Sweet Tooth

by PyxxieStyxx, sheepwave

Summary:

Katherine Stanton has a very rigid, structured life. she likes her plain oatmeal every day, and reading in the park, even though her home assistant AI nags her to stop wearing grey all the time and mix things up.

Sirata Saccharum, fifth bloom, thinks Katherine needs an intervening helping vine to inject a little sweetness into her life, and isn't terribly concerned that Katherine disagrees.

Chapter 1

Notes:

CW: protagonist specifies her requests for food in exact grams at the start of this story. This may be triggering to those with histories of disordered eating, but this is a fic about breaking those kinds of habits, and weight loss or similar is never mentioned. (she just has OCD and needs the numbers to be exact)

“Good Morning Katherine. It is seven thirty, and the start of another wonderful day!”

I yawned my way from horizontal to sitting upright as the hab AI woke me at the scheduled time, absentmindedly adjusting some of the tangled bedding behind me. I began to make my bed, carefully lining up the pillows, tucking the sheets back. Nothing as frivolous as a stuffed animal, obviously. 

Terrans often had difficulty making their beds unaided in the Affini Compact, due in large part to just how huge they usually were. I had opted for a mere Princess size (one of the smallest offered), which could be likened to the King size of the Terran Accord. Even then, it was always easier to start the task while I was in the middle of the mattress, rather than try and do it after getting up properly.

I made my way to the washroom to freshen myself up, then surveyed the adjacent closet for what I would wear today. The hardwood floors were firm and simple under my toes, a bland light brown that featured little patterning to get lost in. Sure, it was a fair bit colder to my bare feet than was comfortable, but it helped keep me awake enough to get through my morning rituals, and it wasn’t that bad to deal with until then.

“What would you like me to prepare for your breakfast today, Miss Katherine?” The AI was chipper as always, rain or shine. I had asked those in charge of such things to change the voice pattern to a more neutral one, but the affini in question helpfully informed me that ‘this is the most neutral voice we have, cutie!’ I learned to tone most of it out.

“Plain oatmeal for me today, I think. 300 grams, 37 degrees Celsius, unsweetened.”

The synthesized voice of the AI that ran the hab’s appliances managed to convey exasperation as I gave the same answer I always gave every day. “And are we sure you wouldn't like something a bit more …flavorful?”

It usually didn’t remark, but did this occasionally, presumably after rolling a random number in some subroutine. I never listened. “Yes, I’m quite sure, Hab.”

“Very well. Coming right up, Katherine,” the AI chirped back at me.

The reason it kept asking was fairly simple: what I wanted and what it was programmed to do were perpendicular to each other. I had ordered the same meal as I had yesterday, as I had the day before that, as I had for…well, quite some time. It was safe, it was comfortable, but most importantly it was controlled . I wasn’t about to dance along a precipice of hedonistic pleasure, waiting to slip and fall into some affini’s vines. 

Of course, there was nothing wrong with florets, but I had no intention of becoming one myself. I had my schedule, my life set up to work for me, and me alone. Adding another busybody in the mix would only serve to create discord and annoyances. As an independent, I should be allowed to have things just the way I want them, after all.

I shuffled over to the compiler and grabbed my meal, taking it to my dining room table and beginning to quietly eat. Across from my one-seated table, a single, tasteful painting of a waterfall hung on the wall. I liked looking at it sometimes if I felt understimulated or anxious. I preferred things to be minimalist, but every environment needed a little excitement. I scooped the first spoonful into my mouth and let out a satisfied sigh. The oatmeal was just the way I liked it, a bit thick and simple. I browsed my tablet while I ate, but didn’t see much that interested me.

My meal finished, I decompiled the dirty dishes (which evaporated in a way that was extremely satisfying to watch) and began my “getting ready to go Out” ritual. Collect shoes, grab my pack and book, check to make sure I don’t look unkempt, and take my prescribed medications. Hormones, vitamins, the barest minimum of OCD meds that the hab AI would complain if I didn’t take, even though I obviously didn’t need them. 

I adjusted my outfit for the day, a plain gray dress with a simple symmetrical dark stripe down the front. It looked adequate enough in the mirror. I briefly considered putting some of the jewelry my father had been sending me since I came out as transgender on before leaving, but they were all a little too adventurous. Perhaps one day I would have a special occasion that warranted it.

“Bye, Katherine! Have fun, and don’t forget to talk to a few other sophonts today!”

I checked the time, and was satisfied to see it was 7:45, perfect time to be heading out for the day. I took a deep breath, fixed a placid and neutral smile to my face, and opened the door.

The walk to the park near my apartment was pleasant and familiar. It was a brisk day outside with perfectly crisp autumn air, as was appropriate for the simulated season on this hab ring of the Illastria. I found my usual bench by a fountain unoccupied, one of the few actually sized for a human and not an affini.

Perfect time for a bit of reading: before the average floret was even awake, much less freed from their Owner’s vines and able to scream and yell and play. Still, I often had headphones with excellent sound-dampening capabilities on hand in case of such events. I much preferred them off when I could, so as to better enjoy just how tranquil the day was.

I opened the book and went to the exact line I had marked with my bookmark, which was in the middle of a winding sentence to do with existentialism and some old-Terra religion. I wasn’t inclined to such things myself, but had always found a sort of tantalizing thrill to observing the excitement of others when filtered through something suitably removed like an academic text.

It was a very dense text, a philosophical and literary critique written a few years before the Affini arrived. I had started reading it back on Remula, but misplaced that copy when I moved to the ship. The compiler had helpfully corrected the author's originally published pretransition name to ‘Amelia Versonia,’ when I got around to requesting a replacement, of course. I was puzzling my way through a paragraph so deep in nested double negatives it gave me a headache when a large shadow crossed the page.

“My my, who do we have here so bright and early? I almost thought I had encountered a newborn star, with just happiness and joy radiating off of you!”

I blinked, craning my neck to look up at the speaker who had stepped close enough to block out some of the artificial starlight. It was an affini, not that I needed visual confirmation for that when I had heard the melodic voice that sounded like an overly energetic musical filtered through leaves. Four eyes peered down at me from a slightly insectile face that was mostly smooth, other than the sharp angles around the jaw and nose.

“Hello, can I help you?”

It was a little unusual for affini to talk to me at all. I had never even been seriously considered anything but a natural independent, so my world and theirs rarely intersected beyond a polite greeting, or a quick answer to a question. Like all independents, I took to the occasional petting and condescension with more or less total indifference. 

“Hello there, sugarplum! My name is Sirata Saccharum, Fifth Bloom. She/her, if you please.”

Sirata was of average height for an affini in this part of the galaxy, around three meters tall. A flowing skirt of vines could be seen in place of legs, from which all kinds of colorful berries hung beside thorns whose points all appeared to be blunt. Her lips looked so glossy as to almost be plastic, and she had a ring of berries that resembled a necklace at the base of her neck. She was wearing a quite stunningly purple ruffly garment that looked like a cross between a dress and a suit, or perhaps the leaves that made it up were a part of her. The texture was almost iridescent to my eyes, as though the illusion of a shimmer lurked just out of direct gaze, no matter where I was looking.

“Hello, Miss Saccharum. Katherine Stanton, She and her, though I’m sure you already looked me up on the tablet hidden inside your chest.”

The woman giggled and clapped her hands. “Clever girl! And please, just call me Sirata! Or maybe Sir for short, if you get to know me better.” The flirt was emphasized by a fluttering wink of the left two eyes on her face.

It was quite clear I was not going to be able to read in peace, so I put a bookmark in my book and closed it. 

“Well then, Sirata, I ask again: what can I help you with?” I gave the affini one of my most cordial smiles.

I had never understood why some fellow terrans were more freaked out by the idea of being domesticated than they were happy to be rid of capitalism. I had smoothly transitioned out of soul crushing administrative work into a new life as a woman when I came onboard the ship a few years ago, and couldn't be happier about it. I had had my share of interactions with flirtatious plant people, and most of them seemed to lose interest when I neither flirted back nor got visibly mad enough about it to trigger their more corrective urges. Always safe to be boring, I supposed.

“Well, I was just feeling rather spontaneous on a day that was free of things to do, and here I find someone who isn’t busy either! You should come with me to get coffee, I simply love meeting new xenosophonts~”

I considered it. I wasn’t fond of disrupting my routine, but didn’t want to be rude either. I took a deep breath in through my nose as I contemplated, and was struck by just how strong and tangy the scent in the air around Sirata was. Sour and sweet and slightly acidic, it was a bit much, although not bad. It swirled in my sinuses in a way that was at once pleasant and extremely distracting.

Going on random hangouts with an affini I had just met was definitely not in today’s schedule, which had been to read until sunset, then go home. But on rare occasions where I broke my schedule, I did like to sometimes get coffee at my favorite cafe. I made my decision when I realized that perhaps this would get the hab AI to stop nagging me about being antisocial, it had been getting more and more annoying of late. “Okay. I have coffee sometimes, at the Mapleleaf Cafe?”

Sirata clasped her hands and shook her hips excitedly. “Just the one I had in mind!”

 

---

 

“Coffee, dark roast, 250 grams. 6 grams of skim milk, 76 degrees celsius. Unsweetened.” After a moment of consideration, I thought to add one more thing. “And no additives.” 

The waitress nodded, and went to retrieve my coffee and the glucose fortified nutrient water Sirata had ordered before me.

Best to be clear I was not interested in getting high. The unstated rules of interacting with any affini for me was quite simple. Show polite disinterest, and preemptively refuse offers of xenodrugs. I had given in to temptation on a few occasions, and… I tried not to let my thoughts linger on the memory of how I had writhed on the carpet of that Affini's hab like a creature of hedonistic abandon, or how zir vines had felt against my skin. 

Sirata leaned over, a motion which sent another waft of her biting scent my way. “My! You seem to have quite the specific palate. I take it that your refined senses allow you to draw every last detail of flavor from such an experience.”

“No, I just like simple things done well.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer, say, a caramel macchiato?” She punctuated her innocuous question with a whimsical flourish towards a nearby sign loudly advising I get one as soon as possible.

I frowned at the sign, wishing it would stop attempting to assault my eyes with its garish colors. “I don’t drink sugar.”

Sirata reopened and perused the cafe menu. “Well, surely you must pair that drink with something! A dark roast needs a compliment, Kate.”

“It’s Katherine. And what are you talking about?”

“Different pairings of flavors bring each other out better!” Before I could protest, she had hailed the waitress again. “My friend here will also have the «¿ډ̷ו̵̸ּی̵လုံф̷כ̴̸̷ַּ?» scone, please.”

I resisted the urge to sigh. Ordering for you was exactly the kind of dodgy thing affini loved doing that you had to put a stop to before they started making it into a habit. I didn’t know enough Affini to recognize the word before scone, probably some kind of fruit from another galaxy that she assumed I would like. I hoped Sirata wouldn't be offended when I didn't eat it, but I hadn't asked for it, so that was nobody's fault but her own.

Sirata tilted her head to the side. "What has you looking so grumpy, hmm?"

I was saved from having to answer that by the return of the waitress, who set our drinks down before us, followed by the small clack of a plate against wood that was my pastry.

The scone was, if nothing else, certainly a visual delight. Golden flaky bread dusted with a generous amount of powdered sugar, and the unknown bright fruit within almost-but-not-quite spilling out both ends. It was placed perfectly centered on some fine china that was patterned with blue and green vinework. For the briefest moment I felt a slight pang of desire, but I quickly quashed it, looking up to focus on my affini table mate. She had gone silent, perhaps waiting until I looked at her to continue.

“Oh, sorry, sugarplum. I was just admiring the dessert. It looks so delicious! Such a tasty little morsel~”

I looked down at the scone, then back at her. “Do you…want a bite?”

Sirata laughed magnanimously. “Oh no, dear. I would rather just watch. That said,” she winked her left eyes yet again, “sweets are better when you share them with friends. Perhaps I’ll have a bite of a treat of my own later.”

I eyed the scone with outright suspicion, poking it around the plate a bit with my fork as if it were a predator lying in wait for me to lower my guard. It didn’t… appear to be alive, which was good. Still…

“My dear, if you wait any longer to decide, it might just grow legs and walk itself into your mouth!” I highly doubted that particular event would occur. Vines walking it to my mouth, on the other hand? Highly likely, given the way she was beginning to lean towards me.

I sighed and took a bite of the scone. It flaked in my mouth, and the sweetness that burst on my tongue was…quite intense. It was unfamiliar, far outside my usual. A tiny little noise of enjoyment attempted to leave my throat, but was muffled by chewing.

“Good! Now take a sip of the coffee! Feel how they compliment and mix, a wonderful serenade!” Sirata gave me a light smattering of applause as she spoke, as if she were so happy I had eaten the pastry that she could no longer contain her joy.

I begrudgingly complied with the suggestion, and was a little miffed to realize that Sirata had been correct. The contrast between the pastry and coffee was wonderful, a rich dark bitterness sitting under the bright sweet berry flavor in perfect compliment.

“So, tell me about yourself,” Sirata prompted as she watched me eat.

I swallowed, and was shocked by how much the sweetness lingered in my mouth. “I’m from Dionysus III. I was working as a university admin on Remula when you lot swept in, and I didn’t have any particular reason not to come along. Now I'm trans. I don't think there's much else to say.”

She nodded along with my words, tilting her head as I finished. “An interesting past! But there are always more layers to peel apart with a delightful little sweetie like you, always more gifts to find. And speaking of gifts, what about your present? What does Katherine do for fun these days, hmm?”

I took another bite of my scone, and focused on the flavor. Whatever this berry filling was, it left my mouth feeling very tingly. I assumed that was normal, I had always avoided excessive sweets. “I’m sure you can pull my behavioral profile from my file.”

“Accessing the full details of an independent without any record of feralism would require me to file a Notice of Intent to Domesticate first, pumpkin. Would be a lot of effort saved if you could just tell me what you get up to, wouldn’t it?”

I took another sip of coffee to wash away the mouth tingles, then pulled my book from my bag and set it out for Sirata to see. “I read a lot. All nonfiction, I prefer to remain pretty serious so I don't just slip into habitual leisure.”

Sirata seemed puzzled by that remark. “Why wouldn’t you wish to slip into leisure?”

I made a little grumble and picked up the last of my pastry rather than answer that. The scone hadn’t lasted as long as the coffee, and as I took the final bite, I almost considered asking for another. It was as good an excuse as any to change the subject.

“I will admit, you were right that these flavors pair well together,” I mumbled, hesitantly meeting her gaze.

I saw her eyes sparkle with golden flecks as she watched me alternate between nibbles at the pastry and my coffee. “I would be happy to curate an entire buffet of experiences, you know. Especially when your base senses could be enhanced with a little chemistry~”

Sirata had made it a surprisingly long time without offering me drugs outright, but there it was. I lost my appetite immediately, shaking my head. “Sorry. That’s very nice of you to offer, but not for me. I think I should be going.”

I went to stand, but suddenly lost my balance as I twisted out of the chair, spilling my own hot coffee down the front of my dress. Sirata was at my side in seconds, slipping her own vines into my dress to keep the steaming hot liquid from touching my skin.

“Oh, you poor thing! Here, let me help.” She turned up and called out to the back of the cafe. “Waitress? Can you be a sweetheart and compile me a spare companion dress?”

“I don’t need-” I struggled to right myself again, though all my movement only served to make me drop the cup entirely, which Sirata caught with a tendril before it hit the tile floor and smashed. “-A floret dress! I’m leaving!”

I pushed out of her grasp and grabbed my bag, and stumbled my way to the front of the cafe. I grit my teeth and chose to ignore the burning of the soaked garment whenever it touched me, and tripped out into the plaza outside, the door having mercifully opened automatically. Sirata caught me, and every one of the soft little nubs of the nettles on her vines felt like sparks on my skin.

“Sweetie, stay a while. I know you don’t have anywhere to be until nightfall, you are such a creature of habit, after all.”

What? How did she know that? I thought my file was sealed unless she filed… something. Colors were starting to get bright, and the hab ring was starting to spin. Or…or um, it was always spinning, but not this way. Did a floret change the gravity, or something?

“Don’t worry, sugarplum, let me take care of you~”

My protests became more and more incoherent as my coffee-soaked dress was peeled off me, and the last thing I saw was her candy-pink lips before everything went black.

Notes:

Hey there! Did you know comments and kudos feed authors good brain juices? It’s true!

If you want to learn more about the setting, the HDG Community Discord is the place to be!

Chapter 2

Notes:

The theme of this chapter is FEELS GOOD by Darius and Duñe.

“Good Morning, cupcake! It is nine o’ clock sharp, and the start of another wonderful day!”

