Thu McCarthy, a twenty-six-year-old police sniper

_Note: This branch will cover a lesbian romance, generally light-hearted but with some angst (including brief references to suicide) thrown in for good measure.- - - - - -

_

'This is stupid,' she said, half-smiling from embarrassment, with each section of the form she filled out.

'It really isn't, sis,' her brother said, 'you'll see. It worked for me, it'll work for you.'

'Yeah, but we're very different people,' she said, as she glanced at him. He'd only graduated high school a year ago and already had one pregnant girlfriend, some kind of tentacled creature, and two more girlfriends in the form of twin squid monsters. He'd also, apparently, been enquiring about adding a fourth member to his harem. Even being as conventionally attractive as he was, combined with being carefree and independently wealthy, she sincerely doubted he could've manoeuvred himself into such a position without the sudden appearance of a portal from a fantasy land of horny monster girls.

'Just hit send,' he said, seemingly through with trying to convince her. She obliged him and, then, felt an uncommon trickle of nervousness. Hopefully her application didn't have too many red flags. 'I've already given them a recommendation, so you shouldn't have any trouble. They're pretty **** to find sponsors who aren't total creeps, to be honest.'

'Whatever, look, there, I've sent it, so will you stop bugging me about it?'

'Fine, fine,' he replied, in a tone of feigned exasperation, 'but if you do end up with a hot monster girlfriend, be sure to introduce her to my girls. I'm sure they'd love to get acquainted with her.'

She laughed at that, despite herself, before yelling, 'alright, get the fuck out of here!'

Even though she'd ordered him to do so, however playfully, it still managed to hit home once he'd left and she was stuck, all alone, in an empty apartment. That was how it had been every night for the past three years, not that her previous apartment had been any less empty. Even when she'd lived at home, sharing a room with her step-sister, she'd still felt alone. Her eyes reflexively darted to the picture she kept by her desk, at all times. There she was, at seven years old, with a great big smile, and there he was, her father (her real father), with a wonderful smile of his own. One year after that photo had been taken, almost to the day, he'd died and nothing had ever been the same.

After eighteen years of mourning, she was mostly all cried out, but the pain had never really gone away. Her phone rang abruptly, breaking her out of her dark reverie, and the voice on the other end, a woman's voice, asked, 'is this Thu McCarthy?'

'It,' she started hoarsely, before clearing her throat, 'it is. Who wants to know?'

'Hello Miss McCarthy, my name's Rachel Everson, I'm calling on behalf of the Alternate World Integration Organisation. I can see you've recently submitted a sponsorship application.'

These were certainly not regular business hours, which gave her pause. 'Uh, yeah, like five minutes ago.'

'Yes, our quick turnaround times can startle some people. You have to understand that our organisation handles a lot of traffic and we are always eager to help the people under our care make the transition to life on the outside. Your application indicated that you'd be available tomorrow. Would you be willing to come down to our local office for an interview at about twelve o'clock?'

'Midday? Sure, I'll get myself off-call from work.'

'Excellent. We look forward to seeing you, then. Goodbye Miss McCarthy.' She had barely even managed to say her own goodbye before the call ended and she was left bewildered. To put her mind at ease, she just tried to get on with the rest of her day. She phoned the station and asked them to take her off-call tomorrow, ate dinner, tidied up and tried to get some sleep. However good of a job she'd done at clearing her mind, it all came undone when she slipped under her sheets and realised that, if all went well, it might be her last night sleeping alone. It made her nervous, almost queasy, and more than a little excited.

So, she stared up at the ceiling, wide-eyed, until the clock struck midnight and she was officially off-call. She raced through her few memories of physical intimacy and couldn't help but weep, either from nervous hope or hopeless despair. With a shaky breath, she closed her eyes and the emotional exhaustion put her into a deep and dreamless sleep.

When the morning came, her routine overtook her and she carried on as though it were any other day. It only struck her when she went to retrieve her breakfast bowl and saw the pile of unused dishware behind it. Then she realised that she might be cooking for two from now on, assuming her interview went well and that the girl who got assigned to her was the kind that would actually eat more or less like a regular person. Her brow furrowed and she tried to imagine what it would be like. In the end, her mind failed her and she just decided to get on with the rest of her morning.

At nine o'clock, she went to get dressed, only to realise that she had to actually put some thought into it. Too formal and I'll come off as cold, too casual and I'll seem unserious. The question of blue jeans was what stumped her most of all. In the end, she chose black slacks, with a blazer to match and a light blue shirt. In front of the mirror, she agonised over whether to leave the top three buttons undone or only two, and she couldn't help but interrogate the rest of her appearance whilst she was at it, her long black hair and whether to tie it up, how narrow her monolid eyes were, the sandy colour of her skin, the squareness of her jawline. She pursed and unpursed her lips and growled in frustration.

