Chapter Text
bzzt bzzt bzzt bzzt
Lena groggily reached out and slapped her hand down on the alarm clock. Lifting up a head of tousled hair from her bed, she checked her communicator. Crap. It wasn’t her day off. She did have to get up. With a groan and a sigh, Lena began the process of dragging herself out of bed.
Thirty minutes later, Lena was sipping a 20 oz cup of coffee as the crowded maglev sped through the city from her apartment towards her work.
“Morning Frank” she muttered to the security guard
“Morning Lena” he muttered back, barely looking up.
And at exactly 0700 hours, Unified Earth Time, Lena put on her headset and signed into her job, as civilian space traffic control specialist for the Terran Accord.
With a crackle of static, her work began.
Republican Spacelines, passenger vessel on route from Terra to a station orbiting Europa: Terra Central, this is Brickyard 752, requesting permission to leave orbit for outbound spacelane Hydra.
Lena: Brickyard 752, Terra Central, climb to Orbit Level 10, cleared to spacelane Hydra, keep speed sub relativistic until outside Upper Geosynchronous Orbit
Brickyard 752: Climb to Orbit level 10, cleared to Hydra, sub relativistic until UGO, roger.
A civilian cargo ship owned by Astra Logistics, coming in from some mining system: Terra Central, Hauler 290 inbound to Spaceport Elon Musk.
Terra Central: Hauler 290, descend to Orbit Level 5 and hold for military traffic.
Hauler 290: Descent Orbit Level 5 and hold.
Several hours later, Lena took the elevator down to the buildings cafeteria and got her meal. Biggest perk of this job in her opinion. Free meals, provided courtesy of the Terran Accord. Not the biggest meals, or the best tasting, but hey, it was free.
She sat down next to Sam and Bill, who were part of the Terran Navy Space Traffic Control Corps. It had been really lonely for her when she first started working here, but Sam and Bill had been friendly and welcoming, even if she was "a good for nothing civvie who wouldn't know military discipline if it hit her in the face."
"Hey y'all, how's it going? Keeping us lowly civvies safe from the commies and unions and xenos?" She teased.
Bill frowned as he chewed a tough piece of Meat Stew™. "Don't tell anyone I said so, but these new xenos are tough. There's been more and more troops and ships getting diverted over that way. Looks like it might be a proper fight."
Sam, ever the optimist, gave a gallic shrug. "Eh, we'll get them. Our Navy is pretty damn formidable after all. Can't be tougher than that uprising four years back. I hear it's some sort of living plant thing, so probably pretty slow and weak."
Lena gave them both a cocky grin. "Just so long as you military types wrap it up fast so that you stop messing with my damn airspace. These delays are killer!" She laughed along with the rest of them, safe and secure, three small pieces of the vast empire that was the Terran Accord, doing their small part to keep the vast machine of capitalism oiled and greased.
After more hours of calmly guiding ships into and out of Terra space, Lena clocked out at exactly 1900 hours, and headed back to her small tiny apartment, grabbing her usual takeout container of food, spicy noodles with Real Meat™!.
Looking out her window at the skyscrapers sprouting above the slums stretching to the horizon, now lit only by lights shining out of windows and the faint neon glow of the undercity, her thoughts drifted for a moment. Was she happy with her life? Shouldn't she strive to do more? To be more? She had a job that she didn't mind and was good at. Her bosses were quite happy that she didn't seem to want to climb the company ladder and try and take their jobs, although everyone did seem a bit puzzled by it. But she liked it! A nice good routine, where she didn't have to think, didn't have to realize how lonely she was...
Lena cut out the maudlin line of thought with a shake of her head. This was getting her nowhere. This was Terra, the heart of the Terran Accord. She was far from the chaos and outlawness of the frontier, where the brave and noble Terran Navy kept humanity safe. Nothing would change. Nothing could change.
With a sigh she tossed the takeout container, half eaten, down the garbage chute and went to bed.
Chapter 2
Summary:
In which things are starting to get a bit hectic
Chapter Text
bzzt bzzt bzzt bzzt
Lena rolled out of bed with a groan. There were no more days off. Since the Terran Defense War had started, no one got any days off.
Thankfully, since she worked in a critical sector, she hadn't been drafted to go fight against the Affini threat. 'Slow and weak,' her ass. The rumours and gossip that trickled in from the few ships that had limped back to Terra were terrifying, but far more terrifying were how few ships were coming back. It reminded her of one time when she was young and had gotten to go down to the sea with her family. She remembered watching the tide coming in, slowly covering the beach, inexorably growing. It had awed and terrified her in equal measure.
Nevertheless, thirty minutes later, she was on the maglev with only a handful of fellow passengers, all trying their best to ignore everyone else. She looked around as she sipped her coffee, trying desperately to will herself not to fall asleep. She had never noticed how soothing and gentle the hum of the train was before. Just a nice low hum at the edge of hearing, so nice and calm. She jerked awake with a start as the train slid into her stop. The coffee just wasn't doing it anymore. She needed a break, a chance to take a day or even two off and rest.
Filled with daydreams of getting to lie in her bed for more than 6 hours at a time, Lena shuffled into her work.
"Morning Jerry," she muttered to the white haired old man who was all but dozing at the security desk. Frank and most of the other security guards had been drafted to go fight the affini, leaving behind those who the navy deemed 'unsuitable for combat operations'.
Jerry gave a grunt in response and barely looked up before going back to his nap.
The control room, capable of holding upwards of 50 controllers at once, was down to a bare handful. All of them shared that haggard, tired look that seemed to be permanently etched onto Lena's face, even as they typed and talked with the rapid fire, precise, professional tone that was known to every pilot as the hallmark of Core Terran Space Traffic Control. None of the drawl or stutter of the outer colonies, or the recklessness of some of the industrial districts. No matter how tired they were, no matter how little sleep they were running on, they weren't about to let that slip.
Lena kept half an eye on the news channel screen set in one corner of the room. They still were trying to downplay the invasion, talking about political scandals, celebrity gossip and the like instead, but it couldn't be entirely ignored, even by the skilled propaganda arm of the Terran media. Ooh, Ophelia Merrill was starring in a new movie, some Terran military drama. That looked fun. She was such a good, genuine actress.
With a sigh Lena settled in to work, idly identifying each call in her mind as she did.
Military troop transport: Central, this is Donkey Rider 12, flight of four, we need clearance to Jupiter right away.
Assholes. Lena keyed her mic: Donkey Rider this is Terra Central, you are cleared direct to UGO, follow Standard Instrument Departure Route Cola 3 at best speed, then switch to military STC channel 122.35.
Lena continued: Hauler 5234 change course to inclination 45.6 degrees for military traffic.
The very disgruntled voice of the short range cargo ship replied: Hauler 5234, changing course. Again.
The next voice was smooth and professional: Terra Central, this is N7241, private vessel, requesting departure on spacelane Indigo.
N7241...that was the code for that fancy spaceyacht the Irving family had bought. And going the opposite direction of the front. Well, at least he was polite.
N7241, climb to OL25 and and orbit to waypoint GRIMES, then clear for the departure on spacelane Indigo.
A frantic voice suddenly broke in: Terra Central pan pan, pan pan, this is Dustoff 20, need emergency clearance to Musk.
Shit, military medevac. Bill's voice cut in: Dustoff 20 switch to 122.15, I'll be guiding you in.
Lena slumped in relief. At least they still had their military controllers.
Several hours later she sat down to eat lunch. The lunches were no longer free, now deducted from her paycheck, but they were still a decent amount of food for a low price, which was better than you could get out in the city. Sam and Bill were talking quietly to themselves, shutting up as she came to sit down with them. "Hey Bill, Sam. Whatchya talking about?"
Bill shook his head at Sam, which they returned with a pointed look before sighing. "Well, you probably aren't a treefucker, and you'll know soon enough, but...we're getting mobilized. Full military mobilization. We'll be getting shipped out to do military ATC helping the troops fight back against the weeds."
Sam cut in, "they won't be facing frontier commanders and mercs anymore, they'll be facing the core of the Terran Navy. We'll hold them, don't you worry Lena."
Lena gave them an unsteady grin, even as she thought back to the many times they had boasted about how the Affini wouldn't be able to get past a planet or system, how surely the troops there would be enough, and how it didn't seem to slow them down one bit. She thought again about the tide, about creeping vines slowly and inexorably covering everything in their path.
Bill snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, shaking Lena out of her thoughts. "Hey, Lena, earth to Lena. You spaced out there for a bit."
Lena gave her head a shake and gave another smile. "Sorry about that, haven't been getting much sleep. Anyways, I better get going."
As she walked away she heard Sam lean over to Bill. "I didn't know that Lena was into military types. She got all blushy and junk when I started talking about the Navy. Heh, who would have figured her for a fish hook eh?"
She squeaked as she heard the term used for those who chased after military types used for her. She hadn't been blushing. Not at all.
Finally home, after leaving work at 2100 hours, she ate the tiny bowl of ramen that was all she could afford, sat and stared out at the lights of the city, and thought about the patterns she had been seeing in the traffic. Military traffic one way. Commercial traffic shrinking, increasingly just small local ships. And a small but steady trickle of private, high end luxury craft, all headed one way. Away from Terra. Away from the affini. Rats fleeing the ship.
Chapter 3
Summary:
In which Lena has a very bad time. Special thanks to AsphodelVeil for making sure I stayed canon compliant.
Chapter Text
bzzt bzzt bzzt bzzt
Lena slapped the alarm off and lay there staring at the ceiling. She didn't want to do this anymore. She didn't want to put on that stupid Terran Navy uniform they gave her after drafting her. She didn't want to see yet more regulations and restrictions for the supposed war effort.
You know what happens when STC goes Zero. Do you want what happened at Neptune to happen here?
Neptune is run by incompetent jerkwads who only get through the Academy thanks to their parents money Lena grumbled back at the voice in her head.
The silence that echoed back in her head was all the answer she needed. Earth was not Neptune, and it wouldn't just be a few skeleton crewed gas tankers colliding. With all the controllers now officially drafted into the Terran Navy for the Terran Defensive Campaign, and most of them shipped off to fight at the front, the few remaining controllers were pulling weeks of 12 hour shifts just to keep things running.
I wonder what happens to the ones the xenos capture, Lena idly wondered as she shrugged into the hated uniform and filled her thermos with thick, triple brewed coffee. The one nice thing about being drafted was that she was still able to get things like coffee, even if it was mostly synthetic.
Lena didn't really buy into the propaganda that the Affini were eating the captured soldiers or turning them into fertilizer or whatever. But the bits of Affini propaganda that were starting to pop up weren't very reassuring either. Blissed out humans wearing collars talking about how everything was going to be perfectly alright, there was nothing to fear... It was slightly terrifying. They had to be hiding something, there had to be some kind of catch. There always was.
The imposing bulk of the building that held Terran Space Traffic Central seemed to loom a bit larger than normal as she slouched towards the doors, grown larger by the lack of anyone else around. Motion activated lights flickered to life as she walked through the lobby, the security officer's desk cleaned out and empty, and took the elevator up alone.
The control room was nearly empty. Gracie, the only other controller there, stood up quickly when Lena entered. "Oh good, you're here," was all she said before dropping her headset on her station and hurrying out. Lena couldn't help but notice that she was carrying a small bag with her, and her station was cleared out of anything to indicate that someone had ever been there.
All alone, Lena settled into her terminal and let out a small shiver. Surely someone else would show up. Ken was scheduled to work this shift with her, he'd show up, and then she wouldn't be all alone in this big creepy building. Shaking off her unsettled thoughts, she got down to work.
Budget Passenger Ship: Terra Central, Icarus Galactic 523, we'd like to expedite our climb to GSO, we've been holding here for hours
Another Budget Passenger Ship: Terra Central, Virgin Galactic 967, we've been holding even longer!
A cacophony of noise erupted in Lena's ears as one hundred and ten ships, all trying to leave Earth, started speaking at once.
For a moment, Lena froze, overwhelmed and wishing she could be anywhere else but here. Then her training kicked in. Flipping a switch that would allow her to use the super powerful antenna on the roof to override everyone else's transmissions, she took a deep breath and began to speak.
Lena: Attention all vessels, attention all vessels. This is Terra Central. All vessels awaiting takeoff, hold. Your takeoff clearances are cancelled. All vessels currently in orbit to leave Terra, hold, your outbound clearances are cancelled. All vessels approaching Terra, hold, your approach clearances are cancelled.
Lena bit her lip for a moment, furious that Gracie had let things get to such a state.
Lena: Vessels on approach, hold at OL Lagrange 1. You will be given clearances shortly. Vessels in orbit, you will be given clearances in the order that clears you all as quickly as possible. You will all hold until given these clearances.
Flicking the switch back off, she did her best to ignore the furious yells of the captains as she plotted routes as fast as she could. Then, two minutes later, she flipped it back on.
Lena: Attention all ships, Oshkosh procedures are in effect. That means you do not need to read back my instructions, and I will not accept any non-emergency calls.
What followed was an hour of Lena talking non-stop giving out directions, until finally the massive tangle that Earth's orbital space had become was once again flowing smoothly, and the grumble of the captains had died down to a dull roar.
With a sigh she rubbed her aching eyes and looked up and around as she drank some water. Odd...Ken still wasn't at his station.
With a twist of her mouth she shook her head and got back to work.
It wasn't until her stomach gave out an angry growl that she realized she had missed lunch, and Ken still wasn't there. It looked like he wasn't going to show up at all. Gnawing her lip, Lena walked over and pulled out the emergency procedures binder, and carried it over to her desk.
Emergency Procedure PS-04
Full personnel shortage.
In the event that all personnel must temporarily leave the center, in order to avoid an STC Zero scenario, the following mitigation steps shall be observed:
1. Ask the nearest Terran Navy Vessel of class Bezos or greater for assistance. These vessels contain fully trained and licensed STC operators.
2. If no Terran Navy Vessel of class Bezos or greater is in range, contact Terra Station Approach for assistance. Note that this assistance may be limited, as the ingress and egress of ships from Terra Local Stations must not be impeded.
3. If Terra Station Approach is unable to assist, contact Luna Central to take over communications.
Note: In the event that personnel must leave for a period greater then one (1) hour, an emergency must be declared and STC Head Office must be notified.
Holy carp, how old was this thing? The Bezos class ships had been out of service for thirty years, and Terra Station Approach dissolved almost half a century ago. Well, Luna Central still existed at least. Hopefully that'd give her enough time to go grab a quick lunch from the canteen.
Lena nervously switched a radio to a long distance frequency and keyed the mic: Luna Central, Terra Central, do you read me.
A crackly faint voice came over the radio: Terra Central, Luna Central here, I read you.
Lena :Requesting activation of Emergency Procedure PS-04, I'm all alone here and I need to grab something from the canteen. Shouldn't take more than half an hour tops.
Luna Central's voice sounded amused as they replied: Ah, need a quick break eh? I heard you invoke Oshkosh earlier, nicely done. I'll hold down the fort while you go do what you need to do.
With an enormous sense of relief, Lena ran down the hallway, and hammered the elevator button. "C'mon, c'mon c'mon, hurry up." She bounced on her feet until the elevator finally dinged and danced anxiously until it reached the canteen.
Hurrying inside, she looked around in confusion. It was...empty. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that someone had grabbed everything she could find and hauled it off. Dammit Gracie. With a sigh, Lena managed to scrounge a handful of nutrient bars and sat down to munch one, morosely thinking about how damn futile this all seemed. How had things fallen apart this much? Didn't other people care? There should have been rules, and safeguards, and policy meetings. Instead there was just her. Alone. Trying to keep an entire planet's traffic system from collapsing, on her own.
With a whimper, she took the handful of bars she had found and trudged back up to her station.
Lena: Luna Central, Terra Central, I'm back on station. Thanks for the help, I owe you one.
And just like that, she was back at it.
Feeling like no time had passed at all, Lena glanced up at the clock. Finally, her shift was over.
She looked around, expecting to see her replacement coming through the door. No one.
Swearing slightly, she pulled up the duty roster. Isaac was supposed to be on duty after her. She dialed his number, keeping one eye on the terminals as she did so. He was just running a little late, that's all. It was going to be fine.
"Yooooo, Lena, what's up my girl! How's it hanging? hahahaha"
"Isaac, you're supposed to be on duty, where the hell are you?" Lena's patience was quickly running thin.
"On duty? The fuck you talking about chicka, its the end of the fucking world! I'm not coming into work. Come on, come join me, I'm down in the slums, we're getting fucked up on undercity hooch!"
With a scream, Lena hung up on the infuriating smarmy asshole. Then her anger suddenly drained away. No one else was coming. No one would be coming to replace her. Not tonight, not tomorrow, not at all. She stared at the emergency supply cabinet and thought back to training at the academy.
"Now this, cadets, is our last line of defense against the enemy that is weariness. One of these little pills and you will keep on going like the Energizer Bunny himself." The instructor gave a lazy grin as they lounged against the desk at the front of the class. "Now mind you, it'll also burn through your calories like a plasma cutter through rock, and you'll get the shakes something awful when you come down, but don't you worry about that, my eager young grasshoppers. Only people who ever have to use these are military folk in active combat, or the unlucky SOB civvie controllers who get caught up in the middle of a union rebellion. You all are headed for Terra Central, none of y'all will have to so much as touch the Go-Fast Gas".
With shaking hands, Lena took out the bottle and placed it in front of her station. Opening it, she carefully took one out and put it down in front of her. It looked so innocent, a large white pill with no markings on it. Was she really going to do this?
Lena: Luna Central, Terra Central, I have another big favour to ask.
Luna Central: Go ahead Terra Central, I still have another hour or two on my shift before I'm done for the day.
hearing the same voice answer Lena let out a little sigh of relief.
Lena: I'm about to have to pull a double, at least. Can you take over while I run to my apartment and grab some things for an extended stay?
The voice was silent for a long moment: Things are getting bad down there eh? Yah, I'll cover you. You better come back though, or I'm going to hop on a shuttle and come down there to kick your ass myself.
Lena was silent as the maglev sped back towards her apartment, trying hard not to think about what she was doing. She was going to be breaking so many regulations. When this was all over, she'd either be super fired, or...well actually she probably still wouldn't get a bonus, but hey, maybe there'd be a pizza party.
At her apartment she quickly packed her go bag, adding in a comfortable blanket, her pills, and as much food as she could find. With her apartment ransacked, she gave it one last look over and let out a tiny hysterical giggle. It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.
Back at her station, wrapped up in her blanket, hated uniform thrown into a corner and in her comfiest pair of leggings and tank top, with food around her, she picked up her headset again.
Lena: Luna Central, Terra Central. Thanks. Time for some Go-Fast Gas.
Luna Central's reply was quiet: Good luck Terra Central. My name is Lily.
Lena: Lena. My name is Lena.
Lily: Good luck Lena.
Lena: Thanks Lily.
With a determined look, Lena swallowed down the pill.
Terra Central looked over the system. Everything must flow nominally. Noticing an irregularity, a ship that would be forced to make an inefficient manoeuver in 3.65 minutes, Terra Central contacted them and gave them correct instructions. It seemed to take an eternity before the ship obeyed. But it did obey. The traffic must not be impeded.
Periodically, Terra Central consumed some of the nutrients that were in front of Terra Central. Once every 12 hours, as Terra Central began to feel....inefficient, Terra Central took another pill.
Monitoring just Earth was inefficient. Terra Central had the capacity to handle a wider region. Terra Central opened up the frequencies and began listening. Terra Central had a range of 7.23 AU, giving Terra Central the ability to control space out to Jupiter.
Terra Central frowned. So many stations abandoned, so much inefficiency. Terra Central would fix the inefficiency.
Occasionally, Terra Central would hear transmissions between other control centers and ships. This was good. They were not as efficient as Terra Central, but they allowed Terra Central to focus on other areas of greater inefficiency.
Terran Naval Vessel, in the vicinity of the asteroid belt: Please divert your course by 25 degrees normal inclination to avoid a collision.
Another voice: Recommend you divert your course 25 degrees anti-normal inclination to avoid a collision.
Terran Naval Vessel: This is the Captain of a Terran Cosmic Navy ship. I say again, divert your course.
The other voice: No, I say again, you divert your course.
Terran Naval Vessel: This is the Battleship TCN Indomitable, the third largest ship in the Terran Cosmic Navy, accompanied by three cruisers, a railgun ship, and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 25 degrees normal inclination, that's two five degrees normal, or we will open fire for the safety of this fleet.
The other voice: This is the asteroid Juno. Your call.
Good. Everything was efficient.
Time ceased to have any meaning for Terra Central. It was marked only by those strange periods where Terra Central seemed to feel less efficient, and the breaks Terra Central had to take to consume nutrients. Terra Central's nutrient supply was running low.
Terra Central noticed a number of large objects enter Terra Central's radar range. Impossibly large, yet they still registered as ships. This may be a challenge for efficiency.
Some of the ships split off from the others and headed towards the Jupiter Control Area. Jupiter Central would monitor those ships, Terra Central would not interfere.
The radar signal of one of the ships and the radar signal of the Indomitable came together for one brief moment, and then continued on as one, but Terra Central had other matters to deal with.
Terra Central: Unidentified ships, this is a Terran Space Controlled Area. State your names and intentions.
Unidentified ship: Oh how cute, they have some sort of AI controlling the traffic! Hello cutie, this is Sequoioidium, Affini Capital Ship, lead ship of the Terran Sol Domestication Group. Don't worry, we're here to help. A couple of us are going to be coming in to orbit Earth, ok?
This was not proper terminology.
Terra Central: Sequoioidium, Terra Central, cleared for approach on heavy shipping lane Alpha-3.
Terra Central continued to monitor the fleet as it continued on, giving them frequent waypoints and vector corrections, which were universally met with sounds of adoration over how cute the AI was. It was strange, this fleet seemed to have none of the space lanes or waypoints that ships normally had. But Terra Central ensured they would remain efficient.
Terra Central absently noted as some ships left the group to head towards Mars, giving them slightly more optimal waypoints before passing them off to Martian Central.
Some time later, the first of the massive ships started passing Luna's orbit. All around Earth, planetary defense missiles armed themselves and prepared to fire. Rail guns charged. Alarms blared. Terra Central noticed none of this.
Slowly and majestically, the massive ships closed in.
Terra Central: Sequoioidium, Terra Central, orbit at OL 300, inclination 2.56 degrees normal.
Sequoioidium: Roger that cutie, moving in now.