I sat up in my bed, blinking equal parts confusion and sleep out of my eyes. Something felt…different. Try as I might, I couldn't remember anything after arriving at the Mapleleaf Cafe with that affini woman yesterday. Something about a pastry, maybe? It was fuzzy. 

…But more importantly, nine?

“Hab, why didn’t you wake me up at seven thirty, like I have set?”

“You looked like you could use the extra rest!” I was starting to get very cross at the artificial sweetness of the damn thing. Also, had its voice changed? It sounded far more melodic than normal, in a way that was…kind of creepy.

Making me oversleep for an hour and a half on purpose was exactly the kind of nonsense I didn’t want. I would have to compile a purely mechanical alarm clock that used actual gears and springs, and most importantly didn’t decide what was better for me without any input from me needed.

I chose a simple white tunic with a light blue hem from my closet, went to the washroom, and made my way to the kitchen, still irritated at having overslept.

“What would you like me to prepare for your breakfast today, Kathy?”

“That isn’t my name, it's Katherine. Plain oatmeal. 300 grams, 37 degrees celsius, unsweetened.”

“I think you need something with a bit more variety than that,” the hab AI chirped. I directed a look of confused annoyance in the general direction of the speakers hidden in the ceiling. Had someone set it to floret mode somehow?

“...No, thank you, I’ll just stick to my routine.”

“If you insist, cupcake!”

There was a faint smell of cinnamon, but that was just the human brain not knowing how to process the offgasses of crystalizing hypermetric phase fields that made compilers work. My usual white bowl of steaming porridge appeared, but next to it was a cookie, covered in chocolate chips and pink sprinkles, leaking some kind of fruity filling, and sitting innocuously in a clear wrapper.

“Hab, what is this?”

“Your friend Sirata Saccharum had it added to your breakfast!”

“Okay, so decompile it. I don't care and I don't want it.”

“That wouldn't be very nice, honey.” It actually sounded hurt , like I had somehow offended the thing. Except I knew for a fact that it was not sentient, and this was just another attempt to manipulate me. Something about the cookie made me feel drawn to eat it. This was why I didn't keep sweets in the hab. Too much temptation towards proclivities best left alone. I was definitely making a note to get the Hab AI reset as soon as possible. 

“Fine, whatever. I’ll have it later,” I mumbled, and put the cookie in my pocket.

I stared at the off white wall across from my table while I ate my oatmeal. The breakfast was exactly as I had requested it, exactly the correct temperature…and yet . It was as if my brain had decided, entirely without my input, that this wasn’t enough. And I couldn't stop thinking about the stars forsaken cookie. I had eaten one just like it yesterday, I was pretty sure. Something like it. Maybe a pastry? Eighty percent sure.

…

Sixty.

It probably should have concerned myself more that I had no memory of anything after ordering my coffee, but given how flirty Sirata had been, I probably had cracked and asked to get high… again. It was easier when I didn't remember. The times that I did were the ones that caused me a real headache. Chasing down affini I had met the night previous, apologizing and reassuring the more persistent ones that No thank you, I'm quite fine on my own. Go Away.

I finished my meal, decompiled the dishes, and grabbed my bag to head out. I went to the front door, put on my most placid smile… and it didn't open. I tried again. Same result. My smile dropped rather quickly.

“Are you taking the fucking piss right now, Hab? Let me out!”

“Don’t you want to wear some of the jewelry your father gave you, sweet pea?” 

Apparently not content to ruin my entire day by making me oversleep for an hour and a half, the AI was now passing judgment on my fashion sensibilities. Lovely. I had to suppress the urge to compile a large magnet and run it along the walls…though it remained a tempting backup plan.

I grabbed a necklace from the side table at random, and heard the door unlock as I put it around my neck. I was going to reset the hab when I got back home, if not bin it entirely. It was clearly malfunctioning. I hurried out the door before the thing came up with some new way to torment me.

 

---

 

I walked along the paved sidewalks of the Occantalis II to my usual spot at the park, extremely agitated. Every couple I passed made me more annoyed. My skin felt like it was crawling with irritation, waves of annoyance threatening to tip over into genuine anger. If I had woken up on time, I wouldn't have to deal with all these others out and about. It was all a single unbroken chain of events, everything combining and compounding and generally being the worst . Especially when damn near every single sophont I passed were busy being so lovey dovey with each other.

I usually didn't think about intimacy often, but since I had woken up it felt like something was missing. My body needed something, craved it in a way that disturbed me, that brought up memories I preferred left buried in the cold hard dirt. I hadn't just left Remula and hopped onto this ship on a whim, I had been dumped by my boyfriend and wanted a fresh start. 

Turns out I had also been struggling with some gender issues, but those were behind me now. You would think I could find a nice, uncomplicated guy on a ship filled with affini making everyone nice, but no. Logic would dictate that becoming a woman would have made dating men easier since there were just more straight men in general, but reality had seemingly had other plans. I had gotten very tired of being called some variant of ‘ice queen’ by every guy I talked with. Most never even made it to the first date, and eventually I had stopped bothering entirely about six months ago. 

I plopped my butt on the bench, reached into my bag for my book, and… didn't find it. Fuck. It wasn't like I couldn't walk into any building with a compiler and get a new copy of the book, or even just open the text on my handheld. but it wouldnt be mine, it wouldn't have the old trading card I used as a bookmark I had left on page 135 on the 15th line down and I hated losing my place.

“Hello again, Katie!” I pinched my brow in frustration as I recognized the voice of the affini from yesterday. I looked up and saw her, wearing a slightly different but equally vivid purple suit-dress, this one featuring a black bow tie made of succulent leaves, a button up that her chest was noticeably challenging the buttons of, and a long flowing skirt of violet and pink leaves.

“That still isn't my name, it's Katherine. What do you want, Sirata?”

She took a seat next to me, an entirely ridiculous effort due to her size. I crammed myself into the far side of the bench, sticking to etiquette. I wasn't going to contact her physically, and I certainly wasn't going to let her touch me without giving me some advance warning.

“Oh, I was just happening though the park again, and saw you by chance! If I may confess, I did wonder if you received my gift this morning!”

My hand unconsciously patted the pastry in my pocket, and the wrapper crinkled loudly. Sirata's lips curled into a wide smile as she recognized the sound, and I saw her fingers curl inward slightly. “Ah, and you even saved it~”

“Sure.” Something about her left me deeply wary, as if I had been stripped bare before her gaze. The less I spoke with her, the better. The sweet smell that hovered in the air around her body was bad enough.

“Well, I do hope my presence makes the treat even better! Sweets are better when you share them with friends, you know.”

“Yes, I remember.” I frowned at the implication she was making; we were hardly friends. “I’m afraid I'm quite full at present, actually.”

She just smiled at me, her scent subtly shifting in some way. More of a floral scent for a brief moment, and then it returned to normal. “Well, I do hope it returns soon then. Treats like that are best eaten fresh, while the berries are ripe and the bread is warm.”

The mere thought of it caused my stomach to growl. Loudly. I ignored it entirely, instead going through my bag again in the vain hope I could locate my book. My appreciation for minimalism worked slightly against me this time; it took me less than two seconds to arrive at the same conclusion.

“Looking for something, sugarplum?”

I sighed, snapping my pack closed. “Yes, my book. It's the same one as yesterday, though I believe I left it at home.”

I heard a quiet giggle, one that made my heart sink in my chest. “Ah, you must be referring to this ?” Of course she somehow had the book. That all but confirmed I had transgressed yesterday. I never would have left one of my things out of place…unless, of course, I was so high that I didn’t even realize I had misplaced it.

“Yes, thank you. I must have forgotten it somewhere yesterday when…” On second thought, it would be best not to acknowledge I had probably begged her to drug me yesterday. “When we met.”

“You left it at the Mapleleaf cafe,” Sirata helpfully chimed in.

“Well, thank you for giving it back to me.” I held out a hand to accept it, but instead of giving it to me, I found she had deposited a handful of wrapped candies instead.

“I don’t need these, thank you.” I tried to give her back the treats and take the book from her hand, but it remained under her control.

“Are you sure? I know you'll like them~”

I sighed, feeling my annoyance ratchet back up to previous levels. “No thank you, I’m fine.”  

She simply stared at me with a smile on her face, waiting. I decided to just take the stars forsaken things for now; I could dispose of them later, and that would be that.

I made a show of putting the three wrapped candies she had given me in my pocket, and her antennae wiggled happily. The slight energy in the air dissipated immediately, and I felt my shoulders relax slightly.

“Candy makes you happy, you know! I’ll see you around, sugarplum~” The affini finally released the book and sauntered off in what might have been the equivalent of skipping on dozens of limbs. Leaving me sitting on the park bench, blinking and trying to process the last thirty seconds. 

What just happened ? 

Whatever. I shook my head and flipped open the text, tracing a finger down the bookmark until I arrived at the passage. Finally, finally I could get back on track with today. I would just read for a little bit, then head home.

…

Except, of course, it was already almost time for me to leave, and I hadn’t even gotten to read yet. Frustrated, I snapped the book shut and made sure to put it in my pack. I wasn’t going to let it happen twice in as many days, especially since I had so many errands to run later. With a sigh I checked my tablet, noting the tasks, the meeting with my Vet, the follow-ups others had made after I had dropped off the face of the ship yesterday. 

Hopefully my slip-up was a one and done deal, and I would never have to see that affini again.

 

---

 

The hab greeted me as I finally returned home, just as evening was beginning to fall. “Welcome home, cupcake! It’s a little later than normal; what do you want for dinner? Spicy chicken over rice? Sweet shrimp and mango salad? A peanut curry? Sushi rolls?” 

Ugh, I had been so determinedly focused on everything (so as to avoid thinking about yesterday), that I had entirely forgotten to arrange to get the thing reset. I considered compiling my usual dinner, but wanted to avoid giving the malfunctioning AI a reason to complain again. I would just have to get the raw ingredients and cook it myself.

“Hab, you know I don't eat any of that. Can you please compile me a box of dry uncooked pasta? Ziti shape, 300 grams. Standard nutritional fortification.”

“Sure thing, sweetheart!” one faint waft of cinnamon later, and I had a simple blue box of pasta in my hands. Not that it was the same as the loop of pasta and oatmeal I had used to live off of as an overworked administrative assistant because it was what I could afford after the breakup. This was every bit as nutritionally complete as any meal a compiler made. That the hab threw a fit that I was satisfied with eating the same familiar food every day was deeply irritating.

I started a pot of water on the stove to boil, adding two grams of salt for a little flavor. The heat of the stove against my skin made me think about intimate things again, things I didn’t need to be distracted by. I was perfectly happy as I was, thank you very much. If the bloody stove could give me a hint of companionship, I clearly wasn’t missing out on much.

I took note of the time as I poured the ziti into the pot, and absentmindedly stirred it. The starchy tubes bounced off each other as they swirled in the convection currents of the water in patterns I could easily lose myself in staring at. I put my hand in my pocket, lacking anything else to do with it, and was reminded of the wrapped chocolates when my hand brushed against it. The ghost of a memory slipped past my tongue, a warm mug of cocoa on a cold winter night I had as a special occasion. It had the most delightful of aromas, one that had captured my senses and sent me soaring.

…Of course, I had little need for something so frivolous now.  That was years ago, and I had grown beyond the need for something so unnecessary.

…

Just a taste wouldn't hurt, right?

The wrapper was already off by the time I clamped down on the voice of impulse within my head. Was I seriously about to eat candy some pushy stranger gave me? Some affini I barely knew? I strode over to the compiler, and put the treat I had opened on the decompiler plane.

“Hab, take a random one percent volume sample of this candy and tell me what’s in it. I know you're going to say it was a gift, but I won't notice that one percent is missing. Recompile it after if you must.”

“Very well, sweetie.” There was an almost imperceptible buzz, then a click. “Chocolate, sugar, caramel, shredded peanuts, walnuts, and almonds, nougat, and sea salts.”

“No drugs?”

“Chocolate contains several compounds known to act in Terrans as a stimulant and laxat-”

I cut the machine off with a wave of my hand. “Yes, I know. But nothing that wouldn’t normally be in Terran candies, say, before the affini?”

“Excluding the total absence of trace lead and other contaminants, it is not distinguishable from pre-domestication chocolate. It’s just candy, sugarplum.”

“Thank you, hab.”

I stared at the little ball of chocolate, took a deep breath, then popped it in my mouth. The chocolate on the outside was rich and creamy, melting perfectly against my tongue before I slipped it between my teeth and bit down. It crunched with the perfect consistency, caramel just viscous enough to make the suspended bits of various nuts break down perfectly satisfyingly. The lightest hint of salt kept the sweetness and richness in perfect balance. With no-one around to see, I didn't bother hiding the moan that escaped me. It was delicious , an incredible symphony of delights that stole every thought from my head and left me leaning heavily on the counter. 

The next one was in my mouth before I even knew it, wrapper thrown to the floor mindlessly. The second candy had some kind of fruit filling, a tang that perfectly complemented the bitter notes of the chocolate.

I stood there, chewing and happily humming as perfectly matched flavors exploded on my palette, until the sound of the boiling pot grabbed my attention. I ran back to it and lowered the heat slightly, giving the noodles a few test swirls with a utensil. I checked the time again, and since it hadn’t been ten minutes yet, it wasn't time to take it out. 

I swallowed my treat, and nervously braced myself for the onset of some kind of drug the hab had missed as I stirred the ziti. Nothing seemed to be happening. Which made sense, because it was just candy, right? I opened the third one, threw the wrapper on the kitchen counter, and popped it into my mouth. Just one more wouldn’t hurt. This one was full of some airy wafer that came apart in thin sweet sheets against my tongue as I bit through the chocolate coating.

I checked the time again. It had been eleven more minutes, fuck. I strained the pasta, drizzled it in light olive oil, and served myself a bowl as I savored the final chocolate. I put the other half of the ziti in the stasis cabinet for later, then took my dinner to my dining table and sat.

I speared a clump of pasta on my fork, and put it in my mouth.

I chewed.

It was pasta.

I swallowed.

I glared at the painting of a waterfall as though doing so would make my usual dinner fill me with the same deep sense of familiarity it usually would. It was familiar, but what had been comfort mere days ago now felt oddly…stale.

I knew what I really wanted. I wanted more chocolate. The temptation of the cookie in my pocket sang to me like the scent of citrus that hung in the air around the one who had given it to me. I pulled it out of my pocket and stared at it longingly.

Every chocolate chunk caught the light perfectly, the sprinkles were vivid and inviting, and the dark fruit filling glistened tantalizingly. Finally, temptation won. I pushed the bowl of pasta away, and opened the cellophane wrapper, taking a small whiff of the air inside. Stars it was good. I swallowed, before the saliva pooling in my mouth became drool.

I took a bite of the cookie. The baked dessert melted in my mouth, perfectly balanced by the rich chocolate chips and the bright burst of sweetness of every sprinkle. The fruit filling left my mouth feeling oddly familiarly tingly. Perhaps I had a mild allergy to whatever it was, but it was too delicious to stop. If it was going to hurt me, I doubt an affini would have given it to me in the first place.

I moaned in joy at every bite, and it was gone far too fast. Just to be safe, I licked every crumb off my hands, only noticing afterwards just how more aware of my body I was. Every tiny hair seemed to have twenty times as many nerve endings connected to them, every breath that filled my lungs felt clean and Good. Had the painting on the wall always been swaying to the side like that? I didn’t think so, but it was suddenly so hard to be sure of anything.

I was starting to feel dizzy, and the lingering flavor in my mouth kept getting stronger, kept building on itself in a tower of taste. I stood to get myself some water, but crumpled to the floor as I misjudged which leg was which. I giggled as I went, landing on my butt with a thump, then twisting and laying on my back. Above me, the ceiling spun prettily in a kaleidoscope.

The hab AI’s voice chirped from above as I fell to the hardwood floor. “Uh oh, it looks like you fell, Kate! Don’t you worry sweetie, I've already notified your Owner that you need help, and she’s on her way here right now!”

I nodded at the words, but didn’t really grasp the meaning. Had the wood always felt so nice against my face? It was so cool against my touch. Too smooth, though. Not enough texture against my skin. I needed to rub myself against something soft, covered in fibers, maybe… skin? No, no…oh! Vines. Stars, vines would feel incredible right now, rubbing against every square centimeter of my body and binding me in place… I was drooling. The door was opening, something purple was moving towards me.

Fuck.

Notes:

Hey there! Did you know comments and kudos feed authors good brain juices? It’s true!

you should read my talented girlfriend's writing and also mine too! -sheepwave

If you want to learn more about the setting, the HDG Community Discord is the place to be!