She left at half past ten and immediately regretted not dressing down. Blue jeans would've justified boots, or at least trainers. Instead, she had to wear her heeled dress shoes, rendering the long walk a lot less comfortable. There was a slight chill in the air that at least kept her focused but her nerves inevitably returned when she arrived at the AWIO office. There was a woman waiting for her before she even made it to the reception desk. She was very attractive, with long blonde hair, green eyes and an intimidating bosom. 'Miss McCarthy, I presume,' she said, extending her hand, 'I'm Missus Everson, we spoke on the phone yesterday.'

Thu accepted the handshake and stilled herself, managing to sound only a little robotic when she said, 'it's nice to meet you.'

The blonde woman smiled in return, 'likewise. Your brother spoke very highly of you.' Before she could respond to that, Rachel went on, 'anyway, I wanted to be here so that we could go over some things before your interview.'

'Alright,' Thu said, masking her uncertainty. She looked around, seeing the people milling about or sitting in the waiting area, who'd all apparently be privy to the conversation.

'So, I'm sure your brother apprised you of the very basics but I doubt he explained the difficulties we often have with female sponsors.'

Her heart skipped a beat and she got herself ready for disappointment, 'no, he didn't mention anything like that.'

'It's understandable but, although most monster girls are enthusiastic bisexuals, the vast majority of them prefer to form an emotional bond with a male partner. Now that, honestly, isn't the problem we tend to have with female sponsors, since most of them come enquiring about monster boys, instead. The difficulty there is that monster boys are in rather short supply. They are, however, more common than female-exclusive monster girls so, I expect you can see our problem.'

Thu guessed, letting herself down easy, 'there's no one suitable for me.' She wondered why they'd put her through the trouble of bringing her down here.

Rachel shook her head, 'actually, there is a possibility of you taking someone home today, it's actually why I contacted you so quickly. A lot of our lesbian monster girls have to wait a long time for a sponsor and they can even begin to form strong attachments to their peers, which can cause a lot of heartache. I just wanted to make sure you understood that your chances are not as high as most.'

'Thank you,' was all she could manage to say in an even tone.

'Right, now that's out of the way, I'll take you to your interview. Remember, any girls who are interested will be watching closely.'

'I'm ready,' she said, though she certainly didn't feel ready. She was led to a room on the seventh floor and greeted by a very nervous young man, with red hair.

'This is Alan, he'll be conducting the interview,' Rachel said, with a smile that seemed more aimed at him than at Thu. Perhaps he was a new employee, she reasoned, or just new to running interviews.

The interview room was bare, apart from the chairs and the camera. Seeing it caused her stomach to tie itself in knots. What have I got myself into?

After they got settled into their chairs, Thu noticed that Rachel wasn't leaving. Instead, the blonde put a hand on Alan's shoulder, encouraging him to begin. He cleared his throat and looked down at a sheet of paper before opening with, 'so, first things first, why did you decide to become a sponsor?'

If I keep having to come home to an empty apartment, I'll end up blowing my brains out. 'Well, the dating scene really isn't for me, especially with my schedule, and when my brother suggested it, and I saw how happy he was, I thought I should give it a shot.'

'Yes, your brother, Caleb, he's something of a favourite of ours, he's very well suited to caring for monster girls.' Rachel echoed the sentiment with a nod.

Yeah, because he's a layabout with enough of his dad's money to spend all day having sex. 'He's got a big heart,' she said, with a half-genuine smile.

'Yes,' Alan said happily, before needing to be prompted to continue. 'Uh, right, next question: do you have any preferences when it comes to the species of monster girl we might assign to you?'

Beggars can't be choosers. 'No, sir, none at all.'

'Great, that's an encouraging sign. Now, are you sure you're ready for the commitment of caring for a monster girl?'

'Absolutely.'

'Alright, now, what do you do for work?'

I kill people. 'I'm a precision markswoman, currently serving in a full-time police tactical team. Wasn't that on the form I filled out?'

'Yes, it was, this is more for the benefit of the girls that might be watching than for us. So, next question, what does your routine look like?'

'I'm four days on, three days off, Sunday to Wednesday, seven o'clock in the morning to five o'clock at night, but I'm on-call twenty-four-seven. I get two off-call days a month and three weeks of holiday a year.'

'And how about Thursday to Saturday, what do those days look like?'

I pray for a call. 'I use those days to buy groceries, do meal prep, exercise, read, those sorts of things. Sometimes those days pass without incident, other times it feels like I barely have the time off at all.'

'You mentioned exercise, are you a very active person?'

Are you stupid? 'Yeah, I have to stay in shape for my job, and I love running.' Thu couldn't help but dart her eyes towards the camera, as if that could possibly help reveal whether she was impressing anyone or appalling them.

'That's good. Okay, we can skip the next question and, uh, now we've come to something a little more sensitive.' That required another squeeze of his shoulder from Rachel. 'How have your relationships been with your previous romantic partners?'

