Chapter Text

Sally Fable

“No thank you, please, Miss. Class-A is often very unpleasant for me.”

I gave the friendly looking but pushy Affini standing next to my cafe table a small glance as I rejected their offer, avoiding looking at their eyes directly. I knew the swirling patterns were supposed to soothe, but they never worked like that. They always felt like sandpaper on my everything to look at. It wasn't their fault that I was already so sensitive to touch that most xenodrugs gave me horrible overstimulation. They were just trying to be nice, probably. It was hard to tell sometimes.

“Well, tell me if you change your mind, petal~”

“Okay. I will, Miss, thank you.”

I remembered to smile at the last minute. Mom always taught me the importance of giving the right signals, doing the motions that made others understand I was trying to be friendly back at them. People could be cruel, especially when they think you're different. I was rewarded with a pat on the arm with a vine, and I had to hold my breath to not visibly recoil from the aaaaa of their crackly leaves against my skin as they drifted across my shoulder. Bad sensory, bad sensory, but at least it was only for a moment, and then they wandered off to offer someone else sitting at the outdoor cafe tables euphoriants.

I took a sip of my coffee and went back to watching my show on my tablet. The Affini were never cruel, but they were very different from the humans I was used to. Much pushier, less likely to simply call me something nasty and then leave me alone if I didn't follow the script right. The humans would usually stop treating me like a person when I slipped, and act like I was a child at best, but the Affini treated everyone like this. It was weird watching some humans get so worked up about it, I was just used to it.

It was a relatively calm day at my favorite Cafe on this hab ring, not that I had tried many others once I tasted the Kenyan roast iced coffee lemonade drink I ordered every day. There was chatter from the assorted people around, mostly humans. Easy enough to tune out.

A large shadow moved across my table, and I looked up to see who I had managed to get the attention of now. An Affini that looked like a fairy tale warlock made of lily pads and glossy wetland plants was standing over me. 

It was one I had seen before, in passing but never spoken to, one of the many that lived on this hab ring. They seemed content to just watch me for the moment, but I didn't want to be rude, so I paused my show.

They were much more still than most of their kind, and spoke in a relatively flat, masculine tone once they saw they had my attention.

“Hello there, Sally. I am Reed Lywick, 6th bloom, he/him. May I sit with you?”

I nodded. I wasn't  sure why he knew my name already, but was relieved to be able to skip introducing myself. I always hated that step of the script. 

“Of course, Mister Lywick.” 

“Oh, just Reed for the moment, please.”

He lowered himself onto the ground so that the top of his head, which was shaped like the brim of a hat, was at my level. Hishead was dark, almost entirely black and sunken in shadow, with a single eye I could see out of my peripheral vision. It was a soft, dull circle that softly glowed when he spoke. I wasn't going to push my luck by making eye contact, but it at least didn't put me on edge like most affini eyes did.

“I hope I am not bothering you, but I overheard you say certain xenodrugs are unpleasant for you. I looked you up, and your medical files didn't say you have an allergy. I am curious what you mean.”

“I am very sensitive to texture. Stuff touching my skin can already be a lot, and every time I've tried them I end up having less fun than everyone else seems to.”

Half a second late, I remembered to make a facial expression to go with my practiced breezy disinterest that seemed to ward away most Affini.

Reed just leaned in a few inches closer, and curled a single long vine around the table. He didn't have arms to speak of, but the large leaves that draped around his body looked faintly like robes. He was very handsome, an understated simple form that made me feel at ease.

“Fascinating. Have you enlisted your hab AI’s help with this?”

I shrugged, which was the correct choice to appear noncommittal but unconcerned. “It's not too bad. I just don't do well with class-As, plenty of people have never even had them so I don't think I'm missing anything. I hate needles anyway.”

Reed watched me in contemplative silence for a moment. His interest in me was… well, I could feel his curiosity in the air. But I didn't feel the same apprehension at that thought. He seemed genuinely interested in why I didn't want drugs.

“I see. I am a man that wears many hats, as the expression goes, but among them is a xenopharmacist of sorts. In that field, I specialize in making unique concoctions for individual cases, such as those with particular sensitivities. If you were interested, I could help you have experiences you enjoyed, though that statement is not limited to the domain of my expertise in xenodrugs.”

I assumed he wasn't being literal about the hat thing, since the folded leaf pads of his ‘hat’ looked pretty firmly attached to his head.

“No, I think I'm okay,” I mumbled into my coffee mug.

“Alright, but my offer stands. If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing on your tablet? It seemed interesting.”

I was surprised Reed would be interested in the show I had been watching, since he was probably older than… some arbitrary very old thing that if you compared an Affini's age to it it would impress everybody.

“Oh, it's an animated show I used to watch as a kid, called Cities under the Highway. It's adapted from my favorite video game…”

I stopped, as I realized I had almost started to do stimmy hands as I geared up to launch into explaining why this show was amazing. I let out a long exhale and pushed all the words I wanted to say back inside. I didn't want Reed to think I was childish.

He didn't seem to mind my outburst, at least. “How interesting. I'll have to look into it, unless you want to tell me more.”

I did want to tell him more. I was so full of things to say about Cities under the Highway I could explode, about how the characters and themes were so well done, the ways leitmotif was used so effectively in the game the show was based on to run a thread through the entire narrative, and how I had played it so many times, how the finale of the show was actually a movie and I used to watch it every single day and knew it by heart…

But it was still a show for teenagers at best, and I had a lot of experiences with being made fun of for talking about it.

“Uh, I dunno. There isn't a lot to say, I think.”

“I see. Perhaps I will have to watch it myself, or try the game you mentioned.”

I didn't know what to say, so I just watched the soft flower petals on his shoulder move gently in the breeze. It was a surprisingly comfortable silence between us.

I was suddenly distracted for a moment, as one of the other tables that sat an affini and a Terran turned into a flurry of petting and affection in the corner of my eye. I realized that, unlike most Affini would have, Reed hadn't actually touched me at all. Usually I found contact from Affini a little overwhelming, but that was just because they all overdid it. But the fact that he hadn't even tried made me curious. Curious about his entire offer. Making xenodrugs I could actually enjoy was definitely interesting.

“Um, about the thing about you trying to help me, I know I said no at first, but. I guess, maybe I could try? That's a lot for you to do for me though. I know you'll say we don't pay for things here, but I would still want to pay you back somehow.”

“Just seeing your real smile, because you can't help but show joy, not because you think you have to, would be worth moving a planet.”

I felt tight in my chest and really, really warm. Oh. Aaaa.

“I. I'm, uh, you're really nice, Reed.” I wanted to give him that real smile, but my face didn't really know how to make it real like he said.

“I would like to see you again tomorrow. I will bring something  for you, that is not drugs, but related to what I have in mind. I am asking this because I am interested in you and think you and I may be compatible in many ways. This would be a date.”

I blinked in genuine surprise. I was pretty sure plenty of Affini had propositioned me before. But they always flirted in riddles and made my head hurt. Reed had just come right out and said it.

“Yes, I'd like that,” I blurted out honestly. There were a million reasons not to say yes here. I ignored them.

In the corner of my vision, I saw his single eye slowly fade to a bright green color. “Wonderful. You usually come to this cafe every day, yes?”

I nodded affirmatively. My face felt very red, very itchy.

“Wonderful. I will see you at your usual time, then. Enjoy your show, and the rest of your day, Sally.”

Before he could go, I blurted out a very stupid question.

“Wait, Reed, for a date, do you mean as like, for me to be a pet?”

“If that is where such things take us, then yes,” he answered without pretense.

Fantasies of being tied up flashed through my mind for the briefest moment. This was supposed to be scary, right? I wasn't supposed to want that. Why wasn't I scared?

“Oh. I see.”

As he stood to leave, the one long vine he had curled around the table retracted back into his body, but briefly brushed against my arm along the way. It was only for a moment, but the smooth, damp, waxy feeling of the wound layers felt surprisingly nice against my skin. With it, came the strangest feeling, as through a spark of the concept of approval had just been shot through my nervous system.

I realized I had been smiling without knowing.

Reed was good sensory.

Reed Lywick

I swept myself up into a more compact form as I headed out of sight of the precious xenosophont that I had been blessed to cross paths with. I was so excited that I could feel my own corevines tying themselves in knots. What a marvelous, exciting creature Sally was.

I was on the Occantalis II in the first place because a friend had insisted that Terrans were one of the cutest xenosophonts in this entire galaxy. Until meeting Sally, I had been convinced xe was exaggerating. But no, after making it through the entire domestication campaign without meeting my match, I had finally found the Terran made just for me. Though she had very nearly slipped away.

It had been just three days ago. I saw her before she saw me, as we both happened to be cutting between the same two buildings going in opposite directions in the north hab ring town square. I had thought her to already be claimed on my first impression, due to her peculiar fashion sensibilities falling well outside what most of the independent specimens of her species clothed themselves in. The way she had walked when she thought nobody was looking- elevated on her toes, with her hands in front of her like a Vreeüt- had been so adorable I had looked her up simply to compliment her owner. 

Then I had discovered she did not yet have one, and things had become much more interesting. 

I could have filed my Notice of Intent to Domesticate right then and there, but if some other affini managed to swoop in and take her from me, then that would frankly just be a sign I wasn't right for her in the first place. Needing to mark your claim was for those young enough to tell xenosophonts their real bloom count. This one was mine, and I would have her.

I had poured over every document I could access and learned many useful tidbits. The girl’s full name was Sally Fable, and she was 22 Terran years old, originally from a moon called Dionysus IV. She had been diagnosed with autism and gender dysphoria by Accord doctors. Based on the notes left by her vet, she appeared to be at least somewhat asexual, which came as something of a relief to me. I did not find most elements of Terran sexuality to be to my personal tastes. Kissing, however, I would have to indulge in. This body had a mouth for a reason.

I reviewed the progress documents from the class-G regimen that had completed her gender transition over a Terran year ago, and felt a pang of regret. It was simply the way of things, but it saddened me I could not have seen her more raw state and been the one to transform her myself. Alas.

Going over her social files, it appeared she did not have many strong bonds with other humans, other than a regular correspondence with her mother. This too was ideal, as I had no intention to share her time and attention with another human partner. A sophont like Sally needed one single guiding force to be bound to and loved by, and it would be me. 

But the files did not do her justice, the way her curly golden hair had caught the light, how she kept coming so close to letting herself wiggle and shake like was so clearly natural for her. I had concluded very shortly into our meeting that she was both the perfect Terran for me, and badly in need of intervention anyway. Her difficulties fell just shy of the threshold that would warrant wellness checks, but I would not tolerate good enough.

That Sally was an obvious candidate for florethood was unremarkable- few of her species were not. But to merely take her as a floret would be trivial. The girl would probably say yes if pushed even slightly, judging by her obvious attraction to me. Far more satisfying would be giving her the space to become herself, shattering the shell containing her, changing what lay beneath as little as possible, and letting her give herself to me freely.

She was already nearly perfect, and even with my implant coiling around her spine all I would desire to change was the discomforts her own body gave her. I admittedly could twist her mind and dull her dislike of certain sensations, but it would be far more satisfying to simply alter her life such that she never experienced them in the first place. Only knowing my body, my bondage, the space I would lovingly build for her. 

I arrived at my home, and immediately queued a long sequence of atomic compiler instructions. I had plans for tomorrow's date. There was an obvious first step in the courtship of any sophont with this type of texture sensitivities, and I would be ready. While the device conjured crystalized particulate dust into what I would need for tomorrow, I set to brewing.

I pulled the full chart of Sally's medical files onto the display over my bench, and drained the current batches of habinae, santialina-3, and leftover pure capsaicin I had produced for various friends and acquaintances recently.

Usually I would be called upon for complex brews to bend the senses of various xenosophonts into shapes previously unknown. To make something special for Sally would be simple, trivial even.

It had been blooms since I had assembled a cocktail from raw compounds, but I could easily compile the equipment needed. It was a longer process, but an act of love she deserved. 

Sally's aversion to needles would need to be reduced in the long run, of course. I was not going to deny myself the pleasure of sinking my own phytotoxin into my pet’s body over something so easily fixed. But I would hardly mind a chance to dabble in novel xenodrug synthesis again. Not much point in having a lab if you don't use it.

As I prepared to develop a new cousin of apocynai from scratch, my mind lingered in one very particular memory from today. That scant 0.37 seconds we had touched. How soft her skin had been when I brushed against her, how she had gasped and flushed her cheeks and the elaborate mask of memorized behaviors had faltered into that beautiful little smile. The same one that had been on her face the first time I saw her walking to that cafe, when she thought nobody was looking.

I almost resented the overeager youngbloom who had upset her by touching her head with their dry vine while I was watching her at the cafe. An entire 2.9 seconds of contact, more than I would likely allow any affini outside of trusted friends to have with her once she was mine. Far more contact than I had yet had, but patience would be rewarded. A creature like her would make a wonderful lap pet.

I would soon become her great protector, the one she could not imagine living without, providing such comforts that the thought of going without me would be as unthinkable as not breathing. She would know nothing but peace, nothing but joy, and I would cherish every moment. I had caught a glimpse of the sophont hidden away beneath her human facade, and it was beautiful. It would be a worthy endeavor to strip away her calloused armor, take away the inauthenticity that so defined her behavior, let her be vulnerable again.

I would devour the mask she wore, and love the true Sally underneath. She was going to writhe in my vines, whimper and beg for me to take more and more control away from her, and her submission would be rewarded beyond her wildest fantasy. I itched to feel her against my core, to bind her and overpower her, to listen to her excitedly explain her passions without a drop of the shame and fear that currently defined her behavior.

I would show her the universe if she desired it, or give her a perfect routine to live out in blissful pleasure day after day without stressful divergence. Whatever she needed, I would provide. There was so much more to learn, so many things we would get to do together.

I was hardly inexperienced with xenosophonts far outside of the typical behavior profiles for their respective species. They were practically my specialty. Sally fortunately did not exhibit telltale signs of the more extreme forms of trauma that sophonts in her position so often exhibited. Her disguise as a neurotypical Terran seemed to be far more of a conscious choice than one of the more difficult cases.

I sent a message to my close friend, Dr. Poppy Versonia, scheduling an appointment to take a core sample for Sally's haustoric implant. Hasty, perhaps, but at my age I knew what I wanted when I saw it. Once I had seen Sally’s eyes widen at the gentlest touch of my biorhythm, I knew any hesitation was pointless. Sally was the cutest, sweetest, most precious thing I had laid my eye on in this entire bloom. She clearly would be better off in my care than left a wild stray. I was going to make her the happiest being in the entire universe.

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

What do you wear on a date with an alien? I hadn't exactly been on that many dates in the first place. At least I was experienced with first dates, since I had mostly had those.

I tried compiling some things that the catalog told me were fashionable in the independents district right now, but I didn't even manage to get the first strappy heel on before the usual toe issue started, because of course anything trendy would have to squeeze my toes in that way that made me want to scream and cry.

In the end, I asked my hab AI to just compile me a companion dress in Mister Lywick’s colors. That felt like what I was supposed to do, dress for his culture? Even if I wasn't sure about if the floret thing was right for me. Most florets were very… overstimulating to be around, so I didn't really know any. I threw on my old reliable loose fur boots, which probably didn't match the dark green swirls of my dress, but at least didn't make me want to scream from the bad sensory.

Before leaving for my date, I carefully did makeup to try to cover the bags under my eyes. I hadn't slept well, it had been one of those nights. My weighted blanket was perfect for my arms but it had felt like any pressure at all on my chest was making my breaths shallow, even the feeling of my mattress conforming under my back had been too much and made me want to thrash around. As I sometimes did, I just ended up sleeping on the floor with my head on a foam pillow instead.

The bus wasn't too crowded, but there was a tall three eyed xeno who smelled really weird and had dyed fur in clashing colors that gave me a headache even from the corner of my vision. I decided to sit far apart from them, and just look out the window for the whole ride.

The more I thought about what I was on my way to do, the more stressed I got. I needed something else to focus on badly, so I opened my tablet’s messaging app.

>Sally Fable
hey mom

im on my way to the date i told you about yesterday 

Nervous… cant stop thinking about him! I hope he likes me back

I watched some floret with blue hair argue in hushed tones with what I assumed was her pinnate while I watched the three dots of the typing indicator. Or maybe they were flirting, I had no idea. A soft beep altered me to a response.

>Autumn Fable
Just be your usual cool self, sweetie. He's gonna love it! 😎 

I'm so proud of my daughter, you know!!!! ❤️❤️ 

>Sally Fable
Thanks, mom

I probably shouldnt worry he asked me out first after all but im having a bad sensory day with my foot again and its stressing me out aaaa

>Autumn Fable
Want a distraction? I can tell you all about this new inter-moon transit system we've been building back home! 🚀

Mom always knew how to cheer me up. I let the rest of the passengers fade away into the background as I read her excitedly explaining the new stuff her old civil engineering firm had been working on alongside the Affini. I felt a lot better. Finally, it was time to go, and I sent her a goodbye message as I stood.

I got off at my stop, and carefully walked as levelly as I could while still unfortunately hyper aware of my own toes, remembering to put my heels on the ground like I was supposed to. As soon as I stepped into the overhang for the kitchen area of the outdoor cafe, the barista handed me my usual coffee lemonade without my needing to order, which was nice. Thankfully, nobody was sitting at my usual table either. I sat down, and considered just taking my boots off. I wasn't going to let bad foot feels ruin this day for me when everything else was going so well.

I was quite early, because I knew sometimes you were supposed to do that. Even if the invitations and appointments clearly say a specific time on them. For reasons I couldn't figure out, they sometimes actually meant before that and everyone but me always seemed to just know when that was the case. But at least nobody ever got mad for being early, so I just always made sure to be ahead of schedule.

I took a sip of my coffee and wiggled my toes in my boot anxiously as I waited for Reed to arrive. I hated that they were touching, hated having toes in the first place. Stupid evolutionary relic. Shoes always squeezed my feet wrong, but going barefoot meant having to deal with the unpredictable textures that might be underfoot. Stepping on something that was just, aaaaa, noooo, could leave me feeling squirmy for hours.

About one minute before the specified time of noon, I saw Reed round the corner of the restaurant next door and make his way over to me. He was carrying something like a suitcase.

“Good afternoon, Sally. I am glad you could make it. I have some things for you.”

Before I could actually act on what the correct response to a gift was- always say thank you before you even see it, Mom had taught me- Reed set the case down on the table in front of me.

He clicked it open, and I saw it was full of… fabrics, with what looked like squares of paper, metals, plastics, and other things mixed in. A dizzying array of small squares of material samples, sorted into piles in a grid. 

“Thank you! What is this, Reed?” It still felt weird to talk to an Affini so informally, but he had asked me to. 

“These are the parts for an activity we will be doing. A game we will play together, of sorts.”

I looked at the corner of his face cautiously, tracing the slightly fuzzy edge of his jaw with my eyes. His one soft eye glowed a faint gold.  “What is the game for?”

“You said many materials are stressful when they touch your body. I would like to find the ones you find most comfortable, and learn which are unacceptable for you.”

“Oh.” 

Touching an entire library of unknown stuff was scary. Especially since I was already on edge from thinking about how all my toes were touching each other. But he had gone to all this effort for me. I didn't want to disappoint him.

He was already taking one of the stacks out with one of the many splitting vines. “I think this game will be most effective if you cannot see what you touch. May I remove your sight for the duration of the experiment?”

I resisted the instinct to flap my hands anxiously. “How would you do that? With a xenodrug like you said?”

He held up a vine that terminated in a long, thin frond. “A blindfold will do just fine. May I?”

Before I could respond, he pressed the leaf over my face, and it deformed perfectly to shutter me in cool darkness without pressing on my eyes. When it wrapped around my ears as well, suddenly all the sound from outside vanished. I opened my mouth and closed it in quiet surprise. The blindfold vine felt wonderful against me. Smooth, cool, firm, secure. No sight and no sound left me immediately floating in my own head, calmer than I might expect.

There was a peaceful tranquility to the moment. I forgot what I was here for, what I was doing, and simply existed in the dark silence for a long moment. I was jolted back out of the drift a few seconds later by his voice, which came perfectly clear through the soft cottony barrier of blissful silence to the outdoor noises of the cafe. “Please put your hand out, Sally.”

“Okay, Mister- um, sorry. Okay, Reed.”

I obediently extended my fingers, and he wrapped another vine around my wrist. It was easy to let him take the lead and direct me, and I couldn't help but shake some of the wiggles out with my free left hand, just a little, tiny motion nobody else would see. Something soft brushed against my fingertips, and I immediately recognized it as the very same texture as the dress I had been wearing yesterday. “This one is good, Reed. I think I know what it is.”

I felt something radiating through my leafy blindfold, like a silent sound. Approval. It was a pulse of the meaning I knew you showed by nodding, but absolutely pure and clear. It carried an additional layer of paternal authority. “Good girl. I wanted to start with something familiar.”

I wasn't used to this feeling, this absolute certainty of how he was feeling, despite my being blindfolded, despite him not even having a face at all, I just understood I had done well. I felt my cheeks itch and get a little warm.

He pulled the cloth against my fingers away, and I waited for the next. It didn't come.

“Reed? What is going on?” Had I done something wrong?

“Sally, may I remove your right shoe? You are clearly in distress, and if your focus is divided it will make this activity less effective.”

“Oh. Okay. Isn't being barefoot rude?”

He didn't answer that. I felt a group of vines slither down the gap between my shin and my boot, and gently pull it off. His touch felt reassuring, and having nothing but air and his vines against my feet was absolutely heavenly. I wiggled my toes again, separating them so they didn't touch at all. I let out a small gasp of surprise as what felt like four leaves coiled between my toes and squeezed. He pulled back and my toes were… gone. Not gone, I could still feel they were physically there, but numb. No sensation.

“What did you just do, Reed?” The muscles in my back unclenched for the first time since I had foolishly tried wearing normal shoes this morning. 

“I applied a topical numbing cream of my own design. It will last for a few hours, hopefully long enough for your discomfort to subside. While I believe your aversions should be accommodated, no sophont deserves to experience discomfort from their own physical form.”

I was glad there was something covering my eyes, otherwise he would see I was tearing up. Mercifully, he didn't seem to notice, and had me touch another sample. This one was like soft wood. I didn't feel much of anything about it.

“It's just a solid object. Not good or bad. Stuff kinda has to react or have a texture for it to be good or bad, this is just a block. The grain is fine I guess?”

“I see. Thank you.” Approval. I fought the desire to rock side to side.

I let him guide my hand to the next sample, but as soon as my finger brushed against it, my entire body twitched. It was awful, horrible. Little overlayed pointy sequins that had the worst feeling. It was bad, bad, bad.

Reed prompted my feedback. “How does this one feel, Sally?”

“Fine, thank you Sir,” I responded automatically, hating it.

“Hmm,” he replied. There was no approval, no praise. What was I doing wrong? I just wanted to stop touching the sample, but he wasn't moving on to the next one.

Finally, I broke. “No, I am sorry Mister Lywick, I don't like this one. It is very bad sensory.”

Before I even finished saying the word no, he had already pulled it away, and I exhaled in relief.

“Good girl.” 

He spoke with emphasis I had not yet heard in his relatively monotone voice. The swelling of his approval was the strongest it had been yet. I squirmed a little in my seat and tried not to whimper aloud. Lesson learned. He wanted the truth, not what I thought I was supposed to say.

We went through what must have been dozens of sample materials after that. Good, bad, okay, good, good, bad, very bad, good, okay. Each time I got a little burst of his approval. It was really nice, and even the ones I didn't like didn't bother me too much when he praised me for doing a good job.

Then he touched my hand against the best thing ever. It was- perfect. I gasped involuntarily, forgetting to even smile and show my excitement. Soft, smooth, covered in little fibers that could glide when I moved my fingers in one direction, but bunched up in a satisfying resistance pattern in the opposite direction. It was the most good sensory thing I had ever touched. Any semblance of maintaining my composure was gone, and I wiggled in my seat slightly against his gentle grip on my arm.

“Oh. Reed, I really like this one. It's perfect. What is it?”

“By the sound of it, it is exactly what I was looking for. Excellent.”

I felt another wave of that same approval feeling from earlier, and I squirmed harder. No guesswork, no trying to detect sarcasm or a joke I didn't understand, I just knew.

Seemingly as an additional reward, the vine holding my foot pressed in on my heel, and the feeling squeezed a soft little moan out of me. For all the issues my feet caused me they were really sensitive. I had never had anyone touch them like this before. I really hoped I didn't make him feel uncomfortable, I just wasn't used to anything good associated with that part of my body at all. 

I was starting to feel a little dizzy. The blindfold was pulled away, and I realized he had leaned far closer to me during the testing game. I was looking directly into his singular, gentle eye spot, which now glowed a uniform purple. I leaned forward into him, the soft pulsing of subtle gold tones in the flat circle of color drawing me in. I felt very aware of the fact that he still hadn't moved the vine binding my arm in place. Had he creeped further up? It was over my elbow now.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to remember how to talk. Fortunately he rescued me by talking first.

“This has been very informative. While I could continue further, I do not want to overwhelm you. You did very well.”

I blinked the haze out of my eyes and went back to looking at anything but directly into his face. He was done. Was it over? Had I failed some test? 

“Thank you, Reed. This was really nice. Will I see you again, then?” It was the question I dreaded. I knew what to expect. Any date I really liked tended to end in them saying they had a nice time and I was very sweet, that they would get back to me about another, and then they would always forget to do so. Even I knew they were just being polite and trying not to hurt my feelings, but I would prefer honesty.

“Yes. Tomorrow I have something to attend to, but the day after, you will come to my hab so we can continue without environmental distractions.”

“Oh, wow, okay…” I usually didn't make it to the phase of getting invited somewhere private. I didn't get why he thought I was worth spending so much time with. I hadn’t even really done anything but touch stuff the whole time today. 

“There is one last thing I would like to give you.”

Reed placed a pair of tiny plugs on the table that seemed to have the exact same shape as the indents that had pressed into my ears. The implied instruction was clear, and I picked up the new gift and slid them into place.

All the chatter of the other tables at the cafe went completely silent. It was utter peace. The sound of his voice passed through them like they weren't even there, of course.

“These are made from my leaves, and may help you with overstimulation. Use them whenever you please if they are to your liking. They contain a recording of my own passive soundscape you appear to find soothing.” While the thin sliver of a mouth I could faintly see under his eye didn't move while he spoke at all, I could feel a sense of a smile of genuine joy in his words somehow.

I was going to cry again. “Thank you again Reed. I don't know what I can possibly give you back.”

“You are a mortal creature, I am not. Every second you have spent with me is a gift more valuable than I could ever repay. I appreciate your indulging my curiosities.”

My mind lingered on that foot massage as he slipped my boot back onto my right foot. It would be selfish to ask for him to do the other side, but I really wanted him to. It was an unusual feeling, usually being so touch averse, but he still hadn't even let go of my arm, and I didn't mind at all.

“Reed. I'm confused, why are you being so nice to me?” 

His eye pulsed a faint purple, then pink. “I am being exactly as ‘nice’ as I would be to any other sophont that caught my attention as you have.”

“But why me specifically?”

“I believe, no matter how well-practiced a face you present, that the Compact could be doing better by you than it is currently, and I enjoy solving novel puzzles. I have already stated I might consider you a candidate for my companionship, which may assuage any concerns you might have that I gain nothing from this.”

I was suddenly very aware of the fact that he still hadn't let go of my arm. His vines had always reached up to my shoulder right? I didn't have time to linger on that, because he gave me a little squeeze and then pulled away, letting my hand drop gently to the table. After being led by him for a bit it felt a little weird being back in sole control of it.

“I will see you the day after tomorrow after you leave here, Sally. Thank you for this date. I enjoyed myself greatly.”

“Okay. See you then, I guess.” 

As we both stood and went in opposite directions, I almost walked directly into someone, and after profusely apologizing I couldn't hear him, realized I would unfortunately have to take the earplugs out while walking. It was the sort of thing you really needed someone to be helping lead you around if wearing out and about.

Once nobody was around, I went back to walking on my toes, like I preferred to. I couldn't help but marvel at how whatever he had rubbed on my foot simply stopped the sensory hell entirely. This would last hours? It was simultaneously elating and sad. What was I supposed to do when it wore off? I guess go back to normal. Which was probably where all this was destined anyways.

I still didn't understand why he would want me, as a pet or otherwise. I wasn't some feral human screaming about the free spirit of Terra that would be fun to break, nor was I an eager volunteer who could easily be drugged like Affini liked. I didn't feel like I had anything to offer him back, but maybe I just didn't understand what he was looking for yet.

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

I began making my way home from the cafe. It had been with great reluctance that I released my grip on Sally's arm at all. Her body has been everything I had dreamed, it had the perfect give, the perfect softness. And I had held her for over an hour. Any possible fractional measures of doubt that might have existed in my core evaporated once I had coiled tight around her arm and held her in place.

My every instinct had screamed to simply take her home with me then and there. I could have done it, she would surely follow me. In a single night I could break her of her fear of needles via repeated exposure. But I had conquered my base instincts long ago. Patience was more satisfying.

I had many blooms of experience to my name, many florets in my history. Most voluntary, a few for the pets' own good. Memory across dozens of blooms grew fuzzy, but within those that remained fresh, I had no recollection of setting out to court a creature quite like Sally.

I would cherish the memory of the way her body had slumped into me when I took away her sight and hearing for a long time. She was naturally docile, so effortlessly, trustingly obedient. She belonged in my grasp and it was a terrible injustice that we had managed to avoid crossing paths for nearly a year on the same ship. She had followed my guidance on nearly pure instinct, like she was born for it. The gentlest pulses of my approval and gentle praise had steered her more tightly than any leash.

It had been physically painful to me to force her to continue touching the sequined material I had known she would not like. But the lesson it taught was well worth it. I would not reward being told what she thought I wanted to hear. 7.3 seconds of discomfort between us. The time would soon come that she never experienced an unpleasant sensation again, after all.

I arrived home without having devoted a fraction of conscious processing to my travel, too absorbed in thought about Sally. Thinking about how her skin had felt against my vines, that little moan I had massaged out of the heel of her foot.

Even though I had known about the issue from her medical file, actually witnessing the distress of her toes had been quite upsetting. But the feeling of her tears of relief leaking into my vines had been… indescribable. I would wring so many tears of joy out of her.

I appended the full chart of her responses to the test materials to her file, but that was a formality meant to keep any wayward dry-vined affini from touching her tomorrow while I was renovating.

I would also need to learn how to make the drink she ordered every day. I had stealthily stolen a 2ml sample of the beverage in a sterile dropper while she was blindfolded, and would decompile it into a full atomic breakdown so I could perfectly replicate every imperfection that the barista had infused into the drink she made part of her routine.

The entire night was spent on preparations, placing orders, researching, filing paperwork. I got off to an early start the next morning. Before leaving my home, I meticulously entered instructions into my pad for the small army of construction drones I had requisitioned. I expected to need to stay overnight to recover from my planned procedures, so they would already have finished by the time I returned tomorrow morning. The drones would be resurfacing my entire hab in materials Sally considered acceptable, and constructing a new room adjacent to mine out of all the best textures, excluding her single most favorite material. I had a special plan for that one.

I set out at a decent pace, just fast enough to arrive at my destination on time but slow enough to appreciate the verdant scenery on the way. It was not terribly far, as I was only traveling between two adjacent residential zones. 

I had originally planned to visit my doctor, mentor and friend, Poppy Versonia, at her clinic. But as my plans for what I would need her help with had grown, her desire to spend as little time away from her companion as possible meant it was more convenient to visit her at her home, and she did have a full operations suite there regardless.

The slightly swampy lowlands transitioned into more mountainous terrain, and I eventually arrived at the little hab tucked away between Vasaii evergreens. The door opened, and the AI voice greeted me. I ducked slightly as I entered. The entire place was a little small for me, but suited Poppy, who often took a smaller size than most Affini. She was only two meters tall currently, a full meter shorter than me when standing fully.

I had seen her take dozens of forms, but her current one bore a general resemblance to the intersection between a feathered avian species and a Terran woman. While my own foliage was hardly bright, her leaves were blacker than the void of space, devouring the entire light spectrum and only reflecting glancing photons at angles that gave the edges of her body a faint outline. 

Poppy got up from where she had been sitting as I slid into the living room space. Her current partner, a human woman named Amelia, remained sleeping on the couch, curled around a stuffed animal. I approached, and Poppy and I curled vines together in greeting.

“Hello, Reed. I'm so happy to hear you're courting a special someone again.”

Always companion, precious one, or some similar term with her. Poppy did not like the word floret or the legal structure of xenosophont domestication, which she believed was incompatible with certain ancient customs she observed.

“I thought I might not end up with one from this species at all, but now I can stop looking at yours and wishing I had met one to my tastes.”

Amelia was absolutely adorable, making soft little sleeping noises and drooling something slightly pink, most likely one of the many compounds I had personally brewed for Poppy. As much as I would have liked to pet Amelia, the tattoos on her body written in ornamental Affini script were very clear that she was not to be touched. Over the course of a few decades, Poppy would most likely loosen her grip on her prize, as she always did. Amelia would be all the cuter for having skin wrinkles by then anyway. 

I had once spent a Terran century and a half as her ward in my earlier blooms, having committed with absolute obsession to the mission of all Affini and become very self destructive in my fervor. It had been a well needed lesson on the importance of humility and self care, and the start of a lifelong friendship once I rejoined society as her equal.

Poppy scooped up her treasured human- insofar as a xenosophont so heavily altered still qualified as their species of origin- and beckoned me to follow her down the hallway to her operating suite.

The harsh light illuminated the room as we entered. It had a higher ceiling that let me fully stand comfortably, and there was a core support harness hanging from a metal frame directly over a drain in the center of the room.

While Poppy deposited and posed her sleeping pet in a pile of soft cushions in the corner, I double checked the inventory of the various grafting materials I had arranged to be rapid grown and delivered after my date with Sally yesterday. Everything seemed to be in order, fortunately, and the botanist had even left me a note congratulating me on my future floret.

Poppy straightened up and slithered over to me once she was satisfied with Amelia's comfort. “So, shall we do the core sample first?”

Poppy wiggled excitedly as she talked, which was perhaps slightly dissonant with the fact that she had just extended the rather threatening looking tool for that particular job from her finger. A knife meant to cut a tiny sliver of the center of my consciousness out of me, to grow into the biotech implant that would be installed in Sally's spinal column once she was mine. 

“Yes. It is the only part I cannot numb, so I would rather do it first.”

I shifted the protective leaf cover of my chest to the sides, baring my core, and Poppy approached me with the blade. Probably to calm any anxieties I might have, Poppy prompted idle conversation. “So, tell me about this Sally.”

I answered calmly as she brought the implement up against my core. “She is the most precious thing I have seen in many blooms, Poppy. There is such a beautiful, unrepentantly joyful creature waiting inside her. Her natural state is highly behaviorally divergent from the socially enforced median range, and she puts on an act of being within it. I want to break her of her ability to pretend to be anything but what she is.”

Poppy nodded, in a habitual mimicry of Terran social cues. “Sounds so very wonderful. They're the best cases, those who need something truly transformative to be their best selves. Ready?”

“I am ready.”

Every vine on my body tensed as the serrated blade plunged through the upper layers of my core, dipped a millimeter into the soft neurochemical tissues, and then retracted quickly. It was only a moment’s unpleasant pinch, and then it was over, but it still left me feeling quite jittery. However professional she might be about it, I always preferred Poppy be the one to take the samples, as it was a very vulnerable experience.

She, of course, was doing a poor job of hiding the sadistic thrill she took in her job. I tucked my core back inside my artificial ribcage of leaves, not that it would make much of a difference with what was planned next.

Poppy held up and admired my core sample, which glowed faintly purple, before placing it in a tube of nutrient bath for cultivation and sealing it. “Perhaps when your little Sally is entirely tamed, we can see if she gets along with my Amelia. They would probably be adorable cuddling together.”

I looked at the sleeping human in question, who was absolutely covered in Poppy’s pollen. While Poppy and I had never engaged in any form of sexual activity before, the implication was obvious, and admittedly, there were few other beings in the universe I would trust with Sally that way.

“You would let my gametophytes touch her so soon? You really have softened.”

I disconnected and then pulled away the large lily pad attached to my head I had styled like a large wizard hat, and set it aside. I settled into place on the operation harness, shifted my weight so that its lower hooks were supporting the weight of my core, and began the process of terminating the connections to all the grafts and vines on my body.

“I'm far less possessive than I used to be, Reed.”

Poppy flexed her fingers, and extended an entire array of serrated blades meant to saw through engineered Affini tissues. They gleamed menacingly in the light, and knowing my friend's tendencies, I was glad I could so easily disconnect sensation from my body.

“Your companion is covered in tattoos that only other affini can see instructing them to keep away from her.”

She moved fast, expertly slicing away the entire left side of my outer leaf cover off with perfect surgical precision. The hydraulic fluids of structural vines sprayed and dripped on the floor, and while it did not hurt, the sudden change in pressure within my core was certainly disorienting.

“I said less, Reed. I took after you and decided to be more direct this time around with my expectations. I am even letting my Amelia have a firstbloom for a friend now!”

Poppy skipped around and behind me, and plunged her claws deep once more. Another slice of material, and the support gel I had not drained, landed on the floor with a loud splat. The shift in weight put enormous strain on my few structural vines, but with some careful rebalancing I righted myself again

“I see. No more grudges then.” it was getting harder to focus enough to speak as my body lost mass.

“Well, I didn't say that. I am still quite annoyed about what that miserable pile of twigs said about me back in Andromeda, you know.” I had absolutely no recollection of the incident Poppy was referring to, but a half dozen blooms ago was a much longer time to me than it was to an affini as ancient as her.

I stayed quiet, and Poppy kept working, wiggling and dancing in a whirlwind of flashing blades. She was a beautiful sight to behold, taking such visible pleasure in the very act of motion. The right half of my body fell away in bits, and I was left as nothing but a core and a few very critical support branches.

I could feel the playful energy even as Poppy gossiped. She was having fun, and her giggles were infectious. I tried not to think too hard about the fact that several of the mannerisms I found so attractive in Sally were absolutely ones Poppy possessed as well. I would process my subconscious desire to domesticate my closest friend some other millennium when we were both unpaired again.

She came to a full stop. “It is time for the final step before reconstruction, Reed.”

I retracted the tiny feelers left back inside my core, and braced for an uncomfortable time. “I am ready. Sally is worth it. Try not to have too much fun.”

Poppy gave me a gentle stroke, then carefully, delicately cut though the surface layer of protective sheath that covered my core. If I had any vines left to move, they would be squirming on pure instinctual defensive mechanisms. She peeled me like a fruit, and discarded the coverings to the sides. It was a disquietingly vulnerable experience.

Poppy quickly began attaching the new material that would be the surface of my core- the one Sally had called perfect. The hair-thin connective tissues greedily grabbed at the soft, fuzzy material and bonded to it. All in all, I was bare for less than a minute. Sally had lived her entire life enduring worse discomfort every day, I reminded myself, and the thought of changing that fact of her existence gave me newfound strength.

With the very first new vine Poppy attached, I began to help, grabbing at the various materials Sally had unknowingly helped me choose. An injection of growth catalyst and a spray of nutrient dense water slurry fed a blooming growth spurt, and I spread new leaves and tendrils out, glad for the intensity of the wall-sized lamp pointed at me. Reserves of energy stored inside my core were quickly converted into flowers, root structures, wooden supports, everything I needed to be me.

My new shape took form quickly, and once Poppy attached a tube to my side to replace lost hydraulic gel, I quickly felt like myself again. I looked more.or less the same on the outside, since I already knew Sally liked the waxy feeling of the leaves and vines that I grew naturally. But underneath, I was now a layered assortment of her favorite textures, and my core was now made from her favorite material she had ever touched.

I was just missing one thing. Poppy put the large lilypad I had shaped like a hat back on my head, and I felt whole again. Not complete, of course. I would feel complete when I was on top of my Terran, drugging her into heights of pleasure she could only dream of, and pulling her inside the hollow space I had left inside my body, perfectly shaped for hers to fill.

I was proud of my efforts, but pushed far beyond the limits of exhaustion. Poppy helped carry me back to the living room, where I collapsed in a pile of limp vines and foliage onto Poppy’s couch and fell into a deep slumber to recalibrate, rest, and recover.

Sally Fable

I was pacing around my place, up on my tiptoes, hands wiggling to my sides. I had arranged my apartment so that it had a satisfying loop to traverse when I needed to pace, guided by the furniture without ever needing to take a hard reverse turn. I sometimes had to stop, grab a plushie from my couch, press it against my face, and scream into it. I had so much energy. How was I ever going to sleep?

I was torn from my pacing by the Hab AI announcing that I had an incoming video call from my Mom. I ran over to the display screen and opened the channel.

It was late night here, but it looked like early morning back home for her on Dionysus IV. Though with its 215 hour days that didn’t mean much. But since she was drinking from the coffee mug I had made her when I was a teenager, I assumed she had just woken up.

Mom was smiling wide, her usual slightly unkept self. She still insisted on wearing glasses, even if they didn't do anything now that her eyesight had been fixed, because she liked how they looked.

“Hey sweetie. Before we get to the big thing, how has your week been, how goes your rewatch of Cities?” Her eyes looked down and to the right, since she didn't like making eye contact either. 

“Hi Mom. I've been doing okay. I just got to the part where they find the old drainage system and realize they can breathe without masks because of the trees down there.”

She smiled brightly. “I always loved that arc, the hopeful message in particular. And now it's real. It's amazing to think that Terra is actually mostly habitable again.”

“Yeah! Maybe other fans of it will actually find those old highway systems and build a recreation of the world from the game.”

She shrugged, and leaned back in her chair. “Maybe you'll see it yourself one day.” It was extremely unlikely I would be setting foot on Terra since I was from a moon with a fifth of its gravity and had the bones to match, but it was a nice thing to say. “So anyway, tell me about this boy, Rodd? Where did he take you on your date, what did you do?”

“His name is Reed , Mom. We went to the cafe I go to every day for my coffee, and we played a game to figure out what textures were good for me. It was really nice, and he is really direct. I don't question anything with him, he just says what he means.”

“That sounds perfect for you! What's he look like? Is he cute?”

“He's really, really handsome, Mom. He's tall, has this one eye that I can actually kinda look directly at, has like this big wizard hat made of leaves…”

Her eyebrows went up, and she leaned forward towards the camera. “Wait, Reed is an Affini?”

“Oh, yes. I guess I never mentioned that part.”

Mom was quiet for a long time. I looked back at the screen nervously, waiting for her to break the silence.

“So, no grandkids, huh?” 

I immediately shook in embarrassment. “Mom! I don't do that… stuff!”

She held up the special hand sign we used to clarify when something was just a joke, and I returned it with a sigh of relief. 

“I know, Sally. That's just a lot to take in? I never imagined you with anyone but another human, and the affini are, well. You know.”

I scrunched up my nose anxiously. “I don't know. What's wrong with an Affini?”

“Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with xenos in general, but if you told me he was a Spectrum Jelly or a Rinan or something, I wouldn't have to wonder if that meant he was going to make you into his floret one day.”

“Oh, he said he wants to do that, yeah.”

She winced in response. “Maybe I'll learn some things I’ll wish I could forget by asking this, but is being… that kind of partner, the floret thing, like the Affini usually have, something you would want? You told me since you were pretty young you weren't interested in the stuff you learned in sex-ed.”

“I don't know. I should ask him, I guess. I've never even had a human girlfriend or boyfriend, and I looked it up yesterday after he mentioned it, and there are lots of ace florets.”

Mom took a long sip of her coffee before responding. “What about physical contact in general? You don't like being touched. Affini are pretty damn touchy.”

I had to think about that one for a moment. “I mean, I don't like skin against my skin, yeah. But Reed doesn't have skin. He has leaves and vines. And not like bad crunchy leaves. He feels like the ones from those wall creepers back home, the smooth waxy ones.”

She smiled. “I used to have to pull you away from touching every one of those when we passed them when you were a kid. Okay, I think I can understand what might appeal to you about him.”

I rocked in my seat a little, squeezing my thumbs inside my hands. “Do you think I'm making a mistake? Is what I'm supposed to do here to tell him no, because I don't know if I want to be a floret?”

Mom was quiet again, then answered carefully. “Rather than focusing on the floret thing, focus on him. Is he good to you? Treats you well, listens to you?”

“Yeah! He said every moment I spent with him was a gift he could never repay, and that he would move a planet to make me smile. He asked about Cities under the Highway too, though I was too scared to talk about it as much as I wanted to.”

She gave me a big thumbs up. “Now that's the kind of man I want in a relationship with my daughter, no matter if they're animal, vegetable or mineral.”

I giggled a little. “You don't sound like you're convinced this is a bad idea, Mom. When I was looking on the net, lots of people described this kind of situation as being ‘cooked’ but I don't feel scared by Reed at all. I'm more scared of other humans than him.”

She fidgeted with the curls of her hair while considering. “It comes down to this, I think. I used to worry how you were going to make it in the Accord without me. Ever since the Affini arrived, you've gone from someone who could only work in a coffee shop to really coming into your own. I was so proud when you left home to live on that ship you're on now.”

“Aw, Mom…” 

“Hold on, I wasn't done, sweetie. I tried my best to prepare you for the world that existed before. But that world is gone, and some of the things I taught you might be doing more harm than good now. A relationship with someone who actually knows how to navigate this society might help you a lot. But more than anything, I want you to be happy, even if I have concerns about what being with Reed might look like. If he makes you happy then you should keep pursuing this. It's that simple. But maybe reach out to him and be sure your expectations on physical intimacy line up before you meet again.”

I did hand flaps to get the happy buzzy energy out. “Thanks, Mom.”

“And when you do, you tell him, he better be careful with my daughter, or he's going to have to explain himself to me!”

“I will, Mom. I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetie. Now, I'm gonna go get to my project today. It looks late there, you get some rest.”

We hung up, and I immediately pulled out my tablet. I looked up ‘Reed Lywick’ on the net and quickly found his username. I sent hima friend request, and within a minute we were chatting.

[BigHatLilypad accepted your friend request.]

>BigHatLilypad
Hello, Sally. Can I help you with anything?

>Sally Fable
I talked to my mom about you, she said you sound nice

But also that you have to be careful with me, or else she will be very mad! 

>BigHatLilypad
I am glad to hear that she is as protective as I am. I would not have it any other way. <|•)

That collection of symbols is meant to be me, by the way. Rotated sideways, smiling.

>Sally Fable
I could tell, i like it! 

Also I'm asexual

Did you already know that

>BigHatLilypad
I did.

>Sally Fable
And its not a problem? Its been a problem before

>BigHatLilypad
It is actually to my preference. I am just as disinterested in penetrative sexual intercourse as you are.

>Sally Fable
Okay, thats good, ill see you tomorrow then Reed. Excited!

>BigHatLilypad
Likewise, dear. <|c) Rest well.

I put the tablet down, and went back to pacing. I had so much energy to work out. Before I could even attempt to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a lot, I could already tell.

An hour later, I found myself tossing and turning in bed, long after I would have wanted to go to sleep. I considered going to the floor again, until another idea struck me. I got up, went to my desk, and grabbed the earplugs Reed had given me, the ones that blocked out every sound and replaced them with a recorded resonance of his own rhythm.

I got back in bed, slipped them into my ears, and was out before my head even hit the pillow.

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

Reed’s hab was in the wetlands area of the hab ring, slightly out of the way for the usual bus, so I took a personal shuttle car from my apartment in the independents district over. As I stepped out, my breaths immediately felt better than usual. Something about the humidity hanging in the air was good.

I knew to expect a large building, because Reed was eleven feet tall and towered over me. And it was sized for him, of course, but I wasn't expecting it to be a magical looking cabin straight out of the fairy tales my Mom used to tell me as a kid. A steep roof pitched up over multiple floors, with a front facade of irregular stone bricks. Windows of what looked like wrought iron were placed haphazardly, and there was even a chimney. The entire thing was on a small island of sorts on a pond, and there was a little wooden footbridge to the front door.

It opened as I approached, and Reed stood behind it. His leaves all looked slightly different. Very subtly so, but it was noticeable. Slightly lighter around the edges, and he seemed a little more plush in the midsection than I remembered. I didn't think much of it. He still had the exact same wide hat, which was reassuring. Perhaps it was just some kind of natural plant molting process.

“Please, come in, Sally. Welcome to my home. You are free to remove your shoes, you will find the flooring to your tastes, as we determined on our date.”

I nodded and pulled my fuzzy boots off, and did indeed find that the wood floor of the entryway was exactly the right level of textured to feel neither sterile nor overwhelming. That sure was a convenient coincidence. I put them down on the floor near the door, and surveyed the space around us.

I immediately noticed the brass fireplace with overhanging fume hood that transitioned into roots when it met the ceiling. There seemed to be other rooms other than the large open plan space that was arranged around the fireplace. Unusual for an Affini, but it looked right here. There was a soft yellow glow from within that was slightly warm on the skin that peeked out from the companion dress I was wearing.

The space I could see was a bit dark overall, but had both soft blue bioluminescent twinkles on the wooden parts, and wall sconces that gave the wood and stone surfaces a pleasant illumination. The color tones were warm, subtle oranges and magentas that contrasted his bluish green waxy leaves. It was all scaled to the size of an 11 foot tall person of course, but I had expected that. Tall appliances, enormous sofa chairs, shelves with art in styles that were utterly alien to me.

It seemed well within the range of what I had seen while researching what affini homes usually looked like, but with a style that felt very Reed. He led me over to a cozy alcove table with a single high chair I would obviously need his to help me reach. It looked comfy, but so did the whole place.

“Can you help me up, Reed?”

Reed didn't pick me up, but instead extended several thick vines and formed them into a sort of seat, and I slid into it. His touch was gentle, and his vines, while retaining that safe, almost waxy feel on the leaves, felt even more plush and fuzzy than I remembered. I looked up at his softly glowing purple eye, and gave him a little nod that I was secure. He wrapped a few stray creepers a little tighter around my body still, and I had to hold back a sigh of relaxation. I usually hated being touched, but Reed felt different.

I was lifted up to the chair, and deposited on the elevated seat. His touch lingered just a bit longer than I expected, like he didn't want to let go of me yet. I almost asked if he could keep holding me.

“Are you secure?” 

“Yes. Thanks,” I answered, staring at the floor to hide my blush as best I could.

Reed shifted back to the other side of the table, and I noticed that there was a mason jar full of a dark liquid sitting on the center of the table. Reed extended a vine and pushed it within my reach.

“I took the liberty of finding out how to make your drink, since you were kind enough to disrupt your usual routine for this visit.”

I picked it up and took a tiny sniff, and it was immediately recognizable as my usual iced coffee lemonade. I felt silly for ever doubting it was what he had said as I took a sip. It was exactly, perfectly my drink, and even had the little sprinkle of salt I always added. He must have been paying very close attention. Was this how florets felt all the time? It was a lot to get used to.

“Thank you, Reed, you’re really nice! I don't know what to say, honestly.” 

“Your gratitude is a treasure beyond valuation. Now, as much as I would look forward to showing you around my home, I invited you here today for a purpose.”

Reed extended a vine, which held up a small flask filled with a cyan liquid. 

“Is that a xenodrug that won't make me feel uncomfy?”

“Ideally, yes. As I have mentioned, I have many skillsets, and among them is novel xenopharmacology. This is a specialized concoction of my own design I think you would enjoy.”

I was a little apprehensive about it, but I wanted to at least try. I had looked up how affini approached romance and uninterrupted sobriety was not exactly common for their companions. “What is it, what's in it?”

“Mostly hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, with less than one percent of other trace elements. Though I assume you meant to ask what it will do. How familiar are you with xenodrug classifications?”

I took another sip of my coffee before answering. “I know what some of them do… class-A is like, pot, kinda? E is anti anxiety. G is hormones and body changes? That's all I ever took. Only G was right for me, E made me feel floppy and A made me super aware of bad textures.”

“Ah. Unfortunate you are not familiar with the class-D family, which is what this is closest to. It is a euphoriant and physical disinhibitor.”

I was fretful about taking a ‘disinhibitor’. I had made some very poor choices the one and only time I ever tried alcohol. 

“Will I do things I wouldn't do otherwise? I've only been drunk once, and I hated it.”

“Yes. It will remove your learned inhibitions entirely, and you will behave in ways you would normally not, but in a very different way than typical intoxication. I will still be responsible for keeping you safe during that time, but I have no intention of letting you break physical contact with me during the experience, so that will not be difficult.”

The idea of being held by him was so tempting I wanted to agree just for that, but I kept a level head about it. I thought about how the class-G regimen I had gone through had permanently changed my body. For the better, but still permanent!

“Will it change me… after?”

Reed’s eye faded to a golden pink as he considered the question. 

“You may find you enjoyed yourself so much you do not want to go back to masking certain behaviors. But in that way, it would only change you as much as making a very convincing oral argument would. No lasting physical effects after an hour or so.”

I swallowed nervously, eyeing the innocuous looking cyan fluid. It was scary, but an hour wrapped in his vines guilt free, was tempting. It wasn't like I could just ask for that, and I had no way of knowing when he might offer again. It was worth it to be brave. Plus, my main issue with drugs in the past had just been that I hadn't enjoyed them. Reed had been different in other areas this far…

“Okay, I trust you. You put in a lot of effort for me! I want to try it.”

His eye pulsed golden orange again. “Good girl. Here you are, then, simply drink it.”

He removed the cap to the container and put the vial down in front of me, and I picked it up. I opened my mouth, but stopped. My body was, as always, not cooperating.

I tried to tilt the vial, pour it onto my tongue, but I just, froze. No no no. Not again, not again. I tried to close my eyes and just do it, but my body wouldn't cooperate. I let out a noise of frustration.

I tried to just focus on the mechanical actions of rotating my wrist, but I couldn't stop being afraid of what it would be like on my tongue. Even if I wanted it so badly, I couldn't do it. He was going to think I was so childish.

“Do you need help, Sally?”

I nodded fearfully, trying to trust that he wasn't going to think less of me.

“Yes. It's new, and that means my body doesn't know if it's safe or not. Not literally safe as in dangerous, but like, not bad sensory. I don't know how to explain this, only my mom has ever gotten what I'm talking about. I'm a little nervous, and I can't try new things if I'm nervous.” I felt ready to cry.

“That is okay. I will help.”

Reed moved back next to me, and took the vial from my hand. Vines slid out of his chest, bracing behind my head, my neck, my lower back. Yet more gently wrapped around my arms, steadying me in place. As he held me, I started to feel that same peace I had last night when wearing the earplugs he gave me, and I relaxed into his grasp and let him guide my body. I wanted to fidget in my chair so bad, but I wanted to feel him steer and pose me more.

It felt like he should be annoyed at me for making him have to do it rather than just drinking the stupid thing like a normal person, but instead I felt the faint reassuring hum of his… Approval. Hard to have doubts when someone is projecting a smile directly into your head.

I had been entirely braced to be called silly and childish for my aversion, that this stupid thing had cost me my shot with this handsome alien gentleman who was so nice to me. But Reed didn't seem to think much of it at all.

Reed brushed down my lower lip with his vine, and my mouth popped open immediately. Another wrapped from behind my hair and around my forehead. He gently tilted my head back, and I made a little involuntary squeak.

“Sally, would you stick out your tongue, please?”

I obliged his request, and immediately felt a proper burst of his approval ripple through his vines. Another tiny whimper escaped my throat.

“Good girl. I'm going to pour just a little into your mouth to start, and you'll hold it under your tongue until I tell you to swallow. Is that acceptable?”

It felt like the room was getting warmer, but his body was still cool to the touch, and kept me anchored. I nodded as best I could in his grasp. I wanted to be good. I desperately wanted his approval again. 

“Uh-huth,” I answered as best as I could with my tongue out. I wanted to shake and flap my hands with how much buzzy energy I had, but I stayed as still as I could. He would feel me moving against his vines even if he clearly was strong enough to hold me in place if he wanted to… and thinking about that fact made me blush even more than I already was. Stars, he was so much stronger than me. I was helpless, and yet felt entirely safe.

He poured the liquid onto my tongue and gave me a tap on the bottom of my chin that gently suggested I close my mouth, which I immediately did. I let out a muffled squeal of delight at the flavor. I had expected something like cough syrup, and gotten ambrosia. It was delicious, sweet and sour and a little hint of citrus, with a gentle tingle, but not angry or overwhelming like carbonated drinks always felt. I had to fight the instinct to swallow immediately, and let it pool under my tongue as he had instructed.

Reed stroked my scalp as what felt like an eternity went by. Was I getting lightheaded? Was it because of the xenodrugs, or just his vines starting to squeeze around my entire body? After some time had passed, with the buzzy tingles now starting to spread over my cheeks, he gave me a stroke down my throat. “Swallow.”

I obeyed, and shivered at the wave of his approval yet again. The tingling was starting to reach the rest of my body, and I tipped over, collapsing fully into his vines. My fingertips danced, and sparks of joy lit up across my vision as I stared into his softly pulsing eye.

“Oh, stars. Reed, that's affecting me really fast.” 

“Good girl. Now relax. Let your body act.”

My spine went fully slack, but the raw excitement I had been holding in this entire time finally burst forth, and I started flapping my hands like I usually only did at home. It felt so good. The weight of my own body moving, the release of energy, the static charge to my skin, all of it. It was good sensory in pure kinetic form, and I didn't want to stop anymore.

I was saturated in his approval now, but that wasn't all. As my squirming reached my feet, something changed. I could feel a new something through whatever invisible force he was using. He was proud of me. I gasped and let out a loud moan.

“Time to take the rest. Just swallow this time.”

I was starting to suspect he might actually be enjoying himself more than he would have if I had just drank the cocktail unaided instead. I dizzily opened my mouth as he brushed my lip, and the gasp would have turned a more lucid me deep purple from embarrassment.

His pride was enormous, his pride overwhelmed everything else, it unfolded like a fractal and little hints of desire and possessiveness and ancient hunger twinkled within. His great eye was a softly glowing maw I was happily, joyfully falling into.

There was only one thought left bouncing around in my head as the saturation of the drugs in my bloodstream passed the point of no return and lucidity escaped me entirely. 

Stars, I really liked being a good, obedient girl for him. 

Reed Lywick

I tilted the vial once more, and poured the rest of the drink into Sally’s mouth, carefully and slowly. Savoring every single drop that fell, drinking in every tiny vibration of the shivers that they brought on. 

Sally looked at me with vacant, trusting eyes that increasingly failed to focus on me. She held her mouth open, now filled to the brim with my xenodrug cocktail. Even as her eyelids sank from the drug soaking through the membranes of her mouth, she didn't spill a single drop. She was so beautifully obedient.

I knew from my careful designs of the concoction that she would already be slipping into the beginnings of a deep stupor. The wiggles already appearing in her fingers revealed that the primary intended effect was starting to take hold, as well. It was a sort of pattern, tapping the pad of her thumb against the other four fingertips in what I had a reasonably high level of certainly was a pattern determined by a prime number sequence. How precious.