Chapter 3

“Good morning, sugarplum! It’s a bit before noon, and the start of another wonderful day~”

I groaned, as the hab AI woke me. Almost noon? That wasn't my schedule… Then I looked around, and realized that this wasn’t my hab . This one was twice as big as it should be…meaning Affini sized, and covered in the most ridiculously colorful bedroom furniture I had ever seen to boot. Shit. Shitshit shit.

I had done it again. Waking up in some affini's hab with limited to no memories. Another awkward conversation, another awkward explanation, another headache. One thing was new, though. Someone from outside the room I was in was singing some kind of chant I could faintly hear through the door, with what I was pretty sure was an affini voice singing along.

“...this feeling, deep inside of meee, girl you just don't realize, what you do to me…“

I took stock of my situation calmly. I was definitely naked, but that wasn’t really that big a deal currently. The strange singing was growing closer, so the singer probably knew I was awake. Given the general tone and cadence of the music, they were at least probably in a good mood. And judging by the decor, I was in what was probably Sirata’s bedroom. All that led to one inevitable and very important question: How had I gotten here?

“-When you hold me, in your arms so tight, you let me know everything's alright~”

It was definitely coming from the hallway outside the door now. I considered hiding my nude body under the covers, but honestly there probably wasn’t much point. I watched on as the door slammed open with a terrific bang as it was kicked open, with the owner of the leafy foot (and the singer) revealed to indeed be Sirata.

“Iiiieeei-iieeei-iiiee’hm- hooked on a feeling!” 

With an explosion of brass instruments from the ceiling hab speakers, the affini danced into the bedroom. Sirata was belting out some ancient pop song at the top of her simulated lungs, while strumming at a bass guitar, shaking maracas, and presumably tapping out a rhythm with several additional sets of smaller arms that now emerged from her hips. Every wall lit up from within, and began to pulse different hues to the music; simultaneously, the Hab AI began to chant some bizarre nonsense words in the background.

“I'm high on believing, that you're in love with meeeeee~”

I stared at Sirate in absolute shock as the ceiling and walls shifted into a glowing display of flying geometric shapes and colors that moved in time with the beats of the song. She swooped in and kissed me faster than I could react in the pause between bars before resuming singing with a hand under my chin.

“Lips as sweet as can~dy , its taste is on my mind…girl, you got me thirsty, For another, cup of wiiiiine!” 

Sirata winked as she swooped back and did a twirl. She pulled a cowbell out of her chest, and began banging it in time with the music as she continued singing and dancing. 

“Got a bug from you girl, but I don't need no cure, I’ll just stay a victim, if I can, for suuuuure~”

Sirata threw a cloud of sparkling confetti into the air as she delivered the stretched out syllable, then lowered her voice slightly as the speakers began chanting again. I continued watching, with a lipstick smeared mouth hanging agape. Had she lost her mind? 

…Had I?

“All the good love, When we're all alone, Keep it up girl, Yeah, you turn me on~”

Her body exploded into a gyrating dance with her bass and cowbell taking the place of a partner, while the walls shifted into a dazzling display of kaleidoscopic colors that looked like exploding fireworks. Surely this was not real, or was some kind of joke.

“Iiieeei-iiiieei-iiiieeii'm- hooked on a feeling!”

Sirata tossed more handfuls of confetti until it was raining from the ceiling in a deluge of chaotic color. I was starting to dissociate. Was I dreaming? Was I on drugs?

“And I'm high on believing, that you're in love with meeeee…”

The brightly swirling patterns on the walls began to fade in intensity as the final chorus completed, and she seemed to go into an entirely improvised bass guitar and cowbell solo, which then launched into another impromptu round of the chorus. 

“ I said I'm high on believing, that you're in love with meeeee… I’m hooked on a feeling!”

As she finished, Sirata tossed the instruments aside, whereupon they landed in a pile of pillows with a muffled series of painful crashes. She finally pulled all the extra arms back into her body, and smoothed her dress back out before taking a deep bow, smiling wide.

I tried and failed to remember how to speak for a few seconds, but finally found the words after opening and closing my mouth a few times in pure shock.

“I want to leave.”

Her glossy, bubblegum pink lips curled into an enormous grin. “Nonsense, cupcake! You haven’t even had breakfast yet! It is one of the five most important meals of the day!”

Before I could even attempt to protest I was scooped up in her arms, and we practically flew out of the room and down a hallway whose walls were covered in bright stripes, of which the colors had seemingly been chosen at random from among the most garish shades the designer could possibly think of. As we passed by a closet, she zipped into it with a vine and pulled out a vivid pink and purple sundress with a deep back cut, slipping it over my head with nary a pause.

“I would normally do something homemade for a guest, but we had such a busy night that I’ll settle for something simple. Oh, Hab! Compile for my wonderful best friend here, a Belgian waffle, with vanilla ice cream, sliced strawberries, coconut shavings, and dark chocolate syrup!”

I couldn't even detect the usual cinnamon of the compiler as it worked. My olfactory sense was so entirely overwhelmed by the combination of the almost sickly sweet tang of her body and the smell of warm waffles popping into being that it likely threw its arms up in the air, sighed, and defenestrated itself out the nearest window.

I was plopped into an elevated seat at a predictably garish dining table which had been covered in whimsical golden accents, and after the mountain of food was set in front of me, Sirata flowed into her own chair opposite my own. 

She was, for the first time since I had woken, mostly still, and I finally took a good look at her outfit. A one piece dress with a deep neckline, complete with ruffles around the shoulders that glittered where they caught the light. It was as deep a purple as anything else she wore, though perhaps she just was molding purple leaves into different shapes each day. Honestly, I still couldn’t tell. 

Given a single moment without some new absurdity occurring, I took my bearings. I could write a lot of things off as affini eccentricity, but her behavior had clearly left the bounds of platonic friendly interest, and perhaps sanity entirely. I absentmindedly pulled one of the stray bits of confetti from her… musical number… out of my hair as I considered how to handle this situation. She was very clearly infatuated with me, and it would be best to rip that particular bandage off quickly.

“I’m, I’m very sorry if you got the wrong impression, Sirata. I think it’s very…” I considered my words carefully, “Interesting how you woke me up. But I get the impression you are interested in me, and I’m straight. As in heterosexual. As in not attracted to women or feminine people. Or affini at all, for that matter. Again, I apologize.”

Sirata waved a few vines at me, as if trying to dismiss my concerns through physical gestures alone.“Oh, don’t worry, we can fix all that~ But in the meantime, feel free to call me Sir if it makes things easier!”

“That- what- fix!?”

She launched into a giggling fit into her hand, and I breathed a quiet breath of relief. Okay, at least she had been joking. Once she had recovered, Siratsa leaned forward and let out a long sigh of amusement that wafted a heavy cloud of her scent into my face. “You are so terribly serious, Kate! Now, hurry and eat, your breakfast is melting.”

I looked down at the waffle. It was without a doubt the most decadent meal that had ever sat before me. I pulled my gaze back up to the affini.

“I would prefer my usual oatmeal. 300 grams, 37 degrees celsius, unsweetened. That is what I always have for breakfast.”

“I know you would! But I worry about you, Katie! Such a repetitive, monotonous diet you have! Indulge a concerned best friend, won’t you?”

It was clearly a rhetorical question. A half dozen vines shot across the table and grabbed me by the wrists and head, forcing my mouth open. I flattened my tongue up against my lips to block her from force feeding me while glaring at her.

“Oh, is that the game we’re playing today?” She loomed over me, casting a shadow on the table under her as she inquired, “Because I know a sec~ret about you. Do you want to know what it is, Katherine?”

She nodded my head for me. I registered a grunt of disapproval. Sirata simply giggled again.

“You have a sweet tooth! Not merely in the literal sense. You crave experiences of hedonistic delight in every one of your senses, yet you deny yourself them. And my little gumdrop, it just makes my core ache to watch, and while you may have successfully repelled the intervention of my peers, my eyes are far less easily deterred~”

Yes. I was very aware of my weaknesses. That was exactly why I didn't indulge any of that nonsense, because when I started I couldn't stop, and just because I no longer had to worry about the cost of impulse buying candy or microtransactions and the like didn't mean I could be trusted not to lose myself in them.

I grunted at her again, to signal my disapproval, not that I could have spoken with her vines keeping my mouth pried open anyway.

“Perhaps starting with the waffle was the wrong approach.” She tapped her lips with a vine, thinking to herself for a few moments before continuing, “How about something a little more easy? Just a single, delicious, ripe little…~”

A new vine unraveled from her chest, with a bite-sized fruit at the tip that was smooth and yellow, with pink rings running down it and a fragrant scent that pulled all my excess attention in an eyeblink. 

She pressed the soft berry against my tongue until it began to leak. Juices flowed down my chin, but the majority stuck to my tongue. It had a very disturbingly familiar taste I just couldn't place . I had definitely not consumed this before. Right?

The vine finally forced the fruit into my mouth by pressing my tongue down, and I made a muffled moan as the treat immediately began to dissolve. Oh stars , it was delicious. Soft and pliable and pleasantly textured, it was just like her scent, sharp and sweet and citrusy, and so strongly acidic it almost felt like it should burn going down. My own drool joined the juices now running down my neck as the flavor put my saliva production into overdrive. I could not help but suck at both it and the vine on pure instinct.

“Good girl! Don't worry, it's completely edible, and it's all for you~”

The feelers holding my mouth moved, applying her full strength to make me bite down, severing what was in my mouth entirely and leaving me free to chew. The tingling of flavors exploded in my mouth like fizzy soda, tingling that was also beginning to spread outward to the rest of my face. I swallowed, giving a keening little whine as the feeling began to travel down my throat.  My eyes slightly unfocused on the world around me as my brain had apparently decided to allocate attention entirely on the contents of my mouth.

…That said, I absolutely noticed when a fork carrying a square of waffle rose into view, and I could not find it in myself to resist as she reopened my mouth for me with a pleased hum. 

It was perfectly crisp on the surface, yet with a fluffy interior. The strawberries added a perfectly bright burst of sweetness that was immediately complemented by the richness of the chocolate syrup. She snuck a separate spoon with ice cream into my mouth, and the vanilla sweetness melted into the rest, perfectly completing the flavor combination with its creamy coolness.

The tingles had reached my sinuses now, and on my next inhale I drew too deep; the scent of her filling my head made the feeling amplify, twist and dance.

Another bite was held up for me, and a low whimper slipped out before I had a chance to catch it. I needed it. I needed it more than I needed my pride…and the glittering eyes of Sirata told me she knew it. She at least let me swallow my current bite before opening my mouth again, drool cascading down my chin as my tongue slid outwards towards the source of my desire. 

“ Theeeeere we go. Just like that, Kate~ Remember to chew slowly, mind- you want to savor the experience, yes? Really taste each and every flavor in the symphony of delights.” I barely registered the words in my consciousness as I nodded, closing my eyes to focus on each note being played. Somehow I was just as unprepared for this one as the first, with the sheer intensity almost keeling me over as I chewed and finally swallowed.

And there was another bite waiting for me.

And another.

And another…

An uncountable number of bites, an endless stream of sensation that left me moaning and panting with desire, that left my cheeks warm with embarrassment and bliss. My fingers danced in my lap, twitching and stimming as I accepted each new bite, each thought forming in my head quickly swept aside by soft condescending praise and warm squirming feelings in my core.

“Stick out your tongue, Kate~” I did it immediately, not caring how it looked. I was rewarded with something cold and hard pressed against it, something covered in a layer of syrup and chocolate and sweet strawberry juice. Sirata moved it for me, letting the taste slather itself on both my tongue and general lower face, and I loved it. It felt so good , like I was licking a delicious popsicle but without the freezing cold that made my teeth hurt.

“Swallow.”

I did so, then opened my mouth and hung my tongue out once more…only to wait. And wait. I cracked open one, then both eyes, struggling to focus on the affini before me. Sirata was holding the plate in front of me, angling it towards me so I could see its surface. The same surface I had apparently just licked clean. The heat in my face returned in full force as my brain finally began to process the events of the last…however long that had been.

“...I…you-”

Sirata interrupted me smoothly, rising to her feet and proclaiming, “Now that we’ve had our sweets, we absolutely must brush your teeth!”

I briefly wondered if perhaps Sirata was colorblind as we flew back down the ridiculously wallpapered hallway to the bathroom. I didn't have long to linger before I was looking in the mirror, and could see in my reflection that while the plate had been licked clean, my face was now covered in syrup, crumbs, melted ice cream, and stains from the berries I had been fed. Perhaps worse, not only did I have her lipstick on my mouth from when she kissed me during the morning song, but more faded kiss marks could be seen on my cheeks and neck as well, a rather concerning sign of what had transpired the prior night.

I groaned as I watched her apply a generous amount of the toothpaste to a bright pink toothbrush that had ‘Kandi’ stamped onto it in swirling cursive gold letters. She brought it to my face with an uncannily steep smile. I was already feeling dizzy and inebriated from the berries, but even now I could recognize drugged floret toothpaste when I saw it.

“Open wide, sweetie!”

Knowing what was coming made no difference. What was I supposed to do when Sirata was so much stronger than me? I either opened on my own, or she would pry my mouth wide again, and I would rather minimize the number of foreign objects she put in my mouth when every touch she gave me was already making me want to nuzzle into her. I sighed and acquiesced, trying to avert my eyes to past her shoulder. She immediately stuck her tendrils inside anyway to keep me open.

The moment the glittering pastel goo touched my mouth, I felt the tingles begin to spread up my face. It was sweeter than any toothpaste I had used since childhood, never having tolerated anything more than a mild mint. Every bristle against my gums made me moan and shudder against her unbreakable grip, and every swirl of the brush seemed to force a squeak from somewhere deep in my throat. A heat of needy submission glowed like a rising furnace in my core as she took total control of my mouth.

“Hooked on a toothbrush,” she sang quietly to herself as she worked.

When she had finished brushing to the final molar, she stuck a finger in my mouth, pinned my tongue and rubbed that too. The muffled moans sounded tinny as they bounced off the multicolor tiling. Satisfied, she extended a thicker vine towards the faucet, pulled in a small reservoir, then tilted my head forward and stuck it inside my mouth. I was flooded with cool liquid until it waterfalled out in a humiliating dribble that nonetheless made my belly tie itself in warm knots.

“All done, easy as cake~” Sirata practically sang at me, dabbing at my mouth with a cloth. I was bundled back up in her vines, and we left the bathroom just as quickly as we entered. My head spun a little as we moved, but just as I was about to voice a note of warning…she set me down. She set me down.  

As soon as I was free, I bolted. The horribly clashing colors of the hallway blurred together as I half ran, half tripped back towards the main space, looking for a way to leave before I began to beg for things I couldn’t take back.

I spotted what I assumed was the front door, and stumbled for it as best I could. It let out a dull beep, refusing to open as I approached and gave it a weak slap. I turned and glared at the affini, who had skipped over to join me at the door with bubbling glee.

“You said I had to have breakfast, and now I have! I want to leave, Sirata! Now!”

“That wouldn’t be very responsible of me to let you wander off, would it? Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but you're very high right now, Katie! Certainly not in a state to be walking back all by yourself.”

She gently wrapped vines around my wrists and pulled me away from the door, depositing me carefully in the corner of her living room. A rainbow of soft objects cushioned my descent, contained in a raised plush ring like…like a pet bed. My irritation at the sight was quickly displaced by the wobbly feeling of the drugs, and I knew that if I were to remain standing I would need to ask Sirata for far more help than I wanted to at present. The choice, in the end, was simple.

I collapsed backwards into the pile of stuffed animals, and immediately clung to one that seemed to be shaped like a chest-sized cinnamon roll for comfort. The fluffy texture felt so nice against my skin… and it smelled like her when I squeezed it, sweet and tangy. 

“Ah, that’s much better, isn’t it? All nice and safe and soft and comfy cozy now, belly full of happy delicious food. I’m so happy you agreed to try my way of things, Kathy.”

“S’not m’ name…” I mumbled into the soft fuzz, trying to roll my eyes and instead merely fluttering them. When… whatever she had given me wore off, and when I was fully sober again… I was going to give this woman a piece of my mind.

I just… I just needed a few minutes to rest first. 

Notes:

Hey there! Did you know comments and kudos feed authors good brain juices? It’s true!

you should read my talented girlfriend's writing and also mine too! -sheepwave

If you want to learn more about the setting, the HDG Community Discord is the place to be!

Chapter 4

Notes:

For no particular reason, here's a link to Lollipop by Lil Wayne! (its not another musical number, it was just stuck in my head while writing this chapter) -sheep

CW: they fuck in this one

“Good Morning, Kandi! It is a great time to wake up if you feel like it, and I do hope you enjoyed your little rest!”