And all around Earth, people whimpered as vast ships appeared in the sky. And the planetary defense missiles failed to fire, because the fuel had been sold off years ago. And the railguns didn't fire, because the maintenance company that was supposed to maintain them was just a shell company and never really existed. And the elite of humanity, huddled around the Poles, gulped. The affini had come.
Sequoioidium: Thanks for your help little AI, what's your designation?
Terra Central paused in the middle of reaching for the pill bottle. Terra Central's designation? What? She didn't....
Vision blurring, Lena looked around, heedless of her live mic: Wha...what's going on? Where am I?
Sequoioidium: Oh dirt you're a sophont. I'm coming right down little one, don't you worry. Just hold on a bit longer for me.
It couldn't have been more than 15 minutes later when Lena heard the door crash open. Looking up with blurry eyes, all she saw was a wall of green before everything went black.
Chapter 4
Summary:
Turns out taking large amounts of hyper-capitalist drugs is bad for you.
Chapter Text
beep beep beep beep
Lena laid there with her eyes closed. This was the hangover from hell. Where was she? This wasn't her apartment, the sheets were far too nice. Smooth and silky yet warm and cozy at the same time, she'd never be able to afford these. Everything was so quiet, in a way that she could never quite remember things being. There always was some noise, the distant roar of air filters keeping buildings free of the choking smog, the rumble of ships taking off, faint sirens as police harassed people in the undercity, but now there was nothing. Or almost nothing. There was a soft rhythmic rustling, like leaves moving in a breeze. And that damn beeping.
Suddenly she recognized the faint antiseptic smell that permeated the air. Oh no. She was in a hospital. She couldn't afford a real hospital! Let alone someplace as fancy as this one had to be!
Lena's eyes shot open in panic as the beeping increased in its pace before a warm, calming feeling spread up through her arm and through her body from the I.V. she had somehow failed to notice.
Still trying to panic, but unable to really feel it over the chemically induced calm, she looked around. A fairly standard white hospital room greeted her, with a window through which she could see blue sky. Wow I'm high up! You don't get clear of the smog layer for quite a ways she mused. Next to her was a stand with what she had to assume were very fancy machines and very fancy IV bags; after all, only very fancy equipment would be themed like plants and vines. It was bizarre. And...a bush? Why was there a large bush in her room? Oh god it was a single she was so screwed she'd have to find a way to have kids because her grandkids would still be paying off the medical debt from this.
Lena was still freaking out when the bush started quivering and then shot up into a tall humanoid shape. Vines twisted together to form pseudo-muscles, peppered with small multicoloured flowers. Pieces of wood clicked together to form a worried looking face, with eyes that glowed a brilliant emerald. Long, golden, grass-like hair swept down from the creatures head, flowing freely down her back. Finally, moss appeared and wrapped around the plant alien, forming a long, soft, flowing dress.
Lena reacted to this in the most intelligent and well spoken manner she could. "Buh."
"Oh little one, you're awake! I was so worried for you! Well we all were worried for you. I shouldn't say it was just me. OH! Let me go get the vet". And with that the affini hurried out.
The xeno clearly was an affini, but what was it doing in her hospital room? And what did she mean by vet? None of this made any sense at all.
Lena made another articulate remark. "Huuuh?"
Suddenly, two plant people hurried back into the room, one the cute grass and moss lady who was there before, the other a more ferny creature who was beaming in a slightly disconcerting way.
Wait, did she just think that one of them was cute?
The ferny one held out a viney hand which Lena took in bafflement. "Teridopsi Allumnia, Fourth Bloom, xenoveterinary specialist, they/them. You gave us quite a scare there young lady."
The grassy one ruffled her head, causing Lena to blink owlishly. "Ana Poaceanum, Third Bloom, radio communications specialist, she/her. I'm so glad you're safe! When I realized you were a sophont and not an AI, I took a drop shuttle directly down to your location. I'm so sorry we didn't realize sooner."
Finally getting her brain into some semblance of order, which was not being helped by Ana continuing to pet her, Lena responded. "Errr, thank you? I guess? But...what happened? It's all a bit blurry."
Ana grinned down at her, a slightly unsettling sight with all those thorny teeth. "We've taken over, cutie. They're still nailing out the official details of the treaty, but you don't have to worry or stress yourself out anymore. You're under the protection of the Affini Compact now."
Lena blinked at the exuberant affini in confusion. "Ok yah I figured that much, but what happened to me? Why am I in a hospital? Why do I feel so weak and have such a massive headache."
Teridopsi knelt down next to her, so they weren't looming over her quite so much, and gave out a sigh, leaves fluttering out around them as they did so.
"Well Lena, when we got here, you were in a pretty bad state. We managed to get you fixed up, but it took some rather drastic measures, and you're still quite weak. It's going to take you a while to recover properly. Now, if you like, I can tell you exactly what was wrong, what we did to fix you, and what we suspect happened. Or if you'd prefer, you can just trust that we have your best interests at root and just take your time recovering without worrying about it."
Lena chewed on her lip deep in thought. Did she really want to know just what happened? She kind of felt like she had an obligation to herself, but did she really need to know all the sordid details? Yes. Yes she did.
"Sorry doc, it's not that I don't trust you," and the odd thing was, she did. They may be invading plant aliens from beyond the stars, but they already had a better bedside manner than any human doctor she'd ever dealt with. "But I feel I oughta know what happened. And I do have some other questions as well."
Ana and Teridopsi shared a look for a moment, a mixture of amusement and concern.
The large ferny affini gave her a gentle pat on the head, making her blink as her vision went blurry for a moment. "I am not a duck little one, I am an affini. But you can call me Teri. As for what happened to you..."
Teri sat back with a sigh and pulled out a tablet from inside themselves. "When we got you into this hospital, you were in pretty bad shape. Almost no body fat, your muscles had atrophied, you had abnormally high levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline and abnormally low levels of other neurotransmitters in your blood, and your kidneys and liver were both severely damaged."
Lena lay there in shock. "How did I...what... the drug was supposed to be safe though? Why else would they have made sure all the centers were stocked with it?"
Teri rustled their leaves disapprovingly. "That nasty little piece of work in the pill bottle we had near you? Certainly one of the more...impressive bits of terran pharmacology that I have come across, but I would hardly call it safe. Even one dose of it would have done naughty things to your system, and you had taken nearly the entire bottle. By our calculations, you had been taking it for around two weeks before we finally got to you."
Lena started to tear up. God she hated crying. Everyone would look at her and see how weak she was and judge her for it. Oh god what would the affini think she didn't even know what they wanted or what they did and what was going to happen to-. Her spiraling train of thought was cut short as she felt two thin vines carefully wiping the tears off of her, and saw Ana giving her a look so compassionate that she somehow instantly felt a little bit more at peace.
"So uhhh, Dr. Allumnia, what happens to me now? I ummm. I have some money saved up, its probably not enough to pay off what I owe but I guess if I owe you my life I can give you a controlling share in my career or something if I have to. I mean, the academy and university already control 45% between them but I still have some I can sell."
Teri and Ana's faces had grown increasingly alarmed as she continued to talk, leaves quivering on both of them until they looked completely appalled.
Ana leaned over until her face completely filled Lena's vision, her green eyes now so dark that they looked almost like black pits in her face. "This is very important for you to understand Ms. O'Neill. Your money is worthless now. It doesn't matter how much you have saved up." The heart rate monitor's beeping started to speed up as Lena listened in fear. "Your silly human concept of capitalism has been abolished. You needed care, and so you were given it. If you need anything going forward, you need only ask, and it will be given to you. There will be not talk of payment, of debt, of slavery, or of owing us anything." Ana smiled, a thorny yet comforting expression. "You're safe and free now."
Lena's heart slowly returned to normal as she took in Ana's words. "It's...it's all gone? It's all over?" A disbelieving half smile appeared on Lena's face. "Well take that Mrs. Jefferds! Shows what you know! Ms. Poaceanum, Dr. Allumnia, thank you so much for saving me. So uhhh, when can I leave?"
Ana's face withdrew from in front of her and carefully propped her up so she could see both of the affini, before glancing over at her ferny companion.
Teripodsi sighed. "Well, your neurochemical levels we've already fixed; they have been replenished and should now be at optimal levels for you, although I will want to check to ensure that they remain optimal and perhaps give you some medication to help with that. Your kidneys and liver, well..." They carefully lifted up the sheet covering Lena's body so she could see down. "We had to completely replace your kidneys, the implants for those have already integrated quite well and are working great. Your liver we're giving some help as it regrows, hence the implant, which I estimate we should be able to remove in a few weeks."
Lena stared down in shock. There were small traceries of green on her skin near where her kidneys should have been, along with a pair of small incisions, but they were almost forgotten in staring at the purple flower growing out of her midsection, just sticking out of her skin like she was some kind of human garden.
"That is the interface port for the liver implant, it allows us to check up on it and make sure everything is working as it should. Unfortunately, for your muscle implants, while we can offer some xenodrugs to help speed up the process, the best way for you to regain your strength is going to be physical therapy. You will need someone to check on the implant regularly, and to help you with your PT until you're able to move around on your own. Ana has volunteered for you to be her ward until you're all fixed up, and once you're ready, you two can take a shuttle up to her hab unit aboard the Sequoioidium."
With a final tousle of her hair, Teri loomed back up and ambled out, leaving just Ana and Lena, looking at each other.
"Hiya roomie." grinned Ana.
Chapter 5
Summary:
CN for discussion of death, an upset floret, a poor sophont getting triggered, and a brief medical scene.
Chapter Text
ping ping ping ping
The shuttle gently pinged as it slowly approached and then smoothly docked with the mind boggling bulk of the Sequoioidium. The ship was so large that coming in to dock looked more like they were falling onto a flat surface then docking with another vessel.
Lena gulped anxiously as the airlock engaged and began cycling, and then squawked in surprise as Ana scooped her up out of the wheelchair, supporting her in her vines easily as she strode aboard the ship. The terran could do nothing but stare in awe and shock, as an overwhelming huge structure stretched up and around the both of them. Fractal arches sprawled out in lazy spirals throughout the ship, greenery growing all over everything making it appear like a lush expansive forest, not a bustling capital ship. And everywhere she looked, there were affini. All shapes, sizes and colours, chatting and going about their business, a center of empire, a freshly conquered world below, but here, all the comforts that a domineering plant alien could ever want. And almost inconsequential next to the affini, their pets, their "florets" was the term she kept hearing. Xenos and humans both, clad in bright colourful clothing, collared and leashed or snuggling in the arms of an affini, looking around with blown out, dazed expressions, or looking up at their owners with an expression of mind-melted adoration and bliss.
Her gawking was interrupted as Ana casually strolled aboard a maglev shuttle and punched in a destination. Lena had the sudden realization that being held in the affini's vines like this, she looked like a floret herself. It didn't help that she was wearing a loose skirt (easier to slip on and off then pants) and a colourful crop top that exposed her stomach, with an implanted flower still sticking out of it. She blushed furiously at the thought. Being owned, and collared, and drugged and petted...her train of thought was shattered as Ana brushed a vine gently down her cheek. "We're here, little one."
They were standing outside a hab unit, flowers on vines growing around the door in a colourful display, surrounded by a mix of other hab units and what appeared to be an eclectic mix of restaurants and various stores.
Ana fiddled with a control on the door of the hab for a moment before plugging something into the implant sticking out of Lena, eliciting yet another strangled squawk of protest. "There you go, now you'll be able to come and go from the hab as you please. Well, once you're able to walk. And only until we remove the implant. But you'll be able to for a bit at least!"
The front room of the hab was a study in contrast. One part of it was covered in a soft moss-like covering, with a grotto filled with trickling water. Another part was filled with what looked like antique radio equipment, in various states of repair, and yet another part looked like it had been hastily cleared for guests, a pile of paper teetering on the edge of a table, with a couch and several chairs placed in view of a large vidscreen. "I meant to have this cleaned up more before you came, but well, things just got away from me a bit."
She gently placed Ana down on the couch, vines slipping out from under the terran until she was free, and slipped into the kitchen, leaving Lena blinking in confusion and clutching a handful of flowers, some purplish-gray, others large and pink. Purplish-gray...sweetbrier? And the pink ones. Were they sage?. Strange.
"Now, in terms of where you will sleep, I normally just sleep on the moss, it's nice and soft and comfortable, but I did configure the hab to have a bedroom for you to use instead." Ana's head popped over the edge of the couch, supported on a column of vines stretching from her body still in the kitchen. "We'll start your physical therapy soon, but I figure a nice welcome meal was in order first. I was thinking maybe some ravioli all'arrabbiata might be nice? With...iced cream? Did I say that right?" Ana beamed at the baffled looking Lena.
"Close enough," Lena laughed. "Although I'm not sure how I'm going to eat, seeing as I still can't lift my arms."
But the affini was already gone, humming away in the kitchen with the gentle clatter of dishware as she prepped the meal. Lena looked down at the flowers the affini had left in her hand and smiled softly.
It turned out that Ana was going to solve the issue of Lena not having use of her arms yet by simply feeding her. Ana watched her closely, waiting until she finished chewing and swallowing one piece, before a fork held in a vine would stab another piece of the delicious, still steaming, spicy pasta and bring it up to her mouth, another vine tapping her on the side of her chin to let her know when to open. It was a strange and altogether intimate experience, leaving Lena to do nothing but wait and obey and enjoy the explosion of flavours that each bite contained. Every so often, the affini would pause to tenderly wipe Lena's face clean with a cloth. It should have been infantilizing. It should have been humiliating and set Lena off into a state of righteous indignation. Yet somehow it just felt...right.
Once Lena was full, but long before the pasta was done, Ana whisked the leftovers away to a stasis cube and gathered her up in her vines. "Well I'm sorry my dear, we've put it off as long as we can, but it's time to start your physical therapy."
Lena sighed and nodded grimly. "Alright, let's do this. You've been very kind to me, but the sooner I'm healed, the sooner I can be out of your hair. Err, vines. Leaves? sprouts?" She shook her head in confusion. "Whatever."
"Oh darling, never think that you're a bother or in the way at all. I quite enjoy having you entangled with me! So how this will work is quite simple. I will be supporting you the entire time. You won't fall, but as you get more used to moving with my assistance, my vines will start adding more resistance, forcing those cute little muscles to work harder until you build up your strength again!" Setting words to action, vines erupted out of Ana, wrapping around and securely holding Lena's arms, legs and torso, supporting and holding her up in a latticework of vines, like she had become the trestle they grew on.
Lena glanced back and bit her lip. "But what if I push too hard and rip one of your vines? I don't want to hurt you."
Ana burst out laughing, leaving rustling and her green eyes sparkling with amusement. "Oh my sweet little sprout, you couldn't tear one of my vines even if you were at full strength. And even if you were to bite down on one of them, it wouldn't actually hurt me. I don't feel pain the way you sweet terrans do. Now enough stalling, we're going to get you walking across this hab before we're done tonight, petal!"
When Lena was young, her school had a physical education class. She had absolutely hated it. There had been one day a year that had stuck out as the high point of suffering. A day where they'd make everyone go through a gauntlet of different exercises. She would normally end the day bruised and sore and hide herself in her room with her homemade radio equipment to sulk.
Walking across the hab made that day of hell seem like a day at a spa. Each step her legs shook, every swing of her arms, enforced by the vines gripping them, made her whimper, and after a few steps she was already sweating. The only things keeping her going were the vines holding her up and the whispered encouragements in her ear. "You can do this, little one. I'm so proud of you. Keep on going".
Fifteen agonizing minutes later, they had reached the hab door, and Ana swept Lena up and cuddled her close. "I am so proud of you Lena! That was wonderful, you did such a good job." Lena laid there in her arms, covered in sweat and grinning victoriously.
After a quick shower, with just a few vines staying in the bathroom to help Lena out while she steadfastly refused to think about how the vines were able to tell what she needed help with, Lena was plopped back down on the couch, leaning against Ana as they both sat there, a few vines gently combing her hair.
"So, what's with all the old squawkers back there?" Lena asked with a jerk of her head towards the solid third of the room that was filled with radios. "I recognize some of them, I used to tinker back when I was young, rummage through old electronic scrap to find stuff to work on, but there are a bunch that look like nothing I've ever seen."
Ana wiggles a few vines proudly. "Do you like them? I've been collecting them for a while now. Some are old Terran ones, but I also have some Rinan and some Andranu there as well. Adorable little species, the Andranu, shame about their planet."
Lena made a small questioning noise.
"Incredibly tectonically active. They were quite happy when we showed up. When you aren't half falling asleep on me, we can look at them together."
Lena fidgeted, shifting as much as she could as she gnawed on her lower lip. "Before we go off to bed, ummm, I was wondering. Some of the meds I was taking down on Earth, is there any way I could get access to them again?"
Ana frowned in thought for a moment before pulling out her tablet and scrolling through it for a moment. "Oh! Those Terran Class-G's you were on. Well, I could certainly try and get them synthesized for you if you want, but well..." Ana trailed off a bit awkwardly. "We do have much superior versions that are grown here on the ship, they're safer, a fuller profile, act much faster, really a big overall improvement. I could get you a prescription right now and pick it up after putting you to bed if you like?"
Lena thought about alien chemicals swimming through her bloodstream, day in and day out, changing her. A small bit of her cried out in fear, but was quickly smothered by the rest of her at the thought of finally speeding up her transition a bit. "That sounds absolutely lovely. Thank you Ana, for everything."
With that, Ana scooped Lena back up and got her ready for bed, before carrying her to the empty, quiet bedroom. Tucking her in gently, she brushed some hair out of Lena's face and gave her a smile. "I'll be back in a bit petal, you can just drift off to sleep."
And she was gone. Lena was all alone. She was on an impossibly huge alien ship hovering over the Earth like a new moon, still so weak that even rolling over felt like a herculean effort, but she was alone again. She hadn't been alone since that fateful day when she decided to take the first of those damn pills. It should have been a relief. She should have drifted off to a peaceful sleep, enjoying the quiet while she could.
She lay there in frustration. Why couldn't she sleep? What was wrong with her? She had been living alone for years, falling asleep now, alone, no I.V. sticking out of her, no affini sticking their heads in to see how she was doing. It should have been easy. Lena sat there and stewed.
Eventually, she heard the hab door swish back open as Ana came back in. The affini poked her head in and saw Lena laying there, unable to sleep. "Oh you poor little sprout. Would you like me to give you something to help you sleep?"
More drugs. But these ones were safe right? These ones wouldn't take away her humanity and leave her an emotionless drone. "They...they're safe right?" she all but whispered.
A vine gently stroked her hair. "Safe as can be. Breathe in deep for me." And as Lena breathed in the bundle of yellow flowers that Ana pressed to her face, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Lena woke up suddenly. There wasn't any of the usual fuzziness that came with waking up, she just went straight from asleep to wide awake. Looking around, she saw no trace of Ana, not even a vine. Just an empty, off white room with a ridiculously huge bed in the middle. This is foolish, said a voice in her head, even as she summoned all her strength and rolled over. You're going to hurt yourself, it warned as she slowly inched her way towards the edge of the bed.
With a thump Lena rolled off the edge of her bed, tangling in her blankets to lay in a triumphant heap on the floor. After a moment, the door opened and Ana poked her head in, concern clear on her face. "Oh stars. You shouldn't be awake for another two hours still. Must have forgotten to take into account the kidney and liver implants..." Ana muttered to herself.
Lena just grinned up at the concerned affini with an expression of triumph. "I did it Ana. I made it all the way out of bed."
The affini laughed as she scooped the little terran up into her vines. "Yes you did my darling. Yes you did. Now let's get you up and moving."
Having her teeth brushed was no less humiliating in the morning than it was the night before, but a plate full of pancakes made up for it, even if Ana still had to feed it to her bite by bite.
During a pause from Lena eating, she looked at the affini and bit her lower lip. "Ummm, Ana, did you happen to get those Class-G's when you went out last night?"
Ana pulled out a flower with a smile, with a sharp needle in the middle. "Of course darling, right here. This is necessary medication and I would never withhold it from you or keep you from getting it. Now just keep chewing." And with that, there was a small prick, and then Ana was disposing of the needle, a fresh one already starting to grow up in its place. "That should be good for several weeks, and I'll make sure you have a prescription with you so you'll be able to get an injection at any affini clinic."
"So Ana," Lena asked, once the pancakes had been reduced to a memory. "What do you eat? I haven't seen you actually eat anything since I've met you, but like, you have to get sustenance somehow right? The propaganda kept talking about how you were going to drink our blood and stuff, but that didn't sound very feasible back then, and it seems less so now."
Ana looked surprised for a moment, blinking with confusion. "Well mostly we just use water enhanced with various beneficial chemicals and some photosynthesis. My grotto is filled with enhanced water, it's very refreshing."
Lena cocked her head, her curiosity getting the better of her. "So how do you know how to cook so well then? If you and the other affini don't need to actually eat solid food?"
"Well generally we learn it for our florets. I could of course just compile any food we wished to have using the compiler over there," she gestured over to a box built into the wall with a series of controls next to it. "But I find cooking for someone to somehow make the food taste just that little bit better, and well, I figured that I should learn how just in case I find some cute little human to scoop up and make into my pet."
As a human currently scooped up in Ana's vines, slowly working through PT exercises, Ana's proclamation left Lena feeling very funny, and more than a bit wary. Nevertheless, the day continued on, heavy PT exercises followed by resting on the couch, watching old cooking shows, and occasional digressions to the pile of radio equipment, the two of them excitedly comparing different models and taking things apart to see what was inside, or trying to put things back together for the sheer joy of seeing if they could work again.
It wasn't until they were tuning a radio and came across one of the STC control frequencies that Lena's focus slipped. The voice on the other end wasn't familiar, distorted enough by the old radio that it was impossible to make out if it was human or affini, but the words felt like they were dragging Lena down, back into a void of directing without a direction, efficiency without a goal, endless words threatening to spill out of her.
A sharp sting in an arm was followed by a calm warming sensation that slowly spread through her, slowly her thoughts down and pulling her back to the present. She found herself curled up in Ana's arms, adrenaline and fear forcing her body to move where sheer willpower had failed. Vines curled around her, softly and gently soothing her as she lay there and cried silently.
Lena lay curled up in Ana's lap, letting the affini's gentle petting soothe her. "I'm so sorry Lena," Ana apologized. "I should have realized that the radios might trigger you. The last thing I wanted to do is hurt you."
Lena stirred and looked up at the worried affini. "I noticed. That's kind of your species' entire thing isn't it? You don't want to hurt people, or let them hurt themselves, and you'll do anything you can to stop it."
