Asia stared at his back; he made a horrible story sound matter of fact somehow.
He craned his head around to stare at her curiously, "Are you crying?"
She nodded.
"Why?"
"It must've been terrible to go through all that as a boy!"
He put his head back on the floor, "Yeah, well, I'm over it now."
'Yeah right!' Asia thought to herself. She scooted off to the side and began to kneed the cheeks of his bottom. This was very intimate and she could feel her face flush hot with blood, but thankfully he didn't look back around.
"What changes did they make to you?"
"They genetically tuned up some systems, mostly hormones. They were trying to make a more elite soldier. They stopped the research, when it became clear that the test subjects, while strong and intelligent, lacked the consistent ability to obey orders or stay controlled."
"The changes, do they give you the headaches?"
"Yes. I have about, as much testosterone flowing through me, as a boy at the height of puberty does. Sometimes my hormone levels crash and I get the headaches. The way I am causes me a lot of problems. My temper is very short and easily riled. I can be completely unreasoning in my anger. I do stupid things like attacking grizzly bears with nothing but a spear or sword just for the heck of it. It's hell to be me! I never feel like I'm in control of myself. I crave things." His voice trailed off.
Asia softly interjected, as she worked the back of one calf muscle, "Sex?"
He nodded and said, "All the time."
Asia glanced up John's long form. It just went to show you that you really never knew a person till you walked a mile in their shoes. He wasn't the big scary monster that she had thought him to be at all. The more she found out about him, the more she understood what she saw on the surface. In some ways she was actually beginning to like him as a person, at least in this present mood that he was in. To like the person that you were in a relationship with, according to her father, was as important as loving the person.
Asia contemplated all that she had just learned. It was a lot. He said he had no control, but control over himself was all she had seen him manifest, ever since she had woken up his captive. Her eyes fell to his powerfully articulate hands that lay beside of him and a daring thought occurred to her.
She wanted those hands on her, but therein lay a hazard. She'd have to see how far she could trust him.