I groggily propped myself up in the pet bed, spitting out a few stray strands of fluff as the hab AI woke me. I was still drugged, to the point where it was difficult to tell what light was artificial and what might be coming in from anything resembling windows. The cacophony of colors that was apparently Sirata’s preference in home decor swam wildly as I tried to get my wits about me.

The affini in question was nowhere to be seen, though she could easily just be standing still and blend in with the chaotic interior my addled brain was desperately struggling to make sense of as I made an unsteady attempt to stand. Perhaps she was just off somewhere preparing for her next musical number. I still wasn’t sober enough for my liking, but this was as good a chance as any to escape this garish madhouse. 

Maybe I should transfer to the Occantalis II; I had heard it had a very robust independent community. I could change my name, or perhaps simply throw myself into the vines of the first affini with a set jaw and facial hair I saw and beg to be his, just so Sirata would leave me alone. Enough was enough .

I made it about two meters from the blanket nest before I snagged a toe on the ridiculous rainbow shag carpet and stumbled forward; ‘luckily’ for me, I was safely caught by vines that shot out of the hallway to my left. I struggled against them, but there was really no use in it; I was held fast. I couldn't help but rub my shoulder against her in spite of myself. Sirata felt so good, especially where the nubs of her soft thorns brushed against my skin and left extra tingles in their wake.

“Hello, little pet! You're so affectionate after your little nap, back to the baseline I see.” 

Sirata had changed outfits yet again, this time wearing a full purple suit and high heels, with a little pink tie at her neck made of her flower petals. She sat me down on a bejeweled chair, and planted a wet lipstick kiss on my forehead.

“I’m not a pet,” I reminded her after a moment of rubbing my hands on the glittering surface of the chair cushion and enjoying the sparking tingles of pleasure in every nerve.

She pinched my chin between the two thumbs on her hand, and tilted my head up to look her in the face. “Are you sure? You surely know that word translates ever so broadly to us affini!”

I giggled a little in spite of myself. “Fine, play your linguistic games about cultural domestication, I don’t care. I’m not a floret.”

She seemed more amused by that than anything else, launching into a concerning giggle fit that incidentally wafted several lungfulls of her perfume in my general direction.

“Hmm. I wasn’t expecting the personality overlay to last this long. Come now, Kandi, I’m starting to get a little bored of it. A few days of this game is a long time for a Terran like you! Wouldn’t you rather go back to normal?”

“What in the bloody cosmos are you talking about?”

She bent over and poked at my throat with a thin creeper. “Hmm, yes, even the adorable little accent has outlasted what I expected!”

“I- what? This is just a normal accent! I picked up a lot of the diction when I lived on Remula!”

She let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Sweetie, that planet doesn’t exist. You made it up, remember?”

The dizziness of the drugs was only getting worse with confusion. “But that's not possible. Where's my… where's my book?”

Sirata produced the philosophy book I had been reading from her chest. “You compiled this here, on the Illastria, in that silly little apartment you've been pretending to live in! You keep misplacing this book, you know. You’re very lucky to have me around to spot it when you leave it behind somewhere!”

I snatched the book, and flipped open to the bookmarked page. There it was, right there, the old trading card my last ex had given me when he asked me to marry him, plain as day. It hurt to remember the events that followed, but at least I knew where I was coming from.

“I know what's real,” I said with finality, closing the book shut and placing it beside me on the seat. My belly rumbled loudly. “And I'm not playing along with this game. I’m hungry.”

She stood up straight and gave me a sharp grin. “Well, whatever meal you may desire, I am happy to provide for a sweetie like you!”

I ignored her and addressed the ceiling. “Hab, make me a bowl of plain oatmeal. Unsweetened, 37 degrees, 300 gram serving. No additives of any kind other than nutritional fortification.”

“Of course, miss Saccharum,” it chirped in response. It still didn't have my name right, but whatever, at least it listened.

The smell of cinnamon wafted through the air as it worked, and in a second my familiar breakfast was waiting. It wasn't usually what I'd be having for lunch, but it was the first thing to come to my inebriated mind. Some stars-damned normalcy .

With a loud, melodramatic sigh, Sirata brought me the tray and set it on my lap. I was handed the spoon, which was rather surprising, but I wasn’t going to question something like that. I sank the spoon into my porridge, glaring at her through the steam as I took the first bite.

It was bland and runny. The only redeeming quality was the heat, the vibrations of molecules desperately trying to feign some phantom facsimile of seasoning. It tasted like clinical depression and rainy fog, and I was pretty sure there were synthcubes more appealing.

I nearly gagged as I swallowed, the gooey texture catching at the back of my throat in just the wrong way as I choked it down. I put the spoon down beside the bowl, stewing in misery. Sirata lowered herself down to my eye level, a tone of soothing concern in her voice as she spoke.

“You don’t seem to be having much fun with your meal, sugarplum. Everything alright?”

“Something is wrong with it,” I lied. Nothing was wrong with it. This was exactly how it always tasted, I had just been force-fed so many sweets today my entire calibration was messed up. It was making me think a meal so perfectly good it had been my go-to breakfast every morning since being laid off and dumped back on Remula was unappetizing .

“Well, I know just the thing you need! A hit of flavor from none other than your Sir herself!”

A striped pink vine emerged from the base of Sirata’s abdomen, right around where… genitals would be on the body plan she was mimicking, emerging from an opening in the front of her pants. It was bright pink, and somewhat… phallic at the tip, a similarity I was willing to write off as coincidence until it began spurting thick ropes of golden syrup directly onto my oatmeal.

“Sirata, why is it shaped like…” I groaned, knowing there was no sane answer waiting to reward me for finishing the question. “Never mind.”

I looked down in slightly fascinated disgust at the already unappetizing meal, now glittering amber as she stirred the honeyed ejaculate into the oats with the spoon. Then she lifted a spoonful, and my eyes went wide with horror as I understood the trap I had just built around myself and walked directly into.

I tried to push the bowl away, but my hands were immediately bound and pulled behind me in a way that my heavily drugged body responded to with desperate, molten arousal. She was going to make me eat her… sap. Right here, right now, while she watched…no, while she participated .

“Be a sweet thing, Kandi, and open wide for Sir~”

I at least gave her no choice but to pry my mouth open this time. I earned even more bondage around my limbs in exchange for the second and a half it afforded me before my mouth was forced open and she was feeding me a bite of the newly plant-cum seasoned oatmeal.

The spoon entered my mouth and rested coolly on my tongue as she closed my jaw shut around it, pulling the utensil out. I stared at her for what felt like a full second before my nerves finally managed to send the sensory information up to my brain, and oh stars . It was an explosion of flavor that made my taste buds sing. Sweet and rich with just a hint of spices underneath that warmed my throat in the most delicate of ways, and my eyes tried to roll themselves to the back of my head as I sat there. 

I moaned in pleasure, squirming in her grasp, practically orgasming on the spot from the sheer intensity of sensations delighting my taste buds. It took me at least a full minute before I was able to remember how eating worked, and I finally swallowed the morsel I had been rolling around with my tongue. My mouth fell open, panting, and I looked at her with needy eyes that begged a question I could not bring myself to ask aloud.

Her face was victory incarnate, refusing to grant me mercy. “More?”

“I…yes, please.” I mumbled, and she eagerly fed me another mouthful. The second was just as impossibly good as the first, and everything blurred as she gave me the third, the fourth, on and on. The added sap perfectly balanced the texture of the oats, making a delicious, soupy mixture that I slurped up spoonful after spoonful of, gasping and panting in between bites because I couldn’t even take the time to breathe while that ambrosia was in me.

I lost track of my surroundings and my body. I writhed around in pleasure as each speck of oatmeal against my tongue felt like an orgasm by itself. My legs were spread wide, and I was starting to feel achingly empty between them, the warmth from the spices traveling south and making me squirm.

Finally, the oatmeal was gone, and the bowl licked clean…but I still needed more. My eyes flicked over to the phallic vinetip that had added the ambrosia which transformed inedible slop into a meal of pure hedonistic pleasure. My mouth hung open, drooling, as she lifted the appendage in question to my face. I looked up at her and whimpered, hoping she would take my meaning without my having to ask or acknowledge my need.

“Still hungry, are we? Perhaps more abstractly in meaning~”

“W-want…” Orange, glittering saliva dripped down my chin as I stared at what could only be a pleasure graft. My mouth needed the source of that flavor inside, to suck every drop directly from the tip.

“Want what?”

The graft was now rubbing the bridge of my nose, dripping sweet nectar down my face and filling my nostrils with her intoxicating scent. I tried to suppress a whimper, and didn’t even come close.

“Sirata… please.”

The heat between my legs was only growing as she made me beg. It always went down like this. I was going to need to ask my doctor for memory erasing drugs again if Sirata had made me admit my fantasies to their fullest…or even if she hadn’t.

“So many syllables! I already reminded you the best way to address me, my silly little gumdrop!”  Part of my brain felt like it crumpled at the way she spoke, at the reminder, at the everything.

“Please, Sir,” I begged, thrashing against my binds and trying to get closer to her cock, which she kept just barely out of reach of my mouth.

“Please what?” She leaned in closer and her sharp teeth glinted in the multicolor light as she spoke. “Does she want to lick the lollipop?”

“Please let me suck your graft, Sir,” I practically screamed, twisting in my seat. Satisfied with my pleas, she finally fulfilled the need she had created.

It plunged deep, immediately violating my throat with its sweet coating, the taste all the better now undiluted by tasteless oatmeal. The first few moments were a rough pounding that went to the edge of my throat, coating everything in sticky fluid that left erogenously sensitive flesh wherever it touched. The same juices spilled out from my lips, displaced by her thrusting and beginning to drip onto my chest. Finally, she slowed to a gentler pace. I moaned in delight as she finished demonstrating her dominance of my mouth and let me begin sucking at my own pace. 

It felt too good.  It felt too good. I moaned and whimpered with each thrust, shuddering as the vine seemed to bottom out at a point so deep I wasn’t sure if it was in my stomach. Sirata would change things every so often, taking her hands and forcing my head to move back and forth while the vine remained still, laughing with glee whenever she felt my lips pull into a dazed smile. I did my best to make her feel even one tenth as good as I did, making sure to swirl my tongue to the rhythm she set. There was a dull roaring in my ears that I ignored completely; it wasn’t as important as the pleasure .

Sirata knelt down to my eye level, cock still plunged deep in my mouth. She partly unwound her lower jaw, and repositioned the graft such that she could kiss me around the vine like an additional tongue as it fucked my mouth. It was a surreal experience, sucking cock while her pillowy lips sealed against mine. I lapped at her, moving my tongue up and down her length, rubbing my lips against hers as best I could. The tip and base had slightly different flavors that perfectly complemented each other, and I wanted to soak my tongue in the entire spectrum. 

She let out a satisfied groan, and the graft began to throb, pulling to the shallowest point so my mouth could be filled. Every spurt of her sap into my mouth deepened the haze that lay over my mind, as if the thick gray fog of my hometown had been made of pink gas and popping bubbles. Every swallow was fuel for the rising inferno of need in my pussy.

Once my mouth was completely filled with her sap, she gave me another few deep thrusts for good measure, making my eyes roll back. I swallowed as much of it as I could while she pulled the graft out of my mouth with a wet pop, and I giggled like an idiot while the rest ran down my front. The colors of her room swam with the drugs mixing with the oxygen deprivation, and I likely would have toppled off of the chair had Sirata not rested a heavy hand on either of my shoulders.

“So much less to worry about when it’s harder to think, isn’t that right Kandi?”

There was a loud ripping sound, as Sirata flicked her wrists and tore my sap-soaked dress to ribbons leaving me naked but for the coating of fluids all over me. She planted both her knees between mine, and carefully spread my legs wide. The stretch felt incredible. Her vines slid between me and the chair, groping and squeezing wherever she pleased.

“I’m not…” I moaned as she cleaned the puddle of sticky drool all over my bare tits with a vine that felt similar to a tongue. “Im Kathery… Katter… Katty… Kathny… Kathy? Not Kandi. Kathy Stanton.”

“Whatever you say, sugarplum~”

Sirata gave me a tap on the shoulder, and I automatically pulled my arms up and away from my body, exposing my breasts and underarms, a position of vulnerability that sent fresh tingles of submission and surrender across my entire being. The pure reflexiveness of the action shocked me. Surely she had not managed to train my body to respond to her to this degree in a single night?

One of her berries found its way to my lips, and I bit down greedily. Just as chewy as this morning, like the sweet tang of an entire orchard of oranges had been condensed into a single bite. It was every fruit I had ever loved as a child, but overlaid and multiplied. Mixed with her sap coating the inside of my mouth and throat, the effects stacked and interacted and destroyed any attempt at coherency.

I was lifted and carried over to a surprisingly comfortable couch; surprising because it looked like it was made out of multicolor plastic, yet felt like I was sinking into the softest of cushions. Not that I was in a state to be judging much of anything. My head was full of fizz and bubbles, sucked deep into an ocean of bliss that made me feel heavy and numb. 

I was so small under her as she laid me down on my back upon the couch. Her suit sparkled around the edges where it caught the light, and a thick pink and orange mist was starting to pour from her mouth onto my face, hemmed in by the walls of vines on either side of me, pulling me deeper under.

I was falling through her arms, through the couch cushions, into my own body, into eternity. As if from kilometers away, I felt the wet splatter between my legs of her girldick soaking me in lubricating nectar. I heard my own voice begging and screaming for her to fuck me from the bottom of a well of sensations. Everything was reverberating, everything an echo of a whisper of a notion of coherency. 

Then I felt her against my labia, and had a single moment of clarity, trying to pull myself away from her.

“Wait, slow down, I don-” a vine clamped over my mouth, silencing my pleas for her to stop as she pushed deeper.

“Shhh, just relax, let it happen, my beloved little floret. You know just as well as I do how badly you need this, and I would be remiss if I didn’t give you everything you needed, wanted, desired...do try not to bite your tongue, though. Here we go~!”

She split me wide and I came crashing back into the chasm of drugged bliss as she sank into me. Once she was as deep as I could take, her graft throbbed, expanding to far larger than it had been in my mouth. I screamed into her vine at the ache as I was stretched open.

“Good girl, you take Sir so well~” Even the tiny vibrations of her whispered mutters into my ear were popping my thoughts where they floated like bubblegum. 

She hadn’t even begun to thrust yet, but I moaned and whimpered and desperately fought against the overwhelming pleasure of her inside me, trying to pick myself up, to pull away, but my desperate scrabbling accomplished little. I felt so tight around her, she filled me so completely and perfectly, like she was fucking me with a cock custom-made just for my pussy. She reached as deep as she could go, deeper than any man ever had in the few times I had gotten any action with another human since bottom surgery. A little of her sap spurted out of me, leaking down my labia and making my ass tingle faintly where the runny syrup touched. Then she pulled back, and thrust forward again, and my vision went pink and sparkly. I was coming apart, my own body feeling far away, my entire existence centered on the feeling of my body desperately clenching around her.

Her body bore down on me, my knees pressed down to my shoulders in a mating press as she leveraged her weight to pound into me. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think , just stared up at her as pleasure carved long curving arcs into my mind. I dug my nails into her vines in an attempt to feel some semblance of control, so she pinned each hand in a way that prevented me from feeling or doing anything under my own power. She demanded submission, and in the hazy fog surrounding my mind I surrendered it eagerly.

Sirata pulled out of me fully, and I made a desperate whine of dissatisfaction at the ache of emptiness in my loins. She flipped me over, pressing me facedown, pouring on top of me like an enormous living weighted blanket and swiftly resumed hammering her graft into my cunt. I was helpless and controlled, every limb pinned in place, sticky breasts and belly clinging to the couch. Every moan was a plea for her to fuck me harder, every ragged breath another dose of mind melting chemical joy.

It felt familiar, it felt safe, and it felt like home. And that was the most violating of all. She had certainly done this before, done it enough that my body knew her, knew to spread just right for her to sink deep inside, to arch my back so the textured ridges of her graft rubbed in just the right place. 

How many times had I begged her for this before and forgotten? How long had I been in this hab, had she done nothing but fuck me and erase my memories repeatedly for days straight? That thought turned a key in my mind. 

I flew over the edge, exploding with a gush of sticky liquids that soaked the couch cushion under me. I clamped down on her and screamed, and she adjusted the shape of her cock so that every thrust was a constant bouncing against ridges that extended my orgasm until it reached eternity.