"Exactly!" beamed Ana. "And we have quite a lot of power to stop you adorable sophonts from doing it."
"Heh." Lena chuckled. "You do at that. But it's fine. It was a war, and people get hurt at war. Getting through it with just a few new triggers to work through is comparatively light."
Ana frowned. "I can assure you, little one. When we captured your little Terran ships almost no one was injured. And no one died."
Lena laboriously reached up and gently stroked Ana's wooden face. "Oh Ana Poaceanum, you beautiful creature. Of course people died. Maybe not at the hands of the affini, but people die in all sorts of ways during a war. There were two gas tankers out near Neptune, before you reached the system. I'm not sure why none of the controllers showed up, I've heard they all had fled the system, that they were so overworked none of them could even show up, all sorts of things. But either way, there was no STC. And a whole bunch of people died. Sam and Bill used to tell stories about how soldiers would get injured and die all the time, just in training accidents. Hey, actually," Lena struggled and tried to sit up, overbalancing and falling over the other way before being carefully caught by Ana's vines. "Is there any way to find out what happened to them? They were both military STC, they got shipped off to the front. Could you try and find out maybe?"
Ana's grin was a bit forced, as she tried to process what Lena had just told her. How many sophonts had been killed, just because the affini had shown up? It was better than the alternative for sure, but still. Her voice however, was as crystal clear as ever. "Of course darling, I'll send out some inquiries, shouldn't be too hard to find out what happened. Now, what do you say about a bit more physical therapy eh?"
Lena rolled her eyes. "Yes Mistress," then promptly turned bright red, squeaked and clamped her hands over her mouth.
Root and seed that colour is very pretty on her. I'll have to see what I can do to get her to blush like that again. Ana grinned predatorily as her vines pulled the terran to her feet. "That's the spirit dear, now up we go."
Lena groaned as the affini carefully tucked her into bed. Her muscles felt like the spaghetti that they had eaten for dinner, but she could already feel the strength starting to return to them. "Goodnight, petal," Ana said as she closed the door. Lena was alone again. Damnit, why hadn't she asked for more of that sleeping drug while Ana was in here? Class Z's she had called them?
It was half an hour of lying there before Lena struggled free of the blankets, cursing quietly. Grabbing the wall to support shaking legs that still refused to hold her weight and dragging a blanket with her, she opened the door. The hab was dark, only a tiny bit of light from the various electronics keeping it from being pitch black. Heading towards the grotto more by listening for the sound of softly flowing water than by sight, Lena found the sprawled out mass of leaves and vines that was Ana at her most relaxed.
"Lena? Did you need something?" the mound quietly stirred.
"Not a word" Lena grumped before flopping down on some vines and curling up.
Ana paused, the gentle rhythm of leaf and vine temporarily halting as she considered the terran cuddled up against her, eyes closed and brows furrowed. With supreme gentleness, several vines carefully brought the blanket up around Lena's shoulders, and rearranged themselves to hold the human in her vines. And then the hab was silent, save for the constant gentle rustle of vine and leaf, and the soft snoring of a human, finally able to rest.
Lena stared at the hab door nervously. It had been a week since she first arrived on the Sequoioidium, and Ana had decreed that she needed to get out of the hab and move around, for her health if nothing else. She had graduated from being wrapped in a lattice of vines for moving around to what amounted to a harness around her torso and chest, some vines wrapped around her upper and lower arms, and some more supporting her legs. Even those were more there to catch her in case she stumbled than to actually hold her up.
"Do I have to do this? The hab is plenty big enough for me to get exercise, isn't it?" Lena's voice trembled slightly. She had never been much of a person for socializing outdoors, and that was before everything that happened.
A vine snaked past her and opened the door. "We talked about this petal. It'll be good for you to go out and see the ship instead of being shut in here with me. And I have a surprise for you as well."
Sighing reluctantly, Lena started walking forward, with only the barest nudge of assistance from Ana. "I hate surprises."
The ship was just as majestic and overwhelming as it was before. Every part of the design seemed to be built to remind Lena of the overwhelming power of the affini. She still wasn't sure whether that was supposed to comfort her or frighten her.
"So where are we going anyways? I assume you have some kind of destination in mind." Lena asked in between carefully controlled breaths. Her strength was steadily growing, but her stamina was lagging behind slightly.
"There's a lovely park about two kilometres away. They have an adorable iced cream stand there, perfect as a reward for a sophont who's doing so well with her 'PT' as she insists on calling it." Ana's vines tugged on Lena as she strode off slowly, making sure she had no choice but to follow.
Lena kept looking around as they walked. There were more sophont races here than she knew existed, but by far the most common, behind the affini of course, were humans. The vast majority of them were florets, with collars, flowing colourful clothing, and small scars on the side of their neck. With a start, Lena realized that many of the people they were walking by probably assumed she was a floret herself. She was wearing bright flowing clothes, although that was more to give room for her flower implant than out of any preference, and she even had an affini's vines wrapped around her. The only difference was her lack of a collar, and even that wouldn't be too noticeable at a distance. Dirt this was embarrassing.
Ana was right. The park was lovely, someone had clearly put a lot of effort into designing it so that the trees and flowers and bushes would form a cohesive ecosystem, while still giving lots of rooms for walking around, exploring, and private shaded areas to relax in.
Lena stared at an affini and floret pair relaxing on the grass as they got closer. Was that.... "Sam? Is that you?"
The floret stirred and looked up with characteristic dazed eyes. They looked softer, happier and more relaxed than Lena had ever remembered them being. "Mx. Helianthi! Look! It's Lena and her owner!"
They stumbled awkwardly to their feet and raced towards her with a laugh.
Laughing in delight and relief, Lena wrapped them in a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe Sam! I was so worried about you out there."
Sam gave her an unsteady grin before flopping back into the waiting arms of their affini. "Nah, it was a good thing Lena. If I hadn't been, then I never would have met Mxtress." They frowned in confusion, eyes squinting. "Lena, where's your collar? I thought...huh?"
Sam's owner gently patted their head, reducing them to a happily mewling puddle. "Aster Helianthi, Seventh Bloom. I wanted to thank you for being such good friends with my Sam back when they were on Earth. I'm delighted to finally get to meet you."
Lena stammered out some sort of greeting at Sam's affini before looking down at them. "I guess they made it out of this whole mess ok then eh?"
Sam giggled happily. "Yeeeep. No more silly uniforms, no more marching, no more saluting."
"Hey Sam," Lena asked curiously. "What happened to Bill?" Is he a floret around here somewhere as well?"
Sam's face fell, and they turned and buried themselves into Aster. It was Aster's voice that answered, sad and regretful. "I'm sorry Lena. Bill didn't make it. There was some sort of accident with some pressurization controls on his ship."
The world suddenly seemed very small and cold and dark. She had talked about it with Ana, about how people got injured and died in war. But the idea of a universe without Bill in it just felt so wrong. Her knees buckled, and only Ana's vines kept her from collapsing entirely as she gathered up Sam in a hug, the two of them just holding each other, remembering their missing companion, a trio reduced to two.
Lena stirred groggily, feeling Ana's vines slipping out from under her as the affini got up and moved around. "What time is it? Ana why are you up so early?"
The affini's voice drifted back from the kitchen. "Well I figured you'd want some breakfast before your appointment dear. We're getting your implant out today."
Lena shot up. How had she forgotten? She was finally getting that flower out of her! No more worrying about it getting snagged on something as she walked, no more having to wear either loose flowy dresses or crop tops, she'd finally be free. She sprang up, stretching up onto the tips of her toes before strolling towards the bathroom. "Thanks Ana, I'm so excited to finally get this thing out of me. I know it saved my life, but well, I like big comfy sweaters ya know?"
Breakfast seemed to go by super quick, the affini casually dipping her roots in some enhanced water as Ana ate the delicious eggs and toast she had somehow managed to whip up. She admired the bouquet on the table for a bit as she ate, a strange mix of hollyhock, aster, honeysuckle and purple sweetpea flowers. She still had no idea when Ana found the time, but there were always fresh flowers every day in intricate bouquets.
Lena all but skipped out of the hab, her small bag of clothes that Ana insisted she keep slung over her shoulder. Ana walked behind, seeming a bit more subdued than usual. Her eyes were the green of moss, with almost no shine in it. The clinic was in another part of the ship altogether, but the shuttle made the journey quick, a mere half an hour. Ana's vines kept twining and untwining together, small flowers opening and closing.
Finally they reached the clinic, walking in next to each other. The receptionist, one of the strange jellyfish-like creatures Lena had learned were called Spectrum Jellies, looked up in interest as they approached.
"Anaphylaxis Poaceanum and ward, here to see Teridopsi Allumnia." Ana stood up straight as she spoke, holding her head high.
Lena blinked and stared at her affini in confusion. "Your...your name is Anaphylaxis?"
Ana looked down with a frown. "Of course it is my little sprout. What else did you think Ana was short for?"
"Do you...do you know what Anaphylaxis means?" Lena ventured cautiously.
"Of course! It's from one of your older languages, it means something like caring over and over again. Quite a beautiful word I thought." Ana said proudly.
Lena could only stare with her mouth open. "Well. Umm. Huh. It's a very nice name Ana. Very nice name."
Teri bustled in, leaves fluttering. "Ana! Lena! I'm so glad to see you both again. Let's get you back here so we can get that implant out, eh Lena?"
And with that they swept the two of them into a small examination room.
Lena looked up at the examination table and made a small noise of concern. The table was level with her head, there was no way she'd be able to make it up there. Her concern lasted only a moment before Ana effortlessly lifted her up and plopped her down on the edge of the table.
"Alright Lena, now you may feel a slight tugging as I do this, but just focus on Ana and it'll be over before you know it." Teri said calmly, gathering up various implements in their vines as another vine turned Lena's head to look at Ana.
Ana smiled at her, wooden face making the gesture seem more stiff than usual. "Are you excited to get back to your apartment Lena? I understand the inspectors found that your building was sufficient for human habitation, once they made a few upgrades, although there are better units available if you wish of course."
"I...I guess" Lena stammered, trying to ignore the strange tugging sensations from her midriff. "I honestly haven't thought about it much. I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself when I get back."
Ana laid a vine on her shoulder. "Well if you do decide to go back to STC at all, I'll be doing some more comms up here, so we'll be able to talk. And you have my overnet information, so I expect to hear from you plenty."
Lena gave Ana a pained smile as she felt something slithering around. She'd been here before. Gotten close with someone, close enough it felt like they eclipsed everything else in her world, but something always changed, and then they'd move apart. They always said they wanted to stay in touch and talk, but it never seemed to last.
"All done!" Teri popped up and flicked out a vine, a lollipop at the end somehow ending up in Lena's mouth before she could blink.
"Uhhh, thanks Teri. I should be going though, have to hurry if I want to catch the next shuttle down." Lena apologized, pulling the lollipop out of her mouth. It was a very good lollipop.
Ana walked her out of the clinic, pulling her into one last embrace as they stood on the path out front. "I'm going to miss you, my darling Lena."
One vine brushed some hair out of Lena's face, leaving behind a flower, tucked behind her ear. And then Ana walked away, heading off to do who knows what.
Lena stood there for a moment, before pulling out the flower to look at it. She pulled the daffodil to her nose, breathing in its sweet scent. For just a second, she allowed herself to fantasize. She'd run after Ana. Go up to her and tell her that she wanted to stay with her. They'd tinker with old radios, she'd figure out something to cook for her affini instead of the other way around, and she'd finally have someone who wouldn't leave her.
With a sigh, she tucked the daffodil back behind her ear and walked off to the shuttle.
Chapter Text
Lena lay there in silence. She was tempted to just lie in bed all day - it wasn't like she had to go to work or anything, but she couldn't get the thought of what Ana would say out of her head. Before she could think about it too much, she was rolling out of bed.
Guess she made more of an impression on me than I thought. Lena smiled while thinking about her new affini friend. She'd have to message her to see how she was doing.
Humming to herself, she grabbed the tablet that Ana had sneaked into her bag and flipped it on. What was....that sneaky pile of leaves. Already open on the display was a to-do list, signed with a flowery cursive signature, and a chat window.
For adorable terran sophonts to-do:
1. Go get some groceries, takeout is a sometimes food
2. Remember to do your "P.T", all of it
3. Remember to go to the clinic to get your injections
4. Message me and let me know how you're doing
5. When you're up for it, go check out your old work. There are a lot of affini up here who would love to hear your voice on the radio again.
- Anaphylaxis Poaceanum, Third Bloom
Lena smiled and glanced over at the daffodil in the vase at her window. A vase that she had compiled herself, courtesy of the atomic compiler they had installed in her apartment when she was gone. She couldn't believe that she had been given the amazing technology without a second thought on the part of the affini. In fact, the affini who had made sure she was settled in had been worried that her apartment was too small, and it had taken some convincing before they had agreed that it would be sufficient.
After a bit of wrangling, she had the tablet figured out enough to switch over to the chat program. There was already a conversation open between RadioGalLena and Breathtaking.
Lena let out a snort as she saw the names that Ana had chosen. Clearly the sneaky plant had looked up what her name meant after Lena's reaction to it. As for her name... they had been taking apart an old Terran radio that Ana had somehow found, a real antique from the early days of Terran radio communications, and had found some weird crystal in it. Turns out that early radios had used the crystal galena as the receiver. Wait, was Ana calling her a bottom? Lena shook her head to clear her thoughts.
Lena grinned as she started typing.
RadioGalLena: thanks for the username Ana
Breathtaking: You're very welcome dear, I thought it fit you particularly well.
Breathtaking: Are you settling in ok? Did you sleep well? Your apartment isn't too small is it?
Breathtaking: Sorry, I just want to make sure everything is ok.
RadioGalLena: Everything is just wonderful. I can't believe I have an atomic compiler in my apartment!
Lena turned on the camera and took a selfie, making sure to get the daffodil in frame, and then sent it over the program.
Breathtaking: oh my stars look at you! absolutely adorable.
Breathtaking: check the compiler menu. I left a surprise for you there.
After a quick check of the menu Lena rushed back to the tablet typing away furiously.
RadioGalLena: omg you put that pasta thingy in! The spicy ravioli stuff! Thank you so much Ana ahhhhhhhh.
Breathtaking: :::)
Breathtaking: Now go out there and make me proud sprout.
RadioGalLena: Thank you. For everything.
Shutting down the chat program, Lena flopped back onto her bed, staring up at her ceiling giddily. She felt so alive and vibrant, every nerve fizzing with happiness. She stroked her side, where she could very faintly feel the green lines of the implant below her skin. Before, when she had an implant literally sticking out of her, the green veins from the kidney implants had seemed completely inconsequential, easily ignored. Now, when they were all that remained of her time recovering with Ana, they seemed incredibly special.
Flipping up onto her feet, Lena's eyes glimmered with determination. Time to make her affini proud of her. Grabbing a canvas bag and her tablet, she glanced down at the to do list. Well, she didn't have to go to the clinic for her next shot for a couple of days still, so now it was time to get groceries and then go check in at her old job. It'd be nice to be back on the radios, getting to chat with the affini. She was looking forward to it. She was.
Ignoring the small black cloud of doubt and fear that seemed to hover in the back of her mind, Lena purposefully strode out of her apartment, on her brave mission of groceries.
The new affini-made grocery store was, much like everything the affini did, extravagantly over the top and massive. Lena wandered up and down the aisles, feeling overwhelmed and a little lost. She had started out strong, getting some staples that she was used to getting. But it wasn't like her shopping habits had been very healthy before, and Ana would want her to eat healthy. She just had no idea what that actually entailed. After half an hour of confused wandering, she resorted to just grabbing the things she remembered Ana using in cooking, and cursing herself for not paying more attention.
Looking down at her shopping cart, Lena's mouth twisted in a dissatisfied grimace. It looked less like a cohesive, well thought out cart full of groceries, and more like a random sampling of the world's strangest ingredients put together by a child.
No. She wasn't some brainless pet or something. She could do this. Go shopping on her own, go back to her work on her own, live on her own. She could.
After a few minutes of standing there, mind spinning in circles, a vine draped itself over her shoulder.
"Do you need some help, little one?" An unfamiliar Affini was standing next to her, looking down with their head cocked to one side.
Lena flinched and stammered out an excuse, then rushed out of the store. Dirt.
The trip back to her apartment with the groceries went by in a blur, Lena lost deep in thought. Why had she frozen up there? What was wrong with her? Sure, things were different, but she had been taking care of herself for a long time. She just had to adjust. She'd be fine.
With a start, Lena realized that she had gotten back to her apartment almost entirely on autopilot. After unloading the groceries, she looked at the cart in consternation. How the hell was she supposed to get this back to the grocery store?
Ana waved her hand at the silently hovering cart. "Off you go, back to the store with you!" she laughed. If only things worked that way.
The cart beeped happily and trundled off. Huh, maybe things did work that way now that the affini were here.
Alright, time to go check out her work. Lena's hand hovered over her doorknob, just waiting for her to grip it and go forth.
Lena spun around and paced her apartment. She had been on her own since she was 17. She had made her way through university *and* the Space Traffic Academy with no help from anyone. She'd been living on her own for years. So why was this so hard? She was stronger than this, better than this.
With a snarl Lena stalked out of her apartment and headed towards the maglev.
The Terran Space Traffic Control Central building looked slightly different than she remembered. Flowers and vines twined up the concrete facade that was the outside, and an epically large flower could be seen on the roof. However, even the clear affini influences couldn't change what it was. A large concrete monolith, towering arrogantly over its surroundings.
Lena stared up at the building, her feet frozen in place. ba-thump. ba-thump. ba-thump. When had her heart gotten so loud? her mouth felt so dry, and her legs were shaking, which made no sense, that hadn't happened since the early days of her doing PT.
With a whimper, Lena raced back to the train station, heart pounding away.
The entire ride back to her apartment Lena sat, hunched up in one corner of the train, trying to repress the whispered memories that threatened to overtake her. As the train neared her stop, a new emotion bloomed inside of her. Anger. The affini were supposed to help. They were supposed to take away all the pain and suffering. She had led them through the system, and then, as soon as she was fixed up, they abandoned her! They left her all on her own, to cope with what they had caused.
As her anger simmered and grew, she stalked her way up to her apartment, only to be brought up short. Sitting in front of her door, in a nicely decorated vase, was a bouquet of flowers. Brilliant pink Amaryllis and purple stalks of lavender, bound together with strips of moss. And a small typed note.
No matter what you get done or decide to do today, I'm so proud of you my little sapling.
- Ana
All the anger seemed to drain away in a flash as she carefully picked up the vase and breathed in the heady scents. Sure she hadn't been able to go into her old work today. There was always tomorrow.
Humming happily, Lena carried the vase into her small apartment and placed it carefully next to the daffodil, making sure both of them could get as much sun as the small apartment offered and giving them both a little water.
With a spin and a skip, Lena went to make dinner. She was going to make that ravioli pasta thing that Ana had made for her that first night, on her own, from scratch. This was going to be awesome.
Thirty minutes later, Lena looked about her kitchen confused and consternated. There was flour everywhere, bits of tomatoes and peppers were filling her trash, and somehow, egg had ended up on the wall. With a whimper and a sigh, she slouched her way over to the compiler and had it spit out a nutrient bar. Curling up on her bed, she slowly ate, and fell into an uneasy, restless sleep, filled with twitching and flailing.
The passage from sleep to wakefulness was slow and unsteady. She dreamt of vines reaching out and binding her and taking her away, of being filled with ecstasy and bliss, of being abandoned and thrown away, of being alone, of having a thousand voices echoing in her head demanding attention. Time and time again, she'd wake up gasping for air, before falling back into sleep. By the time she truly woke up, she was covered in sweat and shaking.
As she dragged herself to her shower, feeling absolutely miserable, she noticed her tablet's notification light blinking.
More messages from Ana. Talking about her day, asking how Lena was doing, filled with light and life. Lena couldn't respond. Not yet. She hadn't managed to do anything yet. Ana would be so disappointed in her. It was ok. She'd shower, then she'd go and get her injection, and then she could talk to Lena about that. It was fine. She could do this.
One shower later, Lena headed out to the new affini clinic near her. It was simple. All she had to do was walk into the clinic, tell them who she was, an affini would just give her a little prick, and she'd be fine for another two weeks. Nothing to it.
Lena stood outside the affini clinic, her guts twisting inside of her. What if they wouldn't give it to her? What if they didn't have any records of her? What if she was still counted as active Terran Navy somehow and they took her and domesticated her and gave her to some random affini?
Eyes wild, she spun on her heels and walked off. With no particular destination in mind, she wandered the streets, now clean and free of the detritus that used to litter them, with a clear blue sky above. Even here, deep into a district that no affini had moved into yet, the signs of their occupation were clear.
Coming out of her daze, she found herself in front of an old terran style bar. An old accord flag hung limply above the door, and the faces inside looked sullen and angry.
What the hell, why not. The affini probably already think I'm a rebel anyway. Lena snarled to herself as she wrenched the door open, causing the dozen or so people already drinking in the middle of the day to look up in suspicion.
"Two shots of whiskey and a pint." Lena curtly said to the bartender, sliding into a stool at the bar with a scowl.
The bartender looked at her suspiciously, finally relenting when Lena snarled at him, "what are you looking at?"
Shooting back the shots as fast as she could, Lena settled down to nurse her beer and think.
Why was she so miserable? It wasn't really because of her reaction to the idea of going back to work. She had enjoyed the job, sure, but it had also been hellishly stressful and hard. Looking back over everything, she could only reach the grim conclusion that this was Ana's fault. She was following a pattern that Lena had seen time and time again. She'd become friends with someone, get close, and then they'd drift apart. Sure they'd make an effort for a bit, sending some gifts or chatting over the Overnet, but pretty quickly they'd get bored of her and fade away. This was just her rebounding because they had seemed so close, that's all it was.
Lena's funk was interrupted as one of the group huddled around a table raised their voice. "They think they're so superior and better than us! Someone really ought to take them down a notch.
Her curiosity aroused and her inhibitions lowered by the booze, Lena swung herself around on the stool. "Lower who down a notch?" she questioned.
"The damn weeds of course!" The man who stood up from the table was wearing a t-shirt with the words Terran Cosmic Navy printed on it, and he was very clearly drunk. "They treat us terrans like dirt, and I for one am sick of it!"
Lena nodded in agreement. "Yah! They always act like they know what's best, but, but... they don't! They don't always know!"