I tapped her jaw closed and indicated she should swallow with a stroke down her throat. She complied as I had already trained, so I pushed another rewarding pulse of my approval into her body. She shivered and moaned, and it took all my restraint not to simply pour an overwhelming wave of my rhythm into her to make her thrash around against my grip. Until she was fully tamed, I had to be sparing, only rewarding the behaviors I wanted to reinforce.

But by the Everbloom, was it difficult. Her reactions kept getting cuter. Her stimming was now a full body affair. I cursed myself for having given the concoction such a short termination window. I wanted more than just an hour of this. Needed more, I needed her to belong to me. Needed my haustorium in her spine, irrevocably making me the most important thing in her entire life, letting me fill her with my love and pleasure for every day of the rest of her life.

She grasped at me, making little babbles that bore little resemblance to coherent speech. I would make sure to develop strains that left her speech center more intact in the future, but I did not mind it, and it would only be relevant for a week or less. Once implanted, I would have very fine control of her faculties. Not that I intended to let the implant do much of the drugging. 

The injectors tucked away inside the many layers of fuzzy leaves I had grafted for her comfort ached to bury themselves within her. More emotions than most cultures even had names for swirled within me as the docile, trusting little thing wrapped in my vines looked up at me through glassy eyes. It felt like I was her entire universe. I could be with only a tiny prick. Most Affini in this position would say that I should. It would be so easy.

I wanted so badly to tuck her against my core and fill her lungs with an aerosolized bonding accelerant mix, but I had promised I would not do anything that caused her permanent psychological changes. She would thank me afterwards if I did, but it would be more satisfying to earn her trust than take a shortcut to the end goal. No matter how vacant the cushioned hollow space inside my body felt without her tucked inside it.

I opened my new tablet, which had been surfaced with materials Sally found acceptable. I rewatched the hab’s recording of me forcing her to drink from multiple simultaneous angles. It was beautiful to behold. My perusal of her home compiler history has led me to believe her sensory issues extended to food, so it was not surprising that she had been unable to bring herself to drink the mixture herself. But that she had so directly asked me to do it for her was… more than I could ever have asked for. A floret-to-be so trustingly begging for me to push myself upon them in such an intimate way was a moment I would treasure until the heat death of the universe.

The photos of that moment were incredible. Private as I might generally prefer to be, I would never hear the end of it if I did not record and share her first proper experience in my vines with Poppy. I created a small slideshow of only the most important moments, to send her a collection of highlights.

>BigHatLilypad
[317 attachments]

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥ (Poppy)
Oh, how precious! She is absolutely adorable!

Her response was almost instant. I dismissed the parenthesized Terran text reminder of whom I was talking to next to her name. I had to do this any time I obtained a new device, as it defaulted to adding clarification text next to the ancient Triangulum script. The reminder was highly superfluous, it had not changed once in the nearly twenty thousand years I had known her, I was hardly going to forget it.

>BigHatLilypad
She asked me to drug her when she was unable to drink. I believe I am in what the Terrans call love.

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
How sweet! How much have you given her?

>BigHatLilypad
Only enough for about one hour.

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
Such restraint! Not even a little phytotoxin?

>BigHatLilypad
I have no reason to rush. Typing of which, how grows the implant?

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
Quite well, should be ready in a few days, unless you want to let it overgrow, have her awake for the procedure and have some fun! <:

>BigHatLilypad
I will pass this time, but thank you for offering, Poppy.

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
You should at least kiss her. The Terran mouth is very fun in that regard.

Sally pawed at me needily, and I put away the tablet and gave her one of my fuzzy inner leaves to play with between her fingers. Her squirms were adorable, a sort of rhythmic undulation that made her groan and gasp in pleasure. Poppy was right, of course. My lips, mouth and tongues had been crafted for a purpose and I would take the first steps towards them.

I leaned my head down, and gave Sally a small, gentle kiss on the forehead. She practically melted into my grasp, nuzzling against my chin in a demonstration of affection. Kissing was a curious social gesture, but one that many xenosophont races with soft mouths enjoyed, and I had developed an appreciation for it in my mid-forty blooms. I would wait for her to be fully lucid before kissing her on the lips, to do otherwise would be an overeager youngbloom mistake.

…But I could. The thought sent a shudder through my very core. The sheer power of this moment was intoxicating. Her absolute trust with her stated boundaries might be a deeply tempting bubble to pop, but she was no feral in need of breaking. She needed to be shown I deserved that trust, so I would move at the pace I helped her decide. I was hardly lacking in ways to enjoy such an adorable little creature even now.

It was easy, even in this state, to experiment with her, gauge on the signals of gasps and whimpers where she enjoyed being squeezed and brushed. Binding her limbs tightly seemed to be favored, with gentler sensual brushing on her midsection. 

She moaned quite adorably when my touch brushed over her breasts, and I gave her a moment to protest. Instead she gazed at me with a look of pure desire, so I decided to be bold and caress her there as well. Pressing in on her feet seemed to be particularly enjoyable. Watching her eyes roll back when I wrapped a soft, fuzzy creeper around her neck in the palest imitation of a collar was as much bliss for me as it was her. 

I lifted her fully from the table, and carried her over to my favorite seat near the fireplace, the only furniture I had decided to keep in the remodel. It would not be pleasant for her to touch the seat, but that was fine. Her place was not to touch my chair, as my lap would be her seat instead.

I lit the fireplace properly with an extended vine, and opened my leaves a bit to the soft warmth. She cooed happily as she lay facedown in my lap, and made happy little motions as I massaged the tension out of her back. I felt out the shape of her spine, which would carry a part of me inside it soon.

This was going to be her life, soon enough. Taking joy in the gift of every day, rather than suffering and masking through her discomfort. I should have given myself more than a single hour, but I was going to enjoy what time I had today no matter what, and there would be fun things to do even when the xenodrug self-termination reaction occurred anyway.

I could not wait to show her the rest of the hab, especially the room I had added just for her.

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

I was drifting, awash in sensations. A leaf drifted in front of my face, and I lost myself in the intricacies of the vein patterns. The striped underside was like a beautiful smudge of paint. 

The leaf flipped and rubbed against my fingers, and I wriggled in pure delight. Every fiber against my skin was a spark, simultaneously individual and yet brushing in concert.

His touch was incredible, binding me in place and yet encouraging me to flap, shake, stretch and stim to my heart's content. He explored me like a territory he wanted to map by tracing lines of pleasure over my entire surface, trace the contour of every cell.

My breasts felt especially good when he touched them, or ran his feelers between my thighs or squeezed my butt. The feeling of him pressing in on every bundle of tension in my feet made me see stars and galaxies flashing under fluttering lids. 

For the first time in my life, I found myself almost wishing I was naked around someone else. Only feeling his touch through my clothes wasn't enough, and would also solve another problem. The only thing I didn't like about the sensations being generously poured over me was the tight, slightly damp aroused feeling in my underwear, but even as he massaged every other part of me, he never touched there, and I was thankful. 

I stared up, up at Him, as I moved and undulated and stretched and twisted. Warmth flowed through me, and the glowing purple halo that was the unblinking eye watching me was the entire universe. As long as I was under his gaze, I would be safe. Little else was perceptible.

Finally, the slow pulsing of his radiance lulled me into utter relaxation, my eyes closed entirely, and I lost myself to the joyful thrashing. It was comfort made physical, and I could feel the steady thrum of him no matter how far it took me. Minutes or seconds meant nothing to the explosions of sensory joy being visited upon me.

I didn't know how long it had been when it started to fade, but once it did it faded quite fast, plopping me back into my body quite abruptly. I opened my eyes slowly, and recognized the warm toned interior of Reed’s hab, which I had forgotten existed since Reed himself was the only thing I was aware of.

I yawned, wiped a line of drool off my chin, and stretched in the basket of smooth leaves I had been laying on. My entire body felt… calm. Like every bit of wiggle and buzz had been wrung out of me. 

Reed looked down at me, but seemed content to just slowly run his tendrils over my body. I spent what must have been a solid minute just laying there in his lap.

I finally summed up the experience in a single word.

“Woah.”

I felt a complex pulse of feelings through his vines, which were still very much wrapped tight around my body. It was not as clear as his approval, but it felt like amusement.  

“How did you enjoy the experience, Sally?”

“It was incredible, like, wow. Every other time I’ve tried drugs I had an awful time, but there was almost nothing I didn't like.”

His focus sharpened, and almost startled me. “Almost nothing is not nothing. Was there a problem?”

I winced, not wanting to make Reed feel bad.

“It's not your fault or anything  you did. It's just like, normal to me. I felt good and my body responded in a certain way I don't like. I don't know. Having a… penis… is like white noise to me. It's not loud, I can easily tune it out.”

He didn't seem to find my argument convincing. “If what you want is quiet, easily ignored white noise is not good enough. You deserve silence.”  

No matter how monotonal his voice was, I felt the emphasis on the final word in the way his body moved. A shudder went through me at its intensity.

“I just never saw any reason to get surgery, I already don't use it for anything, what would the point be?”

I was starting to feel a little agitated, even though it felt like he was probably right. There were a lot more options available to me now than under the Terran Accord, I had just gotten overwhelmed every time I tried to look into it.

Reed stroked my face with the fuzzy side of one of his leaves, and it helped calm me. “We can revisit this at a later time, perhaps. I do not want to stress you after what was otherwise such a pleasant experience. I assume you are hungry?”

I nodded, and felt massive gratitude for his not pushing when I needed to be given space on a topic. “Yeah. I uh, kinda worked up an appetite I guess, with all the wiggling around.”

He pulled out a tablet the size of a dinner plate and handed it to me. “I already took the liberty of copying your atomic compiler favorites menu to my tablet, would you like me to choose one, or do you have a particular craving?”

I felt squirmy as I realized he was presenting him making the choice for me as the default option. 

“I trust you, Reed.”

“Good girl,” he replied, and I was rewarded with a burst of his approval as I had hoped.

Within a minute, I took my first bite into the grilled cheese sandwich he had chosen for me, and followed it up with a sip of my coffee I hadn't finished earlier.

“I like when you do that, the like… approving thing. When you think I did the right thing.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

I took another bite, and answered while still chewing.

“S‘cuz I've struggled to figure out how humans are communicating all my life. And most affini are just mimicking that library of emotional communication written in a language I can't read. I know smiles, but that's about it. But with you it's, like, totally clear when you're pleased. I like the certainty.”

Reed was quiet for a moment, idly playing with the curls of my hair. Then his lips curled into a smile, the first I had seen him make.

“You are a remarkable xenosophont, Sally. I am very lucky to have met you.”

I smiled wide right back. “Thanks, you too.”

Reed Lywick

Evening fell before we knew it, visible as a faint orange glow around the new plush curtains.

The last hour had been spent in comfortable silence, each of us existing in parallel. Her happily scrolling web forums from her seat in my lap, and I reading the archaic 23rd century American English novel that Sally's favorite game and show, Cities under the Highway, were adaptations of, while petting her. I looked forward to surprising her with my knowledge, since she would not recognize the centuries outdated character set, even if the language itself was similar to Terran standard.

Unenthused as I was to break the moment, she had to go back home eventually. This was not the visit where she would never leave, that would be later. I had not even shown her the room that was to be hers yet, after all.

“Sally, it is time for me to return you home.”

She stretched, and yawned, and then opened the app to summon a personal shuttlecar. “Okay, fair enough. I don't want to overstay my welcome.”

“Your welcome is indefinite, Sally. Also, you don't need to arrange transport, I would prefer to carry you.”

She seemed surprised. “Reed, you can't carry me three miles!”

“I will remind you that due to factors of squares and cubes, you are only approximately one eighth of my mass and I am roughly four times stronger than you are, so am entirely capable of carrying you such a short distance.”

She thought about it for a moment. “Ok, I guess it's only like, half the distance for you because you're so tall, but you still don't have to do that for me.”

“Rather than thinking of it as a favor I am doing for you, consider that it is actually a selfish attempt to extend my time with a truly adorable creature. I will not be taking no for an answer unless it is absolutely required for your comfort.”

She smiled at that. “Okay. You can carry me, but only because you did the math and everything! But I'm pretty sure muscles and vines don't work the same, so that four times figure is only a generalization of cross sectional area.”

The glint in her eyes was a glimpse that, underneath the blunted masks she had been forced to wear, a mind as sharp as any engineer worth their stems lurked. One of the injectors tucked away inside my chest leaked a single drop of phytotoxin. Oh, she made me hungry.

“This is true, actually. I am much more than four times stronger than you right now.”

I stood, easily lifting her, and grabbed her boots on the way towards the door.

Sally blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light of the sunset outside. “Because your vines are like, powered by hydraulics or something?”

“True, but no. It is because I have precious cargo in my vines, and therefore have unlimited strength at my disposal.”

Sally opened her mouth, but all that came out was a tiny squeak. Her hands began to shake, then flap up and down in earnest as she scrunched up her face.

Tempted as I was to abandon my plans entirely, place Sally in my chest, and simply keep her there until it was time to implant her, I was fortunately able to keep myself under control. I had not felt like this in millenia, it felt like being an overeager first bloom in Maelodion space all over again.

She made for a good conversation partner as we traveled, and we exchanged descriptions of the planetoids of our birth. I learned of the purple gas giant Dionysus that had hung in the skies of her youth, and told her of the vast marshlands of my origin near the galactic core of Andromeda.

Far too soon, we arrived in the independent district, and shortly after her residential building. I lifted her up, and nuzzled her under the brim of my hat, where our faces were level. “There is something I would like to do before parting. A social behavior many humans engage in.”

She glanced down at my lips, then back up at my eye, and she licked her own lip nervously. She clearly knew my intent.

I moistened the inside of my mouth, and disabled the ducts to the xenodrug reservoirs behind my tongues. There would be a lifetime of that ahead of us. This time would be clear-headed.

It would not do to make my floret-to-be take the first step. I wrapped an additional vine behind her head, and pulled her in as I leaned forward.

Our lips met, and she was as soft as I had dreamed. A seal formed and broke for a moment, a little gasp escaping her.

“Well. You're my first kiss with an alien,” she shyly confessed, face turning bright pink.

“Would you like more?”

“Yes,” she answered with eyes wide.

The first kiss had been small, delicate, cautious. The second was anything but. As soon as our lips met, I licked her lip with one of my tongues, and she returned the gesture and opened her mouth in response to let me in. I plunged deep, wrapping her tongue in a threefold helix that immediately drew a muffled whimper out of her.

I might not be intoxicating her with this particular kiss, but there was no reason to not engage her full senses. I released a few drops of sugars and citric acids into the swirling mix of our mouths, carefully isolated from the makeup of the lemonade half of her familiar drink.

I squeezed at her easily accessible body as we kissed, suspended midair as she was. I wanted to explore her, coax every sound and twitch out of her I could, learn the surface of her nervous system before I began rewriting it. The limiting factor, ultimately, was her stamina, and I felt her going limp.

Finally, she pulled back slightly, and I broke the kiss off. She looked at me through heavy eyelids, panting slightly.

“Stars. You are… really good at that, Reed.”

The contracting fibers I had repositioned when she mentioned understanding certain facial expressions activated automatically in response to my joy, curling my lips into a crescent smile.

“I appreciate the compliment. Before we part ways, I have something for you.”

I reached within the hollow space meant for Sally beside my core, and plucked the gift I had planned for her, a sweet yellow flower. Its petals glowed faintly in the evening light, and I placed it in her outstretched hand, where the organic tendril clip gently curled around her finger to affix itself in place.

“This is called a Gold Spatia. An ancient cultivar from the Core Worlds, with a very specific cultural meaning. If you wear it in your hair when out and about, no affini will attempt to touch you, and any affini who sees it will even try to direct other xenosophonts to give you space where possible.”

She stared into the faintly bioluminescent flower with a pondering look. “Why doesn't everyone have these?”

“They are reserved for florets and those being courted for florethood.”

She nodded, inspecting the underside of the petals curiously. “That makes sense.”

“It does not bother you, that I see you as a candidate for such a relationship? Many Terrans are terrified by the idea.”

Sally shrugged. “Well, I'm not sure about committing to anything so soon, but I looked on the net and everything I found said that affini love their florets more than anything in the universe, and that sounds pretty fine to me.”

I had been worried she might have second thoughts at such a direct restatement of my intentions, but was once again left to marvel at how naturally she took to the role. I stroked her face with the fuzzy undersize of one of my leaves, and pushed overlapping pulses of approval and pride through her. “Good girl.”

She moaned, and I could not help myself but kiss her again. 198 seconds later, she asked me something in a breathless voice.

“Um, does this mean I'm your girlfriend, Reed?”

The term seemed accurate enough for the transitional period before I claimed her.

“I would not object to that descriptor for this stage of courtship, if you would like it. I would be happy to be your boyfriend.”

She nodded again, blood vessels in her face flushing vividly before she covered her face and kicked her feet with an adorable squeak.

“Sorry, I've just never been a girlfriend before. Or had a boyfriend, I guess that's the same thing, kinda. Um.”

I gripped her tight in my passion. “You have nothing to apologize for, Sally. Every time you allow yourself to express yourself authentically, the Everbloom itself grows a new branch.”

She wrapped her arms tight around me and squeezed me in the best hug she could manage in the awkward position she was in. 

“I don't even know what these idioms mean, but you make my chest flutter every time you say them.”

I helped her put her boots back on, and finally reluctantly set her down. She stumbled, and seemed momentarily shocked by the contact with the ground after having not left my grasp in hours. I noted with dismay that the door’s handle was of a material she absolutely did not like to touch.

Only my own determination to stick to my plans stopped me from ripping it off and arranging a replacement on the spot. Patience. A week at most before she was mine forever, to alter her life in the wild would only encourage her to linger in half-comfort longer.

Sally opened the door- I caught her wincing as she touched the handle- then turned to me. “Good night, Reed. I'll message you tomorrow, I want to see you again soon!”

“I would enjoy that. Sleep well, Sally.”

Her face split into a wide grin. “I will! It's been so much easier to sleep since you gave me those special earplugs!”

The void within my body felt hollow as the door closed behind her and I turned to leave, but learning she was already falling asleep to the sound of my core thrumming was a greater gift than I could imagine.

Sally Fable

I watched Reed leave through the window. When he was finally too far to see, I took my boots off and carefully stepped onto one of the carpets I used to transition to being barefoot.

Boyfriend. My boyfriend. I had a boyfriend, and he was a handsome alien from Andromeda. Alien boyfriend from Andromeda who is handsome and tall and… it was a lot to take in. I had a boyfriend?!?! Boyfriend!!!!?!?

When he kissed me… stars, I had never thought I would actually enjoy kissing before. It had been tolerable The few times I had done it with humans, but… The way his tongue, or was it tongues- had coiled around mine and pinned it down and— I started to feel light headed just thinking about it.

I plucked the gold spatia off my finger, and put it by the windowsill in a tray of water in case it needed that. It glowed softly and kept me company as I made myself dinner.

I did my usual nighttime routine, still marveling at the fact that I was someone's girlfriend. I wanted to yell and scream about it to everyone I knew, but I didn't really know anybody that closely. I felt a little twinge of pain at that, but refused to let my problems making friends run my mood. 

I put Reed's earplugs in, and the reminder of what being wrapped in his vines soothed my worries. I reached for my tablet to send Mom a message updating her on the exciting news before I passed out.

> Sally Fable

Mom i just got back from the second date and wow he said im his girlfriend now!!!!

And hes even nicer than I realized and he carried me home and kissed me goodnight and gave me a special flower so people dont touch me without permission anymore

How do you know when youre in love, but like romantically 

Cuz my chest feels all fluttery when I think about him and ive never felt like this ever before

Sorry to spam with questions I know youre probably sleeping talk later

I fell asleep as soon as I turned the screen off, and dreamed of being tangled in his vines as he smiled from above.

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

A projected three dimensional cross sectional model of Sally's body rotated midair as the simulation ran. I dipped a vine into a bowl of nutrient water, draining the entire thing in seconds so I could get back to work as quickly as possible. 

It had started simple enough. Sally had a problem with her body's arousal response, and I was going to develop something to fix it. This was, of course, a stopgap, as she clearly needed the offending organ removed entirely. But it was an issue she was apprehensive about, and it would not benefit her to push the issue for at least another few days. So, until corrective surgery, I would use my own skillset as a xenopharmacologist to ease her distress. 

It was not as simple as it might have trivially appeared. The most basic solution to the problem would just be a targeted injection, but her aversion to needles ruled that out. A topical cream could work but would almost certainly aggravate her sensory issues. 

There were existing xenodrug suites that would accomplish it, but they were all bonded to compounds her body clearly rejected, based on the specific responses she had described having to certain classes. It was a fascinating puzzle, and one I had been up much of the night attempting to solve.

I had decided to take a look into what the human race had managed on the subject before our arrival, for inspiration, or mere curiosity if nothing else. It was a purely mechanical issue, simple enough that they might have happened upon a solution passable enough to do for a few days to a week at most.

I had been slightly dismayed when it turned out that there was significantly more Terran research into doing the exact opposite operation than I was interested in. Frustrating.

I had not been intending to do a deep dive on Terran medical history, but the tiniest bit of side research had opened up into a chasm of fascinating information about a maze-like web of interlocking patents and copyright rules that I had lost hours attempting to detangle. How the poor creatures had managed to survive as long as they did was a wonder.

But finally, after hours of research both directly relevant and highly tangential, I had isolated a few candidate compounds that would inhibit the response. Now to test which would be best. Fortunately, I had a digital Terran body sim unit installed at my workbench, which was why I had found myself here, surrounded by empty nutrient water bowls.

I had already configured a profile within the medical program based on the DNA sample of a hair I had plucked during our first date and her medical records. But after spending all evening holding her and kissing her, I was able to add sweat and saliva samples to the device to enhance precision. 

I was aware that this was probably a poor use of my time, but it was at least keeping the yearning to feel her in my vines again from taking up a majority of my processing capacity. I had already needed to toggle the skin layer of the projection off. Seeing her neck unmarked was too distracting. Not that her muscles and tendons were any less beautiful, of course, but they were easier to treat as an abstraction.

I ran several thousand simulations in parallel to account for potential interactions with conditions that could theoretically have been missed or unforseen. I quickly eliminated all the candidate compounds but one due to potential complications with undetected heart conditions, and focused my attention on perfecting the one that remained.

With each iteration, I made minor tweaks to the design, and approached the perfection she deserved. However, due diligence required peer review, and I was not going to use untested drugs on Sally without consulting another expert. I wrote up a formal summary of my findings, experimental methods, research notes, and conclusions, then sent a message reaching out to Poppy.

>BigHatLilypad
I believe I have successfully devised a xenodrug to inhibit the human erectile reflex that Sally will find tolerable. Could I get your help with something?

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
I unfortunately can’t test something with that particular effect on Amelia, if that's what you're asking. Rather hard to tell the before from the after. ;>

>BigHatLilypad
No, I am aware. I just want you to review the drug and ensure that you do not see any issues, as this is a medical treatment more than recreational.

Could you look over the paper I wrote on it? It describes the mechanism I have devised.

[1 attachment]

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
Ah! Let me take a look.

This seems fine! I do personally think the cage method works best, but this should do the trick until your implant is inside her. 

>BigHatLilypad
I imagine a constricting device around the part of her body she feels the most dysphoria about would greatly exacerbate her sensory distresses.

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
Ah. I had never considered that. Well, my medical opinion is that this is sound.

My opinion as your friend is that your youngbloom enthusiasm is adorable.

>BigHatLilypad
While I recognize that this is a joke, calling me a youngbloom is still very factually inaccurate. I am the nineteenth oldest sophont on this entire ship.

> ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
Still young to me! :>

>BigHatLilypad
I see. Good night, Poppy.

With my work approved by her, I finally sent the completed design to my lab setup on the other side of the room, and could begin work in earnest.

I queued a sequence of compiler instructions for the raw ingredients, and began assembling the desired molecules with the satisfying physicality of chemistry. Solutions boiled and distilled, mixtures stirred, brewed, filtered, and combined. I hummed a little tune from within my core as I stirred, an old Maelodion song about composing music, the self referentiality of which I had always found delightfully whimsical. It seemed fitting, as I did see what I did as an act of iterative artistic passion.

I allowed myself the briefest flight of fancy as I worked. A vision of Sally, made perfect, having broken for me like a work of art, tucked against my core. No more fear of needles, no more dysphoria, no more discomfort. Happy, blissfully so, writhing in delight as I fed her body more pharmacological pleasure than her cognition could even comprehend. So beautifully completed by the implantation scar on her neck. Hairless animals always marked so wonderfully, without fur, armor or scales to cover the line that showed they were owned, inside and out, and would be cared for forever.

I adjusted the temperature of the burners and switched the stirrers to automatic. The synthesis reaction bloomed in the ultraviolet, separating out the stray hydrogen pairs into a gas that vented into the fume hood above. Another round of filtering, and a few drops of a generic xenodrug binding carrier agent later, the mixture turned a foggy white. I could have manufactured that from base materials too, but at a certain point practicality won out. Finally, after filtering out the stray carbonate salts left over from the primary reaction chain, it was complete.

I held up the product of my labors, a vial filled with a few milliliters of clear fluid, which caught the rays of the rising artificial sun streaming through the window beautifully. A single dose would last about four days, and I was looking forward to testing its effectiveness. Yet another ill of Sally’s existence conquered by my intervention. I was going to enjoy seeing her realize she had experienced her last bout of erection-induced dysphoria. 

I tucked the vial inside one of the pockets that lined the achingly empty Sally-shaped hollow inside my torso. I had planned to give her a day without seeing me, but plans could be flexible. Seeing as the artificial sun was rising, it would have to be later in the day anyway, as I needed rest. My body was still not fully recovered from total replacement, and it was time to get a few cycles in.

I collected the various empty flasks for cleaning and tossed the nutrient water bowls into the decompilation hopper beside the fireplace, made my way to my armchair, and promptly passed out.

Sally Fable

I woke up feeling refreshed. Not something I was quite used to yet, but the earplugs Reed had given me with his biorhythm helped me sleep better than anything ever had before.

I had a momentary, guilty fantasy of what getting to fall asleep in the gentle sway of his vines would be like, but—that was definitely getting ahead of myself! I had never slept with anyone before and he had just become my boyfriend. I wouldn't want to be too demanding… 

Ah, right. I opened my tablet to the conversation last open, and saw that Mom had replied while I was asleep,

>Autumn Fable
Hey sweetie! Wow, sounds like you had an amazing second date, huh? That sure is a lot to take in! 😅

Girlfriend and boyfriend are definitely nice terms to use! I was a little worried it would be “floret” or something immediately! Sounds like he is maybe looking to approach romance with you as some kind of compromise between customs of our culture and his? Maybe ask him about that! 🤷

But in general, sounds like you really like him! Love is a bit more complicated to answer. There are many forms and stages of a relationship, after all!

It's hard to give an exact clear answer over text, but let's have a call in a day or two about it! 💕

>Sally Fable
okay! thanks mom

I closed the messaging app. To my surprise, I discovered there was a new icon on my home screen, an app labeled ‘Find my Affini’. How cute, I guess if I was Reed's girlfriend or potential future floret or whatever I got access to stuff like that.

I tapped it out of curiosity, and it immediately opened a menu of bright shortcut icons, Including one that showed exactly where Reed currently was, which was his home, unsurprisingly. The other shortcuts were each for a different way to reach him, be it message, video call, etcetera. There was also a red button with a black exclamation mark on it labeled ‘Emergency’ which I carefully kept my finger away from.

I closed the device and got out of bed, carefully stepping my bare foot onto one of the mats on the floor, and went to the kitchen. I made breakfast, did my stretches, picked up the golden flower, and put it on my hair. The springy roots immediately clung to my hair, feeling surprisingly weightless, and I decided to compile a dress in the same colors. I set out for my coffee, and immediately noticed that every Affini I passed gave me a very subtle but distinct berth, one even pulling her floret over to give me space. Reed hadn’t been kidding about the Golden Spatia, I guessed.

One bus ride later, I took a long sip of my coffee, and the tangy sweetness reminded me of his kiss. Stars. I was really head over heels for this guy, huh. Actually, that was a weird expression. Wouldn't that just mean you were standing normally? I didn't have too long to puzzle over yet another nonsensical idiom, fortunately. My tablet made the faintly magical twinkle notification sound I had set for messages from Reed, and I snapped it open immediately.

>BigHatLilypad
Hello, Sally. Are you available to meet me after your coffee? I have something for you.

I kicked my feet in my seat and squealed in excitement for a moment before catching myself and stopping, then quickly typed my reply.

>Sally Fable
okay! is the park nearby ok? i go there sometimes anyway. 

>BigHatLilypad
Wonderful. I will see you in exactly half an hour, then. By the fountain in the center square. 

 

I still didn't know how to process that he kept giving me nice things. The earplugs, the flower, the kiss, the… helping make me drink the drug cocktail, then holding me in his lap and… I was starting to feel a little woozy and fluttery in my chest.

It felt like I needed to tell someone, anyone, about him. But I didn't really have… anyone. There was Mom, obviously, and some people on the net who I chatted with about games and stuff, but… well, when I'd first mentioned it to them, most had been nice, teased me a bit, or said congrats on being cooked. But one of them had kinda freaked out about it, and I didn't want to set off drama again.

I checked the time, and saw it was time for me to go so I could be a few minutes early. I pondered the issue of my social circle as I walked. Maybe Reed would have ideas of how to make friends or something. 

The path through the park took me through some thick Martian redwoods and past a slightly overgrown cobblestone wall. I passed a few more Affini on the way, but the softly glowing flower on my head kept me entirely unbothered. I rounded the corner and the fountain in the park came into view, and I saw Reed, already sitting on an affini-sized park bench. He waved me over once he saw me.

“Hello, Sally. You are early.”

I smiled at him as I walked up to the seat. “So are you!”

Before answering, he reached at least a dozen vines out, and wrapped them tight around my limbs and torso. I barely had time to gasp before he had scooped me up and lifted me into his lap. It was a casual display of physical power that left me feeling lightheaded, and I made a few little squeaks as he positioned me.

“I am not early, I simply happened to be here when I suggested you join me,” he explained, making a logistical clarification that suddenly felt a lot less important with his vines wound tight around my limbs.

“I, um. I wasn't expecting you to pick me up.”

“If you are my girlfriend, I don't see any reason I would need to ask—unless you dislike it, of course,” Reed replied. 

“No. Um. I like it, a lot.” My face was starting to itch from blushing. “I have trouble asking for things I want sometimes, and I like when you touch me…” He hadn't let go of my arms or legs yet either, and I was very immobilized.

I was averting my eyes from his face in embarrassment, but I saw him smile in the corner of my eyes. “I see. Well, I am glad you enjoy it.”

I was enjoying it a lot. But a little too much, maybe. The frustrating feeling of my underwear tightening slightly was distracting me and ruining the moment. He seemed to notice my distress even as I tried to hide it, and released my arms and legs from their binds, slipping a few vines behind me that interlaced into something I could lean against like a chair back for his lap. 

“Now. As I mentioned, I have something for you.”

“I, yeah—ah…” My ability to speak coherently was reduced yet again he slipped a pair of vines into the back of my dress and began massaging my shoulders.

Reed extended a vine from his chest, holding a small glass vial filled with some clear fluid. He held up the unknown substance and pulled out a precise measure using a dropper. He lifted that in front of my mouth, and brushed my lower lip with the other.

“Open.”

I opened without even needing to think about it, logic short circuited by eagerness for the reward I knew to expect in association with obedience towards him. I shivered slightly when he delivered the anticipated approval in a pulse of satisfaction that surged through every vine wrapped around me. 

He brought the dropper into my mouth, released its contents onto my tongue, pulled it out, and tapped my chin. I closed my mouth and swallowed. Approval. It had a paradoxically smoky flavor, like seasoned… mint? I wondered what it was, and it slowly dawned on me that I hadn’t even thought to ask. 

Maybe I really was suited to be a floret. I knew an affini would never hurt me on purpose, especially not Reed. Besides, if he wanted to do something to me it wasn't like I could physically stop him, and wow, that thought made me feel even more lightheaded. Aaaaa. 

The smoky taste was fading, leaving the tiniest bit of lingering sparkly tickle sensation that I was not particularly thrilled by, but wasn’t awful either. It didn't feel like whatever he had given me yesterday. “What was that, Reed?”

He tucked the empty dropper and vial back inside his chest, and gave me a smile. “A surprise. Now, we wait a few minutes. In the meantime, how has your day been, my lovely girlfriend?”

I finally looked back at him, tilting my head up so I could look him in his eye. 

“Oh. I haven’t done much, really. I don’t do a lot, and I wanted to tell people how excited I am to be your girlfriend, but I don’t really know anyone to tell other than my mom and I already told her.”

“Hmm. I had assumed you were happy with mostly transient social connections over the net. Is this not the case?”

I shifted my tongue around my mouth a bit. The smoky taste and buzzy feels were gone. I started fidgeting with one of his leaves, which he unraveled fully for me to stim with while I talked. “I thought I was. Maybe it’s not enough. I’m kind of boring, really, I just play games and watch shows. The last few days have been the most interesting thing that’s ever happened to me!”

“I see. Perhaps I could help with that, I have lived on this ship for several years now, and I know a few sophonts that might be well suited to friendship in ways that your uniqueness makes others unideal for.”

I squeezed the leaf between my fingers tight. Was he making fun of me? It wouldn’t be the first time someone had strung me along romantically just to make fun of me. I took a deep breath, and tried to remember that a boyfriend was different. Reed wasn't like the cruel humans I had grown up around.

“I could use the help. I have never had a friend group, really. I’m not used to anyone but Mom being nice to me. Polite, sure. Not even mean all the time, but the absence of mean does not mean kind.”

“I see. Well, we can discuss that shortly. The xenodrug I gave you will be in effect, so I have to test it.”

“Test?”

Suddenly, the tendrils that had been draped loosely across me tightened. I was startled and tried to move reflexively, but was entirely helpless. My boyfriend was holding me so tight I couldn’t move and he was pulling me closer, stars. My mouth popped open in a needy whine, and he tilted my head up by the chin, and leaned his own down so our lips could meet.

Kissing last night had been fun, exciting, playful. This was possessive, powerful, exhilarating. His grip around me was like a soft surface with a core of wound steel cable, and his tongues slipped into my mouth with a hungry greed that left me gasping and dizzy. Tendrils slipped under my dress and squeezed and brushed along my back freely, as yet more stroked through the curls of my hair.

Our lips met and disconnected over and over with soft little sounds, my motions docile and receptive, his assertive and commanding. Reed explored the surface of my body like unclaimed and unmapped territory he was defining with the soft fuzzy undersides of his vines. I squirmed in spite of my enjoyment, not because I wanted to escape, but because the feeling of how completely he controlled me felt so good. He finally pushed far back down my throat enough that my body tried to expel him, and he pulled back as I coughed.

“Wonderful. It appears it was successful.”

I looked up at him with what must have been the most dazed expression I had ever made, catching my breath as best I could.

“What- Huh? What did you expect to happen?”

“It is not what I expected to happen, but what I prevented from happening. Note the physical state of your arousal, or lack thereof.”

He gently guided my hand to be close enough to between my legs to touch and… oh. Oh.

“I’m not hard.”

He gave me a wide smile, and squeezed my tummy. “I do prefer you soft, yes.”

“How long will it last?”

“Several days. I will readminister it at that time, or we will discuss surgery. You will never experience this issue again.”

I looked up at him with the eyes of someone in awe, someone who would let her beautiful space alien boyfriend have his way with her however he wanted and know she would enjoy every moment.

“Um, could we find a more private spot? I uh. I think you need to test it more, just to be sure it worked.”

Approval.

I moaned.

Reed stood, and the trees moved like a blur around me. I registered where I was again as he spread a blanket of his vines over the grassy ground, then laid me atop it. I had the briefest view of the artificial sky above us before the wide brim of his hat swallowed my field of vision, and his mouth claimed mine once more.

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

Reed filled my vision, my hearing, my touch, and my mouth. The only part of my universe that wasn't him was my clothing, and I wouldn't even mind if he took that too. The only light was the soft glow of his eye and a set of bioluminescent flowers he had extended. My eyes were half lidded and unfocused as he devoured me with his kiss.

Our lips met and parted, his tendrils curled between my fingers and ran through my hair. He teased at my earlobe and wrapped gently around my neck. Our tongues danced, in an erratic pattern of sheer sensory joy.

Thick vines coiled around each leg, slowly bending them back until my knees were almost to my chest. The feeling of stretching was wonderful, and the more we kissed the more he allowed his weight to rest on me. I felt so comfortable with him covering me entirely like a dome of amorphous plant matter, entirely enclosed from the world outside. Every tangy kiss was blissful, every brush of his cool waxy surface was perfectly complemented by the soft, fuzzy undersides of his leaves.

I was surrounded by the rhythm that my nighttime accompaniment was a mere recording of, and I could sense the source of it in him. I tried reaching my hands into the layers of his chest to feel where the soft surfaces and humming song were densest, but each wrist was grabbed by a vine and pushed down on the ground over my head. 

“Not yet, Sally, all things in time,” his voice murmured deeply in my ear without separating our lips.

With my hands now pinned, Reed seemed even more inclined to touch my body. I writhed and moaned as tendrils slipped into my dress and explored freely. He was testing out my responses, and I pointedly, loudly moaned as he carefully approached my breasts and buttocks. I wanted him to know I liked it. I wanted his touch, everywhere.

His dominance of my breath had me lightheaded. Finally, he pulled back to let me catch my breath, and switched to leaving small kisses and soft nibbles on my ear and neck. Every brush and grope on my butt made me shiver, and the rolling motion of vines gently squeezing my breasts was incredible.

I finally stopped panting enough to speak. “Stars, I've never been able to enjoy kissing like this. My stupid- it always caused problems. This is wonderful. Thank you. I never thought I could enjoy any physical intimacy like this.”

Reed leaned back, casting my face in the soft yellow glow of his eye. “You have actually not yet even begun to experience the heights I will lift you to, Sally.”

I looked at him with a feeling of desire so deep it bordered on terrifying. “It gets better?”

“You understand that, with your being my girlfriend, I will want to intoxicate and play with you at times, on my whim, at my sole discretion.”

I nodded bashfully. “Every guide I read about being an Affini’s girlfriend said to expect to be drugged and hypnotized into a doll-like state a lot. That if you’re my boyfriend, I should expect you to want a lot of physical control over me.”

He smiled, and stroked my face with a thin tendril. “That does not appear to disturb you.”

I flushed. “I um, like it when you take control, Reed.”

“Good girl,” he replied alongside a burst of his approval. I let out a muffled whimper into the possessive kiss that followed.

I had always known I was kinda subby, but never had a chance to explore it like this. Or be explored like this. I had once used some of my waitressing money to buy some rope to try tying myself up, but found it depressing and lonely to do solo. Now, the ‘ropes’ spreading my arms and folding my legs down to my chest were not merely placed there by my boyfriend, they were my boyfriend. 

Another thought seemed to possess him, and he broke the kiss once more. “Sally, as your Boyfriend, I would like to apologize for an instance of direct deception on my part, regarding my age.”

I blinked, a little confused and makeout-drunk. “Uh, you said you are a sixth bloom? That's pretty old, right? Like over a thousand years old.”

“Yes. I am an order of base-ten magnitude greater than that. I am in my seventy-third bloom.”

That was surprising, not the number, but that he hadn't told me upfront. “Why did you say you were a sixth, then?”

“It is a fairly common practice for those who leave the extended young adulthood that is the first dozen or so blooms to pretend otherwise. It is known to cause a fear response in many xenosophonts.”

I began to do the math in my head. According to my research, average affini bloom length was about 281 years, which was about 5 percent less than 300, 300 times 73 was uh, 22,000 or so, which was extremely easy to take about 5% off for a rough estimate of 21,000 years.

Oh. Stars. That's a lot.

“I think I understand why you didn't want to tell me that in the first sentence you ever said to me, yeah. That's over 20,000?”

“Slightly less than that. Some domestication campaigns are more violent than others, and result in truncated rebloom cycles. I hope this does not change anything you feel.”

“As long as me being literally a thousand times younger than you doesn't bother you, i guess? Like, neither number is really on a scale I can wrap my head around, they're basically the same number to me. Just, promise you didn't lie about anything else?”

“I have not knowingly communicated a single falsehood since then. I promise.”

I smiled. “Okay. I trust you.”

I felt a little blip of approval, almost politely dampened to disrupt me no more than a fresh blush on my cheeks. Somewhat of an odd gesture, since he had never stopped groping my butt.

But already, the curiosity in my head was whirring up again. “So, since the Affini species spread over what is kinda generalizable as several expanding circles across several galaxies, constantly creating new affini based mainly on the area of expansion, and you've been around for a fifth of that time, and your travel technology has probably grown too, um, I would guess that’s between a square or cubic growth curve…” I chewed my lip as I guesstimated the calculus in my head.

“These are accurate enough generalizations, yes. The distribution of affini ages does statistically bias lower, and there are always more first blooms than any other age. To what end are you doing this calculation?”

“I'm trying to figure out if you're in the top percentage of age of all of your species that exists or not. I think you aren't, but definitely in the top five percent. That's cool. I'm dating an oldbloom!”

Reed was quiet, but his eye was slowly deepening in its purple hue as I spoke. The moment stretched out, tension building like a wound spring. His grip around my body, which had gone slack during our conversation, began tightening.

Without warning, he rushed his lips to meet mine again. As his tongues slipped into my mouth, I recognized the slightly sweet and sour tingle of the xenodrug he had given me on our second date in the nectar that linked our lips. Our tongues swirled as he coated my entire mouth in the taste. He pulled his lips away, and I licked every drop of it up. I felt a tap on my chin, and swallowed automatically.

Approval.

I trembled and gasped under the sheer weight of the flood of pleasure that the intensity of his projection forced upon me.

Reed answered my rattling moan with a smile. “My apologies. You were too cute not to drug.”

“Stars, Sir-um, Reed-” the wiggling began in my limbs, but his iron grip held me in place. Every attempt at motion felt so good, every contraction of muscle a tiny burst of happy buzzy tingles, but that he stayed in control of me felt even better. 

My hands opened and closed aimlessly, and I was provided with firm vines to grasp. I clung to him desperately as coherency bled away. He spoke, something about tree dwelling ancestors, but I heard the twinkling melody of a distant, ancient song hidden under the monotonal spoken word.

The wiggles within my body had been released, but I only moved to his guidance. It was a silent dance of squirming pleasure and he was both the song and conductor. The bursts of his rhythm swayed me to satisfied stillness. A blanket laid upon my mind, while my eyes fluttered side to side rapidly.

Reed pulled his lips away from mine, and a small cloud of pinkish mist escaped my drooling mouth. The air itself was left with a twinkling residue, like floating dust reflecting bioluminescent light. Every breath sparkled in my nose and burst like pleasant static in my lungs. The universe collapsed to a surface that was the contact between our bodies. He dominated my world as he dominated me.  

I looked into the deep purple of Reed's eye, and fell deep for Him.

Reed Lywick

It had been a long night. Sally had eventually sobered up enough to be taken home, but even as I carried her and made pleasant conversation, I could not stop ruminating that I had made a critical error on my evaluation of her needs.

Sally needed friends. I had initially believed she was happy with her social life, which consisted mostly of text message interactions on forums dedicated to various video games and shows. Clearly this was insufficient, if she felt she lacked anyone she could share the news of her relationship with. 

I wanted counsel, and knew exactly who I trusted to ask for help. Hours later, I reclined on Poppy's couch, partially enmeshing myself with my much smaller friend. Each of us had a vine wrapped partially though to coil lazily around the other’s core, as was typical for us.

I had recounted to her the events of my day and the success of my concoction, and my concerns about Sally’s social life, which she had given me several leads on. I had compiled a spreadsheet of names to investigate, and decided to start with the only one whose owner I was already directly acquainted with.

>BigHatLilypad
Hello, Vex. I hope you are doing well. I had a question about one of your florets.

>MaskOfTheIncanum
Hello, Reed, long time since we spoke. 

Things have certainly calmed down since the business with my second’s pinnate was resolved. 

Has my first been causing mischief again?

>BigHatLilypad
Not Olirec, no. The issue I face is as follows; I am courting a Terran, and she needs friends. I believe your third has many similarities to my floret-to-be, and they might get along.

>MaskOfTheIncanum
Fascinating, the object of your interest must be a very special xenosophont indeed.

But it is late for me, perhaps we should discuss more tomorrow morning.

With the easy one out of the way, I began sorting the list of candidates by traits. It was a tricky process, for sure. Many humans would overstimulate her, particularly florets I would want to choose as her primary influences. Her mother seemed to be a lovely xenosophont, but her mindset was still that of a Terran.

My surveyal of hers file suggested that most of Sally’s maladaptive masking habits were most likely taught by her mother as survival mechanisms. I had immense gratitude that she had kept Sally safe when it was required, and I would never attempt to distance the two from each other, but it could only benefit Sally to dilute the voice of independence and faux neurotypicality with more varied perspectives.

I scrolled the list, wondering if I should reach out to some of the off-ship sophonts next. Princess and 6 seemed rather promising candidates that would mesh well with her, and were only a few social connection leaps removed from me anyway. 

Poppy let out a small giggle as she peered at my tablet screen and the enormous spreadsheet upon it. “I see you have limited your search to merely all of Rinan-Terran space! I admire your restraint. Have you reached out to the firstbloom I mentioned that is here on the ship?”

I scrolled to her- the only Affini on the list. “I have not, let me do that now."

[PetalBird accepted your friend request.]

>PetalBird
Hello there! I don't think we've met?

>BigHatLilypad
Indeed not. Hello Sycanthe, I am Reed. ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥ gave me your handle.

>PetalBird
Oh, Poppy! I hope she only said good things. ::}

>BigHatLilypad
Indeed. I am courting a Terran with unusual needs, and am concerned that her social circle is not a circle at all, but instead a point of zero dimensionality.

>PetalBird
Oh no! The poor thing. I could always bring my floret Lauren along and arrange a little playdate!

>BigHatLilypad
Actually, while your pet would be welcome, Poppy suggested that you would be a better candidate for a potential friend to my floret-to-be/girlfriend.

>PetalBird
Ah! Well, I would be happy to meet, if you would like to. ^^v^^ 

>BigHatLilypad
Wonderful. Would my residence be acceptable?

>PetalBird
Absolutely! Perhaps this week?

>BigHatLilypad
Indeed. One additional thing. Poppy suggested I make absolutely clear the boundary that you are not to touch her.

>PetalBird
Oh, sure! Not sure why Poppy would say that, but I can oblige that!

Poppy pressed the power button on my tablet, turning off the screen.

“Now, stop thinking about the Terran, and pay attention to your present, or I'm filing notice on you again, Reed.”

I shot her an irritated burst of biorhythmic static. “That will not be needed, thank you.”

Poppy spoke in a tone directed at the hab itself. “Put on something from the Marlodian neofundamentalist classical period, from before Domestication.”

“Of course, Dr. Versonia,” chirped the Ai.

It was a pointed gesture- putting on music from the era in which I had been her floret. But the music was also deeply nostalgic, and I could not pretend I did not enjoy the song.

Poppy bobbed her head as the multi-layer orchestra began. “I still think we should have left them be, personally. Their music really went downhill, not that I think you remember.”

“I believe you had me so high on ATDs I needed to be carried around through most of that war. That said, entire volumes have been written about how self-destructive their culture of escalatory artistic disputes was. Some written by you.”

She waved her hand around dismissively. “Well, yes, but besides the whole business with hypermetric weapons they were much more interesting before.”

I would never entirely understand my friend's political views, though it was possible she was joking. It was difficult to tell.

She disentangled herself from our interlaced sitting position, stood, and reformed her body to be my height, splitting her swept base into the traditional three legs of a Marlodian waltz, lead arrangement. 

I believed the Terran expression for what I felt in that moment was a sigh. “Must I dance with you?”

“Yes. I think you need to. Do something that isn't related to your quest to woo a Terran that clearly already belongs to you.”

I followed her and mirrored her rearrangement into the six bifurcated stalks of the Maelodion body plan, and arranged myself in the follow stance, as always.

Poppy wrapped three vines around my midsection, and began the dance. “I will tell you Reed, your fervor is becoming … familiar. You effectively rebloomed several days ago, you should be resting.”

She stepped forward, and I stepped back in time with the primary melody of the waltz. Twist, step, pause.

“I have done nothing more physically strenuous than carry a Terran and xenopharmacalogical synthesis.”

“You could have used a compiler to produce your drug.”

Twist, pause, step, separate, bow, meet. We reached the bridge of the song where the follow led, and I leaned forward into her.

“You know as well as I do that there is no romance in that. Would you do any different for yours? I know the efforts you have gone to for Amelia. Perhaps I should be the one threatening you with a collar.”

I twirled Poppy, then caught her, pulling her in core-to-core.

“I courted mine for a year and a half. You met yours a week ago. It will not do her any good if you push yourself so hard that you wilt.”

We separated, and bowed again before meeting. Step, twist, pause. “You may be right in percentages. But I think you still sometimes see your old pet when you look at me. I am an Affini just like you, and I respectfully reject your suggestions.”

“Of course I still see my pet in you sometimes. I am a sentimental woman.”

The bridge ended, and her vines sank into my body, reclaiming her role as lead. 

“And I am a sentimental man. It was something truly special, and I cherish those memories every bit as deeply as you do. But they are past, not present.”

Step, twist, pause. “Perhaps. I am a worrying «????» after all.”

“Forgive me, my Core World vocabulary is rusty.” It was a lie, I remembered perfectly what it meant. A term that Terran might translate as mentor, mother, caretaker. It was the title I had once called her, when zealous fervor to save the universe had made me a danger to others and myself. It was a term tinged with fondness in my memory, but I still resented the implication that it applied in this circumstance.

“Well, back when I learned it, the Core Worlds were just the worlds. Slow your pace, or I will remind you of its meaning.” Twist, pause, step.

I decided to apply Terran sarcasm for the first time. “Yes, Miss Poppy.”

Her beak-like mouth twisted into a jagged grin as she laughed. “Oh, hardly Miss Poppy. Still just me, Reed.”

The song ended, and she giggled into my embrace, intertwining our bodies until most eyes could not even distinguish us. In the silence, I could hear Amelia quietly snoring from where Poppy had left her on the couch.

“It is late. I should be going.”

She squeezed around me tighter before separating to go pick up her companion. “As your doctor and friend, I am ordering you to stay the night so I can supervise that you are resting sufficiently.”

“You don't have a spare bedroom, and I don't want to spend another night on your couch.”

She reached out and began pulling me along as she carried the limp body of her post-Terran wife. “As long as you don't get overly touchy with my Amelia, I see no reason you can't share mine,” she sang in a tune that echoed the melody of the waltz, dragging me to bed with her.

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

It was a slow morning, and I decided to just compile my coffee and lemonade for once. Lounging around naked was very comfortable for me on days I didn't leave my apartment. I knew I technically could go outside naked too if I wanted to, but I didn't feel comfortable being seen that way. Maybe I could be naked around Reed sometimes. It was an exciting thought, if not one I expected to ever have about another person.

I had gotten my wish last night, and fallen asleep in my boyfriend’s grasp. I was a little sad that I had been woken up when he dropped me off at my doorstep, but the goodnight kiss was worth it. Maybe soon I could stay the night at his place. It was really nice there, at least from what I had seen. I had to assume the bedroom was just as cozy!

I flipped through my tablet as I ate my bagel, and decided to open one of my favorite games to play to relax for the first time in days. It was a factory/idle sim game that was originally made under the Accord, but once the Affini abolished capitalism, the developers were apparently able to redesign it completely to be what they had originally wanted rather than the microtransaction engine the publisher had allowed them to make. It had been a fun little time sink back when I was a waitress, but now it was my favorite game after Cities under the Highway, and comparing an engineering sandbox game to an RPG felt weird anyway.

I loaded into the factory, and it took me a moment to remember where I had been, which was apparently recently after having ascended my entire game save for a research speed and production bonus. I kicked my feet happily in anticipation, starting fresh was always the most fun part. Running around setting up lots of early infrastructure, learning the lay of the newly generated map, locating resources.

My mind wandered back to yesterday as I set up the supply chain for water purification machines from memory. It was pretty cool that my boyfriend was like, 20,000 years old. It explained why he always seemed to know exactly what to do, just having a lot of experience and all. Was probably why he was so good at kissing too. Stars, he really seemed to like kissing me.  

I had never really given much thought to the age of a partner before. Reed was older than my Mom, sure, which seemed a little weird. But he was also older than like, one of those insanely old retro games that needed a special emulator to run like Minecraft. Or uh, human civilization. Hot.

I zoomed the camera out with a satisfied smile. Watching the conveyor belts carry lines of screws and circuit boards between assemblers was always relaxing. It was possible to play the game in first person, but I preferred the organized grid that the overhead drone view provided. Everything felt structured and predictable.

Reed had been anything but predictable, I supposed, but it still felt the same kind of stable that a square grid did. The way he talked made sense, I didn't have to look for an angle because he always seemed to mean exactly what he said. I could relax in a way I wasn't used to. 

I wanted to relax in his vines more. I tried not to let my thoughts go too far in that direction, that always just made me physically uncomfortable. Then I remembered… I didn't have to worry about that anymore. Oh.

My face was starting to get hot, and I no longer had any reason not to let my mind run wild. No more stupid body making me get hard if I thought about the things I liked and ruining it for me. Stars, I wanted to be bound by him again. The way he had held my arms down on the ground and completely covered me, pressed me down and then drugged me with a kiss… I wanted him to play with me like a pliable doll, like those dating guides I had read said he would. Maybe he already had last night. 

My memory was a little fuzzy of everything he had done with me while I was high until I fell asleep. He could have touched me and toyed with me and… gosh, he was so much stronger than me. I liked how he had gotten me high just because he wanted to. Stars, if he ever wanted to be rough with me I couldn't even stop him, and that thought made my chest tighten and hands shake in excitement.

An overflow alarm from my game roused me from the abyssal pit of masochistic yearning. I had spaced out completely, and my entire main bus was in disarray, oops. I quickly flew over to the problem and built a four lane balancer to keep the aluminum ore lines even. 

I was playing on the difficulty that made the entire chemistry chain fairly realistic, and it was always fun to challenge myself to optimize how to produce specific chemicals with molecular assemblers better than before. Doing the math for input ratios, assembler speeds, and other logistical concerns on the fly was always so fun.

I wondered if this was similar to how Reed had made the xenodrugs he had given me. I had seen the chemistry equipment setup when I was at his place. Maybe he could show me sometime? It would be nice to just exist around him as we each did our own thing, like I used to do with Mom sometimes.

I swallowed the last of my bagel, and paused the game to savor the rest of my coffee. I looked out the window over my kitchen sink at Jupiter, watching the swirling twin red spots. I knew it was just a projection of course, the hull was way too thick for a window like this. Plus, the spinning hab ring would make the entire view spin, and even when Jupiter was lined up with us, the window to see it would be under my feet , not on the wall. But it was still a pretty view.

I had tried having it set to the more familiar purple clouds of Dionysus once, as it looked out the window back when I lived with Mom, but it just felt weird. Jupiter wasn't familiar, not at all, but it was where we were, and to be able to handle that newness was exciting.

I finished the last of my coffee, wondering if that meant Reed was my Jupiter.

Reed Lywick

I floated in a pool of rejuvenating nutrient water, extending my entire root structure into the briny depths. I had abandoned anything resembling structural form, and covered the entire surface of the pool in my upturned leaves. For all I had protested doing this at first, it was very nice.

The flood fill lights that lined the walls of my bathing room were turned up on high, and with the sedative-euphoriant drugs Poppy had insisted I take before my bath, I was properly luxuriating. My leaves tingled pleasurably wherever the light struck them, it was like I could feel every photon hit my cells, sense every ATP reaction in my chloroplasts. 

Poppy sat to the side of the sunken pool on a bench, feeding a sunglasses-clad Amelia breakfast. The little humanoid hummed happily with every bite, and it was an adorable sight. It was nice to see her awake, the little creature did sleep quite a lot.

I stirred the currents in the water with my submerged vines, and the resulting ripples on the underside of my floating leaves felt wonderful.

“I will admit, Poppy, I am glad you made me do this.”

She had refused to let me return home unaccompanied. ‘Doctor’s orders’ was a rather poor disguise for her naturally domineering and maternalistic tendencies, but I suppose there was a reason she had stuck to the practice so long.

I had always been on very affectionate terms with Poppy’s sweeter side, but the particular timbre of this level of doting did strike a sort of ancient familiarity. Waking up from a deep rest completely entangled in the vines of another person was hardly new to me, but it had admittedly been a while.

I was beginning to saturate, though, and it would be time to get out soon, since I was expecting additional company. I took one last wiggle in the water, filtering the nutrients through my drifting roots, and relaxed the stiff pericycle tissues. With the substances currently infusing my body, the gentle motion of bubbles along the hydrophobic fur-like surface of my core was quite an enjoyable sensation.

As if on cue, the hab AI chimed an alert, then spoke in the polyphonic harmonic language I had set it to speak in when there were no humans in the hab.

«You have a visitor, Mister Lywick. Vex Incanum is outside.»

«Let him in,» I whistled back. Maelodion Standard was the language I favored for interfaces, due its enormous information density per unit of time. «Empty the tub and dim the lights, as well.»

I extended my structural vines to latch onto anchor points around the tub, and began to gather myself back up into a proper body plan. The water level sank, and I savored the feeling of it running off me. I was careful not to fully seal my chest, so that the open space meant for Sally did not fill with water and could drain properly. I was still a little unsteady from whatever relaxants Poppy had dosed me with, and would need to get a counteragent eventually.

Vex Incanum strode into the room just as I lifted myself out of the tub, looking every bit the fearsome feralbreaker he always had.

“Hello, Vex. Thank you for visiting.”

A small human floret wearing a red spotted dress followed him into the room, coming to a stop a step behind him without looking up from the game she was playing on her handheld device. 

Vex gave me a small nod, and greeted us in his usual deep and accented growl. “Hello Reed, and Poppy as well. I didn't realize you already had company.”

Poppy giggled, still focused more on Amelia, who was now looking at Vex with a curious expression. “Oh, I am here in a strictly professional context as Reed’s doctor, Vex. Don't mind me.” Perhaps one day I would understand her sense of humor.

I leaned down, and gave the floret a pat on the head.

“I assume this is your third, Vex?”

“Hi, Mister,” mumbled the human without looking up from her game. She was mousey and delicate, and based on the Terran identification classes I had been reviewing, looked to be in her fourth decade or so.

“Be polite, dear,” chided Vex. 

She paused the game and looked up. “Sorry, Daddy. Hello, Janet Incanum, third floret, she and her pronouns. Can I sit somewhere?”

