestly? Go fuck yourself you overgrown cunt of an iguana. You lay the same kind of eggs she does. But I bet you have it better than she does, thick skulled idiot. Let me say it again in clearer words. She's infertile. This is the child she was hoping she'd carry this time. She laid it outside and brought it in because she didn't want your home to smell like a loving couple lives in it. And don't you even start to get snippy about eating eggs. I know for a fucking fact you eat yours because I doubt you have the fucking ovaries to let your "totally not my mate I swear" have any of it."
>Maggie hisses at you, standing up and kicking dirt at your pan full of eggs
>You manage to pull it out of the way just in time, but get even angrier at Maggie and barely resist the urge to start yelling
>"SERIOUSLY? Are you fucking retarded? How would you feel if I came into your house and made your eggs worthless!?"
>You put the pan down and stand up, getting in Maggie's face and going full on yell mode
>"And that's after I told you that you were an abomination that didn't belong in this world! After you lost the only family you had left to fucking slavers! After you got shot and left for dead trying to save your sister from them. You don't know the fucking half of what you are, or what she is you absolute fucking bitch."
>Your words cut into Maggie deeply, and you can see that you're baring wounds she didn't see earlier
>"I didn't know that-"
>You shush her, face red and fuming with rage
>"I know. You don't even have a fucking clue what you are either, do you? You have it in your head that you're a "natural" nightstalker right? That you remember growing up in a nest with your sisters and mother right? Well guess what. Amber had sisters too. She had a mom too. Her mom came from the same god damned lab she did. Nursed her from a pup into a cold surgical environment she tried to breathe a loving aura into. Helped them all escape at one poitn so they could be free. And what did Amber get after urnning from slavers for years? Shot. Left for dead, and getting to watch her sister get beaten with bats and pipes until she was a crying mess of broken bones that couldn't fight back. Do you even know where your mom is from? How the fuck can you claim to be a proper nighstalker without knowing that?! Huh?"
>Maggie's anger has faded and she seems to realize how much her words hurt Amber as she looks to you with a somber face
>"I... I don't know my mother... I don't know where she's from either."
>You sit down by the fire, forking eggs into yoru mout and trying to clam down
>"Then how the fuck are you more real than Amber? She had a family. Had sisters."
>Maggie searches for an answer, mumbling something about how she looks like all the others in her nest
>"Oh yeah. I'm sure part rattlesnake part coyotes are absolute normal. I see so many coyotes laying eggs all the time. It's always weird to see how their puppies are born covered in scales, and chirping like they're little lizards. Oh wait! Coyotes don't do that! Only lab born abominations do that. What makes you less of an abomination than a death claw or a centaur Maggie?"
>Your words are like a dagger with a jagged edge, tearing into the formerly smug snakedog
>"I... my family..."
>She crying a bit now, clearly lost in realization that she was justifying what she was by putting Amber down
>"If what Amber says is true, which I assume it is since she has nightmares about all of the needles and scapels they cut her up with, then you're as real as she is. Made by scientists playing god at the Big MT research facility. They purposefully released the first anthro stalkers into the Mojave in the hopes they would clear out raiders. As you no doubt know though Raiders just hunt them as exotic sex pets now. Funny thing about that is that the creatures Big Mountain made don't even have names. The give them numbers. Like Amber's original title, X-12. What was your mom's name, Maggie?"
>Maggie doesn't have an answer, clearly lost in an identity crisis of sorts as she just asks what Big MT is
>"Like I said. Research lab made before the war. They manufactured cyberdogs and other weapons for the old government to use. Snakedogs were just an attempt to make attack animals for the army to send into combat. Cazadores were meant to be a biological weapon deployed as eggs into enemy territory to cause massive damage."
>You feel like continuing with your onslaught of painful knowledge, slapping the truth into Maggie... but it doesn't feel right
>"Hey now... I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just saying the truth. Amber was hurt pretty bad by what you said. She wasn'tr insulting you or anything Maggie. She just wants to find her family, and you smell a lot like her sorta kinda aunt X-11 did. She was hoping she could find all of her sisters, what with the slavers and raiders robbing her escaped family from out from under her. I'm sure you've had some run in with them."