The rest of the group lurking around the table nodded and muttered. The guy who had stood up elbowed the thin looking person next to him. "Tell her about the plan Ellie. 'S a good plan."
Ellie rubbed their nose and muttered something about OpSec under their breath. "Fine. Whatever. You know that big ship they have hanging over our heads all the time? Damn thing is big enough to see during the day."
Realizing they were talking about the Sequoioidium, Lena made an inquiring noise for them to go on.
"We're making a bomb. Gonna show those damn weeds that they aren't invulnerable." Ellie looked at her with thin lips, as if daring her to speak ill of their plan.
Lena blinked in shock. They were doing what? Her first thought was that these were not the brightest bulbs in the factory, and if it was the best the so-called Resistance could muster up, then there was nothing to worry about. Any bomb they built wouldn't so much as scratch the paint on one of the shuttles, let along hurt the ship or any affini. Her second thought was that people who talked about building bombs probably wouldn't be very accepting of people who had planttech inside them.
"Well mates, good luck with that. Vive le Terra Libre eh!" Lena turned and headed towards the door, trying to act casual.
"Hey!" the bartender's shout stopped her in her path. "You still need to pay your bill. I ain't holding with any of that communist bullshit the weeds are trying to pull."
"Uhhh, I think I left my credits in my other pants." Lena said nervously as she shuffled towards the door.
The group of rebels stared at her, Ellie narrowing their eyes as they focused on her lower torso, before standing up suddenly. "Grab her!" shouted Ellie, as the drunken man grabbed her shirt collar and tried to yank her backwards, lifting up the bottom of her shirt.
"Oh fuck! She's a plantfucker! They've been spying on us!" Well shit. The planttech was really that visible. Dammit.
Wriggling free, Lena raced out the door, sprinting out of the alley as she went. Looking behind her, Lena watched as the group of rebels stumbled out of the bar and started chasing after her, some now armed with knives.
Fifteen minutes later, Lena puffed and gasped as she put her hands on her knees outside a small flower shop, safely in an affini district of the city. That. That had been far too close.
Walking slowly back towards her apartment, being sure to stick to well lit streets and affini areas, Lena lost herself in thought. She needed to talk to someone about this, but who? Sam was in no state to talk about things, Bill was....gone, and the affini were the cause of all this confusion in the first place. Not for the first time, Lena cursed her lack of friends and social skills.
Looking up at the night sky, she smiled at the sight of the Sequoioidium, clearly visible in the sky next to...the moon. Lily. The chill, relaxed controller from Luna. Lily who had helped her when she needed it most. Lily would know what to do. Assuming that she was still around.
Finding the chat information for someone on a different planet when you only knew their first name should have been difficult. But when the affini got involved, somehow things just seemed to work a little bit easier. All she had to do was send a chat request to 'Lily, a space traffic controller on Luna', and somehow, they were able to find her and relay her the request by the next day.
Soon enough, a new chat window popped up on her tablet. Ignoring the unread messages in her chat with Ana, she quickly opened up the chat with MoonDusted.
RadioGalLena: Hey, is this Lily, the STC controller?
MoonDusted: heeeeey, whatup. ye thats me. Who u?
RadioGalLena: Its uhh. It's Lena. From Earth. We spoke about two weeks before the affini arrived?
MoonDusted: Ohhhhhh heeeeeeeey. whattup girl? Nice name, real retro.
RadioGalLena: Thanks.
RadioGalLena: A. A friend picked it out for me.
RadioGalLena: Or at least I thought she was my friend.
RadioGalLena: Look I just need someone to talk to who isn't too tied in with the affini, someone who can give me some objective advice. Help me get my head on straight ya know?
RadioGalLena: ...Lily you there?
MoonDusted: I'm sorry about that dear, my sweet little Lily got very giggly for some reason and handed me the tablet. I am Papavera Hedera, Lily's owner.
RadioGalLena: Oh.
RadioGalLena: I'm sorry ma'am, I'll leave you two alone, you don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine.
MoonDusted: Nonsense! My Lily seems to be quite worried about you and cares for you quite a bit.
MoonDusted: Why don't Lily and I come down to Earth and you can meet with Lily in a park. I'll stay some distance away, you can discuss whatever you need to discuss without fear or judgement, and I promise you that Lily will give you her pure, undiluted opinion on us affini.
Lena sat back, her heart racing. Lily was a floret. Lily's perspective would undoubtedly be biased towards the affini. But Papavera had promised that the discussion would be free of judgement. And she didn't have anyone else to talk to. And well, the other side had already shown her their arguments, and it involved knives and bombs.
RadioGalLena: OK. Let's set it up.
The last time Lena had been to this park, before the affini had arrived, it had been a desolate empty lot, too smog-choked to walk around without a respirator, with nothing growing on it but the most tenacious of weeds. Now, it was a virtual paradise. There was a gently flowing stream, trees providing shade, and plenty of soft grass to sit on.
Lena stood there, surrounded by the beauty the affini had brought, and anxiously shoved her hands deeper into her pockets as she huddled in her hoodie. Hundreds of anxious thoughts swirled through her head. What if they didn't show up? What if they did show up and took her away? What if some rebels showed up instead? What if Ana somehow showed up?
Her swirling thoughts were interrupted as a tall, lanky woman strolled up to her. She was wearing a companion dress and a collar, but while she was clearly not sober, she didn't have the dazed, blissed out eyes she was expecting.
"I didn't really know what to look for, but Miss pointed you out and well, figured you're probably Lena, so hey. Howzit?"
Lena jumped and took a deep breath to collect herself. "Lily right? It's uhhh. It's nice to meet you in person."
"Yeee, Lily Hedera, Third Floret. My Miss made me get relatively clear headed for this meeting, something about not wanting to scare you or something. She's over there by the way." Lily jerked a thumb over her shoulder back towards an affini standing a distance off, arms spread out and face upturned, her flowers and leaves seeming to soak in the sunlight.
"Ahhh. So that's your...your owner?" Lena chewed her lip nervously as she stared at the affini. "Should I uhhh. Is it ok to be talking to you and not to her, since you're like, well, you know..." Lena trailed off awkwardly, casting her eyes around desperately before settling on looking at her shoes very intently.
Lily laughed and swept Lena up into a hug. "You're so heckin' adorable! But no, you're fine to talk to me. That's why I'm here. So you have someone you can feel safe talking to. Pippy won't mind."
Lena blinked in surprise. This was...very different then what she was expecting. Seizing on to the one thing that she could make sense of, she stammered, "Pippy?"
"Ye! That's what I call my Miss. I mean I also call her Miss and Mistress and whatnot, but like...she's also my Pippy, ya know?" Lily grinned brightly at her as Lena mentally reevaluated just how there Lily really was.
"So...I can talk to you about things. And you won't tell your Mis-errr, Pippy?" Lena questioned nervously.
Lily cocked her head to one side and hummed. "Well I mean, I guess it depends what you tell me. Like if you start talking about how you're gonna start killing people or something, then I'd probably have to tell her, but like, I don't think you're the type to do that, so."
Lena sagged in relief and flopped down onto the ground. "I...I don't even know where to start to be honest. Everything is just so confusing, it's all such a mess. And I don't know if it's my fault or her fault or no one's fault or what."
Lily folded herself down to sit next to Lena and blinked in confusion. "I think you better start from the beginning. Fill me in on what I missed since you went and single-handedly kept the entire solar system in order."
Lena stammered and blushed, but eventually began laying out the story. "So after I recovered enough from that bout of stupidity, Ana moved me to her hab to finish my recovery. It was really sweet, she kept leaving me flowers and took such good care of me. I ummm." Lena blushed and ducked her head. "I even ended up sleeping with her. I mean, not like that! Just in her vines and stuff ya know? And she gave me a flower when I left, and sent me a bouquet of flowers at my new place and stuff. And I thought that maybe she ummm. She. Well. Anyway I read stuff into it I shouldn't have, and now I'm all bummed out just because she wants to be friends and is letting me have autonomy and god this must all sound so *dumb*."
Lena put her head in her hands and groaned.
Lily leaned back onto her hands and narrowed her eyes in thought. "You know, I think Miss was right to make sure I was mostly sober for this. Do you remember what kind of flowers they were?"
Lena blinked in confusion. Here she was pouring her heart out, and Lily was asking botany questions? Being a floret must really mess with one's head.
"Ummm the one she gave me before leaving was a daffodil, and the bouquet here was amaryllis and lavender. Bound up in moss. Why? Like I know affini are all about flowers, but."
Lily gave her an enormous grin and burst out laughing. "Dirt and seeds your affini is a massive dork even by their standards. Have you ever heard of flower language?"
Lena blinked in confusion and shook her head. "Is that some kind of affini thing?"
"Nah," explained Lily. "Old old old Terran thing. Specific flowers meaning specific things and all that. I think that your affini was trying to talk to you in an extremely dorky way."
"Huh?" Lena was confused and flabbergasted. The flowers had meanings to it? How the hell was she supposed to know that? How was she supposed to figure out what meant what?
"Yah, like, daffodil, partially it means new beginnings, which makes sense for you leaving, but it can also mean unrequited love, or be used to ask someone to return your affections." Lily hummed in thought.
"The amaryllis on its own means pride, as in being proud of someone, but the lavender means things like love and devotion again." Lily gave Lena a sly grin.
Lena sat there wide-eyed. "The...the other flowers. They were ummmm. Sweetbrier! And some sage. And ummm. A big bouquet at our final meal before I had to leave. There was ummm. Hollyhock, and aster, and honeysuckle, and sweetpea! Do...do they mean anything."
Lily wiggled happily and cackled loudly enough for her Miss to look towards them for a moment in concern. "Let's see here. We got something pleading you to remember her, a symbol of love and trust, devoted affection and bonds of love, and tenderness and farewell."
Lena stared at Lily slack jawed.
"She's got it bad for you hun. And unless I'm mistaken, you've got it bad for her." Lily gave her a positively ecstatic grin.
Ana liked her. Ana wanted her. She hadn't been imagining things. She had ignored Ana's messages for days now. She had to go back to her apartment and get her tablet right now.
Lena scrambled to her feet and bolted out of the park.
"Run Lena! Run to that adorable dork of a plant!" Lily shouted behind her as she raced off.
Lena grabbed the door of her apartment and flung herself inside at reckless speed before grabbing the tablet up and opening the neglected chat.
Breathtaking: Hope you liked the bouquet darling!
Breathtaking: I heard you didn't go in to get your shot, is everything ok?
Breathtaking: I don't know what's wrong, but Lena, you know you can talk to me about anything right?
Breathtaking: I'm sorry for bothering you so much. I won't message you again. I misread your friendly actions as something more and acted foolishly. I won't bother you again.
All unread messages over the past several days. Oh.
Fuck.
Chapter 7
Summary:
I remembered that this is a porn fic in this chapter, just fyi.
Chapter Text
jingle jingle jingle jingle
The old style bell on the small flower shop jingled gently as Lena pushed the door open. She had seen the store when she had been running from those rebels, and it stood out by just how ordinary it seemed in the grandiose Affini district. If that lovely adorable plant wanted to communicate with flowers, very well. That's what she was going to do.
The shop was a fairly small one, built on a human-scale. The complete lack of non-Earth flowers, and the lack of needles poking out of any of the flowers, told her what the deal was. This was an old terran flower shop. As Lena looked around, an older woman wearing a colourful floral dress appeared from the back and gave her a smile.
"Uhhh, hi." ventured Lena. She hadn't been good at unscripted social interactions even before the affini had come and tore capitalism down, and she wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do here. "I uhhh. I need some flowers?"
The woman flashed her a toothy grin. "That is what people generally come in here for, yes. Were they any particular flowers that you were looking for, or will just any old flower do?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, giving Lena a look of wry amusement.
Lena snorted and laughed. "It's a bit of a long involved story, but well. Do you know anything about flower language?"
The woman raised her eyebrow again. "Are you talking about an affini thing or the pre-Accordian Terran concept. Because if its an affini thing, well, I'm sorry, I won't be able to help much."
"No uhhh. Well I mean, the old human thing. But it is kinda for an affini?" Lena looked at the woman anxiously, willing her to take pity on her.
She gave Lena a gentle smile. "I'm Rose. And yes, I've heard every joke ever written about a woman with a flower name working in a flower shop. Why don't you come sit down, and we can figure out how to help you best."
Waving Lena further into the shop, she made her way to the back of the building, where there was a small kitchen and a table, both covered in half made bouquets.
"I set this up after the affini came and told my old boss that he couldn't sell flowers for money anymore. He left right away, but well, I've always liked flowers, and someone had to take care of them. So I turned the upstairs into an apartment, put a greenhouse up in the back with some help from the affini, and decided to keep the old shop running. Someone has to show these old plants some love after all." Rose rambled away as Lena nervously sat down at the table, puttering about the kitchen as she made them tea.
Putting a cup in front of Lena, she sat down next to her and took an appreciative sip. "Rose tea, I grow the bushes myself."
Lena took a cautious sip. It tasted delicate and floral and somehow reminded her of the feel of Ana kissing her head with pride.
"I...when the affini arrived I got injured. And this one affini, she took such good care of me. And I thought I just had a silly little crush on her; after all, why would she care about someone like me?" Lena stared down into her tea, watching the steam rise.
"But it turns out she feels the same way, and she's been trying to tell me this whole time, with all these different flowers. She... she thinks I ignored her and don't like her. I need to let her know. I need her to know how much I care for her as well." Lena leaned forward with intensity.
"I need a bouquet that says I'm sorry and that I love you and that I will be yours and a million other things, because if this is the language that she is choosing to speak, then I need to tell her how much she means to me, and I don't know how. But I was hoping, I was hoping that maybe you do?" Lena looked up at Rose, eyes full of pleading and hope.
"Oh darling. You've got it real bad eh?" Rose wiped a tear from her eye before straightening up. "Right. Well. I don't have to worry about cost, or availability, or any of that, so let's make you a bouquet that truly shines, shall we?"
What followed was a flurry of motion, as flower after flower was brought out and carefully assembled, lavender and bellflower and lily and ambrosia, on and on, coming together into a bouquet half the size of Lena.
Under Lena's direction, the bouquet was gently wrapped in strips of moss and bound together with straw.
Rose stepped back and looked at her work with satisfaction. "Honey, if she knows flower language and doesn't get what you mean after seeing this, she's hopeless."
With profound thanks and a borrowed cart, Lena strode off towards her apartment. She had to grab one thing, and then she was going to go give that plant a piece of her mind.
Stopping in her apartment, Lena looked around. There was egg on the wall, clothes scattered everywhere, and empty cartons of takeout still stacked up against the wall.
Grabbing the daffodil from its vase, she carefully tucked it behind her ear and hurried back to push the cart on her journey towards the shuttle station, thinking about one flower meaning in particular. Daffodil: Return my affections.
There were a steady stream of both affini and humans coming and going from the Sequoioidium, a thread of life tying ship and planet together. The first time humans were clearly discernible as they started in open-mouthed in shock and awe at the enormous ship. Meanwhile the affini were almost universally eyeing the humans the same way a human might eye a particularly cute kitten.
Getting into the station when not being brought in by a resident apparently involved going through a line and explaining your purpose aboard the ship to an affini. The line was moving fairly swiftly, but it still took Lena half an hour to get to the front, now holding the bouquet carefully in her arms.
"Hello little one, welcome aboard the Sequoioidium could you give me your name and tell me your plans aboard today?" The affini gently shifted some of the flowers to one side so that they could see Lena's nervous face.
"Errr, I'm Lena, I'm...I'm here to see an affini?" Lena shrank behind the bouquet a bit. Oh god she was so nervous.
The affini frowned and looked down at their tablet, pulling something up. "Lena O'Neill?"
"Yes, that's me." Lena blinked in confusion.
"Could you come with me for a moment please?"
Lena growled in frustration as she followed the strange affini into a small room on one side of the line, cradling the banquet as she did.
The affini sighed and rubbed a vine on their forehead. "Look Lena. We know you went to a feralist bar where they were planning an attack on this ship. And we also know that there is pretty much no possibility that you're taking part in it. But I do have to ask you what's with the bouquet. As far as we've seen, since leaving us, you've shown pretty much no sign of having any interest in having anything to do with the affini. Mind explaining that for me please?"
Lena flushed bright red and muttered into the bouquet, trying to hide her face.
"What was that dear? I need you to speak up nice and clear please" prompted the affini.
"I need to go find Ana and tell her what a dunce she is for expecting me to know flower language and that she's pretty and gay and I want to live with her and since she seems to like flower language so much I made her a bouquet ok!" Lena blurted out, her face red and on the verge of tears.
The affini stood there in what seemed to be shock, leaves all on edge before letting out a low rumbling noise. "Oh. my. stars. That is so cute." Pulling out a piece of paper, they quickly sketched something on it and then thrust it at Lena. "Here's a map on the fastest way to get to Anaphylaxis' hab, good luck little one!"
As Lena hurried out the door, relieved to have escaped that encounter, she noticed the affini feverishly typing away on their tablet, leaves practically vibrating.
Ana's neighbourhood was normally a fairly quiet one. Far from any essential systems, it had few things to attract people from other parts of the ship, aside from some nice parks and, in Lena's opinion, a truly excellent ice cream place. Yet now, there seemed to be a large amount of affini around, many with florets, just standing around as if waiting for something. Maybe there was a festival or concert happening soon?
Lena stood facing the door to Ana's hab, knees trembling. C'mon Lena. You can do this. She likes you. She's just too much of a shy dork to say it outright. I want this. And for once in my goddamn life I'm going to actually go out there and get what I want. Which is to smooch a cute plant lady. Summoning up all the anger and angst she had built up since walking off the ship, Lena pounded on the door.
"Anaphylaxis Poaceanum, you get your gorgeous butt out here right now!" Lena demanded in what she hoped was a commanding manner.
Holding her head up high, she stood and glowered at the door. It stubbornly continued to be a door, not transforming into a pretty plant lady like she was hoping.
A vine tapped her on the shoulder. "Lena darling, what are you doing yelling at my door?"
Lena turned around quickly, almost falling on her butt, saved only by a vine wrapping securely around her waist.
Ana stood there, one arm holding a bag full of groceries, the other extending around to hold Lena up. She studied Lena, seeming to categorize her inch by inch. Her unkempt, messy hair. The red eyes from both lack of sleep and crying. The trembling from days of not eating properly. Then her eyes turned to the bouquet, widening and sparkling as they took in the flowers.
With a mischievous grin, she plucked the daffodil out from behind Lena's ear and gave it an appreciative sniff.
"So that's how it is, my darling? It seems that you and I have a lot to talk about." With a vine effortlessly snaking out to open the hab door, Ana scooped up Lena, bouquet and all, and strolled into the hab, at which point the crowd which had been silently watching burst into cheers.
Safely inside, away from the laughing and cheering crowd, Ana gently deposited Lena onto a chair at the table before bustling about the apartment, putting groceries away and putting the bouquet into a vase after taking one more appreciative sniff. Finally, she turned around and sat down across from Lena, looking at her with steady eyes.
"So, my darling little sprout has decided to return. I...I had hoped you would. But now that you have, I find myself at a loss for words. Would you mind explaining my dear Lena?"
Lena stammered for a moment. "I...I thought that you didn't want me. Like I thought about it, about just staying and living with you, but you didn't give- I mean I didn't realize that you were giving me signals that you would like that, so I just left. And then when I was on my own, I just felt like I was such a failure, and contacting you seemed harder and harder, so I just...didn't."
Lena fiddled with one of the vines in front of her. "And then I found out that you did care, what all those flowers and everything meant, and I just, I had to come back here and see if you were willing to give us a second chance."
For a moment, Ana's eyes softened, looking down at the little terran with an expression of infinite love. Then they narrowed and hardened, glimmering like emeralds. "So. You've come back to me. You want to give 'us' another chance. What exactly is 'us' Lena? Have you come to be my floret, my pet to care for and mold as I see fit? Have you come to be my girlfriend, to live together as equals? Maybe you see us as roommates, and merely miss my cooking?"
Even though her eyes were full of sternness, Lena somehow knew that Ana was not angry, but rather afraid, and nervous. She really didn't know why Lena had come back, and what she said next would be incredibly important.
Choosing her words carefully, Lena took a deep breath. "I'm...I'm not sure. I don't want to just be roommates with you. I like you. I like you a lot, more strongly than I have ever liked someone before. If the only way you'll have me is as your floret, then well, collar me. If the only way you'll have me is as a girlfriend, then I will be your terran girl for as long as you'll have me. All I know is that I'm drawn to you, and I that I'm yours, no matter what you do."
Ana lifted up Lena's head with a vine, making sure their eyes were locked. "Oh the power that you have offered me, willingly, without reservation. Most affini would gladly collar you right now, fill you full of xenodrugs and break you into the perfect little pet." Ana's vines rustled, needles clicking together below them as the affini breathed deeply.
"I am not most affini. Lena, I love you. I tried to be...circumspect about my affections, being subtle but hopefully making my meaning clear. But well." Ana burst into a wide grin. "Whatever you end up being to me, Lena; lover, partner, pet, or something as yet undefined, welcome to your new home."
Ana swept Lena up, vines wrapping securely around the terran as she was lifted, until they were staring into each other's eyes. Lena was breathing heavily, while Ana's vines twitched nervously.
Lena looked into Ana's eyes, pleading silently, and then sighed in delight as Ana's lips crashed against hers. Vines held her torso and legs securely, but left her arms free to fling around the affini's neck, pulling herself closer.
Vines slithered over her, tiny thorns pricking her and leaving hypersensitive skin in its wake as she moaned into Ana's mouth.
"Shall I remove these pesky clothes Lena? I want to welcome you home properly. I have so much to show you." The affini's voice was husky with desire, her eyes blazing with green flame as she stared hungrily at Lena.
"Show me it all Ana. I want to experience everything." Lena shivered with desire even as the Affini chuckled in response.
"Patience, little one. Even I cannot show you everything I desire to do with you in one night. But for now, a small taste."
Lena's clothes seemed to explode off her, vines effortlessly removing them and tossing them away in seconds. A flower, red and delicate, sharp needle in the center, moved to press against her forearm.
"Are you sure?" asked Ana quietly, voice hesitant and filled with hope and longing.
Lena looked down at the flower, pressed against her skin. And with a grin, pushed her arm into the needle. Immediately, a wave of heat and pleasure washed through her, leaving Lena whimpering and begging for more.