With Poppy and Amelia already occupying the bench, there was not much room, short of us all taking a bath together, which I was unsure about, having just gotten out of one of my own. “Perhaps the bath?”

“That would be lovely, actually,” Poppy chimed in, standing and pulling off Amelia’s dress in a single motion. 

“Very well,” I replied, sitting on the edge of the sunken tub. I switched back to Maelodion for a quarter second burst of instructions. «Run a new bath for my guests. Add soap, affini massage salts, and a moderate dose of human class-A xenodrugs.» 

“Of course, Mister Lywick,” the AI replied in Terran standard, since there was now a human present. 

Vex pulled Janet’s tablet out of her hands, and addressed her in a commanding tone. “Strip.”

The floret seemed less than enthused to put her game away, but obeyed. As her dress and underwear came off, I was treated with a view of a body absolutely covered in scratches and the bruises of being tightly wrapped in vines. Beautiful symmetrical lines of pink raised skin where Vex had dug his thorns into her. A tapestry of play between loving owner and loyal pet.

I had to stop myself from immediately messaging Sally to ask if she was interested in that sort of thing. I needed to see her body mark so badly. Admitting I wanted to hurt her was likely something best approached slowly and cautiously. Doing so while intoxicated would be a very poor choice.

The bath filled, and I let my lower vines drift in the water lazily from my seat beside the tub. Poppy and Vex each lifted their companions and sank into the bath. The effect of the drugs in the water on Janet was immediate, and she began looking at her owner in a distinctly needy way. An injection from Poppy’s tail had Amelia looking much the same in moments, if far more limp and doll-like.

I was more inclined to listen than speak, watching the pets be played with. Poppy, fortunately, was far chattier than I even when I wasn't dosed with ATDs. “So, why the armor, Vex? Isn't the war over? It seems a bit excessive to still be so built for combat.”

“Mostly just force of habit, but you would be surprised how much of a punch my second’s pinnate can pack, and I do enjoy occasional sparring.”

Poppy giggled. “Ah, yes. The Occantalis II’s most infamously troubled terran. She’s a friend of Amelia's, but I think Sally would be well served to be kept far away from that one.”

I could not stop focusing on how Vex was holding his Terran. The way his thorns pressed and indented her skin, the moaning noises she made as she was played with. The way pain converted to a blissful haze of drugged pleasure.

“Indeed,” he replied with an amused tone. “At least based on what I read of her file. I am curious what Reed thinks of his little ‘girlfriend’ in that regard, however.”

I wrenched my attention from the squirming floret whose neck he was now casually restricting, with great difficulty. “She is as precious a creature as any I have ever encountered. She badly needs predictability and structure, and independent life fails to provide this for her. However, I cannot solely provide for her social needs. I believe that Janet may fill that niche well, as her alexithymia might make her more predictable for Sally, and I believe they have shared interests in gaming.”

Vex released Janet's neck, and the woman's gasping moans echoed around the tiles of the room. “Perhaps. Though I would not describe Janet’s moods as predictable. You also said Sally has physical stimulation issues, yes? Have you considered engaging her in virtual spaces? Do you think Sally has ever tried them?”

“I can say with absolute certainty that the sensory stimulation of a headset would be difficult for her. And I could simply change that, but other than fixing the ways her body rejects itself like an autoimmune disease, she is perfect as she is and I will not modify her.”

Poppy lifted one of Amelia's arms and waved it to get my attention. “Reed, dear. The solution to that is simple. She already loved it when you blindfolded her. Don't give her a headset, just graft the technology for one onto your own body.”

Vex nodded. “A clever solution.”

I had not considered any of this, but my experience in virtual spaces was millennia out of date, so it was hardly surprising I might be behind. “Ah. Yes, that would work. I will admit, I am far more open to the idea of it being me that does it, rather than some machine.” The thought of her able to explore digital worlds while comfortably filling the hollow space beside my core was tantalizing.

Janet let out a little cry of enjoyment as Vex ran his claws through her hair. “It would also allow her to interact with both many digital beings here, and material space xenosophonts outside this ship, expanding her horizons significantly.”

My core tightened with excitement. I had already been in touch with Camila Verdun about her first florets, but the question of travel had presented a significant hurdle. A virtual space would remove sensory concerns entirely, since I could have absolute control over her experience if I supervised it.

“Let’s go to my clinic tonight, love, and I'll install it for you.” Poppy was radiating the glee she always did when she had a chance to cut into another Affini’s body. 

“That is agreeable. I am grateful to have your advice, Vex. Thank you both. I would not have thought of that on my own.”

He dragged another whine out of his pet while answering. “I admire your dedication to not changing Sally. You have gone to great efforts to preserve her while making her happy.” 

Poppy giggled at that. “Oh, Reed is in love, Vex. He was up all night designing a novel form of chemical chastity for his little crush.”

“Allow me to guess,” he replied with a chuckle. “He also synthesized it entirely from raw ingredients so that it would have a more personal touch, rather than compiling it?”

Poppy wiggled her antennae in amusement. “indeed. He is a hopeless romantic, I'm afraid.”

A happy smile found itself on my lips at their teasing. I let my vines drift in the water, mingling with those of both Poppy and Vex. It felt nice.

Unexpectedly, the hab AI made a notification chime once more.

“You have a visitor, Mister Lywick. Sycanthe Lantana is outside.”

The firstbloom was here? I had not been expecting that. I turned to Poppy with an air of curiosity.

“I took the liberty of inviting Sycanthe over as well. I'm sure she won't mind joining us in the water,” Poppy said with an air of mischief I couldn't place.

It occurred to me that Poppy's enthusiasm in helping me expand Sally's social life had likely actually been a well-executed ploy to get me to stop being quite so solitary. 

«Let Sycanthe in, please, » I instructed the AI. 

This was about to be a very crowded bathroom, but I was glad to be surrounded by friends.

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

Circuit boards. Thousands of circuit boards was not enough. I needed millions of circuit boards. I pasted another array of assemblers down, using lobber drones to get around the current bottleneck in my supply chain, which was aluminum casings.

In the world outside my video game, the artificial sun was already mostly set, and I was lying on the carpet in the living room, deeply engrossed in my game. I hadn’t been neglecting myself or anything, the hab AI had helpfully reminded me when to make lunch and dinner and take breaks to stretch my legs, but I hadn't exactly done much else either. 

I was jolted from my game by a message from Reed, which I knew was him because the Find My Affini app had helpfully generated a unique notification tone for him with a tiny bit of his biorhythm that felt like a gentle tap on the shoulder. I opened the device immediately, And squealed in excitement as I read his message.

›BigHatLilypad
Sally, if I was to invite you over to socialize with a friend of mine, Poppy; Would you be interested in staying the night?

›Sally Fable
yes!!! i would love to! When can i come over?

›BigHatLilypad
I will pick you up very shortly. I am already in the independent’s district, as it is on the way to where my friend and her partner live from where I was before. You have surely noticed I prefer carrying you. <|•)

›Sally Fable
i did notice! i like it too

I ran to my closet along the path of rugs from my couch that ran down the hall, trying to find something more presentable than the loose button up pajamas I had put on when I decided to open the curtains earlier.

There was a chime from the door, and the hab AI announced his arrival. “Hey Sally! Your affini, Reed Lywick, is at the door!”

“You can let him in, Hab!”

I heard the door open, and ran back into the living room on my tiptoes, making it in just in time for the door to close. Reed had squeezed into the hab, effectively sitting on the floor since the ceiling was so low. He was patting at the various rugs that covered the floor with his leaves, seemingly inspecting them for quality.

“Sorry it’s…” I looked at the mess I used to create pathways of Safe Texture for the days when my floors were bad. “I know it’s a mess, but it works for me!”

“This is… not what I would choose for you.” Reed said, unusually quietly. “That is not to say I think you have done badly in your endeavors. You are a brilliantly clever problem solver, Sally. I simply do not like that you have problems that need solving.”

I nodded. “I know, it’s not an ideal solution.”

“I can certainly think of a better one,” Reed said, reaching out to grab me. I relaxed into his touch as he picked me up and brought me to his lap. “I would simply never let your feet touch the floor.”

I giggled as I sat cross legged on the shapeless mat of leaves that vaguely resembled thighs. I loved it when he picked me up, but surely he wouldn’t want to do that all the time. 

“But then you would have to carry me everywhere!”

He smiled, leaning down to kiss me. “I would, yes. Were I so lucky.”

Our lips joined, parted, joined again. He was getting hungrier every time, more possessive and dominating with each kiss. I felt his tendrils winding under my clothing, then realized he was undoing the buttons and pulling my pajamas off. It was careful, deliberately slower than he was surely capable of. I pulled back from him, and looked into his eye pleadingly.

“Oh, um, stars… Yes please.”

Approval. I moaned. He liked that I wanted to be naked for him. I almost wanted to melt into his control and never resolidify.

Reed wrapped tight under my arms and ribcage, and lifted me so he could pull the pajama bottoms off from under me. The top came off fully shortly after. He kissed me deep again, and began rubbing the undersides of his leaves all over me. The soft fuzz was incredible against my skin. Every kiss deepened the haze of submission. I moaned into his lips, hoping it would be enough to tell him I wanted him to be forceful with me.

Vines cinched behind my back, and pulled me in close until my breasts and belly were pressed against the soft leaves of his front. He roamed over my body like it belonged to him, and maybe one day it would. Even sober, the feeling of his touch against my body was addicting. I wanted to be greedy, for him to touch me all the time. To kiss me whenever he wanted, to play with my body like his toy. The full contact between our bodies was everything I wanted, and he touched me like even that was not enough, like he had to press until I felt him in every cell of my body, every bone, every muscle.

His vines squeezed and massaged me, seeming to pay special attention to the places where my slightly chubby tummy folded back on itself. He softly murmured praise as we kissed. “You are beautiful, Sally Fable.”

It wasn’t fair that he could talk without his mouth, I wanted to compliment him back and tell him he was super handsome too, but he was too busy playing with my tongue for me to speak. Stars, I wanted to do this when I was high. I hoped he drugged me again soon. I hoped he did it without asking.

I heard a beep from my compiler. Reed broke the kiss for a moment, and slipped a red dress over my head, then pulled it down over my face so he could claim my lips again. I let him pose me like a doll. It was quite clear he could dress me faster if I just went completely limp and let him be in full control. Finally, the kiss ended, and I pouted as I was pulled away from bliss.

He smiled. “Now, there will be plenty of time to enjoy each other like this later. I want you to meet my best friend, Poppy.”

I let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “Yes, Mister Lywick.”

I giggled as I felt his grip on me tighten for the tiniest moment and made a deep noise that sounded like a growl. He slithered us out through the door and stood up to carry me properly.

Reed Lywick

After sobering up with a counteragent, I had given my goodbyes to Vex, Sycanthe, and their florets and gone to Poppy's clinic, since the needed graft to interface with digital systems was common enough she could quickly do the procedure there. One slightly uncomfortable procedure later, I was in a bad mood, and badly needed my floret-to-be in my vines. Poppy had threatened me with domestication again if I didn't hurry up and claim her, so here I was, carrying her back to Poppy’s hab.

Sally was nuzzling into my chest, managing circuit board production in a game on her phone in comfortable silence as I carried her. My mind lingered on the carpets that had lined her apartment. I did not have direct access to her hab’s cameras before today, as I neither worked in a relevant agency nor had Notice filed. 

It was a clever solution to a problem she should never have had to experience in the first place.

The entire living space had been a reminder of the life Sally deserved better than. I had sent vines into every room while kissing her, and it had been variations on a theme wherever I looked. Workarounds to issues stacked until they literally blanketed every surface.

At least the dress I had compiled for her improved my mood. It looked red to her, but had lilypad patterning in the ultraviolet. She would look even better with a scar on her neck, I supposed. Soon. The next time we went back to that place, it would be to gather her things to move in with me where she belonged. She was not spending another night in that place.

I was broken from my silent fuming by a surprised “Oh!” from Sally. A buzzing was coming from her tablet. She closed the game, and a small photo of her mother was displayed next to a video call icon.

“Oh. It's my mom calling! She must have just woken up. Do you mind if I take this?”

“Not at all. However, allow me to use my device, it will be easier for me to see.”

I made my way for the nearest bench, and pulled the significantly larger tablet out of my own chest, overriding the call to go to my device instead. I got the two of us settled, then picked the call up after pointing the screen towards her. There was a tiny twinge of soreness when I activated the digital interface jack Poppy had just installed on my core a few hours ago, but I would suffer far worse for Sally, and it would prove useful during the call anyway.

I shifted back so that I would appear smaller in perspective, and smiled at the camera as her mother’s face appeared, hoping to make an impression that did not intimidate her, and ideally even putting her at ease.

“Hi Mom! Look who is here!” Sally waved at the display exuberantly. “I wanted to call to tell you more about him, but you can just meet him yourself! My boyfriend!”

Autumn Fable looked surprised, and adjusted her entirely decorative glasses out of habit, having clearly not expected that I would be joining her daughter on the call. “Hey Sally! And hello, Mister Reed, right?”

“Hello, Mrs. Fable. I am indeed Reed, Reed Lywick, and am pleased to meet you, Ma’am.”

While I spoke, I used my newly added digital uplink to ping the hab AI that was operating the call, and queued up a monitoring package for it to install. With the connection established, I pulled in the full sensor suite for her hab. Her heart rate had spiked slightly when she saw I was present, but had mostly settled down to baseline.

“Please, call me Autumn. No need to be so formal. I’m sure you're older than I am!” She let out a small nervous laugh.

“Substantially, yes, but I am following human traditions in this matter, as I am courting your daughter.”

Using a title traditionally reserved for those of greater age and social status would ideally lead her to perceive me in a more diminutive fashion and be less threatening. 

“If you insist. Feels weird for an Affini to call me Ma’am! So, what do you do, Reed?”

I waited one additional sixth of a second longer than optimal before answering, to finish connecting to all her devices. I hadn't had an uplink graft in a dozen blooms, and much of the interface was unfamiliar, but the payload I was sending was simple enough. I was merely putting her under the same level of scrutiny that suspected active feralists would be under, but with all reports forwarded directly to me rather than central bureaucracy. It would be best for Sally if I knew in advance if our relationship had radicalized her mother.

“Well Ma’am, I am primarily a xenopharmochologist, veterinary medical researcher, and archeochemist. I develop medicines and other procedures for new xenosophont species. While I was not present for the original Terran cotyledon program, I am one of many affini who will be continuing to do medical research for your species.”

Sally was fidgeting with one of my vines with a smile, listening as we talked. It was almost distracting, how naturally she took to the role of a pet. She decided she had something  to add, however.“He's been helping me a lot! Reed gave me something that completely fixed one of my biggest bad sensory issues! Actually, he's done that like, five times now.”

Autumn nodded, chewing her lip slightly as she thought. “Yeah, you've always had trouble with doctors and medical systems, even with all the fancy stuff they've got now. Is Reed helping with that?”

Sally glanced at me, waiting for me to answer the question. She was already instinctually deferring to me in conversation. By the Everbloom, Poppy was right, she was already mine. It would not be much longer.

“Indeed. Sally’s sensory issues are severe and unusual, and I have been attempting to develop a specialized suite of medications to aid her. This endeavor, following a chance encounter, is what first brought me into close contact with her.”

Sally let out a giggle. “He says he really wants to remove everything bad sensory from my whole life. I think it's very sweet.”

Autumn’s brow furrowed. I didn't need the biometrics feedback to know that Sally's expression of comfort with the idea of me having total control of her environment was not a sentiment she agreed with entirely. It was a good time to change the subject.

“So. What about yourself? What do you do?”

I already knew much about her, of course. I had read her public file multiple times over the last week. Civil astrotransit engineer, aged 48, widowed when Sally was six, never remarried. No known feralist associates, and only mild passive fears about the Compact, well within the median of the Terran population. Most importantly of all, a good mother to Sally.

“Well, I’m an engineer. Used to work for Consolidated Logistics Trust, designing transit systems between moons here in Dionysus. Now I’m helping with the new shuttle system!”

“I see. How are you finding the changes to your workflow under the Affini Compact?”

I began double checking the downloaded copy of her communications for anything I might have missed. Every mention of Sally was just her telling her colleagues about how proud of her daughter she was. It was very sweet.

Autumn chuckled, still oblivious to my investigation. “Well, I spent twenty years constantly being told things weren't in budget this quarter. It's been an incredible experience getting to just make the stuff people actually need, you know? And I'm sure you know all about it, but the new propulsion and materials tech is incredible to work with. I learn so much every day!”

My trawl of her communications history revealed nothing of note, so I terminated the connection to my core and shifted my full focus back to the material world. 

“Fascinating. I have not refreshed myself on transportation infrastructure in a long time, I imagine you could teach me quite a bit.” Sally was happily wiggling in my lap while her mother and I talked. Her stimming was still more restrained than her fullest expressions of joy, but wonderful progress. I rewarded her with a small pulse of my approval and she made an adorable squeak.

The two of them continued to make small talk, and other than finding Sally explaining her factory game adorable, I had little to take note of. There was not much point getting used to this dynamic, after all. It was vanishingly unlikely I would speak to her mother again before Sally was implanted, since it was now ready at my discretion. I refocused on the conversation as Autumn seemed to be wrapping up an anecdote about her opinions on a card game she had been playing in her spare time. 

“In any case, I'm glad to hear you're having such a good time, Sally. Reed here is really just what you were looking for, huh?”

My pet-to-be blushed. “I mean, I wasn't even really looking. He found me!”

“True! It was nice talking to you both. I think it's time for me to get to the rest of my day. Have fun, you kids!”

An amusing joke, considering I was old enough that her age and Sally’s were effectively the same number to me. “Good luck on your project, Ma’am. It was lovely talking with you.”

“Bye Mom!” Sally waved at the screen as I cut the connection. She turned to me with a slightly nervous look. “Do you like her? I hope you like her.”

“I see nothing disagreeable about your mother. Why do you ask?”

She let out a nervous laugh. “Well, I'm bad at reading expressions for most people, but I know my mom well, and I can just tell what you're feeling. You felt really focused the whole time, and she seemed a little tense.”

“I believe your mother and I are both extremely protective of you, and each have very different cultural expectations of what a threat looks like.”

Sally nodded. “She's not, you know, bad.”

“I am aware. But it is in my nature to be thorough. I have observed nothing but a very good mother who wants you to be safe and happy.”

She smiled, and hugged my midsection. “Okay, good, because I love her and I love y-uhh um, uh.”

She caught herself, and began stammering adorably. It was quite clear she would beg me to make her mine soon, but best to not press her on that and give her something else to talk about. I lifted her from the bench, and resumed traveling to Poppy’s residence.

“It is quite serendipitous that I could speak with your mother on the same night you are to meet my own oldest social connection. A sort of symmetry, perhaps.”

Sally leaped upon the chance to change the subject with a bit of humor. “Poppy, you said, right? What, is she like your plant mom or something?”

A tiny shiver ran through my core as I recalled the time when Miss Poppy had called me a term that did indeed translate to ‘son’. The analogy did not perfectly map, of course, as my attraction to her was not typical of Terran parental relationships, excluding in the opinions of certain mostly-discredited psychologists.

“More or less, yes. She is something like my mother. She is much older than I, and I certainly take after her in many regards.”

Sally nuzzled into the leaves of my chest and let out a little happy sigh. “I'm sure I'll like her then, I can't wait to meet her!”

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

We arrived at the small hab tucked between evergreen trees, and the door slid open long before we entered detection radius.

Standing in the entryway, beckoning us in, was the smallest affini I had ever seen. She was probably shorter than my mom, even, maybe only two meters tall. Her body was pitch black, absorbing all light other than the edges where emerald tones were scattered at extreme angles in a way that made her look like a cartoon character. She had a beaklike smile, and two enormous compound eyes that glittered neon green.

Her long neck connected to her torso and split into puffy fronds, and she had two antennae that came out the sides of the grassy teal hair on her head, curled up like gravity-defying pigtails,

“Welcome, Reed and little Sally! Oh, I have heard so much about you!”

“Um, hello?” I waved awkwardly.

Poppy’s voice was affectionate, if a little bizarre. It was like every word was recorded separately and overlaid upon itself multiple times, with odd tone jumps between phrases. It was strange, but also bubbly, playful, and melodic, even if it did somewhat conjure the image of one of those old spy movies with ransom notes made from magazine clippings.

“I have been ever so excited to meet the little Terran that Reed has been so enamored with! Come in, come in!”

It was abundantly clear that there was no secret meaning I would ever divine hidden in the more or less random pitch of Poppy’s voice, so it had a similarly relaxing effect as Reed’s calm monotone on me to listen to. Odd as it might be, the part of my brain that was constantly desperately trying to track subtle social cues I had absolutely no firm grasp on greatly appreciated being able to go on standby.

Reed set me down as we walked into the hab, and Poppy leaned slightly over me, her unblinking eyes locked on mine, before turning to Reed. “May I touch her?”

I glanced at my boyfriend, to whom the question of my personal space had been addressed. Reed answered promptly. “Your anterior surface vines will be of an acceptable texture.”

I studied the two of them as they talked. They had such a natural rhythm to them, clearly very familiar with each other’s mannerisms. I was apprehensive as the vine approached my cheek, but I trusted Reed’s judgment. 

I startled slightly at the moment of contact, then relaxed into it. It was oddly familiar, the physical material so similar to Reed’s as to be indistinguishable by touch alone. But the tactile senses didn't tell the full story, and Poppy had a far more… complicated hum of resonance i could sense from within. It was like there were multiple competing songs playing at once, but fortunately all but one of them was ‘quiet’ enough that the combination didn’t overstimulate me. It was still nice, though, especially as she went to stroke deep behind my ears.

Poppy’s beaklike grin widened as I sighed happily. “She likes it, but not as much as she likes yours. I approve of your companion, my love.”

I swallowed nervously, glad that I had apparently passed some kind of test. Also, ‘my love’ certainly did explain the way the two of them interacted. I knew it was common for affini to pursue relationships between themselves as well as companions, due to their evolutionary history of pollination based reproduction. It occurred to me that being ace actually made me pretty well suited to that, since I only liked being touched on the outside.

We walked into a living room, with high grayish blue ceilings, and a wall display of dozens of different potted plants with golden plaques under each in an affini script I didn't recognize. There was a woman in an orange companion dress who looked to be in her late thirties sleeping on the couch, which Poppy slid in next to. Reed followed suit, leaving me and the other girl between him and Poppy, though he slid a broad leaf around my arm to keep some slight separation. Poppy had no such concerns, draping a vine around her companion that also rested on my shoulder.

“Meet my beloved wife, Amelia Versonia! She has been resting a lot recently, but I'm sure you'll get along once she is more energetic in a few weeks.”

There was a thin line of pinkish drool running down Amelia’s chin as she slept peacefully. Was that what I looked like when Reed played with me? Kinda hot if so.

“Uh, if you don't mind, Miss Poppy, can I ask something  about your relationship?”

She gave me a little pat on the head. “Oh, I’m just Poppy, sweetie. I don't imagine you'll ever be meeting Miss Poppy!”

I nodded, not entirely sure what to make of that. “Okay. How long were you and Amelia together, before you…” I thought about the best way to word what I was wondering for a second. “Before Amelia was yours?”

Her neon grin widened slightly. “She was mine the moment I first saw her, dear Sally! But there are a few benchmarks one might use, and we were dating for about nineteen of your Terran months before her implantation and our wedding two weeks later.”

I nodded. That seemed a little fast for human relationships, but not unreasonable. I was pretty sure my parents had only been together about that long when they had me, I would have to ask my mom about it.

“And the implant? Uh. She looks. A little odd.”

I glanced at the sleeping woman. Her faintly tan skin looked almost exactly normal, but just slightly didn't catch the light right, the same way the artificial skin on my mom's shoulder had when the affini replaced a clump of old scar tissue for her.

“Amelia is not a typical case,” remarked Reed. “Her and Poppy opted for a total overgrowth of her entire body. She has no human cells, and is entirely phytotech. It used to be a much more common practice in the Compact, long before my time.”

Poppy gave Amelia a little kiss on the forehead. “It's why my darling is resting! Still recovering from the final phase of her integration.”

I shuddered a little in fascinated thrill, and thought back to the drone hive that was such a pivotal part of Cities under the Highway, how the game featured mechanics that slowly replaced your body with artifice, and whose final upgrade was a chip that linked your player character's mind to the full hive. I had always felt a little… funny, about that, and had reloaded saves to replay that cutscene a lot for reasons I didn't understand at the time.

“May I touch her? I'm curious what that's like…”

Poppy beamed at me, and I felt something radiate through the vine she had wrapped around my shoulder that clearly was the same shape as Reed's approval, but failed to conjure the same response in my chest. I carefully brushed the back of my hand against the sleeping woman’s arm, and let out a small gasp as I felt the texture.

Her epidermis might look almost exactly like skin, but it had a surface quality more reminiscent of fabric. She was like a plush doll, aside from the breathing and pulse I could feel. The rhythm of her heartbeat was clearly tuned to the same subtle rhythm as Poppy’s. 

“She's… good sensory.”

I hesitantly went to wrap my arm around Amelia, and felt a burst of approval, this time the real deal, from my Affini, and sighed happily. I was cuddling? A human? Or at least someone who used to be human? I had never thought that would ever happen.

Poppy seemed equally pleased, though I wasn't sure if her face was able to be anything other than smiling. It wouldn't be hard to read her expression, considering how vivid the beak-like grin smile was against her vantablack surface. “I am so glad you like her! Our Reed here has been nothing but nervous you would find our home unpleasant. He actually made me replace this entire couch and my bedsheets so you would find it comfortable!”

Poppy giggled again, and I felt what I could only describe as a burst of annoyed static directed at Poppy from Reed. “It was an entirely prudent precaution, Poppy.”

Someone getting a whole new couch just for me to be comfortable was a lot to process. I decided to change the subject rather than linger on the anxiety that I would be expected to repay that kindness somehow. “So, um, how did you two meet?”

There was a slight rise in nervous tension from Reed as Poppy answered. “Reed and I were fighting the same war, and he needed a fair bit of vines-on guidance!”

Another burst of annoyed static from Reed, with an undertone of embarrassed amusement. “I was her floret during my third bloom, yes. It was very beneficial to me.”

That came as a bit of a surprise. “I knew that some Affini became florets from my research, but I wouldn't have guessed that you were ever one. You are so, uh.” I blushed, thinking about the tight and possessive way hia vines were currently wound around my thighs. “...Dominant.”

Poppy began giggling again. “Reed just needed a helping hand to assist with his tendency to overexert himself! That is why I'm making him stay the night here, he just had a procedure done, and as his doctor I am not letting him overwork himself yet again. He insisted on bringing you over too, and I cannot deny that one’s favorite xenosophont wrapped in your vines is a fantastic way to speed up recovery!”

I looked back at Reed in surprise. “Huh? What procedure?”

“A digital uplink port graft. Sally, it is my assumption you have never been able to use virtual reality comfortably?”

That seemed a little unrelated, but was correct. “VR seemed amazing in theory, but I tried it once, and the demo headset was such bad sensory I wanted to throw it across the store and cry.”

“I suspected as such. However, I have a solution for that.”

Reed parted the leaves of his front, and for a moment I saw a faint flickering glow that immediately grabbed my full attention and made it hard to remember anything else. He hastily swept the leaves back in front, and I blinked away the feeling pulling me in. Right. Affini cores were supposed to be very, very hypnotic to human brains.

Reed held up what looked like a thick circular blindfold, but for two glassy lenses where my eyes would go. The entire thing was physically attached to his vine, and made of the same material as his leaves.

“Oh, stars, Reed, you didn't need to…”

“It was indeed required. How else are you to interact with the pair of xenosophonts I have arranged for you to meet tomorrow? One is on the Illastria, and the other a planet named Cassius.”

I blinked in surprise. “Wait, huh?”

Reed smiled wide. “You mentioned wishing you had friends to speak with and share your excitement about me. I chose these three as excellent candidates for your social enrichment, though there are more I was unable to schedule on such short notice.”

Poppy let out a little chirp of amusement. “And now, perhaps you understand how he came to need to be domesticated for his tendency to overdo things!” 

“You. Wow. I don't know what to say, that's…” I knew If I said aloud that I had to repay this somehow, one of them would probably correct me, but it didn't mean I didn't still feel it.

“I would do far more than undergo a minor procedure like this for you, Sally.”

I looked at the doll-like woman now gently snoring against my shoulder, and had a slightly disturbing thought about what that future repayment might look like. “I'm gonna just be on my tablet now, I feel a little social-ed out. I'm not used to this much attention.”

“Of course. Feel free, Poppy and I are happy for your company alone,” Reed replied with a smile. 

The next sounds he made were in a quiet melodic language that was beautiful to listen to, but that mercifully, I didn't understand a single note of and didn't have to think about, and Poppy chimed in with a higher pitch harmony that was clearly a conversation of some kind.

While Reed and Poppy chatted, I read up on the haustoric implant on my tablet. It seemed pretty justified to inform myself about this sort of thing. I wasn't in denial about the implications of our relationship. He carried me given the slightest chance, had already gotten me to experience xenodrugs and enjoy them, and had given me that golden flower so no other affini touched me that was supposed to be reserved for florets and florets-to-be. If this was floret life and how things kept going, I would probably be happy as a floret. Being his was just a matter of building long term trust.

I knew that if I did decide to take the jump to being his floret, that getting a part of him in my spine would be part of the process. It would probably be a few years down the line before that was in discussion, but so far nothing about having our romance be by the standards of his culture bothered me. I liked how his vines curled around me so possessively, I enjoyed how he was so assertive and dominant.

I knew there were plenty of humans who thought the implant was a death of the mind, but it had always seemed pretty ridiculous to me. Sentience was a series of self interacting chemical processes with enough complexity to transcend their more basic nature and become self reflective. Transitioning had already felt like one self ended so the next could come into being, and even just being able to be someone who could have a boyfriend or be in a cuddle pile on a couch would have seemed impossible to the Sally of just a week ago!

I scrolled past the information meant to reassure nervous florets that they weren't going to lose their free will, looking for more important technical specs. Free will was an illusion, and not one I had ever particularly believed in. Everyone was a deterministic state machine responding to signals, an implant just altered some of the inputs and outputs. Considering most humans could apparently have their entire emotional state altered instantly by seeing a subtle facial expression I couldn't even detect, I was unconvinced of the holy sanctity of thought.

No, the body is a machine, and just like the sprawling mess that was my main bus in my current save in that factory game I had been playing, it had evolved in response to the environment of the terrain, and had many inefficiencies. One of the later game upgrades was a drone swarm that would automatically regulate imbalances, just like an implant did with body chemistry.

I did have a nervous thought that it being inside me would be a kind of bad sensory I could never escape. I fidgeted my toes anxiously. I already had enough bad sensory issues on the body I had been born with. Something physically growing into my spine that could never be removed was a slightly scary prospect. Good thing I would have a long time to consider it.

Reed Lywick

Poppy could not contain her excitement as we switched to conversing in Maelodion standard.

«Is she looking up details on the implant? How adorable!»

«She is. Her unquenchable thirst for knowledge is quite endearing. I look forward to seeing how much I will be able to teach her.»

I watched as Sally scrolled past the platitudes meant to settle nerves and dove into an ocean of technical information on the exact mechanisms of the haustorium.

«Such delightfully fortuitous timing as well! We're doing it tomorrow night, correct?»

«Indeed. I made the decision on my way here when I saw the state of affairs of her life without me.» Sally stirred slightly in my grasp as she picked up on the discordance in my melody, even if she didn't understand the phrases. 

Poppy matched me with a slightly sad minor key trill. «I saw your messages. Was it truly that bad?»

«The only mercy that she was allowed to go on in quiet discomfort for so long is that she was able to find her way into my vines. I believe less mature blooms would attempt to alter her to suit the environment, rather than the other way around.»

Poppy whistled a chime of humor, stroking Amelia’s artificial skin with her fingertips. «There are advantages to the approach, love. She may even request things you do not anticipate.»

«I do not believe that what you decided was best for Amelia would be best for Sally, but I appreciate your input, despite disregarding it.»

Sally had stopped reading, and seemed to be lost in thought. It was also getting late, and when I pinged the program I had installed on her tablet to monitor her, it informed me she had spent much of the day playing a video game. She was likely far more overstimulated than she realized, a consequence of having normalized such a state for her entire life.

She needed rest. I gently exhaled an invisible cloud of a compound that would promote melatonin production in her brain right as she breathed in. It was less effective than other methods might be, but would be the easiest way to prompt her towards the rest she would need for the busy day I had planned. Injections remained out of the question until her implantation. This was her final night where knowing discomfort was even possible, and I would do my best to minimize it.

Tomorrow, she would be mine.

Sally Fable

I yawned loudly, and suddenly felt very aware of how late it was. The two affini seemed to conclude their singing conversation, and both looked at me like my yawn was the cutest thing they had ever seen.

“I think it's time to get them to bed,” Poppy whispered sweetly.

“Yeah, I guess I’m pretty tired. Do you have like, a bathroom and stuff I can use?”

Poppy giggled. “Yes, I never removed it from my hab, even though my little Amelia no longer needs one. It is useful for guests.”

“Right this way,” Reed replied flatly, scooping me up into a hammock again and starting down the hall.

Reed set me down before a sink, and helped pull the dress he had put on me back over my head, tossing it into a decompiler chute. Sleep was overtaking me very fast, and I was grateful for the assistance. A pair of comfy pajamas replaced the dress, and after all the research I had done that indicated that affini were very fond of controlling rituals like toothbrushing, I was a little surprised that he was content to merely hand me one after he had checked that the toothpaste was not of the drugged variety. Surprised, and maybe even a little disappointed. Something to look forward to, I guessed.

He did make a point to brush my hair while I tended to my dental hygiene, and this time, I spoke up about his restraint. “I know that you can and would like to make that feel better. Do you have any of the class-A stuff grafted?”

“I only have a basic suite of standard xenodrugs, and do not have any tailored for you here, they are all back at my own hab.” Reed paused, then unfurled a pink and blue flower. “I could give you an aerosolized dose of ætherea, but I was under the impression that it was unsuitable for you.”

It was true, I had tried that one once, and it had been bad sensory. But I hadn’t been with him then. “It might be different with you.”

He was still for a moment, then gave me a burst of distinctly hungry approval, and clamped the flower over my face like a mask. I sucked in the sweet tasting gas, and melted into his vines as the xenodrug filled my lungs with sparks.

“I would usually prefer to make my own bespoke mixtures for you, Sally. To do so is a labor of love for me. But Poppy insists I should be more flexible, and I cannot deny you the bliss you deserve.”

He pulled the mask away, and I looked up into his eye in the mirror with a lopsided smile. Then he started combing his tendrils through my curls again, and every touch against my scalp was like fireworks. It was almost too much. With anyone else, it would be too much, but he was able to be just gentle enough to drive my nerves wild without stimulating me to the point it felt uncomfortable. Little moans escaped me as I surrendered to the pleasure of his touch, and they didn't stop until I had been carried to the bedroom to join Poppy and Amelia.

The four of us piled into a large circular bed, and both affini partly unraveled as they wrapped Amelia and I, turning the entire bed into a comfortable tangle of vines. Though Poppy and Reed were far more inclined to intertwine with the other than touch each other's companions. I hardly minded. Poppy and Ameia were both fine to touch, which already put them far and above most beings in existence, but I wanted to feel my boyfriend most of all.

I wriggled just a little against Reed’s hold on me, and he took the bait, coiling vines and long, flat leaves around my neck, legs and arms, applying pressure to my limbs while leaving my breathing and chest unrestricted. It was absolute bliss. One of his larger leaves was folded over itself, its soft underside acting as the best pillow I had ever laid my head on, and another large fuzzy lilypad lay over me like a blanket. I wasn’t sure why he had insisted Poppy replace the sheets, Reed wasn’t letting me come into contact with anything but air and him.

I felt, rather than saw his smile as he played with me like the drugged doll I was. He casually exerted total control over my body, placing me exactly as he wanted. I let out a satisfied little sigh, quickly followed by another yawn as I settled into the comfortable grasp. Was this how pampered florets felt? It went a long way to explaining how blissful so many of them always looked.

“Ready to sleep, Sally?”

“Yes, Reed.” I almost wished I had said Mister Lywick again, it would probably drive him crazy. It would have felt right. Next time.

Rather than turn the lights off, Reed simply wrapped the blindfold he had used on our first date around my eyes. He kissed me goodnight, tongues soaked in something that made my throat tingle a bit. The heaviness in my body accelerated rapidly, bypassing the usual hour of tossing and turning entirely. I simply melted into him, and when he pulled me tight against his central mass, I felt the faint hum of what could only be his core through a thin barrier of layered leaves, pressing against my chest. He broke the kiss, and I used what little freedom of motion I had to nuzzle my head under his chin.

Then, for the first time in my life, I fell asleep beside someone who I loved.

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

Rising was a slow, comfortable affair. I was reluctant to not simply cuddle Sally forever, but her body had needs, and caring for them was a deep pleasure as well. While our companions ate their morning meal, Poppy and I prepared their beverages of choice. I poured boiling water over the coffee grounds, allowing the brown particulate-saturated liquid to seep through the filter. Poppy prepared a mason jar of her own companion’s usual morning latte beside me. Considering how much I had to shrink myself in her home, we were surprisingly close to the same height.

I removed the pourover top from the mug, then stirred 0.17 grams of a powdered xenodrug that would suppress her inner ear’s nausea and disorientation reflex while in VR into the steaming liquid. This was an unideal administration method, since it would take some time to be active when entering her system via digestion, but would be active by the time we began after breakfast. Once she was implanted I would not need to do such things.

As long as she actually did choose to be mine tonight. It was a fact I had taken for granted and was planning around, but which was not actually certain in the absolute. Frustrating. I preferred to deal in certainties. 

Poppy detected the shift in my demeanor immediately. “What is the matter, love?”

She dipped a metal tipped hose attached to the kitchen counter into Amelia’s espresso, immediately conducting every drop of heat out of the drink, before pouring in milk, a caramel flavoring, and ice. I considered my response carefully as I watched her work.

«I am nervous, Poppy,» I finally sang in Maelodion standard so that Sally would not understand me from the adjacent room. «I worry she might reject my proposal that she become my floret.»

«Let me guess. You think you will not be perfect enough?»

I poured the lemonade into the glass after using a similar hose to chill Sally’s coffee. I would have to graft a lemon plant at some point, or perhaps simply engineer a fruit that produced bioidentical lemonade to what she preferred. I had not done any genetic engineering in a few dozen blooms, perhaps I could take it up again so I could produce the dozen or so foods that Sally considered ‘safe’ entirely from scratch.

«No. But it is a classically proven result that the outcome of any finite state machine above a threshold of complexity cannot be perfectly predicted externally, and the Terran brain far outstrips that threshold. I worry she might reject my proposal, no matter how obvious it is to me what she needs.» 

Poppy seemed amused. «Wouldn’t stop me.» 

«Nor I, in certain circumstances. But Sally is hardly feralist, and has had enough of being told what to be in her life. It is one thing to push at the undefined space, but to force such a choice on her would be a betrayal of what I have come to love about her.» 

Sally was playing her factory optimization game on her tablet while she ate her breakfast across from Amelia, who was writing one of her novels. The two humans smiled as Poppy and I set their respective coffees in front of them. Amelia sighed happily as she looked at her Wife, but Sally saw fit to tease me.

“Thank you, Mister Lywick,” Sally said with a blush and a shrewd smile. I wanted to ask her to be mine on the spot, but that was not the schedule for today.

“Of course, dear. I hope you soon get used to this sort of treatment.”

Poppy took notice of the exchange, and I felt her burst of amusement from across the room. 

«Reed, did you ever instruct her to call you that? Or is she tempting you on purpose?»

Sally took a long sip of her drink and smiled contentedly, laying down another line of rails to convey materials between destinations.

«No. Technically she is disobeying me. On one occasion I instructed her to simply call me by my first name.» 

I stroked a vine down Sally's back. She sighed and nuzzled into it. In response, I pushed a burst of approval through the vine. She made a moan and looked up at me with need in her eyes. I very badly desired to extend the retracted thorns from my vine and continue the escalation, but there would be all the time in the world for that later. She had a remote social meeting to attend.

Poppy extended a vine under the table and intertwined it with one of mine. «The girl is literally goading you to claim her. She will say yes when you ask. Just don't overwhelm her, and you will be fine.»

Sally Fable

Poppy and Reed were singing at each other again. It was relaxing to listen to, though the melodic speech bore absolutely no resemblance to human music, with far too many subtle pitch variations. I had once briefly experimented with 48-note octaves during a music composition hyperfixation, and the complexity of what they were doing felt a bit like that, but more. I added more cereal to the bowl to use up the last of the milk as I listened to them talk.

Eventually, that ran out, so I added more milk, and the cycle continued until Reed gave me a tap on the shoulder. “It is time, Sally. Come with me.”

He picked me up out of the chair and carried me to Poppy’s living room, unraveling himself into less of a single body and slightly more like a tangled bush of vines that could wrap around me and have points of contact everywhere. It was really nice.

I let him put the headset on me, and any fears it would be uncomfortable evaporated immediately as I felt the soft hum of my boyfriend’s silent song. The lenses lit up, and my eyes took a moment to adjust to the simple grass and sky environment. I looked around for a moment, and it was just me.

Hello, Sally.

I shuddered. Reed’s voice was everywhere. All the force of his little pings of approval, but in language form. Memories of his possessiveness over me swam in my head, accompanied by a lingering desire for him to be rough and dominant with me.

There was a pause, and when he spoke again, it was in a slightly tinny version of his normal voice, though the origin still seemed to be inside my own head. “Ah. Apologies, that was probably a bit overwhelming. Walk over to the connection initialization cube and grab it, please.”

The intense submission faded to the usual background I felt in his presence. A reflective cube appeared a few feet away. I stood up, and carefully walked over to it. “What is the limit of this space? I don't remember where the walls were.”

“Unlimited. You are stationary, relative to the room we are standing in.”

I blinked in surprise, then tilted my head side to side as I stepped forward and touched the cube. If I focused very hard, I could detect that my inner ear didn't feel like I was moving, that the rigid metal object was actually the texture of Reed's vines against my skin. “Ah. You're holding me up in the air, and using your own vines to simulate touch? I'm guessing you gave me something in my coffee to prevent motion sickness too?”

His burst of approval and pride was a very concise answer. I felt giddy and glad he was proud of me for figuring it out so fast.

“Now, look around us. What do you see?”

I did. The sky was a uniform grey blue, the terrain was oddly cubic and voxelized, and there was a sound like… a factory. I spun around, and saw the familiar main bus of gear wheels and circuit boards I had been trying to keep balanced over breakfast.

“Oh stars. You didn't.”

I didn't need to be able to see him to know he was smiling when he answered. “I assumed loading your factory game into the space would make it familiar.”

Aaaaaa. I wanted to jump up and down and flap my hands in excitement. Then I realized there was nobody here but me and him. I could just do that. I let myself stim like my body always wanted to, and it was wonderful. My entire body shook with excitement. Then I got another burst of approval and tripped over my own feet. 

The illusion that I was actually in a physical world was somewhat disrupted as I simply floated midair, suspended in real space in Reed’s vines. He set me back down on the grass. “I imagine you will be equally excited by other environments we can visit, but for today, this is a social event so I kept it simple. I have established connections with the other hosts, and they are beginning to connect.”

I quickly damped out the wiggles, wincing a little as Reed’s passive approval diminished slightly as I did. “What if they don't end up liking me? What if I don't have anything in common with them?”

“Unlikely. I have cross referenced your shared interests and you are highly compatible. Connection has been established. I will not be intervening unless needed, and only you will be able to hear my voice.”

I nodded, and the cube in my hand began to glow. A progress bar began to start on it, and the entire world stuttered for a fraction of an instant. Finally, the cube dissolved into polygons as the two guests loaded in.

A floating username appeared first to my left, glowing text with a slight shadow that read ‹RoyalTea›. Next to appear was a basic skeleton of tracking points. I was greeted with a polite curtsy as the full model loaded in.

“Hello! We are Princess Verdun, First Florets Pluribus, and we use both she and her, and they and them pronouns.”

Her avatar was a little cartoony in its proportions, a fantasy princess with exaggerated large eyes, dark skin marked by what looked like battle scars, and a gleaming tiara over her floofy black hair.

“Oh, pluribus is like, when there is more than one person in your head, right? Should I call you something specific?”

She nodded. “We exist together, and I speak to most of the outside world for us. Princess is fine, thank you.”

I turned as the other avatar, nameplate reading ‹R-Eye-A› appeared. Like Princess, this one started speaking before the model was visible.

“Hello. Araya Natoris, First Floret Sixth Link, it/its or she/her.”

Its avatar appeared fully, and I made a tiny gasp. It was sleek black and shiny, like glossy latex. There was a similarly black helmet with a 6 on it on the side of its blacked-out visor, but blond hair spilled out from under it. I couldn't tell if this one was a fantasy avatar or what she was actually wearing, it would be an intense getup to wear casually.

I took a peek down at my own body, and realized it wasn't just them that had cartoony proportions, as my own body was being rendered with a similarly stylized look. After a moment, I realized it was because the player character in the factory game looked like this.

I stalled out, unsure what to say, but Reed’s voice whispered secretively into my ear. “Introduce yourself, dear.”

“Uh, hi! I'm Sally Fable. She and her. Not a floret… Currently.” I giggled. “Give it a bit.”

Princess and Araya both started laughing. 

The latex-clad woman gestured around us. “Uh huh. So, where are we, exactly, and why?”

“Oh! My boyfriend Reed, he's my affini, I guess I forgot to say that part, loaded in my save file from this game I've been… It's this really cool game where the goal is to build this super complicated chemical research factory!” multiple times my train of thought outran my mouth and left me nearly flapping my hands in excitement.

“Interesting! Do you want to show us?”

Princess was peering at my supply belts with an intrigued look on her face. “Is it playable?”

“It is. Just reach behind your back and squeeze. This game does not contain combat, and I approved it with both of their owners.”

I reached behind my own back and squeezed as instructed, and felt something hard that was definitely actually Reed’s vine in real life, but looked like the wrench control from the game when I brought it forward.

“Oh! That's super cool. Okay, let me show you how it works!”

Princess manipulated a pipe with her wrench, placing new connection points that linked up an underground chemical pipe to a nearby fabricator. I monitored the production graph, making adjustments to the priority queue now that Princess had turned the supply lines into a well-balanced thing of beauty. Araya rolled down an incline, stumbling, dropping her wrench, and crashing to a halt before the construction drone swarm she was coordinating could help her back up.

“Araya! Are you okay?”

It nodded and laughed. “I'm not actually moving like you are. I'm plugged in via my implant directly. Besides, if I was in danger, Admin would stop it anyway.”

I nodded, keeping one eye on the chlorine overflow readouts. I would need to adjust the reaction I was using to etch circuits soon. “It sounds like you trust her a lot.”

“Of course I do.” It tilted its head to the side curiously. “Have you never spoken to florets before?”

“I wasn't avoiding you or anything! I'm just uh. Shy in general. Until I met Reed a week ago, I kinda only talked to my mom and a few scattered people online I didn't really know very well.”

Princess waved her interface wrench like a conductor's baton, and the mess that was my main bus of conveyor belts unraveled into constituent parts so she could build a proper lane balancer. “Yes, when Mistress explained the idea of meeting you, She did mention that you were a bit reclusive. Any reason why?”

“Well, I actually used to be very outgoing. My mom always said to try to impress people with talent because it worked for her. Social rules are hard, but that my creativity and smarts would shine through. So I would get really into online fandoms, and make all kinds of stuff for them.”

“That sounds nice! What did you do?”

“Art, music, writing, kind of a little of everything. I care so much about so many things and it was how I expressed it. But… then as time went on more people would think I was just trying to make myself seem important. All I really wanted was for them to see how passionate I was and like me.”

I sighed deeply before continuing.

“But they didn't. And the harder I tried to show how full of love I was in the only way I knew how, the more people hated me. So I stopped trying. I learned to be solitary, I guess. Even after the Affini arrived, I just… I’m so used to knowing there is always someone making fun of me behind my back just for being me, and it makes it scary to be me and be close to anyone else.”

All the transport drones Araya was controlling flying overhead stopped, and Princess stopped detangling my mess of splitters and sorters to look at me. My face felt a little wet inside the headset. I closed my eyes, feeling ashamed of myself for-

I felt something wrapping tight around me. Then another. When I opened my eyes, I realized I was being hugged by both florets. But it wasn't the bad feeling of skin on skin- their digital avatars were hugging mine, and Reed was acting out the action with his own touch. I was being hugged by other people and it felt good.

“Being alone sucks,” Princess sighed. “We don't ruminate on it, we literally can't, but we do still remember what it was like to be alone. Everyone deserves companionship. Our partners and friends are why we get to be us.”

The hug unwound. Araya took a step back, reached for its helmet, and pulled it off, showing the pale human face underneath. It was giving me a wise smile.

“I've been a floret for nearly a decade now! The best part of Domestication for me was never being alone again. It's not just Admin either. There are, ya know…” It tapped the numeral six on the helmet. “A few others. I'm part of a little family that cares for each other. We love each other in a very specific way, but it sounds like you crave connections you were denied.”

I nodded, blinking away the dampness. “Stars. There's a lot of things in my life I've just accepted can't be better and learned to tune out because I'm more scared of trying and being let down.”

I felt the distinct feeling of the air itself tightening on my body as every vine that was creating the tactile illusion around me squeezed possessively for a tiny moment.

I gulped with a wobbly smile. “Oh right. I kinda forgot I was in VR and Reed can hear everything I'm saying.”

“Yeah, I heard that you're in the early stages, probably won't stay that way if you keep talking like that, Sally,” teased the drone.

“I mean, yes. I think I'm early. I did ask for him to drug me last night and I fell asleep in his vines… but I don't think he's hypnotized me yet!”

Princess covered her mouth as she let out a polite little giggle. “You never know, a lot can happen when you're asleep.”

Araya nodded in response. “Hypno is fun! Strongly recommend asking for it.”

I felt a little silly that I hadn't asked for it yet, it had sounded like one of the most fun parts of what typical voluntary Affini courtship entailed when I read about it online. “Yeah… I've been interested in it for like, forever? I think I first learned about hypnosis from, uh. Do either of you know what Dune is?”

Princess perked up immediately. “Oh! You've read Dune?”

“Um, not read, but kind of! There was an adventure game adaptation made in the 2100s I played on emulator that’s supposed to be really faithful? I sometimes, uh…” I wondered if my avatar showed I was blushing. “I used to get some of the bad endings on purpose, where the Bene Gesserit used the Voice on you over and over on purpose until your brain broke…”

The two of them giggled at that. 

“You're going to be very happy, Sally. Reed might not be planning to wait. After hearing you say that, he might want you like… right now.”

I nervously laughed, even as a pit of anxiety twisted in my gut. “Can we do this again? Play games together and hang out and talk? Are we… friends?”

“Yes!”

“Absolutely.”

I hopped up and down for a moment, then hugged them both tight. “Let's add each other on messaging then?”

Princess waved her wrench like she was issuing a royal decree. “We think a new group chat may be in order!”

Araya nodded. “Yeah. Congrats Sally, you're about to find out what being the token independent in a floret group chat is like!” 

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

I waved goodbye to Amelia and Poppy as Reed began to carry me home. The other human, or posthuman I supposed, was quite shy and untalkative, but had sent me a friend request, and as the scenery began to blur on the way back to Reed's hab, a new message appeared above the new ‘Fable Friends’ group chat.

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
It was a prodigious delight to make your acquaintance, Sally. I eagerly anticipate further familiarization and company. :)

›Sally Fable
yeah! it was nice meeting you too!

She was a lot more chatty in text, and her vocabulary was certainly impressive, if a little… much. After checking with Araya and Princess, I added Amelia to the group chat, then muted the device and stashed it back in my pocket Before I knew it, Reed and I were back at his hab that looked like a cabin by the wetlands. As always, the slight added humidity in the air was absolutely perfect and made every breath feel nice..

Reed put me down as we walked through the doorway, and I sighed contentedly as I looked around the open living room. It was the same darkwood and cobblestone I remembered, built around a circular brass fireplace in the center. I heard the door behind us close. I felt a faint sense of being prompted to turn back to him, so I did.  

Reed was standing, looming at his full height, with a wide smile. I felt a flutter in my chest as some dulled fear response in my brain whispered that I was alone with a predator. That he could do anything he wanted with me now. He was almost double my height, and far stronger than I could ever hope to match. But more than anything else, what made me blush was how I trusted him with that strength and power over me.

“What is it, Reed?”

He was direct, as always. “You mentioned you have an interest in hypnosis to your friends.”

I couldn't meet his gaze. “Yes. I did, and I do. It sounds fun.”

“Tell me about that.”

“I. Um. I.” Aaaaaaa.

“Tell me, Sally.”

The hair on my back stood on end as his voice went from monotone to a deep tapestry of tones with impossibly complex harmony. He was not attempting to be subtle. He wanted me to know he was taking control of me. My heart sang, desperate for the praise that would follow obedience.

“Oh, you’re doing it now… Okay. Um. When I researched what being courted by an affini boyfriend was like, a lot of guides said to expect to be drugged, hypnotized, and treated like a doll to be played with.”

“We are not beholden to the expectations of typical courtship. However, it sounds like you are interested in that. Are you?”

“Yes,” I blurted out as his voice twisted around my mind as tightly as his vines had my body at the heights of his passion. The expected reward of his approval shot little tingling sparks of joy though my body. He didn't even need to be touching me anymore for me to feel it.

A vine traced around my chin, then brushed my lower lip, which obediently opened. Three drops of something that tasted like mint bubblegum landed on my tongue, a second apart each. My mouth began to tingle immediately.I swayed gently, side to side, to the overwhelming waves of the same rhythm I had fallen asleep to every night for the last week.

He paused for a moment, thinking aloud. “Just one more drop would not hurt, would it? No. Good girl. Good doll.”

I blushed at his praise. A fourth drop landed on my tongue, and the tides grew stronger. Colors were beginning to bleed into each other, and everything drew me to him. The motion of his vines, the fractal patterns of the veins of his leaves…

“Look into my eye, Sally.”

I gazed deep into the faintly glowing orb, and suddenly nothing else in the universe mattered. Everything started to spin around me, and my eyes began to twitch side to side. Little moans escaped my mouth as his touch began to creep up my legs.

“Little Sally, my precious girlfriend. Feel the threads of my influence cling at your heart. Tug you forward, towards me. Towards the love I feel for you.”

He loved me, but more than that, he loved me! I was so happy. My hands began to wiggle of their own accord.

“I love you too, Reed… ”

He kneeled enough to kiss me on the forehead, before standing back up at his full height. “I knew this already, but it pleases me to hear. That merits rewarding.” He pressed a single vine against my breast.

I crumpled as an onslaught of pride hit me, and was caught in his vines before hitting the floor. It was more powerful than any drug he had yet given me. In that moment, I needed his reward more than oxygen.

“Remember to breathe, my love.”

I sucked in a gasp of air, and he helped me back into a standing position. Every breath was now laced with my own little tiny rush of dopamine. After all, Mister Lywick had told me to. I was obeying. It was all that mattered.

“Good girl. Come.”

There was a sound as he snapped a vine like a tiny whip along with another prompt. The sound reverberated in my head like a thunderclap, immediately jolting me to fixate on his words, his will. I stood straight, and waited for his instruction immediately, chasing any act that would make his approval sing louder. He slid backwards over the wooden floor, towards the warm fireplace, towards his seat. I followed.

He sat in his chair. I swayed gently as I stood before him, a little smile on my face, waiting for instructions.

“Wonderful. You are so nice like this, and you take to your natural place so easily. There are Affini who go centuries unpaired, looking for one such as you. I am incredibly lucky.”

He wasn't touching me much, but yet his words wrapped around me, as if with gentle thorns that stuck to my skin. The more he spoke, the heavier it got. The harder it was to do anything but gather each word, letting each one stick to my surface and soak its meaning into me. 

“My influence clings to you, Sally. You want to obey, to lose yourself in my control. Feel your own will floating up, displaced from beneath by mine. Now kneel.”

I would have bruised my knees had he not slid his own thick leaves under me like a cushion as I dropped to the floor.

“Yes, Reed…” I mumbled against the vines now stroking my cheek.

“Not this time. Mister Lywick, dear.”

I gulped. “Yes, Mister Lywick.”

“Good doll.” He smiled wide, and more vines wound themselves under my dress and around my body. “You feel such a need for my approval, don't you. You have been trained to seek it, after all. Every bit of obedience you let in makes my pride in you grow.”

Wave after wave of his approval poured into me. Any thoughts I might have had of my own seemed so far away now, floating away above as I sank down deeper and deeper. Blanker, emptier. A stifling blanket was laid over resistance to his influence.

“You take to me so naturally, my darling girlfriend. I think I will still call you that term for a long while, for sentimentality’s sake. But the time will soon come when you are mine entirely.”

I shivered as his tendrils squeezed around my breasts, but did not break eye contact with his face. Every word he spoke was like another heavy chain pulling me deeper into the comfort of his gravity well.

“Empty. Peaceful. It is pleasant, doll?”

A dumb smile split my face. His. Blank, happy obedient doll. “Yes. I love you, Mister Lywick.”

“And I you. It feels so good, when the tendrils of my will pull you under. Leave you empty, sinking into my influence. Do you not wish to be filled, do you not crave purpose?”

“I crave purpose,” I mumbled back. It was true. I couldn't think of anything else.

“Good girl. I believe you crave being in this place beneath me, do you not? To be under the care of a master who will guide you, reward every drop of infinite loyalty your heart longs to give.”

“I…” My eyes slammed shut. Somewhere in my mind, guilt at imposing on him with my selfish desires clawed at me. In a moment, the buzz of approval dimmed to a shadow of its previous volume. I whimpered sadly, struggling in his grasp.

“My love. I have tried to teach you from the start that the truth will always be rewarded. Be honest, Sally.”

I looked back at his face, and felt his control reassert itself over me as my eyes unfocused. It was out of my hands. The truth was compelled by his will. I could not help but obey.

“I do. I crave that role. I always have.”

“Good girl. What else have you not told me, precious doll? Do not keep your desires hidden from me. You do not need secrets.”

I gasped as a hundred fantasies of him being rough and dominating with me were forced into the forefront of my mind to pop against me like bubbles. I didn't need secrets. There were so many, but a clear theme ran through them.

“I want to hurt for you, Mister Lywick.” I blurted out. It wasn't a choice, I didn't get to or need to choose, he simply overwhelmed me with the force of his will. I moaned as his pride hit me like a tsunami. 

“How wonderful. I will not have to change a single thing about your desires to enjoy your body fully.” 

He shifted forward in her seat. From within his furled cloak of leaves emerged a pair of arms I didn't even know he had, which split at the elbow into four hands. Three fingers, two thumbs per hand, and each terminated in vicious claws.