I gasped, every breath laced with the mist she kept floating around my head, as I twisted my neck and looked up at her. It was so easy to see how simultaneously beautiful and handsome Sirata was as my lungs and head swirled with her colorful exhalations. A being of pure, radiant beauty, literally glowing and sparkling in the rainbows that covered my entire field of vision.

For the second time today(?), I passed out in a drugged haze of bliss, staring at the smile on her glittering pink lips.

Notes:

Hey there! Did you know comments and kudos feed authors good brain juices? It’s true!

you should read my talented girlfriend's writing and also mine too! -sheepwave

If you want to learn more about the setting, the HDG Community Discord is the place to be!

Chapter 5

Notes:

this chapter's music rec is Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time) by Elton John.

CW: Let the gaslighting begin! unless it already began? who knows!

“Wake up, Kandi! Your owner set an alarm for your little nap!”

The soft sound of a piano scale greeted me as I blearily stirred, and clambered down from the couch. I tried to get my bearings through the haze that inundated every one of my senses, which the wandering sound of keys did not help. I also appeared to be wearing a purple and green spotted dress, though I couldn’t remember changing into. At least it matched my collar, I supposed.

Sirata was sitting at a full-size grand piano, wearing a glittering sequined purple dress that shimmered iridescent at the edges. It was a bit of a ridiculous sight, since she dwarfed the instrument. The affini size cocktail glass sitting on the corner of the lid looked absurdly large in comparison, a fizzy cerulean gallon of durataxin sitting daintily upon a stem of fine glass.

She paused briefly between scales as she looked me over, finally giving me a single raised eyebrow. “So. To whom am I speaking with now, hmm?”

I raised my own eyebrow in confusion. “...Stanton? Kandi Stanton? Independent terran?”

She let out a laugh that showed the many points of her jagged teeth. She continued the warmup as she spoke, vines stretching across the entire keyboard.

She shifted her scales into a minor key. “Partway correct isn’t bad! And after four cycles I figured… ah, no matter. Maybe I can help your memory recover faster this time.”

“I don't need to recover from anything, I need to go home.”

She let out a long sigh. “You are home, Kandi. And when you leave for your little games, I just…I miss you terribly. My core aches for your embrace each night.”

I fidgeted with the familiar weight of my collar around my neck, hooking my index finger in the ring. “Sirata, I am an independent. I have a very carefully scheduled routine and spending the night here wasn’t on it. I’m sorry, but I really must go.”

The scale ended, and Sirata gave me a look of quiet contemplation for a few moments. I glanced around the ridiculous decor of the room, hoping to communicate it was time to let me leave.

Unfortunately, my fleeting hope that her warmup would be the end of the music I would be subjected to today was dashed completely as Sirata suddenly slammed down a minor chord and began belting.

“She packed my bags last night, pre-flight… zero hour, nine AM. And I'm gonna be hii-iii-iiiigh… as a kite by then.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “...Okay, enjoy singing, Sirata. I’m not going to stop you, can I just go-”

The lights simultaneously cut out, plunging the room into darkness save for the four glowing spots of her eyes, before a single yellow spotlight overhead burned, casting her and I into sharp contrast as she launched into the ballad proper. 

“I miss the Earth so much, I miss my wife. It's lonely out in space… On such a tiii-iiiii-iimeless flight.”

A bass guitar had joined the song without my noticing, and without any obvious physical origin. The tune was simultaneously melancholy and deeply catchy. There was an elegant simplicity to the piano and deep vibrations of the bass complimenting the high tenor of her voice. 

“And I think it's gonna be a long, long time, 'til touchdown brings me 'round again to find… I'm not the man they think I am at home. Oh, no, no, no. I'm a rocket man!”

The sound of a guitar and drums were welcomed in, the players of the instruments as mysterious as the bass. The tune shifted to a more upbeat tone, even if it remained heavy in the minor keys. 

“Rocket maa-aaa-an, burning out his fuse up there alone.”

I realized I was tapping my foot along and nodding in time to the beat. I frowned, and stopped. Sirata took another long drink and then launched into a repetition of the chorus.

“And I think it's gonna be a long, long time, 'til touchdown brings me 'round again to find… I'm not the man they think I am at home. Oh, no, no, no! I'm a rocket maaaan. Rocket maaaan, burning out his fuse up there alone.”

The spotlight dimmed to a cooler blue as the song shifted from chorus to verse. The melody shifted back to understated and introspective. Sirata took a long sip of her sparkling blue liquid from the enormous martini glass and winked at me, continuing to play the slightly wistful chord progression and melody.

“Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids. In fact, it's cold as hell… And there's no one there to raise them, if you diiiiid.”

This song was ancient, if Terra was being described as a better place to live than Mars. It must have been from the late 2300s, when colonization had barely begun. My entire body was swaying along with the music now, following the beat along with the bassier notes.

“And all this science, I don't understand. It's just my job, five days a week. A rocket- maaaa-aaaa-aaaa-an, rocket man!”

A synth line had joined in at some point. The piano melody signalled a return to the chorus, and I couldn't help but hum along as it started. Did I know this song? Surely I had never heard it before; the cafe I visited preferred more modern tunes.

“And I think it's gonna be a long, long time, ‘til touchdown brings me 'round again to find, I'm not the man they think I am at home, Oh, no, no, no! I'm a rocket maaaan… Rocket man, burning out his fuse up there alone!”

The chorus started a second time, and I leaned back against the piano, harmonizing with her, staring into the deep glowing wells of her eyes like we had rehearsed it.

“And I think it's gonna be a long, long time, ‘til touchdown brings me 'round again to find… I'm not the man they think I am at home, Oh, no, no, no. I'm a rocket maaan. Rocket maaaaaaan, burning out his fuse up there alone.”

There was something almost hypnotic about the tune, like I had heard it before, been sung it as a love song a thousand times in a lifetime I couldn’t remember. I knew the words to the outro somehow, and sang along with her without even thinking.

“And I think it's gonna be a long, long time…And I think it's gonna be a long, long time… And I think it's gonna be a long, long time…”

Sirata smiled, and the lights slowly came back up as she repeated the final line and brought the song to an end. I realized I was grinning wide back at her, and blinked a few times to shake the spell off of me. Getting way into music was normal, it was why I didn’t usually listen to music.

Sirata closed the piano cover and gave me a pointy grin. “Just like old times. Good to have you back, my sweet.” She picked up the glass on the piano, and poured the rest down her throat, followed by the glass itself, which crunched between her jagged teeth before being quickly ground to dust. 

“Um, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but thank you for singing to me again, it's been a very… musical day.”

She looked at me quizzically. “Again? Whatever do you mean, pumpkin?”

I blinked in confusion, and she took the opportunity to hook a vine into my collar and pull me closer. My skin immediately burned with hot arousal as I was tugged into her lap beside the piano, even as I tried to protest.

“Please, this isn't what I want. I'm an independent, Daddy.”

She let out an amused snort. Something was wrong, like two contradictory objects were trying to exist in the same space, overlapping on top of each other. I was reminded of stereograms, of the hours I had spent trying to cross my eyes just right to produce an image that never seemed to appear for me. I just didn’t have the knack for it. The headache I was currently acquiring felt frighteningly similar.

“Come now, Kandi. Playtime is over. Let your Daddy have her fun with her little treat.  We both know what you are.”

It was hard to focus with how she kept touching me everywhere, vines slipping under my dress and groping at my butt and breasts. I tried not to moan and failed spectacularly. Pink and orange mist was starting to swirl around me again, and every breath made me more aware of how much my body craved to be touched. I squirmed against her as best I could, and she eventually let up to let me speak again.

“I…what am I?” I blinked again, belatedly adding, “To you, I mean.”

A beat, a sharp and weary laugh, and a soft sigh. “Kandi, please. Can we take a break, at least? A cheat day? We could visit the forward deck again, have a picnic under the stars like we used to.”

The headache intensified, and I genuinely paused for a second to catch my bearings. Sirata sounded… looked genuine. “I…is this a game or something? What are you talking about?”

“I see.” She paused and looked down for a moment, then seemed to come alive once more. Her eyes blazed brightly, and her smile was as wide as ever. “Oh yes, little Kandi. You and I are in a wonderful game together, aren’t we?” 

Her vines began to writhe over my skin again, drawing ever more heightened gasps from my lips as she did so with just as much skill as when she drew music from her instruments. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and what felt like three hands were now dancing on my inner thighs, like my legs were divided into a piano scale. It wasn't entirely inaccurate, but the keening noises I was making were definitely not in tune.

“I don’t…let me g rrrrpph- ” My plea was cut short as her vines claimed my mouth, pinning my tongue helplessly so she could continue her speech.

“And I do hope you’ve been enjoying your time playing as Katherine Stanton, I do. Please don’t ever believe for a second that I am upset, or disappointed. It's just…I miss my best friend, Kandi. She was a radiant star, a cherry on top of a perfect sundae made just for me. Can you imagine what it’s like to speak with someone who chooses not to remember your fondest memories together?”

Even as her vines violated my mouth with increasing fervor, she oh-so-gently brushed down my cheek with the back of her finger. I think I managed to drool in response. Sirata giggled softly, playing with my hair and twisting it between her fingers as I suckled and licked.

I felt lost in my mind at the words, at the genuine emotions behind them. It was starting to hurt to think. She was lying, right? This was just her playing games with me, fucking around in my head for fun. Trying to make me doubt myself and who I was. There was no way I was a floret, right? I mean, she was obviously quite physically attractive to me, even if slightly less purely feminine than my usual tastes in partners. 

My head pounded again, the knot of threads making up my thoughts being tugged from too many directions at once. I gazed with awe and wonder at Sirata, at Daddy, at the stranger, at-

Suddenly, an elegant chime played from the hab AI speakers, followed closely by the sound of a kazoo scale, interrupting my existential panic.

“Miss Saccharum, this is a scheduled reminder for Kandi’s appointment at Dr. Micaline’s clinic you made last week. You should leave within the next few minutes if you wish to arrive on-time.”

I looked up at the ceiling, then back at her. The gears slowly turned in my head as I managed to process the words, latching onto the idea like a lifeline and refusing to let go. Micaline was my doctor, so she would know what to do, to set this confusion straight. If Sirata wouldn’t listen to me, surely she would listen to her.

“Let’s go then, please? To the appointment?”

It admittedly didn’t make a lot of sense that I would have an appointment now. It was probably long past nightfall and dark out; I had been here all day, taken a nap twice, and sat through more than one musical number. But all that mattered was getting to some sort of unbiased third party so they could reassure me of the truth . I waited with breath held as she considered the idea, weighing the options before her.

“Absolutely! But before we go, let’s get you properly dressed.”

I was stripped of my outerwear yet again, bringing the unfortunate discovery that I had apparently been wearing bright red and white lingerie underneath it with patterns that seemed(and smelled) faintly of peppermint. Sirata replaced the companion dress with a pair of surprisingly warm and pleasingly textured yoga pants and a tight pink long sleeve shirt, upon the latter of which the golden text ‘Daddy’s Girl’ was printed, stretched to comical proportions by my breasts. A sequined cardigan went over that, followed by a bright white puffy jacket that both looked, felt, and smelled like a roasted marshmallow, complete with a browned trim at the bottom. 

I adjusted my collar in the mirror. I felt a little overdressed, but at least I looked like a completely normal independent again. I could handle a bit of affini over-preparedness if it meant finally leaving this place.

The door swung open to reveal the evening autumn… snow? 

I rubbed my eyes, looked again at the thick blanket of white powder coating the surface of everything, the morning starlight near blinding as it reflected off the surface. It was morning?

I was starting to suspect I might be missing something critical. 

“How long have I been in this hab, Sirata?”

She laughed, hooked a vine through my collar, and hurried me out the door. “We have lived here since the conclusion of the terran cotyledon program, gumdrop. Now, we have places to be! Don't you remember your veterinarian's appointment?”

“Um. okay, sure, right.” I wasn’t going to touch the rest of what she had said with a ten foot candy cane.

We set off along the path. despite her implied rush, she didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry, stopping to admire every single bush we passed, jumping up piles of snow, and chatting up every affini we passed. I was simply along for the ride. We eventually reached a large park where untouched powder stretched all the way to the treeline. A gaggle of florets were playing tag with a xenrani in the distance. I felt a tug on my leash and turned back to Sirata, only to stop walking at the sight.

Carefully pinched between both thumbs on her hand was a proportionally tiny snowcone, a vivid rainbow of ice crystals drenched with syrup and tiny flakes of caramelized sugar, atop a shimmering purple and pink funnel. I gingerly accepted it, and my mouth began to water immediately. Even with my sense of smell weakened by the cold air, the treat tempted me terribly, and the smile on Sirata’s face suggested she knew exactly how much.

The drool running down my face felt cold in the winter air as I was unable to even think about resisting the urge to eat it. It was satisfyingly crunchy and melted on my tongue immediately, a burst of sweet lemonade and serilga juice on my taste buds that effortlessly pulled a long moan from my soul.

A quiet part of me dreaded the inevitable drugged side effects as I helplessly devoured the shaved ice, but…none seemed to be coming. The sprinkles crunched satisfyingly between my molars, and the syrup that had collected at the bottom was a delight to drip onto my tongue when I tilted my head back and let it fall.

I finished my snowcone with a satisfied sigh, shocked that I was still more or less sober after having finished one of Sirata’s desserts. Certainly not more drugged than I had been before. I guess for once she actually just wanted to give me something tasty to eat. My hands came away dyed bright orange as I wiped my face, but that was hardly surprising. I didn't know what to do with the cup, so I offered it back to her to deal with. 

“You didn’t finish, cupcake! Allow me~”

Sirata crumpled the paper between her fingers and stuffed the ball in my mouth before I had a chance to respond, holding my head in place so I couldn’t struggle. It dissolved on my tongue almost immediately, and the dizzying euphoria of a massive xenodrug payload hit my brain within seconds.

I stumbled backwards as she released her grip, only to be ensnared in her vines a moment later. I glared up at her with an accusatory look, but aiming something as complicated as my own eyesight was getting hard, so I opted to let her carry me as we continued. A vine snaked into my mouth and prompted my tongue forward with gentle caresses outward. I shivered as each little snowflake landed, a cold wet burst across my senses.

Our path to the clinic led us near the terrans who had been playing with the xenra earlier. The one that had a face smiled and waved with three of her arms, and the other gave Sirata and I both a little dollish curtsy as we passed. I tried to wave back but mostly just bonked myself in the tits. 

One of Sirata’s hands wrapped appreciatively around my backside, running over the texture of the leggings she had put me in as she squeezed. The bumps conducted against my skin quite pleasantly as she did. The burning in my chest grew and grew, especially as she began to wind tendrils under my jacket and play with me further.

I looked up into her eyes with a feeling of desperate, confused arousal. How did she know how to make my body sing so easily? Drugs alone could surely not explain it. I sniffed, but not from the cold. There was some desperate, lost yearning for something, filtered through a barrier that felt at once ironclad and ever so brittle.

“Don’t worry, Kandi. Dr. Micaline will surely be able to help with this persistent little memory issue you’ve been having. The program ended long ago, after all.”

It was hard to focus on her words, harder still to tie them to any relevant meaning. “Okay, Daddy.” I was too high to care beyond that.

My eyes wandered, and I smiled at the familiar sight of other humans skittering around us and speaking in the usual language of clicks and buzzes as we took a detour around the frozen ichor lake, winding though a small cluster of trees whose bark looked like metal and bone. 

Sirata ran her fingers through my hair, and I let the relaxation take me. I shifted in her arms to get more comfortable, and felt something press into me though my jacket. I clumsily reached into the pocket, and found the book Sirata had given me. I opened it lazily to the page that was bookmarked, but I didn’t recognize a single letter of text on the page. Had it been written in affini script the whole time? 

I ran my fingers over the words, feeling the subtle differences in texture between bare paper and inky meaning. My fingers had touched this page, had thumbed through the previous ones with ease. I could see the slight bend on page twenty four, when I had accidentally bumped into someone mid-walk. This was my book, and yet it was alien to me. How odd.

I turned the trading card that was my bookmark over, and found a note written in carefully penned golden ink. It must be for someone else, since it claimed to be from the recipient’s future husband. When I was sober again, I would have to ask Sirata about getting that card back to its original owner, it probably carried a lot of sentimental meaning.

I tilted my head back, and gazed into the nine burning suns that floated along the axis of the hab ring. Sirata started to hum some hauntingly familiar tune with mumbled lyrics about blurred lines, and I let my eyes drift shut.

Notes:

For no particular reason, you might be interested by the collection of stories titled Tales from the Iphyrean.

Hey there! Did you know comments and kudos feed authors good brain juices? It’s true!

you should read my talented girlfriend's writing and also mine too! -sheepwave

If you want to learn more about the setting, the HDG Community Discord is the place to be!