Ana looked down at the squirming human, eyes wide and dilated, mouth open and panting, and purred, "Oh Lena, if only you could see yourself right now. You look so positively delectable."
And in a storm of touch and sensation, her vines descended.
Over the next few days, when they were able to tear themselves off each other and leave the hab, Ana did her best to help Lena experience all the wonders of the massive Affini ship.
Despite Lena's legs working perfectly fine, Ana insisted on carrying her as much as possible. It was amazing how much more of a ship you could see when you weren't recovering from massive physical injuries, and when an affini was carrying you everywhere, showing off the ship like she was afraid it was going to disappear.
The only dark spot in the whirlwind tour was when they tried to go into the control room, where Ana worked. As they got closer, Lena had started slowly and quietly panicking, and no amount of soothing and headpats from Ana would fix it. Finally, Ana had injected her with a nice calming xenodrug, and she had dozed her entire way back to the hab, where Ana proceeded to pamper her with snuggles and soft kisses.
It was sometime after this that Lena broached the topic of getting the rest of her stuff from the apartment. She hadn't exactly brought anything with her, and while she could get anything she liked aboard the ship, she still wanted to retrieve some things that held sentimental value for her.
She had thought to just go down on her own, quickly pick up her things and return, but Ana was having none of it. She was coming down as well, and that was final. Ana generally just let Lena have her way when she actually bothered having an opinion, but every once in a while she would put her root down. Lena found it incredibly attractive, enough so that she occasionally would disagree with Ana just to give her the chance to show her who was in charge.
Lena's apartment building had always seemed like a large and impressive structure to her before. It was big enough that the maglev had a station that ran right to it, and tall enough that even before the affini had come it was generally smog free. But now, it seemed tiny, and insignificant. Lena had outgrown it.
Pushing open her apartment door, Lena froze. She had forgotten the sorry state that she had left the apartment in, and now Ana was seeing it too.
Ana swept Lena up off her feet and carried her into the small apartment, compressing herself as she went to fit. "Oh honey. You really were struggling without me weren't you?"
Lena blushed red and squirmed her way out of Ana's vines, quickly making her way towards her bedroom. "I just need to grab a couple of things. I have a few paperback books that I managed to find, I know they aren't valuable anymore, but well...they're important to me."
Ana hummed as Lena rummaged through the mess of shelves in her bedroom, calmly accepting the books as Lena scurried back and forth after finding them.
"I also want to grab my tablet," Lena shouted from her bedroom. Ana looked down and scooped it up off the table. "And that's about it..." Lena trailed off as she watched her affini curiously rummage around her small, makeshift workshop, before pulling out a small black plastic case, with a wiry antenna sticking up from one side.
Ana rumbled thoughtfully. "I haven't seen this model of radio before. It looks very interesting."
Lena sighed and looked down, mouth twisted into a bitter grimace. "That's the first radio I ever made, when I was just getting into them as a kid. It's one of the only things I have left from back then. You can leave it. I don't know why I kept it all these years."
Ana looked at Lena and raised a leafy eyebrow. "You remember my large collection of radios, yes? This is coming home with us."
Lena tried to stammer out an excuse, but one look at that raised eyebrow reduced her to blushing mutters.
Leaving the apartment one last time, Lena patted the door frame and gave it a bittersweet smile. "Thank you, apartment. You kept me safe and warm when things were hard. Now you'll go on to help some other lucky soul."
Lena sighed as she strode out of the building, one of Ana's vines wrapped in an intricate pattern around her arm and hand, binding her close.
Back in Ana's hab, Lena's new home, their home, Lena's old radio took a place of pride among the other assorted radios and communicators that Ana had collected. Lena also found out, to her great surprise, that she had multiple messages waiting for her on her tablet. Both Lily and Sam wanted to know what had happened, and were regaling her with stories from their lives as florets.
She got so preoccupied that she barely even noticed as Ana fed her piece after piece of pasta, and was caught completely off guard when Ana deftly plucked the tablet out of her hands and typed some quick good night messages to her two friends before pulling her in close to snuggle.
Safe at last, wrapped up tight in her affini's arms, in her affini's hab, with nothing tying her back to her old life, Lena drifted off to sleep, finally able to rest.
Chapter Text
burble burble burble burble
Lena opened her eyes sleepily as the mass of vines she was cocooned in gently started to unwind and move.
"Noooo, no getting up, stay and cuddle me instead," she commanded drowsily, grasping onto a vine.
"Oh sprout you have no idea how tempting that is," Ana's voice echoed as she carefully unravelled from around Lena. "You know, you could always come along with me to the comms department. You'd be more than welcome."
Lena was deposited gently on the moss of the grotto, blinking in the light, as the now humanoid shaped affini addressed her hopefully.
The human sighed and shook her head. "I...I want to. But I'm...I'm scared. I told you what happened when I tried to go to work before back down on Earth. What if I have another panic attack? What if I...lose control again?"
Ana reached out a vine, trembling with the barely suppressed desire to banish all fear and worry from her adorable human, before retracting it silently and swinging Lena up in her arms to kiss and nuzzle her. Lena rested her forehead against Ana's, staring lovingly into the sparkling green field of Ana's eyes. They were fascinating. Shifting, ever changing facets of green of every shade, Lena could get lost in them for hours.
Lena chuckled wryly. "I know it's just the remnants of capitalism talking, but the thought of being there and not being able to do anything to help drives me up the wall. I just...don't want to sit around in the hab all day waiting for you to come back you know?"
Ana hummed and narrowed her eyes, before taking out her tablet and poking around for a moment. "There. You have a playmeeting with Aster and xer floret set up."
Lena opened her mouth to argue then paused, thoughtfully. She didn't actually mind Ana making plans for her. She'd prefer the plans also involved Ana, but if Ana thought a playdate was what she should do, she was fine with it. Oh. "It's playdate love. Not playmeeting."
Ana ruffled her leaves. "Roots your Terran sayings are very confusing. They never quite make logical sense."
Lena stuck her tongue out. "Since when did anything humans do make sense?"
With a final pat and kiss, Ana left.
"ding dong"
Lena blinked. Did the hab just actually say ding dong? Before she could get over her disbelief, there was a scampering sound from the other side of the door, as if someone was running towards it very excitedly, and then it was wrenched open to reveal the excited expression of Sam, who swept Lena up into an exuberant hug before pulling her inside, talking away at a mile a minute.
"Ahhh Lena you're here I'm so excited to see you we're gonna have so much fun together I'm so excited your Mistress let you come!" Sam's pulling stopped as they flumped down onto a couch next to their owner, giggling up at Lena as she tried to pull together a coherent response to the deluge.
"Ana isn't my Mistress Sam, she's just....she's Ana." Lena said, before turning to Aster and giving her a polite smile. "Thank you for having me over Mx. Helianthi, you have a lovely hab."
Aster raised an eyebrow before patting the seat next to Sam. "You know, you don't have to be so stiff and formal. You should relax Lena. I could help you along with that if you'd like, you need only ask." Xe purred.
Lena sat down, staring at the swirling colours of Aster's eyes the entire time. They looked...hungry. Eager for the chance to dose her. In that moment it was easy to understand the feralist propaganda, to see the affini as merciless predators intent on breaking humanity beneath their vines until humankind was nothing more than a distant memory and all that remained were mindless pets. And yet.. she knew that Aster would restrain xerself, wouldn't do anything until she asked. It was a dichotomy central to the affini. Power on a scale that was practically unimaginable, all put towards making sure every single thing in the universe was safe and cared for.
Biting her lip, Lena looked down and fidgeted with a loose leaf from the couch. "Can I...can I ask you a question, Aster?"
Aster trilled curiously. "Of course little one, you can always ask me anything you wish."
"I...I'm worried that it's going to offend you or Sam. But. Well. If Sam wasn't your floret, if you were just living together, would you still be drugging them so much?"
Sam rolled over onto their back and stuck out their tongue.
Aster raised one pseudo eyebrow and gave Lena a look. "This isn't about me and my darling Sam, is it dear? It's about you, and my very shy and withdrawn friend isn't it?"
Lena blushed bright red. "she just, she doesn't drug me, or play with me, or anything. We cuddle a lot, sure, but even that is all initiated by me!" She sniffled a little, trying not to cry. "I just don't know what I'm doing wrong."
Aster cooed sympathetically and quickly re-arranged everyone, until Lena found herself sitting in a soft bed of xer leaves, with Sam behind her idly playing with her hair.
A low rumble vibrated through Lena's core as Aster hummed in thought. "You know, us affini are not a monolithic block. We share many things for sure, an urge to protect and care for and nurture others, and a society wide feeling of responsibility for all. But beyond that, we are indeed individual beings. You wouldn't have had a chance to see Ana out on the ship without you, but unlike many of us, she never even twitches a vine towards headpatting a sophont engaged in being particularly adorable. She has gone to a Class-J pet cafe maybe twice in all the time I've known her, and both times she was stiff and uncomfortable."
Lena tried to look up at Aster, only for a very firm hand from Sam to hold her in place to not disturb whatever they were doing with their hair, which had evolved from idle playing to purposeful brushing and fiddling with.
"Are you saying that Ana doesn't like the whole drugging thing? Or the cuddling even?"
Aster shook with laughter briefly before coughing to get xerself under control. "Ah. No. She quite enjoys drugging little cuties, and cuddling them and playing with them. She is just very worried about making sure they are ok with it first. Obtaining explicit consent, having them under her explicit care, things like that. I don't really understand the obsession with it myself, it isn't like you little ones really mind it, but nonetheless, it is there."
"So she was ok with drugging me and controlling me before, when I was a patient under her care. But now that I'm living with her of my own free will, she's what, worried that doing what she's already done to me I would take offense with and leave?" Lena let out a frustrated growl. "Dammit, why'd I have to fall for the most noble and kind plant in the entire sector. She wants explicit consent, eh? Well then maybe it's time for me to take a walk over to the clerks office then!"
Lena went to stand up, ready to storm the clerks office, only to have both Sam's hand and one of Aster's vines press down, holding her firmly in place. "Not until my darling is done with your hair you're not, dear."
The Sequoioidium did not just have one clerk's office. Or rather, it did not have one centralized office. Instead, much like mycelium spread throughout a forest, it had many small offices, all interconnected with an elaborate hypermetric system that allowed them to send forms to each other instantly.
The office closest to Ana and Lena's hab was built into the base of one of the towering spines that connected their hab ring to the rest of the ship, surrounded by a forest filled with alien trees and plants, with a wide, gently winding path leading through it to the the office. There was a friendly sign labelling it as a clerks office in terran, rinan, three different dialects of affini, and several other languages.
Lena, her hair done in an elaborate crown braid with flowers from three different systems woven throughout, stared at the door, a familiar mix of determination and fear churning in her gut. It was the same mix that she had felt before coming out to her parents, before entering the Academy, and before taking that damn pill. What she was going to do would have consequences. It would change things. She just didn't know how.
The inside of the clerk's office was surprisingly cozy. Pleasant lighting, flowers and small shrubs planted in various niches, and an affini humming happily to themselves as they filled out forms, sent other forms out, and gently pulsed with activity, a swirling mass of vines. "Oh! Hello little one, how may I help you today?"
Lena stood up straight and stuck out her chin. "I would like a domestication contract. I ne-"
"OH HOW WONDERFUL! Did your owner-to-be send you out on one last little errand before making you their floret? You are going to make such an absolutely adorable pet, so cute! You're the one who's living with Anaphylaxis right?"
The affini finally paused long enough for a visibly flustered Lena to get a word in edgewise. "I...not quite. I wanted to see a domestication contract. A full one, not just the bit they have florets sign. I was hoping you could get me a translation of all the forms that affini owners have to sign? I'm....I just want to know what's in them."
The affini paused, radiating concern and softness. "Of course little Lena. You just take a seat over there, and I'll put together a package with both the original affini, your local Terran dialect, and some notes on the translations.
With a wave of a vine, Lena was directed to a luxuriously comfortable chair, as she watched the clerk positively explode into motion. Her initial plan had indeed been to come to the clerks office, get a domestication form, and get Ana to sign it. But the gentle but firm ministrations of Sam and Aster, and the walk over, had moved her to a slightly different path. She wanted to understand the bond between floret and affini, not just from the perspective of a floret, but from the perspective of an owner. A floret gave up political rights, legal rights, everything to become a pet, and in exchange, never had to make a decision again, would become their best selves under the guidance of their owner. But what did the affini get out of it?
A gentle cough broke Lena from her reverie. The clerk smiled and held out a thick package of paper, bound together with intricately knotted vinework. "A complete domestication contract in affini and terran with collected commentary. I hope this helps."
Thanking the clerk profusely, Lena picked up the heavy bundle and trudged off towards her hab. It was time to get some answers.
There is no greater duty or honour for an affini than taking on a floret. Taking on a floret means that your number one priority can no longer be your own pursuits or whatever catches your eyes. Your first priority must be to do what is best for your floret, no matter what.
This is a sacred* contract you are taking on, to your floret, to the affini people, and to the great ongoing experiment that is the Compact.
Lena glanced down at the footnote at the bottom of the page.
*sacred is an imprecise translation into the Terran here, to try and convey an affini concept of utmost respect, reverence and importance.
You will be impressed upon the importance of this duty repeatedly throughout this document. If at any time you feel any reservation towards any of the stipulations that will be placed upon you, it is strongly advised that you do not continue with the domestication process until you can sign with a clear and free conscience.
Part One: The Duties of an Owner
Lena shifted her weight on the kitchen stool to settle herself more. She had a lot of reading to do.
The sound of the hab door clicking open barely made Lena stir. She was deep into a section on maintaining proper nutrition while keeping in mind the happiness of the floret as well as acceptable levels of deviations. It seemed to almost be a debate between different schools of affini thought, written out in bureaucratic contract clauses, all recorded to ensure that the affini signing the contract would have a full understanding and be able to syncretize an individual position.
"Lena? Are you in here? Aster said you left early, I was planning on..." Ana trailed off as she walked into the kitchen. The table was covered with carefully arranged papers, sorted into piles in some inexplicable order, with Lena at the center of the chaos, a notebook next to her that she was in the process of filling with highly detailed notes.
"What? Huh? Oh! Mi-Ana, you're home. I was just uhhh. Reading. I must have lost track of time." Lena blushed bright red.
Ana picked up a piece of paper at random, scanning it with confusion. "Is this...a domestication contract? A full one?"
"With a translation into Terran, notes on the translation, and commentary. The translation of the commentary is a bit spotty in places, I've taken some notes for the clerks to improve it." Lena lifted up her chin and stared at the puzzled affini, a mix of determination and fear visible on her face.
Ana's vines wilted, and her eyes dimmed as she looked down at the ground. "You're looking for an owner aren't you. Is...is it going to be Aster?"
Lena's face melted into a look of utter adoration as she slipped out of her chair and walked over to hug Ana tightly. "No, you absolute dumbass. I...haven't decided yet. Also, if I'm going to be anyone's floret, I'm going to be yours. You dork."
Ana purred and grinned as she lifted Lena up to cuddle her in her vines. "Well, why don't we go over to the couch and go through it together. I can help with the translations."
Lena smiled as she leaned her head against her affini, and let herself be carried, as innumerable vines swept up the papers.
Lena frowned, listening intently as Ana explained the nuances of yet another section of the contract. "I don't get it, what is this section on about now? Some of these terms don't seem to translate exactly right."
Ana ran a vine through Lena's hair idly as she hummed. "In simple terms, it is explaining exactly why florets have to give up their political rights. There are several arguments for it, contrasted with one prominent argument against. The latter is an argument that hinges on giving all sapient beings political rights, regardless of status. It is considered a bit of a fringe argument, but it does colour many of the other aspects of Affini philosphy in ensuring that all creatures are treated as well as possible, so it is kept, to make sure we understand where it came from. As for the arguments in favour, the most prominent ones boil over to making sure that an affini owner can do whatever they need to for their floret with no chance of delay or ethical concern. Some of the drug regimens florets can end up on can lead to quite a delay before they'd be able to give informed consent." Ana chuckled.
"The other major argument in favour is about ensuring fairness. If florets had political rights, it would inevitably lead to affini who have florets having more of a say than affini without florets, which just wouldn't be fair."
Lena snorted softly. "Of course you worried about fairness between affini when making these contracts. How do you know all of this though? Did you have a floret before?"
Ana's vines retracted back into her core as all her leaves went flat and the light left her eyes, leaving them as nothing but dull green stones. "I don't wanna talk about it." she mumbled.
Lena looked at her affini in concern, before wrapping her arms around Ana as much as she could. "It's ok love. I'm here. You can talk to me about whatever you need to. I won't judge you."
Ana looked down at the terran trying to comfort her with a quiver in her voice. "I don't want to lose you as well."
Lena grabbed two fistfuls of leaves on either side of Ana's face and pulled herself up until she was face to face with the affini. "Talk to me then. Tell me what happened, what you fear."
Ana deflated and sighed, before sending a single vine snaking out to grab a radio from the now carefully organized workbench and bringing it over, holding it reverently. "This is an Andranu radio. One half of a paired set. Part of Andranu culture is gifting these to people you care about deeply. They're incredible works of art, and can receive signals from its mate from an incredible distance. When both are active, they emit this wonderful signal all the time. To an Andranu, it can tell you how far away the other is, what condition it is in... an incredible amount of information."
Tendril thin vines traced gently over the radio, following the fine patterns engraved throughout.
"Her name was Kirulek. She was a geologist, they had been working on trying to stabilize their planet well before we showed up. We hit it off immediately, and we grew close. I was fascinated with her. But...I pushed too hard. She wanted to stay independent, and I didn't respect that enough. We had a fight. I was supposed to go with her to study a volcanic fissure, but she left without me. I was sulking because she had rejected my advances once again, and she was angry because I wasn't listening to her. So she went off alone. When the radio stopped, I panicked and we rushed to search for her. But it was too late." Ana carefully placed the radio down on the table, reverently brushing it with a vine.
"I was flirty and had fun with you when you were a patient. It was just a bit of fun, I thought you were just absolutely adorable, and there was no harm in a bit of flirting. You'd heal up, and off you would go, no harm no foul." Ana twisted around and grabbed Lena's hands. "But you came back! You came back, and at first I was so hopeful, but you didn't show any signs of wanting to be my floret, and I didn't want to scare you away too. So I did nothing."
Lena cuddled Ana close, letting the distraught affini hold her until she calmed down. "I'm not going anywhere. Already tried that, it almost got me stabbed. I'm staying here with you, no matter what we end up being to each other."
Ana shifted slightly, looking at Lena with narrowed eyes. "You've said that before my dear. You're willing to settle for anything, as long as you get to stay with me. But this is the Affini Compact my darling. We do not merely settle. We make everyone into their best selves, we strive for perfection. So tell me, Lena, not what you'll settle for, what you want. What you truly desire."
Lena squirmed and twisted, before slumping in defeat. "I...don't know. I really don't. I like it when you play with me. I like it when you ask me for advice. I like when you come home and your face lights up to see me there. I like it when we cook together, and when I cook for you, and when you cook for me. I even find myself wanting to walk around the ship, collared and leashed, so I can smugly show everyone that I did it, I got the best affini around."
She looked down and sighed. "But I'm afraid of what I might lose. Not my political rights, it isn't like we had many of those under the Accord anyways, and it's not like your lot would allow the Protectorate to make any terrible decisions. I'm worried that I'll lose that spark that attracted you to me. I'm worried that I'll lose something that makes me fundamentally me. It's not just that I want you to have a pet who was once me, I want you to have me as your pet." Lena looked up at Ana, eyes wide and yearning.
Ana grinned softly, and gave Lena a little scritch. "Did you hear what you said at the end there little one? You want to be my pet. You liiiiike me."
Lena stared up at Ana's grinning face for a moment, and then they both burst out into giggles, collapsing into a snuggling pile.
After an extended period of snuggling close to each other, Lena found herself sitting in Ana's lap, legs and arms held securely with more vines holding her close and secure. As Ana started to talk, Lena could feel the vibrations gently thrumming down the vines and over her body.
"You know that not every affini treats their pets the same. It is an incredibly personal thing, and as you read in the contract, very....sacred, for lack of a better word. There are some affini who want their pets to be very prim and proper. Sit right, speak right, be adorable little dolls for them."
Lena's face blushed at the mention of being an adorable little doll, and Ana grinned and ruffled her hair.
"Other affini seek out more wild and adventurous florets, who will lead them on adventures and make every day different. Quite a plus when you're as long lived as one of us. Me personally, I'm a bit, well, hands off. I like to see just what my playthings get up to, and subtly direct them along the paths I choose for them. I find your swearing endearing my darling, and would only take it away from you temporarily, to watch you squirm and see how creative you can get. But well, what do you want little Lena? What will make you feel happy and secure in becoming truly mine?"
Lena chewed her lip, trying to think. What did she want? What things did she want written down before legally signing over her freedom and legal rights, before she became Ana's. But a thought slowly formed in her head. She already was Ana's, in every way that mattered. A piece of paper wasn't going to change a fundamental truth of the universe. Lena belonged to, and with, Ana. Lena without Ana was adrift and rudderless, she always had been. Now that she had this wonderful, dorky beacon of light in plant form in her life, she could never leave. A dreadful thought bloomed deep in her heart. One day Ana would be without Lena. One day her plant would be all alone again. Lena's eyes filled with tears at the thought.
"Hey, hey now little one, none of that." Ana said gently, as tiny vines went and cleared the tears off of Lena, drinking them up and absorbing them. "What is it, my dearest?"
"I...I don't want to leave you alone again. I'm yours, that's already decided and true, and has been since, dirt, since that first night here in the hab. But one day I'll be gone, and you'll be alone again. How can you bear it?" Lena sniffled and looked up at Ana, eyes filled with fear and grief for the future that she was seeing in her mind.
"Hmmmmm. Technically I shouldn't just yet, but..." the gentle pinch of a needle pressed into Lena's arm followed by a rapidly spreading warmth, blanketing her mind. She could still feel her emotions and think clearly, but it was like she was viewing them through a pane of glass.
Ana leaned back and hummed lowly, vibrating as she sat in thought for a few minutes. "I met an older affini once, back near the Core Worlds. They had just finished their personal mourning ritual for a floret, and had been flirting with an adorable little sophont. I asked them how they could be looking for another floret, so soon after losing their old one. They told me that they missed their old floret, and they always would. No one could ever replace him. But he had given them the gift of companionship and comfort for some brief number of years. Through his eyes, the universe had seemed fresh and exciting and wonderful. Now they would get to experience the universe through someone else's eyes, get to care for and nurture someone else, and through that new floret, his memory would live on. They were a better affini for having had him, no matter how long it had been."