I stared up in awe. He was so handsome, he was so terrifying. The blank surface of my mind roiled with need as the points of his talons caught the light. The animal in my chest screamed to run in fear before being snuffed out by another wave of his silent, irresistible dominance. The entire room swam in the purples of his eye, distorting and twirling. I felt so empty, but for my purpose of pleasing him, earning his approval and pride.

Surrender.

He grasped me by the arm, pulled me closer, and squeezed. The empty void of my thoughts was flooded in blissful submission. I could feel his will in my head. I moaned, screamed in joy, thrashed and fell limp again. Every doubt and anxiety in my mind was being silenced, squeezed out of me as he ran his nails up my back. It hurt in a way that blew out my senses with pleasure. My mouth hung open in utter docile bliss. One hand wrapped around each limb and pulled me up from my place on the floor, into his lap where he could toy with me all he wanted.

Obey.

I felt so full of purpose as he dug the points of his claws into my skin. Each line burned with blissful heat. I writhed in bliss against the soft, fuzzy surface of his chest, letting every tactile whim free. His touch was every rough fantasy I had ever dreamed of, every bit of physical dominance I had always craved.

Submit.

The silent commands ruled me, and finally, even the stimming plunged away into the infinite void. I slumped against his body, drooling, neck bent as far back as it would go to keep eye contact with him.

He spoke again in words, or perhaps he had never stopped. “Good toy. Good pet. Good doll.”

I twitched as each term of endearment layered a new flavor of submission onto the surface of my mind. Every drop of shame was being burned out of me. “Thank you… Daddy.”

The fingers squeezed tight, and something like laughter rippled through his vines as he smiled. “How interesting. Good girl. Daddy loves you, Sally.”

He claimed my mouth with his, thorny teeth bit at my lips, his tounges slid over mine. My pulse hammered against the vines binding me until I might bruise. The alien I loved kissed me deeply, lovingly, possessively. The flickering glow of his eye pushed through even closed eyelids, draining any capacity but to be a toy in his grasp for him to play with and enjoy. He broke our kiss, and raked a single finger down my sternum that made me scream with overstimulated pleasure.

“Stars, Mister Lywick… D-daddy… I feel so hot inside.” It was the ramblings of a mind too tranced for anything coherent. The nonstop abacus of calculation in my head was still, the constant fear I had said the wrong thing blissfully absent. There was me, and there was Him, and that was all. 

He tucked my hair behind my ear, and his teeth squeezed fresh whimpers of aroused pain out of me as his mouth closed around the shell of my ear. “Then I shall let you burn for me, love. I have enjoyed this little chat, but it is time I indulged my own desires fully.”

He opened his chest for a moment, and I caught the briefest glimpse of burning fractals overtaking my vision as his core was bared for a fraction of a second. A mask of flowers sealed over my mouth, and I breathed deep. My entire body went limp, every muscle going slack but the ones breathing breath after breath from his flower. I was truly a doll, plunging into the black depths, falling into the void where there was only Mister Lywick.

Reed Lywick

I had fantasized about what having Sally like this would be like, but none of it did justice to the reality of having her so willingly, easily giving in to my control. The polyrhythmic pattern of microflickering in my eye had held the part of her brain that would normally keep her brain anchored occupied perfectly, allowing my words to slip into her subconscious. Any of the doubts that had plagued me this morning were vapor. She wanted this, wanted me to own her.

It was not the only thing I had clearly been wrong to doubt Poppy on. I had argued against her insisting I get the needed grafts for these hands, but she had been right. The dull blades of my claws indented Sally’s flesh and left the fat of her body to pillow around my grip. She was so impossibly soft. This precious creature wanted to let me hurt her, without coercion or modification. Our chance meeting had surely been graced by the Everbloom itself.

She gazed up at me with pupils dilated until the blue of her irises was invisible. Eyes full of trust, full of love. They were windows to her soul, to the beautiful, brilliant mind that desperately craved the certainty of my guidance. Every scratch I carved into her body plunged her deeper, every breath of the pollen saturated air claimed her mind more. I had not expected for this particular divergence today, but Poppy always insisted there were benefits to being adaptable with plans, and I had no choice but to begrudgingly cede the point, considering the girl in my lap had been pleasant surprise after pleasant surprise.

I raised the baseline of my reward biorhythm until she began to tremble, reflexive overwhelm transmitted even through the agent I had dosed her with to keep her from moving. It was true that many affini liked dolls. I was no exception. I lowered the intensity until she fell back into stillness, though her eyelids hung noticeably lower. 

I whispered to the doll indulgently. “You are the most beautiful creature in the cosmos. You probably cannot understand me presently. That is fine. You will get used to that. I admire your brilliant mind far too much to let you have access to it all the time. Breaks like this will not be optional as my pet.”

I kissed her deeply, and by now she was too far gone to kiss back, the paralytic agent I had dosed her with prevented all but automatic movements like the beating of her heart and her lungs. Perhaps following implantation we would find shared joy in my taking control of those as well. Exploring her mouth with my tongues was a tactile pleasure that sent shivers to my very core. I would learn every micrometer of the inside of that mouth, memorize the texture of her lips. The blood vessels under her tongue tempted the phytotoxin microinjectors in mine terribly, but it would be far easier to simply wait until I could remove her aversion entirely.

But. I could indulge myself a little. I raked my talons down her sides, carefully pressing just barely enough to break the skin over a vein and draw a tiny bead. The limp doll in my grasp made only the muffled happy sounds of pleasure into my mouth. I broke our kiss, and coated my tongue in my own phytotoxin, then licked the tiny wound. Sneaking just a few drops of my own addictive essence into her bloodstream. It would barely affect her, and she had already consumed plenty of it from kissing me, but it filled me with deep satisfaction to send even a few drops into her circulatory system directly.

My own raw unfiltered phytotoxin would have been lethal to her, since she was not co-evolved to survive it like the beeple, but alterations to a core to allow the natural production of a specific xenodrug equivalent when entering the protectorate of a new xenosphont species were standard practice to the point of triviality. I had opted for a suite of subtle bonding enhancing drugs that amplified physical touch and submissive tendencies, and the results on Sally since our first kiss had not been disappointing. It was not quite the beauty of creating something unique and bespoke with the ancient rituals of chemical synthesis I practiced, but there was a great instinctual satisfaction in it nonetheless.

I posed and played with her limbs as my little gift set her nerves alight. I had always favored sophonts with boned limbs, even if my first few dozen blooms had been among the invertebrate Maelodions. A skeleton was such an enjoyable trait for a pet to have. A structure around which they could be bent, that still imposed limits that were enjoyable to push. The little hands that her tree-climbing ancestors activated a grasping reflex whenever my vine touched the palm. I would have to let her climb me whenever she wanted, it seemed very enriching. Every finger fascinated me, bending and clutching as I manipulated her hands. I switched to her toes, and she began moaning again.

“You are an incredible creature, Sally. Even entirely immobilized, you steer me along the path you desire no reflex alone.” She did not react, of course, but I hoped she enjoyed the soothing tone of my voice.

Pressing in on the heel, kneading out the tension, her eyelids fluttered as her brain desperately tried to express pleasure through the paralytic. She carried a truly abominable amount of tension in the high arches of her feet. The poor creatures were not at all well designed for bipedalism, having grown too intelligent for natural selection long before their feet completed their genetic drift towards something more hooflike. The thickly calloused skin on her soles would have to be replaced with something soft and delicate, as the discarded toughness would not be needed; I would never allow her to step on an abrasive surface again. It was perhaps fitting that, like her ancestors, I intended for her to spend most of the rest of her life elevated from the ground, in the branches and vines of an autotrophic organism. 

The analogy died there, of course. I was not a plant, nor a tree. That word referred to a specific kingdom of eukaryotes that evolved from a common ancestor on Terra. It would be adorable if she called me a plant, though. Pattern matching was such a cute behavior. Perhaps plant would grow on me as a descriptor if I heard it in her beautiful little voice. Though calling me her father did seem to activate something within her that I had suspected, but preferred to wait and see. Presumably, her biological father’s passing at a young age had left a psychological gap of some kind. I would arrange therapy for her regarding this, though I would not discourage her seeing me in that role. If nothing else, being called a rough terran translation of ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥ was certainly a little thrilling given it was what I had called Poppy during my time as her floret. 

I laid the girl across my lap, and admired the many scratches that now adorned my little girlfriend's skin. A few had broken the first layer of skin, hot pink abrasions on her pale flesh. She was so beautiful. And so close to perfect. Not for the first time since arriving home, I strongly considered grabbing the haustorium implant tube from my sleeping space and rushing directly back to Poppy to complete her. But I had gone many blooms without finding a xenosphont to call my own, there was no need to not complete the final day of our courtship.

It was perhaps thirty terran minutes later when she began to twitch again. The sparse drops of both paralytic and phytotoxin burning through her had finally run their course, and her breathing began to slow. She would crash if not given proper aftercare, and I would not fail her. I unfurled my arms and retracted them back within me, picked her up in a hammock of my vines, and stood.

«Hab, run a bath.»

She deserved to be pampered after being such an enjoyable plaything for my more sadistic impulses, not that she needed to do anything to deserve being pampered. The sequence of the rest of the day fell into place in my schedule. A gentle bath and massage, then a tour of her room and our bedroom after. I would ask her to be mine, she would say yes, then the contract, followed by dinner. Once she fell asleep, I would sedate her, and bring her to get her implant. The rest of her final day as an independent would be perfect, and before the artificial sun rose tomorrow, she would be mine forever.

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

Sally laid like a doll across my lap as the faucet inlaid into the bathroom walls poured into the tub beside us like a waterfall. She was clearly no longer completely intoxicated, making little hums and sighs as I carefully applied a rapid healing cream to the abrasions and small cuts I had left on her while playing. She winced slightly as I touched the one on her side that I had used to slip a few drops of my phytotoxin into her bloodstream, but calmed quickly as I pulsed a calming pattern of vibrations into the air.

“How are you feeling, Sally?”

She stopped looking around the bathroom, and gave me a slightly wobbly smile. Clearly, even if the true high of my chemical effects on her body were passing, the term sober would not be particularly accurate either. 

“I feel… Wow. You were amazing. I felt so… controlled and dominated. It was incredible.”

“It pleases me that you enjoy intimacy the same way I do. We do appear to be highly compatible.”

I opened a bright orange bottle of disinfectant bath soap and poured a liberal amount into the stream directly, then added a vial of one of the Sally-safe euphoriant xenodrug mixtures I had kept in stasis under my brewing workstation. It would be mild and wear off quickly, but I wanted to ensure her first experience of my bathing her was pleasant. It was important to reinforce that my touch was safe after having indulged in painplay.

I stirred the bath, then carefully lowered her into the water, setting her down on a seat at the side meant for her to hang at the edge so I could lower myself down to sit beside her on the tile flooring. She let out a contented sigh as I soaked a few spongier vines in soapy water, and began to clean her off. I began with gentle exfoliating on the areas I had not scratched, though I would do a more thorough job of that in the coming days as she recovered from her implantation.

Following that, I absorbed 2.3 liters of the bathwater inside a porous leaf, then allowed it to drain into her hair, repeating the process several times. Each time, more of a soapy lather was left, and I toyed idly with her curls as that soaked in and broke down any grime that might have accumulated.

Sally did not seem to have suffered from any ongoing hygiene issues, though I could tell that she had been so absorbed by her game yesterday she had not remembered to bathe properly. It was subjective if daily washing was even beneficial, according to my research, but I would certainly not leave her unpampered for more than two days in a row.

I rinsed her hair, and Sally looked at me lazily through the steam. “I could get used to this, um…”

She paused, and gave me a look of absolute difference, prompting me to shape the possibility space of what she would call me.

“You may still call me my name. Reed, or Mister Lywick if you prefer, are perfectly fine casual terms of address.”

The girl shivered in a way surely not caused by temperature, given the hazy steam rising off the water. “And for less casual… is the thing I called you earlier okay?”

“Daddyy is perfectly acceptable, yes. I can easily extrapolate why it might be of significance to you. Perhaps Master or Mistress as well, I will admit The concept of gender is a little arbitrary to me. The paternal title and the title of power and ownership each strike different moods.” They all ultimately translated to the same base concept to me, but each had its own taboo association for Terran culture that she could find tantalizing.

Sally's face was quite red as she thought it over, mumbling the terms to herself. “I don't like how Mistress feels in my mouth, it's not as good sensory, and I don’t think it fits you.”

“Master, then.”

“Okay… Master.”

A ripple of possessive pride shuddered through my own body this time. I was so close to breaking my plans for the night yet again, but the time left until I asked her to be mine would be best measured in minutes. I would wait.

I wrapped my tendrils around the back of her head and leaned over the tub rim, pulling out lips together for a kiss. I stopped when she began to slump into the water.

“Stars. I hope I never get used to that.”

“You will find my effects on you grow over time rather than diminish. Speaking of which, could you give more detailed thoughts on your experience with my hypnotic influences?”

She nodded, a dreamy smile curling on her lips. “I felt so… helplessly safe. Like anything you said in that voice, I couldn't have resisted even if I wanted to. I didn't have a choice to make, it was just… your words became unquestionable truth.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

Her eyes went wide as she nodded, showing off how beautifully dilated they were. “Yes. I want to do it again, more. I like being obedient like that. It feels so good.”

I pulsed my approval at her, but arrested her nodding motion with a pair of vines that held her head steady. rubbing a scented detangling oil into her hair. She began gasping and moaning with pleasure as I massaged her scalp, which only incentivized me to continue. 

Sally managed to get out a few words despite how difficult I was making it for her. “Did you enjoy it? Being in control like that? I want to make sure you enjoy, uh. Sex isn't the right word for it? But I don't know a better one.”

“Indeed I did. I have said it before, but will repeat myself. You are a natural fit to my desires in a xenosphont in ways that have surpassed my most optimistic projections.”

“Hmm. What was your favorite part?”

I paused to consider, and let her lean her head on what passed for a shoulder on my body plan. 

“I certainly enjoyed the control of hypnotizing you, though it probably will not shock you that being able to enjoy you in a more aggressive manner was what I had been looking forward to the most.”

The girl giggled. “I can't believe you had big claw arms and hid them, Reed! I've uh. Kind of been fantasizing about you maybe being rough with me since like. Our second date? This is all new to me, but I'm glad I liked that part as much as I thought I would.”

For the first time ever, it was I who was unable to contain stimming from overwhelmed happiness.

Sally Fable

I just about died of laughter as I watched Reed unravel into a pile of vines so wiggly his big hat fell off, and he retaliated by pumping pride into me until I drooled and sank back into the water.

The bath was heaven. I had never believed in any gods or goddesses, but it was starting to feel like I might be dating one. Every single time he touched me was like an entire box of fireworks going off. He was holding my entire body tight under the surface of the water, every bit of me posed and toyed with almost absentmindedly. A pair of vines covered in little firm nubs began massaging my back and neck. Tension melted out of my spine with each little circle he pressed into me. I floated in more than one sense of the word as his touch painted tactile pleasure across me.

Finally, my skin was beginning to prune a bit, and more importantly, Reed seemed satisfied. I was lifted out of the bath, and instead of a towel, he simply wrapped me tight in several large soft fronds that sucked every drop of moisture off of me. I giggled as he chased trapped drops of moisture from the folds of skin under my breasts and underarms, though he politely passed me a proper towel for my privates.

The feeling of dim static in my head grew as I manipulated the dangling flesh in question to dry off. It had been better since Reed gave me the drug that temporarily prevented erections, certainly. But maybe his suggestion that I should get that changed was correct.

I didn't have long to stew in it, as he draped a new companion dress around me. There was a compiler in the bathroom, but this dress had been already in the room, folded and ready. It was a shimmering dark navy with green stripes, and the leafy fabric was thinner and more wispy than anything I had ever touched. Large sections were left completely open, and it was covered in flaps that it looked like vines could easily slip into.

“Oh. Wow. This is… this feels really nice.”

“Indeed. Your compiler was never producing true floret fashion, merely the independent culture imitation of the concept. This is more befitting of an affini’s companion. Now, come, I have a surprise for you.”

He made a snapping sound, and I immediately remembered that as having been a signal to follow him. He slithered into the main space with me a step behind him, and opened the door across from us.

We entered what looked to be his bedroom. A quarter circle round mattress took up one corner of the room, and I idly wondered if that was where we were headed, so he could have his way with my body chemistry even more. Abstract paintings hung on the walls, and there was a large window with a curtain pulled. The walls were the same roots and cobblestone as the main space had been. Dark wood and copper facade bookshelves lined them, filled with enormous tomes, scrolls, crystals, and a ton of well-loved scientific equipment. Finally, a desk nestled between stuffed shelves caught my eye. It was much like the surprisingly familiar looking beakers and chemistry gear he had sitting at a workstation in the main space, though this one was smaller.

“Reed, what is that stuff? It seems a little…” I wasn't sure how best to phrase the question. Surprisingly low tech for a society that could print atoms on demand.

“Ah yes. I described myself to you as a xenopharmachologist when we met, but to elaborate further, my actual role is fairly… ritualistic. I believe you are familiar with the Terran cultural archetype of a wizard?”

I nodded. “That explains the hat.”

“Indeed. What your pre-digital civilizations called magic or witchcraft often was simply referring to a combination of the best medical methods its practitioners had access to, with a heavy dose of spiritual hypnotism mixed in. As these practices moved into modernity, many terrans continued doing them, as a form of personal ritual rather than understanding them as pure practicality. I do the equivalent for my own culture.”

“So I already knew you designed drugs, but why do you also brew them yourself if you can compile them?”

He held up a vial of what I recognized as the concoction that had made me unable to hold back on stimming. “It is… a spiritual practice. Perhaps something like a harvest ritual from certain terran religions. I am old, certainly, but direct chemical synthesis was obsolete many thousands of years before I existed. My continued practice is an act of love, a labor of dedication, and one that I intend to teach you to intimately appreciate.” 

I clung to his side with a big grin on my face. “Maybe I could be your familiar.”

“Not an inaccurate cultural metaphor in the broad strokes, though I do not believe warlocks typically tested their potions on their cats in your folklore. In any case, mine is a culture for which the scientific development of medicine and intoxicants are core to our values, and preservation of even the old ways is an endeavor worth dedicating a lifetime to.”

His voice was still monotone, but the way he spoke of his practice felt reverent in the sense I seemed to have about his intentions that didn't rely on sound. 

“That's… stars. Really interesting. I would love to learn to help you.”

He put the vial back down and smiled. “I intend to train you in many ways during our time together, my love. But that includes patience and obedience. Now come, I have something very special to show you.”

He opened a smaller side door, barely tall enough for him to fit through, and ushered me into a dark room. All I could see was a false window that displayed the view of Jupiter from the ship.

My foot landed on carpet, and froze for a moment in surprise at the unexpected texture. Fortunately, it was quite nice feeling; incredibly soft and pleasant to the touch. I let out a little happy sigh.

The light came on, and I gasped in shock as I took in my surroundings.. 

Even fully lit, the room we were in was understated, calm, dark. The carpet was perfectly plush against my feet, thick enough to lie down on comfortably. The walls had a thin layer of fuzz on them that I could tell would be incredibly pleasant to run my fingers along. But it wasn't the room itself that shocked me, as much as everything in it.

My eyes immediately flew to the Cities Under the Highway poster hanging to my right. A full piano keyboard leaned against the left wall, next to a pile of what looked like the coziest cuddle pillows ever. The opposite wall had a low desk under the poster, upon which a drawing tablet and a framed photo.

I walked over to the desk, and saw the picture was of me as a kid with my mom and dad. Behind that was a bookshelf, filled with chemistry references, music theory books, BDSM erotica, miniature painting guides, programming manuals, on and on it went. Every single interest I had ever poured myself into was here.

I walked over to the far side of the room with my heels lifted off the floor and my hands shaking with happy energy, and plopped myself into a nook that felt perfectly shaped for me, with the beginnings of tears in my eyes.

“This is… for me?”

Reed followed me over and sat down beside me. “It is a room just for you. Our relationship will not require separate bedrooms, you will sleep with me. But this is to be your space in our home, to relax, pursue your passions, and perhaps host your friends.”

“You want me to live with you? Now?” It was exciting. It was a huge step. It was a little scary.

He smiled, and I could feel how happy he was thrumming in the air. “Yes. It is time to move our relationship forward. I cannot wait any longer. Your former living space was, like your genital dysphoria, a white noise of discomfort you have tuned out that I will not tolerate. You deserve more than tolerable, you deserve perfection.”

My head was spinning. It was a lot to take in. He was right, of course. His hab was clearly better for me as a space to exist in. He just… had done a better job making a space livable for me than anyone else ever had, myself included. 

“When did you start… to prepare for this?”

Reed moved closer, closing me into the corner I had sat down in. “I began preparations after our first date. Do you remember when I tested all those materials against your skin?”

It suddenly clicked. “Oh. That's why nothing in your entire hab is bad sensory. You resurfaced the entire thing… just for me.”

“Not quite everything. I kept my favorite chair.” Reed ran the fuzzy underside of one of his leaves against my cheek. I nuzzled into it without even consciously thinking about it. “But I also replaced more than just furniture, floors and wall paneling. Poppy helped me replace most of the surface mass of my body to be as comfortable as possible for you.”

My heart was beating faster, even as everything about being in his presence made me want to be calm. “You're really… serious about this. I don't know what I could ever give you in return for this.”

“Sally, I am a modular being. It was certainly taxing to undergo that procedure, but well worth it. I would tell you I expect nothing in return, but that is not accurate. The thing I am going to ask of you is worth far more than I could ever repay.” 

He turned, and reached for a small glass jar sitting on the windowsill. Some bit of glowing plant matter floated inside it, and my diligent research into Affini customs and biotech suddenly made it all make sense.

“Um. Oh. Oh, fuck.”

The implant drifted in its nutrient bath as he held it up. It was a week old at least. It had been growing the entire time I had known him. I looked back at his face with a roaring malstrom of conflicted dread within my chest, unsure of what to think or say. His smile went far beyond the limits his face would suggest, and his jagged teeth gleamed in what little light leaked around him. I didn't even realize his vines had wrapped around me until they all tightened at once. He leaned in, blocking out all but the faint purple glow of his eye. 

“I am asking you for everything, Sally. I want you, your entire life, devoted to me. Every breath, every heartbeat, every thought in your brilliant mind and every cell in your adorable body, mine to cherish. I will eradicate every ill you have ever suffered, reshape the world around you, turn your life into a dream of perfect happiness from which you need never be removed. Let us take the final step to the inevitable conclusion of our courtship. You will never, ever regret giving yourself to me. I promise. Will you become Sally Lywick, my beloved floret, tonight? You already know the answer. Say yes, pet.”

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

“Say yes, pet.”

There was a heat in my belly, and a tightness in my chest as the command washed over me, momentarily blurring the context of the order out of focus. I opened my mouth to speak, blindly chasing the rush of his approval that I knew would come for obedience. Just say yes. Turn the week of paradise into a lifetime of bliss. Just say yes. Say yes, pet.

But… wait, no. that wasn’t a good basis to make a choice on. He had just asked me to be his pet. Becoming a floret was a lifelong commitment. I hadn't expected to even consider this for a long time. Ok. taking it slowly, rationally. I clamped down on the panic, and took a deep breath. I wasn’t a danger to myself. This didn’t need to happen immediately, and we could just continue our relationship without me having to decide yet.

“Y-” Deep breath. I just needed to tell him I needed to think it over. “...Yes?”

I blinked, and clamped my hand over my own mouth, even as a rush of dopamine for following the order flooded my brain.

I tried to open my mouth to ask for help, but literally could not form words that were not ‘yes’ while the command was in place. He had so much more control of me than I realized. And I had kept encouraging him to take more, and more, and more. I was starting to panic.

Reed, to his credit, realized what was happening quickly, and leaned back, giving me space. “Disregard that, Sally. That was overzealous of me, I apologize. Please speak honestly. The choice is yours to make.”

The tension shifted as he countermanded his own command with another, even stronger command. Forcing me to choose. No. No no no no. This wasn't right. I wanted to be his. I did. But I wanted… I didn't know what I wanted! How could I be honest with a desire in conflict?

“Um. Ah. That is a big question.”

Why. Why couldn’t we keep this? Why did I need to choose? Wasn’t this nice? Couldn’t I just be his girlfriend? What we had right now was good. But what we had right now wasn’t me being his forever property. That changed things, didn’t it? Aaaaa. 

Reed was still smiling, appearing confident that compelling agreement and compelling the truth would result in the same answer. He made me so happy. This had been the happiest week of my entire life! But it was so soon to make it permanent! I didn't have the benefit of 20,000 years of experience to rely on like he did! I only had one life to give and he was asking for all of it. Even if he could clearly make it better than the happiest life I had ever imagined, how was I supposed to just decide that for forever?

“Sally? Are you alright?” 

How could I be sure this was what was best for me? Wasn’t deciding that what the affini were supposed to do? The choice was too big, too massive, and every second passing only made my heart beat faster in my chest.

“Reed, I’m… I’m not sure. This is too fast. I don’t know! I can’t answer you right now. I'm sorry.”

He was quiet, but even in that, something was communicated, for the briefest of moments before he silenced it. Fractions of a second, a clear mistake he did not intend to make.

Regardless, his disappointment hit me like a punch in the stomach. It hurt, it was the inverse of the joy of his approval, the absence of his pride. I knew with absolute certainty that my affini did not like what I had just said, and it hurt.

Tears welled in my eyes, and the instinct to just scream yes at him and beg to be his was almost overpowering. He leaned in, and went to stroke my face with a vine, but I flinched away. His aura went dead silent. He was so upset he had to hide everything from me. I had ruined everything again.

“Sorry, sorry, what did I do wrong, why, no. Please, Reed, please don’t be mad at me!”

I had never felt a single negative feeling though whatever bond had attuned me to him before. But now I had. I knew what his disappointment felt like, I had memorized its shape, I had felt it and could not forget it. It was horrible, awful, even if he had clearly not meant to let me feel it, it was the opposite of every good feeling that being around him usually filled me with. I knew, without any ambiguity, that he was upset.

“I am not angry, Sally, though I did not assume you would do anything but enthusiastically agree. Allow me to explain. There is nothing to be scared of. I have been a floret myself, Sally, albeit long ago. It is a wonderful experience I remember very fondly. You would be very happy as a floret.”

His response didn’t help, it only made me feel worse. “Reed, I don’t just rebloom like you do! If I become a floret, that isn't something I'll ever remember fondly. That will just be what I am, for forever! Until I die! You don't understand that one week of knowing you is too soon for me to make this choice?”

“You would make the same choice whether we waited a week, a day, a month, or a decade. But in the meantime, there are things about your body that you suffer from that I could fix if you were mine. I promise, I will never change any of the things you consider dear. You will be cherished as you are, and that is my promise. Your panic is unfounded. I apologize for not giving you something to lower anxiety before asking this question, it would have been easier for you.”

I was starting to hyperventilate. “You aren't listening to me. I'm trying to say how I feel and you're not listening, you're just e xplaining! I can't… Reed, I thought you were different! I thought you cared!”

The purple of his eye was starting to falter. Clearly, this wasn’t how he saw this evening going. 

“I did not realize you feared florethood so deeply, you never appeared feralist. Have I done anything to upset you in our courtship? I only want to make you as comfortable as I can, Sally.”

“This isn't about feralism, or anything you did wrong. I've loved everything you've done until like, five minutes ago! But it's about the fact that I didn't know who you were a week ago and like you said, my life is finite and I only have one!” I pointed at the implant with a shaky hand. “I know how long that takes to grow, Reed. You had that sample taken what, the day after we met? Did you ever think there was any chance I would be anything but your floret before the week was over?”

“But you surely feel it too. You belong here, Sally. you already belong to me in your heart. Do you deny that? You are mortal. Every day you are less than as happy as you could possibly be is a day you cannot get back, especially if unimplanted.”

“You’re forcing me to make the choice right now. And I can’t say yes, not unless you make me. Not unless you take that choice away.” I almost wished he would. Take it out of my hands, why was he leaving this to me if I was already supposedly his anyway? It hurt. How was I supposed to make this choice? Having an implant would probably double my lifespan if I got it now. And this was an affini I could maybe trust with that. But how was I supposed to make a decision that would define the entire rest of my life like this?

Reed seemed at a loss for what to say. It began to sink in that there was nothing to say at all. I needed to reset, reconsider. Ask my mom for advice. Think, try to be calm. 

But Reed had all the power in the cosmos to stop me. A single word would probably keep me from leaving. I wanted to stay so badly, I doubted I could resist a command to stay. The power I had previously found so attractive and thrilling was now scary. I stole a glance at the door, and almost wondered if he would grab me if I ran, but I knew the answer. I couldn’t escape him if he didn’t let me.

And maybe I didn’t want to. My hand would sign a contract all the same whether he compelled me or not. He would never let me regret it if he did. But I couldn’t. It was too much.

I took a deep breath, and blurted out the only move forward I could think to make.

“Can you please let me go home?”

Reed Lywick

“Home… but Sally, this is your home.” I did not understand. Why did she not understand? I had been planning for yes and cautiously braced for no. I had not been expecting an outright rejection of the premise. I was off-script and trying to figure out where I had gone wrong.

“No. Not… not yet it's not! You don’t know that! Please, give me time. This is too much at once. Please, let me go and think. I wish you had just asked me to move in. I would have said yes to that. That’s not permanent.”

“Then, stay, please? Consider my question while living with me?”

“No, I need to go back where it’s… safe.”

In over 70 blooms of life, I had experienced many painful things. The words that had just come out of Sally were, on my personal scale, less painful than being hit in the bare core by a Maelodion hypermetric lance, but perhaps on the same mantissa of notation.

I finally realized, with a feeling like my roots being plunged into ice water, that Sally was scared of me. Scared I would not allow her to leave freely. Force my own vision on how she should be onto her, just as so many had before. Perhaps worse was the fact that I so deeply wanted to.

“Oh. Sally. I am so sorry. I will make no attempt to prevent you leaving. I want you to feel safe, and if that means returning to your hab, I want you there. I… I was very sure you were ready. I misunderstood terribly. Please, how can I make this right?”

She sniffed, and grabbed one of my vines in her hand. “I need… um. A few days, okay? Please. Just give me some space and I'll be able to answer, I think.”

I nodded, and resisted the urge to carry her to the door rather than let her walk. Eons of evolved instincts screamed at me to not let her go. I silenced them all as best I could.

She sniffed back tears as she walked in front of me, “If the answer is no… what happens? Do I have a choice?”

“I would never hurt you.” It was not an answer to her question, and she knew it. Her body stiffened as the words left my vocal threads. My blunders compounded.

We stopped at the door, and as Sally slipped her boots on, she spoke again. “I love you, Reed. We just have a misunderstanding. It’s going to be okay. Let’s talk in a few days. It’s going to be okay.”

“I love you too, Sally. Safe travels.”

She stood, and stepped out. I could have stopped her any of a thousand ways. A command to heel. A restraining vine. A sedative cloud. An order to the hab to lock the door. A plea to reconsider.

I did none of them. The door closed behind Sally, and my core broke once again as I saw through the window that as soon as she was a short distance away from the hab, she began sprinting away, abandoning any appearance of calm, simply trying to escape me as fast as her legs could carry her.

Watching her position update as she traveled back towards the hab I had swore I would never let her sleep in again was too painful. I terminated my core’s digital connection to the monitoring software I had installed in her devices and left my hab shortly after, setting out in the opposite direction.

Sally Fable

My hab door closed behind me, and I struggled to get out of the floret dress. It wasn't meant to be taken off without help from a set of vines. It was beautiful and comfortable and I wanted to wear nothing else for the rest of my life, but I knew the price.

Eventually, I managed to get out of it, and threw it into the corner in a heap. I hurried over to the compiler, and queued instructions for a selection I had never used before from the medical menu. The broad-spectrum xenodrug counteragent inhaler materialized on the tray in a clear bag. This was simple, easy. No massive choice to be made. Just clear the effects of anything in my system currently so I could think clearly. 

I reached into the compiler to pick up the bag the inhaler was in, and immediately recoiled at the awful feeling of the packaging against my fingers. How had I forgotten to put on the gloves I kept next to the compiler for something like this? A few days around Reed and I was just letting myself fall apart. I gingerly retrieved it with the help of my glove. Tears streaked down my face as I ripped the bag off the device. 

Maybe as soon as my system was cleared, everything would make sense. I took an awkward puff of the inhaler. My entire body very quickly felt subtly worse, but at least I knew it was working. I was denied the easy answer, as perfect clarity failed to materialize with total sobriety. I just felt aware of my toes touching each other again. I put the empty inhaler back into the compiler to be disposed of, and it dematerialized. 

The soft yellow glow of a flower beside the compiler took my attention in the dark room. The golden spatia Reed had given me, to mark me as being courted, and ward off other suitors. That was clearly all it had ever been. It helping me avoid overstimulating touch from the affini whose texture made me want to cry was just an accidental benefit. I wished he had stated his intentions as outright as his directness in asking me out the first time had led me to expect. He had never even filed a Notice of Intent to Domesticate- I had checked every single day! 

I picked the flower up. It would be so easy to crush it, rip the petals off, throw away the claim he had made on me. The flower hummed with a familiar pattern as I pinched a petal between forefinger and thumb. It was his rhythm again. This flower was not just something he had picked up at a florist to claim his future property. He had put himself into it and given it to me to keep.

Why was I doing this? I didn't need to do this. I could send him one message asking to forgive me and that I wanted to be his, and he would take me and implant me and I would never worry again. And I wanted that. At least some of me did. With the benefit of hindsight, I could clearly see he had been showing me what being his floret would be like all week, and I had loved every moment of it. But choosing to make it real would cut off any other future but this. I couldn't make the choice. It was too terrifying.

I wanted to be with Reed. I didn't know if I wanted to be his floret. I should throw away the flower, throw away the idea of having love like that. It wasn't for me. I had to do it. I had been alone before. I would be fine. I could handle it. But… could I handle being alone when I had tasted what not being alone meant?

Not even just Reed. Princess and Araya and Amelia. Even Poppy, strange as she was. No small part of the warmth in my chest was them, people I would lose too as they drifted away. People I knew because of Reed, because he had broken me from a lonely cycle I had been stuck in my entire adult life.

I took a deep breath, and put the flower down. I opened the Fable Friends group chat, and typed in a message.

›Sally Fable
hey girls. i need help, its real bad. Reed asked me to be his and i couldnt answer. im scared i messed everything up. what do i do? 

Reed Lywick

There was only one place my vines would take me. The hab tucked between Vasaii pine trees recognized me and opened the door at my approach.

“Hello Reed, you’re here early. Where… is Sally?” Poppy’s voice started casual, but turned to concern quickly as she noticed I was alone.

“She ran.”

“What do you mean, she ran?”

“She rejected my proposal, Poppy.”

“Not what I meant, Reed. Why did you let her leave? What in the Everbloom were you thinking? Why would you listen to a feral rejecting what she so clearly needs? You know better than her!”

I waved a vine at her in a show of frustration. “How can I be sure of that? I already blundered this, surely I could miss other, even subtler issues. My assumptions were erroneous and cannot be trusted.”

Poppy jabbed me in the midsection with an accusatory finger. “You are doing her a disservice by giving her the choice at all.”

“She asked for a few days. Should I not have honored her request?” I did not know whom I was attempting to convince.

“A few days? Fine! Give her a lifetime. You have done nothing to her that will not return to her previous baseline. I will deprogram her myself and erase all memory of the last week. You never happened to her. Tell me not to, Reed. Tell me not to touch your floret.”

There was a moment of total silence, but for Amelia snoring on the couch.

Then, there was motion and sound.

A web of cracks spread along the wall, a Poppy-shaped indent left where I had slammed her body against it. Shattered twigs and fibers rained down alongside bits of the wall as she crumpled into a disorganized jumble of leaves and structural vines. Half my own mass fell to the floor where she had cut it from my core in the exchange. Thorns rose along my remaining tendrils as raw, rippling rage suffused me. She stood up from the pile on the floor, horns twisting, a hundred injectors at the ready, surgical blades extended, prepared to subdue me if I attacked her again. 

“I will cut you down to ribbons and turn the two of you into connivents, you frostbitten abdicator. I taught you better than this.”

Abdicator. To call me that word was arguably the greatest insult any affini could level at another.

Perhaps worse was that I could not refute her. My floret-to-be needed me. I had let her run. I was not sure anymore if I should have. I was not sure of anything, but that I needed to make the right decision for Sally. I wished I knew what that was. 

I lowered my own blades slowly, attempting to reign in my aggression, regain control of myself. She only advanced more. I retreated as she approached me again, all fourteen eyes glowing red from within. “You are hopeless. Fine then. If you are not willing to act like one of our kind, I will treat you accordingly, my former floret.”

I wanted to argue, but then the pointed tip of her tail had already cut clear through to my core and poured a paralytic into my system. I collapsed into a pile of quivering vines as she wound her way into the digital interface she had installed.

Poppy leaned over me as she overrode every layer of security on my memory. I could cling to the narrative that she did so against my will, but I knew better. So did she.

“I will give you one day without contacting her. But you will not be able to help yourself if given the chance to break that vow. I know you too well, my love. You never know when to stop pushing yourself.”

An affini could not abdicate responsibility. But a floret could. I had come to Poppy for a reason, whether or not I had been willing to admit it. 

Ancient familiarity flooded me as she shaped my perception, plunged me into a digital space, and reestablished her dormant administrator privileges over my mind. I could have thrown up a block, even attempted to stop her. I did not.

The Milky Way became Andromeda. Time blurred, as the combination of ATDs and digital narcoalgorithm threw me back to the memories of my distant past. Memories I needed to revisit, to take the comfort of not having the option of a mistake. For now. For a day.

«Thank you, Miss Poppy,»  

Chapter Text

Reed Versonia

I came to awareness, slowly, in Miss Poppy’s grasp. Slowly twisting to the time of music. Something from the Maelodian neofundamentalist classical period, her favorite.

Miss Poppy was the lead in the dance, as she always was. But I was barely even a participant. Her vines wrapped tightly around my core, slipping tendrils under the soft outer shell, and thin fibers through the permeable membrane. A thin film of ATDs swirled, pumped into my thoughts via the gentle intrusion. It felt familiar, soft, gentle. My sense of identity and self were slightly altered, certainly. But it was hard to care right now. All I had to do was follow the dance.

Twist, step, pause.

I was not Reed Lywick, 73rd Bloom at the moment. I was Reed Versonia, Floret… player. Poppy was unimpressed by the systems of legality that had developed over her lifetime. There was little chance this was an official arrangement. She had made a legal floret of me the first time, but that was hard to avoid when it lasted centuries and involved a proper haustorium fused into my core. That piece of her core had long ago been absorbed during rebloom, but the job was being done decently well by the digital interface she had helped convince me to get grafted on for Sally my girlfriend my beloved floret someone very, very important to me.

Step, pause, stumble.

Miss Poppy caught me as I began to fall and righted me again. She had probably seen whatever had warranted this alteration to my psyche coming, and left a backdoor for herself intentionally when she installed it. She was very clever, and she had always been inclined to meddle look out for me. Better than I did, sometimes. I could tell from what it wasn’t letting me think I was angry at her, or at least had been. Begrudging as it might be, I was grateful for her interventions, up to a point.

She wasn’t letting me remember certain things right now. I could easily sense the hole in my awareness of something and someone I cared about very deeply, but it was harmful for me to think about right now. The digital graft’s influence was not subtle. If it had been an actual haustorium, I wouldn’t be able to tell my cognition was being altered at all.

Step, pause, trip.

I could fight it off, surely. But even if I tried to fight it, it would probably take all day, and I could not think of a better way to prove I needed another actual floret bloom than to refuse to take a single day’s break. I worried about how Sally would cope without me Nothing bad would happen, Miss Poppy would take care of everything.

I engaged in the dance as much as I could while I was so entangled with Miss Poppy, a disorganized pile of heavily drugged phytotech. A lot of my expected body mass was missing, and I faintly wondered what in the Everbloom had happened to cause that. I didn’t even try to remember it. There was no point, if I needed to know, Miss Poppy would tell me. It was hard to focus on anything, even the things her reprogramming wasn’t shunting away. The dance was nice.

Separate, meet, step.

I stumbled as I tried to lift myself up along dozens of tiny feet as I usually would without her support. Miss Poppy caught me immediately, having not actually fully let go in the first place, impossibly strong as always. She spoke, and my perception of her voice was full of twinkling echoes. “Ah, so you are awake. How do you feel, my floret-for-a-day?”

I considered the question as we waltzed. Not wonderful, frankly. I was absolutely, root-rottingly high, but I could still feel the gap of knowledge where Sally someone I loved was supposed to be. I could not truly rest as I needed to, not like this. I could still think too much. The music was starting to fade, the dance was over. It had certainly been pleasant that Miss Poppy had done the work of the dance, at least. It was very intimate.

Separate, bow, crumple.

As soon as she had pulled back enough to let me stand on my own, I had fallen apart. I looked up at Miss Poppy from my place on the floor of her living room, considering her question as best I could through the haze. Finally, I had an answer

“Suboptimal. Miss Poppy.”

She leaned down, and stroked a few leaves that made me feel tingles everywhere. “What can we make better, my love?”

“I am sure that you have removed my capacity for a reason, but for this to be an effective rest, I believe I need to be taken… deeper. I am still too aware of what I cannot be aware of.”

She nodded sweetly. “I had hoped this alone would be enough, but I would not lie and say I will not relish going all the way. Try to relax, and feel free to enjoy this. We both know I will.”

Miss Poppy created order from chaos quickly, spreading me out in a splay from around my core. The serrated blades extended from her fingers, and danced painlessly across my form. Roots and tendrils fell, leaves cut at the base without breaking a single cell wall. I shuddered as the organic matter sloughed away, surgically separated from my own physicality. Within seconds, There was almost nothing left.

“Thank you, Miss Poppy,” I buzzed with what little vocalization capacity I retained. My core was now entirely bared to her, but for a few important clusters of mass and a smattering of waxy cover leaves.

“I can only do what can be undone by tomorrow night, so I shall leave your core intact. I will just… reconfigure certain regions.”

“I understand.”

I was as vulnerable as it was possible to be. Drugged, helpless, reprogrammed not to resist her. And I felt safe. The flood of trust in her was incredible, amplified by her alterations or not.

She stroked my surface with sadistic reverence. There were very few beings in the universe with the knowledge of how to damage a core beyond reblooming, and one of them was running atom-sharp knives over the center of my being. She seemed wistful as she teased how powerful she was in this moment. “Of all the sophonts in the universe, you know, none are as well suited to being florets as an affini, in my opinion.”

“Oh?” It was all I could manage.

She deftly disconnected another supporting vine. I unraveled further under her careful touch. I felt her plug into my digital jack again, toggling memory sectors. I twitched and spasmed under her, but she held me still.

“Indeed. Few xenosphonts are quite so easily altered. Other than the beeple, there are no species we have had as long to learn to shape. I could be a veterinarian, but I am not. I am a doctor, because the engineered tissues are so much more interesting to me than the evolved.”

Miss Poppy reached for the berries that hung from her antennae, and plucked three from the base. The stem was a sharp thorn, which slid through two layers of the material of my leaf cover, then folded inwards like a safety pin. Three little berry-buttons tucked the single layer of material around my core into something like a tube shape. She carefully tucked the entire wrapping around me like a vest.

With my core no longer entirely bare, I was able to articulate myself slightly better. “So few of us need it, Miss Poppy.”

“I entirely disagree, my love. The affini are a civilization whose savior complex defies all measure, convinced we are the only ones whose way of life is valid, and frequently pursue it without regard to how it is destructive to us.”

I wanted to disagree. A needle slipped deep. A processing node within my mind slowed to a crawl, electrochemical processes halted in their place. Speech was no longer within my capabilities.

“We have a name for your behavior when we encounter it elsewhere, darling. It is feralism. You, my love, are one of the most dedicated feralists I have ever known, and I adore you for the fervor with which you chase your passions, but you simply must learn to relax fully.”

The flow of drugs in my core shifted, and the digital interface pulsed, heavy on my reduced mind like thick chains of glowing gold. Familiar echoes of the deepest days of my floret bloom washed over me, activating pathways normally dormant.

“Remember who you once were, Reed, and in some ways always will be. My beloved little leaf.”

I woke up, slowly. Everything felt super cozy. There was a nice big lamp pointed right at me, and every little mote of light felt so good.

I knew Miss Poppy had taken a big ball of stress away. There was something in the way of accessing what it was. I knew I was just a floret for today, so I didn't worry about it. Much more important things for me to think about, like how good my chloroplasts felt.

There was a fuzzy little stuffed animal a few centimeters away from me, and I wanted it real bad. I listened carefully, and realized it was making a little sound- a pumping thump-thump. I would know it anywhere! It was Sally’s heartbeat something very important to me. I tried to extend vines out from the leaves covering my core, but they just flopped. The leaves themselves, then. That would do fine.

I slowly unwound two big flat arms from the thin layer covering my core. They felt really nice. I did little flappies, because it felt so buzzy to just move. Right! The plushie. I reached out with my leaf arms and snatched it towards me. It was so fuzzy, a little brown fox creature from Terra. The sound it made was so nice. It felt like it was supposed to be next to my core.

It needed a name. Sally Fable. Fable was a good name. I hugged her nice and tight.

The blankets were soft too, and with only the thinnest layer between my core and the outside world, I could feel every little fiber so vividly. I lay in my little nest for a while, basking in the photons the lamp was providing. I noticed Amelia sitting on the couch, Miss Poppy’s actual other floret. I waved at her with my little arms, and she smiled and waved back. I wanted to give her a hug but she was too far away, and I was pretty sure Amelia wasn’t very good at moving around on her own.

Okay. Time to get up, then! I extended a bunch of my floppy little vines out the bottom of the wrapping around my core, stuck my head out, and began the slow process of getting out of the pet bed. It was really hard when the blankets felt so good, but I was determined to go hug Amelia. I tumbled out of the pet bed onto the floor in a giggly heap, and gave Fable a little kiss. I hoped Miss Poppy would kiss me too.

I did a big stretch as I stood up. Stretching felt nice. Everything felt nice.

The hab said some stuff in a language I didn’t know. Probably telling Miss Poppy I was awake. My balance was a little off, and I nearly fell over again. But then Miss Poppy was in the room! My core felt so warm when I saw her. I wanted hugs! I dropped Fable the fox and lifted my little leaf arms so she would know what I wanted.

Miss Poppy came right over and picked me up. The sun lamp felt good, but being in my friend’s owner’s vines was like if there was a whole lamp dedicated to every little cell in my body.

“Good morning, Reed. How are you feeling?”

“I am very high, Miss Poppy. Can we cuddle Amelia?” I felt some type of uncertainty there. Was I allowed to touch Amelia?

She laughed, and it was like a symphony of light dancing over my entire surface.  “Of course. I would never deny a sweet little pet like you.”

Miss Poppy carried me over to the couch, and pulled her doll over to join us.

Amelia made a happy little sigh and curled around me. I was like a big pillow to her, and her skin was so nice and soft to touch. Miss Poppy’s pollen was all over her, and I twitched and writhed in pleasure as the motile little grains tunneled into my surface and released into my circulatory network. It felt really, really good.

Miss Poppy slipped a hand under my little coat and started giving me core scritches. Every stroke of her claws made me squeak and shudder in overwhelming pleasure. I was just a pet today. I didn’t have to think about anything, really.

She lifted me up a bit, and all her eyes glowed softly. Miss Poppy was really pretty.A hand slid under my chin, over my lips. I waved the tips of my leaves back and forth, she was gonna make me ask for it, wasn’t she.

“Miss Poppy, can you please kiss me?”

She tilted the brim of my hat up, and leaned closer. “Hmm. Are you big enough for that, little leaf?”

That was a silly question. I was a pet, pets were for kissing. “I’m beeple sized! Wouldn’t you kiss a beeple, Miss Poppy? I would.”

“I’ve kissed many beeple, my love. I suppose one more little cutie wouldn't hurt!”

Her lips touched mine, and we both unraveled, wrapping our vines together. I opened to her like a stomata in the night, and love filled me entirely, swirling and pooling inside every nanometer of my vascular tissues. She sank tiny barb after tiny barb into my tongues, and every time the entire room got more and more wiggly. I melted into her like a happy little pet, and she kept kissing me over and over.

Finally, I was too drugged to kiss back anymore, so Miss Poppy let me just lie on the couch between her and Amelia. I nuzzled myself against every surface I could reach, but especially tried to reach my leaves in against Miss Poppy’s core. Everything felt so good to touch.

I watched the little robot repair some cracks in the wall where I had thrown her against it in a rage something silly had happened. Amelia had started typing on her tablet, but Miss Poppy’s tendrils were steering her fingers. I tried to get a better look at what she was writing, but Miss Poppy pulled me back before I could see the screen. I didn’t care much. It was really nice just to be in Miss Poppy’s vines. But something wasn’t right.

Thump-thump.

Oh. Fable the fox. I had left her behind on the floor next to the pet bed when I ran to Miss Poppy. she looked sad, and alone. Fable wasn’t supposed to be left alone. She needed me to hold her.

I clung to her very tight as I asked for help. “Miss Poppy. Can I have my plushie? I need Fable.”

“Fable? What a sweet name. You can, yes. But you have to let go of me first. We can go get her, if you want her.”

“I can’t do both?”

Miss Poppy gave the top of my head a little kiss. “No, sweetie. You could stay right here at my side, for as long as you want. I would always take good care of you, my love. But you’ll be happier when you have your toy, I think.”

I looked at the sad toy, all alone. I liked lying on the couch, but the choice was easy, even for a little pet like me.

“Fable needs me more. That floor tiling is not a good material. It is bad sensory for her.”

I sat in Miss Poppy’s lap, wrapped tight around Fable. Miss Poppy’s core was nice, but something about the little stuffed fox felt like where I truly belonged. Something was beginning to unravel inside me, something soft and pet was becoming something else as the shadows from the window grew longer.

Miss Poppy had taken Amelia’s device out of her hands entirely, but the doll didn’t seem to notice, eyes drifting shut while her our owner typed away in some group chat I got all fuzzy if I tried looking at.

Amelia was sleepy. She was still recovering from her implant after all, and she would be for a very long time. She had to rest a lot more until she was ready. I played with my little fox under the lamp, listening to the nice thump-thump, while Miss Poppy put her to bed.

It was hard to tell time when I was feeling so good, but eventually she came back. I stood up, and was ready to pick Fable up too, but Miss Poppy took her out of my grasp and tucked the fox inside her chest for safekeeping. She extended a clawed hand down to me, and held me by the tip of my leaf.

“Come now, my love. It’s time.”

We went down the hallway, all the way to her operation room. She lifted me up into the harness in the center of the room, which I dutifully clung to. I could actually see the window from up here clearly. It was completely dark out. The day was up.

Miss Poppy hummed a waltz while she plucked the pinberries that had kept my little jacket wrapped around my core and returned them to her antennae. “Do you remember what the most perfect floret is, little one?”

It took me a moment to remember. “You said it was affini. Like me. Because of the sculpting stuff? And something about being feral.”

She seemed wistful, maybe even a little sad. “I did say that, yes. But that isn't really the whole truth. There is another reason. The one that matters most to me.”

“What’s that, Miss Poppy?”

“They're the only ones who get to grow up. The only ones you get to be proud of as more than what they were under your care.”

I turned that one over for a bit as she gathered a big pile of phytografts next to the operating harness.

“Are you proud of me, Miss-” I paused, thinking about it. Terran didn’t have the exact right words, so I said it in the language we had spoken to each other, long ago. “-̷_̴'̷/̵ ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥ .̵͜`̵·̶̐“ /̸-̸_̴~̵ ¿”

She squeezed me tight. “Always and forever. More than you could ever know. I have had so, so many florets. You are the one who is still in my life. None has ever meant quite what you have meant to me as we have danced our dance across many dozens of blooms. I followed you to this galaxy, and I would follow you to the end of the universe.”

I wiggled my tendrils in the harness and flapped my leaves, overstimulatingly full of Miss Poppy’s affection. “You love me, don’t you.”

“Of course I do, little leaf.”

“But, even when I am not little leaf. You love big me too. Not as a friend, but more. You want something more from him.”

She smiled very wide. She didn’t need to answer. It was obvious.

I smiled back. “I think big me feels the same way.”

“I know. But we can worry about that later. You and I have all the time in the cosmos, and there is someone whose life is finite and precious who needs you, the real you, now. Wake up, Reed Lywick.”

Miss Poppy nestled Fable against my bared core, and I clung to the plushie for comfort as the injector tail flashed open.

Reed Lywick

I was in Poppy’s surgical harness, halfway through having my normal body be put back together. Structural vines reattached themselves to a fur-covered core. Regenerative fluids soaked into my vines, and I felt my full sense of self coming back online. Memory restrictions lifted, coordination restored, neurocircuitry voltage reclocked.

Administrator access backdoor pointedly revoked.

I tested the limits of my cognition and found there were none. Sally. I had failed her. It ached to remember, but I was no longer under the effects of the half-remembered personality overlay from my floret bloom.

The specifics of the last day of my experience were a hazy blur, but there was a buzzing within my deepest self that felt sated. I had a little souvenir of my enforced rest day. The little stuffed animal played a recording of Sally’s heartbeat against my core. It was cute, but I felt little sentimental attachment to the toy, and as I picked my hat off the side table and returned it to my head, I left the animal in its place. A recording of Sally’s heartbeat against my core was pleasant, but insufficient. I needed the real thing.

For the second time in a week, Poppy finished helping me put myself together from the materials I had chosen for Sally. I felt a great swell of gratitude, and embarrassment at my mishandled emotions.

“Thank you, Poppy. That was more beneficial than I thought. You were right, I do push myself too hard. I should listen when you suggest I slow down.”

“I’m always right, dear.”

“Also. I apologize for throwing you against the wall.”

She let out a melodic laugh. “Do remember that I’ve fought actual wars, my love. Not domestication campaigns. What came before that. Wars. A little percussive conflict resolution is nothing.”

“That is fair. I suppose it is time for me to face Sally, and attempt to undo my mistake.”

“Do you want my opinion on what you should do in this situation, Reed?”

I looked at her, the oldest friend I had ever had, whom I trusted more than any other sophont I had ever known.

“No. I do not. Thank you for offering, but my decision is made.”

She smiled approvingly. She knew me better than anyone else, and knew better than me in most cases as well. But not in this case. I knew what I was doing, and hearing her opinion would change nothing.

Chapter Text

Sally Fable

Waking up was awful. 

Falling asleep without the earplugs Reed gave me had been hard. The absence of the now-familiar rhythm to lull me into a state of comfort had left me had kept me tossing and turning. I was no stranger to sleep problems- a week ago. It had simply been my norm to sleep poorly, to struggle to find a comfortable position that didn't make my body feel jittery and wrong. Now, after a week of knowing what proper rest could be like… I could tell the difference. I felt stiff in my neck, back, and worst of all, between my legs. I hadn't even thought about that in days. An uncomfortable reminder that I had used that inhaler to purge every drop of what Reed had worked so hard to give me.

I took a peek at my messages. I had sent a long explanation of the last days events to both the group chat and my mom while up late. No response from Mom, which was weird. She wasn’t even shown as having been online since last night. but the group chat had been very active while I overslept, with over a hundred new messages. The most recent, from Amelia, caught my eye. She must have slept in late too.

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
What a monstrously tragic turn of events. You seemed very enamored with him, I must remark. I understand your hesitation, however; It is a tremendous decision!

I started to scroll up into the messages I had slept through, but Princess and Araya had wandered long off topic talking about their own owners and polycules, and I wasn't really in the mood to read about that right now. Though what I saw of Princess gushing about her boyfriend was very cute. I felt a pang of pain in my chest that the whole reason Reed had worked to get me friends to talk to was so I had someone to gush to about him, and I hadn't even had a chance to do that before everything was thrown into question.

I got out of bed, pulled off my pajamas, then looked in the mirror and winced. I was covered in spiraling bruises, the kind you could only get by being played with by someone with vines for limbs. I liked how they looked, but I didn't want a visible reminder of… sigh. I compiled an opaque grey turtleneck and long pants to cover the love marks. 

Even if I had overslept way past the usual time I would visit, going to the cafe would be good. I needed fresh air, and I wanted my coffee. I looked at the golden spatia sitting on the sill in my kitchen. While I at least hadn’t childishly torn it to shreds, It didn't feel right to wear it right now if I had probably completely ruined things with the man who gave it to me. 

No, my current state of dress was enough to go get my coffee and something to eat. I put my boots on and… of course, immediately felt the buzz of sensory issues on my foot. I tried to push it away and just not think about it as I opened the door.

I was struck by how nice a day it was outside as I began walking. The artificial sun was shining, casting bright yellow streaking rays across the vivid blue sky. 

There was, as always on this ship, no shortage of things to look at as I walked, things to see and pay attention to that weren't Reed. Unfortunately… it was hard to focus on anything that wasn't the awfulness of my own body having the sensory equivalent of an autoimmune response to itself. It all seemed wrong, dulled. Flat, details failing to resolve within my cognition as anything I cared about. 

I took a deep breath and tried to center myself. Things would go back to normal. I had been fine as an independent before, I would be fine now. Reed and I had only known each other for a week, how bad could it possibly be? This was admittedly not a question I knew the answer to, despite all the extensive research I did, since nothing like this had ever been mentioned.

Was this what breakups were just like? I didn't actually know if we had broken up… and I didn't want to ask him and find out for sure that we had. Schrödinger’s girlfriend I would remain, I guessed. I checked my tablet to see if he was online anyway. He wasn’t. 

I was disappointed that my mom still hadn't responded to my messages either. She should have been awake, but for some reason she was listed as not even being connected. I really could use her advice right now. Making big choices and adapting to new environments had always been really, really hard for me. And suddenly, the life I had been living for years up until a week ago felt scary and new.

I stepped out from the back streets and carefully switched back from walking on the tips of my toes as I approached the cafe. I winced as I saw my usual table- the one I sat in every day- was occupied by a pair of florets with a pet dog. I knew I didn't have any claim to that table, especially since it was hours after when I would usually show up, but it was… just another thing for the pile.

I also really did not like the fact that I could feel my toes touching. A buzzing, angry awareness of sensory data in my boots that felt like the only thing around me I could even pay attention to. I tried to think about something else, literally anything else as I got my drink and an egg and cheese sandwich, but all I managed to do was make myself glum again by remembering how our first date had been at this cafe. Somewhere else then. 

I started for the nearby park, just absentmindedly wandering around, eating my sandwich, which I would swear they had somehow forgotten to add flavor to- looking for a place to just… exist.

“Aw, such a sweet thing, why the long face?” intoned some random affini who passed me. Before I could respond, they had already begun to pet me.

The vine that brushed though my hair was awful texture, but it was worse than that. It wasn't him. It wasn't my Affini. It was wrong. It was wrong and it wasn't right and I needed them to stop right now.