Chapter 6

Notes:

This chapter's music rec is I Can't Feel my Face by The Weeknd.

CW: sex again.

“Wake up, Kandi! We’re finally here!”

I blinked awake slowly. “The… at the doctor’s? For my appointment?”

Sirata gave me an odd look, then slowly responded, “Doctor's appointment? No Princess, the party! Don’t you remember?”

I blinked a few times before I looked around the snow- wait, where did it all go? Why wasn't there any snow on the ground? It wasn’t just melted, it was gone , with the vibrant grass and flowers seemingly mocking me as they gently swayed in the warm twilight air. I blinked again, harder, but the thick blanket of white puffy condensed water refused to come back.

“...What?”

“Jess's party? It’s the Captain’s pet’s Adoption Day. Kandi, you’ve been practically begging me to come to this for weeks! Don’t tell Daddy you’re getting cool toes now?”

Sirata carried me over to the bathrooms and carefully lowered me to the ground by a big floor-to-ceiling mirror. She pulled a wrapped lollipop out of the pocket of her dress, unwrapped it, and popped it in my open mouth. It tasted delicious, like lemon and cherry! I looked in the mirror, and absentmindedly realized I must have lost my jacket at some point. There was some writing on my shirt, but it was backwards, so I couldn’t read it very well. My boobs looked great, though! 

I looked up to my face and noticed a Weird Thing that had been placed there, some kind of mask. Which… was a bit silly; whoever put it there must have thought it would be enough to fool me, but I knew what I looked like, so jokes on them! I would recognize the pout of my own bubblegum pink glossy lips, pink and blonde highlights, and of course, the collar I always wore.

Sirata reached down the back of my shirt, her fingertips firmly massaging up and down my spine and touching my neck a lot. It felt so nice and tingly, and my back arched as I gasped…though it was okay, because it made my boobs look great!

“Now, Daddy is going to go say hello to her friends, okay gumdrop? Be good!”

“Okay. Byeeee Daddyyyy!”

She gave me a good-bye grope and a push on the backside towards where most of the other humans and florets were gathering before she sauntered over in the direction of several affini. I couldn’t help but watch her walk away, wiping a bit of drool from my chin with the back of my hand. Stars , why were women so… pretty…

I began to clumsily totter in the direction Daddy had pushed me. It was a lot to take in, so many colors and noises and music! There were so many people at the party, and everyone was wearing masks like me! There was even a maelodion DJing by the front wearing one with like, a million little openings for all their eyespots! It was almost too much, but I could just focus on the candy Sirata had given me. The harder I sucked on the yummy lollipop, the less room there seemed to be to think. 

The music was pumping, some old Martian dance classic from the 30s, but I wanted to move, so I did! I wasn’t really looking where I was going as I wiggled around, and I accidentally bumped into a pair of women who both had wooden arms that had been having a serious sounding conversation in voices barely loud enough to hear. How boring!

I gave them a friendly wave. “Hiiii, I’m Ka… Kat… Kandi!”

They exchanged glances, and one of them took a slight step back. The one with gold trim on her arms talked first. “Uh. Hi, I’m Jenny, nice to meet you?”

“25,” mumbled the other, looking me over. “I…uh, like your shirt?”

“Hiiii, thanksss! You guys are like, so cute together, woah.” I flipped the lollipop over in my mouth, and my eyes rolled back in my head as I discovered the other side had a different flavor. It tasted delicious, like cherry and lemon!

“We aren’t… what?” I jumped as a stranger spoke to me, some lady with wooden arms and gold trim. Did they mistake me for someone else? Weird.

I wandered away from the two doll girls, past a cuddle pile and then some guy with frosted blue hair chatting up a floret. He would be cute…if I was into boys that way. Sucks for him; Daddy said I was a catch! The floret looked more my speed, especially with her pinkalicious outfit and pretty collar. I might not be a floret, but I could appreciate a good collar, since I wore one all the time.

I took a step towards them before I felt a tap on my butt. I turned around and saw Sirata again, standing with another four-eyed affini and a girl in a maid dress with a mask that had bunny ears on top.

“Oh Kandi! Have you been behaving, pumpkin?”

“I think so!” I pointed at the newcomers with a wobbly finger. “Who are they?”

“This is my friend Miss Vee, and this little cutie is your friend Alice, don’t you remember? From school, back on Remula?”

I blinked in confusion. I was pretty sure Sirata had said Remula wasn’t a real place, but I flipped the lollipop over in my mouth, and my eyes slowly drifted shut as I discovered the other side had a different flavor. It tasted delicious, like lemon and cherry! 

I ended up forgetting to reply, so after a moment the girl (Alice?) cleared her throat and smiled widely. “Hey Kathy. Long time no see! Wanna do some drugs?”

“I could go for some drugs.” I scrunched my face up to concentrate through the haze of golden bubbles all over my thoughts. “I’m like, stone cold sober right now, so I should get my party on!” I didn’t want to look like a lame prude or something; I was fun and footloose and fancy feast! Er…whatever the saying was.

Alice grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me over to a nearby assortment of colorful couch cushions arranged around a low table. We plopped onto a big fuzzy surface with raised edges, and I stared at her for a while. She said she knew me, but it was real hard to remember where from. I got distracted by gay thoughts for a bit before remembering we were doing drugs. “So, uh. Do you have a… like, a class-A gummy for me?”

“What? No. I got the good stuff, babe, like we used to do in college when we snuck out of remedial English class instead of reading books for children.” She reached into the side pocket of her dress, and pulled out a bag of little white powder that glittered like pretty sugar crystals. “Space cocaine!”

I squinted at it, watching it catch the light. “Is that a xenodrug?”

“I dunno, I got it from a beeple named Zedd back on the Occantalis II, I didn’t ask. Just don’t worry about it, babe.”

“Okay. Yay!”

Alice reached over to the table, where someone had left some boring looking philosophy book with a bookmark sticking out of it. “We can do it off of this!”

She pulled the bookmark out and handed it to me, then used it to shape the contents of the bag into two lines. I stared at the bookmark, something resembling a thought trying to form in my head. It was actually a playing card, and it said… ‘Phyrexian Metamorph’ on it, whatever that meant. The back had golden lettering that felt… weird, like I couldn’t focus on it at all to read the words. While I was distracted by the bookmark, Alice pulled her mask off, pinched one nostril and snorted her way up the line with a delayed moan. 

“Fuck! That’s fizzier than I remembered… oh, Mistress…”

She flopped sideways, landing in my lap, and I was even more distracted by gay thoughts than before. I could kind of peek down the front of her dress, and damn she was stacked. Were all florets on Class G’s? 

I felt her hand lazily crawl up past my huge boobs and grab my jaw, tilting my gaze towards her mouth. “Your turn, Kathy.”

“Okay…” 

Alice handed me the book we were using to snort space cocaine off of; as I leaned down with my own nose pinched, she launched into some rambling story.

“Have you ever done something stupid?” She paused, sniffed, and wiped under her nose. “No, I don’t mean that time you tried a burgeoning career as a podcaster. Or that one time…” Alice looked at me, eyes swiveling down at my shirt, then at my hair, then back at my face. “Actually, never mind, I’ll skip the intro, you’ve definitely done something this stupid. So there I was, pilot of the River of Reason, about to order a second jump into a-”

I tuned her out and leaned down to snort my way up the line of powder, and after a moment of burning, it hit me like a rinan rocket booster. I wasn’t sure If I had ever had regular cocaine, but this was space cocaine. That meant it made me spacier, or something. Every one of the fluffy cotton candy ideas sitting in the back of my mind was the best idea ever. 

“...and trust me, I fought tooth and nail every step of the way, but what was I supposed to do at that point? I just kept getting littler no matter what I did! So I popped the cork on the next juice bottle, and it turns out that you can actually pee your…”

There were stars and galaxies swirling behind my eyelids, fractals and equations I suddenly understood with absolute clarity. All seven and a half fundamental forces, unified in a grand design that would allow a determined mind to ascend the entire universe into a perfect paradise, if only they understood what I did in this moment. If only they had what it took.

“...and there was this big grinning cat on a tree branch! I think her name is Tamai? I saw her at the party earlier by the punchbowl. I never did figure out why a raven is like a writing desk. Anyway, so then…”

I needed to do something, I needed to make something, I needed to write a book of my own, I needed to paint and sew and sing. As the burst of focus coalesced into a pure creative vision, I flipped the lollipop over in my mouth, and my eyes slowly drifted shut as I discovered the other side had a different flavor. It tasted delicious, like cherry and lemon!

…What was I thinking about again?

“...and I found out that the queen of hearts isn't even in Magic the Gathering! So anyway, that’s how I met Miss Vee! What about you and Miss Saccharum?”

“Uhh…who’s that?” I blinked, looking over at the two affini. “Oh, you mean Daddy? Um…I think, like, the same way you did with your affini.”

“You’re funny, Kathy, I’m glad we met!”

“I thought we were already friends?”

“Oh yeah. Huh.” she shrugged, then itched the back of her neck. “Anyway, space cocaine is great, but if you like this you should ask your owner for one of the harder ones, like J or L.”

“Oh, I don’t have an owner. I’m an independent.”

She continued talking, despite my having corrected her mistake. “All of the Omega class xenodrugs are great, cuz if you do them enough you never fully come back down.” She giggled. “I think Ls are my fave, though maybe I'll try microdosing Os if Mistress lets me!”

I drooled a little in confusion. “Doesn’t that one have like… side effects?”

“Nah! Or, okay, it does a little, but I was blonde anyway, and I just wear contacts to cover my irises being gold when we shoot florn! Also bend over, I wanna eat you out.”

“Huh?”

Alice suddenly pushed me onto the table and spread my legs, reaching to pull down my- oh, I hadn’t been wearing pants or underwear anyway, right.

“Oh, your Daddy is one of those, huh?” I felt a numbed, blunted sensation of a tongue running between the folds of my pussy. “Fuck, that tastes so delicious, Kathy. I hope she made you flexible enough to already know that, because otherwise you are missing out.”

I twisted around and looked over my shoulder, and saw the entire lower half of her face was covered in an oddly familiar sticky golden fluid of some kind. A long trail of ichor and saliva connected her mouth to my pussy, glistening as it slowly drooped and broke.

She dived back in, and I felt her tongue begin to probe further back towards my tailbone, and shuddered as she began a lapping, swirling motion that made my toes curl. Finally, she plunged directly into my ass, forcing a moan around my lollipop and dripping from my quivering lips. 

“Oh, how adorable!”

I looked up from my place bent over the table with Alice’s tongue deep in my asshole and saw both Sirata and Alice’s owner standing over us. “H-hhhiiii D-ddaaaaddyyyy,” I managed to whimper out.

The two of them had taken off their masks at some point, and were so deeply intertwined it was hard to tell them apart, even through their clothes. They picked Alice and I up before taking a seat in the nearest affini-sized couch. 

I realized I was the only one still wearing a mask, so I tried to tug mine off to make it even steven, but the thing wouldn’t budge. Daddy’s vines came up and pulled my fingers away from it as she said, “Sweetling, you can’t take yours off until we get home~”

“Why noooooot?” I put on my best pout, quavering my bottom lip and everything.

“Because I was worried it would fall off and you would lose it, soooo I just used a bit of tasty adhesive to make sure it would stay on!” She giggled, flicking my nose. “We’ll get it off later, don’t worry. It will melt against my tongue.”

I frowned briefly. Is that…normal? I couldn’t really remember how masks worked, but that seemed a bit silly. Still, Daddy knew best, so I eventually nodded. She smiled at me and gave my cheek a pinch, then raised her gaze to the affini next to her.

“Hmmm. Say, Vera, might I borrow Alice?”

“Only if you don’t mind me sampling your floret as well.”

That was weird, I was pretty sure Sirata didn’t have a floret, were they here somewhere? I didn’t have time to look, because Miss Vee grabbed me by mistake instead. I squealed loudly as her vines began to grope and squeeze me just as much as Daddy appeared to be doing to Alice.

Both of us were starting to moan, and the vines weren’t staying on top of our clothes either. Both affini had extended special feathery petals covered in little dots that glowed faintly, and were rubbing the pollen all over us. Everywhere it stuck felt more and more intense, and I was stuck in a loop of writhing and grinding and trying to get covered in as much of the sparkly dust as possible.

Suddenly, an accusatory voice rang out from below the four of us. “Hey!” I twisted around and spotted one of the doll girls from earlier, 25, pointing a wooden finger at us, and then jabbing it to the left. “I know where this is going. Go fuck in the splash zone, you four.”

I had no idea where this was going; we were on the Cymbidium, right? Sirata just giggled and gave 25 a somewhat sticky pat on the head, which the girl did not seem very thrilled about. “Fair point, little one!”

The combined vines of Miss Vee-rata swooped up Alice and I once more, and relocated to a much wider- and more waterproof looking- couch. I turned and looked over my shoulder, confused. Alice and I had switched places, and I was left in Miss Vee’s lap straddling her thickest vine, with Alice spooning me from between Sirata’s enormous thighs. 

“Why did we have to move again? What’s a splash zone?”

Nobody answered me, since Sirata was busy taking off Alice’s maid outfit, and then I forgot what the question was because she was naked and her dick looked so cute in its frilly little cage.

I didn’t have time to think about anything before Miss Vee’s vines went back under my shirt and tore it clean off, leaving me stark naked other than the mask on my face and the smears of yellow and pink dust that Alice and I were both coated in.

Miss Vee leaned in, tilting my chin back up to look her in the eyes. I hoped she didn’t mind having to dry clean her turtleneck, it was covered in Sirata’s pollen now.

“Um. Hi?”

“Hello, little pet.”

“I’m not a floret, actually, I’m an- iiiieeee!”

I made a squeal as she pinched both of my nipples hard, and I rocked my hips against the throbbing vine between my legs without thinking about anything- other than the candy in my mouth, of course.

“Oh, she is delightful, and the reconstruction youve done on her body is a work of art. You’d barely even know she was such a troubled cotyledon. I simply need to see what noises she makes when I fuck her. Do you mind, Sirata?”

Sirata laughed, and leaned over to kiss Miss Vee over my head. “Of course not! Go right ahead~.”

Vee spun me around, so my back was facing her and my front was facing Alice and Sirata with my arms pinned behind me. I was a little confused about what was going on. “A coddle-what? And shouldn’t you be asking me that?”

Miss Vee answered by gripping me tight by the hips and covering my mouth as she teased the enormous slick vine against the hole that was still dripping her floret’s saliva, the one that wasn't sealed tight by Daddy’s sap. 

“No.”

She rammed it up inside me, hard. I let out a muffled scream of pleasure into her hand and then collapsed forward. Alice caught me, giggling into my ear, until I heard her mumble “Oh, right,” and then rocked against me herself as Sirata began doing the same thing to her.

Vines pulled us in tight against each other, repositioned our legs into an interlocking lotus position, and Alice’s caged dick was pressed right against my clit as her owner and my very good friend and roomate Sirata rammed us together over and over.

I slumped my chin onto Alice’s shoulder, and stared blankly into Daddys quartet of glowing eyes. Miss Vee was whispering something to her floret, something about submission and good maids and rutting, words that caused Alice to dig her nails into my back and grind faster.

In response, I felt Daddy tilt my face down to Alice’s neck, and I was guided to clamp my teeth into her soft flesh, hard . Her skin tasted of candy and cherry and lemon and balsamic salad dressing and… stars, it was delicious.

“Oh, by the way, I’ve added a slight trigger to Alice. Here, press about two centimeters further past her prostate, and you’ll-”

Alice interrupted with a loud wailing scream, and I felt nails drag roughly down my back as she shuddered violently. I sucked in pollen saturated air in response, my eyes rolling back into my head from the sensations crossing wires and shooting sparks all the way to my toes.

“Oh~ I have an idea.” One of the two slipped by us with a voice laden with mischievous glee. I barely managed to focus on Daddy’s face above me when I 

felt

something pressed into the small of my back, thrumming with an energy that was… wow . Alice gasped and straightened her back as presumably whatever happened to me happened to her, and then-

Alice was…Daddy? But Alice was also Miss Vee, and also also Alice. And I was Daddy and Miss Vee and me, and it all wrapped around itself into a singularity of sweetness.

Miss Vee gently stroked along the back of my arm and I lifted it, letting it hang limply from strings of intention and understanding before precisely wrapping my fingers under Alice’s jaw and pulling her in for a kiss that melted both of us. I felt her hands roam over my breasts and neck, only with the fervor of Daddy adding to the desperation of the floret and the control of her Owner. She smiled down at me as the kiss finally ended, another golden string connecting Alice’s lips to mine. Her vines curled under my chin, anchoring me in place with the lightest of touches.