"One day you will be gone. But I plan to treasure every moment I get with you, and I plan to make that day quite a ways in the future. My only regret is that we couldn't arrive sooner, so I couldn't get even more time with you." Ana grinned down at Lena softly, enjoying the slightly blissed out look on her face.
"This is my promise to you. I will keep you in sage and aster, bind you with honeysuckle, and shower you with lavender and lilac. If ever we are separated, by some cruel twist of fate, you will need no radio to hear my voice, for I will give you a part of me, a gift to help you and keep you safe." And with that, Ana folded Lena into her vines, and for a time, all was softness and pleasure.
Eventually they did fill out a proper contract, Lena writing out careful clauses, each time glancing at Ana to make sure that it was ok to be wanting so much. And each time Ana would smile and stroke her back and reassure her. But eventually, it was done. Messy, filled with annotations and notes and crossed out clauses, but still perfection. All that was left was to sign their names.
Lena looked at the space for her name and licked her lips. Ana had gone off to the workbench at some point, and she was still waiting for her to come back so they could sign it together. She was really going to do this. A small part of her was trembling in fear, what if this was the moment the affini finally showed their true colours and started being cruel? But almost all of her felt more free than ever before, and that small part was shrinking in the face of overwhelming opposition.
Finally, Ana came back from the workbench, holding something behind her back with a vine.
Lena looked up at her owner, gratitude and joy filling her face as she pressed herself against her Mistress.
Ana grinned cheekily, and pulled out what she had been hiding from behind her back. It was a collar, formed from twisting vines with tiny flowers bursting with colour throughout, and wires and circuitry, scavenged from the workbench and turned to a much more important purpose intertwined.
With a simple click, the collar snapped into place around Lena's neck, and Lena looked up at her Affini.
"Ready, love?"
"Ready, Miss."
And they signed.
Anaphylaxis Poaceanum, Third Bloom.
Lena Poaceanum, First Floret.
Notes:
This is not the end of Perturbance! But it is the end for now. I still have a few more chapters planned, which I'll post here just as soon as I write them.
Chapter Text
ring ring, ring ring, ring ring
The tablet kept pinging and there were silly little voices saying things, but none of that mattered because Lena was focused on this vine in front of her. From a distance it just looked like another gorgeous piece of greenery on her wonderful Mistress, but when you got closer, it started to get all these amazing details. Subtle striations of different shades of colours, tiny spaced out little thorns, little stem offshoots that brightened and glowed softly when she breathed on them, incredible. She wondered how it would taste... carefully extending out her tongue, she licked it. Huh, woody. But with a subtle undertone that made her tongue tingle. With barely a thought, she bit down on the vine and started happily gnawing at it, rolling over to grasp it more firmly in her hands. Delicious.
After Lena and her Mistress (she felt a little thrill just thinking about it, Ana was her Mistress now!) had signed the contract, Ana had proudly clipped a leash onto Lena's new collar and they had walked together to the clerk's office to drop off the paperwork. They could have just sent it off automatically, but well, there was a bit of a thrill and excitement in getting to show off, and be shown off, and they had both agreed that they simply had to hand the forms in personally. Lena had preened and strutted a little, seeing affini from their neighbourhood gasping with joy and delight to see her with a collar (not just any collar, her Mistress's collar!) around her neck. And the instant they had handed over the forms to the delighted clerk, Ana had turned to her, grinning in a way that showed off just how sharp her teeth could be, and then well....then things started to get fuzzy, and warm, and soft. Lena guessed that Ana had carried her home, but remembering exactly what happened was irrelevant compared to just luxuriating in the wonderful sensations that kept washing over her.
Eventually, like the tide slowly slipping back out, Lena slipped back into something like lucidity, the high of that initial blast of xenodrugs calming to a dull whisper caressing the back of her brain. Stretching out in Ana's lap, she gave a wiggle of contentment before stretching out and looking up at her owner.
"Hi."
"Hello there petal. Coming up a bit are you now?" Ana's vines gently stroked Lena's tummy, eliciting another round of wiggles.
"Mmmmm. I love you Mistress". Lena reached up with a heavy feeling arm to stroke her affini's face.
"Look at the vidscreen dear." Ana used a vine to tilt Lena's head until she was looking at the screen, and then watched with a mixture of amusement and curiosity as Lena's eyes grew wide and her cheeks grew red upon seeing Aster and Sam, Aster with a literally face splitting grin, and Sam with their hands clapped over their mouth as they all but vibrated with glee.
"Uhhh, hi there. How uhhh. How long have you been watching?" Lena sheepishly greeted them.
"Your wiggles are but one of your many excellent qualities Lena. I knew you would make an excellent pet someday." Aster said, running a vine down the back of xer floret, causing Sam to arch their back and gasp, eyes vacant and sparkling.
"We were just talking about the party we're going to hold for you." Ana scritched Lena's head, knocking any half formed objections Lena had out of her head before they could fully form. "And yes I know you were about to object and say that throwing you a party is totally unnecessary and all sorts of other silly nonsense, but well, you don't make that kind of decision anymore, my darling little blossom. I do!"
Aster smiled kindly from the vidscreen. "If it makes you feel any better, this is mostly just an excuse to get together and enjoy each other's company, as well as celebrating the two of you finally finishing your adorable, if agonizingly protracted, collision course."
Ana's scritches had turned into a full blown brushing, small vines gently teasing and untangling each strand of hair, oil seeping from her vines that both moisturized her hair and filled Lena's head with a bubbling and popping. Lena moaned appreciatively and leaned back into the grooming, trying her best to stay cognizant of the conversation.
"Teridopsi will come of course, as well as Aster. Was there anyone you wanted to invite love?"
Lena blushed and squirmed in Ana's lap, looking down as she thought. She didn't really have all that many friends, and who would really know her or want to celebrate anything to do with her and her domesticatio- Lena sat bolt upright, turning to look her owner pleadingly in the eye. "Can we invite Lily and her owner Mistress? Please? I...I don't know if I would have ended up back here if it wasn't for them."
Ana hummed thoughtfully and pulled out her tablet. "Lily...that's Lily Hedera, Third Floret right?" Papavera and I took a course on Terran cuisine together, it'd be nice to see her again." With a tap and a flourish, Ana tucked the tablet back into her vines. "There we go, invitation sent."
With a wave, Ana turned off the vidscreen, looking down at her pet with a proprietary gaze as she wrapped her vines around Lena. "Now, my pet, I think it's time to make sure you remember exactly who's in charge here."
As thorns slipped from the vines surrounding Lena, pricking her in a thousand spots at once, she felt a rush of submission and joy and moaned happily, tight and secure in her owner's grasp.
The day of the party Lena saw just how intensely an affini could multitask when they decided to put a modicum of effort into it. There were multiple dishes going on the stove and in the oven at once, and as each finished, Ana would whisk it off to the stasis box and get another one started. The entire kitchen was an absolute whirlwind of vines. The first time Lena tried to enter and help she had been picked up and placed back on the couch before she could get close to anything. The second time, the vines had held her in place as her Mistress's face appeared in front of her. "Lena, normally I'd absolutely love to have you help me, but this is a party for you. Sit down and relax, or I'll make you."
Lena had sat and relaxed, for a bit, before fidgeting slightly, she called out into the mass of vines. "Miss? Could you maybe....could you make me relax? Just until the party. Sitting here doing nothing is making me all fidgety."
The vines froze for a moment before Ana pulled herself together, a slightly diminished form of her body walking over to Lena while vines waved behind her tending to the dishes still. With a purr Ana tilted Lena's head up so that the human was forced to stare into her glimmering, swirling, emerald eyes. "You want me to make you relax? Make sure you lie there, with nary a thought in your mind but bliss? Oh my darling little pet. You spoil me."
Like a snake coming up to strike, a vine slithered its way up, two flowers blossoming to reveal the needles hidden within. "One of these will make you feel pleasure from every sensation. Every brush of air, the feel of cloth against skin, a vine stroking you, will fill you with pleasure. The other is a form of muscle relaxant. Not strong enough to stop you from breathing or interfering from any of your autonomic functions, but strong enough to ensure you'll just lie there and relax. Is this what you want Lena? Do you want to be my pretty dolly, just lying there basking in pleasure?"
Lena gasped and blushed, quivering as she stared up at her owner, her affini, her Ana. "Yeeeeees", she whimpered, feeling herself getting lost in the neverending green of Ana's eyes even as two small pinpricks heralded the arrival of the drugs into her system. In a wave, the warmth from the drugs spread through her system and she felt herself go limp. Ana carefully arranged her floret on the couch where she could watch the kitchen, and flowed back into the kitchen, melting back into a whirling cooking dervish of vines.
Lena lay there. All her muscles were utterly relaxed, like moving them would take a supreme act of will. And all her will was instead focused on how good everything felt. She could feel the individual fibers of the couch gently tickling her arms, the soft threads of her dress caressing her skin, the firm insistent pressure of her collar, even the air currents seemed to be gently teasing her. As she lay there, staring at her affini preparing a feast for them and their friends, she felt a familiar warmth pooling inside her. Oh god. She was wet. She was getting all turned on by being a helpless limp doll who was owned by a gorgeous, beautiful plant. She couldn't even squirm in embarrassment. With two little pricks, Ana had rendered her helpless and horny. She didn't know if she spent minutes, hours, or years watching Ana, with that slow warmth building to a fiery pitch inside her, but eventually the dam burst. Even then, her muscles barely twitched enough to shake her around, and all she could do was softly moan.
An indeterminate amount of time and several orgasms later, the vine whirlwind in the kitchen died down, and the familiar form of her Mistress casually walked over and picked her up, causing yet another shuddering orgasm to instantly rip through her body.
"Well that's all done", Ana said casually, softly petting the top of Lena's head, grinning as the floret twitched and gasped under the onslaught.
"The nice thing about the dose I gave you is that it should wear off by the time our guests arrive. Well, mostly. You'll likely still be all clumsy and sensitive, but that isn't really a problem is it?" The affini's head appeared in front of Lena's face, upside down and grinning.
Lena struggled, and with a herculean effort, managed to whisper. "you look very strange from this angle."
Ana burst into delighted laughter, pulling Lena into her vines and sending her straight back to pleasurable sensory overload.
The first to arrive were, rather predictably, Aster and Sam. Lena knew she should get up off the couch and greet them, old etiquette habits drilled into her by her parents ages back rearing their head. She went to stand, but was only halfway up when a Sam was plopped directly into her lap. Muscles that were only just beginning to stir at her brain's demands promptly collapsed her back down onto the couch as her fellow floret wrapped their arms around her neck and grinned at her. "Hi."
"Hey Sam. Mind getting off me? I need to say hi to Mx. Helianthi and get ready for the other guests."
"No you don't. That's your owner's job. Your job now is to be cute and adorable. And you're doing great!" Sam said smugly, their logic flawless.
Lena wanted to protest, she really did, but the weight of Sam on her still felt awfully nice. With a sigh, she laid back and cuddled. Or at least she tried to. There were guests here. There was stuff to do in the kitchen. The worst part was that it wasn't even her mother's voice in her head anymore, it was her own, drilled in there after years and years. With a struggle, Lena disentangled herself from Sam and started staggering towards the kitchen. She could do this, she did this every day. It was just putting one foot in front of the other, one at a time, left, right, left, left, ri- even as Lena started to tip over familiar feeling vines wrapped around her, holding her steady and pulling her up and around to face the puzzled looking face of her affini.
"Err. Hi Mistress."
"Lena. What are you doing? I put you on the couch for a reason. You're supposed to be relaxing."
Lena felt her eyes burning as the tears started to form. She had been bad. She had been bad and Ana was going to send her away and oh god she couldn't cry there were guests here that was rude and oh she was spiraling wasn't she ah dirt she hadn't done this in ages.
Then everything was washed away as Ana's eyes filled her vision. "Look at me Lena. Look into my eyes." Ana's eyes filled everything. A sea of green, pulsing and changing and flowing until she was surrounded, drowning in green. "Tell me your troubles, my love. Tell me what keeps you from the joy you so greatly deserve."
Lena was safe. This was Ana. This was the plant who had spoken to her across space itself when she was lost. This was the plant who had cared and taken her into her home when she was broken. This was her owner. And so it spilled out. Her traumas and her worries, the need to be working always, the imperative to never show weakness or imperfection in front of others. And Ana took them, these shivering shards that had been placed there by the ones that made her, and she gently wrapped them up in the green, and she set them aside. Not gone, not obliterated forever. But tucked away, safe until they could be given the proper care, made safe under the tender care of her Mistress.
Lena blinked, green afterimages floating in her eyes. She felt...peaceful. Safe. Calm. She nuzzled into her Mistress, purring low and deep before wiggling out of her arms. Anxieties wrapped up tight in bonds of green and fading into the depths of her mind, she went to greet Papavera and Lily, giving Lily a nice long hug before dragging her over to the couch to cuddle with Sam.
The three florets sat on the couch, Lena leaning back against Sam as they stuck their tongue out in concentration, once again braiding her hair into an intricate pattern woven with flowers purloined from their various owners, each carefully checked to ensure they were drug free first. Lily sat facing them, leaning back on a stack of pillows as she puffed from an apocynai vape. "Yah, Miss and I hooked up pretty quickly. When the affini saw the conditions we were living in on Luna, they were like, mega pissed. You ever see an angry affini? Hot, but also terrifying. They full on landed ships so they could evacuate all of us right away, these huge ships, just plopping down onto the surface next to our district, and the affini just going apartment to apartment, helping people grab their things and get out. I uhhhh, kind of got really drunk and was refusing to go anywhere. When Miss found me I was half naked, hanging from a streetlamp, loudly singing "Terra Invictus", but the unofficial really bawdy version ya know?"
Lily paused, settling back with a smile. "She didn't yell at me, or try and get me to come down. She just laughed her wonderful laugh, climbed the pole with me, and sang along. She didn't know the words of course, but I was making half of them up by that point anyway. Then she drugged me and carried me down and took me away, but well, I had that coming. How about you, Sam? I know all about Lena and her Mistress's clueless lesbian pining for each other, but what's your story?"
Sam blinked, looking up from their work as they realized they were being addressed. "Oh, me? Well I was ummm. I was aboard a military ship, doing frontline STC y'know? And the affini came and scooped us all up. They didn't really trust us to be alone, even if we weren't frontline or anything, so we all got wardships. Mxtress took me in, and I guess I wasn't doing so well with what happened to Bill and all that, so she had to do a bunch of work to make sure I was okay, and before I knew it, I was xers. Haven't regretted it yet. Xe makes sure of that." Sam giggled, with a dreamy, half distant look in their eyes.
Just then, the door burst open as Teridopsi hurried in. "Sorry I'm late, there was a floret who was having a bad reaction to some xenodrugs and I lost track of the time!"
They stopped in their tracks, leaves settling down as they looked at the three florets on the couch that any of them would have recognized as the same look a human would make if they happened upon a group of kittens cuddling together.
"Oh, that's just...that's just so precious." Teri sighed and slumped, as the florets blinked at them.
Ana sidled up and slung an arm around Teri, grinning at their friend. "Aren't they just? And just think, if you ever finally find a floret of your own, they can join in, and there can be four adorable little sophonts playing together instead of three!"
Teri shot Ana a look and elbowed her off of them. "Says you. You just got your first floret, and you're third bloom! I'll find one when I'm good and ready, thank you very much."
With a ruffle of Teri's vines, Ana swept off towards the kitchen. "Alright folks, food time! There should be enough for everyone." Lena started to clamber off the couch, only to freeze as Ana shot her a look. "Lena. Stay." Lena blushed and sat back down on the couch, folding her hands together and looking down. "Good girl."
Ana began pulling dish after dish out of the stasis box, naming them each with a gleeful flourish as she set them down on the long kitchen counter. There were several varieties of soup, including Pasta e Fagioli, minestrone, and minestra maritata, a gigantic focaccia, Carciofi alla giudia, which made Lena blink as she realized that her mother had used to make them when she was young, and of course, ravioli all'arrabbiata.
Lena's face burned bright red as she quickly realized that, much like the other florets, she wasn't going to get much chance to feed herself, as Ana swiftly bound her arms behind her and tied her to the chair with some vines, grinning happily as she started to casually feed her darling floret. The plethora of soups quickly made sense, as the affini took bowls containing mostly broth and slurped it up with their vines, before casually popping the few pieces of solid food leftover from the soup into their mouths and chewing casually, chattering away the whole time.
"Poaceanum," Aster asked, "how'd you learn to cook all of this? And what is it?"
"Do you like it? It's the local cuisine of this cute little area down on Terra, Italy I think it was called? Papavera and I took a course on their cuisine taught by a cotyledon and his owner. He was very passionate about it, it was very cute." Ana said, as she calmly fed Lena a piece of focaccia piled high with pieces of the fried artichoke dish.
"Terrans seem to go wild for the stuff, or at least my little Lena here does."
Lena swallowed as fast as she could to try and get a word in before Ana kept talking. "Italian cuisine is tasty. My family used to be from there apparently. Never seen quite this much before. Or this much variety. Or this flavourful for that matter."
"Well I do have the advantage of several hundred years of experience, petal." Ana said modestly, before tapping the side of her mouth to get her to open up for another bite. "And no speaking at the table love. Relax and enjoy the meal."
Blushing and basking in the domineering presence Ana was projecting, Lena sat and let the affini talk, letting herself simply enjoy the flavours that permeated the entire meal.
Soon enough, however, the sit down meal had dissolved into a much less formal affair, with affini lounging around the place, popping little morsels of food into their florets mouth's as they snuggled them close.
Lena found herself held securely in Ana's arms, nibbling on a small plate of ravioli as Ana stood talking quietly to Teridopsi. "I know it's not your specialty, but you were here at the beginning of our little adventure, so it would mean a lot if you were the one who performed the implantation on Lena. Just a standard implantation for the most part really, although I have some... modifications I want to make to the implant itself. I want it to be special, you know?"
Teri stroked Lena's hair with a vine gently as they responded. "I'd be honoured to, Ana. I might ask a more experienced vet to assist, but a haustoric implant really isn't that complicated a surgery now. You can come by to get the sample taken tomorrow, and then we should be able to have the surgery in a couple of days."
Lena looked up at the two quiet affini, who had saved her what seemed like a lifetime ago. She thought about who she once was, lonely and stubborn, barely getting by. She though about Ana, how she had taken her in and cared for her, guiding her back to health, and then willingly let her go. How considerate and kind she was, how hot she made her feel. How she now had friends, a family that cared for her and loved her. Ana hadn't made her lose herself, she had made her become her best self. Just how much better would she be once she was joined with her permanently, a guiding vine leading her forwards. "Just a few more days right? I....I want this. I want to have Ana inside me, forever. To know that we'll never be apart again."
"Soon my dear. Soon you'll be nice and safe and implanted, forever mine." Ana smiled down at her, stroking her hair as Lena snuggled close and slowly drifted off to sleep, surrounded by those who had claimed her as their own, her found family.
Chapter 10
Notes:
This is the first chapter that I'm solely posting on AO3 as opposed to posting on both sites! As always, thank you to my beta readers and lore checkers who find the hilarious amounts of errors that I don't catch. We're almost done Lena and Ana's journey, and I hope you all have enjoyed going on it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Chapter Text
click clack click clack click clack
Ana was pacing back and forth, sharp heels that Lena half suspected she had formed specifically to make her pacing more obvious, since it wasn't like the affini couldn't glide silently enough to sneak up on unsuspecting florets and ambush them with snuggles and tickles. She'd walk from the kitchen, across the couch, all the way to the hab door where she would turn around sharply and walk back, just to do it all over again. Her flowers and leaves kept flaring out and then going slick against the affini's body, needles rattling nervously inside.
Back before the affini had come, one of Lena's favourite ways to relax was to watch a livestream of an animal preserve, funded by some rich person and with its location closely guarded. One of the lions, when waiting for its next meal, would pace in the same way.
Some deep primal part of Lena kept trying to remind her that she should be afraid; that she was in the room with a much larger predator, and if she wasn't careful, she would be eaten. It wanted her to go hide up in a tree. Most of Lena, however, simply marvelled at how glorious and gorgeous her Mistress, her owner, was. Both parts silently exclaimed, one in fear, the other in disappointment, when a third part of her, which was beginning to grow slightly worried for her affini, spoke up.
"Mistress....are you ok?"
"Allumnia should have gotten back to me by now. What's taking them so long? What if something went wrong with the implant? Dirt and rot, Helianthi is a sod-taken liar, that sampling process is not smooth or painless or fun, and I really don't want to have to go through it again, not to mention that it would delay getting you implanted, and I want you implanted as soon as-"
Ana's rant was interrupted as Lena padded over to wrap her arms around the plant, only getting halfway around her waist, but nonetheless doing the best she could to comfort her Mistress. "Hey. It's going to be okay. I'm sure it's fine. Teri probably hasn't responded to your latest message because they told you five messages ago that they were busy and were shutting off their tablet. Why don't you come sit down and tell me more about the implant, eh? I still don't really know what it is."
Ana side-eyed Lena as she let the floret drag her towards the couch. "You agreed to a major surgery without knowing what it was? If I hadn't already domesticated you, I'd be tempted to do it just for that."
Lena snorted. "I agreed to let you take ownership of me after probably the most extensive review of the domestication contract and affini domestication literature that any terran has done. If we had waited until I had read up on Affini medical practices and understood it to my satisfaction, I would probably have died of old age before we got around to it."
Sitting down on the couch Lena bounced and looked up with wide eyes at Ana. "So tell me, oh mighty Mistress, who is so wise in the ways of the 'verse compared to me, your humble floret."
Ana grinned and stifled a quick laugh before letting a slow smile steal across her face. She cocked her head and looked down at her floret. "Your question shall be answered, my dear, and your impertinence... corrected."
Lena let out a small gulp and giggled as she felt Ana's vines coiling around her in a way she had become intimately familiar with, carefully arranging themselves to have control over every limb and joint. A familiar warmth began flowing through her body, and her control dropped away, seamlessly transferring from Lena's mind to Ana's vines.
With a twitch of the affini's finger, Lena found herself upright, feet just barely brushing the ground, as Ana mock walked her over to their grotto bedroom, stopping in front of the affini sized mirror affixed to one of the hab walls.