>Maggie nods, sheepishly admitting she does eat her eggs as she laughs a bit and wipes away her tears 
>"I do sometimes eat them. I can't sell them because that's just too personal. But what do I do with them?"
>You eat a bit more of yours and look directly at her
>"Give them to your mate. Even if you don't admit it, he smells like you're protecting him from other snakes. Which you obviously are."
>Maggie sheepishly huffs at you, putting her hands in her head
>"I haven't even told him I like him yet. What if he thinks I'm a freak?"
>The sound of something rustling next to Maggie startles her as Amber uncloaks, pulling Maggie into a hug
>"He won't. You know better than to think that."
>Maggie seems startled, but accepts it as the two of them whisper to each other for a few seconds
>You can make out that they're talking about weird night stalker things, but not much else as they chat for a few seconds
>Maggie repeatedly apoligizes, and Amber accepts each and every one before walking around the fire and sitting next to you
>Maggie is the first to speak, wiping tears form her eyes and regaining her composure
>"So about you guys. I know I wanted you to leave, but I honestly think that if you want to stay that you can use this place as a base until me and anon get back from out trip. And uh... you did hunt right? You didn't just watch me and your mate fight until I broke down?"
>Amber nods and pulls out a few cans of cram from inside of a satchel
>"Not much, but I found stuff sis- I me-"
>Maggie holds up her hand, as if to tell her to not say that again
>"It's fine. Really. We need to stick together out here. The warm sands of the Mojave hide a cold dark world. I feel like a bitch for trying to make you feel like you don't belong here."
>Amber takes a bite of the eggs in the pan, before finishing off what little remains and setting the pan down near your bed rolls 
>"It's fine Maggie. Besides, I have something way more important to give you!"
>She pulls out two refilled bottles of water, one filled with her venom and another filled up with water and a bit of Datura root
>"This is some of my venom, and some of my saliva mixed into datura antivenom. Only use both of these in a pinch. My venom causes organ failure within minutes of getting bitten, so be careful! Only use it if you reallllly want someone dead, okay?"
>Maggie nods and looks at the bottle of venom like Amber handed her a loaded gun for the first time
>The three of you sit quietly for a minute as Amber teis to think of something she forgot to give to Maggie, before pulling out a folded piece of blue paper and handing it to maggie
>"That's Pip's pipboy number, and Big MT's number too! You can call us if you want to talk, and call them if you need help! They kinda have a broken transporter thingy right now, but when they fix it they could send you junk you need! Or teleport you there! Or teleport us to you."
>Maggie nods with a bit more of a skeptical look on her face, trying to accept the idea that Big MT holds a lot of answers for her she may want in the future
>After a few minutes of Amber trying her best with you to asnwer questions the door to the shack that Maggie's human was sleeping in opens up and he comes out to join you by the fire, ending your earlier conversation

>She turns around to look at him and becons him to join your party by the fire
>As he sits down Maggie moves her tail to brush against his back, holding onto him in a somewhat territorial display as Amber greets him
>"Good morning, Anon. Did you sleep well?"
>He nods silently looking at Amber in a more relaxed way than yesterday
>"The cave floor was a bit uncomfortable, but I've slept in worse places."
>Amber puts an arm around your back and pats you softly, mirroring a minor territorial display to Maggie
>"And with my Mate, I'm always comfortable no matter where we are."
>Maggie pipes up as if she just realized she was silently telling Amber not to steal her man
>"Listen, Anon. I was talking with these two and we've come to an agreement. While we're off dicking around in Idaho, they're going to watch the cave for us."
>She takes her time saying the next part, seeming unsure if she wanted to go through with her plan
>"Don't worry about our stuff. Today we're going to... Um... Liquidate our assets."
>Her totally-not-lover asks what that means and she smiles a toothy grin
>"It means we're going to sell all of the shit we can't drag with us. We're going to be gone for a long while, so we might as well get rid of everything. Better than some other dick prospector finding it."
>Maggie's friend nods along with her idea, seeming to be totally fine with handing you their former den as she continues
>"Alright. We'll go through the crates later and see what's worth selling. The food we can just leave here for... Those two."