'I don't have any previous romantic partners. I had a crush on my teacher, when I was in high school, but she shut that down ... rightfully, obviously.' She ripped out my heart and crushed it. Thu immediately regretted mentioning that but refused to let it show on her face.

'Okay, and, um, well, how would you describe your sex life?'

Oh God, maybe I should just leave. 'I don't really have one.'

'Uh, alright, and, uh, how would you describe yourself in bed?'

Kill me now. 'I don't know.'

'Alright, we're done with the more invasive questions now. So, what are you looking for in a romantic partner?'

A warm body to ease my crippling loneliness. 'I'm pretty much open to anything.'

'Alright, another encouraging sign. Now, I just need to step outside, very briefly.' Now it was her turn for a reassuring smile from Rachel as Alan ducked out of the room, through the other door. Words were exchanged with an unknown party but she thought she heard a girly voice ask, 'can I see her?' He returned shortly after, nodding at Rachel and saying, 'she's still interested.'

With the other two people in the room standing, Thu reflexively got up from her chair.

Rachel then began to speak, 'alright, I think it's only fair to reveal that we've deceived you a little. Under ordinary circumstances, yours is the kind of application we'd throw out.'

Part of her had expected to hear something like. She really wasn't offering much, which is why she was single in the first place. 'I get it,' she said, noticing a slight shake in her own voice. The humour she found in the fact that not getting a monster girlfriend was affecting her worse than a life-or-**** hostage situation helped her calm down a little.

'However, we made an exception for you, because of the recommendation we received from your brother. We honestly expected the interview to dissuade our girls from agreeing to be sponsored by you, given your lifestyle. You have to understand that monster girls need a lot of attention and care.'

Thu could only nod, too nervous to speak. It seemed like she was on the very edge of acceptance and rejection.

'We do have one girl who expressed an interest in your profile, however, and she's still very interested in meeting you.'

Thu felt a smile cross her face, unconsciously, though she remained patient. There was a but coming, she could sense it.

'But I will warn you that she has expressed an interest in every female sponsor we've had, so it is highly likely that she doesn't fully understand how incompatible you might be. The bonding process could be difficult and one or both of you could decide to end the sponsorship. So, with that in mind, would you still like to meet her?'

'Yes,' she said, without hesitation. A nightmare beyond human imagination could walk through that door and I'd still want to make it work.

'Alright,' Rachel said, as Alan opened the door, 'Lucy! You can come in, now.' As soon as the words had left her lips, a girl came bounding into the room and, before Thu could even process her visually, she wrapped her in a tight hug, pressing her large breasts flush against her chest.

'Hi,' she said stiffly, as she gently tried to pry the girl off her. When they were separated, she finally got a good look at her. The first thing she noticed were her large brown eyes and the floppy brown dog's ears poking through her long and messy dyed blonde hair. She wore a pale pink hoodie, with a sparkly pattern that matched the nails on her fingers and toes. Her legs were bare, from her sandals to her tiny frayed jean shorts and her braless bust was practically bursting out of her black tank top.

'Hi,' she mimicked, with a large grin beaming across her face, as her fluffy brown tail wagged energetically from side to side.

Thu had to clear her throat before speaking and she was sure she'd gone bright red, 'so, uh, what now?'

They both looked at Rachel, apprehensively. 'You can take her home. There'll be periodic visits from us, and you'll need to come along together for a meeting every day for the next week, at seven o'clock.' Thu began to give voice to an objection but Rachel anticipated it, 'allowing some leeway, of course, on account of your profession.'

'Right,' she said, nervously wetting her dry lips and fixing her hands to her waist, awkwardly, 'so, I guess ... let's go.'

Lucy bounded around the room and hugged Alan, who reciprocated after a fashion, and then Rachel, whose squeeze in response was a lot more natural. Seeing the two women pressing their chests together only added to the heat in her cheeks. 'Goodbye, guys,' she said happily, and they waved at her as she rushed out of the room. The bouncy doggirl then turned to beckon her, 'come on, then, take me home!'

'Goodbye,' she said, receiving farewells in turn, before following the girl down the stairs and out to the courtyard. Once they were outside, Lucy began to walk in circles around her. 'Are you always this hyper?'

'Yep,' she beamed, before beginning to walk backwards, keeping pace with her, 'it drives people crazy,' she said, guiltlessly. 'You said you like running, so we should, oop,' at that, the girl, not looking where she was going, tripped and fell backwards. Thu reached out quickly enough to catch her, causing her sponsee to let out a nervous chuckle.

'You should look where you're going and, no, I'm not running in heels.'

Lucy made a cartoonishly sad face and said, 'okay,' before taking a position at her side for the walk home, slipping her left hand in Thu's right and leaning against her. The contact caused the butterflies in her stomach to take flight once more.