AN: So, here we go with another mildly exciting rewrite! This is from the third scene in chapter one. I decided that this would be a perfect place to showcase John's aberrant mind-set. I cleaned it up a bit, and added new conversational interactions. Now this section is over the 1800, almost 1900, word mark where it was a little over 900 words total before.

Funny how just adding a conversation or two to a dry area of the story can make it come alive. Right?

Enjoy.

Chapter 1.3: You Suck

No stranger to test taking and the requirement to prove his scholastic worth, John eagerly spent the entirety of his morning testing for a basic tamer's permit. Despite his age, and in spite of the results of his psychological test stating that his mentality was abnormal, but within specified legal tolerance, he knew he would perform well on such a simple procedural examination.

"Sir, your test scores have been compiled," said a pink haired Generica.

Unless something extraordinary occurred, he would pass easily. There was little room for doubt in his mind. Even before she answered his query, John began to plan further. He would only have a permit for the first six months. This rule would force him to acquire no more than six demi-humans for his own uses. All others must be relocated to a safe holding facility, sold, or traded.

"How did I do?" inquired the man as he mentally went over the remaining funds in his possession. He possessed a little over one hundred dollars to his name. He absolutely needed to score eighty-five percent or higher on the test.

The girl smiled and handed him his paperwork. The man nodded to her then flipped through the pages till he found his scores and blinked. He'd done better than he hoped. His overall score was a ninety-eight out of a possible ninety-nine with line scores that ranged from one hundred twenty-two to one instance of a perfect one hundred forty.

"That's an amazingly high score, sir. You should have no problem being sponsored." The girl unleashed a sweet and toothy smile. He was kind of cute in a way, and unlike most of the morons who barely passed their tests he was a grown man with an obvious air of intelligence about him.

He nodded to her as politely as he could manage then attempted an equally polite smile. "Thank you for your kind words."

The Generica took that as friendly flirtation and winked at him. John fought down an involuntary shudder. For a brief moment he grew fearful that the animal would leap across her desk and attempt to ravish him with her perky bosom. Demi-humans were known for their constant state of arousal. How anyone thought that such a woman could work in an office environment was beyond John's comprehension.

Still, he did understand the proper social conventions. He nodded once before speaking an appropriate farewell. The poor girl would have been devastated to know how much he truly did not care about the possibility of her having a nice day, but he said it anyway.

As he was about to leave he stopped and turned back to her. "I need you—" he began to say. She gasped and stood up straight. Her eyes widened and her lips spread into a beautiful smile. Her perky bosom bouncing excitedly, nipples straining the fabric of her button-up white cotton shirt, she cried out, "Yes! Gladly!"

"—to tell me which way to go to reach the taming registration office..." said John, with a flat expression on his face.

Her expression froze on her face suddenly. She made a strange choking sound, and then placed her fist to her mouth and coughed once politely. "Yes, I'll gladly help you find your way, sir."

John began to speak once more, but a strange aroma tickled his nostrils. He sniffed the air once then tilted his head to the side. "Strange... We are nowhere near the ocean."

The Generica kept a professional expression on her face despite hearing that, but a moment later the barest hint of a blush appeared on her cheeks. What could she say? Intelligence was sexy.

After an embarrassing series of mistakenly erotic statements and counter-statements John went about his business. The Generica panted softly then slid her hand down to lightly massage her soaking went maidenhood. "That man... To do this with only a few words..."

She lifted her now slick fingers to her lips and then sniffed them a little. "His girls will be so lucky to have him..." Quite some time would be spent with her fingers softly stroking her folds while thinking of the one who got away. Her soft cries of arousal and frustration would become a workplace legend. Intelligence just did things for her. Things!

Meanwhile, the raven haired man walked along the corridors of the local taming registration office until he found the financial aid center. John walked in casually and signed his name on the sign-in sheet when directed to do so. Then he sat down and waited while the other new tamers who arrived previously went in to see the wizard one after another.

When his name was finally called, he went into the office. He blinked at what he discovered inside. There was yet another demi-human in charge of something. His financial aid officer was also a Generica. Those girls were everywhere it seemed. He'd not really gotten out much during his studies, but he was certain that most important jobs were performed by humans. How nice was it that they could train animals to do so much of the delicate paperwork?