“Does my little sweetie want to cum?”

“Please, Daddy, please!”

“Good girl.”

I felt a tingling in the back of my neck that slowly spread down my spine, and suddenly I was screaming at the top of my lungs, overwhelmed by pleasure that blew out every sense I had.

“Again.”

I felt an uncountable number of vines envelop us fully, the two affini becoming something closer to a single entity around us as they groped and pinched and squeezed and used with increasing focus.

“Again.”

An explosion of sticky fluids sprayed all over the combined vines of the two affini, mixing with the pollen and the sap and the pleasure. I thought about what it would taste like, and wondered if I already knew and forgot already.

“And one last time, again!”

My body had nothing left to give, but Alice joined me this time, gushing a clear fluid from her cage that splattered all over my belly and began running down between my legs.

As I gazed into Sirata’s eyes and began to fall, I flipped the lollipop over in my mouth, and my eyes slowly drifted shut as I discovered the other side had a different flavor. It tasted delicious, like clementines and honey!

Notes:

Hey there! Did you know comments and kudos feed authors good brain juices? It’s true!

you should read my talented girlfriend's writing and also mine too! -sheepwave

If you want to learn more about the setting, the HDG Community Discord is the place to be!

Chapter 7

Summary:

Last chapter recap:

Kandi and Sirata went to a party, and had sex with Alice and Miss Vee.

Notes:

This chapter’s song rec is Toxic by Brittany Spears

“Wake up, Kandi! I’m home!!”

I felt…pretty good, all things considered. Warm, but not too warm. Comfortable, but not too comfortable. Sirata’s voice cut through the fuzzy cloud of sleep and helped me get back to where I was meant to be.

I was lying on some kind of metal operating table, and certainly a lot cleaner than I thought I would be, though. No sticky sap and pollen, no sugar or honey, and- when I felt my face- no mask.

Thank the stars above, no mask.

…Wait, what mask?

I heard a pop, a strange ringing in my ears, as the details of the dream started to fade. I straightened up from the sofa, and my wonderful, handsome Human Boyfriend walked in, her f̵̠͊͝͝ő̵̟̞u̵̳̮̦̍̕ṛ̷͔͊̀͂ eyes each a glowing galaxy of vivid purples and rich pinks. They matched the dress and hat she was wearing. I yawned, and scratched at the weird itch on the back of my neck. I was so sore at the top of my spine, for some reason. I must have slept funny.

As I looked around our home, I wasn’t quite sure why there were so many machines around us. A bunch of tubes ran from one of them, connecting to a large opening in my lower abdomen that was full of pretty flowers. They matched the petals in her hair.

Sirata sat in the chair beside me, scooping me up into her flowing tendrils, careful not to disturb the various things connected to me. I felt my entire nervous system glow at her touch, filled with the sparks of her love in every atom of my being. 

It was so perfect. 

I was so lucky to live with her, especially in wartime. The machines made a noise in rhythm with my heartbeat, a steady gurgle like they were filtering something out of me. There was a tank full of some pitch fluid that seemed to have overflowed completely, but Sir had put down a few buckets around it, so it would be fine for another while.

“Where are we, Daddy? Did something happen?”

“Hmm.” She crouched down beside me, kissed me on the forehead, and spoke softly. “Can you try counting to ten for me?”

“What? One, two, three- um.” I blinked, something jagged like glass that had been buried resurfacing for a moment. I pushed her away, confusion warring with trust and fear. “Wait, what the bloody hell am I even doing here? You kidnapped me, you absolute madwoman.”

I blinked, looked down once more at the state of my body, and screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

I felt a pinch on my shoulder, and everything got comfycozyhazy again. The silly dreams about spaceships and aliens from outer space felt so much further away when she gave me the nice drugs. 

I was having such a strange day, and I had barely even woken up! I doubted it was my period, considering the mass of tubes where my privates would usually be. I was just being hysterical. Perhaps one day Sirata would get me a lobotomy. They were all the rage with my friends.

“Looks like your implant is still having trouble. Can you try again, sweetie? Just count to ten, nice and slow for me.”

“Um… one, two, three, f-f̵̑o̵̮̒̔ũ̶̯̜̃̏r, five, six, s- s- s- s̶- š̸̳- s̵̛͔̬-̶͚͇̚… um. Ten?”

It was so hard to remember when everything felt so nice, but Daddy gave me a big kiss, and her lips felt even nicer. “Very good, sweetie. You did so well.”

I kissed her back, leaning into her taste, the scent of citrus and love. “So what happened after the party last night? Where’s, uh, where’s Alice?”

“Who or what is an Alice?” She gave me a quizzical eyebrow raise, her constant movements actually pausing for once. As if she really didn’t know the girl she had been railing the brains out of just last night.

“I.” I bit the inside of my cheek and looked away, pouting. Did she really not remember? “From the party, last night.”

“Oh, did you mean Marie-ann? I wasn’t told her Owner had changed her name, but I could get used to Alice, I suppose.”

“I- who?” Now it was my turn to turn and give her a raised eyebrow.

“You remember, your little friend Marie-ann, and her Daddy?”

“No, Sir.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t, and that is rather the problem, isn’t it?” Sir was quiet for a moment, her face still, before smiling in the way I used to, when I was hiding my feelings. “Well, I have just the thing.”

She pressed me back down on the flat metal surface of the sofa, and I ran my fingertips along the edge of the drainage grooves. Something black and sticky was on my fingers, though it seemed to be coming out of me. I always did get so leaky when Sirata was around; she had that effect on me. Or was it affect? She probably had both.

Sirata flew out of the room and into the bathroom. I heard her open the heavy lock on the the medicine cabinet and rummage around with a few vials and bottles, I fidgeted with my deck of cards, which had been pressed up against my thigh while I slept, a traditional entertainment object for housebound women in wartime. The edges of each had been worn by my fingers moving them again and again and again, shuffling and reshuffling. 

I didn't actually know what the rules of the game were, or what the symbols and numbers meant, but liked to flip through them, look at the pictures, read the flavor text. Imagine the stories told by the random sequence. Sometimes they came out in an order that made sense, other times things seemed convoluted, like there was a sequential order being implied, that was then subverted. That was the fun of it.

I looked out the window as best I could from the couch, and for a moment thought I saw metal spikes and great tree roots stretching to the burning sky. But…no, that was just a daydream. 

It was a warm day, here in North Americana, Earth. Celebration village was beautiful and sunny, mid-day in summer as it had always been. The war against Oceana was going well, as it always has. 

Daddy loved me, as she always will. 

I needed to stop fixating on silly dreams about spaceships and aliens. Daddy had a good job at the capitalism factory, and could afford a nice atomic compiler to make whatever I wanted. I should live in the moment, not in daydreams.

Sirata exploded back into the room, pulling her cape wide and tossing sparkling confetti into the air.

Ah, she was playing dress up again. I had vague recollections of this game. Something about extreme experiences stimulating my memory center… It was so hard to remember. I knew sometimes she liked to do it as foreplay. I hoped she wanted me to see to my duties as her girlfriend, it always made me feel so good…

She flowed back over to the couch, checked a display on one of the machines. She held out a tray, with two pairs of candies sitting on it. One was red, one was blue, one was yellow, and one was sparkles. All five primary colors!

“I have some special candies for you, to prepare you for the trip to… somewhere else.”

I watched as Sirata selected the one I was going to pick first, the red one. It was my favorite color! She held it up between two fingers, rather than making me try and pick it up myself. Sir took away my silverware privileges after I had asked her if my subscription was going to expire. She said I shouldn’t need to worry about those things here in North Americana. I had disagreed at the start, but thankfully Sir had been very patient and helped me understand everything.

I wiggled with excitement as she tapped me on the inner spot on my left elbow, the normal signal for me to open my mouth. I waited as she made funny little ‘ribbit’ noises and hopped the candy onto my tongue, then a tap on my middle knuckle closed my mouth and let me chew.

The red one tasted like lemonade on a warm winter day, like an emulsified burrito of sarcastic adoration, like how you think water tastes after waking up from a dream in the middle of the night with a dry throat.

Also, it tasted like cherries!

I wiggled and moaned as the sugary sweetness melted my thoughts into a nice puddle. I hadn’t seen a puddle in ages, it never seemed to rain here in Celebration Village, North Americana, Earth. Not like my hometown on Remul.. Rem… um, Oceana.

And yet all too soon, I felt the telltale sign of a tap on my right shoulder, the signal to open my mouth again. The blue candy was next, which was good because it was my favorite color! I wiggled as she tossed it into my mouth and used her vines to move my jaw physically, doing all the work for me. It was nice, since it meant I could focus on the flavors soaring through my senses, rather than worry about biting my tongue.

This one was subtler, in the way a freight train is quieter than an erupting volcano. I drooled as the rush of berries and brownies and buildings and another word that begins with ‘b’ swam between my teeth, dancing a two-step over my taste buds. My eyes began to see after-images in movement, which was exacerbated by my uncontrollable urge to wiggle and stim my way through the pleasure. Daddy’s face moved in and out of focus, though sometimes that happened just Because, so I wasn’t too worried about it.

The yellow one was third, which was good because it was my favorite color! Daddy reached into my abdomen and tickled my kidneys, and I knew to hold my tongue out so she could carefully place the treat just right on top. She let this one sit there with my mouth open, dissolving into a glaze of sweet honey that ran down my chin in the way she most liked when she made love to me.

The taste of the treat was like the opposite of a ration cube. I moaned and groaned as the sensation traveled down my spine. Whatever the weird crick in my neck was, it seemed to be helping my circulation at least.

Now there was only one candy left. The first three were delicious as usual, but I had tasted them all before. The final, fifth one, the sparkly one (my super duper absolute favorite color!!!), was one I had never seen before.

“Woaw, Sir. it’s so pretty.” Everything was starting to smear around us, everything but her. She came into sharp relief, a moment of real against the painted swirls of the living room fume hood behind her.

Daddy was staring down at me, her eyes melting in colors I scarcely had the names for. “I’ve never given you so much before, you know. We’ve gone up to three in our previous play, but never… never all the way.”

Another long and unusual pause, and then she added, “Don’t worry, sweetie. Just one more. It won’t hurt. Not anymore. You’ve been so brave, my love.”

Something was…weird about her tone. I was brave? I thought I wasn’t supposed to be brave anymore. I had vague memories of when I had been on some kind of cramped submarine for Oceana, a terrible time without her to guide me. Thank goodness it had depressurized so I could be with her instead.

No, I didn’t need to worry. Had I ever worried? The war was going well, and my boyfriend was the most handsome gal in town. I had nothing to worry about. 

“Just eat them all, pumpkin. Then we can go, move to a new ship, on the same shuttle Marie-ann and her Daddy are. You’ll like it there.”

I don’t think I had the ability to frown around my boyfriend, but I still felt the shadow of one in my gut. “What’s in the candy, Sir? And why are we moving? Did you lose your job at the capitalism factory?”

She didn’t meet my gaze, and I watched her casually adjust something on the table to be off center…but I could tell her core wasn’t really in it. “My work here in Celebration Village is concluded, and on top of that, there just isn’t much else we can do for you here, gumdrop. So we are going to move somewhere nice, somewhere a little quieter than the Iphyrean; it’s a quaint little place called the Occantalis II.”

I watched the funny machine pumping. A big bubble burst, and the black fluid leaking from the tank seeped even more down onto the sterile tile floor of our living room.

“I’ve never heard of a town with a number in it, Sir.”

“Ah, I should have specified. It’s in Ohio.”

“Oh.” I smiled and nodded. “So, what makes this candy so special?”

“I made it down at the capitalism factory, dear. Fresh off the line. Something called omega twenty…” she trailed off, then shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Don't worry about it, cupcake.”

“Okay, yay,” I mumbled through a mouthful of gummy drool. “Why are we moving to Ohio, sir? Isn’t that closer to the warfront?”

“Oh sweetie, I’ve told you: we wanted to learn more about the place that invented a nonsensical dish involving spaghetti noodles, chili, and a sinful amount of cheese…and then decided to name it either before or after a sexual activity. It’s still being debated amongst experts, and I am all but compelled to investigate further.”

I could still detect something was off, and I clung to the faint strands of her previous sentences. “What’s an omega twenty, Sir? Is that like those old-timey romance novels from the old days?”

“No, it is a kind of drug. And in your case, given how much of Daddy’s delightful local honey you eat for breakfast every day, it will act as what is called a class-O.”

Some strange feeling of terror and panic rose in my chest, tendrils lashing to my heart to beat faster, my lungs to shorten my breath. I had never heard of a class-O, surely, and yet, some part of my brain knew to recoil from it just as I would a hot stove after a few minutes of touching it. “I don’t know I need whatever that is, Sir. Is the morning honey not enough?”

“Sweetheart…” Her embrace was comfort made real, it was everything I ever wanted and needed. “I wouldn’t let you regret it, I promise. I’ll take care of you forever and always, no matter what.”

There was a concerning sense of finality to her tone. She gave me a loving stroke down my chin, and my mouth opened. She carefully placed the sparkly candy on my tongue, and it tasted so good it made my taste buds go numb immediately. My eyes rolled back slightly, and my panting tipped into outright moans. I needed her to let me eat Treat!

And yet, she hesitated before giving me the tap on the bottom of my chin to close. We stayed like that for a moment or twenty, enjoying each other’s company. I happily hummed a few lines of an old song I had heard somewhere, long before Sirata had gotten me the record player, though I didn’t know from where. It wasn’t from Oceana. 

Sirata’s vine suddenly whizzed into my mouth, preventing my jaw from biting down on the treat, and pulled it off of my tongue.

“What is that you’re humming, sweetie?” 

I rubbed the intruder in my mouth with my tongue… Sirata tasted so nice, especially where the candy had seared into the nerves of my tongue. There was almost a sense of permanence to how it had altered my sense of taste, like any sensation would be pleasurable, like I could chase any taste forever, always wanting greater heights.

“Ah ca tah, Shir.” I mumbled around the vine holding my jaw open.

“Ah…yes, of course.” She pulled her vine out of my mouth so I could talk again. “And where did you hear that tune, sweetie? That isn’t one of the records I left with you, is it?”

“I don’t ‘member, Sir. Just came to me.”

“You’re very sure you didn’t hear that song today? Nobody came over to play it for you? You definitely didn’t hear it today, while I was out working at the factory?”

“I’ve been eepy sleepy since the party last night, Sir.”

She tilted her head, like how she did when she was solving puzzles with me. “...I see. Do you remember the words?”

“Um… ‘Baby, can’t you see, I’m falling, a guy like you, should bear a warning…’ ?”

She sat up, blinked once, twice. “Well, now… that changes things… We removed that song from the village rotation months ago, it was from the wrong wartime period… perhaps we were being hasty. If you can still retain new memories in the right context…”

I didn’t know what she was talking about, but she seemed very excited all of a sudden. Her vines began to whip around slightly in the air like she was going stimmy, and her eyes went from the second candy color to the third and fifth, and also green, which was my favorite color!

“I remember lots of things, Sir. like the dreams where you’re an alien.”

“Sweetie, dreams aren’t real.” I felt her begin to spin us around, a whirling dervish of a dance that made us both laugh in delight. “I want to marry you one day, Kandi. But you have to be able to remember things again first. You’ve made such strides since the early cotyledon program…”

Oh stars, oh dirt. I blushed deeply, fanning my face with my hand flappies. I had always hoped she would marry me, but to come out and just say it like that was…was… aaaaaaaaa!  

Sir let me get all of the happy out of my system as she continued to twirl, which gave me just enough time to remember something. “Can I, um, have the candy now, Sir? The class-O one? My tongue feels so good where it melted, I want that everywhere/”

The bottom edges of her eyes moistened with the second candy’s color, but then it was gone, and only her dazzling happy smile remained. “It wasn't really a class-O, silly! Do you think I would do that to my favorite gumdrop?”

“Oh.” It was one of our games, then. That made sense! “So I can have it, then? It was, like, really tasty.”

Sirata carried me over to the kitchen area and tossed the gummy into the compiler after she set it to ‘ HAZARDOUS MATERIAL ’, which decompiled the candy, the air around it, and the air that filled in after the first two were gone. “Nope! Sorry, Kandi!”

She put me back down on the couch, and the deck of cards I had been playing with caught her eye. She grabbed one off the top, pulled a gold pen out of her chest, and began to carefully write a note in her gorgeous script. Once it was done, she handed me the card. It was written in a flowing script, the kind Husbands, Wives, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends wrote in, but not husbands, wives, boyfriends, or girlfriends. 