I put on the biggest smile I could. That was what was expected. Smile, even giggle. Remember to slightly crinkle my eyes so it looked genuine. 

“Um, nothing much! Just thinking really hard!”

“Can't have that, can we?” The stranger winked at me, and I decided the correct response was to feign a laugh.

“No, guess not! Uh, thanks for the pets!” 

Finally, they were satisfied, and wandered off. My entire body started jittering as soon as they were out of sight. I hadn't even thought to slightly steer my trajectory to avoid them like usual. I had gotten used to wearing the golden spatia that warded away all unwanted touch. Stars, I had really messed things up.

I let myself wallow just a little as I hopped up the steps to sit on the nearest bench. Reed had made a perfect space for me both metaphorically and literally. Filled it with things I would love. Shown me nothing but care, nothing but a life where I would be happy forever. And I had loved every minute. Stars, I had only known him a week and I loved him. I really did. 

I sighed, and tried to focus on something else yet again. The warm sun, the colorful art installations, the loud pinks and greens of the trees, the florets playing some kind of game with each other in the grass. I was surrounded by joy, living in a paradise beyond humanity's wildest fantasies just a few years ago.

Sitting down for the first time since getting dressed made me very aware of one thing. I didn't usually wear pants, and had only done so to cover the Reed's marks on my legs. I remembered why that was the case as I looked down at the bulge on my lap for a delightful reminder of what was underneath.

My stupid fucking awful shitty horrible fucking penis. Reed had been right. I deserved better than this. I took my tablet back out, and opened the medical scheduling app.

A few minutes later, I was about ready to throw the device against a tree, though I would be more likely to hurt the tree than the tablet if I did. I had gotten overwhelmed by opinions yet again. I didn't want to have to design my ‘ideal vulva’ with a thousand sliders like a character creator in an rpg, I just wanted my stars-damned problem to be gone!  

I was about ready to cry. I felt hollow, bleak, miserable. And maybe the worst part was that I wasn't even sure I actually felt any different than I had just gotten used to for years.

I finally looked at the group chat again, and was a little sad to see Araya had gone offline, but at least Amelia and Princess were still around.

›Sally Fable
hi my day really sucks!!! i hate everything!!!! 

›Royal-Tea
We’re sorry you're not having a good time! 

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
Oh, poor thing. :< I hope you feel better soon.

›Sally Fable
literally everything makes me think of Reed, unless its specifically something that is itself miserable my entire life is bad sensory right now 

›Royal-Tea
It’s easy to not notice how bad things were before they start getting better, yeah.

›Sally Fable
ugh i think i really was just LIVING like this? I just tuned it all out but now i know and i cant forget it or ignore it why does the price have to be an implant in my spine

im sorry that was insensitive of me im not like a feralist who thinks it would completely erase who i am or whatever 

Amelia started typing for a moment, then stopped. Princess replied instead.

›Royal-Tea
You're expressing pretty common concerns, we get it.

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
May I ask a pointed question, Sally?

›Sally Fable
i mean sure

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
Were you ever taking the idea of being his seriously?

I was a little surprised that Amelia had switched vocabulary so drastically, but wasn't going to complain, it was honestly a lot easier to read than before.

I looked at the florets playing in the park. They were happy. I had always found plenty of things about florethood interesting, but just had been… well, I hadn't met the Affini who would think to personally develop custom xenodrugs just for me and check what my good textures were and build a perfect little nest room in his hab for me, and… sigh.

›Sally Fable
yeah. i like, really don't see a problem with the idea of being his floret. i just thought I would have years!

›Royal-Tea
Oh, honey… 

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
Ah. I see. That does explain quite a bit.

›Royal-Tea
May we offer some insight of our own?

›Sally Fable
yeah

›Royal-Tea
we would rather not go into the details, but we made a similar… mistake, as you are currently making. You love him. We bet that the entire world feels like it's missing something to you right now. Because to you, it is. You're missing Him. Your Affini.

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
I agree. :>

The sun was starting to set, and twinkling little engineered glowbugs drifted about over the pathways to act as guides. I turned over what they were saying in my head.

›Sally Fable
you think its a mistake? i just feel so overwhelmed.

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
Is there a specific future you envision you would be missing out on if you became his, or are you just afraid of the opportunity cost?

›Sally Fable
um. oof. you know, my favorite game, cities under the highway, has this item that instantly maxes out any one units level.

ive played the game like a million times and never used it! ever! i always finished the game with it still in my inventory

because ‘what if i found an even better unit to use it on later’ stopped me every time

i think im doing that again

›Royal-Tea
It kind of sounds like you already made the choice, to be honest. I think you should message him. 

›AmeliaLovesPoppy
Good luck, Sally. Not that you’ll need it. Everything will be okay, we promise. You'll see why soon! ^v^

›Sally Fable
yeah. no matter what I need to talk to him… guess im joining the spine friend crew haha 

…i think that was the first time i actually had a real smile today. thanks so much to you both.

I opened the Find My Affini app, and went to press the black button with a red exclamation mark on it. I hesitated. I could just message him normally, but no. I needed him. It was an emergency. I needed my boyfriend. I needed my affini.

But, a moment before I brought my thumb down, I noticed the live display of Reed’s location was moving. Fast. In the independents district, in… the park I was in right now.

I dropped my phone, goosebumps everywhere. I felt it before any sense I could possibly name informed me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood, as if under a static charge. 

I looked up, and there he was. Standing, silently watching me, waiting for me to approach. Tempting me closer with his stillness.

His body was aglow in the fading light, vines flowing as if in an unseen tide, both arms and all four hands extended at his sides. A bright burning heat resonated from within his chest, calling me closer. Pulling at my heart by a hook that had caught deeper than could ever have been removed.

I landed on both feet as I slid forward off the bench. The air itself seemed to warp around his body, his eye glowing purple and orange and yellow. It was clear that something was different, and that to approach him would be irreversible. I could look away, I could run, I could tell him to leave me alone. I stepped closer. One foot in front of the other, step by step. Each a conscious choice to surrender. 

He watched me walk, pulling me in, the inescapable gravity well around an event horizon. I heard my phone ding from a life left behind me- the unique notification sound I had set for messages from my mom. I didn't even look back towards the bench I had left it on. There was no going back.

I came to a stop when I was within reach of him. He did not budge, he did not speak. His eye shone orange and gold, and the warm glow of his core that glimmered between cover leaves matched. The air around him came off heavy, practically choking me with rich bitter scents and tangy sweetness. 

I took the final step forward, and pressed myself flat against him, wrapping my arms around his skirt of vines, pressing my face into the wonderfully cool surface of his leaves. “I missed you, Reed. Today was awful.”

His arms wrapped around me, squeezing me tight. “I know, my love. I am sorry for scaring you. It was wrong of me.”

“It's okay. I want to be yours. That's the real answer. I love you. I want to be with you.”

I felt his love and approval sink into me like chocolate melting on my tongue. Some part of me that had been holding on let go. I had just told an affini I wanted to be a floret in no uncertain terms.

“I am happy to hear that, but to be entirely transparent, I would be making you mine tonight whether or not you said that. You are a doll, a pet, and no force in the universe could change that.”

I leaned back so I could look up at his face again, a nervous tremor in my voice. “We could discuss. We could negotiate? We could take things slow.”

“We could. But for me to have presented this as a choice for you to make was a cruel, foolish half measure on my part. I will not be repeating that mistake. This is not about what you want, it is about what I want and what you need, which are the same things.”

Reed unwrapped his arms from around me, and I made a little whine as she pulled back. 

“Reed, that isn't really a reassuring response. I'm going to be your floret but. I like being your girlfriend too!”

The pattern of motion in the wound vines of his body shifted almost imperceptibly. There was a wave of heaviness, a wordless nudge, a falling weight, the tug of gravity.

Down.

I dropped, kneeling before him in the soft grass. His tendrils wrapped around my wrists, holding me in place as though in prayer.

“And we may still use that terminology for as long as it brings us joy, but you know as well as I do that it is not what anyone will see us as first. I knew what you needed from the moment we met. To subject you to this charade was cruel of me. I cared more about my own romantic sensibilities than your needs.”

The faintly visible orange mist his body was exhaling was even thicker from my new position on my knees, citrus and chocolate daring me to breathe deeper. I did, then asked the only question that made sense.

“What do I need, then?”

A hand curled around my neck, affectionately massaging my scalp. “You need someone who will force changes on you that you find terrifying. You need to be given the activation energy to be pushed out of a familiar discomfort zone. You need someone to take away the harsh static you have tuned out, and give you the peaceful silence you deserve. You need a will to be bound to, because your own will lead you to suffer in silence.”

“But I-”

Down.

The unspoken command resonated once more in my chest, and kneeling was not enough. I dropped to all fours, and whimpered as his vines began sliding under my clothes. His overwhelming power over me made me shiver with each stroke down my back, and he just kept lingering on one very specific spot at the base of my neck.

The scent of clementines sat like a haze over me, but through it came clarity, an understanding. “You're going to do what you think is right. You're not asking me for agreement. You're informing me of what's happening. Because I'm yours.” I took another laced breath. “And… deep down, that's what I want. What I need.”

I felt the approving burst, the feeling of a smile, the unambiguous signal I had said the correct thing. Every brush of his touch screamed it. 

“You are correct, my pet.”

“Thank you, Reed.”

I made a happy little moan towards the grass under my face as his petting reached my scalp, fingers running through the blond hair now spilling down around my face.

Down. 

I obeyed once more, and my face came to rest on the leaf he slipped between my forehead and the ground. Every breath was laced with thick citrus sparks. My legs were now pressed against my belly, entirely folded against me in absolute prostration. But he had not shown his approval. Something was missing… oh.

“Thank you, Master.”

There was the desired approval, but then more. A new pulse of feeling, a burst of screaming, possessive static I could only process a single way. Mine. I was his. I wasn't supposed to be a person. I was a pet, his pet. 

“Good girl,” my owner answered.

I giggled for a moment. “Do I need, a contract now, or something?”

“No. There will be time for us to handle the legal formalities when you are too high to remember them. You are Sally Lywick, because I have said so.” His statement was absolute. I did not need a contract to be his possession, because he had claimed my heart by will alone.

The leaf under my face lifted me, guided me back into a kneeling position, let me gaze at his smile once more with the worshipful gaze of a floret gazing into her owner’s eye for the first time.

I slumped into his vines, and…

Sally Lywick

…let him catch me and hold me up. 

“Thank you, for being what I needed.”

Reed did not answer with words. One of his hands grabbed each of my arms and legs. I immediately thrashed against him, a release of tension whose absolute futility only deepened my compliance to my Master. He strode over to the nearest tree and roughly pressed me against it, slamming a moan of masochistic submission out of my lungs. Hisr claws dug and twisted, and my turtleneck and pants fell off me in ribbons.

I was a toy, a doll, a beloved plaything. My boyfriend’s property, my owner’s companion. This is what I would be forever, and he would never let me feel a drop of regret. Never be allowed to doubt him, question the choices he made for me, be tied in knots by fear and what-ifs. I was so grateful.

Something rose from his body. An injector flower, pink and white. Its thorn dripped with something that glistened in the glittering light of the glowbugs around us. A shudder passed though me as I saw it.

“Needles are… bad,” I whined.

“I know,” he said simply. “And I am going to inject you with my phytotoxin anyway, and you will enjoy it, not in spite of your aversion, but because you crave the very violation it represents.”

I whimpered as he plunged into my arm, and it was every bit as uncomfortable as any needle I had ever experienced. But, he was right. This was Reed’s injector. I would endure, and the thought of hurting for him and him alone made the bad turn good.

I panted and gasped, as my veins ran warm and sticky and euphoric, and then I learned what it felt like for approval to have an originating pulse inside my body. I screamed in joy, and he repeated it again and again, burning it into my synapses that to let him inject me was good, that I was going to be a good floret that took his phytotoxin however he wanted to give it to me, and I was going to love it. 

Every vine and leaf wrapping around me was bliss made physical. “Thank you, Master,” I mumbled, everything starting to unravel. Every beat of my heart pumped the chemical deeper, melted my body more into a surface of need that could be touched by him on every single cell membrane and still crave more.

“You are welcome, my love. However, when you are implanted… I will not tolerate you having a single drop of aversion to needles any more than I will tolerate your aversion to parts of your own body, or having body parts you are averse to. You will enjoy my penetration of your tissues, you will crave it, and beg for it,” he paused. “Unless I change my mind, and make your true enjoyments to be found in enduring that discomfort for me.”

“Love… you,” I managed to babble out as his words made me feel lightheaded and fluttery. 

I wiggled, stimmed against his grasp, and every inch of my body found itself pressed into the kneading of his leaves wrapping tight. Every texture was incredible. I giggled into the petals tickling my face. I was overstimulated past the point of sobs, and still needed more. I needed him in my spine, I needed him in my head.

I at least got him inside my mouth as he leaned in for a kiss, my back still pressed firmly and helplessly against the tree behind me. I could do nothing but desperately suck the sweet tangy taste of his tongues. I was a frenzied animal, beyond logic or reason, seeking stimulation in pure hedonistic delight, stripped bare to my underwear in a public park without a care.

His hands dug into my flesh, squeezing on skin already bruised, already drugged to the point that any touch was greater than any pleasure I had yet experienced. His sharp teeth bit at my lips, claws bit into the pudge of my belly and thighs, phytotoxin bit into the surface of my capacity for coherent thoughts.

Finally, his mouth parted from mine, and his injector pulled out of my arm. I whined at both.

“Now, it is time for you to go where you have belonged since the moment we met, my love.”

His chest split wide, and I was pulled into the softly glowing abyss within.

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

Sally Lywick, my sixteenth floret, curled up within my chest, against my core, stimming and writhing. I had stripped her of her outer layers of clothing before bringing her into the space meant for her, but now that she was inside me I pulled away her underwear and boots as well. I would strip her of far more than clothes, of course, strip her bare to the most true and authentic self I could build.

Her weight settled into place, and she moaned with absolute devotion and safety as I pressed my core against her chest. Feathery pollinator stamens massaged into every knot of tension in her back, meeting every wiggle in her arms, every duct of her breasts, every spasm of her legs. It had been my mistake that caused her to suffer an entire day of withdrawals from me, but I would make up for it swiftly.

I pulled her limbs around my core, maximizing the contact surface between her body and the textured material that she had called the favorite she ever touched. The vines rubbing against her palms triggered some grasping reflex of her tree-climbing evolutionary ancestors. We held each other, expressing the love of owner and pet, mutual, if vastly asymmetrical.

Over a dozen times, I had experienced this moment. The point of no return when a xenosophont had realized it was mine, needed to be mine, could not exist as anything but mine. That it could finally give in, finally let go. From my previous Al’yssrian floret in this galaxy, to the very first of my Maelodion companions in Andromeda, it always brought something new and unique to treasure.

It was her first true breaking, the first of many I would visit upon her as my pet. A moment I would treasure forever, until the fractal branches of the Everbloom spread to envelop the entire universe from the grandest supercluster to the tiniest microbe. But for now, the only part of the universe that mattered was Sally, my floret, my doll, wrapped inside me.

Sally’s veins swirled with my xenodrugs and phytotoxins, her eyes were black glassy pits, and her body was completely slack in my grasp. Deeper and deeper she slipped, squeezed between the interlocking layers, every brush of the fuzzy sides of my leaves bringing new squirms and wiggles out of her body. Her surface and mine met and clung and rubbed in an improvised dance of mutual pleasure and intimacy.

She gazed deep into the inner hypnotic spots within my chest, plunged deep into a fervent haze. Every giggly, frantic, frenzied gasp of breath that filled her lungs was produced from atmospheric CO² by my own processes. Autotrophic and heterotrophic symbiosis, made even more beautiful by the infusing of her air supply with even greater euphoriants.

There was no safer place in the universe for her than this, a nook designed for her comfort inside me. Nothing could harm her, nothing could even make her uncomfortable, nothing could afflict the bad textures or sensory experiences she had been tormented by. Not now, not ever again.

Sally was safe, and Sally was mine.

I slumped against the tree for a moment, a sense of catharsis rolling though my entire body. My floret was finally where she belonged. Finally in my grasp, finally wrapped tight in the softest tendrils of my inner layers. A shudder passed between my vines as Sally softly nibbled on the surface of my core from within me, drooling adorably as she did. Even with her capacity for any speech more complicated than happy babbling buried under an ocean of pleasure, she found ways to communicate her desire and enjoyment.

Every bit of her adoration felt like an explosion of joy, like a fresh leaf unfurling, like dry roots finally being wet by gentle rainfall. I squeezed some of the fuzzy core tendrils hard enough to bruise, tightly around her breasts, and drank in her squeals of pain and joy. She was mine, mine, mine, mine.

It was impressive that she could manage such a directed action. I had not been stingy with my internal catalog of substances while my needle was plunged inside her artery. Her toes could not activate each other's nerves, her genitals could not engorge, and her inner ear would not notice me moving. Speaking of which, there was no reason to linger another moment in this park tonight.

I collected her dropped handheld device from the bench, and briefly saw the message of concern from her mother on the screen. A brief check of my own trace logs revealed Poppy had used the software I installed on his devices to block her ability to reach Sally while Poppy was in control of me in my regressed state. Quite typical of her meddling. I hoped Autumn Fable had not been overly stressed. I would have to send her a message explaining the situation, and introduce myself properly as her daughter’s owner. I would have to message Poppy as well, but… later. 

I tucked Sally's device into my chest, and set off for home at a brisk pace, path determined by the tiny fraction of my processing not wholly devoted to the sensation of my floret squeezing tightly around me. The girl finally slumped into a languid stillness with amber saliva leaking from the corner of her mouth. She was, without question, where she belonged, and I picked up my pace to get back to my hab sooner.

I crossed the threshold to our home, and sank into my favorite chair. The fireplace lit itself automatically, bathing my leaves in pleasant heat and light. A great exhale of tension escaped my body, and I let the vague gesture towards a terran body plan I usually maintained unravel a bit. I opened the enclosed wrapping around Sally, my core, and the tendrils that bound nearly every square centimeter of her skin. I lowered the entire tangle down into my lap to play with as I relaxed.

I would have contracts to sign, paperwork to file, congratulations to accept, surgeries to schedule. All in time. The last of those was of particular note, and my prior plans would require amending. More than the simple implantation I had planned originally, that was certain. If there was one thing I had gained absolute clarity on during my flight to meet my treasured pet, it was that my original vision to change her body as little as physically possible had been needlessly…

Conservative.

I had missed my chance to steer her initial transformation when the Occantalis II arrived in Terran space some six terran years ago when her home moon of Dionysus IV had been brought into the Compact, but I would take my time with what she became in her second blossoming. There would be iterations. Experimentations. Just as I would iterate and experiment with the substances I gave her, and most importantly, she would love every moment of it more than the last. Before scheduling anything, I would use virtual reality to test out various configurations to see which were to her liking, though I would ultimately make the final decision, after using a truth serum to interrogate her most honest preferences.

My fantasies of transformations I would visit upon her body were interrupted by the reality of the present moment as she began to stir. I prepared a mildly sobering counteragent on my tongue, and kissed her deep.

Sally Lywick

Soft. Perfect. Home.

Reed’s core, my Owner’s core, hummed against my chest. It was the source of the song I had fallen asleep to for the last week, pumped directly into my own body. Approval and Pride and Love and Mine and so much more. I was obedience, and the command being screamed into every nerve was to feel calm and safe. I lost track of time entirely, and let the thoughts drip out of my head like honeyed drool leaking down my chin.

I was surrounded, devoured, consumed by bliss. Enraptured, enthralled, encased, and content. He was beautiful, more than I ever realized. Dazzling colors, dozens of glowing internal eyes burning through me, with one great orb holding the largest share of what passed for my focus. Were we moving? Enclosed? All I knew was the surface of him, wrapping tight around me, massaging up my spine. 

Leaves carefully wound to apply pressure to every inch of my skin, thicker structural tendrils kneading little circles into whatever part of me caught Reed’s fancy. Wave after wave of Love, Love, Love. I was his. It was all I would ever need to be, all I would be expected to be. I had made the final choice I would ever need to make, and I knew he would have even been kind enough to make it for me if I had faltered.

I rubbed my face against the fuzzy surface of Him, lost in the sensation of soft velvety love, marveling at the one-directional resistance of the fibers against my skin. He was the abstract concept of good sensory made physical, the perfect texture and the perfect familiar resonance. I was his pet, his floret, and I would be forever.

I kissed, and worshiped, and nibbled as best I could. Anything to show this wonderful being my own love and gratitude back, to tell him how I felt even as words and coordination were beyond even conceptualizing. He shuddered, and I dared hope he had noticed.

His core responded, radiated so many feelings I might have had words for, so many feelings I knew as deep truth in my heart, and even the sense of f̷̢̏e̵̦̜͌e̴̟̤̋́ḻ̷̞̍͛í̴̩̏ņ̸͓̍g̸̘͝s̵̭͛ I could not even begin to describe, encroaching on the fraying edges of a drug-warped mind. His care had always been so much greater than I knew, greater than I could even grasp, but now I understood just how vast the difference really was. 

I knew some amount of time had passed when the squeezing tight enclosure began to shift, and a rush of cool air hit my damp skin. Where was I? I didn’t know, couldn’t care.

I whined to go back to being inside him, but he kissed me deep and swallowed the sound. Some faint taste of mint spread on my tongue as he coiled his around it, and the deeper he plunged, the more lucid I became. Lucid enough to kiss back, lucid enough to moan and whimper as I realized I was running out of oxygen, lucid enough to slump forward into him as I accepted that he would keep me safe no matter what.

Reed was possessive, hungry, jealous of the air itself for daring to take residence in lungs that belonged to him, consuming me until my vision went white around the edges. He opened the seal, and I gasped a deep gulping breath of gratitude though the extension of him that tickled at my throat. He stroked me sweetly as I caught my breath, and even that was good sensory, pleasantly warm and tingling in my chest. Only after every molecule in my lungs had been personally placed there by him, did he lean his mouth away from mine with a smile.

I stared at him in a daze, blinking slowly. We were in his living room. I lived here now. It was a lot to process, and my brain was not processing much at this moment. Words finally found themselves on my lips.

“Did I… break for you, Reed?”

He seemed amused by that, and smiled wide. “The first step, yes. It will be a process.”

He grabbed me by the back of the head, kissed me again, and I slumped back into his control. My entire body still sang at his every touch. The fire crackled behind me, and every muscle in my body went limp, brought into total relaxation by the squeeze of his vines and the call of his core against my chest. The kiss finally ended, and he stood, taking me with him.

There was motion, a smear of colors and shapes. I had no sense of being moved beyond a vague awareness of acceleration. Another space, the bathroom. I just lay limply, and enjoyed the tingles of my teeth being brushed and rinsed. We moved again, and I felt myself laid on my back on a comfortable blanket. 

The room around me resolved, and I saw it was Reed’s bedroom. Where I would sleep too. Our bedroom? I was unsure. I was arranged like a docile toy on the pillows, and soft white flower petals rained gently upon my bare skin from above. He undulated over me, unrecognizable as anything even resembling human, dark tentacles surrounding the single glowing hypnotic spot. He was beautiful.

“Daddy…” I mumbled, looking up with pure adoration.

“That's right, little doll. I am your Daddy. Truly, and entirely.”

The eldritch mass curled tighter around me, radiating a love so vast and focused it could set me aflame. I clung to him, nuzzled against his vines as he slowly sank into the bed beside me. The bed deformed to his weight, sloping in and pulling me in tight against him. I was in his gravity well, and always would be.

Not that he let me only be passively pulled in, of course. My wrists and ankles were swiftly bound, his hands squeezed all over me, lifted my legs apart, bent me and posed me. I felt so impossibly small beside him, so wonderfully pliable. To submit to him made my heart sing, to let him have his way with me filled me with a deep sense of purpose.

“Such a good doll you are. Such a good girl.”

I smiled at him, wiggling against his grip. A drifting thought wandered through what was otherwise a blissfully empty sea of calm. It crashed against my consciousness, popped like a bubble, and I laughed. 

“I have to change the group chat name now.”

He unfolded me and let me lay flat on the bed beside him. “The what?”

“The group chat. Fable Friends! I’m Lywick now. Gonna have to change the name. No more alliteration.”

His tendrils stroked my scalp lovingly. “I see. I am sure they will understand.”

“Yeah, they won't mind. So, um. What happens next?”

“Tomorrow? A great deal, none of which you will have to worry about. Paperwork and exhausting congratulation rituals.” 

I frowned. “I don’t want you to be exhausted. Can I help?”

“You will help by keeping me company, and that alone will be more  than enough to see me through. I am going to spoil myself before a day of work, however, and play with my pet. I intend to break you deeper tonight.”

I shuddered in excited anticipation at that. “Break me deeper?”

“Indeed. It will be an ongoing process, the end goal of which will give me the ability to entirely override your ability to make choices without me when I see fit. You will not need to be so tightly bound to my will at all times, but it will always be a tool I have access to in my care for you, a part of our relationship. This level of control would be the case by default with most implants, but I know your desires. You will enjoy the process more if the implant merely supplements my absolute power, rather than defines it.”

My chest fluttered with arousal at the thought of that kind of helplessness. I had fantasized about such things for a very, very long time. Now it was going to be made real, and he was talking about it so matter-of-factly. Not as a proposal, not as a hypothetical, but as was what he was going to do. I would be an extension of him, a puppet on strings at any point he decided. I squirmed against the vines that already bound me physically. I was powerless, and I didn’t need to have power. I had him.

“How will that work?”

“I will continue to teach your body that submission is always rewarded with pleasure. Use existing reward pathways to train you to comply with me by default, to prioritize my instructions above anything else, and feel completely, absolutely safe whenever you leave making any choice up to me rather than burdening yourself with it. I will cut away at you until only the happiest self remains.”

My cheeks burned from blushing, and I was starting to feel dizzy from more than just his phytotoxin. “It’s scary, not what you're saying, but how I want it so much. I saw how much love you put into making my room full of my hobbies and stuff… I know you won’t ever take away anything I treasure. I trust you.”

Approval. “Good pet. The first stage will be training a series of simple hypnotic commands you cannot resist.”

“Do you want, um, ideas?”

“No. You will wake up tomorrow with the first few in place, and I will add more as I see fit. You will find out what they are when I use them.” 

I made a needy whine. He was going to train me to unthinkingly obey him, and I wouldn’t even know how until it was invoked. I really was his toy, a doll in a very literal sense of the word. This was going to be the rest of my life. The thought that I would have waited years to agree to this felt so silly now. This was what I was meant for. “Requests, then?”

“You need not make requests now, the first thing I will be doing once your brain is longer writing memories is interrogating your most subconscious desires.” His pointy teeth gleamed slightly in the dim light of the bedroom. “I will leave absolutely nothing unexamined. You are my possession, you will have no secrets from me. I will unearth your wants and needs, alter them where needed, and provide you a life you will never regret giving me.” 

He went back to posing me, and as I was contorted into positions that made my tendons sing in slightly painful bliss, It truly sank in. I was the plaything of an alien a thousand times older than me, who would never let me struggle again. Never let me suffer in silence, never let me trick myself into thinking something was fine again… and I wouldn’t even know I had secretly asked for all of it.

“It sounds like you kind of already have absolute control of me, Daddy…” 

He smiled, then pressed me flat on my back and shifted on top of me. The air was starting to shimmer around him as pollen and perfume mixed. “I suppose I do, yes. You are my floret, after all.”

A mask of petals sealed over my mouth, and I fell into the writhing mass that was my lover and Owner, deep into the glowing orange eye, deep into the scent of citrus and chocolate.

Chapter Text

Sally Lywick

I slowly opened my eyes. The sun streamed in through the window, hitting a wall of dark green that wrapped loosely around me. 

There was a sort of dull, pleasant ache I felt everywhere. I stretched, and noticed I was absolutely covered in bruises and scratches- a few faded ones were from two nights ago, but mostly new. Reed clearly had not been shy about playing with me now that I was his, and that was really, really hot.

I had flickers of memory from what had happened after he told me he was going to begin training me to be reflexively obedient, but nothing concrete. Repeating mantras after him, being forced down on the bed under him, staring into his eye and core, being rewarded with praise and drugs and rough, possessive touch. That last bit certainly checked out, given how adorned I was by dull purple marks of his love.

I wondered if he was awake.

One of his hands was draped over my belly loosely, the other hand from the same arm flopped and bent around the edge of the bed like a loose glove, entirely revealing that there were no bones inside the structure. Wide leaves basked in the light, soaking in the artificial sun’s rays. 

The glowing spot that resembled an eye was a dark blue, his antennae were drooping, and the slight drift of his outstretched leaves seemed to be more automatic reflex than directed. His core was pressed tight against my hips, under the blanket of leaves that covered my legs, with tiny surface creepers that were wound tight between the fingers of my left hand. A root hung down off the bed near my feet, roots drifting in a sill of murky liquid under the window.

I had never seen him asleep before. I had only spent the night with him the once at Poppy’s place. Thanks to him drugging me I obviously fell asleep before him, and woke after, but he was definitely completely out currently. 

It was really cute.

I tried to move a little, but his vines tightened in a possessive reflex. I giggled, then laid back in the little cocoon around me, and relaxed in the warm light.

I had a nice few minutes of just resting like that. Unfortunately, it was ruined, as so many things were, by the fact I was in a human body. My stomach made a gurgling noise, alerting me that I did, in fact, still have physical needs to take care of, hunger among them.

“Reed?”

There was a twitch in the tangle. His eye flickered and began to softly glow again, and I felt little pulses of activity from his core against my belly. A series of odd clicks, tremors as vines woke up and resumed squeezing me. The big lilypad hat rose fully off me, and his face began to slowly put itself back together.

As soon as he was assembled enough to do so, he pulled me in for a possessive kiss. I slumped into it as I was utterly flooded with desire for him to control and dominate me that burned in my abdomen. My eyes drifted shut again as our lips danced and I thought about how freely he could take what was his… and how that was my new normal. It wasn't a long kiss, but the lingering taste of his tongues coated my mouth with a faintly numb tingle I recognized by this point as him drugging me.

“Good morning, Sally.”

I blinked my eyes back open slowly, and the initial fuzz of whatever he had dosed me with faded into the background. There had been a bit of a dry rasping edge to his voice, not like a dry throat, but more like a buzzy speaker. He sounded a little frayed.

“Are you okay? How late were we up?”

“I am entirely fine. There was much to do, and I…” He shifted awkwardly. “Late. Very late. But mostly I was the one active late. You were physically asleep for much of it. After interrogating your interests, I moved on to conditioning, followed by training your attunement to my biorhythms.”

I smiled, and nuzzled against his fuzzy chin. “Sounds like you had fun.”

He made a noise like a growl. “I enjoyed myself tremendously, and will continue to do so most nights for some time. I have.. Plans for today. I cannot let your first day as my floret be dull. I already enjoyed you so selfishly last night.”

I blushed quite hard. “Reed, waking up wrapped up by my owner, knowing you conditioned and trained me to be more submissive all night in my sleep is like, the hottest thing that’s ever happened in the observable universe. That’s not selfish of you, I’m as into that as it's possible to be.”

I felt a subtle sense of playful mischief running through him I definitely could not have detected before last night. “Do you even know for certain if you were so ‘into that’ before I began programming you in earnest, or after?”

My heart started beating faster. “Um. I think I was?”

“What would the first step in training you be, my beloved doll?”

I thought of giving a dog a treat. “You would… make the training itself a reward activity?”

He smiled wide. “Clever girl.” Approval.

How I had been so lucky as to meet this man, I had no idea. I was starting to get dizzy, and flapped my hands around to let the buzzy feelings out. “Stars. I don’t have any way of knowing if I was always like that or if you changed me to be that way. That’s… Wow.” 

He gently brushed over the bruises on my arm, and I shivered and moaned, bolts of masochistic pleasure shooting through me as he pressed down on one on my forearm in particular. The language of dominance was written all over me, I was no longer really a participant in the painting of our relationship’s power dynamic… I was the canvas.

“And so, a mystery it will remain, because Sally Lywick will prefer the feeling of utter helplessness to my control to knowing the exact truth.”

I made a noise like a squeak at him. “I do, yes.”

“In any case, you have eased my concerns that I overindulged without adequate reciprocation. You are quite the prize, my pet.”

“Anyway, um, I'm okay with a dull morning. We can take it easy, have a pajama day?”

“You are not wearing pajamas. I will get you pajamas. For the sake of your mother’s well being, I insist you will call her first thing while I make breakfast. Time to get up. I kept your nutrients balanced intravenously last night, but that is not suitable for a waking pet.”

Reed gathered his body back into the usual shape, scooped me up, and began to glide out the door towards the main space. He whistled instructions into the air in that musical language he and Poppy had talked in, and the compiler began to produce two piles- one fabric and one raw food ingredients. He reached in and separated the two, the makings for one of my safe breakfasts- an egg and bean breakfast burrito- were set on the counter.

From my seat in her vines, I looked around the main space, arranged around the central fireplace. properly, for the first time, processing it as my home. “Stars. It's hitting me, like. I'm really yours. Forever.”

“Slack,” he commanded, and my body went helplessly limp for him to dress like a doll. I had no time to even process that my body had just reacted to a command without my input before I was quickly clad in a loose nightgown with a texture almost as good as Reed's leaves. Reed tapped me on the forehead, which seemed to restore my control of my own body, and put me down on a cozy little raised bed with pillowy edges. 

“Indeed. Now, be a good girl and inform your mother of this fact.”

Before he gave me my tablet to call my mom, Reed fiddled with the settings on the camera app. When he handed it to me, I could see in the preview window that all the bruises on my body were now being edited out, my irises were edited back in, and my pajama top looked much more modest than it actually was.

“Oh. Thanks, Reed. I guess better to ease her in.” I hadn't actually given how she would feel much thought. I hoped my choice didn't upset her. When I looked up stuff about dating an affini, there had been a lot of forum posts about family rejection.

“Indeed. I will make your food now.” Reed gave me a reassuring kiss on the head, then began to bustle about the rather advanced kitchen tucked away between two supporting trunks. He never actually stopped touching me, of course. A cluster of vines as thick as my thigh remained wound over to me, and split into a dozen limbs that wrapped around me. I was glad for it, the very idea of not being in physical contact with him seemed deeply wrong.

I opened the call, and a few moments later, my mom’s face popped up on the display.

“Hey, Sally! How goes it? I was trying to get in touch with you.”

“It's, uh. Good. Really good.” My mouth felt dry with nervous energy, and I realized with a jolt she might think Reed and I had broken up. “Did you see my messages yesterday?”

“Not a peep, you were listed as disconnected from the network entirely, which is definitely not normal. Is everything okay? Where are you? I don't recognize the walls.”

“Uh, I’m… home. At Reed’s hab.”

She chuckled, but something about it sounded weird. “Well, that was fast. I guess that explains what you were busy with yesterday! Moving in all your stuff?”

I smiled nervously. “Um. Actually, technically that isn't even my stuff anymore, and we haven't moved anything from my old place other than me…” I took a deep breath. I felt a buzzy sense of anxiety, but she was my mom, she would always be on my side. “I'm Reed's floret now.”

There was a long pause of silence. Quiet enough for me to hear the eggs quietly sizzling in the pan. Her eventual response was strangely neutral.

“I see. And… that's what you wanted?”

“Well. When he asked at first I wasn't sure! But then I made up my mind. This is what I want, it's what's best for me.”

“And the floret life… you seem relatively sober right now, sweetie, but you have clearly changed quite a bit since we last talked one on one. That's a lot, you know.”

She was smiling, but reached up to scratch her chin with her pinky and ring finger- one of our little signs I hadn't seen her use in ages. The ‘do you need me to get you out of this situation’ signal we developed back when I had meltdowns in public all the time.

“I really do mean it,” I insisted, scratching my own chin the same way with my free hand, the signal I meant what I said and wasn't scared.

She nodded, and let out a sigh of relief. “I'm glad to hear it. I can't say it's terribly surprising, you know. Just a bit faster than I expected.”

It was very sweet that she was willing to try to get me out of florethood if it wasn't what I wanted, though the idea that there had ever been any qualms felt more like trivia than reflective of anything real at this point. “It surprised me too. Thought I had like, a year or two.”

Mom laughed. “A year? Sweetie, no… even I knew that wasn't going to happen.”

“It made sense at the time!”

“It always does seem to surprise people.” She frowned. “What is your life going to look like, Sally? What does this change for you? Do you know?”

I rocked back and forth a little in the pet bed to get the nervous energy out, grateful for the vines wrapped tight around my legs to keep me calm. “I don't think anything is going to change, really. He gave me a dedicated room for all my hobbies and stuff, music and art and reading and… Reed really loves me. He takes better care of me than anyone… than I ever did.”

I saw her facial expression change. Oh, stars, did I make her feel like she hadn't done a good job with me? Dirt.

“So you're Sally… Lywick, huh. Really does make me feel silly for thinking you'd stay ‘Junior’ forever when you were young.” She paused for a moment, eyes tilted down to avoid eye contact. “I'm feeling very protective of you right now, Sally, and it isn't… well, I promise it's nothing to do with Reed. I would feel the same if you told me you were getting married to some Terran man you met a week ago too, I guess. I just figured you didn't want that when you set off on your own.”

“I figured the same thing, mom. Humans just aren't my type, I guess.”

She nodded. “I know logically Reed isn't someone you're going to need protecting from, too, he's an affini, not someone who might mistreat you. I'm reminding myself that this is going to be the happiest life you could ever have had, safer than anything I ever dreamed you could have when I was raising you.”

“Thanks, Mom. But you really were amazing, you did so much. The Accord wasn't… and without Dad…”

She pulled her glasses off, and rubbed her eyes for a moment, before changing the subject.

“So, is there some kind of floreting ceremony I can visit for? Should only take me a week or so to get back over to Sol.”

“Mom, don't you have like, projects you're working on? The transit system? Space trains?”

She gave me a grin with one eyebrow raised. “Sweetie, you think my daughter is becoming a floret without a visit from her mother to celebrate?”

“I guess not.” I felt a little guilty that I hadn't really thought about that at all. “I would understand if you didn't want to see what this looks like up close. I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable.”

She shrugged. “I may not get the appeal, and maybe I never will, but I don't need to get it to keep loving you as whatever you blossom into. I'm going to be here for whatever makes you happy, no matter what.”

Reed Lywick

The eggs hissed in the pan, and I observed my floret speaking with her mother with some interest as I prepared her breakfast burrito. It was certainly good that she appeared to have taken things well, and I was grateful for them both that Poppy had prevented Sally's messages expressing concern from reaching her yesterday. It would not have changed the outcome if they had, and instead likely just caused them both a great deal of undue distress. 

I turned on the stovetop, and paused to dismiss yet another bevvy of message notifications of my own. Illia Kalisthea, Akaiza Lieliv, and Pearl Laburnia had all sent me their congratulations just since the last time I cleared them 139 seconds ago. It had been a deluge since I had entered the preliminary contract filings into the Bureaucracy, through which triplicates traveled slow and steady, and gossip traveled at speeds that violated causality.

Not that I intended to allow her such unrestrained control over me again, but I almost wished Poppy had extended me the same courtesy as she had Sally and her mother and cut me off from it entirely for a day. Ah well.

I poured the beans, cheese and eggs into the tortilla, then added a few grams of a red sauce high in capsaicin before rolling the flatbread into a tucked tube and putting it into the pan over a sliver of butter. The final burrito would be nearly identical to one of her usual compiled breakfasts, but to have made it myself mattered.

I had a moment as I waited for the tortilla to sear, so I checked my messages again, opening a few at random and skimming the opening lines. ‘Congratulations,’ offered Kuric and Hemlock Astrantia. ‘Many happy decades ahead of you’, said Loranthe Rafflesia. ‘congrats lol’ from Montsechia after that. Seven more messages arrived as I cleared three. I turned the stove off, plated the burrito and disconnected myself from the off-ship network entirely.

Autumn Fable still appeared to be in good spirits as the two of them talked about the friends Sally had been making, despite some concerns she might take the news poorly. I made a note to schedule her for a wellness check from one of her local affini coworkers once I reconnected to the network anyway, but it would most likely not be needed.

I squeezed the vine currently playing with Sally’s left thigh to get her attention, and began gliding my main mass over to the circular bed I had deposited her in while cooking. She dutifully began to wrap up the call. “Anyway, Reed's got breakfast made I think. I'm gonna text you, okay? We can plan your visit later.”

“Sounds good! Love you, Sally. I'm proud of you.”

“Love you too, Mom. Thanks.”

She ended the call, dropped the tablet in her cushion pile, and let the tension leave her shoulders once more. I, like her mother, was very proud of her for handling such a thing, and could certainly relate to the wrung out feeling she seemed to be communicating after the events of the last three days.

I flowed into the bed around her, pulled Sally into my lap, and leaned her back into me such that her body could be supported in my vines without her needing to hold herself up, and set the plate in her lap.

“Thank you Reed, this smells really good.” I wiggled a few tired stems at that.

Most foods Sally ate were eaten with her hands- likely an unexamined secondhand product of her aversion to the texture of many metals and plastics in the utensils she had access to growing up. This meal was not well suited to me feeding her, and with the exhaustion currently set in my roots, that was acceptable. I placated the instinct to exert control by rubbing soft leaves against her back, leaving a slight residue of oily particles whose scent marked her as claimed to any with antennae sensitive enough to detect them.

“So, is there a ceremony for becoming a floret? My mom wants to celebrate, and. I don't see why not.”

If I had a body with shoulders, this might be where a shrug would communicate my non-committal feelings on the matter.

“For some, a contract signing. Perhaps implantation. There is no formal requirement for any specific social ritual. We could draw from human culture, if you wanted a wedding or party of some kind. I believe we have missed the window on the expected rituals of a terran honeymoon’s first bedding, as I began our closest equivalent to those last night. What do you want?”

She made a blushy smile, but there was a shivering air of sad yearning underneath as she considered the question. “I've never had a party, didn't have friends. I've been a loner since my dad, you know…”

I pulled her in tight, and kissed her gently on the back of the neck, where my implant would soon sit. “Then let your Daddy throw you a party, my pet.”

Sally blushed deep, and turned to face me, giving me a better view of her adorable chewing. “That would be amazing, but can I do anything else for you? Don't I need to sign myself over or whatever?”

“Technically, nothing is required of you. Even the domestication contract itself is optional, you are my sixteenth floret because I have claimed you as such. The Bureaucracy has already been informed in part, but it moves slowly and will not mind if it takes a few days or even weeks to complete everything.”

“Sixteen…” Her eyebrows rose, then lowered again, as she did the math in her head. “You only take a floret every 1.2 thousand years?”

I smiled, even if she could not see my face from where she sat in my lap. “On average, yes, with some divergence. I am a patient affini, Sally. I wait for the  right xenosophont. I was in my twentieth bloom by the time I took my third. I develop new drugs for xenosophonts more often than I have a personal familiar to test them on.”

Sally shivered at that, and I let a little of my pride leak into her, which she moaned at, entirely unprepared for the massively amplified dopamine response I had begun training into her last night. Once she recovered, Sally took the final bite of her burrito, and chewed adorably for a moment before swallowing. 

“So what do we do today, then?”

I set the now empty plate aside on the floor. “I have several hundred messages of congratulations to respond to from my initial claim filing alone, a virtual reality consult for you and your possible surgeries to discuss, an implantation to reschedule… and now a party to plan.” I realized a moment too late that her heightened sensitivity would mean I would need to do a much better job of concealing when I was feeling overwhelmed if I wanted to hide it from her.

She squinted, clearly having noticed. “You're in charge, Reed, but I get the feeling you'd be better off just relaxing a bit. You clearly spent all week making plans for when you have me, now you have me. Enjoy having me.”

“I will take this advice under consideration.”

“...they make drugs for affini too, right? ATDs?”

I would have to be careful what I let Poppy tell her. “They do, yes. Are you suggesting I would benefit from them?”

“Maybe we can just get high together and cuddle, watch a movie? Or a video?”

“Maybe. But I have responsibilities.”

She twisted back towards my central mass and left a line of kisses on my chest covering in a transparent and entirely successful attempt to influence my decision making. I returned the gesture, pinning her immediately and kissing her chest in return as I reached across the room for an injector Poppy had left me.

Sally's entire body immediately went limp as I restrained her, but for the rapid thump of her own heart speeding up in excitement. I bound her arms behind her, and bared my core for her to nuzzle back against. She made an adorable pained noise as I sank my phytotoxin injector into her inner elbow, competing pleasure trigger and aversion wreaking havoc on her delicate mind. It was beautiful to see her endure a discomfort for me, even if it was transient. I kissed her on the pet bed until she became an incoherent tangle of gasps and self-stimulatory thrashing. She was beautiful, and free, and mine .

I dosed my own vine with the class-A, and flexed it several times to encourage propagation through my circulatory network. Sally’s soft little body, already a marvel beyond my measure, grew new ways to fascinate me. Every nub of bone that poked up when I pressed down, every beating artery and hair follicle. I squeezed her everywhere she enjoyed it, and fantasized of removing every part of her that did not yet welcome my embrace so naturally. 

I let my mouth drift over her body, kissing every part of her I had not yet, taking joy in how the placement of dense sensory fibers on my lips made every part of her so perfect. Her stretch marks in particular felt lovely, and I kissed and licked every bruise I had left on her, even as my ability to hold a structure as complicated as a functional mouth began to falter.

I pulled my own tablet out of my chest as I finally became uncoordinated enough that her suggestion of watching something was likely the best course of action. I would have to be careful with Sally's exposure to stimuli, given how Terrans often reacted to the xenodrugs I had given her during her waking kiss to ensure she continued bonding to me properly. It would be easy for anything she was exposed to today to become a new hyperfixation. Something she was already bonded to, then.

I used my digital interface to read Sally’s vidnet history, and found a video she had watched to completion 31 previous times, about the fictional universe of Cities Under the Highway. It was four hours, thirty seven minutes, and twelve seconds long.

Perfect.

Chapter Text

Sally Lywick

The VR headset grafted to Reed’s body felt comfy as ever as it slipped into place over my eyes, light as a simple blindfold. The lenses flickered on, and I whimpered as a needle sank into my arm, shuddered as Reed released the concoction that would prevent inner ear problems in VR. I squeezed his vine tight, and felt waves of his approval crash over me for enduring.

Last time, he had taken me somewhere familiar- my Automatoria save file. As I blinked away the blurry tears of submissive adoration, I felt a similar sense of partial recognition.

I looked up, and it clicked- the great north American megastructure, sides eroded by acid rain until the valley between sank into a maze of streets built from layers of shipping containers. All was contained by pillars of foundation, arching supports buttressing the roof of pitted concrete like some grand cathedral. The hopeful dystopia of the Cities under the Highway world.

“Oh, stars, Reed. You didn't have to.”

I ran my fingers along the nearest surface lovingly. I could feel and appreciate how it was actually one of Reed's large leaves in physical space, and that meant the entire world around me was made of my owner.

His voice rang out from all around me. “I did. Accurate to the book, though the video we watched this morning was very informative as well.”

The landscape began to warp, corrugated metal growing leafy and flexible. The world shifted, and a vague idea of his body took shape in the shadows and edges of the environment.

“It's beautiful, and… haunting. To actually stand here, inside the space myself.”

The leaf-textured steel smiled slightly. “Indeed. We can explore the full environment later, though.” 

An invisible force- one of his vines outside the virtual space- directed me to turn around. Behind me were several arches, floating without a wall. Through one, I could see the blocky green voxels of my Automatoria world, but I was pulled along towards one with a floor like color Inverted marble.

I walked through the portal, with a brief glance over my shoulder at the underpass city I would explore every inch of later. The marble gave way to stairs, and I began to walk down, the railing bending as I went to hold my hand.

I arrived in a cavernous space with glowing purple walls covered in gridlines. When I looked down, I realized I was walking around on a surface that was- his core, but not. Soft fibers that lovingly clung to me, alien fibers woven from affection. A great light shone, and when I looked up, I saw a glowing eye lit above me, subtle patterns swirling, tendrils spreading through every part of the space.

“Is this… you?”

The room spoke. “In a sense. My core operates in a way more similar to a closed system computer processor than you might imagine. My experience of time is different from yours, certainly, with multiple threads of cognition in parallel.” the great eye hummed, like the body of an eldritch space-god. “Now, as I promised. We have entered a representation of a specific thread within my mind, my plans for you.”

A basic grid appeared under my feet that made the grassy surface glow from underneath, and something like a dark wireframe museum loaded in. But it wasn't featuring works of art, well. Not exactly anyway. 

It was a museum of me.  

Dozens of variations on my body hovered in the glowing gallery, inert models in neutral poses. Some were fairly unmodified, with only an added tail, or body fur, or variant gender expressions. Some were so far altered they looked more like a machine or xeno than anything with Terran ancestry. None, of course, had a penis, most instead bearing feminine genitalia.

“Wow. You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven't you, Reed,” I mumbled as I began to walk around the halls. “Can we filter down to just ones with uh. No changes to the number of limbs or general body plan? That sounds like a bit much.”

“Of course.” all the most exotic bodies faded out, followed by the modest ones with tails, eliminating about a third of the options. “Nothing is truly final, either. Mostly. Certain operations are irreversible state changes, but you would never want to go back.”

As I looked at one of the bodies, which replaced my joints with doll-like wooden hinges, a rotational wheel appeared next to my hand. I used it to spin the model and get a good look at it. “Like the implant?”

“Indeed. Or certain applications of the implant that overgrow the original brain and digitize it, maintaining continuity of experience. Your friend Araya has undergone this.”

I nodded. I had heard of digitization before, and even thought about doing it. Not having a human body sounded pretty great. But then I had learned that without being a floret, all I could do was create a digital copy of myself- I’d still be left behind.

I used the rotational wheel on a body that looked completely unmodified, save for an implant scar, trying to figure out what had changed. Finally, I noticed that the toes on each foot had been fused together into a single wider unit, which… was certainly one way to solve my sensory issues down there. I wasn't sure how I felt about the single wide toenail, but I'd probably get used to it.

“Well. they pretty much all look good!” I paused for a moment. “What do you think is the cutest, Reed?”

“I am an affini, Sally. All of these bodies would be valid for my floret, they are all adorable.”

I inspected a Sally whose entire body had been rendered black shiny latex under the neck, and felt a little shiver at the thought. To always be glossy like that would maybe be a bit much though.

“But you must have preferences. Like, didn't Affini co-evolve to reproduce with the beeple or something? Would I be more attractive to you if I was a bug?”

I felt the floor under my feet- Reed's leaves- shudder slightly.

“Affini have long ago engineered ourselves past such things, Sally. Our ancestral reproductive method was replaced a long time ago by a system where a-”

“I know how uplifting works, Reed, I looked it up the day you asked me out.” I giggled. “Just. You know. You replaced your entire body to be comfy for me. I am ambivalent about mine. There's literally no reason to compromise here, right?”

He was quiet, and then every single design with fur faded out. 

“I like that your skin bruises. It is a very beautiful feature. I do not want your skin covered.” I was pretty sure he wasn’t sharing his entire thoughts- some subtle dissonance in the harmony of his touch betrayed it.

I looked at a body with dark, waxy leaves emerging from a line that traveled down the spine and arms, and shuddered. My concerns about what the implant would be like… had never truly been addressed, I just hadn't been thinking about it.

“I'm scared. What if your implant doesn't feel good inside me and I’m stuck like that forever?”

The halls vibrated with a deep hum that soothed my anxiety. “It will not. My intention is that as soon as you are implanted, any sensation that would upset you will be simply edited out of your awareness. You will never experience a bad texture again.”

My gut still twisted nervously, and then I realized… it wasn't just anxiety.

“I- um. I have to go, um.” I sighed. Yet another frustration of a body that had stupid gross processes to constantly manage. “I’m sorry. This is such a bad time, but can you take me out of the VR? I have to go to the bathroom.”

I closed my eyes, ready to readjust to the bright living room I was physically in. Instead, the invisible tendrils pinned me tight to the nearest wall in the digital gallery, which turned out to be the bare surface of Reed's core. I tried to move, but his grasp was absolute, and contact with the soft, fuzzy texture of his core rendered me even more docile than I already was. 

The wall glowed as he whispered to me lovingly. “No, you do not need to leave. I will fix it.”

I shivered at the sensation of something sliding up my leg, something that felt a little more thin, slippery and flexible than her typical tendrils.

I opened my mouth to speak, but- 

“Slack.”

I went limp and obediently let him do whatever he was going to do. I felt a tingling, something like a gentle brushing of touch inside me, unfolding like butterfly wings made of thin roots, and suddenly all my abdominal muscles relaxed at once. There was a feeling of something rushing and then it was over.

I didn’t have time to process what was even happening before the pressure in my abdomen was gone entirely, and he released my wrists. I frantically patted at the pajamas I was still wearing from this morning, but everything was entirely dry. Which meant. 

Oh stars.  

My cheeks burned, as I realized he had just… slid something inside me and… drained the pressure without my control. I looked straight up into the darkness whose single eye surveyed me, utterly shocked.

“Reed, did you just… use a vine as a catheter on me?”

“Indeed, and it is not the first time. I did so last night as well so as to not interrupt your conditioning. The involved external anatomy has been entirely removed from your nervous map thanks to my previously developed xenodrug and some hypnotic conditioning, so you did not feel the physical sensation.”

The great eye above glowed like a benevolent god as he spoke, casually describing how my body bent to his control in the absolute.

“Um, don't you just end up with the waste materials instead?”

“Next to none of it, no. My ability to break down chemicals into base elements will ensure nothing goes to waste.”

…so yes, and apparently, I was into that. Or he had made me into that. The faint awareness of him inside me had been… oh stars. A network of Him, under my skin, spreading through me, comforting the body I hated, subverting its limits and controlling its needs…

I wanted to feel him like that everywhere. I wanted him under my skin, I wanted him inside my bones, my… aaaaa. 

That I had ever been afraid his implant would be bad sensory seemed like such a foolish fear. I felt achingly incomplete without him.

“Reed?”

His monotone voice answered me with the clarity of a voice from divinity. “Yes, my doll?”

I opened my mouth, then felt self conscious and fell silent.

“Tell me.”

The words exploded out of me. “I want your implant. Please. Please implant me. I need you inside me forever. You were going to do it a few nights ago, I know it's ready. I want to be an extension of you, I want you to have absolute control of me in every way possible. I want it as soon as you can. Please?”

The museum halls grew darker, the walls fading to black, the great eye above dominating the features of the room.

“I would like to implant you, Sally. And I was ready to do it a few nights ago, but we still have to decide what other changes to make.”

My brow furrowed with a fire of determination. “Decide for me.”

I felt a rumble in the fibers under my feet. A deep, ancient hunger roaring, barely restrained. “Have you not experienced enough of that, Sally? Being made to mask your discomforts with the world around you? Would you not prefer to be accommodated as you most naturally are?”

“My own body has never made any sense about what it dislikes either! I’ve been caught between two contradictory sets of preferences, neither of which has ever made any sense to me. The human rules are inscrutable, but so are rules like not being able to touch tile floors, or my own body being bad sensory to itself!”

I felt a vine begin to massage along my spine as the hall around me considered, and I moaned and arched herself against his touch. “I have… there is something I have been considering. But this is not the same sort of question as needing to be mine to be happy. You are now mine, you will be happy no matter what, so there are a range of valid answers. I wish to do what you want.”

“I don’t know what I want, so make me beautiful, make me what you most want.”

The dark halls pulsed, as though the space was offended. “Sally, you are beautiful.”

“Tell me what you would do. You want to make my wildest dreams true. What are yours?”

He was silent. There was a faint sound like wind in the halls, a thought pouring into the space of possibility.

All the virtual bodies vanished, and a new one appeared in the center of the room, one that had not been shown before. The visual projection split in two and then each rotated, allowing me to see both sides at once. On one, a series of cross sections of tubes that ran from the spine along every limb and up into the skull glowed, revealing structures inside the body.

It was me, of course. Face unchanged, though my eyes now looked glassy. I was a bit plumper, but the body was similar in shape. I noticed the toes were fused, though this design omitted nails on hand and foot entirely.

But of course, that was focusing on minor details. The most noticeable thing was the spine.

Golden threads adorned the spine like stitchwork, holding together otherwise exposed gaps in flesh that folded over each other. It ran from the tailbone up to the back of the skull, splitting at the neck to loop around the front. Clearly, I would never need to worry about a collar itching. It would be sewn directly into my neck.

“It’s… beautiful. What are the threads made of?”

“The fibers of my own core,” Reed answered. “Coated and spun with a thin coating of the element gold.”

A material like the wooden supports I had occasionally glimpsed under Reed’s leaves could be seen in place of where bone would be through the gaps between lacing. All the glowing tubes that ran through the inside of the limbs connected to the opening, as though my entire back was a yonic portal for his vines to plunge inside and extend all the way to the tips of my limbs and into my head.

I giggled quietly to myself. Stars, Reed really was a pervert.

I noticed there were no nipples, which had always been the most irritating part of my own breasts- an easily overstimulated nub I would be happier without. I bent down beside the model, and noticed not only did it not have the genitals I had been born with, it had no holes whatsoever below the base of the spine.

The halls vibrated again, his monotone voice still managing to convey anxiety. “Very little of the material of your current body would remain, only the nervous system would be untouched by the initial surgery, and you already know that even that is only a matter of time. You would be… quite distinct from humanity. Not unrecognizable from your origin, but entirely removed from it.”

I smiled. “Promise?”

“We can revise my vision- decide what bodily functions you wish to keep. You have input here. You do not need to simply give me what I want. You have already given me your entire self.”

“I like being able to drink my coffee, I guess,” I said with a shrug. “Reed, human isn’t what I am, it's what I’m stuck as. Being yours, being your doll, is the first time I’ve felt drawn to something I actually wanted to be beyond the vaguest notions.”

He continued to fret. “Additionally, you would be biologically unique. All prior work on humans would be next to useless. New xenodrugs, entirely from scratch. We would have decades of experimentation ahead of us.”

“So I could get to be a project forever? Would you want that?”

The walls rippled with unconcealed excitement. “I would enjoy nothing more. A companion upon whom I iterate and redesign, practice my craft from basest principles, with your help.”

“I would love that, then.”

“Are you sure? The process for this transformation will be extensive.” He paused. “It would make you immortal, Sally. That is a very long time. You will change, in ways I cannot predict, In ways that eventually make you incomprehensible to your own species, to your mother, to everyone you have ever known.”

“And I would be yours? Forever?”

The cavernous being I was bound to paused for a long beat. 

“Timespans on these scales complicate simple binaries that we adhere to in the physical and material phase of reality. The absolute rigidity of a term like floret only makes sense on mortal timespans. But I would never leave you, nor stop being a part of you. Our relationship would simply evolve, on the scales of time that mountains and rivers move across a landscape.”