John idly wondered if the pretty blue haired girl was housebroken, just before she began her greeting spiel with bright eyes and an energetic smile. "Hello, Sir. How may I help you today?"

"I am in need of a sponsor for my new career as a tamer, and need to know if there was one available," he said. John tried to smile as politely as possible, but it was difficult. He felt rather silly talking to her, actually. At any moment she might become a sex crazed mad-woman who desired his penis or something. How could you have a reasonable and intelligent conversation with such a creature?

"Of course, sir. Give me your test scores and permit number. It will only take a moment to check on that for you," she said.

He handed over the requested information then marveled at how easily she used the keyboard. Computers had never really been that interesting to him. If he couldn't make it freeze, explode, or turn into a turnip he really had no use for it. A powerful mage could turn a computer into a turnip, but he never developed the power necessary for such a feat.

"Sir, you're in luck. There are three available sponsors, not including the standard government sponsorship package." She presented a perky smile after realizing his social possibilities. A man with a future that bright, would be the sort of man she did not mind working for, and it would lead to exciting days.

"Excellent, do I have to choose a sponsor now, or do I file with all of them and wait to see which of them reply back?"

"That would be the latter, sir. If you took the government service option it would be done today."

John considered for a moment then instructed her to begin his application with the three available sponsors. The government sponsorship was always available, but he knew he would have better funding from the private sector. He also did not want some random idiot from the service division checking in on him constantly to determine whether or not he was efficient enough with the funds he was being granted.

"Alright sir, your applications have been sent. Do you have a number where you can be reached, or will you be staying at T.H.D.?"

"I would prefer to be enrolled at the tamer housing directorate barracks for now. How long do these sponsors normally take to decide?"

"Three to five business days, usually. It's Tuesday, so you should know by next week this time at the latest." she replied perfunctorily, "If you would like I can go ahead and send over your scores to THD so that you might have quarters assigned?"

"Thank you, miss. I would appreciate that. It has been a pleasure to work with you." He smiled in an approximation of pleasantness. It was hard not to at least attempt to be pleasant with the attractive creature. She was well trained at pretending to be a human professional after all.

"You are welcome, sir. The pleasure was mine." She granted him a truly warm and endearing smile. It was nice to meet nice people. "You know... If you have any trouble settling in, I would be happy to help..."

"I appreciate the offer, miss. However, I am sure my room will be a small cramped affair. We would be pressed together tightly, and that would cause all manner of issues," said John as a means of attempting to continue his efforts at pleasantness. Reasonably, he continued, "You'd hate that, I'm sure."

Her eyes took on a dangerously intrigued light. "Oh yes, that would be terrible..." she purred softly, "Small rooms like that heat up quickly too, we may have to take off most of our clothes."

John considered that for a moment. It sounded like a reasonable assessment, and one not easily intuited. What a wondrous animal, to know so much about such a simple truth. "Depending on the size of the room, and the time of the year, we might need to take off all of our clothing. The steam from our heavy exertions could ruin them, or even cause chaffing in intimate areas."

Her lips parted gently and her cheeks took on a rosy color. "I-Is that so, sir... Chaffing the intimate areas, I mean..."

"Yes, it seems perfectly logical," said John with a confident nod of his head. He then saw the clock on the wall and noted the time. He'd already spent more time here than was necessary.

"So, I should come by and—" she began, only to have John wave his hand in a sociable way. "It has been pleasant speaking with you miss, but I do need to get going."

"S-sir?" she asked, her eyes widening in confusion. Weren't they just discussing something, interesting?"

John left the registration office, after a perfectly pleasant farewell statement. The Generica was left with nothing but her look of surprise and a warm wet spot in her chair to express her confusion over how she'd lost out on a night of kinky tamer sex.

"First he said..." she said softly. She tapped the air with her finger and tilted her head to the side. "Then I said..."

She ran the conversation through her head, and spoke it aloud several times. No matter how much she went over it, she never did figure out where things went wrong.

John, however, headed over to the barracks to await the results of his sponsorship inquiries. It would be a long few days but he was granted ten days of free room and board by law. That would have to do for now. That and try to discern why he continued to smell the sea at times. Perhaps he had developed some sort of cognitive issue? Was his brain chemistry off? A visit to the hospital might be in order.