>Amber smiles at Maggie warmly, her tail very gently rattling behind her with joy as she responds
>"We promise to take care of the cave until you return. Us Night-Stalkers have to stick together."
>A few short minutes pass of them gathering their things and saying goodbye, heading into the Mojave for what could possibly be the last time
>Amber seems happy, and the rest of that particular day is spent lazily hunting near the cave for other night stalkers with nothing to show for it save a few shed skin scraps

>When you wake up in the morning Amber is clinging to your arm and chatting into it, the brain that gave you the mission to find her talking happily with her
>"Well of course that's all you need to get here! After you get the vehicle up and running then you just need to fly out an- oh, hello there Pip. Nice to see you up so early."
>You consider being a smartass to him but decide not to as Amber leans over to give you a kiss while you lean towards your wrist to unbuckle your pip boy so she can talk easier into it
>She reacts with a bit of shock as you do, surprised it actually came off of you
>"They come off? I thought those things were stuck on you forever!"
>You laugh and pat Amber on the head, explaining how it's only something you learn if you're raised in a vault or find a manual
>Before Amber can ask which one of those pertains to you however, Dr. Zero interrupts by asking if you're up to speed
>Amber gives him a fake grin and looks at you
>"Oh! Of course! I told him all about this! I... think. Not sure really. Pippy. Did I tell you about the vertibird?"
>Before you can even respond Amber goes off on a small almost rantlike explanation of what's being going wrong, some of which she did tell you about
>"Well you see, Big MT's Transportalponder system is busted. It uses slipspace technology to create a momentary rift in space time around you and anyone near you and then transports you almost instantly to Big MT. Normally the remote device the Courier has can be used to transport him to and from Big MT, or the manual system in the think tank can be used to target specific people and things to bring them there. Unfortunately it seems that when the courier's brain was removed and decided to stay there that it..."
>Your thoughts trail off as you try to handle what she's saying
>You may be smart enough to repair robots and energy weapons, but this was some crazy stuff way above you
>How the hell does the courier function without his brain!?
>How could you even begin to make a teleporter to get there...
>Your shake the thoughts out of your head as Amber finishes her explanation after Zero corrected her on something, filling you in on what your next plans will be
>"Oh, right. So Zero found a bunch of places where there are vertibird parts. We need to go and grab them, take them Raul at the lucky 38 who has agreed to repair a Vertibird we fly over, and then head to the Sierra Madre to fly one of their autopiloted vertibirds to the 38. Once it lands there Raul will use all the parts he has to replace anything that doesn't work, and then we just fly to Big MT directly! Like Zero said, it's way too far of a walk on foot to get there in any reasonable time. Besides that once we get there he's goign to start the work to make me able to actually have a baby if I want to!"
>Zero pipes up quickly, making a comment on how even once everything's been set in motion that you would still have to take a serum to raise viablily percentages with her anything close to possible
>"Of course that also means you will essentially decide when you want to, or don't want to have a kid without pesky condoms or male inefert injections like spermital!"
>Though having a kid wasn't on yoru list of things to do right now, as long as it was possible Amber would be happy
>All in all that's good enough for you
>So with an end to the call you get your first map marker on this long quest
>You have to sneak around near vault 3 to get some fuses
>Get unconfortably close to the appearently booby trapped H&H tool factory for some specialized wiring
>Find a bunch of human skulls, a snakedog skull with skin on it, and take them together in a super mutant gore sack to Bill to convince him that the cave you're staying in was a death trap he should stay away from
>The look on his face was great, but the extra pay he coughed up was even better
>Every day for close to the next month afted cealing with bill you and Amber scowered the Mojave for parts, culminating in the final parts being listed as your goal to grab tommorow
>Once you get the vertibird blades off of a wreck somewhat close to searchlight you'de deliver them to Raul and the every next day you'de be off to the famed Sierra Madre 
>For now though, you and Amber curl up in what used to be Maggie's room and doze off
>Tommorow will be a life changing day in one way or another, you swear you can feel it in your bones
>Or maybe that's your body trying to store more of Amber's venom in you or something
>Regardless of that thought you slowly drift into dreamland beside your loving and loyal snekdog
>Life is starting to look up for the two of you, and you can only hope it will continue on like this from here