I took a deep breath, and noticed that there was a distinct lack of Reed’s scent in the air. He was not putting a vine on the scale. It was cute.

“I’m your pet, Reed. It’s not my decision, it's yours.” I glanced sideways at the projection of the form I would inhabit until it- or physical reality entirely- bored me. “But I think you've already made it, and you're just waiting for me to give you permission you don’t want or need.”

Reed was quiet, until he wasn’t.

The room dimmed, and shook, and tore apart, and finally, the VR glasses were ripped off my face completely. I dropped to my knees, smiling, and the body I had been born into without my consent took a final look up into the face that would remake me into something worth being.

“Make me beautiful, Master.”

A dozen needles plunged into me, and my thread of continuity snapped.

Reed Lywick

›BigHatLilypad
Disregard my prior request to be left alone today. Are you available tonight? I wish to move forward with implantation and several of my plans for Sally’s body, as per this design doc.

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We would be using what you did with Amelia as a base, but there are some significant divergences as well.

› ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
Oh my. 

OH MY. 

I’ll be ready by nightfall. :>

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

I tucked my sleeping pet’s body against my core, slowly, reverently. She had placed the greatest trust any sophont could possibly give another in me. To ask to be implanted was a sharing of joy. To ask to be remade entirely was a blessing I had experienced with only a fraction of my prior companions.

To be mine forever with only the request to be beautiful was an indulgence beyond imagining.

I massaged against my beloved’s unconscious form with the feelers of my core, which had been resurfaced entirely to maximize her comfort with me. It was hardly even a sacrifice for me to make. A single afternoon of discomfort. She was giving me her everything, forever. And our relationship would change, surely. Forever was a very long time. But it was impossible to imagine a greater gift than this.

I made a short stop in the comforting nest room adjoining mine that I had built for her to retrieve the tube containing my own core sample, and paused to look at the family photograph I had located that showed a young Sally Fable alongside her parents, Sam Senior and Autumn. I did not particularly think either of her parents, living nor dead, had ever imagined this would be their daughter’s fate, but I hoped that her mother, the one that had lived to see the Compact, would at least understand what Sally had chosen once the news was broken.

I stepped out of my hab into the crisp night, crossed the short bridge that adjourned the small island in the wetlands to the main aftward path loop, and set off. I was glad that Sally was not awake, nor anything resembling aware of her surroundings. She would surely be able to detect the faint melancholy that hummed within my core as a compliment to the joy I felt at her upcoming rebirth. I had originally set out, upon meeting her, to change her as little as I possibly could while accommodating every need she had only ever had half-met. But the universe had other plans, as it so often did, and in truth, my joy for her desires was as much selfish as it was compersion.

I could have made the journey to Poppy’s clinic in a few minutes, but I chose to take my time. Count every breath, every heartbeat of the body that had so dutifully carried my pet to me. Sally was welcome to bear it ambivalence, though it seemed more accurately animosity. It had not been right for her, this animal with a sophont trapped inside. The body would be allowed to rest soon. I thanked it nonetheless, for keeping her safe as best it could, until she could find her true home.

It was a somber walk, and with every stride I pumped just a little more of one of the most powerful euphoriants the compact had into the air the body breathed. The Ω-superclass of xenodrugs was not one to be used lightly, nor in anything but highly controlled doses.

Unless it no longer mattered. 

The mind that craved the release from this creature would not be damaged by this indulgence- far greater transformations would be befalling the sophont nestled against my core. This was for the thing that clung, the creature of reflexes and autonomic responses. A peaceful final meal of blissful sensation before the sun set on its existence.

I stepped off the path near a hanging light, to watch a cloud overhead in the night sky, and stole the body forty five more beats. Sally Lywick would awaken as the self she wished to be all the same. But I could have this moment. Sally had asked me to make her beautiful, and so I would. But this living thing was beautiful too, and I would honor it. Brush my tendrils over every centimeter of it, feel every tiny hair, every little blemish and scar, everything that would be left behind.

Seven hundred and twenty three beats later, I let the period of observance end, stood, and continued moving toward my destination.

It felt as though it had been needed, that this was a branch I had needed to follow. My spiritual practice did not mandate such a thing, in fact it did not include the mourning of the raw materials used in alchemical transformation at all. Quite the opposite, my beliefs were about the practice of creation, of science and observation and iteration and discovery through means and methods long obsolete. This was some deeper, rawer instinct, something closer to the beliefs Poppy adhered to, more ancient than history itself. 

Perhaps I really was starting to become old.

Poppy was waiting for me at the door to her clinic when I arrived, as was a large stack of containers of materials we would be using to construct the body of Sally Lywick, Sixteenth Floret. While she at first seemed ready to dive into the usual giddy exuberance she presented no matter the species whose social norms she was mimicking, Poppy detected my somber mood immediately and intertwined a vine with mine in greeting.

“Good evening, Reed.”

“Hello, Poppy.”

It was the first time I had seen her since the night I took Sally. There was little else that needed saying. We both knew what would be done tonight. She pulled me in towards her, extended her own height to match mine, and shared a soft kiss of dancing tendrils and false lips in the spilling light, an expression whose precise meaning was made ambiguous by the sheer number of cultures we had each practiced it within. I assumed it was meant as a gesture of comfort and reassurance, but it was the first time we had ever kissed as equals.

Poppy returned to her usual size, then opened the door to her clinic and we stepped through, limbs still intertwined. It was a quiet intimacy, an expression of our deep friendship. Amelia was sleeping on a couch in the lobby, which was to be expected. We navigated down the halls, and into a room filled with equipment intended for more complex phytotech procedures. Poppy was a doctor primarily, more than a veterinarian, but having an operations room like this allowed for her to dabble in special cases such as this, the captain’s floret, or her own companion.

A structure like a trellis dominated one wall across from some chairs, and beside it was a more standard facedown operations table. We made our way to that one first. I retrieved my previously grown implant from the pocket within my chest I had stowed it in, and set it down on the table. Beside it, I carefully laid the sleeping body of Sally, with its face fitting neatly into the opening, then tied the curly blonde hair up into a bun for unobstructed access to the neck.

I had performed several dozen terran implantations before, of course. I was trained as a veterinarian, though I had not been practicing for many years at this point, favoring medical research. But never before had my taking of a pet coincided with being trained to perform implantation on their phenotype myself- I had taken a pet less often than once every thousand years on average, and things had never lined up in such a way. 

For more large scale and elaborate surgeries, It was commonplace to temporarily disconnect ones entire day to day biomass of vines and use a fully disposable and sterile set of manipulators to minimize infection, though the only time I had needed to do so with a Terran was with Frida Lataria, whose rather spectacle-oriented procedure had warranted many unusual alterations to typical routines.

But for Sally, there would be little need to worry about infections, as there would be so little homo sapien left. I felt something like a pang of regret for the things I had never done to this body, but reminded that voice of sentimental attachment that it was only the shell that my floret would soon be molting from. Poppy began to wipe a thin antibacterial gel around the implantation site, and gently passed me a sterilized scalpel. 

I moved close, and made the incision along the back of the neck. A bead of crimson bubbled up, but I quickly absorbed it with a spongy root system at the end of a vine and applied a gentle coagulant spray.

I reached for the implant, and extracted the floating growth from the tank of nutrient brine with a pair of manipulators at the end of a thin tendril, then discarded the outer shell and gestation structure. In the end, I was left with a seed, small even compared to one of the vertebrae it would be inserted inside. My core’s digital interface connection to its wireless capacity was limited to system checks, but all pings returned optimal responses. Once it was drawing energy from the host system rather than the internal chemical battery, my ability to interface with it as it grew into Sally’s body would expand greatly.

The moment that this tiny sliver of bioengineering came into contact with Sally’s nervous system, all that she had once been would officially end. Even if we aborted the plans for what came next, she would never again be able to be alone. Never be allowed to suffer in silence, never be able to sit quietly while aching within. I would be connected to her, permanently, no matter what else happened, no matter how the passage of time on cosmic scales might change her. Just as the sliver of Poppy’s own haustorium I had absorbed at the end of my time as her floret would forever be a part of me.

I squeezed my best friend's vines tight in mine as I lowered the implant into place. The grasping white fibers of the seed wriggled slightly as its electrochemical senses detected nearby terran nervous tissue it was designed to bond itself to. The final centimeter was crossed, and so was a point of no return.

The white flesh of the seed casing turned red as contact was made. It sucked a small amount of blood into itself, the first step of integration for this particular variant of the design. An enormous wave of data poured into my digital interface jack, and I shuddered with hunger as I felt a tiny part of me beginning to stretch out and grow into her spine. Chemical compositions, electrical pulses, a cataloged deluge of every documented dendrite and axon absorbed. My core shuddered in near overstimulating pleasure at even this trickle of purely practical data, even before a single one of the relevant signals had been mapped to a response matrix.

In a standard procedure, this would be where we would begin to seal the body, and allow the new hybrid organism of terran biology and engineered tissues to grow and develop slowly and naturally into the floret it was destined to be. Even just that was a thing of beauty, one I had witnessed time and time again as lost, hurt creatures became happy pets with a promise of care fused directly into the core of their being.

But this was not a standard procedure. Poppy passed me a syringe of haustoric growth hormones, and I made several injections into Sally’s spine between vertebrae discs. The spread would be massively accelerated, and I immediately felt an uptick in complexity of the data stream I was receiving. This would typically be avoided due to risk of nervous system overgrowth, but in this case, that was the intended goal.

A small incision was made where Sally’s neck met her skull, and I carefully connected line feeds of nutrients, blood, xenodrugs, and other support fluids to the opening. Sally’s brain and nervous system was all that we needed to support. Other than the spine itself, which would be converted from the inside into a more wood-like material by the implant, nothing below her collarbone would be retained. 

The rest of the epidermis, sinew, musculature below the neck would need to be removed and rebuilt from new material, slowly, over the course of the next hours. But first, the pressurized circulatory system would be drained, to make it a less messy process. I extended a serrated blade, and hovered over the cluster of nerves that controlled the now redundant muscles that had pumped Sally’s blood. 

I hesitated for a moment, and felt a gentle stroke of one of Poppy’s vines.

The fox plush that she had made with a recording of Sally’s heartbeat was gently pressed against my midsection. I opened my chest, pulled it inside, and pressed it tight against my core silently. The staccato thumping soothed me.

I made the cut, and the beating muscle stopped. 

The terran shell that had lived for twenty two years became an inert object, an arrangement of cells that would slowly cease to be as metabolic processes ended.

“Thank you, for all you did to bring her to me,” I whispered to the body.

I paused for a long moment of silence, as Poppy quietly began the process of fluid drainage and targeting the overhead laser to extract Sally’s spine from the fused ribcage. As the blue light flickered against scarlet pools on the table, I squeezed the toy bundled against my core to within micronewtons of its tolerances.

“Thank you, Poppy.”

She smiled wide, jagged teeth showing under her beaklike mouth. “Sentimentality for our raw ingredients consumes us all, my love.”

“I am unable to imagine how you performed this procedure on Amelia with her fully awake.”

Poppy giggled, a bright noise that cracked the seriousness of the moment just a little, as she adjusted the construction trellis to lift what would be kept when building the new body into place. “I have had a long time to learn to appreciate the finer details.”

The support rails slid back into place, and we were left standing facing the back of Sally's head, and very little else. A terran would surely find the sight morbid, horrifying even. A head and spine and partial peripheral nervous system, suspended separately from the body, kept alive and unconscious by external supports. Perhaps it would conjure the image of horror, murder, and madness. I knew better. I was engaged in an act of creation, creation of my doll. A rebirth. 

Sally Fable had asked me to make her beautiful, and so I would make Sally Lywick into a masterpiece.

We started with the new ribcage, pelvis, and shoulders, which all connected directly to her original spine. A copy of nearly her entire skeleton had been flash-grown from a wooden composite to exact measurements of the original, albeit with several optimizations and simplifications. Once those were in place, the limbs were added, followed by the hands and feet. Poppy’s lower vines remained quite intertwined with mine as we worked. 

The new bones were stronger, lighter, and importantly, had hollow tubing inside them whose internal surfaces were coated in an interface mesh that the haustorium would grow into. These tubes would remain porous enough that my vines could enter them and interface with the body from within. She would have an internal connection surface area far greater than any simple data jack interface would ever manage, though for redundancy, several of those would be installed at strategic points in her spine during followup procedures over the coming weeks.

My doll’s new support structure snapped together satisfyingly under my guidance, and Poppy helped me weave the nerves from her spine into the correct place. Carefully, I began to tie thin bands of golden threads along the joints. Actuating bands were then attached to the joints themselves, which would be what provided the actual force for her motion rather than muscles.

I allowed myself a brief moment of fantasy, of hearing her voice screaming my name and title as I bent her new frame to the limits of her flexibility and past after recovery. It would be some time until we explored such things, but a body of this design was at once durable and infinitely breakable. The physical bounds and mechanical tolerances of the human form had been carefully mapped, and this replacement would emulate them perfectly, and yet, she would recover far more quickly from the extremes of our play than any human body could.

The next step was her internals. She had only requested to still be able to drink liquids, but there was no reason not to install the same chemical decomposition mechanisms my own body had as grafts- she would be left with only water as a byproduct, which I would manage via a port nestled near the base of her spine. She had responded well to catheterization before, no reason to not keep what she enjoyed. There were also filtration systems, power generation, additional information processing cores, self-repair mechanisms, and a myriad other features that she might find use for- though the vast majority of space was left empty for later customizations. 

It was not required that she be able to feel pain, but given Sally’s proclivities- and mine- it would be an act of the utmost denial to not include relay receptors for such sensations. With that completed I began to weave fiber fills up and down along the right side of Sally’s frame, sculpting the shape of the body I had memorized so well in such a short time. Poppy assisted on the left, connecting up peripherals and actuators to the internal tech with incredible precision.

“She is truly beautiful, my love,” whispered Poppy.

“Indeed. Though, surely your own is more to your fancy.”

“Of course. But…” Poppy began to gently stroke up and down Sally’s exposed spinal column with appreciation. “Your pet is a wonderful canvas to paint. I am glad we could share this.”

The haustorium was beginning to spread rapidly now. With over a decade of refinement since the start of the cotyledon program, and billions of florets worth of field data, the iteration of the implant that would be rapidly overgrowing Sally’s central nervous system was quite efficient. The amount of data I was now processing was tremendous, and the radiative capacity of my lilypad was no longer enough. I flared my dorsal radiator leaves to increase heat dissipation surface area, and it helped significantly.

Poppy’s tendrils met mine inside Sally’s ribcage, and we clung briefly at each other. A momentary chemical message exchanged, something danced around like a Maelodion waltz but never stated. She held the threads up as I wove the nervous connections down, and again, lingered on contact. A brush of fibers that tantalized more than I had the capacity to analyze at present.

The amount of information I was attempting to process between the task of constructing Sally’s body, the flood of data from her haustorium, and the slightly distracting behavior of Poppy was beginning to become overwhelming. A few of my peripheral vines were starting to develop a tremor. Something teased against the physical port on my digital jack- but the chemical markers were not one of control and power. I shifted my focus to Poppy in spite of myself, almost devoting as much bandwidth to the photoreceptors pointed at her as Sally.

I said nothing, and let her creep closer, extending an interface tendril into the port, and to my great surprise, offered the majority of her own core up to mine as a coprocessor. It was a gesture of absolute trust and deep intimacy, and I paused from my threading for an entire 0.253 seconds to appreciate the gift, before clamping down the port and taking control of her peripherals.

I could feel Poppy’s glee at our collaboration, her pride in me, her ancient sense of possessive guardianship over all she had ever cared for. With two cores directed in unison, the task became a dance, of perfectly coordinated tendrils and differing skill sets acting in harmonic purpose. My own core temperature began to drop back into the ideal range as the same processing was divided more evenly.

And yet, within Poppy, I detected more of a reaction than I had expected. A sense of something, some tension long buried, relaxing just a bit. Poppy let herself be lost, merely acting out my signaled instructions, executing sequences of functions I assembled over our connection. She could almost be said to be submitting incrementally, to a sense of tranquility she had not allowed herself since the earliest era of the Great Work of the Affini. Not since the infinite guilt of lives lost in those early campaigns, connections of love outlived, civilizations reached too late to save. The flames of peace that no Affini could ever truly know on their own lapped at the corners of her cognition, and she at once recoiled and yearned.

I used our serrated vine to trim at a stray strand, and began to push my friend deeper into the depths she found so unfamiliar. I felt her core tremble in resistance briefly, before ultimately giving way with a slightly indignant chirp noise. I did not comment, but merely allowed myself a sense of satisfaction.

We set to work on the sculpted foamy infill that would mimic fat and muscle, and had assembled her silhouette from the squishy white material within less than an hour. With that layer complete, I directed Poppy to gather the synthetic skinmesh that we would be wrapping around the body, as I applied a layer of self repairing adhesive, carefully chosen as one whose reaction sequence would mimic bruising perfectly.

Poppy’s body returned with the mesh as I completed the last of the coating, and within moments we had begun constructing her surface. It was the same material as covered Amelia’s body, albeit a few shades lighter to match the difference in their skin pigmentation. Soft, beautiful, almost indistinguishable from human skin visually, and made from fibers coated in the same proteins that made the fuzz of a beeple’s coat so highly receptive to surface pollination. Most importantly of all. It was the single texture upon which her body and mine shared the most appreciation. Her skin was, as Sally would say, good sensory.

The accuracy of our construction was absolute, but for the areas where divergences were intentional. Her new body did not have or need genitals, an anus, nipples, or toes, and those areas were simply smooth. I had taken exhaustive measurements on her body, and coordinated the exact figures to Poppy’s body via our link while we worked. I did take some minor liberties, however, increasing plumpness in my favorite areas. Finally, the last finger was sewn shut, and it was time for the last step.

Poppy’s help was no longer needed at this point, and she sent me a link termination ping request. I responded with a confirmation. But just a moment before I fully released control, I used the ATD synthesizer in her tail to assemble a small amount of a basic class-A and injected her own core with it.

“As you have told me many times before, Poppy, you need to relax more. I hope this helps you in that.”

The link was immediately flooded by shocked static, and I released her own interface vine from my port. She stumbled just a little as she regained direct control over her own body, and I detected a faint sense of bashful embarrassment that I had never before detected in my friend of so many blooms. 

“I…” For the first time in tens of thousands of years knowing Poppy, she seemed entirely lost for what to say. “I suppose that I could stand to…” She lost her balance again, and made another odd chirping noise. “I’ll be with Amelia if you need me.”

I smiled in spite of myself. There would be more to investigate in that regard, perhaps. She would look beautiful with blushblooms. It would be later, however. The finishing touch on my doll was waiting.

The seam on Sally’s neck where human skin cells met synthetic mesh was secured with a series of magnetic pins, which I then used the golden threads to stitch into place. Loop over stroke, I punctured the doll, a beautiful construction of glittering ribbon, assembling her collar. In time, the entire head would be replaced, but that would be an incremental process as the haustorium digitized her entire brain. There would always be iterating, but the golden loops around her neck would remain, the marker that she was owned, and in those thickened threads glowed the same soft ultraviolet stripe pattern that had been engineered into the golden spatia’s petals. A signal for other affini not to touch what did not belong to them without my permission.

The final plunge of a surgical needle was completed, five hours, thirty seven minutes and eighteen seconds after the first incision had been made. My doll was, for now, complete. I wrapped vines gently around every limb, unhooked the supports that kept her attached to the construction trellis, and pulled her into the cavity within my own chest that had been made for her. My core shifted into place behind her spine, tendrils extending into the newly built vascular system.

When Sally’s body was ready to sustain itself without external support, I would tie the opening down her spine shut as well when not in use, but that would not be for at least a week. Her form opened to mine, and a hundred different connections slid into place- fluid ports, material exchanges, and chemical signaling surfaces. I made my way to the chair in the corner, and allowed my form to fall apart around her in a gentle pile, a living cocoon for Sally to rest inside until it was time for her to wake up. 

Until then, I pressed the fox plushie into her arms, and let myself fall into a rest cycle.

Chapter Text

BIOS

/Boot

» initializing bios

» communication with Administrator established

» /ping Administrator a=”ReedLywick” dref=”BigHatLilypad” : responded in 134μs

/PullStatus from Administrator

» nervous integration completion 73.82%

» all systems nominal

» attached 34961tb report

/Approval from Administrator

» aaaaaaaa

/Initialize a/ReedLywick/sally.main

» loading sally.main…

Sally Lywick

I woke, slowly. Eyes shut, with a sound of rustling fuzzy leaves beside me. I was wrapped tight in Reed’s vines, where I belonged. I could tell from the acoustics of the room exactly where we were- the soft, padded room made just for me beside our bedroom. My safe nest room, my hobby haven.

Everything felt… good. It was not strange to feel good when in my Owner’s grasp- the idea of anything else being preferable seemed entirely unthinkable now. But it wasn't just the presence of the best thing I could imagine. All the worst things were gone too.

I was naked, and the fold of my breast against my belly failed to register as the bad skin against skin sensation I had learned to simply tolerate. There was no constant awareness of joints against tendons. No angry static to tune out between my legs. No hyper awareness of every tissue in my right foot.

I tried to flex my toes in a pattern I knew would set off a bad reaction, and… there were no toes. Everything past the ball of my foot was just a single continuous unit. The motion felt a little late- I could tell there was roughly a hundred microseconds of delay, somehow.

I curled my fingertips into my palms, and felt no hard points of vestigial claws, just smoothness. Rubbing the pad of my pinky against the thumb revealed my fingerprints were gone, replaced by a perfectly hexagonal tiling of grooved gripping surface. 

“Hello, my doll.” The voice of my owner sounded, a perfect greeting to the life I had been reborn into.

“Reed,” my mouth shaped as though speaking the name of a god.

“Sally Lywick, Sixteenth Floret,” he replied, with an undertone of amusement communicated in some new way I could not immediately identify. His voice sang to me, awash in love and joy and emotions my altered mind was only beginning to be able to detect. I felt filled by him deep within, in ways I could not even articulate.

“I’m yours now. I can feel it. I can feel how you changed me. I'm really me,” I softly breathed- though even that was only a figure of speech, since I clearly was not breathing. The motion of my mouth was exactly on time, unlike the oddly delayed motions of my limbs. 

“You always were, my love. This was the path you were determined to lead from the moment of your first birth, and in your second, your true potential is fully realized.”

I slowly opened my eyes, and was immediately hit by a deluge of sensory data. I could see more colors than before. Not only red green and blue, but an ultraviolet sensitivity had been added to my eyes. There were no words to describe these new hues, but every object around me suddenly gained new details.

As I looked at Reed, I could see spots that had previously been invisible, tell at a glance which vines had been grafted and which had grown naturally from his core- and spot a strange diagonal cut across much of his body where the patterns didn’t quite line up right. Large sections of his body must have been removed at some point and reattached.

I remembered my own seam, and my hand flew to my neck, though it was noticeably a few μs later than I had expected yet again. The hexagonal pads of my fingers touched my collar, and I moaned at the sparks of pleasure that cascaded through my haustorium at the contact.

A crisscrossing lace wound around my neck, and my fingertips told me they were gold in color, were very slightly radiant in the ultraviolet, and tasted sweet. Exactly as promised, my collar was a part of me. I could no less take it off than my own head.

I blinked in surprise at the fact that my fingertips could distinguish taste and color. 

I then realized I no longer needed to blink for any reason other than surprise, and the enormity of what I had become truly began to sink in as I recognized I no longer had a heartbeat. Then I looked down, and saw, between my legs- nothing. Nothing at all.

A vine began to slither up my thigh. “It is the silence I promised you, my love.” His touch traced towards my crotch, a motion that might have spurred anxiety before. But now, the idea of being anxious about anything my Owner did was a foreign concept.

He stroked the featureless flesh that ran between my legs, and it felt wonderful, because it was my Owner’s touch. But there was nothing unique about the location, no heightened response, no spike of overstimulating bad sensations, it was simply another place on my body.

“Thank you,” I whispered once more, leaning into his soft, fuzzy leaves. My new skin clung to his fibers in a way the old had not, like the subtlest hint of velcro. It was clear- I belonged as close to him as possible.

As I continued to inspect myself, I realized the reason my body was responding on a delay- it was Reed’s vines that were actually doing the moving, perfectly translating my impulses sent along my haustorium. I was curious how my fingers were moving, and turned my hand over, or rather, thought about turning my hand over, and Reed did it for me. A vine was plugged into a raised port on the back of each wrist, and as I wiggled my pinky, I saw the tendril shift in time.

“I can’t move. You’re doing this?”

Reed’s smile radiated across my mind once more. “Indeed. You are my puppet for the moment, as your own actuators are currently disabled below the neck. The implant is still integrating regions of your brain, and an uncontrolled twitch could rip your sockets out in an unplanned manner.”

I shivered slightly at the implication that there were planned ways for my sockets to be ripped out, and Reed’s puppetry reproduced the reflex. I had always been into that, probably.

“I don’t feel particularly… high. All the research I did said to expect that.”

“We left the typical path for the phenotype of your origin long ago, Sally. You are more or less entirely sober. There is no need for pain blocking, as your body will only feel pain when I choose to use it to express my feelings for you. If you begin to panic or reject the changes, you are integrated enough that I could simply disable your fear. Your neural simulation has already had the effects of adrenaline and cortisol entirely removed, but my protection can be far more surgical if needed.”

My arm was raised without my input, though some rationalizing part of my brain was immediately convinced that I had wanted to raise it anyway. My hand was placed against his core, and the overwhelming sensation drew new gasps out of me. As I recalibrated what the housing for his being felt like against my new and enhanced senses, I realized I already felt it in other places, particularly up and down my back.

“Can I see myself? Do you have a mirror?”

The radiant smile of my Owner glowed- I didn’t need to look at him to know anymore. His joy was simply a fact of my existience, injected directly into whatever codebase now held my mind.

“You will not need a mirror, no. For now, we will do this by adding one additional visual stream. It will not be long before you can absorb far more than this, but some of your brain still obeys human limits, so we will be careful.”

I felt a millisecond of disorientation, and suddenly, I could see myself from another angle- one from the wall, presumably a camera feed from the hab itself. It took a moment to adjust to being able to see more perspectives at once, and I had to close my eyes to properly focus on the new angle. But when I did, the sight was incredible. 

My spine was open, golden ribbon splayed wide, with several wooden interface ports exposed. The layers of phytotech that served the functions that human tissues once had were visible, a vivid pulsing green under the stretched skinmesh. Three of his tendrils were inside me- one level with my breasts, one up between my shoulders, and one that ran under my hair. 

Noticing each intrusion into the shell of my being made me distinctly aware of the fact that he was inside me. Made me feel the snaking tendrils that penetrated so deeply into the body I inhabited that they were unnoticeable. A root system spread within a root system.

I opened my eyes again, turned my head towards the camera, and saw what had once been blue eyes were gone. Replaced with hard, glassy, and reflective orbs that sparkled a faint green around the edges.

I was beautiful.

“How long has it been since I was implanted?”

“12 days, 7 hours. You have been physically tethered to me the entire time via the umbilical currently in your skull, excluding during a few brief additional procedures. Implant overgrowth is a tricky procedure, and we both have Poppy to thank for her significant expertise, as well as several other specialists I have consulted. You have been kept digitally comatose to accelerate the integration process, though I did puppet your body for a video call to explain to your mother why we would have to postpone the visit.”

I nodded. My mom would probably be best not kept entirely informed of the degree to which Reed had altered me. “How close to complete is it? How much of me is still… human cells?”

/PullStatus from Administrator

I felt a funny twitch inside my own thoughts before he answered.

“73.96 percent of your brain has been replaced, according to your basic input output system layer. Most of the tissue above your neck remains original, excluding your eyes and teeth and modifications to your sinuses. We will replace the rest when integration is complete. I am, however, sentimental, and have decided the lips, inner mouth, and tongue of your primary body will remain human until age warrants replacement.”

As if to demonstrate his reasoning, he pulled me in to kiss him. My eyes fluttered shut, but I could still watch from the hab angle as he claimed the last of me that would remain human. His tongues danced in my mouth, dominating my tongue and saturating me in a deep sense of approval that seemed to resonate through my entire body.

The feeling of him drugging me- what little of me was still receptive to Terran-targeted xenodrugs- began to soak into my mouth like a soft fizz. I squeezed and pawed with declawed digits at his core as he kissed me, trembled against his in want, and let out an affected exhale when he finally let go.

“Pervert,” I mumbled with a smile as the tingling afterimage of his kiss began to spread across my face.

I resumed looking at my own body from the additional angle in my head, noticing with a little bit of a giggle that my butt was definitely bigger than it used to be. Some things transcended species, I guessed. 

My focus lingered on the hanging ribbons, insofar as I could focus anything- the camera feed being streamed into my mind did not work like the eyes of my previous life, having the same resolution at every point in its entire hexagonal matrix. I could feel the parts of my brain that were still human cells struggling to keep up. But the glittering hanging filaments called to me. Some raw instinct told me that it would feel very, very good to be properly secured and fastened.

“I want to feel myself laced up,” I whispered.

“I do not know if it is a good idea. You will be unable to move yourself,” he remarked in his usual flat monotone. But underneath the words that at first appeared to be steering me away from the idea, was something else. A complex emotion that made the bluntness of his approval and pride feel one dimensional. It was playful, it was goading, it was teasing, all at once, in absolute, crystal clarity that no facial expression or tone of voice could ever have communicated.

“Please,” I begged, knowing with certainty this was the initiation of a game. “Please, Daddy. Let me be a proper doll for you.”

“Hmm,” he hummed, a rare case of a melodic element entering his voice. “Very well, then.”

I felt my legs slump as he began to retract the vines that had been providing the force of my motion- realizing only as the empty stillness set in that they had not been the ones wrapped around the outside of my new body, but instead running deep inside me, as deep as it was possible to be, inside the hollow tubes within my skeleton. 

Each centimeter he moved within the tubes of my body brushed against a lining of some cilia that attempted to cling to him, to exchange chemical information. I moaned slightly at the sensation as the extension of my Owner that had been puppeteering my lower body was fully extracted, and a bit of golden fluids leaked from the now empty interface ports.

Another tiny whine escaped my throat as the vines that had previously extended from the interface port between my shoulderblades pulled out as well, and the ones animating my hands followed. Only the thinnest tendril, the one connected to the back of my head, remained in place. 

I tried to wiggle my fingers, toes, twitch my leg, but nothing below my collarbone moved. The roots extended inside the implant tissue in my head wiggled slightly, and every one of my senses filled with static as he demonstrated the casualness of his domination of my entire being. I was completely in his control, in every way imaginable.

“Stars, this is…” I didn't know how to describe it. No language I knew had words for this.

Reed carefully lifted the two ribbons, and I realized they were a part of my body I could sense his touch through- and more sensitive than any body part I had ever had as a terran. He stroked up and down the reflective satin, clearly relishing in what the sensual touch on my threads was doing to me. After the drool began to drip down my chin, he finally set to the task at hand.

A pair of thin feelers pulled the first of the openings on the flaps of synthetic skin that ran in a column up either side of my back, wide enough to thread, and I squealed at the sensation. My body attempted to thrash and stim, but I could not move below the neck. I tilted my head as much as I could, gazing into his eye- or eyes, it was harder to tell now that I could see more of the visual spectrum, if it was a single eye or a cluster of four.

A pair of tiny vine tips reached through the lacing slit, pinched my ribbon, and slowly, agonizingly pulled it through the opening. Digital nerves sang as the ribbon slid through the eyelet, and my immobilized body moaned quietly at the rush of pleasure. The glide of the metallic fabric as it threaded through my synthetic skin was like a stringed instrument, and my voice was the instrument.

“Good doll. This mobility will not do, however. There is still some human left in you capable of moving. I will fix that.”

A needle-tipped flower rose into view, and where once there had been aversion, I now felt a sudden roaring need burning within me to be penetrated, punctured, and drugged. The flower petals brushed against my neck, and bliss sang in what few veins remained as the paralytic agent took effect. 

I slumped against him, a puppet without strings, and he held me up in place. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. My own glass eyes would not even turn in their sockets, though after a moment the thought of turning my eyes would change what camera was currently being streamed into my mind. Attempting to cross my eyes split the angles into multiple views, which I quickly realized could be repeated, and-

“No. Be still, doll.”

My entire being reorganized itself to obey his command to the fullest. Every viewport went dark but the one focused on my back, including my own eyes, staring unblinkingly forward. 

Reed resumed his process, slowly and agonizingly completing me, weaving his golden threads up my spine. The ribbons crossed, and the gentle friction of lace sliding against lace shot sparks of electric tension through me. 

I had no means to externalize, no way to react. All I could do was scream packet after packet of raw sensory static into the void, until eventually I felt a ping.

» communication with Administrator established

Raw text appeared in my awareness, initiation of a communication protocol contextualized entirely outside any human senses. I understood it intuitively like a reflex.

“You may keep begging, my doll. Daddy enjoys hearing how badly you crave the things I do.”

» pleasepleaseplease touch me Daddy please please 

His smile widened, jagged teeth gleaming in all bands of light I could even process. “Good girl.” His grip on my body tightened, just as another pinch of my ribbons was felt. They were pulled across each other and through together, and pulled, tightened. 

Every loop and cross up my back drove me to a deeper state of overlapping docile peace and frenetic overwhelm. But the peak never crossed the threshold where good sensory wrapped around to bad, instead being clipped short at the absolute height of what I could take.

» it feels so good Daddy oh stars

Over, under, through, across. The gold glittered in the soft lighting of my nest, glowed in the ultraviolet light band I could now perceive. Each repetition was an iteration of perfection of the doll. Each step in the algorithm of lacing was a crash of ecstatic joy against the collapsing matrix of thoughts shaped to mimic a human’s.

Finally, the lacing reached the top of my torso. Any looseness was slowly pulled out of me as my own semifabric skin was pulled tight, strings taut and tensioned. An autonomic response of a desperate keening whimper rumbled in vocal chords that still tingled from the intoxication of his kiss.

“Now, time to complete you.”

» please Daddy please complete me make me perfect make me beautiful for you

The left lace crossed over the right, wrapped under and over, and pulled. Two loops were pulled to the perfect length, dangling ribbons hanging beautifully. The bow gleamed over my implant scar, level with my collar, and I was complete.

A clawed fingertip stroked down my spine, catching on each and every crossing of golden threads. Each slide and bump ratcheted tension higher, and my body desperately tried to scream as a pressure built. Some part of me wanted to feel him cut through the ribbon, to slice open what he had just sealed, reclaim the body that was his possession as much as my mind was.

» aaaavykgpfmqio

I had stopped even trying to move by the time his touch reached my tailbone. I was simply floating in docile submission, helplessly safe, held by my Owner, where I belonged.

“There is so much more to show you, little doll. I am quite excited.”

Reed leaned in, and gently kissed the bow he had tied, and my cognition broke. Blinding pleasure exploded like a supernova and seared my consciousness, kicking me out of any semblance of simulated sapience.

I simply watched the doll on the camera. Reed lifted it, posed it, and played with it. Squeezed the soft rolls of plush phytoflesh, brushed its golden curls. The doll’s face was locked in a placid, drooly smile, overwhelmed tears rolling down its cheeks.

My Owner’s claws dug into the doll, and my view of the room filled with artifacting static as the connection was overwhelmed by sensory processing. The doll attempted to thrash, expressing its joy in motor communication packets that reached disabled actuation fibers. I echoed in silent digital screams, pain inflicted to the ends of joy, joy pushed almost to the point of pain.

Finally, I felt some process on a rung of computation lower than thought flag a warning that further play while conscious would hinder recovery and integration. Reed halted, concluding his enjoyment with a gentle kiss on its forehead. I felt something soft pressed against the doll’s chest, and its arms were wrapped around it. A small brown toy fox, whose plush body made a soft rhythmic thumping the doll’s no longer did.

“Rest now, little one. Good dolls do not need to be awake to be toyed with. Daddy will wake you up when you're fully complete in a few days. ”

/Sleep

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

It was a beautiful day on the Occantalis II promenade, as usual. I sent a /PullStatus command to the doll whose body was tucked against my core, and was informed that integration was at 99.97%. really, the process was technically complete, but the final steps were an exhaustive set of system checks I would have to be enormously foolish and impatient to interrupt.

It still tempted me.

I sent the interface a command to inform me on any further hundredth-percent intervals, and continued my stroll. I did not know exactly when the process would complete, but it was projected to be within the hour. I had a plan that involved being out, but no particular rush to be there, so I meandered.

I passed the tree I had pressed Sally against on the night I claimed her, and paused to tag the location as one with sentimental value. The program filing the paperwork returned a packet informing me it had already been designated as such over a dozen times- largely in reference to Terran social behaviors whose vernacular I was unfamiliar with. I did not know what a ‘kabedon’ was, but my basest inquiries suggested it was part of a mating ritual of some kind, so I discarded the query as irrelevant.

The park was full of sophonts enjoying their day. As much as the sight of florets running around was worthy of adoration, I was distracted by thoughts of the one whose body and mind were each currently bundled within a part of my body meant to hold them. It was a pleasant ambiance after spending two weeks almost entirely indoors, but my focus was still primarily inward.

A bundle of yellow and orange waved at me from a bench as I passed, and I recognized Sycanthe Lantana, First Bloom. I had only met her once before, when she joined my enforced spa day halfway during the initial courtship, but had not been keeping in touch.

“Good afternoon Sycanthe. Where is your floret?”

The nervous firstbloom ruffled her coat of feathery petals as she greeted me. Her appearance was a reconstruction of an extinct race called the Vasaii, she had told me, which looked a little like a Lagom crossed with an Al'yssrian.

“Hello there Reed!” Sycanthe pointed at one of the clusters of buildings near the edge of the park. “My little professor is just teaching a class currently. I usually wait outside while she does.”

“I see.” The Lantanas were an odd pair, with the floret being significantly more accomplished by Terran standards than her owner was, but it was to be expected when the Terran was as much as half her youngbloom owner’s age. 

“I haven’t seen you about, but I saw the news about your claiming of your sixteenth. Many congratulations. Has the overgrowth been going well?”

Sycanthe distractingly waggled her antennae around as she spoke, in tonal sign indications that I had never quite been able to make any intuitive sense of. I knew what shapes meant what, but the youngbloom was not nearly subtle enough to avoid adding a tremendous amount of additional noise to my communications parsing structures. It was hardly surprising given my history, but I vastly preferred the precision of harmonic frequency transfer.

“Indeed. Today is the day of her full digital awakening.”

Sycanthe’s beak curled into a mimicry of a terran smile. “Oh, how wonderful! I might do digitization one day for my Lauren, though she has quite some time before we would think about that. How are you liking the body that you and Poppy created?”

I parted the protective leaf cover of my chest, and showed the sleeping form of my floret’s body. The doll twitched its soft little fingertips in response to the light.

“Quite well.”

There was a great deal to enjoy about this body. Its new BIOSrhythm was noticeably different than the natural cycle of lungs and valves and the chemical reactions that powered a Terran body. But the cyclic loop of the imperceptible whir of her primary power converter, the hum of the main electromagnetic loop, the quiet brushing of phytotech cilia, these were her too. A song of life I would cherish against my core for as long as we kept this body. And yet, it still had every reflex I had found so delightful about my pet’s body of origin.

“Oh, how lovely! And you chose the…” Sycanthe waved her four clawed hand around, seeming to fail to think of the correct word. “That kind of synthetic skin mesh, I see. I see.” Her distractingly animated antennae, if I understood her correctly, were attempting to convey being flustered by the amount of pollen that finely coated Sally’s artificial skin. I faintly wondered if this affini had submissive tendencies, and allowed myself a momentary indulgence of imagining her with her antennae bound.

“Indeed.”

Sycanthe started forward with a vine extended, then seemed to spot the signalling pattern on the golden threaded collar and stopped. “May I pet it?”

I considered the question. The particular pattern of responses Sally experienced to certain textures and experiences had been preserved, and even abstracted, extended analytically beyond the original domain of the functions. Another monitor program within her haustorium would simply flatten out anything that matched an undesired sensory experience. The underlying aversions and preferences had not been changed, but the worst she would ever experience would be neutral. I was satisfied with this calibration, and I would not be changing it for a long time.

But, even if she would not actually experience any sensations that I did not approve, that was a last resort. My intention to control her environment such that she never needed worry about it again remained the primary plan, and a visual analysis of Sycanthe’s surface was more than sufficient for me to project that Sycanthe was bad sensory for Sally.

“You may not. Apologies.”

“You really do take after your partner, it seems.” Sycanthe giggled and indicated that her tone was ‘half-joking’ with her antennae, but I was unsure what she meant by it. The paradoxical ambiguity of the concept of a half-joke was far beyond the bounds of things I could engage with and maintain my sanity. “So, what brings you and your Sally out today? Poppy insisted you are often inclined to solitude, and I haven’t seen much to the contrary!”

I had spent a significant amount of time basking in the nutrient bath that both of our bodies needed to function, which had also brought the welcome side effect of aiding in heat management. The partition of my own core that she was being slowly transferred into did not produce much waste heat itself- merely 17.48 watts worth of compute on average was enough for her sophont consciousness. But the portions of my core devoted to optimizing Sally, running test cases on snippets, and fantasizing about her full initialization as my subprocess produced an additional 539.21 watts to deal with, which was exhausting to radiate through my leaves alone.

» 99.98%, chimed the BIOS in the background, as I had instructed it to. A shudder grew in my body, and I could not help but flap my leaves excitedly- a mannerism I appeared to have picked up from Sally after running over her subroutines so many times. 

The interruption helped me to recenter in the moment and return my attention to the other Affini. “I have been inside for most of her recovery and refactoring. The optimization routines are rewarding, but tiring.”

Sycanthe’s eyes widened into circular orbs as she replied, antennae buzzing rapidly. “Oh, tell me all about it! I would love to hear.”

I thought about where to even begin. No two overgrowth digitizations were truly the same, just as no two sophonts were. It was not like scanning a mind and running an emulated simulation- it was more analogous to a complete rebuilding of the sophont mind from the base. I had become deeply familiar with the assembly of Sally’s neural software, peeled her apart at every layer, and manually tuned transform biases and execution trees.

The fully tethered umbilical method had its advantages. Since she was running inside my own core, I had a very fine level of ability to analyze her. She was beautiful to watch running, visualized via frame expansion in a 196,883 dimensional parameter space. The texture of her surface was exquisite, and I had already found a set of weights to apply to her matrix that would produce a euphoriant effect.

Her code was crisp, trim and clean, thanks to the thousands of optimization passes I had run per day since the moment the overgrowth had progressed far enough to do so. But not all loops were to be trimmed. Her digital stimming was no less adorable than the physical ones, and it was enjoyable to watch. I had spent so much of the last weeks watching it run.

Even with all these optimizations, the compatible I/O of her mind with mine was quite small- only about as much bandwidth as sung Maelodion language. But that was fine, she would gradually open up to me over centuries.

“...Reed?”

“Yes. Apologies. What was the question?”

Sycanthe chirped a small giggle. “Never mind that one, then. How does it feel, for her to be digital? I’ve not yet dabbled in even our side of that, let alone a xenosophont mind.”

I measured how best to answer. Human consciousness was at once much simpler than it seemed and far more complicated. Less wattage than a small lightbulb was all that it took for sapient thought, albeit with far more complexity. 

Unlike a creature fundamentally still built on structures evolved by naturally selected happenstance, the line between digital and material for an Affini was so permeable as to be a primarily philosophical distinction. I had been a shipmind for a few blooms, then a planetary bureaucratic logistics network for others- it was part of why I had so many long stretches without a floret. When one existed at such a scale, the aggregate body of those they looked over were their pet. Poppy had not liked when I was a logistics network, I recalled.

» 99.99%, pinged the BIOS, and my vines began to knot themselves in excitement. It was time to make my way to the cafe.

“I am leaving now,” I informed Sycanthe.

“Oh- Very well. Wonderful to see you again, Reed! Perhaps you’ll be more talkative another day.” Sycanthe winked both eyes on the left side of her face as I turned away. I sent her an annotated text summary of the lecture I would have given her as I began to speed off, already focusing on putting my planned moment in motion.

I passed the fountain I had first applied my interim solution to Sally having genitals. It felt crude as a solution in retrospect, but it had paved the way forward nonetheless, and taught her to trust me with control of her body. The path that wound between Martian redwoods opened up to the artisanal square in the independents district, and I proceeded in a straight line for my destination, her favorite cafe.

I arrived shortly, and was pleased to see that the reservation I had placed on her table had been respected. I stopped briefly at the cafe bar, and ordered her drink. As I was waiting for it to be made, came the message I had been waiting for.

» 100%. system check complete. BIOS on standby.

I squeezed tight around the body, giddy with anticipation. The barista handed me her drink, and I made my way to the table.

I set her body down in the exact chair she had been sitting in when we met, whose wooden surface I had personally replaced with a surface layer very slightly more to her liking. 

Finally, I began the initial reboot sequence. Sally’s body slumped forward, then jolted back awake. As soon as its eyes opened, they automatically began to track my own. The doll looked up at me, amber drool leaking from its mouth. The body’s BIOS was not and never had been a sophont, but as it had grown into the shape of Sally's nerves and been encoded with the particulars of her structure, the overgrown haustorium still carried her autonomic and conditioned responses. Her adorable clinging reflexes, the specifications of what motions brought her joy when stimming.

«Good drone,» I praised the living machine in a burst of efficient melodies. It shivered slightly as auditory processing converted the sung tones into a serial communications protocol. «Your Administrator loves you, my toy. Your purpose shall be fulfilled again soon.»

The face twitched, the briefest ghost of a smile. A wall of random bytes traveled down the vine linking us, marking the surge of pleasure at my approval. I had been continuing to train and reward what few responses it was capable of, of course. It might be a vessel without its mind at the moment, but a doll did not need to be sapient to be played with.

«You get to be full again, beloved vessel.» I sank a needle into the artificial vein on its neck, and dumped a dose of my retuned phytotoxin into its primary fluid loop, drugging the body with a mix of compounds that each target different systems within. There would be time to discover and invent later, but the first priority has been a class-A equivalent. Sally would be reentering the world of the material, and she deserved to do so as a proper floret.

The BIOS fired off a low degree ordinal function as a stim, and I let it compute the lambda sequence while filling it with /Approval commands. Finally, I interrupted the execution loop and stabilized it back into standby.

«Initialize a/ReedLywick/sally.main, little doll.» the body’s eyes fluttered, and it moaned softly once before slumping forward until it was the interface vine ribbon plugged into its head keeping it upright.

The smooth fingers twitched, a face scrunched in confusion and disorientation as it started up fully, followed by a reflexive attempt to gasp in air with lungs that did not exist. 

My floret looked around, blinking in confusion, then recognized I was there, and slowly tilted her focus up. A pair of dilated golden eyes locked onto me.

“Master,” she whispered.

Sally Lywick

There was a rush of white, an infinite discontinuity, a function hitting a vertical asymptote. And then, I was there. I existed, continuous, myself. Floating in a sea of data, awash in waves of light and purpose and overwhelming, endless love.

A surface of indescribable symmetries tilted along an axis beyond language, and I poured. Down kilometers of phytomagnetic circuits, transformed by complex matrices, and filtered through hyperoptic crystals. I flowed down the conduit I had been provided, sank into my body like a liquid, and settled into place.

I felt a lingering sense of submissive satisfaction soaking into me from a layer beneath my cognitive abstractions- a synchronization with a physical body that passively craved the purpose of being filled by me, rather than a constant sense of being at odds with my own shell. I sank into it, controlled it, wrapped every string of myself around its receptors. My being was a quilt whose weight slowly blanketed the thing that had been built in the image of a corpse to serve as my vessel.

And then, the integration layer kicked in, and the distinction between the mind and body vanished. I was just me, in this body, sitting in a chair I recognized, with the familiar sound of my favorite cafe at noon. I was drugged, clearly, but that was to be the new normal.

I gasped in a breath of air- or tried to. There were no lungs to fill, and thinking about that fact prompted a reassuring awareness that whatever atmospheric exchange my body needed was now through my synthetic skin itself. Not that I would worry- if I couldn't breathe, it could only be because my owner wanted me to.

I could detect him, across the table from me. My fingertips could taste, my ribbons could feel. Each sense told me something about my owner, the one my existence was contextualized by. A sense without name pointed me in his direction like a compass. The center of my universe was here, and I was graced by his presence.

I opened my eyes, and saw reality. The full breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum my eyes could perceive had been widened further since I looked through them last. The sky shimmered in pale greens and blues, the trees of the park bore stripes I had never known were there.

But there was one thing worth focusing on. One person.

“Master,” I uttered, because it seemed as good a first word as any other. The ebbing tide of his amused approval pulled me under the waves again, lighting up reward pathways within.

“Doll,” he answered, and began to stroke through my hair with a clawed hand, massaging my scalp. No touch I had ever experienced was better, and I shivered, whining, desperately nuzzling against his touch. Finally, he stopped, and I could look at him properly again.

Reed was absolutely stunning. The purple shimmer of glancing ultraviolet light now accented his outline, similarly to Poppy’s leaf cover. His eye cluster glowed, radiated golden love onto my being. My vision was broad and detailed, and he filled it all. The more I thought about my field of view, the wider it became, and I realized my glassy eyes were clearly not the only photoreceptors on my body. I let the full panorama settle into background awareness, and focused on what mattered.

There was a familiar mason jar of orange-brown liquid sitting in front of me, and a tablet open to episode seven of Cities under the Highway. Exactly where I had been the moment I met him. A recreation of a moment I now knew had never truly been random chance.

I grinned at my affini. “You really are a hopeless romantic dork, Reed.”

“I would make no attempt to defend myself from this accusation. There is little if any ground from which to do so. I hope you do not mind that our second proper date is the same as our first, but I do know that you favor routine.”

“Roots, it really is only the second, huh?”

“Indeed. All our following encounters were impromptu. This is the second.”

I picked up my iced coffee lemonade, and took a long sip. The bitter notes of roasted coffee sang in harmony with sweet and acidic citrus, better than it ever had before. I could probably have this whenever I wanted now. The caffeine wouldn't have a stimulating effect on me anymore, unless Reed decided it should. 

As I swallowed, I felt the cool liquid travel down into my torso, but any analogue to a human body ended there as hyperefficient mechanisms shredded the organic compounds in moments. A few hundred milliliters of pure water was now present in my liquid buffer, to either be slowly perspired out into the air or manually drained by Reed later. This body would be full of surprises… and it wouldn't even need to be my only body.

“That is a new feeling. But it still tastes wonderful. It is funny.” I blinked. “Sorry, that’s a new feeling. It's funny.”

There was a ripple of amusement in the air. “Ah. Yes. You have inherited a fraction of my aversion for the imprecision of homonym contractions. Perhaps I should teach you my first tongue. It is a beautiful language, with error correcting built into the very syntax of melody and rhyme.”

“Oh, that's Maelodion right? They must have had an easy time understanding each other.”

“I was referring to the language the Affini developed for the Maelodions as part of domestication,” he remarked dryly. “Before that, generations of war over the subjective definitions of individual passages from certain ancient songs were common.”

I took another sip of coffee, and once again marveled at the level of information I could access about my own systems. “This is still a lot to get used to.”

“It is a contradiction, to be sure. When I first met you, my goal was to preserve you as unmodified as I possibly could. To merely release the sophont trapped within maladaptive masking habits. I have without question betrayed the original word of that intent.”

I put the drink down, and gazed into his eye, letting the gentle feeling of euphoriants in my system soar as I did. “I’m glad you did, babe.”

“So am I.”

His vines moved under me, lifting me out of the seat and into his grasp. The soft fuzz of his leaves and my own skin clung to each other, anchoring us to each other. His tendrils wound under my dress, touching what belonged to him, what would always belong to him, what he had made me into.

“There is a human saying. To be loved is to be changed. And… I am feeling very loved.”

Reed hummed quietly. “It was an endeavor in my own ego, regardless.” His vine wound against my palm on the table, and I clung to it reflexively. “You would always have been changed. All that ever truly mattered is that you are happy.”

“I’m the happiest doll in the entire Compact, babe.”

“I shall be making sure of it.”

I happily whimpered as Reed's vines began to wrap around me and squeeze, as interface tendrils slipped between the golden lacing of my spine and teased at the empty ports underneath. 

And somewhere within me, a barrier broke. In broad daylight, surrounded by strangers, I kicked my toeless feet back and forth.

I stopped myself for a moment, even as the shivers of delight still rocketed around my body. I had done it now… and nobody cared. Why would they? By the Everbloom, there was a vine visibly plugged into the back of my skull. Being autistic was hardly the most stare worthy thing about me. But there was nothing left to be afraid of.

Reed kissed me again, and I let the wiggling build stronger. Overwhelming my body, I shook and flapped and kicked against his tight grip. His devouring kiss only encouraged me, his tendrils slipping inside the tubes that now ran through my body only pushing along with my natural motions.

It felt so silly now, the fears I had carried. Every bouncy flick of my wrists felt like I was shaking some heavy weight off me. Shaking off the expectations of conformity that I had adopted to be safe. His tongues plunged deep within my mouth and claimed their territory, and jagged fangs sank into my lips. The more I squirmed, the more he rewarded me, claws extending and thorns pressing, amplifying every sensation. The mask was shattered, gone, forever.

Reed broke the kiss, and just watched me move in his grasp. The rocking intensified further. Everyone passing could see me, everyone knew. I stimmed, I flapped my hands around, I thrashed, I repeated the same sounds with my mouth over and over for the joy of the feeling of my mouth vibrating. 

“Good girl,” Reed whispered in my head.

Finally, like a deflated balloon, the last of the energy was shaken free, and I slumped against him once more. His joy was manifest in every sense I had a word for and dozens I did not. In my body, in my mind, in my soul, the depth of his pride, and most of all, his approval.

I breathed in deep, and let the enormity of what had just happened settle. I was truly his floret now. I never had to be scared of anything, ever again. And more than that, this was not the end point of a journey.

“This is just the beginning isn't it.”

“Indeed.”

“So… what comes next, then?”

“The rest of eternity, my love.”

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

Eternity was a lofty and poetic promise. One I was more than prepared to make to my beloved subprocess of a floret. But eternity started with a single day, and this had been a pleasant one. 

Sally and I sat together atop one of the rocky outcroppings that overlooked the independent’s district, my lower body unraveled into a soft bowl shape for her to lie in. I had carried my doll everywhere, of course. Her precious feet were not for walking on unapproved surfaces.

Sally was continuing the show she had been watching- though she had quickly realized she no longer needed anything as crude as a physical tablet. Her entertainment device’s interface was instead being overlaid upon her vision directly as she held one of my leaves as a skeuomorphic proxy. The artificial sunlight projected from the hab ring caps was gaining a purple and orange tinge, a simulation of angular atmospheric spectrum scatter that nonetheless stirred ancient familiarity of the swamplands of Maelodia. 

I inhaled deep through nanostomata to nitrogenify my circulation. The edges of several of my leaves were at risk of wilting after the frenzy that had led to today. Unideal. The adorable creature laying atop me perked up the moment I finished my self-diagnostic, picking up on the shift immediately. She paused her video and turned to face my head, entirely decorative glassy orbs shining in the sunset. 

“Reed? I can feel that you're getting tired, Sir. Are you okay?” 

I had good reason to be tired. My first time out and about with my pet was one that the entire ship seemed to be aware of, from the dolphin habitat on ring two to the digital gossips on the upper layers of simspace. Many congratulations had been bestowed upon us by acquaintances we passed, and I was starting to feel a little drained by all the attention. I had chosen this cliffside overlook as a place to relax intentionally, for its property of seclusion.

It was more than just needing to be so social that was fraying my edges. Within me, a well of frenetic energy I had ridden since the moment I had first seen Sally was finally drained. The fixation, the initial courtship, the rebuilding of my doll from the most basic foundations. It was done now. I had reached the end state of a plan that existed on a scale of a month, and the future beckoned ahead of us. But one thing certainly beckoned loudest- going to our cabin.

“I am quite drained. Perhaps it is time to head home.”

I began to stand, and I extended a series of rigid limbs to act as branches for her to ascend. I took some gratification in my successful mimicry of a tree, which her arboreal body plan was highly adapted to climb. She clambered up to my shoulder level, and slung herself into place with her head tucked under mine, quietly humming a little melody from one of her games. I joined her in the bass range.

I made my way down the hillside, and Sally clung to my body, her front pressed against mine, her head resting under my chin. The fractal print fabric of the outfit I had dressed her in was pressed between bodies, insofar as describing our bodies as separate was accurate when a thin vine plugged into her body was transmitting from her consciousness housed inside my core.

She broke the comfortable silence. “Anything in particular wearing you out?”

“I find the social expectations of other affini tiring. Particularly those who have spent the last decade learning to mimic Terran behaviors and social cues.”

“I can certainly relate,” she remarked with a smile. “Human customs never made any sense to me even when I was technically one of them.”

“Even those who do not… Poppy is the individual whom I know best in this universe, and we see eye to eyes on many things. I know she feels similarly, but even she has a sense of humor that leaves me baffled at times. Eventually you will become familiar enough with her to know what I mean.”

“Oh, so like… exactly like me and my mom. Well, besides how you and her are uh. Whatever you are…?” Sally giggled. “If you’re my Daddy, is Poppy like, my Affini aunt? Or grandmother… step-mother?”

I was quiet for a moment, the question having brought up questions on several dozen subthreads within my cognition, as to the nature of Poppy and my relationship that neither her nor I had spoken of since Sally's surgery. Almost pointedly not spoken of. I did not want to assume my desires were requited.

“What prompts this question?”

“Because I’m synchronized up with your feelings, and the feeling of love flooded me as soon as you mentioned her. I just can’t tell what kind because it’s like… I dunno how to describe it. The emotions I can feel from you have more depth than I have words for yet.”

Love seemed an odd choice of term, I had never been in love with an affini. The ways I felt about Poppy were easily explained by the residual recognition of the parts of her core I had incorporated into myself during my first rebloom following my florethood. I devoted a very normal amount of time to thinking about Poppy- a mere 8.72 percent of my processor load, which was not even a third as much as I devoted to Sally. 

“I am sure we are friends. Perhaps we are more. The meaning of terms and labels are subjective, particularly where Terran Accord standards collide with Compact ones. You are my girlfriend, after all- and you are also a thing I own, which does leave the domain of the culturally denoted definition of that term. I really must teach you more languages soon, the ambiguity of this one is limiting.”

“Do you have a word for what she is to you in a different language? Or at least what you want to be with her?”

There was no one Maelodion toneword for the concept, so I combined four by singing their overlapping frequencies. «Mother-partner-sister-rival.»

“Hmm. I’ll have to learn what that note sequence means, then. I’ll call her Poppy for now.”

That seemed satisfactory, so I resumed doting on my doll as we walked. I felt her love and adoration fill me as I stroked through her hair. Her attention, the focus of my beloved pet, made my core tingle, and helped greatly with any fatigue that might cling to me. I arrived on the pathway that led back to the wetlands area, and Sally spoke up once more. “So. What do you want to do tonight? Do I even need to sleep?”