Lena stared at herself. She vaguely remembered the first time she had seen herself in that mirror, what felt like a lifetime ago, when Ana had first brought her to the hab. She hadn't been able to walk then either, but that had been due to massive malnutrition brought on by a combination of very messed up Terran drugs and also general Terran living conditions, which combined with how badly she had taken care of herself had left her in... subpar condition. She barely looked like the same person. Her hair, that had been thin and flat and falling out, was floofy and shiny and full. Her eyes were glazed and slightly out of focus, calm and relaxed, not sharp and panicked and twitchy. She was soft, softened, with a little paunch from eating the delicious food that her Mistress gleefully provided her. She looked like a pampered pillowy pet. She was a pampered pillowy pet. Behind her loomed her Mistress, her owner, grinning at her with a combination of love, mischievous glee, and pleasure that made Lena's stomach do little flips of joy. She could have stayed in that moment forever.
Ana pulled another mirror from a closet, cleverly hidden in a crack in the grotto wall, and placed it behind Lena. Her vines lengthened, disappearing from Lena's sight until they might as well have gone all the way to the ceiling. Another of Ana's vines slithered out, twining around her leg for a moment before retracting and coming up to a point on the back of her neck.
"The haustoric implant is one of our greatest technological accomplishments and at the same time, one of the most common procedures our veterinarians do. To simplify what it does to the point of absurdity, it connects a floret and an affini permanently, to give us the level of control over your body and mind needed to ensure that you live your very best life. You already have in you the fruits of some of our early research into the haustoric implant, the implants that replaced your kidneys and helped your liver grow are both rooted in the same technology."
"The implant is currently being grown, nurtured, and programmed. Once it reaches sufficient size that we can ensure it will function properly, we will make a small incision in the side of your neck, right here." The vine tapped the back of her neck. "The implant will be around 6 centimetres long at that point. It can continue to grow outside of a host body on its own, but the surgery required to implant it at that point becomes rather more involved, and I will not put you through that if I have any choice in the matter." Ana's face loomed beside Lena suddenly, grinning. "And I do."
Ana's head vanished from Lena's view again, as the vine began to slowly trace its way down her spine, splitting into a multitude of smaller vines that branched across her back as it did. "It will grow down your spine over the course of a week or so, and integrate itself throughout your body, including creating new organs to synthesize many of the chemicals you may need. It will monitor every bodily system you have, work to ensure that everything works exactly, and notify me the minute anything, and I mean anything goes wrong or deviates from what I desire. It will also grow up your spine, integrate with your brainstem, and into your brain."
Ana paused. "You understand now when I say that this is one of our greatest technical accomplishments. We would never do anything that would harm a floret; it would go against our very natures. The measures that were taken to ensure that this procedure is safe were extreme, even for us."
The vines continued to grow, creeping over Lena's head, a delicate filigree of green covering her head like a lace cap. "It was necessary though. By integrating with your brain, we can ensure that you are never in any distress, that you properly bond with your owner. As a wonderful side effect, it gives us a delectable level of control over what you think. Those panic attacks you suffer from will forever be a thing of the past. A part of me will be with you, inside you, always."
Lena dangled in the air, staring at the image in the mirror. Gone was the terran, barely scraping by. In front of her was a gloriously safe and comfortable floret, held secure in thick sturdy vines, with thin delicate vines tracing a filigree in green, showing how the implant would wrap around every part of her, an eternal embrace from her owner, her Mistress, her Ana.
"Also, there's like, 20 different short pamphlets for florets on what to expect at each step of the process for you to read through".
The world spun around Lena, nothing existed but the vines that held her up and her owner's face, far above. With extreme effort, she tried to reach up, only to have a vine gently push her arm back down. "Shhhh little one, rest yourself. You're relatively lightly drugged right now because you wanted to remember the walk to the clinic, but I will put you down if I think you might hurt yourself."
Lena furrowed her brow and thought long and hard for a moment. "I...I don't think that's the right saying Miss."
Ana stroked her little pet's head with one hand and gently shushed her. "It doesn't matter cutie. All that matters is that you behave yourself."
In the several minutes it took Lena to stick out her tongue in response, they arrived at the clinic.
"Ah! It's the Poaceanums, here for their appointment!" Teridopsi's voice rumbled jovially ahead, their vines reaching out and intertwining with some of Ana's, squeezing tight for a moment in greeting, before leading Ana out of the public area and into a smaller prep room.
"Alright, so first we'll get your darling petal undressed and sterilized, and then we'll give her the first surgery-strength Class-E." Looking down to address Lena, they continued. "You won't really remember anything after that, cutie, but don't worry, we'll get the implant nice and snug inside of you, and by the time you start forming memories again, you'll be safely recovering back in your owner's hab."
With a casual manner that spoke to years of practice, Teri lifted off the companion dress, then stripped off Lena's bra and panties, ignoring her strangled squawk of protest. With a sigh, Ana carefully unclipped the collar from around Lena's neck and tucked it away. "Don't worry my love, you'll have this back on before you're awake again."
Lena shivered. Having her clothes taken off had been humiliating, a reminder of her place, that she truly was a pet; but having her collar taken off made her feel...untethered, drifting. Her neck was cold and bare, the constant pressure that reminded her of just how much Ana cared for her, that she was owned, was gone. It made her feel more naked and vulnerable than any removal of clothing could.
Moving briskly, Teri plucked Lena from Ana's arms and held her up, arms and legs spread wide, before proceeding to rub her all over with a soap that, contrary to most of Lena's experience with affini cleaning processes, stung and tingled all over as it cleaned her more thoroughly than she'd ever been cleaned before, leaving her gasping and half lucid by the end.
"Alright, ready petal? Time to go under!" And after a brief sting in her arm, Lena felt the world go away.
Lena opened her eyes and stared up blurrily. She was....in Ana's arms. Okay that was good. She couldn't feel her body at all. That was....probably ok. She was with her Mistress, so if she couldn't feel her body, she probably wasn't supposed to feel her body. They were moving? Oh! They were going back to the hab! With a sigh of relief, Lena relaxed and closed her eyes, slipping back into the darkness.
When she opened them again, what seemed like seconds later, she was tucked up on the couch, with a big blanket over top of her, the familiar sounds of her Mistress clattering around in the kitchen, and a steadily growing throbbing from the back of her neck.
She tried to call out, but all that came out was a raspy croak. Clearing her throat, she tried again and managed to get out a faint whisper. "Miss, could I have so-", Before she could even finish, Ana was there, looking down at her worryingly. "You need water my dear. And those painkillers that Teri gave you are probably starting to wear off. No food for you yet, sorry love, but you're well-trained enough that I'll be able to feed you soon enough. Is that right?"
Blushing, Lena tried to nod, then stopped at the sudden shooting pain that caused. "Yep, that about covers it." she croaked. With a grin, Ana carefully dribbled some water down her throat. "I'm going to give you something pretty strong. It may give you some weird dreams, but I'm going to keep you on this for most of your healing process, okay petal?"
And with a single prick from a needle, Lena found herself falling, falling, falling, down into the black.
Lena landed. Or well, she stopped falling. There was nothing around her. Pitch black in every direction. But looking down, she could see herself clearly, and her feet were on something solid, so there had to be something here. The something was just... nothing. She took a hesitant step, and the sound of her foot fell flat, nothing around for it to echo off of. She sighed, thrust her hands into her pockets, and started walking. Might as well make the most of this weird drug trip or whatever it was. Telling time in a featureless void was hard, but after what felt like several hours, she sat down in frustration, propping her head up on a fist as she stared into the darkness.
"So, what are we looking at?" Came a voice from behind her.
Lena snapped her head around and fell over in shock. Standing directly behind her, grinning down, was....well....her. It was Lena, but a Lena sketched out in flowers. And not just any flowers, but the flowers that had defined that first shy initial courtship between her and Ana. Lavender and hollyhock and sweetpea and moss and so many more, and two brilliant yellow eyes of daffodil.
"The fuck are you supposed to be? An affini version of me?"
The surprisingly dapperly-dressed being chuckled. "Not quite. I'm a hallucination made up by your mind in order to help you process the massive changes it's undergoing. You can think of me as... the Guide. Now c'mon, get up, we got a metaphorical journey to make." It nudged her with its shoe. "There's a lot of things to process and who knows how long it'll take. Well. Actually, it'll take exactly as long as needed, dreamtime is weird, but that's still no reason to dawdle."
With a groan, Lena stood up. And up and up and up and up.
Lena's eyes fluttered open, taking a moment to understand what was happening. She was being held sideways in Ana's vines, as Ana fiddled with something on the workbench. "What time is it?" she muttered. She was drowsy and confused, and her back ached in the weirdest way.
"'What day is it' would be the more accurate question petal." Ana said calmly, face bent over the radio she was working on, scraping away with some tool. "I've been keeping you under for several days now. Your body makes adorable sounds when you're this high, did you know that?"
Lena blinked in shock. "That... that was several days? I... I feel like I should be more upset about this. Why aren't I more upset?"
"That would be the Class-E's you're on, my dear. Keeps you nice and calm until the implant can start calming you itself." Ana tutted disapprovingly. "I know that Arigenia's floret loves making their little gadgets, but doing a little more testing may prevent them from blowing up quite so often! This poor radio."
Lena perked up, struggling in the vines to try and get a better view of the circuit board. "What's wrong with it?"
"A lot less than I was worried would be, to be quite honest. A lot of soot buildup from the explosion, a few melted components, but it's in remarkably good shape. I should be able to finish fixing it in a few hours. Then I'll let Arigenia know and they can come by to pick it up." Ana hummed as she carefully scraped at the built up soot, but from Lena's place deep inside Ana's vines, she could feel another emotion thrumming deep inside her, a little hiccup in her internal rhythm that kept her from focusing purely on the delicate task before her.
Lena sighed. "Miss, are you doing all of this because you're worried about how I'm healing and trying to find things to distract you?"
"No not at all petal I don't know why you'd think that, I'm simply doing a favour for a friend. Why, are you feeling ok? Any discomfort? Anything wrong? The rot-taken tablet can't display your information yet, the implant is still integrating."
Lena nuzzled against her owner's vines. "I'm fiiiine. My back feels weird, and I was having a weirdly intense dream, but I'm fine. Give me your tablet for a moment?"
Ana, distracted by replacing a capacitor, absentmindedly handed the tablet over to her floret. Lena quickly tapped out a message, and then handed it back with a giggle. "Wha-what did you do pet?" Ana looked through the tablet, quickly noticing the message that had been sent to Aster. Mizz woried, com keep compan.
With a snort, Ana squeezed Lena with her vines and chuckled. "Your spelling is atrocious when you're on drugs dear. But thank you. If you really are okay, I think it's about time to put you back under again for a while."
And before Lena could say anything else, with a prick, the world fell away once again.
The Guide was still standing there, patiently waiting, hands thrust into its pants pockets. "Ah good. You're back. Ana means well, but how am I ever supposed to lead you through this if you keep waking up? Real pain."
Lena narrowed her eyes and bristled. "That's not a very nice way to talk about my Mistress."
"Technically our Mistress, I'm just a part of you. But, well, that little display tells me exactly where to go next. Don't worry Lena, this won't hurt me at all."
And then it picked Lena up, growing vastly larger while Lena shrunk down until she was behind held, tiny and squirming, by two clawed fingers, and opened its mouth, revealing sharp teeth and a tunnel of a throat lined with downward facing thorns and tightly woven vines, and Lena was falling again....
Only to land in a lush, green forest. "Well, getting eaten by my metaphysical representation wasn't on my list of things to do today, but I guess this might as well happen." Lena groaned as she picked herself up and dusted herself off.
"I'm not actually a metaphysical representation of yourself per se, but that really isn't relevant right now." The Guide stepped out from behind a tree and gestured for Lena to follow it into the woods.
"How the hell are you here? Aren't I inside of you?" Lena grumbled as she stomped her way after the errant being.
"This is all a dream darling, and do try and keep it down. We don't want to disturb her." The plant motioned Lena forward, and as she crept forward, she saw, in a clearing in the trees....herself. Or well, a version of herself. She had cat ears and a tail, and was carefully creeping up on a vine. Lena watched as she crouched and wiggled her butt before pouncing at her prey, only to have it twitch out of the way at the last moment. The pet-like Lena jumped up at it, missing and falling to the ground, seeming to only then notice the two watching her.
Shaking herself off, she padded over on all fours to them, rubbing up against Lena and twining between her legs. Lena found herself absentmindedly giving her scritches, eliciting absolutely adorable purring sounds. "So this is... what's going to become of me? What Mistress is going to make of me?"
The dapperly-dressed plant regarded Lena calmly. "This is the Creature. One possible thing your mind thinks your owner may do to you. And at least part of you finds it appealing."
Lena giggled and scritched the Creature's ears. "You're not wrong, it's fun and I'd look absolutely adorable. But I don't think I'd want to be stuck like this forever."
"Indeed," said the Guide, gesturing for Lena to follow her, with the Creature trotting happily along at Lena's heels, occasionally darting out to bat at interesting-looking leaves and flowers.
"There's other ways to be a floret, of course," the Guide explained as the forest gave way to a hallway, and the Guide opened the door and ushered Lena through, stepping into a familiar looking control room.
Lena waited for the looming dread and panic that she had come to expect anytime she entered a control room, and stumbled as she instead felt....nothing. She turned and looked at the Guide, a bewildered expression on her face, but another voice answered instead.
"I represent your hope that your PTSD around control centers can be dealt with and gotten under control with help from Mistress. That's why you aren't having a panic attack." Lena turned and stared, as yet another version of her rose out of a seat and slung a headset around her neck. Her gaze was calm and steady, with nothing but the comfortable floral patterns on her dress and leggings and the collar around her neck to indicate her status as a floret. "You can call me the Working Floret."
The Guide interjected, "Also you physically can't have a panic attack, your brain is literally flooded with sedatives right now."
Dismissing the Guide, Lena narrowed her eyes at the calm terran standing before her. "Why would I want to work all the time if I have Mistress? Like, doing it occasionally would be nice, but do we really think that this is what Mistress will do with me?"
The Guide gave a gallic shrug. "Not a likely possibility no. But just like being a mindless pet all the time, she represents an archetype."
"If you became just the Creature over there," the Working Floret gestured at the Creature, who was currently batting at a dangling wire. "Or purely me, you likely wouldn't be happy. But you need to see each of us regardless."
The Guide rolled its eyes dismissively and sighed, leaning down to pet the Creature.
Lena touched a console reverently. She had forgotten how nice it could feel to be in one of these rooms; the streams of information going across each screen, the satisfying feeling of a puzzle clicking into place when you figured out safe routes for everyone. "Why do I need to see each of you? What's the point of all of this?"
The Guide smirked. "I'd explain it, but well... you're waking up again."
Lena cursed as the room and the beings inside it began to get hazy and faded away.
Stirring, Lena felt a familiar tugging on her hair. Without opening her eyes, she queried the open air, "is Sam braiding my hair right now?"
A giggle from somewhere behind her confirmed the presence of her fellow floret, and the vines holding her tightly gave her a little squeeze as she blinked open her eyes, staring up at her Mistress.
"Yes dear, Aster obeyed your command and came over, and has been visiting regularly since then. Making sure I take care of myself. Clever girl, Lena, taking care of your owner like that". Ana ruffled her hair and gave her a little kiss on the forehead. "How do you feel dear?" Ana looked down, a hint of worry strumming through her vines.
"Bluuuuurgh." Lena groaned and refused to open her eyes. "My head hurts."
"Ohhh my poor little petal. It shouldn't be too much longer now." Ana brushed Lena's hair back from her face with a cool vine. Lena could feel her presence now, like the physical manifestation of safety and comfort was leaning over her.
"Aster, is my Mistress taking care of herself?"
Aster cackled and Lena heard a click as Aster took a picture. "The two of you are adorable. And yes Lena pet, I'm making sure she's taking care of herself, although she still has refused to leave your side for more than a minute."
"Alright darling, if your head hurts that much then I'm going to give you some more drugs ok? Let's just get this ouchy part behind you, why don't we?" Lena felt a needle push against her skin, ready to inject its load of carefully curated xenodrugs.
"Wait!" Lena cried as the needle stilled. "Mistress... I love you."
"I love you too darling," said Ana, and the needle plunged in, and Lena plunged with it, back down into her mind.
Lena managed to land on her feet this time, soft grass cushioning her landing. The Guide and the Working Floret were standing there quietly talking, occasionally throwing a ball for the Creature, who was happily running after it and bringing it back for them to throw again, only occasionally getting distracted by a blowing leaf or a pretty flower.
As Lena stood up, the Creature raced over to her and dropped the ball at her feet, looking up expectantly. With a sigh, Lena threw the ball. "Hello again. How many more times am I going to have to go through this?"
The Guide somehow managed to make its flowers and leaves look hurt and indignant. "Look, it's not my fault you keep waking up, your Mistress is all concerned for your health and safety and whatnot. Anyways, you don't have too many more of you to meet, so if you're so eager to be done with my wonderful company, we should get a move on."
The four of them walked through the forest, as it slowly transitioned into a park. And there, relaxing on a blanket in the shade of a tree, was yet another Lena.
Dressed in a flowy companion dress and with a big straw sunhat on, she waved at the group and beckoned them over. "Y'all made it! Come on over, I got brownies and shit!"
Lena gave the Guide a questioning look.
It sighed. "Behold, the Companion. Let's go sit down, she can explain herself." As the Guide strolled forward, Lena heard it mutter under its breath, "Eventually."
The Creature bounded ahead of the rest of them, and after receiving its fair due of pets and scritches, curled up in the Companion's lap, chittering contentedly.
Lena blinked, and found herself sitting on the blanket, a brownie on a plate in front of her. "So... you're... the Companion?"
"Mhm. You notice how Mistress doesn't have a lot of other affini friends? She's been kind of lonely since what happened with Kirulek. Like, there isn't anything inherently bad with being alone, but she needs someone with her to remind her how good she is, ya know?" The Companion smiled and blinked at Lena.
"Wouldn't that apply to all of you though? No matter what, I'll be with Mistress and be keeping her company." Lena tilted her head and stared at the chilled out figure in the shade.
"Mmmmm, yah, technically. But like, take the Creature, she wouldn't really be all that good a conversationalist, ya know? And the Working Floret, well, Mistress may want a bit more attention then she could get from someone working full time. I'm what would happen if Mistress kept us waaaay too high to ever really work, but didn't make us into a pet. We wouldn't have to do anything. We could just be. Just exist ya know. Probably have lots of long discussions about whatever Mistress wants to talk about, as long as she's willing to let me take a while to get to the point." The Companion flashed Lena a grin as she paused her ramble.
"So you're basically very high all the time and your entire point of existence is to just hang out being our Owner's lap pet?" Lena inquired desperately, trying to stop the rambling flow of words in its tracks.
The Companion paused for a long time, staring at the air, eyes narrowed in thought. "Yep! Pretty much!" She gave Lena a bright grin, and then gestured at the brownie. "You gonna eat that? They're delicious."
"Is this...a regular brownie?" Lena asked questioningly, looking at the Guide for help.
"Yes it is, Lena. You can't get high in your own mind when you're already high enough to be having vivid hallucinogen dreams. It's just a tasty brownie." the Guide sighed.
The brownie was very good.
After a rest in the shade, the Guide ushered them all up and onwards, leading them on a meandering path through the park until they reached what appeared to be a door, hanging in midair. Lena peeked on the other side of the door. There was nothing, just the backside of a door.
"Are you sure that was a regular brownie?" Lena looked at the impossible door in bewilderment.
The Companion giggled. "Dream, remember?"
Pushing open the door, a series of stairs leading down into the ground were revealed. With the Creature bounding ahead of them, they all trekked down. As they headed down the stairs, Lena started to hear a muffled moaning sound, echoing eerily up the stairs. None of the others seemed the least bit alarmed, so Lena just gulped, gripped the rail, and continued down.
Eventually they finally reached the bottom, and opened another door to reveal....
"Oh wow, she's uh. She's really tied up eh?" Lena blushed at the sight before her.
The Guide snickered as it ushered Lena into the room. "Yes, meet the Lover. The part of you that just wants to be tied up and drugged and fucked and left a drooling desperate mess of a plantfucker."
The Lover, suspended from the ceiling from a network of vines, with vines twisting and teasing her nipples, her clit, and thrusting into both her mouth and pussy, moaned in agreement.
"Fuck that's hot." Lena muttered, eliciting nods and quiet agreement from everyone else, including the Creature.
Shaking her head to clear it, Lena licked her lips and turned to the Guide. "So who's next? I've seen me turned into a mindless creature, complete with biomods. I've met a version of myself with the fears and traumas resolved who could once again go and do what she loved. Then there was what I would be like if I was constantly high and blissed out, and now we got me tied up and fucked, which, hot. So who's next?"
The Guide signed and shoved its hands into its pockets. "This is all of them, now. I left the Lover for last because she's kind of tied up. Can't really travel with us. There was another option, once, but the Independent ceased to be an option a long time ago." The Guide looked at Lena with its daffodil eyes. "The time when I was an option, the chance to live independently and happily in the Compact, being if not an equal, at least something close to that with Ana, is long gone. These are your choices Lena. And that's why you're here. It's not entirely your choice of course, your Mistress will have a say, but you do need to decide which of us will come to the front, to dominate who you are and who you conceive of yourself as."
Lena blinked and narrowed her eyes. "Do I? Do I really have to choose? Why do I have to choose one of you?"
The Guide blinked, confused. "That's... that's why you're here. That's the whole point. That's the point of this entire metaphorical journey. You have to decide who you will be. And I warn you, time doesn't work the same way here as it does outside of reality. We can stay here for years if that's what it takes for you to decide!"
The Guide glared at Lena, its hands clenched into fists.
Lena sighed and looked around. She looked at the Lover, moaning happily still, the perfect example of the sublime reaches of pleasure that her Mistress would take her too. She looked at the Companion, blissed out and happy, no more worries, someone to make sure her Mistress was never lonely again. She looked at the Working Floret, calm and collected, who could go with her Mistress to work and actually be useful and help. She looked at the Creature, reduced down purely to the pet she was, and smiled thoughtfully, for she knew she would make a very loyal hound for her Mistress no matter what.
"How could I choose just one of you? Why would I? You're all a part of me. You're all part of who I am, and who I will become. I am a floret. I am a pet. Mistress will make everything better, make me the best me I possibly can be, and I will serve her faithfully, always." Lena leaned down and took the Guide's hands and lifted them up.