“We may need to be adventurous, experimental even by expected standards… I have told the others you were surely not beyond repair, but… but you may need to find your way without me.”

“Whatever do you mean by that, Daddy?”

She sighed, brushing her hair back with a hand as she chose her words carefully, slowly.

“You will always have my implant to guide you home, but you might have to try to play pretend to be alone for a while. Can you do that for me? Be strong, and find your way back home to me?”

I thought back to my ridiculous dreams, the ones where I was named Katherine, where I lived in space, where Sir had kidnapped me. Had I ever told her about that part? I couldn’t remember.

“And no matter what happens…remember that I love you, sweetie.”

I giggled. “Do you think I could ever forget you love me, Sir?”

She didn’t answer. It was such a ridiculous notion, she obviously didn’t need to.

I tried to get up, but given the state of my lower body, that wasn’t possible. She lifted me up, and I started to drift in her eyes. They sparkled like rainbows.

“There’s just one thing you have to do for me before we move to Ohio, sugarplum.”

“What’s that, Daddy?”

She kissed me gently on the cheek, sank a needle into the flower in my chest, and whispered in my ear. “You have to wake up.”

Notes:

Marie-ann and Celebration Villiage are from Sunsets in Suburbia: M/f or F/f by Slylittleprincess.

Hey there! Did you know comments and kudos feed authors good brain juices? It’s true!

you should read my talented girlfriend's writing and also mine too! -sheepwave

If you want to learn more about the setting, the HDG Community Discord is the place to be!

Chapter 8

Notes:

The Music for this chapter is Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd.

“Good morning Katherine. It is seven thirty, and the start of another wonderful day!”

I yawned my way from horizontal to sitting upright as the hab AI woke me at the scheduled time, absentmindedly adjusting some of the tangled bedding behind me. Standing up, I began to make my bed, carefully lining up the pillows, tucking the sheets back. Nothing as frivolous as a stuffed animal, obviously. 

I made my way to the washroom to freshen myself up, then headed to the kitchen. The hardwood floors were firm and simple under my toes and made a satisfying click of wood hitting wood against my toes and heel as I walked. Sure, it was a fair bit colder to my bare feet than was comfortable, but it helped keep me awake enough to get through my morning rituals, and it wasn’t that bad to deal with until then.

“What would you like me to prepare for your breakfast today, Miss Katherine?” The AI was chipper as always, rain or shine. I had asked those in charge of such things to change the voice pattern to a more neutral one, but the affini in question helpfully informed me that ‘this is the most neutral voice we have, cutie!’ I learned to tone most of it out.

“Plain oatmeal for me today, I think. 300 grams, 37 degrees celsius, unsweetened.”

“Very well. Coming right up, Katherine,” the AI chirped back at me.

There was a faint smell of cinnamon, but that was just the human brain not knowing how to process the offgasses of crystalizing hypermetric phase fields that made compilers work. My usual white bowl of steaming black inky sludge materialized, and I grabbed it, taking it to my dining room table and beginning to quietly eat. 

Across from my one-seated table, a single, tasteful painting of a ⱳằtᶒr̸̀f̷̾a̷̢̍lꬹ hung on the wall. I liked looking at it sometimes if I felt understimulated or anxious. I preferred things to be minimalist, but every environment needed a little excitement. I scooped the first spoonful into my mouth and let out a satisfied sigh. It was just the way I liked it, a bit thick and simple. I browsed my tablet while I ate, but didn’t see much that interested me.

My meal finished, I decompiled the dirty dishes (which evaporated in a way that was extremely satisfying to watch) and began my “getting ready to go Out” ritual. Collect shoes, grab my pack and book, check to make sure I don’t look unkempt, and take my prescribed medications. Hormones, vitamins, the barest minimum of OCD meds that the hab AI would complain if I didn’t take, even though I obviously didn’t need them. 

I took a look in the mirror, and realized I had forgotten to get dressed. That was odd, I rarely missed aspects of my routine.

Oh.

Oh god .

Was that another new wrinkle?

I looked closer, then exhaled in relief when I verified it was just a weird shadow. The last thing I needed was some asymmetrical detail to bother me every time I looked in the mirror from now until forever, thank you very much.

I vaguely remembered I had thrown my clothes in the dryer, including the outfit I normally wore on Mondays: a plain gray dress with a simple symmetrical dark stripe down the front. Sighing, I turned and made my way down the hall to the guest room, where the laundry machine was located. This would offset my schedule by a few minutes, most likely. Unfortunate.

The Hab AI wished me well as I headed out the door. “Bye, Katherine! Have fun, and don’t forget to talk to a few other sophonts today!”

The walk to the park near my apartment was pleasant and familiar. It was a warm day out, like it always was on hab ring four of the Occantalis II. I found a spot in the square of the independent’s district unoccupied, one of the few places in the entire compact where things were actually sized for a human and not an affini by default.

I opened the book and went to the exact line I had marked with my bookmark, which was in the middle of a page that had the words WAKE UP handwritten over and over again, just like every other page in the book. I waŝn’t sᶙre ì̸̱̂f̸̮͋ t̵͍͝ȟ̴̫̣̎ẽ̸͉̲̋ 

—here so bright and early? I almost thought I had encountered a newborn star, with just happiness and joy radiating off of you!”

I blinked the tears out of my eyes, craning my neck to look up at the speaker who had stepped close enough to block out some of the artificial starlight. It was an affini, not that I needed visual confirmation for that when I had heard the melodic voice that sounded like an overly energetic musical filtered through leaves. Four eyes on a slightly insectile face that was smooth, other than the sharp angles around the jaw.

“Hello, can I help you?”

I would have sworn there was a moment of sadness on the affini’s face.

It was a little unusual for affini to talk to me at all. I had never even been seriously considered anything but a natural independent.

“Well, pumpkin, you look a little sad and lonely, is all. Perhaps I could cheer you up? I have… candy.” The affini sighed, and sat cross legged on the ground next to the bench. That was strange.

“Um, are you okay, mister…?”

“Miss Saccharum, Sirata.” She gave me a weak, lopsided smile, as if she had not the energy to move her face in the right ways.

“You look a little sad yourself, Miss Saccharum.”

She laughed. “Have you ever found yourself stuck doing the same thing over and over, hoping against hope it might go differently, Katherine?”

“I can’t say I do. I stick to a routine because it doesn't go differently, Miss.”

“Ah. Yes.” She agreed, but had had it in a tone that implied she disagreed.

We waited in silence for a bit.  Eventually she shook her head to herself, then began again. “I have… or had. A floret. I did everything I could for her, but she was… badly hurt. I don’t think she even remembered me by the end.”

“Ah. I’m sorry you lost someone.” I swallowed nervously and closed the book, feeling oddly compelled. “I suppose I have been a bit alone for a while. I had a boyfriend, who… we had to split up. I think about him a lot.”

“You think about him often?”

I looked down in embarrassment. “Every day, really. I try not to. It feels creepy, to still not be over it. I can’t even remember what he looked like these days.  It’s…um.  Sorry.”

The affini was quiet for a long moment. “May I hold you, Katherine?”

I wasn’t sure what to make of an affini actually asking to touch me for once. “Um, sure. I suppose?”

Gentle vines extended forward and wrapped around my waist, carefully lifting me into Sirata’s lap. It was…it was nice. Far softer than the bench, and warm in a way that had less to do with temperature and more to do with comfort.

She hummed some old war song I had heard somewhere before as she rocked back and forth. I relaxed a little as she stroked through my hair. She smelled really nice, a tangy sweetness that felt both nostalgic and exciting.

I had never understood why some fellow terrans were more freaked out by the idea of being domesticated than they were happy to be rid of capitalism. If I had ever met the right one, I was pretty sure I’d have made a good floret, but every affini I passed always seemed to be not quite right for me.

“Thank you, Katherine,” Sirata said, then put me back on the bench beside my book. “Perhaps one day we shall both find our special someone again.”

 

---

 

The hab greeted me as I finally returned home, just as evening was beginning to fall. “Welcome home, gumdrop! You’re home early. What do you want for lunch?” 

I was about to tell it to give me an unsalted hard-boiled egg, but a thought flitted through my mind, buoyed on sugared wings of crystal. A strange, foreign thought. One I hadn’t thought in…ages, I assume.

What if I did something different?

I instinctively attempted to quash it, banish it back to the dark recesses of my mind, but…it stayed put. 

What was my routine for? Why did I do the same things every day, every week, every month. It had been years since anything was actually expected of me.

My mouth opened, and the words fell out before I had a chance to hold them back. “Surprise me.”

There was a wafting of cinnamon in the air as it worked, and an ornate tray appeared, covered in a mountain of treats. I saw a scone, a wrapped cookie, a waffle covered in syrup, a pile of multicolored fruit, a snowcone, and many other assorted sweets.

Well. 

I guess I had asked to be surprised. I don’t think I had ever eaten any of these before. I picked a little at the waffle, took a bite of snowcone before it melted, and munched a few of the candies.

They were really, really tasty. Each bite, each lick, each melt-in-my-mouth burst of flavor was a tapestry of complex patterns that sent my mind reeling. I moaned in delight as juice ran slightly down my mouth, licking at my fingertips after each morsel of a moment was finished far too soon.

I… what else had I not done recently, in favor of my rigid routine?

I looked at the sparkling, bejeweled synth keyboard that had always been in my living room, and yet I had never once played as far as I remembered. It gleamed in the morning light, with nary a singular speck of dust to be seen. My eyes flew over the faux-ivory keys, a strange sense of old-yet-new and yearning-yet-peace sparking at the depths of my soul.

I decided to sit at the bench, and even though I didn’t know piano, my left hand found and rested on an E minor chord. Did I even know what that was ? 

Something resonated within me as the sawtooth wave of the synth rang out. I played the chord again, and then my right hand found a staccato melody to play along into a G major and A.

I realized what the song was as I pressed down a C major. It was the tune that affini in the park had been humming. I sang quietly, unsure of how I even knew the words. Like they didn’t come from the memories in my head, but were spun from the feelings in my heart.

“So, so you think you can tell. Heaven from hell? Blue skies from pain?”

Sometimes it really was hard to distinguish between the extremes of sensation. They had always had such a strong pull on my memory. I pressed down a D and an F♯ and continued singing the lines I shouldn’t know.

“Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell?”

My fingers continued to wander over the keys in a sequence I had no idea why I had memorized. I was getting a powerful headache, and yet I couldn’t stop. I had to finish the song.

“And did they get you to trade, your heroes for ghosts?”

I was surely imagining it, but I could almost hear an acoustic guitar joining in, notes plucked on the wind.

“Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? Did you exchange, a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?”

I giggled to myself a tiny bit in spite of the melancholic tone. The song had to date back to at least the early 2500s, but it was a little funny how prescient that line had been about the affini themselves.

But then my mouth formed lines that made my voice crack.

“How I wish, how I wish you were here.”

An ache in my chest was growing, spreading along the nerves of my spine. I didn’t know this song. 

“We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year.”

There were tears streaming down my cheeks, and I didn’t even understand why . It was just some stupid old song about the rinan campaign or something.  Some nonsense tune that I had heard folks triple my age singing into their cups in bars. It had nothing to do with me.

And yet…and yet.

“Running over the same old ground, what have we found? The same old fears…”

I had found a life where I was alone, perhaps. And yet I never truly felt like no one cared. I don’t think I could have continued otherwise.

“Wish you were here,” I finally sang, and a voice from behind me continued to stretch out the last syllable as I held the sustain pedal down and the notes slowly faded. Rather than tense up, my shoulders relaxed, my headache untwisted.

I turned around, slowly. Not in surprise, but in recognition.

I looked up, at my affini. The affini who lived with me. The one who always stayed just out of sight and mind, who pretended to be my Hab AI, who watched over me and never stopped, never gave up, always tried to think of ways to help me find my way back home… Right?

“D…daddy?” My voice warbled, uncertain, tenuous as my eyes met hers. Grasping at something that had been missing, something that I had been unable to feel the shape of for a long, long time. And now my palms felt raw, unused to the feeling, but unwilling and unable to let go again.

“Hello, Kandi,” Sirata whispered sweetly, after fully lowering from the ceiling where she usually hid, and carefully placing the guitar she had been strumming aside. “I haven’t heard you sing in a long time, sweetie pie.”

“I…” The stream, dry for so long, began to slowly trickle. “It was a good day for it. My…my Sir had always told me that singing was for days that end in a ‘y’.”

She took a few cautious steps closer, as if worried a loud noise or fast movement might break the moment.  “I..I’m sure that your Sir was…she…”

I shook my head. “I’m your floret, Sir.” I paused, less sure. “Um, I think?”

She smiled sadly, hands tightly squeezing each other to maintain her control. “Recognized as such by everyone but your own mind, yes. You have these moments, at times… but always so isolated, and never long enough for either of us. And then they are gone forever.”

“It’s all out of order,” I blurted out, standing up from the bench. “I remember so much, but it doesn’t connect up in a way that makes sense. It’s a pile of shattered stained glass, but it isn’t gone. You…” I inhaled deeply, trying to focus on how impossibly familiar her scent was. “Tell me how it started.”

“Wouldn’t you rather just enjoy this fleeting moment with me, darling?”

“Make it make sense, please . Did I meet you a week ago? My memories tell me the first time we met was less than a week ago.”

“We met many, many years ago, gumdrop. When I was a cotyledon specialist on the Iphyrean. Your ship depressurized, and we did the best we could, but…” Her smile wavered, and she almost turned away. I reached out desperately, refusing to let a single moment of this slip by without purpose, without Sir. "You only look more beautiful with every wrinkle you have gained since the day we met."

Her vines curled around my legs, anchoring me, grounding me. “We have lived on so many ships, tried so many things. All we can ever restore is fleeting fragments that last until you fall under another one of your little fainting spells.  And then I hold you, I hold you so tightly and I…”

I nodded. “I remember… a scone. On the Illastria. I passed out and woke up at home…”

“Yes… you did have such an incident about a year ago. What else?”

“You sent me a cookie for breakfast, and I couldn’t find my book and you convinced me to try it.”

“Ah yes, that was just a few weeks ago.”

“And we had sex with Alice and Miss Vee!”

She squeezed me tightly, her vines shaking. “Oh, darling. That night was the longest you’ve ever been lucid since the day we met. I thought it was gone forever.”

A long, thin vine extended from her wrist, hovering near my mouth. I opened up and leaned forward, taking an eager nibble. The sweet tangy flavor burst in my mouth and I moaned softly as it rolled around my tongue in waves. Her fingers traced up the back of my neck, on the scar that I never seemed to remember I had. “Daddy, why don’t I notice things I should?”

She fed me another big bite of candy vine. “We had to seal away certain things, little lollipop. I constructed the safest life I could for you that minimized your little episodes.”

I swallowed my candy nervously. It was definitely drugged, of course it was… and I didn’t mind a single bit. Occam’s razor had long since broken and worn into dust, but…“And… and you definitely didn’t just kidnap me and plant a bunch of false memories?”

“Why in the Everbloom would I go to such trouble, sweetheart?” She laughed, and another length of mind-melting sugar was pushed into my mouth. I trusted her. How could I not? I felt the tingling in my spine whenever she touched me that could only be my implant.

“I guess… it would be pretty ridiculous.”

Sirata lifted me up, up level with her face, and kissed me. She tasted like chocolate and the infinite patience of someone who has all the time in the universe to care. She was home, she was where my body knew I belonged, even if my memory couldn’t reconcile the specifics. I leaned back, and babbled out my fears.

“What if I forget again? What if that’s all there is left for us- for you?   To relive moments, to watch me age without knowing? What if all I ever remember you as is some random affini who drugged and kidnapped me?”

Sirata smiled, reached over for my book, and pulled the old playing card from it. The golden ink caught the light, the flowing script whose language I didn’t know but could perfectly read.

A promise to never stop trying. To never give up on me. To provide a happy routine, the best life someone broken could hope for. That even if I never found the future, the present would always be safe.

And she had kept that promise, clearly. A thousand times over had she kept it. But I had overstayed my welcome there, and the future was ready for me. 

She had waited for me. 

Sir had waited for me.

A vine tapped my lip and something was placed on my tongue. I didn’t get a chance to see what it was. It melted like golden love and promises of forever.

“Ill always be here, Kandi. And one day, I promise, you will remember without question that you are my wife. Until then, I will be here, whenever you wake up, for however long you do.”

Notes:

The End!

We hope you enjoyed this descent into madness.

you should read my talented girlfriend's writing and also mine too! -sheepwave

If you want to learn more about the setting, the HDG Community Discord is the place to be!