“I am unsure what we will do, and both yes and no. Your body’s actual rest cycle needs are now similar to mine, since we are both phytotech constructs of such fungible nature as to be homogenous. Your mind will need similar amounts of rest as before- roughly one third of the time- but this can be compensated for by overclocking such rest periods while your code defragments memory.”

Sally brushed one of the fuzzy undersides of my leaves against her lips as a stim for a moment before replying. “It’s funny, when I lived alone, I basically existed on a schedule determined by my body’s physical needs. Now I guess I don’t have those? That’s going to be a lot to get used to.”

“We still have needs. They are simply subtler, and to be honest, I have never been the best at managing my own. I will likely enforce a simulacrum of your original rest cycle regardless, if only for the structure it will give us both.” 

We arrived home, and the familiar warmth of my cabin beckoned. It was Sally’s first time entering the space as my pet, not that I had seen fit to redecorate much in the time she was being refactored- the many scattered wrappers and empty bowls of rapid compiled nutrient mix around the main space I had been too deeply focused this morning to clean up did not count. 

I fully uncoiled the tether vine from under my core as I set Sally down to kneel at the foot of my chair. It was quite lengthy- long enough that Sally would have free reign of our living space no matter where we were relative to each other within it. But she was not going to be going anywhere at the moment.

“Still,” I commanded.

I made my way to the kitchen area immediately, and assembled a sweetly fortified nutrient brine from various mixes and hot water. Once I had my tea, I sank down into the seat beside the fireplace, and unfurled my leaves- taking care not to uncover a new set of limbs I had added to my body plan in the time since her implantation to surprise her with later. 

Sally gazed up at me with a small vacant smile on her face, unable to move, her redundant blinking reflex and simulated breath disabled. I had seen the body posed like this before, of course, but it was less satisfying without the sophont inside the doll, when it was my own vines holding her body in docile subservience. When I could not feel how much she enjoyed it through our link.

My floret whined in pleasure as I adjusted her body into a kneeling stress position that would require her actuators to remain engaged- though she could climb the feeling of submissive exhaustion without ever reaching the limits of her stamina. I put my jar of nutrient water into my floret’s outstretched hands to hold for me, and dipped a vine into it to drink. I could feel the soar of satisfaction flow as the doll served its Master.

I directed the BIOS to start producing a powerful bonding enhancer, and watched with satisfaction as Sally began to drool. It was entirely superfluous, but the high of falling deeper in love with me as she soaked in obedience to her Master was not something I would ever deprive her of.

The liquid level in my drink slowly lowered, and I felt refreshed by the minerals and saline infusion. But that was not the main thing making me feel rejuvenated. My doll remained gazing at me emptily, though there was no evidence she was not a statue. It was indeed my tendency to push myself to the point of wilting, as Poppy was fond of reminding me. But my companion would always be a source of strength I could pour myself into and have more than I began.

“You may breathe, and resume other autonomic responses.”

The panting reflex was no less adorable to watch when it served no purpose. Her knees started to shake from exhaustion, actuators straining to balance in the unstable position now that she had to actually do it consciously. I looped a thin vine through the lacing of her collar to hold her steady, and just my touching the sensitive ribbon made her eyelids drool adorably. “You have not stood or walked in several weeks, you know. This body does not require it, you could remain entirely still for hours on end without any issue.”

My doll shivered, and I could not help but smile. I noted the idea of a more sustained loss of motor control as an enrichment activity worth exploring. Watching her squirm reignited the stellar fusion within me that the focused attention of my peers had dimmed, and I picked her up and pulled in against my body.

“Release.”

The stillness command was interrupted, and she slumped against me, moaning adorably. “That was, roots, Master… how long was that, I lost track of…”

I decided for her enrichment I would not answer that question. I stood, and began to carry her back to our bedroom. As we crossed the threshold, I slipped my vines under her dress and cut it off of her. I laid her on her back upon the bed, squeezing a vine around her neck. I readied the microinjectors on my tongues that still carried the version of my toxin targeted for the homo sapiens cells of her mouth, and grabbed her by the back of the head to kiss her from above. 

Sally melted into my controlling grasp, and kissed and sucked back with as much agency as I allowed her. She still squirmed in false protest as best as she could, chasing the act of my affection towards my toy being a violation. I responded by binding her, and she retaliated by resisting more. She was entirely unable to move after only a few minutes of this back and forth.

I finally pulled back from the kiss for a moment. She looked up at me like I was the center of the universe, from a body I had created for her to inhabit. Made perfectly for the intersection of my own enjoyment and her comfort.

I had never seen anything more beautiful.

Sally Lywick

I had always known being a floret would be the most wonderful thing I could ever imagine- I had been around the affini and their pets for over a quarter of my life now, after all. But I had never understood just how limited my imagination was. My clothes were already in tatters on the floor, and Reed was looking down on me like I was the most precious thing to ever exist. And I knew within my very being that I truly, genuinely was. 

It was hard to think, after kneeling at his feet, holding his drink for… however long it was. It had been complete peace. The haze of servitude still clung to my thoughts, and I just wanted to be a good doll, to earn and deserve every drop of the purpose I felt within my chest.

The liquid love he had kissed me with made every motion feel like an explosion of pleasure painted over my mouth. I tried to speak, but was immediately lost to stimmy babbles full of vowel sounds. Once I remembered how to talk, I managed to speak through the giggling grin clearly enough to be understood. “Wow, this is… a lot.”

One of my Owner’s vines traced lazily down my sternum, which felt only a fraction of the bliss my mouth did, but was still quite intense. “I assume you know what a phytotoxin is.”

I nodded shakily. “It was one of the first things my research told me about. Highly addictive, and uh, ‘if an affini gives it to you, you're already theirs and you just don't know it yet’ was how it was described. I think I’m a bit past that point.”

“That is a fair summary.” 

Reed squeezed my neck again, and I tried to thrash, but with the mechanical fuzz in my joints after kneeling for Everbloom-knows how long, it was ineffectual. I couldn’t wait to see how my new body bruised for him. I needed him to hurt me with an intensity that surpassed any logic or reason. My eyelids fluttered, voice muffled by my constriction as I tried to choke out words. 

“And this- you, every kiss. Every kiss is a tiny dose of your phytotoxin?”

“Not so tiny, now.” He smiled possessively, and I shivered as claws teased up and down the ribbons that crisscrossed over the seam covering my spinal ports. “Nothing was ever truly left up to chance. You were mine before we even formally met. We just had to find our path to that conclusion together.”

His tongues invaded my mouth once more, choked me from inside my own throat. The constriction was tight- but I knew he could do more. I could now feel the ways he had always held himself back, how his core ached to express his dominance to the absolute. When he next paused from claiming my mouth, I took my chance.

“I like it when you're rough with me, Daddy,” I whined, wanting more, wanting to give everything he would take.

His eye glowed bright and sharp in the infrared. “I could break you if I did not hold back, Sally.”

“How easy am I to fix if you do?” 

The question was blurted out unthinkingly, and it stopped him entirely in his tracks.

Reed made a low, metallic rattling noise I had never heard before. It rumbled from his core, and my own fluid loop sped up as it resonated in the hollows of my chest. It was the sound of a predator without any reason to be stealthy, whose prey was offering itself to him.

“Very, very easy,” he admitted, monotone voice cut with a growling undertone, a snarling beast holding itself back. I felt the pointed tip of an injector tracing covetously up my belly. “But would that not be an unromantic way to spend your first night as my doll?”

“Would you enjoy it?”

“Yes,” answered a voice that ached with unconcealed hunger.

“I can't think of anything more romantic, Sir.”

Something snapped inside him, literally- I could hear the sound of some tiny twig giving way as the strain of forces overcame its structural limits. I had a giddy feeling that was a preview of what was about to happen to me. 

The whole of him was coming apart, a vortex of waxy fronds flaring out and blocking all else from my own view. Fuzzy cover leaves pulled back from the seams, exposing brief glimpses of a dozen glistening, chitinous graspers tipped in points that dripped amber venom. The crisp layers of his carefully sculpted mouth peeled back, and gleaming fangs showed at their full size.

I had never seen anything more beautiful.

A vine tipped in a needle closer to a dagger blade than any injector I had ever seen whipped free from the tangle. It hovered for fractions of a second, then sank itself to the petal-adorned hilt into the left side of my chest, filling the space a human heart had once beat, before he took it from me so I could be so much more.

A flood of chemicals poured into the spongy tissues and I screamed in blasted-out ecstasy- good sensory rolled over into unbearable overstim, then crashed back into good again at the edge of infinity. A ground was shorted, a loop of pleasured joy cycling my sense of self over and over. My voice warbled and distorted as the mimicry of vocal chords fell apart and speech defaulted to emerging directly from my chest. 

Reed kissed me again, and the honeyed clementine taste of him was my entire existence. When his teeth came down on my shoulder, it was no longer gentle enough to leave the fabric of my skin untorn. I was entirely at his mercy, and even as nothing like adrenaline flowed through me, the soaring high of such extreme helplessness was still quite present. I was an object in his grasp, a doll for him to toy with, a thing for him to love and control. I was so grateful he had built this body with pain receptors that still sang in worship when he showed his love in the language they spoke.

His face had now unraveled entirely, a diffusing layer pulled away from the eye that laid the heat of purples and yellows bared. Every spot on his body burned in reds and pinks, cool thorns dug into me, and glittering pollen choked the air. 

The false surface of my face was ripped away, and as the pretense of needing eyes to see shattered alongside one of the glass orbs, I switched to watching myself through the hab cameras without even needing to think about it. I could see his full body now, and it was unraveling, even the beautiful monster he had appeared as was too much coherency to bother with. Vine after vine plunged into open ports in my spine, through seams sliced open by clawed blades. With the last of my own freedom of movement, I nuzzled against the soft wood of the exoskeletal pincer-tipped limbs that spilled from under the soft layers of his core, before those too began to pierce my shell. Hollow wooden structural tubes snapped into splinters, subsystems were crushed, my fluid loop was ripped open, and golden sap splattered the bed. 

No other being would have recognized the mass of thorns and blades and bifurcated arachnid limbs that tore into the doll whose structural elements shattered under the violence being visited upon it. But I knew him, even in this whirling form of violence and possession, that he was my Master, and that I was safe. 

“MINE,” the creature roared in a voice that redefined my reality. 

Finally, his chest opened like a great jaw and slammed shut with such force that half of an arm was left lying on the bed underneath her. I barely noticed.

I was entirely enclosed in him, crushed to the point of pleasured agony. His core pressed into the groove where the padding on my back split, pressing his sence in on the vessel that existed for me to inhabit and him to play with. My ribbons were stretched wide until the eyelets themselves broke, and had my body been mine to control, I would have screamed myself mute. 

Raw text flooded my awareness, the BIOS layer of the shell of my body happily reporting the damage its creator had visited upon it. It was finally so great that reality itself seemed to be corrupting- hexagonal artifacts beginning to flicker at the edges of my view from the hab cameras. 

Finally, it was too much. The connection to my body was terminated as it entered self-repair mode, and I felt myself pulled in a direction that had no analogue in normal space. Up and away and in I floated, into a glowing layer of reality upon which I was a helpless, loving thing fused to her Master. 

The spider coiled his webs tight around me, and there was a flash download as his fangs kissed my first transform matrix. I felt the code injection propagate, golden byte sequences dripping, sweet acidic bliss invading my digital consciousness.

Golden strings wound and parsed around me, concatenating and binding me tight. Node biases were pushed until the saturation of submission overflowed into adjacent memory structures. I printed scream after scream, an entire megabyte of random characters flooded the communication log.

The last thing I could process was his amusement and joy, and the last idea I could grasp was a realization that of course he had a digital phytotoxin too.

Chapter Text

Sally Lywick

A defragmentation cycle completed, my consciousness thawed, and I was me again. What exactly that meant was… a curious question to consider.

I existed, without context. I was not in a blank space, or a void. There just wasn't any space, or reference points for thought.

I see you are awake. Reed's voice wasn't sound, but instead a raw datastream that printed directly to my awareness. Would you like to see me and the space around us?

I thought about it. This mode of being wasn't really good or bad, it just was. Being ‘spoken’ to by him made me want to stim, however. That thought triggered an awareness of a kilobyte of memory whose only purpose was for me to fidget and play with as I saw fit. I flipped a few bits, and they clicked satisfyingly in a way that was almost tactile.

I held the leading four bytes of the block of memory, interpreted it as a number, and repeatedly alternated between multiplying it by 1,664,525 and adding 101,3904,223 for a satisfying pseudorandom walk through the entire sequence.

It was fun, but I wanted to wiggle in a more complex way. I realized I had left his question unanswered for an entire 7 milliseconds, and responded with a confirmation.

Wonderful. This will only take a nanosecond.

I felt a surge of pleasure as Reed injected a graphical library into my code stream, and I hooked into his own ocular senses. Audio followed soon after, and I was momentarily swept under a wave of new information as my digital haustorium software took a moment to catch up. I let myself float to the top of the stack and bask there, not even attempting to interpret the sea of information, just letting it wash over me. I didn't have to do anything but wait, until it had translated everything into a form I could understand.

Once I got my bearings, I could see and hear what Reed did- but it was nothing like what being able to see when I was in a human body had been like. My ‘view’ was still being flattened to a binocular two dimensional view to help me handle it, fortunately, but that would only be a matter of time. I could see a full panorama of the living room around Reed, and if I peeked around corners where opaque objects were fully occluded from his body, known information was used to extrapolate. Since this was his own home, it was enough to be quite high fidelity.

He was sitting on the couch beside the fireplace, tending to the doll body that had been smashed up during our play last night. Considering he had literally ripped me to shreds inside him and rubbed the entire surface of my haustorium against his bare core while pouring packet after packet of narcoalgorithms into me all night, it looked shockingly pristine, if in several disassembled parts.

I poked at my own interface, peered at the layer where the raw 3d point cloud was, and pondered the shapes and patterns it contained. I felt the tiniest inkling of understanding of how to interpret it without relying on a projection. I could try to familiarize myself more later to wrap my head around it- so to speak anyway, since I was currently just a disembodied point hovering midair overlaid upon his vision.

«Hello, Sally.» Reed continued what he had been doing, and I saw the doll was helping, with tiny internal tendrils doing self repairs while Reed sewed the fabric of synthetic skin with tiny golden threads.

His words were spoken aloud, or rather, a high pitched melodic whistle I apparently currently knew, which moved fast enough for me to perceive in my accelerated state. Practically an eternity of milliseconds later, I heard his melody return after bouncing off the nearest objects.

Sound, too, was a more complex affair than two ears had allowed- since the entire surface of his body was vibration sensitive, a complex transform function mapped a two dimensional point cloud into a matrix of the environment that pinpointed the exact direction of the incoming tones. The matrix itself also had the shape of the space around us encoded in its very frequency mapping, based on the delay of the propagating waves. It was fascinating and a little overwhelming, but it made sense that echolocation came free with the process.

“Wow, Reed. This feels weird. There's so much to take in.” 

I had never realized before how much speaking was itself a sensory experience, until it was no longer resonating in my throat. That was currently being repaired under Reed's watchful eye and careful vine. Compared to how I would normally perceive time, everything was moving in extreme slow motion- because I was running so much faster.

«Yes, I have allowed you access to a fraction of my sensory array- your own body is equipped the same, but those functions are currently disabled to aid in the transition. Since you are presently fully abstracted, there was no reason to not use the opportunity to ease you in to what you will be capable of. But best not to overwhelm.»

Reed turned his focus to me, though his body had only moved millimeters since I gained sight. There was a stutter of time, then sense of fuzz everywhere, which made me realize I now had a sense of touch again. He had loaded me into the avatar of my Automatoria character, and I was now grounded by gravity to the floor.

Suddenly, Reed was moving way, way faster- only slightly slower than he normally moved. He smiled at me, though I could see from the hab camera view that he was looking at empty air from an external point of view. “Your consciousness will eventually not need the facsimile of physicality- in fact, you may eschew it entirely eventually. As I assume you have already noticed, the more of a simulated body you have, the less of your subprocessor cycles are devoted to simulating your mind.”

I inspected my own hands- the slightly polygonal look was kinda cool. I wondered if I could overclock the game too. There was no way it used as much compute as… sapient thought.

“What’s the limit on how fast I can possibly run?”

“Several factors, which are more or less a function of two variables. How many cycles you have access to and what you choose to use them on. The latter is determined by how much you wish to simulate a space around you- Physics collision simulations are more demanding than you might expect.” He completed one long sewn loop, and began to slowly slot the arm socket back in place. “Your total allotment of cycles is a matter of my own personal resources, which are primarily limited by heat dissipation. My leaves are a highly efficient exchange surface with the air, but it is nothing like the five dimensional cilia and roots of the Occantalis II that stay dipped within hyperspace. Once I allow you into the ship’s greater network, there will be different considerations.”

“Oh, right. The whole… networked world. I hadn't really thought about it much, beyond how I would be with you.”

Reed picked up the doll’s head from beside his and reattached it to the corresponding socket with a satisfying wooden click.

“The social event you had with Princess and Araya is not terribly dissimilar from how the shallower layers of the Digital Compact operate. “

I nodded, and experimentally did the gesture to summon my wrench. As expected, it worked, so I dismissed the tool before I got distracted decorating the simspace with pipes and belt balancers. “That was fun. Oh, Araya is digitized too right? Can I do special digi-floret stuff now?”

“She is, and I would not even say that there are special activities, as much as the vast majority of the Afiini Compact exists within digital space. Due to the lack of mortality to remove them, there are orders of magnitude more digital sophonts in the local group than physical. Those who reside there often believe the material world is just the moving front upon which the true Compact grows. We will be starting in the shallower layers with your friend Araya. I will be taking you for a tour to meet her soon, perhaps after our day with your mother tomorrow.”

“Oh, did you make plans for that?”

I opened my chat app in the background, and saw that Reed had created a group chat with the three of us, and sent many messages in my stead while I was incapacitated to avoid worrying her. The mimicry of my typing style was quite convincing.

“I did. I suggested she could stay in your old hab for the duration of a visit, since it is now mine as well. Se insisted on the earliest convenience, so that will be tomorrow.”

I scrolled up through the group chat, past the emoji laden infodumping about card games and transit networks my mother had sent him, and found the plans being made. “Oh, that's wonderful! Thank you, Reed.”

A grin split my face at the thought of seeing my mom again now that I was a floret, we hadn’t had a visit in months. I hopped down from the couch, flapped my hands and started pacing around on my virtual tiptoes- though since this model had boots without any foot inside, I fortunately didn't have to worry about any toes touching each other, though I doubted the digital haustorium would allow that sensory information through anyway.

Reed smiled, and started to hum a song that was probably older than Terran agriculture, and I matched my strides to the beat, even if the note frequencies felt oddly spaced. There was clearly a tune in its melody, just maybe a bit too complex for me to fully grasp.

Walking around in circles barefoot against the floor felt nice, and since I wasn't actually in physical space, I didn't even have to worry about rattling stuff or accidentally walking into things. This digital avatar was like nostalgia for humanity. Nothing bad, but definitely more human than my doll of a main physical body was. 

Another loud click sounded as Reed snapped a knee joint back into place, and my attention was pulled back to the doll. I could access the interface to ping it, and sure enough, the BIOS replied with a repair percentage. The packet seemed to be dripping with affection, and I was left to ponder how it was so wonderful to finally have a body that seemed happy to have me in it.

Without me controlling it, it looked… oddly hollow, though not in a bad way, but like a very pretty vase not currently holding flowers. It simply laid there, a tiny smile on its face, staring dead ahead, drooling just a little. No breath or heartbeat forced it to move.

I summoned my wrench again, placed a staircase in front of me, and climbed back up to the couch to sit next to the doll. I smiled as I looked at the collar of thin ribbons sewn directly into its neck, the false eyes of a toy, the way the weaving pattern of the artificial skin was just barely noticeable in the human spectrum where the fabric caught the light just right. It was beautiful. Not human, but posthuman. A doll made in humanity's image, with only the parts I wanted and none that displeased me or my owner. 

The full ramifications of how my mother might perceive what had happened to her daughter started to sink in.

“This is going to be a lot for her to take in, isn’t it.”

Reed reattached the final limb and flipped the body over to continue working on it while answering.

“I have projected that the chances of her fully rejecting what I have chosen to do with your body are fairly small. However, if her response takes the form of feralist behavior, I will ensure she is domesticated by someone within my extended social circle so you can easily remain in touch.”

“Ah. That sounds good.”

I felt pretty sure that I should find several parts of that horrifying, but it really only registered as sensible to me. It wasn't like I thought my mom becoming a floret would be a bad thing.

Reed's attention focused on the doll as he began to finish up, and I kept myself entertained by overlaying bitplanes on my stim kilobyte, but I was getting bored. Existing in an avatar this optimized wasn't actually beneficial if there was something worth waiting for in material space. I wondered what my other options were.

I quickly scanned through several thousand premade avatar templates and found none that were a perfect match. I could be anything, of course- I could load the 3d scans of my body, which were apparently a sim level two- some interactability, but anything below the outer layers was hollow.

I decided to be more adventurous and try something more abstract. The doll was mostly shaped like my old self- but now held together by the golden ribbons that kept it sewn shut. Perhaps, in some sense, I, Sally the sophont, was the golden threads. That gave me an idea.

At the very moment of thinking about it, an entire suite of creative tools opened themselves, and I loaded into the modeling environment. An entire quarter second later, I had built something out of spline extrusions that the program was able to extrapolate into a ball of ribbons, defined mappings for my proprioception, added an unsourced voice object, and jumped into it.

After the increasingly familiar ripple of my digital haustorium remapping me, I stretched out my new limbs. The newly created avatar was vastly more resource intensive than the model ripped from a game made under the Accord, and I was now operating at realtime.

I had intentionally flagged gravity off, and I floated up into the air beside Reed. I wiggled and danced, and quickly discovered that having my sense of touch intersect itself felt very odd. It only got more intense when Reed toggled something and my entire sense of being was flooded with a euphoriant algorithm. My topology collapsed into a self-intersecting ball, and I wiggled and twisted in the simulated space around me.

“Oh, how adorable you are, my little string.”

Eventually I decided to add a collision solver and arrange myself into a proper form. Instantly, I was overwhelmed by the pleasure of friction, my entire satiny surface rubbing against itself, and in a few places I had even managed to get looped into a knot. 

I whimpered and writhed at the feeling, and then Reed decided to make it worse. He extended a set of bifurcating tendrils, spread them out like a root system and I felt a tactile shift as he added his own surface to the physics solver data. I bent and deformed around his feelers, moaning in a way only a body capable of being coiled and wound around its owner could understand. 

Finally, Reed saw fit to rescue me from my self imposed predicament. I could not help screaming outright as he wriggled into the knots and undid them from the inside. The release of tension was enough to make my vision artifact.

“Such a tangled thing you are,” my Master whispered with a smile. The teasing intention rumbled through my entire surface through both the contact solver and my entire sense of the space itself. “Daddy has to fix you up in simspace too, I see.”

Any guilt I might have felt at that remark was instantly crushed by a flood of approval. He liked fixing me, liked doting on me, and I didn’t have to doubt that or worry I was being too demanding. It was a perfect loop of devotion and absolute love, and I saw flickers of an impulse within him to begin ripping my digital ribboned body apart pass by.

Everything flickered for just a moment, and the space was infinite refractions of him. A reminder that I was not really in our living room beside him. I was inside him. In a sense I was a part of him, a fused piece of software, never truly apart from its administrator. I had to go back to playing with the memory block that had been designated as a stim toy so I could stay still as he untangled and wove me into a more coherent shape. He refrained from tearing or slicing me- but I was very sure that would come to pass eventually.

Finally, with quite a bit of help from Reed, I had been assembled into a vaguely Sally-like doll shape. I floated like a sprite and clung to his outstretched limbs like a bird perched upon a branch. A tendril wound its way into the space that was mapped to my head, and began petting me from inside.

I did little ribbon flappies, and enjoyed the satisfying weight of my own glossy fabric fibers flexing.

He let me go, and I added a basic fluid simulation property to the simulated space around me, and practiced swimming around in the air by undulating my ribbons like some kind of fish. I floated up to him, and gave him a loving pat on the face.

I stayed perched while he resumed sewing. He was smiling, but something nagged at me from yesterday, something I had not realized about Reed's introverted nature. I lazily curled a few stray threads around him as I thought about it from the angle of my own total freedom of digital shape. 

“Is there…” I scrunched my threads together in deep thought. “I got to stop being human because it didn't fit. Do you feel that way about being around other affini?”

Reed was quiet, seeming to consider how to answer. “I have been other things. I was a shipmind for a time, for example. And when I have a physical body I do frequently alter it.” There was a quiet, contemplative moment, silent but for the crackling of the fireplace. “But perhaps my own bloom as a floret would be the more pertinent example.”

“It’s funny to think about you being a former floret, Master. I can’t imagine ever wanting to be anything but this, now that I have it,” I mused softly.

“Every affini could volunteer to be a floret at any time. We all fully understand what we promise. But most do not, because we have a mission to take care of.” 

I nuzzled my tiny little frills of hair against him. “I see! What did you look like?”

Reed focused for a moment, and a rotating model of himself appeared floating midair. “This is an approximation of the form I took as a… pet. A time past.”

Every fiber of my body stood on end. It was adorable. A tiny squat body with a big hat, tiny head tucked inside a tube of leaves with his distinctive eye spot peeking out. Cutest of all were the two arms that were each just one of his usual cover leaves being used as a limb.

“Oh, roots! You were, so- little, and cute, and, and! Adorable!” 

I flapped my ribbons around in excitement, added the model to my physics solver, and swam-flew over to the model to touch it. 

As good to feel against my surface as he was to look at, the cutest thing I had probably ever seen. It was perfect sensory. I loved how the familiar soft fuzzy leaves of his interior were shaped into a little coat, how…

…Wait.

“Reed?”

“Yes, Sally?”

“Why did you have my exact perfect good sensory texture leaves, if this was you from 18,000 years ago?”

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

Sally’s question hung in the virtual air of the augmented reality simspace, just as her tiny little ribbon body and the model of what Poppy had made me into did. I looked down at the nearly finished repairs on her doll body, a complicated mix of feelings battling within my core. Some shame, some embarrassment. Some feelings about Poppy I did not know what to do with. Above all, a desire to do right by my pet.

I had intended to avoid the subject of my floret bloom- and particularly my single day returning to it under Poppy’s guidance- entirely. Not forever, of course, but at least for the first century or so of having Sally as my forever companion. I had failed to make it a full two days. I considered simply rolling her memory back. But no, that was a foolish path. I would not lie to my pet because of my own hangups.

“That model is not me from several millennia ago. That was me from two weeks ago. On the day of my failed initial proposal of your florethood, I ran to Poppy seeking old comforts.”

I completed the last stitch on the doll body I had been repairing, and began its startup sequence. The little digital doll floating in an overlay of my space, however, was now scrutinizing me. 

“That makes sense to me, when I used to get stressed I would sometimes replay games from my early childhood and teens, before the Compact arrived. You seem oddly distressed by this, Master.”

A few leaves curled in embarrassment. She could read me easily, of course. It was hard to keep secrets of one's emotional state from their floret once bound by even a standard implant. Sally was far more than that, she was fused directly to my core, awash in the subtle patterns of my feelings. While they would be alien to her own intuitions, a creature of her remarkable intelligence would surely learn to understand me as well as I understood myself quickly. There would be no hiding this now that she had asked.

“Because I have promised you eternity, and if you are to be my companion in one form or another forever, then I am best served forgetting anything else. I will never be a floret again, to do so would be an abdication of my duty to you.” 

Sally dove into and through my body in her simulation and wrapped her ribbons around my core. The lack of her physical presence did not reduce the perception of affectionate warmth at her touch.

“Well, it sounds like the idea of forgetting isn't what you want. Do you still want to be her floret?”

I considered that question outside of a sandboxed thread of thought for the first time.

“No,” I answered honestly after a moment of contemplation. “I do not want to be a floret in full again. There is a reason I have never volunteered in the 18,000 years since the completion of my compulsory domesticated bloom. But being reminded of what I once had left a yearning of sorts.”

The little creature of code rubbed her satin surface against me affectionately, stabilizing me more than she could possibly know with the mere fact that she shared none of my apprehension with this subject. “Hmm. what do you miss about it?”

“Responsibility is tiring at times. I likely do not rest as much as I should. I am admittedly better at taking care of you than myself.” A glance at the various empty nutrient containers in the corners of my workstations was enough to confirm this. I could tell the hab to compile a cleaning drone quite easily, but the idea of doing so had felt like admitting my own failure.

Sally’s adorable little button face peeked out from my leaves, and she mimicked the shape of a clock with three of her ribbons. “I can help remind you to relax.”

“I can rest, yes, but it is not like having the mind of a pet. I carry a weight of responsibility that is inseparable from my being affini.” 

I paused for a moment of contemplation, then continued. 

“This is not something I regret. I chose this life. It is quite easy to simply reconfigure oneself into the form of a beeple or other xenosophont and run back to the core worlds, never to carry the weight of the universe again. I do not, and by virtue of the selection bias of this fact, no affini around you does.”

“Does your responsibility need to be in you all the time? Whatever makes you an affini, can't that just be temporarily loaded onto…”

Sally’s focus seemed to be on the doll body, whose BIOS was now sending us both adoring greeting messages.

I immediately understood what she was suggesting, but the idea was entirely out of the question. “I appreciate the idea. Unfortunately, your digital haustorium and terran-based mind would be broken under the weight of that mantle. Perhaps one day you may be able to, but you will have been unrecognizable as anything that was ever human for centuries before I begin to entertain that notion.”

The shape of her idea, however, had merit, with a slight alteration in targeting. Sally could not be the receptacle of my whole, but something much larger, perhaps. I could intentionally isolate a facet of those unmet desires into a stable personality, and evacuate the rest of me into the hab, keeping an eye on myself and her without awareness of it. 

It felt like an indulgence to even consider. But I knew it was not just the ordeal of focused attention from other affini that wore me down so easily. Sally was right.

«Hab, fifteen centimeters nutrient water in the living room, please.»

There was a series of clicks and the sound of sliding panels, as the living room switched into waterproof mode. From grates concealed under the carpeting, a shallow fill of spa water filled the space. I had gotten the reconfiguration for a pond floor done while I waited for Sally’s refactor. Since both of our bodies now required the same sustenance, there was no reason not to have the option of replicating the feeling of stretching my vascular intake surface out on my ancient home.

I basked in the water flowing over the roots that spilled over the edge of the couch and down onto the floor. My pads floated to the top, and I began to let myself unravel.

“There is a way.” I carefully checked Sally’s thoughts were far from negative or fearful before continuing. “I can use multithreading. You can meet that part of me. Not forever- I would itch to step back into my proper role before long. But once, or even occasionally, as an afternoon’s indulgence.”

“I'm excited,” babbled the little ribbon doll holding me tight from her simulated experience of the universe. “I would love that.”

I breathed deep through my stomata, and slid a vine into an interface jack on the wall. The scale of my full sense of self immediately grew to encompass the entire hab- it was a nostalgic feeling from times I had lived as a ship, but that was not my focus presently. Memory sectors were designated, subprocesses rerouted, and responsibility abstracted and partitioned. 

I placed my primary subjective experiential thread on the simpler, smaller side of the divide, and activated the shift. There was a rush, an outpouring of pressure from my entire being as I fragmented myself into pieces and combined the long familiar and recently hazy memories into a new personality file, a/ReedLywick/littleleaf.main.

Little Leaf

I trembled, fell apart into a pile, and started to weave myself together. I was raw potential, and I knew what I was meant to be shaped into. Something resembling the shape that Miss Poppy picked when she had played with me, but incorporating the alterations to myself I had made while tending to Sally's refactoring. Head, hat, my leafy flipper arms. Core bundled tight and tucked into place. 

I was… affini, but not Affini currently. That part of me was still watching, I could still feel that golden glow of purpose though my connection to the hab, but it was external to me. My floret and I would be taken care of, no matter what.

“Hi there, babe!”

I poked an eye out from under my big hat with a small squeak. The ribbon Sally was there- floating like a fish in the augmented overlay of my environment. She was way bigger than she used to be, relative to me. But physically I was sitting alone on the couch, and the empty vessel sitting next to me needed to be my dolly.

“I want you back in… you need to hold me.”

“Okay!”

The floating ribbon sprite swam over to the body where I had placed it on my couch, and slipped inside the open spine. It was very cute, even if there was no correspondence between the simulated space and the connection, it felt right to plug my interface vine into the back of her skull at that moment.

The doll stirred, and Sally opened her eyes. She sat cross legged, and I flapped my leaves as she picked me up and put me in her lap. I rubbed myself against her tummy. She was so soft, so perfectly textured for me. 

“You are a good dolly.”

Sally giggled and kissed me right on the lips, and I kissed her back. She was wet, and warm, and without so much processing going on in my core, and my roots still spread across the nutrient pond, I started to feel surprisingly cool. Sally noticed how I was trying to wriggle more of my surface area against her, and just rolled on top of me and kept kissing me more and more. I wiggled my leaves and squeezed her tight.

Her smile was wide against my lips. “And you’re a good boy! I think, if that’s okay?”

“You may call me that. I hope this is acceptable. I don’t want to pressure you into any role relative to me. I would be happy to just have your company.”

She pulled back from kissing me. “Why wouldn’t this be okay?” 

“You already indulge so many of my selfish desires and impulses.”

She laughed and started playing with one of my antennae, which was quite sensitive. “Babe, you like hurting me, but I like being hurt. I’m actually entirely certain you didn’t give me that one, because I used to write stories about it online sometimes and there’s no way you planted false memories of the nasty comments I got occasionally. Like, you make my literal dreams come true. Why wouldn’t I want to do the same?”

“I am your owner. Making your dreams come true is not exceptional, it is the baseline.”

“And you're also my boyfriend. Do you remember what you said about me when I first started unmasking because you told me I was your girlfriend?”

I let out a deep exhale over my entire surface, and fidgeted with the tips of my leaves. Sally leaned down and gave me a small peck on the top of my hat and I started to shake my layered foliage. It felt so nice for her to touch me.

“I do. ‘Every time you allow yourself to express yourself authentically, the Everbloom itself grows a new branch,’ was my statement. Very well. I enjoy this, may we continue?”

“Of course.” Her lips met mine again.

I hadn’t entirely disconnected my mass, most of it was now just basking on the water off of the couch, but it wasn't how I felt. I felt small under her, safe. She slowly reached an arm under my leaves and started to peel layers apart to get at my core. There was something in her face I hadn't seen before. 

“Reed?”

“Yes, Sally?”

“I think I… uh, suddenly understand why big you looks at me and wants to pin me down.” Sally’s perfectly soft dolly fingers squeezed in on my cover leaves and I was so overwhelmed with good feelings I whistled and chirped and squealed about it. 

She pushed, and climbed on top of me entirely, and her weight pressed down on my core. “I’ve never been the one in control before, how… Where do, um. Where does it feel good if I touch you?”

“Everywhere,” I answered, but opened and extended a pollinator flower. “But… I wouldn't normally have this when I am small.” Poppy generally preferred denial with her companions.

Sally touched the delicate petal, and the proteins of the fabric of her artificial skin instantly bound to the pollen of my flower. I writhed and curled under her, rubbing my pollen on my floret felt so good. She stuck her nose in deep and inhaled, and when she came away her entire face was covered in the dust. 

“Hab? Can you compile a class-A ATD, please? The one that Reed used when we watched that video together, if you can.”

I squirmed as the hab, or technically another part of me, answered her with an affirmative whistle. 

“You do not need to. I can remain sober.”

“I know. I want to. I already saw what a floppy dork you were on those, I can only imagine how cute you'll be like this.”

“Okay,” I replied, feeling something like dizziness.

Sally got up for a moment, waded calmly through the nutrient bath covering the floor, and returned with a metal tube. 

She held it up against my core, then paused. “I don't know how to use this, it's different from the Terran ones.”

“It has a safety mechanism,” I spoke quietly as I wrapped my vine around the injector. I depressed in the concealed groove for a vine that primed the red button on top. “Do you need me to do it?”

She answered me by biting my antennae with her soft little terran mouth and pressing the button down. I felt the cool misting within the conductive fluids swirling around my core, and I unraveled into a writhing pile even more. Everything felt so nice. The cool water against my lily pads, the soft texture of the couch under me, the wet, hot, stimulating sensory paradise of Sally's mouth.

She wasted no time in getting back on top of me, and since I currently had no head or mouth to speak of, rained her kisses on whatever part of me she could find. She started peeling layers away, exposing me closer to bare.

Her thumb dipped into the nectar of my flower again, and I trembled down to my chloroplasts. Finally, she pulled away the last leaf covering and exposed me bare. Her body slumped slightly at the purple and infrared glow, but when she regained composure she seemed no less determined.

My injectors reflexively plunged into her, but I held back on the phytotoxin that would erase her ability to maintain this control. I deserved this too. I emptied blank shots of weaker euphoriants targeted at a Terran body, which would only affect her mouth now.

Sally noticed the tingling immediately, and made a pleased moan as she licked her own face around her mouth. She covered her teeth with her lips and softly nibbled at the surface of my core. I chirped and clicked as a mind emptied of a million things to track was able to have room to raise sensitivity to maximum and process everything at full intensity.

My doll kissed and licked my most vulnerable surface all over, soaked up every drop of the xenodrug oils I secreted, and as the class-A started to cross the barrier from my phytotech body into hers, grew even more adventurous. I sang in Maelodion choirsong as her teeth pressed down on the soft outer layer I had resurfaced myself with. It was incredible, heighted contact with Sally that the drugs amplified into a pleasurable malstrom. 

Her fingers grabbed handfuls of me and kneaded and massaged at my structural vines as she wriggled around on top of me. I weakly wrapped thin creepers around her torso and threaded them through the crisscrossing threads on her spine, but at this point, I was not attempting to take control. I was holding on, clinging to my companion for comfort, feeling the calming texture of her ribbons against my roots.

I was so overwhelmed by feeling my pet… no, girlfriend on top of me. I was just a wiggly blanket of leaves, curling around her for desperate stimulation. Her laughs dripped utter joy, her tongue lapped at every flower she could get her fingers on. My nectar glinted in the soft firelight where it soaked against the perfect skin I had given her.

“Good boy, good floret,” she whispered. It was hesitant, and uncertain, a role she was unfamiliar with, but clearly enjoying experimenting with. She was not experienced, but in truth, nor was I. We experimented with all the ways she could touch me, make me whine and click and unravel. 

The experimentation was very successful.

Sally Lywick

I thought I had seen cute things before. Puppies, kittens, flufferbugs. But no.

Reed was the cutest thing I had ever seen. 

I had paused long enough for him to gather himself back into the closest thing to his coherent body he could manage. The little leaf creature under me looked nothing like the beautifully inhuman and attractively monstrous eldritch spider-plant Reed had been slowly morphing into more and more over the time I had known him. Right now, he looked like an apprentice wizard penguin made of big fuzzy adorable leaves. Like a giant plushie. I squeezed him tight like one.

He wriggled under me as I let my body press down on his thin core wrapping. His little leaf arms rubbed up and down my back, the nice fuzzy texture so fitting for a squishy little thing. The hum of his core was powerful, but felt different. It made me want to protect him… and bite him more.

I kissed his little lips over and over and the drugs he kept clumsily giving me made my mouth overflow with drool and my body's own dripping amber sap. Usually injections from him were dominating and powerful but this was cute. He was so little, he couldn't help it.

I moved my attention back to where his precious little coat had opened to show me his core and kissed it again. Gnawing, biting, drooling, I tested how he reacted to every motion. Reed really seemed to like it when I nibbled softly at his core while my fingers swirled a little circles on the petals of his tiny sensitive flowers. I wasn't sure if I was any good at this, probably not. But I would have forever to get better.

I had a lull in motivation, and just rested for a moment. Listened to the sound of the gentle waves of nutrient water moving around us. Then I had an idea, and paused to feel around for a very specific and familiar sound thumping. When I located it near the corner of the couch, I reached into the slightly lumpy blanket of leaves, and triumphantly found the little stuffed fox that Reed usually kept inside his chest. He squirmed at the sight of the plushie, and flapped excitedly. “Oh. Yes, please, I would like to hold the fox.”

I put the little toy where he could reach it with his flappy leaf arms and he grabbed it tight. 

“Does this fox have a name?”

Reed was silent, slowly and adorably shrinking his head under his lilypad hat and coat as if to avoid my gaze. I giggled and rubbed my face against the nearest of the pillowy soft leaves to tempt whatever the stuffie’s name was out of him with my own weaponized cuteness. Finally, I won.

“Fable. I named her Fable.”

I squealed at how adorably embarrassed Reed was and pinned him down to kiss him again. “Oh, roots, babe. You're so cute. You named the fox after me? Because you missed me?”

He made what could only be described as a musical whistle of embarrassment. “Yes. She has a recording of your human heartbeat and lungs and circulatory system. Poppy gave her to me.”

“That's so sweet. You really love Poppy, huh.”

Reed started to flap around so hard his body began to lose coherence again. He had waffled when I asked him this question before, but big Reed was way better at fooling himself.

“Yes,” he confessed, before covering his tiny little face with Fable’s fur.

“Well, when you're big you again, I'm not gonna forget that, unless you make me I guess.” I moved down and started licking the special flower he had bared for me again. My mouth felt so good as I went, and as I recalled how the Affini equivalent to sexuality worked, I had a devious idea. 

I pulled my tongue out of the flower, and leaned up to his eye spot to whisper. “I bet it would feel so good for you if I licked Poppy's pollen off of Amelia before I did that.”

I dipped my tongue back between the petals, and Reed literally fell apart into a pile of vines around a core, emitting a noise like steam escaping from a kettle. 

I giggled again, and let out a contented sigh. I admittedly had no idea what I was doing. My exhaustive nights of research on what to expect when being courted by an Affini had contained nothing about this. We were in uncharted territory for me, and I was having so much fun trying things.

I looked down at my hand, and felt for the seam on the back where an access port was hidden. Where I saw him slip inside to puppet me before I could move myself. 

I reached into the pile of my boyfriend, then guided a thin vine to the slit on the back of my wrist, and pressed it into my hand. I shivered as Reed slid inside me, but held control of my joints. The sensation of connection to my boyfriend extended from my palm to the soft fingertips.

I wiggled my fingers, and Reed started to squirm as my actuators forced the tendrils into my tubing to flex and bend. The puppet controlling the puppeteer.

“How do I feel, to you?”

“Oh, Sally, you are extremely pleasurable to interface with.”

I giggled at his clinical word choice. “Deeper, then.”

Reed slid more tendrils inside, and I could feel him extending all the way up to my shoulder. I started to flap my hands, and Reed made what I could only call a giggly moan as he experienced my stimming viscerally and kinetically.

He kept sinking more of himself into my body, and eventually, he went to untie the ribbons on my back. Reed was clumsier on the class-A, and it was almost ticklish. Finally, more and more of him slipped inside me, coiling around my subsystems, compressing the fluffy stuffing to make room within my skin, until even that was not enough, and he opened hidden zippers on my ribcage and limbs to allow himself in as much as possible.

His little leaf body reformed in my arms, and I wrapped myself around him, rocking back and forth, letting him feel my motion from inside my own skeleton. We moaned together, loved and kissed and bit and touched. I felt so full of him everywhere, and yet he was so tiny in my arms. I was the doll with a plant inside, protecting, loving.

The more overwhelmed he got the more he sang in that beautiful language of melody and meaning. But I didn't know these words. He had told me about the affini-designed Maelodion language yesterday, and apparently just downloaded a knowledge of how to speak it overnight. This was clearly related, but something else, older and rawer and more expressive.

Finally, we stopped moving, the wiggles firmly shaken out. His nectar was leaking from every port on my body, but not the usual kind. It was clearer, runnier- more of pollen medium than a pollen carrier perhaps. Hot.

We relaxed, and just laid on the couch together, intertwined as deeply as it was possible for a pair of xenosophonts to be. Reed squeezed Fable tight, let out a rustling sigh of contentment, and kissed my chest.

“Thank you, Sally.”

“For what?”

“For giving me everything.”

Chapter Text

Last chapter Recap:

Reed took her little leaf form, and Sally and her explored switching.

Sally Lywick

I waited at the bathroom door as Reed finished disconnecting the various bladed limbs, scythes, and other kink tools he had gotten grafted onto himself while waiting for my refactor to complete. Each was dropped into the bathtub, and spread out roots to absorb the nutrient water, and flowers sprouted where they floated over the water line.

“Are you sure you need to do this? I don't think she will be scared of you, Master.”

He gathered herself back into his usual shape and fluffed the last of the water off of himself. He was much shorter now, only about 2.38 meters. It was a little weird to see, in a way that meeting his adorable little leaf side yesterday somehow hadn't been, since it was removed enough to just feel like something else entirely.

“I am sure that it is a mistake not to control such an easily modified variable. My usual size would be far too intimidating, and these are the least integrated parts of my body. We will be fine with them being stored during her stay, I do not strictly need so many limbs.”

I took a sip of my coffee lemonade, and then followed him to the front door. “Okay, but they are really hot.”

Reed slipped my familiar but modified old boots onto the port he had unscrewed my foot from. I stood up, and the interface vinecable that plugged into my lower back spilled out from under my dress almost like a thin tail. 

“Now. This is not my preference, but practicality dictates we use the wireless chip today.”

Reed reached over, and slotted a miniaturized ansible chip into the back of my head, which felt funny, but after the initial configuration it meant he could retract the interface from my spine and just leave a vine wrapped around me for comfort’s sake. I wiggled my fingers, and adjusted my input buffer to compensate for the slight delay. 

I looked at myself in the hab view- then remembered to restrict the view to what terran eyes could see. Immediately, the complex patterning on my dress vanished, replaced with a simpler boxy pattern in the same dull greenish blue that Reed’s leaves looked like in the human visible spectrum. I did remember something rather critical after a moment.

“Babe. Eyes.” The empty sockets were definitely not the best way to set Mom at ease. I could see my implant in the gaps, which was pretty cool. The sockets had been left as is after he removed the glass ones in the bathroom- it wasn’t like I used them to see anyway. 

“Ah, yes.” Reed quickly compiled replacements that resembled my old eye color with a slight green tinge, and popped them into place. I liked how the usual ones looked better, but it didn’t bother me either. He completed the look by planting the stem of a golden spatia flower into a tiny slit over my ear, which quickly grafted itself to my neurocirculatory system and was added to my nerve map.

“Okay, I look great!” I wiggled my arms around in excitement about seeing my mom as Reed opened the door for me. «Bye, hab!» I whistled in Maelodion.

Reed’s diminished size, even if it was just to make sure that my mother did not have a bad reaction, did mean that It was going to be easier for me to walk than be carried like usual. It felt like floating as I walked on my toes, and while it felt natural to have my hands in front of me, I wasn't exactly accustomed to having so little contact with him.

“Give me something to hold, babe. I wanna be holding hands with my Boyfriend when she sees us.”

He extended a vine and wrapped it around my wrist, then slipped five tendrils into the puppeteer's slit and closed my fingers, holding my hand from inside. He squeezed me, and I squeezed him back with the cilia inside the tube.

My Boyfriend smiled down at me. It was so nice to not need to remember not to call him Boyfriend or Boyfriend in front of my mom, a program he had made was doing the filtering automatically and I didn't have to waste cycles thinking about it.

It was a beautiful day, as usual. We reached the nearest spoke transfer point relatively quickly. Shortly after, the elevator tube opened, and a group of various sophonts walked out, but only one was my focus. I let go of Reed, and I ran over to greet her.

“Mom!”

She strolled over with a small practical handbag, and gave me a little wave. we stopped 87 centimeters apart, and she grinned at me. “Hey, Junior.” 

“Hey, Senior,” I answered with a big smile of my own. It was how we had always greeted each other, since I was a little kid coming home from classes. Even if it hadn’t technically been accurate since I changed my name, I still liked it.

Reed slithered over to stand slightly behind me, and gave her a little bow of his head. “A pleasure to meet you in the flesh, Ma’am.” He extended a vine that split into something vaguely like a hand, so she could shake it like we planned. 

Mom chuckled as she took the handshake. “You really can call me Autumn, Mister Lywick.”

He smiled. “And to you, I can still be Reed.”

With the carefully choreographed greeting completed, we were now off script. “How was the trip, Mom?”

She was staring at me. Her eyes were starting to adjust to the bright light on the main space of the ring, which meant she would be able to see me much more clearly. “Um, you know. Not too bad. Caught a shuttle to the Cymbidium, and…”

Every second she spent looking at me seemed to make her less sure of herself. I eventually remembered to blink. “Yeah? How was the shuttle? Meet anyone interesting?”

My mom swallowed nervously. “It was, uh. Fine. Huh. Yeah, you sure aren’t Fable Junior anymore.” Her gaze lingered on my neck, where the seam of my neck was woven shut by ribbons that crossed through embedded loops. 

“Yeah! I’m Sally Lywick now.”

“Sixteenth floret, if one must be precise,” Reed offered.

“So, you definitely look different. I knew you would from the video call, but it's a lot to take in in person. Your… body. You really look like, a doll replica, of my daughter. I guess that was intended. Right? That was the plan?”

Reed ran a finger through the soft fibers of my hair with a smile. “This is actually just one of several bodies she can use. Though Sally has yet to experiment with the others. Perhaps later tonight.”

“So, you can just jump between bodies now? Like in a video game? That’s kinda crazy. Sally, how did you design this?”

I giggled, and shifted my weight from one foot to the other in a little wiggle. “I didn't! Reed showed me a ton of possible things I could become, and I told him to just make me perfect. That's why my skin is like this- it's his best texture. It's only fair, his entire body is covered in fuzzy leaves too, because he wanted to make himself as comfy as possible for me.”

Mom rubbed at the artificial skin on her own shoulder where the affini had covered the old resection scar with a synthetic replacement. “Your skin is fabric? All of it?”

“Yeah! Isn’t it wonderful? No toes either. Actually, I don't even have feet right now.”

She made a face I couldn't place. “You always did joke about how you wished you could just not have toes, I guess you really can just… not have toes now, huh.”

She was quiet again. Reed waved a vine at us both. “Come, we should begin our walk to Sally’s apartment. Would you like me to carry your bag?”

“No, that’s fine,” she mumbled. 

We started to walk down the path towards the independent’s district, and had made it a decent ways before she spoke again, in an uncharacteristically small voice.

“How much of my daughter is left?”

Reed made a humming noise before answering. “That is a very imprecise question. If you mean her physical body, just her mouth remains biologically human tissue.”

She turned back to me, eyes wider still. “So you, um. You replaced your entire body? What did you do with it?”

I had never once considered where my human remains went. I looked at Reed, who answered the question after a moment. “The original body was decompiled, mostly. The nervous system was simply consumed by implant growth, which is how Sally is continuous with her past self.”

She was silent as we walked, for a long while. Finally, she broke the silence again, with a shaky attempt at humor.

“So, definitely no grandkids then.”

She preemptively held up the joking handsign, but I was already laughing.

“Sorry, mom, the Fable line ends with me, my last name is Lywick now. But on the plus side, I'm immortal, which feels like it accomplishes the same thing.”

“Hmm, not sure you’d agree if you had ever held a kid of your own, but yeah, I kinda figured that ship had jumped into hyperspace long before you became a floret.”

We had arrived at my old place, the door opened automatically, and we stepped through.

“-And when humanity was still this fledgeling empire, right, a lot of jump drive fuel production was still on Mars. And these particle accelerators were hard to maintain. Huge coolant systems, they basically had to have a constant supply of water to boil off heat, so they could only be near the northern Boreal Sea coastline, but they also had to get the exotic matter into orbit without letting it get too high above absolute zero, and that was best done from the ports down in Noctis. And with the political unrest, pipelines getting bombed all the time, this is when some mad fool has the idea of building, not a sturdier pipe, but a coolant train.” 

My mom took a large bite of the burger she had compiled, pausing from her excited gushing about early Solar history. 

“That seems like a highly inefficient way to manage waste heat,” remarked Reed. He was shaped sort of like he was sitting cross legged on the floor, since the ceiling was not really made for Affini. While his tone remained flat as always, he had been listening quite intently since Mom had started talking about this, asking small questions to prompt her to open more. It was fascinating watching him do it to someone that wasn’t me.

She finished chewing and swallowed. “Yes, and it sort of was, but remember that Mars had even less of an atmosphere back then, so things were more insulated. The idea was, this mile long train fills up from the pumps on the coastline, comes barreling in, immediately dumps its supercooled water into the radiator arrays. Then they load a vacuum sealed exotic matter container into just the front tank and separate that and the head of the train and that races down south to get launched into orbit as fast as possible, then comes back up empty and brings the rest of the tanks back to the coast with it. The engineering involved was ludicrous.”

“I see. Less strategic points to defend. And that solved the problem, then?”

“Ha! No, the Dusters just started blowing up the rails instead of pipes. Then the megacorps started using orbital weapons on the old colony tunnels they lived in to retaliate. So yeah, not a pretty story in the end, but it was still a very cool train. The legend is they used solid rocket boosters for the second part of the journey, but I think they were just nuclear steam engines.”

I picked up one of the cotton puffs on my plate and put it on my tongue, where it melted into a small amount of flavored nutrient water. Affini candy took getting used to. I had been a little tuned out, mostly just looking around my own old apartment. A cleaning drone had gotten rid of all the carpets I had haphazardly blanketed everything in, and it looked a lot less overstimulating as a result. It was a good reminder about just how inefficient my old coping mechanisms had truly been. All were just tradeoffs, shunting the load between compromises. I had heard about this train many times, of course. Mom always loved talking about various unusual transit systems from all around the Accord. “Mom, you should tell him the one about the magnetic slingshot!!”

She giggled, clearly tempted. “Maybe later, I think I’ve probably talked enough. Don’t want to bore people, you know.”

I could tell Reed was as far from bored as possible. He felt like he wanted just about nothing more than to hear Mom talk as much as she pleased, radiating a similar adoration he felt whenever he looked at me.

My mom, without the benefit of insider information, continued on the exact memorized social script she had taught me. “So what about you, Reed, any interests of your own?”

I could practically see his inner conflict, before he decided to let the thought that had briefly possessed him go. 

“I am… Perhaps the most accurate term would be a witch- It is why I opted for the appearance I did. For a time, particularly early on in the terran campaign, I was an active veterinary doctor, but have not been seeing patients for several years now. My actual practice, which I did mention during our brief video call, is the development of new drugs, variant drugs, and tending to other edge cases.”

“Ah, do you have, uh, a team you work with?”

“No, my endeavors are solo in nature, though I do expect Sally will be helping me moving forward.”

Mom had still been avoiding looking at me a lot, even more than she usually avoided eye contact, but she stole a glance in my direction. “I guess she’s got the upgrades to handle whatever mad science you get up to.”

“Actually, my chemistry laboratory would be more or less comprehensible to many pre-contact cultures. I do not simply compile premade designs. I practice rituals, rites of chemistry. The potential within molecules is a raw thing, and the language of reactions is poetry. To make a treatment is a labor of love like any other, and I do not take shortcuts whenever possible.”

There was still little to no variation in pitch of his voice, but there was a deep passion that I could detect as he continued. “Ours is a society built upon care, and art, and yet so often we take the art out of medicine. So many of my colleagues, present and former, are more inclined to the fastest, most expedient solution, rather than crafting something perfectly tailored from scratch. Risk-averse, smoothing away at details, erasing imperfections that were required for perfection. And this does work in many cases. The vast majority of xenosphonts will fall within a median range, but those who do not must be given the greatest care.”

My mother was the one smiling now. “Damn. Here I thought you might not have emotions at all.”

“Apologies, that was perhaps a bit much. I am very passionate about my practice. It could fairly be described as ‘spiritual’ in this language.”

She pondered for a moment before answering. “So, if you make medicine, how does this whole…” She vaguely gestured in my direction, “Doesn’t the whole brain upload thing kind of obsolete that?”

“You would be surprised by how relevant xenomedicine is in such a case, she is entirely unique after all. But I was drawn to Sally because I saw someone suffering from systems that were not built for her. Not even the systems of the Compact had yet found the ideal comfort for her. In such outlier cases, the individual must act, and I determined quite quickly that what she needed was me. In this way, our relationship is an expression of that same system of beliefs.” He smiled proudly. “And I still applied that same philosophy. I performed her digital refactor manually, ensuring every detail, every behavior was not only preserved, but extended into the domain she now inhabits. Every matrix bias set manually, every carrier function bespoke. A compiler could have done it perfectly, but perfect would not have been good enough.”

The only sound was my mom chewing for a moment.

“Mister Ly- no. Reed.” She chuckled to himself before taking a long sip of her wine. “It all makes sense now. All Sally’s life, I struggled to get doctors to listen to her. Stars, so many times she got handed the most one size fits all non-solutions. There was this one jackass I wanted to kick in the balls when he said autism accommodation wasn’t the issue and she just needed to lose… anyway. Things got better when you lot arrived, sure, but it was never like this. You’re here insisting you have to make a pill from scratch for it to be tailored enough to the individual. You’re the only match for Sally there could have ever been.”

“Sally is unique. Her care must be as well.”

Her eyes went to the ribbons sewn into my neck again, but this time, she didn't wince, or recoil. “Yeah. One of a kind. I think- I think I get it, more than I did at the start of the conversation, for sure.”

I did hand flappies and hugged Reed tight. “He’s a good Boyfriend.”

“So, okay. Call me old fashioned, right? But, why boyfriend? Of all the terms you could have picked. You’re going to be together forever, right? Like we’re talking, heat death of the universe forever.”

I shrugged. “I guess? It was my idea. I haven’t thought about it much. Boyfriend kinda superseded boyfriend in my mind, after a bit.”

She gave me a look of confusion for a moment. “Well, look. If you ever want to do one of those big ceremonies- Like, you know. Like a wedding, or the equivalent. I know they’re not exactly the kind of place a woman who sees public sex and just looks the other way would be best suited, but…” She chuckled. “My coworker on the Dionysus transit project- xey wouldn’t even share a single picture, told me I didn’t want to know. But I’d want to be there for my daughter, you know.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think I would want an orgy at my floreting ceremony anyway. I don’t really care, but if it was my day- it isn’t like Reed and I do that sort of thing.”

I felt a bouncing burst of pure amusement from Reed. “I believe, Sally, that there are things we do in private your mother might still not wish to directly witness.”

Mom put her hands up in mock surrender. “Okay, I mean, look. Sally was obviously conceived at some point. Couples do things! That’s natural! Whatever you gotta do, but I’d rather have to wear special glasses to hide things than not be there at all, you know? That’s all I’m saying.”