"You were an important part of my life once, but well, we both know you won't be sticking around. I have a new Guide now. My Mistress, Anaphylaxis Poaceanum, Third Bloom, will guide me, always."
And with a sudden gust of wind, the Guide dispersed, turning into nothing more than leaves and flowers dancing on the wind, and Lena looked up, and felt herself rising one last time.
Lena stretched out, wiggling her legs at the very end of the stretch as she yawned. Looking around, she found herself under a soft blanket in the grotto, the moss cool on her back. Sitting up, she realized that she could feel her Owner, doing something in the kitchen. Standing, she idly reached up and scratched her head, pausing when her hands hit something on the way up.
Worrying at her lip, she made her way over to the mirror, and paused in shock. Sticking up out of her forehead, gently curving up, were two healthy green stems, each ending in a delicate little leaf. She could feel them. She could feel the air currents in the room brushing against them, and feel them twitch slightly as her brain raced. This had to be from the implant, but why? What was its purpose? None of the other florets she had seen had them. She could feel panic trying to rise in her, but a gentle calming flush from the implant kept it from overwhelming her.
Taking a breath, she called out. "Mistress? Why do I have antennae now?"
A somewhat guilty clattering came from the kitchen as Ana rushed over.
Lena had always thought that Ana was quite pretty, her yellow grass hair flowed and rippled in a fetching way, the small flowers that dotted her like freckles had a pleasant soft scent, and her moss was green and soft, perfect for lying on. But now, seeing her was overwhelming. Thought fled from her brain as she stared at the center of her universe, eyes dilating as she tried to drink in the view, the first time she saw her Mistress, her Owner, with a fully functioning and operating implant allowing her to simply stare and enjoy.
"Ooh, pretttyyyyy," Lena's voice trailed off as she stared at Ana, who looked at her dazed floret and burst into giggles. Lena thought that her giggle sounded like the music of the heavens itself. After she managed to get her giggles under control, Ana fiddled with a tablet for a moment before a slight haze dropped over Lena's mind, allowing her to think about something other than just how gorgeous and hot and perfect her Mistress was.
"I'm sorry darling, but you look absolutely adorable right now." Ana smiled down at her pet, ruffling her hair, causing sparks to explode in Lena's brain. "I knew that you were going to be waking up soon, so I wanted to make you some food. I guess you managed to wake up a bit faster than I expected. Good job, Lena. What a fast healer you are."
Lena glowed under the praise. "So...what's with the antennae?"
Ana coughed into her hand. "You remember me telling you about the Andranu radios? How they were paired sets that could receive signals from incredible distances?"
Lena nodded, nose wrinkling in puzzlement.
"I incorporated an affini version of one into your implant. And the pair is part of me." Ana looked down and fiddled with her tablet for a moment, and suddenly, inside Lena's mind, was an orchestra.
It was like the most beautiful song in the world, persistent and insistent, demanding at least some attention. It was infinitely complex, the more attention Lena paid to one part, the more there was to hear in that part. And Lena could understand it. It told her exactly how far her Mistress was from her (1.45 metres away), in what direction (heading 145 degrees), how she was feeling and so much more. If she listened hard enough, for long enough, she would know her Mistress more intimately then she knew herself.
Lena mustered up the most intelligent and well spoken response to this information she could. "Buh."
Ana chuckled at Lena, and she could feel the orchestra inside her swell at the joy and delight her Owner was feeling. With a flick of a vine, the signal quieted slightly, allowing Lena to focus on something aside from the overwhelming power of the Song.
And then Ana concentrated, and part of her torso quivered, and Lena heard another song. Her Song. Lena's Song. "This is what you sound like my petal. I'll be able to hear you, always, from the other side of the ship, from another world, you will be with me."
In comparison to Ana's song, Lena's was the simplest of melodies. Yet Lena leaned in, listening closely, brows furrowing as she listened to both her Owner's Song in her head and her own Song.
"It... it's in harmony? My melody and yours, they go together!" Lena exclaimed happily. Her music was a part of Ana's, intertwining and syncing with her Owner. "Were they always in sync, or is this because of the implant?" Lena leaned against her Mistress, one of her Owner's hands gently brushing against her hair and teasing her antennae, sparking little rushes of pleasure as it did.
"I'm not sure Lena. But it doesn't really matter either way. We are synchronized, linked together, and always will be. You are part of my song, my rhythm, and will stay part of me for ages to come. At least a part of you will be with me always, no matter what."
Affini and floret held each other close, as their shared melody filled the hab with the music of their souls.
Chapter 11
Notes:
This is it! The final chapter! We made it! (Ok there's an epilogue too.)
Chapter Text
krrrrrshhhh
Lena scrunched up her face in concentration, her antennae twitching stiffly above her. Ana had explained the theory of how they work to her. She should have been able to use her new appendages to pick up all sorts of frequencies. She was picking up the one that connected her to her Mistress, but that wasn't really technically a frequency, and really more of a hyper-stabilized quantum entangled connection. Ana, of course, had no issue picking up anything she wanted with her new biomods, and had been showing off by effortlessly switching between different frequencies, picking up everything from music to casual conversations to datastreams. So far, Lena hadn't been able to get anything but static, and her attempts were quickly devolving from carefully adjusting the antennae by minute amounts to just scrunching up her face real hard and hoping something happened. Mistress made it look so easy!
Ana chuckled and grinned at her floret as she raised her tablet to snap a photo. "You know, petal, you look absolutely adorable with your face like that. Quite cute." Then, she swiped a vine down the tablet, and just like that, Lena's head filled with music.
Lena gasped in delight, before squinting suspiciously at her Mistress. "You...you have complete control over it, don't you?"
Ana quirked a pseudo-eyebrow and looked down at Lena. "I have complete control of everything to do with you, pet. Your adorable little antennae," and with this she lightly flicked one, causing a reverberation of pleasure to roll over Lena, "are technically an extension of your haustoric implant. The tablet gives me direct control over the implant, and incidentally tells me exactly what your body is doing at all times."
Lena strained herself to try and get a look at the tablet, but Ana impishly held it up high, out of Lena's reach, giggling as she fiddled with the tablet some more. Lena's world went white as a wave of pleasure made her legs collapse and left her panting on the ground in front of her owner. "No fair," she pouted, then giggled as she hugged Ana's leg.
Her Mistress reached a vine down and caressed her cheek. "Who said I had any interest in being fair, pet? But either way,you should have an easier time figuring out how to use it as time goes on. There is a little... shortcut we could take though. Do you feel up for a trip to the radio control room, little one?"
Lena braced herself for the panic attack that should be coming, that she had felt lurking every time she thought back to the control rooms she had spent so much of her time in, the place that had demanded her time, her loyalty, and in the end had taken her control, her identity, and almost her life if it hadn't been for.... Ana.
She looked up at the affini. The one who had saved her. Who had nursed her back to health. Who could have taken her as a floret when she was lying in her arms, broken and half alive, and no one would have batted an eye, but instead waited, let her go, let her walk away and even when she came back, when Lena had thrown herself into the arms of this perfect affini, had still been so careful and cautious. How could she not trust her now?
Lena looked up, antenna dangling down, staring up into her affini's green eyes, looking down with a steady and serious gaze. "I trust you Mistress. Always. From now until the end."
Ana purred and stroked Lena's chin with her hand, her eyes sparking with delight to see her floret so submissive below her. "Good pet."
The Terran control room where Lena had spent much of her life had been a cramped and busy place. Up to 50 controllers, all talking at once, computers whirring, runners coming in and out with various directives, it was a place where overworked dedicated workers did their best to keep the spinning plates that had been the Terran orbital environment from crashing and burning.
The radio room of the Sequoioidium on the other hand, near the front of the vast ship, was wide and open and airy. Large windows framed the front of the room, looking out onto space with Earth below, small white clouds scudding across the blue atmosphere. Affini lounged about, some in chairs, some simply planting themselves into soil in front of their terminal. There were florets in abundance, both human and what Lena recognized from Ana's description as Andranu, ears quivering in delight when their affini reached down to pet them. There were even a few independent-looking Andranu, who seemed to delight in joining with their affini coworkers in teasing the florets.
There were some things that were familiar to Lena, like the terminals with large screens showing radar returns and lists of ships scrolling by. But where in an old Accord control room it would have been a hurried buzz of desperately trying to keep a crowded orbital space in order, here there was laughter, and jokes, and breaks to pet wiggling florets or to go chat with another controller. After everything Lena had seen since the affini arrived, it shouldn't have surprised her, but somehow, deep inside, she had still believed that there could be a part of the Compact that was dark and grim and hard.
Ana tugged her along, breaking Lena out of her dazed admiration, and strode over to a terminal surrounded by a bed of moss, clearly modelled after the one that they slept on in Ana's hab. Ana lifted Lena up into her lap and began absent-mindedly giving her head scritches with one hand while booting up the terminal with another with the ease of long practice.
Looking around, Lena snuggled close to her owner, burrowing a bit into the vines. The gentle beat and thrum of her vines filled her, and she let it wash over her. Peeking out from between the vines, she watched as two affini chatted, one of them casually playing with their mewling floret as they did, and came to a sudden realization. That was her. She was a pet. Nothing more than just a cute little thing there to keep her Owner happy and satisfied while they went around life. She should love it, and most of her did, exalted in the freedom that she finally had. But a small part of her shifted, restless. Something was wrong. Something was bothering her. A pulse from the back of her head told her that she should inform Mistress, Mistress would know what to do. Lena didn't disagree, but she needed to know what was wrong before she could tell her. She was with her Mistress. She was safe in her arms. She was...not being useful. Another pulse reminded her that she didn't need to be useful, that her only job was to be a good pet for her Mistress. She wanted to do more. She wanted to be able to help here.
Poking her head up from the vines that had entangled her, she looked up, to see Ana looking down at her, a half-smile quirking her face. "You have something to say to me darling?"
"How did you-" Lena shook her head and smiled up at her Mistress. "Of course you know. You know exactly what I'm doing. Always. Probably saw it on the tablet, didn't you?"
Ana snorted in amusement. "You were doing this adorable thing you do where your brow furrows and this cute little divot appears on your forehead that you only do when you're thinking really hard. Now, what is the matter, my adorable little sprout?"
"I... I just feel like I'm not doing enough. I know I don't have to work, I can just stay here and cuddle you and hang out while you work the radio and all that, but it feels wrong. I want to be more, to do more. I want to be the best floret for you that I can be." Lena bit her lip and looked up at her Mistress, twisting back and forth.
"First off Lena pet, cuddling me while I work is helping. You soothe me, make me more whole. When I'm working and you're at home, I spend half my time worrying about you. Knowing that you're safe in my arms and that no harm will befall you is the most important thing in the universe. But, all that being said, I know what you're trying to say. And I may have a way for you to truly show off your potential." Ana grinned slyly, looking down at her adorable pet.
Lena sat up, antenna springing to life. "Really? I can help?"
"By the Green you're adorable. This will require you to trust me Lena. I know that you do, and I know that you will. But if at any point I decide this is too much for you, I will be pulling you out, and that's final." Ana held up a vine, holding at the end a single strange spiraling flower, before letting it bloom to show the bundle of needles inside.
"The scientists at the Institute for Terran Xenopharmacological Studies were quite miffed when they got their hands on the drug that you had been dosing yourself with before we arrived, your so-called 'Go-Fast Gas'. Called it one of the nastiest bits of feral pharmacology that they've encountered. Took it as a bit of an affront to be quite honest. So they took it apart, and they've synthesized a much less crude and unstable version. You'll still drop into that adorable drone state that you were in before, but your level of control, or rather, my level of control, will be much higher. No getting stuck in it for weeks on end or burning through your bodies reserves with this. Just a deep focused state that will let you concentrate deeply on what you're doing, and expand your focus to cover a wider range that a human normally could. We couldn't give it to you until you were fully healed and implanted of course, but if you'd like to try it, it's here." The flower brushed Lena's cheek gently, the needles inside trembling, eager to be used.
Lena stared up at her affini, at the hungry green eyes, licked her lips, and with her heart pounding, gave a single nod.
The Floret looked up at its owner and nuzzled briefly against a vine then looked at the terminal in front of it. Adoring its Mistress was one of the top priorities, but it had its orders. Pricking the antenna on top of its head forward, the Floret interfaced with the terminal in front of it. Data streamed across it, fast and complex. Nothing that the Floret couldn't easily digest.
Off in the asteroid belt, several affini ships were chasing after indistinct blobs. Rebel ships, nothing but the primary radar return to give notice to their location.
The Floret spoke, and a nearby station began to ready itself to receive incoming ferals in approximately three point four five hours. The Floret felt a small twinge of irritation at the imprecision, but that was to be expected with ferals.
A small ship, carrying an affini and their floret, was making its way towards Summer Station around Mars. With some quick typing, the Floret sent them several route options, with optimizations for speed, sightseeing, or impressing the affini's floret.
Several AI satellites in orbit around Luna and Sol were behaving erratically. With a few pings, the Floret discovered that they were, somehow, high. Affini code was fizzling through them, leaving them giggling and sending binary jokes back and forth. With a sigh, the Floret routed traffic around the satellites. Even satellites are allowed to have fun and get high in the Affini Compact.
The Floret extended its gaze, taking in the whole of the system. Everywhere it looked there were affini ships, bustling about, doing the hard work of making sure each and every sophont was cared for and thriving. It rotated the view around, brow furrowing before its eyes widened in surprise. The entire system was moving in a pattern, a rhythm guided and shaped by the affini controllers. Everything was a part of it, even the terran rebel ships hiding and fleeing. The rhythm pulsed and changed and sang a song of joy and harmony. The pattern was everything. The rhythm moved all...
The caress of a vine caused a shower of pleasurable sparkles to rain around the Floret, breaking its attention from the terminal and turning it towards the most important being in its personal universe, its Owner. Mistress was speaking. Mistress was praising it. It was a good Floret. It was a good helper. It rejoiced, legs rubbing together and moaning, giving in to the wanton pleasures of obedience and praise.
Lena gasped and panted, catching her breath as she stared up at her Mistress. "Fucking void and stars Mistress. That was...incredible."
Ana grinned down, preening a little. "Of course it was darling. 'Incredible' is what the affini do. Now, I know you want to go again, but I don't want to go too long on your first attempt, as this is still technically an experimental drug. So you, petal, will just sit back and relax for the rest of the shift while I do some work. I'm very proud of you."
Lena settled back, basking in the warm fizzy afterglow of the affini drug and wiggled, "Sounds good to me Mistress. I've been curious to see how you do it for a long time now. I ummm, don't remember much details from when I was under."
"Of course my darling little petal." Ana settled Lena a little deeper in her lap and started speaking, affini flowing in an almost hypnotic rhythm of words while her hands flew over the keyboard.
Lena leaned back, supported by the vines and bark of her Mistress, and let the sounds flow over here. She was a floret in the heart of a flagship of the Affini Compact. No matter where she went, core world, protectorate, or the frontlines of domestication, she would be safe. Protected from all possible harm by the firm vine of the Affini.
She was Lena Poaceanum, First Floret, secure in the arms of her Owner. And nothing could ever change that.
Chapter 12: Epilogue
Notes:
Note, everything within <> brackets in this chapter is English. Everything else is Affini.
Also, CN, discussion of floret aging and death, starting after the first line break and ending after the second.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
2695 CE: 140 years, 10 months, 17 days since Lena Poeceanum was domesticated.
Anaphylaxis Poaceanum, Fourth Bloom, strode down the hallway, holding her floret in her arms. The poor dear didn't really have the energy to walk around all that much anymore, and preferred to spend most of her time bundled up in her Owner's arms, blinking owlishly at the universe from under her stark white hair, braided with flowers of all shade. Her pet's antennae shifted back and forth as Lena sampled different radio frequencies, keeping an ear on the radio club that she had set up on the ship. Currently there was an intense competition running to see who could create the most cryptographically complex method of flirting with other members of the club, and the chatter had already resulted in three new relationships and one formerly independent sophont now being very happily collared.
Lena sighed as she shifted slightly. The mixture of class A's and class E's that were constantly running through her these days kept her from feeling any pain, but her limbs no longer responded as fully and eagerly to her commands, her muscles quivered when trying to act, her entire body ached and yearned to rest. It was easy, when you were with someone as wonderful as her Owner, to lose yourself in day after day of joy and bliss and delight. But the hard conversations couldn't be put off forever, and her heartbeat was a ticking clock. She was running out of time. With a sigh, she tugged on a vine.
"Mmmm, yes dear? What is it?" Ana asked, the flowing affini dialect they both spoke tinged with a touch of concern. She knew that Lena wanted to discuss something, something important. They both had tried to put it off, enjoying the simple pleasure of each other's company, but you can only run for so long.
With another tug, Lena had Ana set her down, and looked up at her Mistress seriously. This far out from Terran Protectorate space, pretty much no one had even heard of English, let alone spoke it, which meant that it worked wonderfully as a private language for the two. "<We need to talk, Mistress. I've been putting it off, and I know you have too, but with the evacuation coming up, we're about to be very busy for some time. We need to talk now before we run out of time.>"
Lena sighed and ran a hand through her hair, dislodging a shower of petals as she did. "<I'm old, Mistress. I'm older than I ever expected to be back when I was still wild, and older then any of my ancestors ever were. You have shown me such amazing things. I've seen wonders, both natural and affini-made, that have left me awed and dazed for days on end. I have met so many xeno species, and seen each one blossom under the gentle vines of the affini. I have had every comfort I could ever ask for, and many that I didn't know to ask for, and experienced bliss and pleasure time and time again. I have been held in your arms, with you fresh from your rebloom, and recalled for you the precious memories you entrusted to me that had grown faded. And now, I'm ready for what's next. The end.>"
Ana's vines shifted wildly, her eyes a dark metallic green. "<I'm not ready to lose you just yet, my darling. We've had so little time together, and there is still so much to show you.>"
Lena's face twisted in a wry smile. "<I'm wild-born Mistress. The ravages of more than a quarter century of Accord living had its toll on my body. But even if I had always lived in the comfort of the Compact, I still would have limited time with you.>"
The floret looked up, face serious. "<You have given me so, so many wonderful years, and I have only one regret from all the time I've known you. My one regret is that I didn't throw myself into your arms as your floret right away, and instead spent all that time waffling about like a fool instead of just letting myself be yours.>"
Ana caressed Lena's face with a vine, tracing the wrinkles of that well worn face softly. "<I was the fool, letting you walk away after spending that time nursing you back to health. I don't know what I'm going to do without you, my love. A universe full of sophonts, and none of them could ever replace you.>"
Lena chuckled and nuzzled the vine, nipping at it lightly. "<Of course not, Mistress. But you will always carry an echo of me with you, no matter how many blooms you go through. Through you a part of me will go on forever. And you have learned and grown from your time with me, so the lucky sophont who gets to be your next pet will be all the better for it.>"
Ana snorted and shook her head. "<I don't know if I will take a floret after you, Lena. Who could compare to you, my darling little sprout?>"
Lena eyed her affini. "<You will. And when you do find them, promise me this. Don't make them wait like I did. Take them and make them yours. They'll thank you for you it.>"
Ana sighed and picked up Lena, hugging her and cradling her in her many vines. "<Yes, my darling pet. Now, let's go, we have an xeno species to save.>"
The Imimi were flyers. Spaceflight for them had been a natural evolution, as their natural urge to fly higher and faster was supplemented by technology. Unfortunately, they still hadn't quite cracked Faster Than Light technology when they were faced with a much more immediate issue. Their star, a massive blue giant, was at the end of its life, and they had devoted the entirety of their civilization to a desperate attempt to develop colony ships, hoping that at least some remnant of them would survive their coming apocalypse.
It was one of those colony ships that would bring about the Imimi's salvation. A scout ship had detected the signals coming from the colony ship, and when the ship had heard the bat-like creatures' tale, they had initiated emergency Compact procedures that hadn't been needed in 1000 years. The affini weren't normally in the habit of waiting around to bring a new species in from the wild. In a case like this, they would act even faster. All it would take would be one errant solar flare from their massive blue star, and an entire sophont race could be wiped out. The affini had mobilized a massive fleet to come evacuate every sophont, catalogue everything they could, and save as much of the ecosystem as they could.
Ana strode into the radio room of the affini comand ship, settling down in front of one of the twin radio terminals at her station, placing Lena at the other and wrapping her up tight with several vines. "Alright petal, do you want a dose of your special juice now or after we jump?"
Lena shook her head. "After, please, Mistress. I have some things I want to say to the fleet before I get all droney."
"Alright dear, thirty seconds to jump."
Lena cleared her throat and hit the button that would open her comms channel to the entire fleet.
"All stations, all station, this is Floret Command One. Jump in thirty seconds and counting. After jump we will be initiating <Oshkosh> procedure, please only communicate on this channel if it is an emergency and absolutely necessary. Mistress Poaceanum will be in charge of all communications with the cuties, there will be plenty of time for flirting once we have them all on board. Let's show these cuties just how impressive the Affini Compact could be."
With a mighty kick, the affini fleet leapt into hyperspace, and an instant later, emerged at the edge of the Imimi's system. Several planets were scorched hunks of carbon, victims of solar flares from the massive star at the center of the system, but luckily, shining like a blue gem, the Imimi homeworld remained intact.
Lena felt the familiar prick of one of Ana's needles, and as her mind fell into the familiar drone state, she began issuing commands, flowing affini language directing ship after ship, some to the various precarious colonies clinging to life on the outer planets, some to catalogue as much as they could of the system, and many, the vast majority, raced towards the Imimi homeworld, to rescue everything and everyone that they could get their vines on.
As the fleet spread out under her floret's direction, Anaphylaxis Poaceanum, Fourth Bloom, carefully scanned the radiowaves, pouring all her attention into finding what she was looking for.
Finally, the chirping and clicking of Imimi filled Ana's ears, an active radio channel filled with panic at the emergence of the massive fleet.
Clearing her throat, Ana filled her voice with hypnotic resonance, and leaned forward, grinning. "Hello little ones, do not worry. We are the Affini Compact, and we're here to help."
Notes:
And that's all folks! This is the first piece of longform writing that I've ever actually managed to finish. It's been an absolutely fantastic ride and a joy to write. Thank you so much to my beta readers for scouring my work for errors and helping me make sure the story flowed well. The story is so much better off thanks to you. Also thank you to the HDG Community Discord server, for countless ideas, chats, and friendship.
And finally, thank you, for reading. I hope you enjoyed Ana and Lena's story, and I highly encourage you to check out some of the other stories in the HDG tag if you haven't already.
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