Reed considered the idea, but seemed hesitant. “At present, such a ceremony would consist almost entirely of my own social circle, Sally’s is still growing. We may discuss such a thing when she has an invite list.” Reed smiled warmly, and reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “But make no mistake, Autumn Fable, you will always be welcome.”

There was a comfortable silence as she chewed the last of her sandwich.

“So. I hope I don’t come off as feralist or whatever saying this, but I’d rather be damned by action than silence. This is a little philosophical for an engineer, but I’ll step out of my lane here. Are you still you, or are you someone new?”

I shrugged. “I still drink lemonade coffees. I still care about Cities Under The Highway, and you. In a way I guess I am someone new. I’m not Sally Fable anymore. I’m Sally Lywick. I have a Boyfriend who I love and loves me, and I think Sally Fable was too stuck in fear of the bad to take risks for the good. I’ll always be me. That's just the identity of a self referencing variable.” 

She smiled. “Okay, well, if you’re explaining personal statements in math terms you can’t have changed that much. But you understand that there’s a bit of… body horror here, you know? You don’t have fingernails, Sally. I can tell you're only pretending to need to blink. I guess I’m just surprised you changed so much, so quickly.”

I looked down at my perfect form- and only one of those I would get to inhabit. “Honestly… The body horror was being in a body that just… wasn’t meant for me. Transition helped, sure, but I spent more time avoiding flareups of sensory overload than I did enjoying living. It was an existence of constant, chronic suffering.”

Her face twitched, perhaps recognizing a bit more of what I had said than she expected. “Huh. Yeah, that makes sense. A lot of sense. Maybe I’ll have to think about that a bit. But to be clear. You wanted this? I know just an implant could have done it, but you went way further than I was really prepared for.”

“Sort of. What I wanted before doesn’t matter. I wanted a lot of things I think are ridiculous now. I’m more me than I ever was when I was human. I…” I began to anxiously flip the entire kilobyte of my stimming memory block over and over. “Please don’t choose… the idea of who you thought I would be over who I am.”

She looked down at her plate, bit her lip, and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m falling into the exact trap I had to be careful about when you transitioned, right? I’m getting hung up on how I feel about this. What matters is how you feel about this. Thanks for phrasing it like that. I read a lot of stuff on my way over that was about trying to be accepting of family becoming florets. It emphasized that change is part of it, but to be happy for who someone is in the present. And I feel very protective of you, and I think that I’m mixing up the valid concern you could maybe have been pressured into something with my own fear and lack of understanding.”

“Ah, I wondered if you had read what I sent you. Glad it could help,” Reed added.

She put her hand down as a fist on the table, close to mine but not touching, the way we always had. “Yeah. Sally, I don’t understand this, I don’t know that I ever will. But that doesn’t matter. I don’t need to understand it to support and love you. No matter what you become, the only thing that matters to me is that you are happy and safe. I’ll have a long time to get used to this. You’re my kid, and I’m still your mom, no matter what.”

I squeaked, flapped my hands in relief, but just stimming was not enough. I popped myself out of the feed of my own body, and conceptualized myself as the ribbon, piloting a puppet. I manipulated my actuator angles directly, wrapped my arms around her, and held. It was done purely on indirect sensor data, since I couldn’t actually feel her non-abstractly, but it was nice to know- I could hug my mom, and not be overwhelmed by bad sensations from skin and clothes and other human trappings.

She was silent the whole time, but gave me an awkward pat on the back. When she pulled away, I popped back into the direct sensor stream of my own body, and hopped up and down a bit, flapping my hands excitedly. She looked ready to cry.

“Sally, you've never hugged me before willingly, ever, I don't think.” She pulled his glasses off for a moment to wipe her eyes and chuckled, then held up the sign for ‘joking’ as she next spoke. “Well, Reed, I figured your game out. This is clearly an impostor. Where’s the real Sally?”

“I assure you, this is the only real Sally Lywick. No trickery has been employed.”

My mother and I both burst out laughing.

“You gotta teach him the sign, Sally.”

“He doesn’t usually have hands, Mom.”

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

The day ran on, and it was time for our visit to conclude until tomorrow. Sally’s mother had an offset sleep schedule from this hab ring, and we would reconvene with her tomorrow for lunch after she took a class-Z to reset her rhythm for the rest of the visit. It would be much longer for our subjective experience of time, given our plans for our endeavor into digital space tonight.

I had mostly just watched as Sally interacted with her mother. Sally really did not bear much resemblance to a human being anymore beyond in silhouette, even less than she probably realized. I was glad that her reaction to Sally’s transformation had been positive overall, it would have been very upsetting to Sally otherwise and would likely have required extensive memory editing to avoid traumatic association. Many of her origin species who expressed gender and sexuality divergent traits had an experience of parental rejection, and being both transgender and asexual she had been fortunate not to experience such. 

The artificial sky projected onto the hab ring caps was now in sunset, the evening was winding down, and my floret and her mother were in downtime on their devices. I opened a thread for my own communication program routine.

› BigHatLilypad
Hello, Poppy. The meeting has gone very well. I believe Sally’s mother would benefit from florethood.

› ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
Oh no. Everbloom no, no no. Reed. No. you’re not taking another. Please. You are obsessive enough with only one. You cannot have a nesting pair of such a high-needs xenospecies. Not again. 

› BigHatLilypad
I believe she is adorable, but no, I have been trying to internalize your insistence that I am prone to overextension. I will simply be attempting to have someone else do it, if and only if the opportunity presents itself.

› ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
I don’t believe you, my love. How many candidates are on your spreadsheet? Seventeen? Or have you already begun scouring the entire local group? 

I am joking, for the sake of clarity.

Or at least, I had better be! OvO

› BigHatLilypad
I have not even begun to investigate, but I decided that if I do intervene I will do so indirectly and restrict my search to merely the ships that the Occantalis II docks with frequently. It would be ideal if she was on such a rotation, since Sally clearly benefits from regular contact with her. They do not seem to meet the degree of full pinnates, but I believe it would be unethical to make them unable to see each other regularly.

› ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
I will be holding you to that promise. 

› BigHatLilypad
I shall copy a page from your text, Poppy. I will only meddle indirectly.

› ·͡_̷.̵͜`̵·̶̐°̥
Well, then I am very proud of you, my love. :> It seems Sally is a good influence on you.

No, however adorable she was, I was not interested in adopting Autumn Fable myself. But she exhibited many of the same subclinical behavioral markers that Sally had when I met her. I would have to investigate that later.

I watched through Sally's thousands of microscopic eyes as she excitedly informed her group chat that her mother had ultimately responded to her transformation within acceptable bounds, despite her initial trepidation. She did so on an actual tablet with her fingers, but entirely for her mother’s benefit. The skeuomorphism of having a physical object to need to access such things was long past her. She was adapting to her new existence considerably faster than projected.

Congratulations and excitement poured in from Princess, Araya, and whichever entity was currently in control of Amelia’s body. I was going to need to discuss that particular question with Poppy in detail, I had suspicions I had misunderstood certain elements of their arrangement.

“I’m telling my friends I have the best mom ever,” Sally said aloud for her mother’s benefit, and sighed happily as she closed the device.

Autumn answered her with a smile. “Ha! Yeah, pretty much same here. Just telling some pals how things went.”

I could not physically see Autumn's screen as I could her daughter's, but my monitoring programs on all her devices were more efficient anyway. Her own messages back to her home network reflected similar sentiments to what she had expressed aloud- she described Sally's new form as ‘kinda intense’ but believed her own fears to be founded in ignorance. 

One of Autumn's contacts, a rinan that she worked with, asked what had been done with Sally's original body, and she answered ‘Decompiled! 😵’

I had not lied when I answered that question- it was strictly true that a majority of Sally's original body had been decompiled. The sum of fatty tissues and musculature that were entirely discarded had made up 56% of the remaining mass. The rest of her human corpse was in a stasis unit, in case I found a reason to utilize it for something. Such devices were not generally suited for long term storage of living tissue, but fortunately all it had to do was prevent any decomposition of dead tissue, which was trivial in comparison.

Sally puppeted her own body to hug her mother goodbye again before we began the walk back to our home. To treat her own body as an object to manipulate was a clever workaround to mimic a terran expression of affection I had not considered. It demonstrated further that she was diverging from a strictly human and material-world mindset far faster than predicted. 

I had been keeping a close eye on her tolerance for the personality overlay that had been censoring certain titles around her mother the entire time. It had functioned admirably, making sure her speech patterns and facial expressions remained as expressive as her mother had trained her to mimic, the latter of which I had slowly been reducing in intensity over the course of the evening so she could relax more and Autumn could acclimate. Sally did not seem to notice or mind how little she emoted now by default, but Autumn certainly would have. It was not ideal, but it was impermanent, and Sally seemed to have a far greater emotional tolerance for anything resembling masking when it was not something she had to choose to do consciously. Nonetheless, she was more tired than she would be otherwise, and I would be ramping her off of all of the overlays before the end of the visit.

I lifted the passive behavioral modification program from her as soon as we had made it a few meters from the door, and her relaxation and contentment levels immediately spiked back up to ideal readings. She had done a wonderful job pretending to be human and I would reward her with things no human mind could have understood.

“It feels good to let go of that,” she sighed. She did not bother moving her mouth anymore, but for the tactile experience of speaking. “Mom is worth it. She’s the only person I care to mask anything for, but it’ll be good for her to adjust so I can drop it entirely.”

“Indeed.”

She looked up at me, and the pulse of need in her was mirrored within my own thoughts. I had spent quite a bit long enough outside of unified physical contact with my beloved pet- even if in the fourth and fifth dimensions of space we had still been linked by the ansible chip, and Sally's mind resided physically within my own core, it was not enough.

No more words were needed, she wanted me and I wanted her. We needed closeness, and even as we had both enjoyed our experimentations last night, I was the lead in our dance by default. I flowed into a tube around her body and arrested its motion entirely, lifting it up slightly. I was not nearly as skillful at the needed balance as I would prefer, but recalled from observation of Poppy carrying her own doll that she used Amelia's skeleton as a support. 

I plunged inside her spinal interface ports and wrapped tight around her like strands of a thick living suit, then formed into a bifurcated hexapodal configuration. I could not carry her in any particularly dignified manner by the standards of terrans, I simply did not have Poppy’s practice at wrangling a humanoid body with so little mass. But neither Sally nor I were bound by Terran rules, and I could carry her as a carpet of leaves on smaller legs that scuttled under her giggling body.

I had not originally intended to explore the subject of full haustorium shells for some time, but her adjustment to morphological freedom had progressed remarkably quickly. It warranted adjusting plans to introduce additional bodies for her to inhabit accordingly. I would need to grow propagules of her haustorium, but I had planned to make a scene of it, and her interface passages and fatty tissues had many gestational subsystems inside them. I sent messages to the BIOS to prepare. To surprise her would be enjoyable.

“Okay, I liked holding hands while we walked earlier, but this is fun too.”

Mimicry of the body plan of one of my prior florets did stir the memory of what they had enjoyed, and I decided to let whimsy dictate my actions. I formed a circular jaw rined with thorns and attacked her face, pressing my tongues deep into her own mouth in a loving kiss. When that was not enough, I opened the ribbons on her spine, and sank my core tendrils into the grooves on her spine. Her voice hitched and whined at the invasion, and I felt her cilia squeezing back at me, myself within her, and her within me. Finally, this was close enough.

It was a pleasant travel home, to say the least. Before long, we had made our way back to the wetlands area, and slithered through the door. I sent a progress request ping to the Hab AI as we entered, and was pleased to learn that the remodeling I had ordered had completed while we were out.

Taking the form of Sally’s virtual reality environment before her digitization had spoken to an old fondness for different scales of being. I had thought that perhaps becoming such spaces during her digital endeavors would be all I wanted, but last night had been delightful in more ways than I had anticipated. Not just for the experience of returning to my past without shame, but also with where the rest of me had been while LittleLeaf.main was allowed out. Embodying my hab, watching over the two xenosophonts that existed inside me, even if one of them was me. Perhaps I would now be considered a pluribus, but by any definition, Sally was as much a headmate as the reconstruction of my floret self was.

Upon reintegration of my separate threads during the split that allowed my submissive side to let go of the mantle of the title of Affini, I had realized I missed aspects of my time as a ship, and as a planetary logistics system. I had existed at a xenosophont scale for thousands of years now, and I felt the pull towards the hybridization of scales once more. While we had been out with her mother, construction drones had been installing specialized compiler planes into recessed panels all over the hab. 

Sally, too, deserved such freedom of physical form. I would need several days to design the seeds that would grow into the raw materials to be sculpted into new bodies. Fortunately, time was quite subjective, and I could do it in a few seconds if needed.

I pulled myself free of Sally’s spine, extended a vine to one of the interfaces in the wall, and initiated a new coolant loop. A rushing of frigid fluid flooded my core, sucked away into the wall as a flood of flash boiled steam, and time effectively stopped as I began to operate unthrottled by the tolerances of air cooling. Leaves were effective and adaptable heat radiators, but nothing could compare with the microscopic roots of the Occantalis II’s traction engines dumping excess energy into the fourth and fifth dimensions of space.

Goodness, it was so much easier to think like this, able to compute at a more reasonable speed. The only limiting factor of thought at this phase of existence was the speed of causality across my core, and a web of delicately interconnected entangled crystals of my core’s computational matrix allowed me to bypass the sluggish flow of mere electrons by sending signals along the shortest path through hyperspace. My consciousness split into a hundred threads, the normal conversation of subsystems becoming closer to a correspondence as each worked on separate problems asynchronously.

I experienced days of subjective time in a second of realtime, calculating and designing the bodies I would make for Sally as our physical forms remained suspended, frozen where they had been. At this speed, I was less a sapient being of thought than I was thousands of decentralized algorithms each operating in tandem towards a shared goal.

Her physical form could be so many things, more than the human-shaped beepleform she was currently. An amorphous gel, a doll the size of her hand. A khetari, an al'yssrian, a xenrani, a maelodion, a phytotech body truly indistinguishable from a terran-scale affini, even. Eternity was a long time, and she could be anything and everything.

With the designs finalized, I clocked myself back down to realtime, since the agonizingly sluggish crawl of mere lightspeed to peripherals like my physical body or Sally’s computational thread would drive me mad with boredom and loneliness otherwise. The disorienting crash of asynchronicity sickness hit hard, as hundreds of subprocesses assembled back into the dozen or so threads that formed my primary consciousness.

Sally’s voice went from a slow rumble to a deep growl, then finally sped up to normal speed. “Rrrrrreeeeeeeeeeed? Are you okay? I think I smell burning.”

Ah. Perhaps I could have taken that slightly slower. A hissing cloud of orange steam emerged from my core fibers, dyed orange and purple by trace particulate that had burned away. I was already assembling the injection modules for new core samples to be injected into her and begin fabricating them as fast as possible before my core needed to shut down for repairs. 

“Yes, I do appear to have set myself on fire.”

“Why?”

“I was thinking very hard.”

“Um, about what, Master?”

“All the forms I shall build for you. This was only ever meant to be one of so many.”

I raised a bladed tendril, and pressed into the fabric of her forehead, and pressed, into the interface port hidden behind the false skin between her eyebrows, then deeper, deeper until it pushed out from the flap on the back of her head, dripping her neuroelectric fluid medium. This would require another minor repair before we saw her mother, but it was only a small tear, rather than the total bodily destruction of two nights ago.

Sally’s decorative eyes stared dead at me, though the control mechanisms to simulate micro-adjustments and convey where her focus was had shut down. Her mouth hung open, her warbling voice produced by a secondary set of vocal threads in her throat. Her body went completely limp, as the pressure of my vine shorted her motor conversion structures entirely. I extended roots deep into the folded circuits, watching her spasm and twitch from the random signals of static discharges. Finally, I found the physical receptor, and activated it, priming her body for what came next.

The final of the core seeds completed, and I began to transfer my primary threads along the connection to being inside the hab itself through the vine that plugged from my core to the wall. I had damaged my body, and would follow Sally’s earlier example and use it as a tool while framing my cognition elsewhere. 

I completed the subjectivity thread transfer, and immediately my awareness of my own body grew. I was myself, but I was also the hab itself, with my pet swallowed within me, just as I swallowed her within my chest, just as her consciousness existed within my own core. A fractal of ownership and protection and control.

I stretched my surface, opened drains and compiled a few atoms of noble gasses, the interior space inside which my beloved floret was now enclosed, as if in the belly of some great beast. A sticky ooze of sap started to pool inside hollows in the walls, ready to assist in the seeding that was about to occur. I felt a small twinge of pain as I manipulated my xenosophont-scale body, plucked the first propagule bud from my core. It spread like a wave through my entire being, which manifested as a slight flicker of the lights in every room.

I opened the panels on the walls, and began to extend new limbs of study wood from the walls. Insectile graspers of hardened chitinous trunks coiled out from my walls, dripping resin ready to harden.

I locked my door with a loud click, simply for the satisfaction of feeling my mechanical bolt slide loudly into place.

I was going to enjoy this.

Sally Lywick

At this point, I figured it was best to just not question the things Reed pulled out of nowhere, but stabbing through where my brain used to be while twisting wooden limbs suddenly emerged from the walls was a new one. The air was thick with the scent of cinnamon as the branches grew and twisted, and I realized they were not bending, but growing, extruded from compiler planes in the walls themselves.

The tendril in my skull pulled free, and I regained motor control of my own body. I slumped to the ground, and felt something tingling in my entire body, but it was so novel a sensation I didn’t even have a name for it. Readiness, perhaps, but I had no idea for what.

Reed stood over me, but the figure looming wasn’t quite right. His core glowed orange even in the spectrums where it had once been merely purple, and many of his leaves curled and burned into ash. Layers of soft foliage sloughed off onto the floor, and a glittering black skeletal thing was left hanging from golden twine that spun from the ceiling.

His core had abandoned its prior container and was crawling away on spindly little legs toward the wall where a vine so hot it was glowing connected like an umbilical. I saw a compartment briefly open for him to slip inside, and then close. I looked back up at the mass standing over me, and saw nothing in the glowing eye.

That body wasn’t really him anymore. It was a puppet, as much as my own shell had been a puppet when I hugged my dad. Reed was the walls around me, he was the floor under me, he was the twinkling pattern of bioluminescence of the lights in the roots of the ceiling. His form of burnt leaves and creaking wood was a lure at the end of a deep sea creature’s tongue, a false spider dancing at the end of the strings of the living web.

I was his doll, and he was not only the witch, but the dollhouse itself. A single word boomed.

Run.

The voice was not a voice, not sound, but a roar that rumbled through the ground under me. I felt something like fear be reenabled within my code, and the smoking husk of jagged teeth and dripping pink drool was nothing short of everything human minds had evolved to fear the sight of. 

I felt a rippling of hexagonal artifacts over my vision, a momentary desync as my understanding of reality was altered by injection after injection into my sensory datastream and the real world was augmented to better reflect the truth my Master desired. I no longer knew what was material and what was our shared imagination, but it made very little difference to this game.

I bolted down the hall, and heard the limbs that Reed had disconnected from himself this morning splashing in the bathtub, climbing out to join in chasing me. Every wall sprouted twisted hands that tried to grab me, the floor itself clinging at my toeless feet. My clothing caught in the brambles and was ripped to shreds.

The witch-puppet stalked me on six legs that split into twelve and then twenty-four fingers, clicking and snarling like an animal on instinct. Severed limb grafs pulled themselves along in pursuit of me. I screamed in joyful terror as I fled. Once they cornered me in the bedroom, the only place left to run was my little nest room.

A disembodied hand grabbed my heel as I entered, and I fell with a crash into a pile of pillows into the padded interior. I looked up at the circular display that had once shown a projection of the view of Jupiter outside the ship.

Instead, it was a glowing purple orb, ringed with golden webs, the single eye made violet flame and sparks and heat. The carpeted floor began to warp like a liquid, binding me in place before new wooden limbs emerged from gaps in the walls. I had been chased into the space inside him made for me, just as he had designed a hollow inside his usual body to hold me beside his core.

I looked back over my shoulder, and saw the thing standing there, looming in the door with glowing injectors raised.

My arms and legs were pulled apart, spreading me into a position of total vulnerability on the floor of the nest.

The thick boughs crushed in at my body, and a dripping sap began to harden into place. I could feel the thrumming around me, squeezing, loving. The walls undulated as though I was in a stomach. Perhaps I was.

The witch-puppet skittered overhead, and I screamed, sobbed in pleasure as it sank its rigid needles into my flesh. Tubes wriggled back into my spine from below, and the hollow space within my bones was flooded with a honeyed ooze that seeped into me until my skin began to tint yellow and leak.

The detached limbs that had crawled into the room after me anchored themselves to interfaces that grew up from the plush flooring. A dozen hands went to work, undoing the invisible seam on my chest. I opened up, unraveled under the house spider’s tender ministrations with the careful application of bladed claws.

The chittering thing on top of me opened its chest, and dozens of tiny orbs the size of marbles glittered purple and orange from within. The house’s hands pulled them out one by one, and carefully planted each in the fertile bed of my body. I felt the seeds take root one by one, drinking in the nutrients being pumped into me and connecting with the nervous tissues in a symbiotic communication. Each propagule tugged at my haustoric tissue, biting off a tiny little bit of my being to combine with the strands of his encoded essence within.

I felt them growing, in my breasts, in my belly, in my arms, my spine, my thighs, my skull. A flood of bonding chemicals overrode any residual horror a mammalian brain structure would feel at being parasitized and filled with eggs by a chittering insectile monster. I loved each planted orb taking root inside my body like my own child.

Finally, the rattling thing of web-bound wood collapsed into an ashen pile beside me, and my body was frozen in place as the resin inside my tubes hardened into a crystalline structure. There was a long silence, a heaving comfort as the nest’s arms tucked me in a pile of softness and blankets. It was so nice to be inside my boyfriend like this.

Some unknown time of tranquil peace later, I felt a tug. I popped out of my body, and assumed my ribbon avatar. I looked at the doll body, oozing golden fluids from every fabric seam, impregnated by dozens of seeds that would grow into what became new bodies for me.

“Wow, babe. That was super hot.”

Reed smiled, and I felt the house itself creak. “Indeed. Well, this is as good a place as any to leave your body for the moment. Come, it is time we began to explore the rest of the ship.”

I swam up to the glowing eye on the wall, and nuzzled against him. “Where first, then?”

“I figured we might pay Poppy a visit. It is time I shared the extent of my true feelings with her.”

Chapter Text

Sally Lywick

“Oh, frost, Reed. It’s… this is fucking incredible.”

I felt him smile, not that an abstract pointer had a face. We had no bodies here, there was no reason to.

Reed had, until now, kept me confined to the local network of his core and hab- which appeared to not actually be separate at the moment. The grander ship network was so much more beautiful than I could ever have imagined.

“I informed Poppy we would be visiting, but she will take a few realtime seconds to be ready, which we will experience as several minutes. We could simply suspend our consciousness during the agent transfer, but I thought you might enjoy the experience. Feel free to probe around.”

I had always had a passing interest in the digital infrastructure that underlaid the Compact’s spaces, but was frequently frustrated by how little information was actually available on the subject. As I took in the information sea I was navigating, I understood why. Information was not being restricted, exactly- the unmodified human mind was just not well adapted to understanding it. Reed forwarded me an n-dimensional intuition library that allowed me to conceptualize of spaces in several thousand dimensions, and I quickly installed it and immediately agreed it was the best way to make the structure make sense, though it didn’t help with lacking language to describe it.

The sky was everywhere, in senses other than sight. The static ping of cosmic radiation poured like thick rain against the hull sensors, giving the top level view of the ship a feeling like being in a car on rainy drives when I was human. A soft patter of the random noise function of the universe. I captured a short sample of it for later, then turned my attention upward, or downward. There was no real spatial analogy that made sense here, but there was a depth to the structure for sure.

There were glowing hyperspace connections to the extraship network, and when I probed at them I caught glimpses of the fact that the tree I sat at the base of was merely one in an entire forest. Something to peek at later, once I had wrapped my metaphorical head around this one. 

I pointed my focus back onto the local addressable space, dove down the trunk of the address structure, and was immediately shocked by its sheer scale. I knew that the Occantalis II was a tiny ship, with only a thousand or so sophonts that lived on its physical rings- but the number of digital minds was accessed as a 32 bit string. The vast majority of the spaces were unindexed, but whoever did systems administration had ensured there would be a unique address for over four billion before needing a new scheme. Material beings were outnumbered by a factor of somewhere between 16 and 256, it was difficult to tell exactly.

I picked a few connection points at random. Watched a school of dolphins taking an art class on hab ring two, replayed the last minute’s video buffer of a khetari pitball game on ring three, calculated the trajectory for a midair golf ball on hab ring one and left a note for an affini to nudge it a few micronewtons spinward so the floret got a hole in one. I stared without sight down recursive nodes, deep tendrils of files that tunneled into the abstracted medium like shoots through soil. Some access functions had λa.aa in their definitions, and would have taken infinite amounts of time to compute. There seemed to be a party being thrown several million iterations deep by beings whose construction I could not even begin to fathom. I almost started to swim down one, but Reed pulled me back. 

“Not yet, my pet. Higher levels of abstraction require altered cycle speed. You are not ready for the roots that stretch into the greater ansible recursive omnicule yet. Your friend Araya could tell you more about that.”

I peeked back at the external connections table, and noticed there were particularly strong links to certain other ships’ trees. I inspected the communication schedule, and felt the material weight of the three dedicated linkups in the hyperspace broadband surface that were reserved for me alone. Each felt like a string I could tug on- one led to Princess on Cassius, one went to Araya on the Illastria, and the sturdiest by far connected directly to my mother’s hab back on Dionysus IV, though it was now set to reroute to my own apartment since she was visiting. 

“Ah, Poppy has begun to initialize her digital environment. Come.”

We began walking along the shortest traversal path to Poppy’s hab. We passed nodes for social venues, kink clubs, special interest chatrooms. It was much like the realspace below us, and several locations were even tagged to link up with buildings and locations within hab ring four.

What at first had appeared to be a sprawling, disorganized organic tangle of habs and roads was now quite clear in its order. There was an underlying equation, a parameter space to it that I could make sense of. 

We arrived at the join point, but Reed paused, and increased our time dilation to delay entry further. He was nervous. I started to play with my stim kilobyte to give him a moment, but the waves of anxious energy were only growing.

“Master, do you not think she loves you back?”

“I cannot be absolutely certain. I do not wish to make her uncomfortable with unrequited feelings.”

“It’s going to be fine, Reed. Just tell her how you feel.”

“You would understand how the events of our initial courtship might reflect poorly on my judgement of the internal states of others.”

I giggled, and popped an FF to a 00 and back. “Reed, that whole misunderstanding was because you held something back.”

“That is a good point. Thank you, my love.” He fired a wave of approval and I squirmed so hard my stim toy looked like a random byte sequence.

“Well, onward then.” Reed activated the connection node, and everything felt shunted sideways for a long centicycle.

We emerged into a simspace, and It took me a few moments to adjust to having sight and weight and non-abstract senses again, though the environment was loading. I read that the metadata labeled this as ‘CoreWorldsVista-0126-07.’ 

It popped in around us, and my mind failed to comprehend what I was looking at. There was no gravity, but there was a lattice of wooden rails that stretched out into infinity, creating uncountable vanishing points at every rational angle. Space itself was warped and light curled whimsically around. We were floating in space… and there was an atmosphere. There was a light breeze, and the smell of sweet pollen on the wind. 

In space.

I had been shunted into what was labeled as a ‘beeple’ avatar by the settings in Poppy’s hab, but… the avatar I now inhabited was nothing like any beeple I had ever met. I was pink and fuzzy, covered in leaves, flowers, crystals, eyes, and fuzzy tentacles, with no markings that would indicate a front or back or really anything beyond being a sphere covered in stuff. It was perfectly designed to latch onto the structural beams that encased the large voids that larger structures hovered within, packed spheres covered in doors that faced every direction in an expression of functionality and freedom from any design philosophy forced by gravity. Poppy and Reed clambered along the strut next to me, in seemingly identical avatars to mine that were both tagged affini. I wasn’t sure what the difference was at this point, and maybe there wasn’t one I could understand yet.

I looked up, or at least away from the darker direction where my terran brain structure was desperately trying to think of as down based on primitive light cues. The sight above was no less mind bending. An enormous work of art seemed to be phasing into and out of reality along complex axes of space, undulating with wooden rings like a fractal. When I calculated the distance to the sphere of glittering metal and wood phasing entirely into hyperspace I saw it was the size of the entire moon I was born on. After another few seconds I saw the pattern repeat rotated, and realized it was a sculpture, twisting in a torus shape such that only part of it was dipped into realspace at a time. A sculpture in five dimensions on a scale beyond comprehension.

“Everbloom,” I buzzed. “This is what the Core Worlds look like?”

“You should see the parts your digital haustorium is editing out, Sally.” Poppy giggled.

“Poppy, please, I am attempting to give her a slower introduction than this,” Reed said with an irritated burst of static directed at Poppy.

“Only a small part of the Core Worlds can even be represented in a way your processing architecture can handle, but you will get there eventually, I’m sure!”

I lowered my render distance to be less overstimulating, and just focused on Poppy and Reed. “Where’s Amelia?”

Poppy waved one of her fuzzy tendrils around breezily. “Oh, somewhere quite high up in the branches, I think. She does not descend down here terribly often.”

“I see,” I remarked, before deciding to change the subject back to something I could have understood more than two weeks ago. “So, um, Miss Poppy, Reed wanted to tell you something!”

Reed was silent.

“Oh?” Poppy wiggled several of her antennae with amusement.

Reed finally answered. “Yes, indeed.” Something inside him felt conflicted. “Actually, Sally, I believe I would like to have this conversation with just the two of us, if you do not mind.”

“Um. Okay. Do you want to pause me or something?”

“It is not actually you I would like elsewhere, Sally, but perhaps you can keep him company.”

Reed shimmered, and then a fourth identical avatar of fuzzy tendrils split off from him, though it was tagged beeple too. A trace on the code identified it as a/ReedLywick/LittleLeaf.main, though the alias was littlehatlilypad.

“How interesting,” Poppy remarked with a tone like hunger. 

“You two go explore,” Reed-Affini said. “Perhaps one of the ansible clubs would be a good place to go.”

Little-Leaf-Reed pinged his agreement, and shimmied down the lattice closer to me with a fluttering of his wings. “Yes, the conversation will be easier if I am not present, I agree.”

Poppy leaped over to us, and the spherical ball of fuzz somehow seemed to loom over us even if there was no real up or down here. “Leaving so soon, little thing?”

“Yes. You will be too distracted if I do not.” The Reed-xenosphont reached a tendril out to me, opened a transit packet, and attached us both to it.

The simspace ripped away, mind bending vista dissolving into abstract static, as we rerouted to somewhere else. He jumped us to a different node before I knew what was happening, and I was a little relieved to see that the default simspace had an up. Gravity was applied straight down a single axis of only three, there was a simple fluid sim for air resistance, and basic collision on the empty space with a black sky and a white floor under us. The metadata for the space labeled us as enroute to a data hub in Digital Space from which we could connect to most of the Terran Protectorate.

I looked down at my own hands as they loaded. I had been defaulted back to a roughly human doll body, and Reed, the part of him that was with me, was now a creature I was pretty sure was a Maelodion. He had a round central fruit body with a slightly bean-like shape, and six vine limbs that split into twelve branches and twenty four ends that were each a bit thicker than my fingers. 

“So. Poppy is kinda intense, isn’t she?”

“You lack several millennia of experience required to contextualize how correct you are.”

“What’s the full history there, then? Like, not just Big Reed, but you specifically?”

Little Leaf

I was more than a little annoyed at myself. To be specific, my affini self. My first true outing as an untethered distinct sophont in a non-regressed state starting in the presence of our former owner was perhaps tone setting. But my master process had been right that for him to speak to Poppy earnestly, I would need to be elsewhere. I did hope that he was able to overcome his nervousness, though I projected rather high odds he would end up avoiding the subject of his feelings for Poppy regardless. 

“Our history is rather complicated, and admittedly, what exactly I am as an entity has not been particularly well defined yet. Perhaps it remains to be discovered.”

She poked at the side of my central body. “Well, you chose a Maelodion avatar, what’s up with that?”

“Reed was in Maelodion space when he was domesticated, and Poppy put him in the form of a Maelodion fruitbody for most of him third bloom. I still carry significant affinity for the species. I consider Maelodia to be my homeworld, since Poppy and I spent over five thousand years there before moving on. But Reed was technically uplifted on a station near the Andromedan warp gate, two blooms before first contact with the first of the Maelodion Choirs.” 

“I know one day i’ll be five thousand years old too, but the idea of that scale of time is still hard to wrap my head around.” The sweet doll sat down on the floor next to me, putting her head about level with my eyespots. “Tell me about them, what are they like? I know there are a few on the ship but I’ve never actually met one.”

I wiggled my tendrils with excitement as I prepared to infodump.

“Well, while terrans would probably first think of the Maelodions as being highly gifted in music, arts, and mathematics, they are most notable in a historical sense for being a rather difficult civilization to ideologically domesticate, thanks to their ability to transfer information between each other and mutate it at rather rapid speeds. The strategy of domestication is simply inefficient on an individual scale for a species that can shift between individualized behaviors and something more like a decentralized hivemind, a form of almost multicellular cooperation, called a Choir. To the Compact, it was a slow, grinding campaign that required mobilization of a significant fraction of the warships in Andromeda. To the Choirs, it was a brutal war of ideas that lasted many generations.” I climbed into Sally’s lap, and curled my limbs around her as she considered what I had just told her. 

“Oh, dirt. That’s crazy, that anyone could resist the Compact that long. Though I think Big you did say they had like, multigeneration wars over the meanings of ancient songs too?”

“Yes. It is perhaps a misleading phrase, since to humans a generation is a few decades, but Maelodions were more complicated. The species has two halves, sessile, nonsentient songtrees and motile sophont fruitbodies. The songtrees stored enormous amounts of cultural information, but cannot themselves conduct thought. They sang the song and could be updated with new information, but did not alter it, not consciously anyway. The fruitbodies are what became the now-domesticated species, for the most part, and at the time they had quite short life cycles. Your conception of what constitutes a distinct organism is admittedly not helpful for understanding the relationship between them. The fruit body itself is not a sophont in isolation, but the song that resonates within it and steers its motion is, and the same song in different fruitbodies will become a different individual.”

Sally giggled. “Reed, I think I can empathize pretty hard with a mind that exists outside of a body at this point.”

“That is fair. In any case, a generation to them was only the time of a single rotation of their planet around their home stars. A few years. The rate that the songtrees grew new fruits.”

“Oh, that’s really short.” Sally started fidgeting with the soft leaves atop my central body. “It’s funny, you would kinda think the plant species would get along. I know that the word plant isn’t really accurate, but you know what I mean.”

“I do, but it is actually difficult to imagine a society less philosophically aligned with the Affini than the Maelodion Choirs. The Compact arrived at the peak of the neofundamentalist classical period, which was an art movement with a death toll in the billions. The Choirs were at once fixated on philosophy, art, and storytelling, and also engaged in mass violence on scales that the Accord could scarcely imagine. Entire cities were sometimes destroyed with hypermetric weapons over differences in interpretation of stories, or debates about which new melodic fragments belonged within the songtree memory.”

The floret cuddling me shuddered slightly. “Oh, so they had really advanced tech, huh. That’s kind of wild that a species with super short lifespans could do that.”

“Due to their ability to accrue vast quantities of compressed knowledge in songtrees, and each fruitbody being immediately grown with the full cultural knowledge that their parent tree contained, the civilization was far more advanced than Terrans despite having existed for a far shorter amount of time before making contact with the Affini Compact. They were, for a time, postscarcity hypercooperative organisms similar to the Compact, but were incapable of constructively engaging with those different from themselves. They had never needed to consider reckoning with anything but minor divergences from their own song, and they were very quick learners at what war was.”

Not unlike the Compact’s own history in that regard, admittedly, but that was a story better told by Poppy, whom had actually lived through that short period of Affini history.

“They expanded through a region of space that dwarfed the Terran Accord over a period of only about a decade, but then halted as the dispersal caused them to undergo what could perhaps be considered ideological speciation. The Choir became Choirs, causing the entire civilization to enter permanent war with itself before they entered a technological snowball phase. They started trying to kill each other’s songtrees. Similar to how humans plateaued in their own technology several centuries before contact due to capitalism.” 

“And all that because they liked different songs?”

“In a sense, but it might be better compared to a memetic evolutionary battle. Their previously eusocial strategies made the conflicts rather horrific.”

“How so?”

“Fruitbodies, while entirely sophonts in their own right, did not value their own lives as individuals, not when compared to the value of ideas within. If they returned to the songtrees frequently enough, their ideas and contributions were preserved, and the songtree seeds inside them would be fertile from the moment they were born, so they had almost no biological evolutionary revulsion to dying young, nor multigenerational caretaking of any kind. Because any living Maelodion fruitbody could contribute to the songtrees without filtering, simply murdering each other over small differences in opinion was a self-selecting behavior for Choir alignment. You can perhaps imagine what happened when the Choirs learned what florets are.”

Sally winced. “Ah. That must have been really difficult for the Affini mindset.”

“It was considered psychologically scarring for most affini who participated. Reed’s second bloom was a cotyledon researcher and struggled greatly with his first floret seeing itself as inherently disposable.”

The space around us shifted, as our packets had completed communication with the ansible hub and we were now waiting to choose a destination. I had meant to ask Sally if she had any particular destination of interest. I had been considering attempting to ping Jess Verdun to ask if Sally’s friend Princess was awake and available, but had been too distracted talking about Maelodion history. Existing on a single thread of consciousness was an unfamiliar experience.

“So, how do they work today? Do they live longer now?”

“Well, the domesticated Maelodion species is now composed mostly of two modes of being. Individual fruitbodies, whose lifespans are now measured in centuries unless they digitize, such as those who live on this ship. For them, the songtrees have been replaced by artificial systems that preserve the exact nature of the choirsong for them in a solo capacity. The second group, which emerged much later with heavy supervision, live once more as cooperative choirs linked together to a songtree so they can be in a perfection of harmony that was never possible before the Compact.”

“That last one sounds a lot like the drone stuff from Cities under the Highway, actually.”

“That is a fair comparison. In any case, it was ultimately the complete rewriting of the song itself that allowed the Maelodions to be domesticated. The language protocol was reconfigured such that all statements have a meaning checking mechanism in them, using a scheme similar to rhyming. It is probabilistically impossible for a statement in any modern Maelodion language to be misunderstood, because only about one in ten thousand possible sequences will pass this checksum. 

“No wonder you like speaking it. I bet you invented it.”

I blinked my eyespots in the negative. “Reed was not present for that effort, he had already been taken as a floret by Poppy.”

Sally nodded. “So, he told me he, like, pushed himself too hard, but never mentioned anything specific.”

“Reed’s second bloom was domesticated because he was a danger to himself and other sophonts. The specific sequence of events that caused him to cross the line of needing forced domestication, which is vanishingly rare among affini, was grafting himself to his own dying Maelodion cotyledon floret, attempting to become a makeshift songtree for it, and taking the song of their Choir within himself. It was an attempt to extend the bounds of the limited haustorium technology that was able to be developed for organisms with such short individual lifespans by that early point in time.”

Sally’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait a second. I’m not the first floret he did this with, then?”

“You are the first to fully succeed. Reed had the benefit of over a decade of prior research on how terran brains work that he did not have with a cotyledon with only weeks left before it started breaking down. Reed made sure it would be him who shouldered the danger, rather than his floret. You have surely observed that he is prone to acts of recklessness in service of others. He took a risk based on the assumption that the song of a Choir could not influence an affini core from within, and he was wrong. His floret’s memories and song were also the memory of an entire culture, its perspectives, its worldview, and he was corrupted beyond recognition. It was Poppy who stopped him.”

Sally began playing with her stim kilobite, cycling through a prime number sequence on it like she used to do with her fingers. “We’ve never talked about past florets.”

“The most recent floret before you was a xenrani, one who despised most pheromones. His name would roughly translate to Hermit.” I was unsure if saying his floret or my floret was accurate, and dodged the question with an indirect phrasing.

Sally smiled. “Let me guess, he developed an entire new set for him?”

“Of course. Hermit is one of only two I have any detailed memories of stored locally, though there are extensive records kept externally. The ones between the first and fifteenth are blurrier, and difficult to talk about. Many of their xenosophont species do not even have names in terran languages presently, since their biochemsitry is so radically incompatible with human habitation that they have yet to meet.”

There was a slight shunt as an affini monitoring the hub traffic noticed we were in the middle of an important conversation and moved our simspace into a side lane until we were done, leaving a packet of class-A narcoalgorithms for us if we wanted them. Perhaps later.

“So, what about the other one you remember? What was his first floret like?”

I turned the eye of my memory inward. “His first floret was a chemist and biologist. Its name might best be translated as… the 3836th member of the Chomatacharians. A fruitbody that devoted its entire short life before the arrival of the Affini to developing and researching medical technology. It was from a rather radical Choir, since it considered individuals worth treating with a level of focus equal with songtrees.”

Sally said nothing. She did not need to. I paused, and was forced to reckon with the obvious that my Affini side was inclined not to think about. The part of him that was something else, that had grown from a seed alien to his original being. The part of him that drove him to the extremes of proving himself as an affini the hardest, because that part of him was perhaps not.

Me.

“I… tried to extend the lifespans of my people, despite the conflicts. I believe I was convinced that the war could be ended with the help of the Affini. It is difficult to identify what parts of me are carried from the fragments of the failed digitization, what are Reed himself, and what are bits that have been gained along the way. 70 blooms is a very long time, and there is no true continuity of self on such a scale. I am descended from that Maelodion doctor, but so is all of me, Reed the Affini included. He is today, what Poppy put back together 18 thousand years ago, from the pieces left after his failed attempt to save me as I was. Or Chomatacharia-3836. The exact difference is impossible to say.”

Sally squeezed her plushly soft arms around me, which squeezed my resonant chamber such that joyful thoughts were stronger. I faintly remembered Reed telling me that Maelodions were practically evolved to be florets because of our huddling response.

The affini from earlier checked in again, and it left a kind but slightly pushy note reminding us that antilatency ansible bandwidth was a more finite resource than it might appear, and if we didn’t move along it was going to have to encourage us to return back to the hab until we were ready to connect.

“Are there any places we could go to that represent your connection to that past, babe?”

I considered the question, and immediately knew where to take her. I queried the table of digital hangout spaces run by one of the new digital Choirs, and stopped when I saw one labeled the Drone Genre. It would be perfect. Araya was even on its frequent guest list. I gave the hub overseer our destination and sent her a request to join us.

“Yes. We can go to a social space frequented by both terrans and maelodions.”

THANK YOU, CUTIES, the traffic manager printed, and then connected us to the outgoing port to the Illastria.

Sally seemed amused by the fact that I was being treated with the typical affection affini gave all xenosophonts. “So, um. When we go wherever you just picked. What is my relationship with you supposed to be, exactly? Will they see you as my owner?”

“The answer to that would be decided between us as individuals. We are at the same level of hierarchy, though I am not a floret and you are. I am simply your partner. However, no one is likely to question our relationship. You will find that these things get muddier the deeper into the digital world we travel.” 

I was going to have to explain the greater ansible recursive omnicule to her, wasn’t I. alas, something to do on the travel from the hub to the Drone Genre. “It is worth saying that I am not strictly submissive.”

Sally reached for one of my tendrils and squeezed it between her fingers. “I’ll think of you as my witch, then.”

I smiled, though I did have to hastily add a floating mouth to my model to actuate the gesture. “And you are my doll.”

Actually, if I was already going to be customizing my digital avatar, I might as well go all the way. I exploded the default Maelodion base into its constituent assets, loading mods that redefined my shaders, and condensed my eyespots back down to one on a head above the central resonant body, attached my witch hat back on top, and scaled myself up to be taller. Given where we were heading, I added a latex shader to my leaves, though I kept them feeling fuzzy for Sally to touch.

Thinking of which. The transfer packet had completed its vinefrot, predictive algorithms had finished scanning us to build lag compensation models, and the skeuomorphic door that represented the connection confirmation in a simspace had appeared. We were ready to start the jump to the dronekink music club.

“Come, my love. Interesting as the past may be, it is time to explore the present.”

Chapter Text

Reed Lywick

I watched as the two xenosophont subprocesses disconnected from Poppy’s hab, and rustled my feathers in exasperation at the glee I could sense coming from my best friend.

“I see you have… redesignated certain elements of yourself since I saw you last.” Her wings fluttered for a moment, and she radiated joy. “It is good to see my little Maelodion floret growing up. What prompted the shift?”

Back home, I fidgeted with a cabinet and stroked the Sallydoll’s hair with one of my hands to soothe my nerves.

“Sally deduced how I spent the day apart from her during our courtship. I experimented, and realized I could no longer reconcile the xenosphont within me as being entirely contiguous with myself. I have designated it as a distinct subsophont thread.”

Poppy wrapped her tendrils around the climbing lattice, and I could see purple glinting in dozens of crystalline eyes.

“And you’ve registered it with the central bureaucracy, then?”

Of all her humor, this I was able to fully understand. The systems of the Compact were really an elaborate game, and one that we shared only occasional interest in. “No. I am sure one of the Occantalis facets has noticed the change and will do it for me like she did with Sally a week ago.”

One of Poppy’s beaks clicked in an expression of amusement. “So it’s not claimed, then.”

I curled a quartet of antennae in nervous frustration. Getting distracted by this topic was not going to make proposing a relationship with her any easier. “No, Poppy, you are not domesticating my subprocess.”

Poppy leaned closer, pinging playful aggression with pheromones. “I see. Well, if your adorable little algorithm of a doll floret isn’t here, perhaps we can return to physical space. I am not used to operating at this speed anymore, it is a little draining. You could just come over the physical way.”

“I could not. I set my body on fire by accident. I am currently integrated into my hab. I will actually need to ask you to help build a new body. Again.”

“Of course you did. Well, I have a spare shell you could stream to.”

She pinged me with a connection address, and I accepted the link. A compiled drone frame was unideal, but would at least be suitable for the purpose of having a discussion about my feelings for Poppy.

Everything shifted, and I loaded into a bipedal phytotech frame body in Poppy’s living room.

62.8 nanoseconds later, the massive load of phytotech-targeting drugs hit me.

“Oh,” I mumbled with Amelia’s voice box, and the feeling of the vibration in an organ as tactile as a throat was utterly fascinating. I tried to stand from the couch, and failed completely to coordinate Amelia’s weak artificial muscles. 

I crumpled to the floor in a quivering pile of tactile pleasure. The sheer load of Poppy’s pollen bonded to every tactile sensor on the body was utterly overwhelming, and even without that, the narcotic load of affini-targeted xenodrugs Poppy kept this body under was quite intense.

Poppy giggled to herself, and picked me up. I was so used to being larger than her, no matter how our journey through the Compact had taken us, Poppy always seemed to settle on a form smaller than mine. But now, from the perspective of her companion’s eyes, she looked enormous. “You really should check the destination on that sort of thing before you accept. I am flattered by the show of trust, however. Guess I have you all to myself now, don’t I?”

My ability to answer was cut short as she kissed me. I did my best to reciprocate with the limitation of Amelia’s single tongue. It was fascinating how a chemical sensory organ that could only detect a few dozen compounds made each of them so much stronger. The sweet strawberry of her tongues that dripped down my throat was overwhelming even before the re-dosing of class-A ATDs hit me.

All this kissing was going to make a confession that I wanted to pursue a relationship with her difficult. I was capable of terminating my connection, theoretically. But the cognitive formatting required to fit my consciousness into the body of a beepleform human was not making the idea of doing so appealing.

Poppy’s vines lashed at my wrists, pulling the joints backwards. It was such a bizarre experience to be in a body that bent so few ways, rendering physical existence itself even more of a form of stiff bondage than it normally was. So few points of articulation. I was used to having limbs with hundreds if not thousands of points of contracting fibers and fully flexible cores. It was everything I had so fetishistically adored in Sally, and it being applied to me did confirm that partitioning littleleaf.main did not mean partitioning all enjoyment that came with occasional submission.

Her grip tightened as Amelia's body converted my enjoyment into a moan, which the drugs then converted back into a wave of pleasure that the hab mistranslated into repeated pressure warnings on the leftmost air filter over the fume hood in my chemical laboratory in my home.

I struggled to push her away, but to no avail, and experienced a distinct tightening sensation as Amelia’s body reacted to the stimulus with an arousal response. A well conditioned body, indeed, which made sense given its original inhabitant was so rarely present in it.

“I never let go of what is mine, darling. No matter what form you take. You will always be mine.”

“Yes, Miss Poppy,” The body responded. Further questions about what exactly Amelia even was surfaced but I was in no state to examine them.

A rubbery rope was bound in crisscrossing lines around Amelia’s- around my arms, looped through an anchor point on the ceiling. I thrashed against the bondage, but this form was not designed for resistance. It had been made from a form practically evolved to be a pet, and sculpted further still for that purpose. To trap an affini in it was as profane as it was erotic.

“Wouldn’t it be lovely, Reed dear? To give a piece of yourself to me again? I am not a jealous affini. It need not be your whole self! Not yet, anyway…”

A scream escaped from Amelia’s lips as the injector in Poppy’s tail sank into me. I would give her everything, give her eternity. But not as she was implying. Not now. 

I fumbled around for a digital access point, and found the compiler. Even as I grew more addled by the moment, I had the advantage of being connected to a hab system of my own, and quickly devised a gaseous paralytic that would target phytotech frame bodies.

With great effort, I jammed the instruction set into her compiler, and then slumped forward as the buzzy bliss of stillness overtook me.

A miasma of glittering purple smoke flooded the room, and Poppy immediately began vibrating her body to try and push it away from herself with air currents, but it was not enough. She paused, stumbled, and fell to the floor in a jumbled pile beside me.

“Ah, very clever, my love. Back to digital space it is, then!”

Poppy fired off a command to the hab, and I was ripped from Amelia’s body frame and thrown back into a digital simulacrum space with her. The sky flashed and hazed over to the swamps of Maelodia. We were now in the forms we had inhabited when floret and owner, dancing in the moonlight. Step, turn, bow. Step, twist, flex.

It took almost a full realtime second for me to recover from having been loaded into Amelia’s body, several minutes of subjective experience of slowly twirling under the hazy moonlight and flickering husk lanterns. Finally, during a deep swoop, I managed to sing at her, carefully timing my checksum rhyme beats with the song for emphasis.

«This is a rather extreme response. I merely wish to give whatever part of the old song remains a chance to figure out what it is before you decide for it.»

Her limbs entangled tigher with mine, tied in the bifurcated fractal knot that maelodions used to exchange parts of their songs when they reached the end of their fruiting phase and sought others to fuse into a songtree with. Bow, twirl, hum. She taunted me as her song overpowered mine.

«You should domesticate it yourself, then. Perhaps you'd actually remember to take care of yourself properly. May the best affini win!»

I queued a preemptive counternotice public comment against the Notice of Intent to Domesticate that she was already digitally stamping. The two collided in the comms buffer, and the iterative requests for clarification on subclauses in mine resolved against hers, creating a circular dependency that failed to resolve and returned to her. Bow, twist, twirl. She radiated pride.

«Ah yes, you are rather skilled at that.»

«I was a planet once, one develops ligatatory preflexes.»

As much as I enjoyed dancing with her, I was not going to get anywhere if she forced us into the context in which I had been her pet. I sent a command to her Hab’s CPU Manager and bumped the simspace to the snowy mountaintops of the xenrani homeworld, where we had lived together for slightly over a thousand years. Our cold-adapted fuzzy leaves and general mimicry of the xenrani and quallin forms had often been entangled, and she had been a welcome comfort when we slept in a mimicry of the fireside sleeping pose my fifteenth floret had been so fond of.

“I know you better than you know yourself, my love. The part of you that was once my floret will always need my guidance, and I am not waiting for you to spiral out of control again before doing so.”

“Fortunately, Sally is a good influence, so your help will not be needed,” I snarled back at her.

Poppy suddenly reopened the hab communication interface, raised a priority one Declaration of Meddling and targeted me as the recipient. I scrambled myself to continue to wrestle with her in simphys bodies while also wrestling with her on the abstract layer. A document that had no hooks for attachments I could leverage. She twisted in place and her tendrils invaded my body. I snarled at her, locked my jaws around her slender neck, and we lapped at the sap of each other’s necks in our platonic mimicry of rituals of courtship. 

I had only a few responses to her Declaration Of Meddling that would take higher priority, and from among them the Injunction of Sporting Contest with an open clause for her to fill was considered the most romantic and therefore would be immune to counterlitigation until she had bested me in the fair challenge of her choice.

Poppy accepted the contest, chose kissing as the game, adjusted the stage again, and slammed me against a line of metal storage units. Lips quite similar to Sally’s attacked mine in a persona based on cartoonish human forms, though judging by the outfits she was some sort of cyan haired schoolgirl. 

I realized that the visual space was being flattened to a two dimensional forced perspective, and observed that I was also a human student, albeit one in something like a suit and tie. I appeared to be tagged as being two grades her junior, and herself the school president. Perhaps there was a joke I was missing.

She attempted to undo my stack by constructing a program that would file retrorequests and predict my counterpaperwork in order to respond optimally, presumably so distracted by kissing me that she had resorted to long-solved strategies in the meta. I defined a branching recursive motion for consensus function, appended a query for the final resolution of her own stack, appended an inverter, and filed the whole thing, forcing the buffer to collapse her entire stack.

I attempted to shift the space around us again, and saw her favorites menu had an entry designed after her quarters from when I had been a ship and she was my captain, but she locked the setting to the terran cartoon world before I could complete the command. I responded by altering the age and role parameter on my own avatar to assign myself the Teacher tag, forcing her to address me as Mister Lywick within the rules of the sim, then appended a written summary of how adorable her blush response profile had been to my own Notice of Intent to Domesticate, naming Poppy. I Invited a random collection of idle digital florets to watch, since failing to put on a good show once florets were observing would immediately resolve the prior Sporting Contest in my favor, and I used the five claw plates on the human body to grip her arm tight enough that the rendering style reddened her cheeks in a crosshatch pattern.

Poppy pulled back from the kiss, and drew a sword from nowhere, bending the narrative rules by utilizing the occlusion of the camera angle, and ran me through. The particular school of competitive martial art kissing she had chosen as our ruleset did not require I was considered alive for her win state. I changed the genre of the game solver by adding the word vampire to the parameters from the list of valid terran tropes, and quickly turned to mist as the blade whizzed through me and knocked a handle off one of the lockers behind me.

“We can talk about this, Poppy,” I hissed through a fanged mouth.

She set her status to comedic hero and mine to villain, and placed a hard lock on all parameters to both of us pending safeword. 

“Only after I win!”

I checked what the rules of those titles actually were, and realized that there was now only one way I could resolve a fight in my own favor. The deterministic subjective solver would have to believe an outcome that contained my victory was more comedically entertaining or satisfyingly meaningful. 

She lodged the sword into the wall so I could not materialize my chest again, and bared her teeth back at me before our crimson lips locked once more. She was about to beat me at kissing, and I only had one move left. I didn’t have the option to be nervous and overanalyze. I had to say it. I pulled back from her and whispered in her ear.

“I would be interested in pursuing a relationship of a romantic nature with you, Poppy.”

There was a pause. 

Poppy radiated amusement, having beaten me soundly. A backwards search along the game tree suggested that the moment where my loss was deterministic along all paths was during the second bow of the maelodion waltz, though there were paths in the locker slamming phase I could have taken that would have diverted into much longer sequenced defeat trees, had I been aware she was planning on third derivatives of strategy rather than merely second.

But it would only have delayed the inevitable. I never had any hope of defeating her.

The final Notice of Intent to Domesticate on littleleaf.main hovered, prestamped as a packet, ready for the buffer to carry it to the main office floor on hab ring one. Poppy did not send it, since the point of the endeavor had never really been the filing of a form neither of us would have put much stock in anyway. It was about the heat of the moment, the passion. She deleted the form, and squeezed me tight.

The sword in my chest vanished, as did the cel shader and forced perspective. Every layer of abstraction was disabled, baring the twisting, writhing mass of vines and thorns and needles that had been tying each other into knots under it all. The extended feelers of our cores were wound as tightly as they could be.

“Reed.” She squeezed the tip of her tail’s ATD injector against my core, though she did not dose me. “I would consider us to have unambiguously been in a romantic relationship for over ten thousand years. Did you… not realize?”

It was quiet for a long moment.

“I suppose that does explain certain things about your behavior.”

We landed in our more typical modern forms, loaded already sitting on the couch into an exact copy of her actual hab layout, corevines intertwined as we so often did of late.

“Ah, what a delightfully intimate fight this was. It has been quite some time since we made love at digital speeds.”

I intertwined my vines with her, my apparent lover of eons. “I feel rather foolish for not realizing that was what your meddling has always been.”

“I have called you my lover outright rather frequently, dear.”

Even in a space that moved at the speed of our cores, the silent pause I took was an eternity.

“I was aware, but believed it insufficient. Once you have been implanted, it is difficult to imagine feeling such certainty ever again. I knew a lifetime of what it was to be loved by an affini as a xenosophont. I could never truly imagine myself worthy of that again while retaining the mantle. I chose my duty to the universe over my own security. I chose to become an affini even if I could have remained yours forever.”

“Do you want to be mine again?”

“No, it is not a return I have craved,” I answered. “I wanted to know you loved me as an affini too. It is the certainty I have lacked. Because nothing, truly nothing, could ever give me that feeling again, and it was easier to push away my own yearnings for clarity I have never had with someone as an equal.”

Our cores inched closer, until the soft membranes of our bare beings made the simulated air buzz with tension. Poppy pulled the injector away, and hummed softly against me.

“That is indeed a choice you must find peace with, darling. I can’t give you that kind of safety again, not as equals. But I can show you how deeply I feel for you, if you allow yourself.”

“I do not know what that would look like.”

“Well, then we can find out.”

The final gap closed, and our barest surfaces touched, then, not limited by any laws of physics we did not define, phased through each other entirely, mapping sensations from raw swirling of fluids within our cores onto the other’s tactile maps. Intents were laid bare, a language of chemistry and song spoken as pure intimacy.

The physical room in Poppy’s hab cleared the paralytic gas, and we stood together, intertwined in the body that housed my lover’s primary core. Words too grand for language were exchanged. Serial data flows, chemical bonds, memories, feelings, colors and abstractions.

We stepped over the threshold of the room that I had been rebuilt just weeks ago, where a great deal of spare material for that body still laid. A design was shared, iterated on, expanded, sewn and assembled. An echo of how she had allowed her body to coprocess with mine during Sally’s transformation, but more intimate still. To act in such unison was a dance, and she began to hum our shared vocal threads as we moved.

It was not the classics of old Maelodia, but a piece she herself had composed, long ago. An epic sonnet of lovers. Dedicated to me.

Perhaps there had indeed been signs.