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I wasn’t exactly sure what the difference between a hab and a home was, if I had to be perfectly honest. A few kind souls had tried to explain the difference to me, but it seemed to be one of those semantic things that often flew right over my head and off into the distance, so I had given up understanding it hours before I ever set foot in the (newly finished) local branch of the Bureau of Residence and Urban Development. The Affini Compact had worked doubletime on the building almost as soon as they had landed on Remula, apparently to help smooth the transition process and deal with ‘feral architecture’.
I believed it, too; in what felt like just a few days, the Dresden building (where I worked as a receptionist at the front desk) had already received a radical amount of design changes. They had even installed an affini-sized elevator, though something about it gave me a weird feeling, so I avoided using it whenever possible. I was almost positive that they changed the interior a few times, though what exactly changed seemed to slip past me.
“Miss Roh…Roodree…?” I was jolted out of my reverie as the receptionist spoke, their avian tongue appearing to struggle with the word. The xeno was an Al’yssrian, apparently; one of the many species that had been folded into the Compact long before I had ever been born.
“Rodriguez”, I quietly corrected. “Camila Rodriguez.”
“My thanks, Miss.” The Al’yssrian’s head bobbed up and down as they added, “And my name is Eowyl Rh’falgia, First Floret. My pronouns are…er…hers/she?”
“Nice to meet you, Eowyl.”
“Likewise, Miss R…Miss Camila, I see you have an appointment for hab acquisition, yes?” The bird gestured with her wing towards a hallway leading back into the facility. She trilled and added, “Right this way, then~!”
The hallway was large, but split off into other sections at regular intervals. I could see thick painted lines on the walls that seemed to be for directions, with Eowyl following the gold line as they walked. I personally preferred not to chat very much with strangers, but the Al’yssrian was politely insistent on continuing any scrap of conversation she could, apparently. In the few minutes it took to reach our destination, I had learned far too much about Eowyl’s morning, Eowyl’s favorite snacks, and (of course) Eowyl’s Owner.
I couldn't help but wince at the mention of the affini. It wasn’t like I hated them or anything! It was just…every time I got near one, it just…my thoughts seemed to freeze, and what puddle of words I had evaporated before the intensity each affini seemed to exude like an oven. The last time I had ‘spoken’ with one of the planty xenos was a few days ago; I had been distracted with a particularly pretty-looking sunflower display, and had inadvertently smacked headfirst into the ass of an affini. Apologies were in order, of course…or they were supposed to be, anyway; my mumbled syllables probably didn’t make a lick of sense, but the affini didn’t follow when I immediately dashed off, so maybe it was alright?
“And…here we are!” I blinked as Eowyl held up a wing, stopping us in front of an unassuming doorway…well. An affini-sized unassuming doorway, anyway. The door itself was already opened, revealing a somewhat surreal sight: a completely white room, populated only by a large box on the corner of the floor, maybe eight feet wide by eight feet in width and length, and about a foot thick. All four sides had clear glass panes extending up another eight feet, and then another foot thick of metal slab on top of the thing. On one side, I spotted a touchscreen display affixed to the glass, but that…was about it.
“Um, Eowyl?”
“Yes?”
“Where are we?”
“It’s your new hab!” The bird fluttered excitedly. “Or the first part, anyhows. We’ve found that the rather wide variety of customization options are best taken in sections. This room, for example, will be your bedroom.”
“Customization?” My mouth drew into the beginnings of a frown. “How…how long will all this take?”
“Not as long as one thinks! Come over here, Miss Camila. See the device?” Eowyl hopped over to the gray square, tapping the touch screen and turning it on. “This is a compiler, but big enough to make much larger things, like perches or big cubes of soup!” To demonstrate, she effortlessly navigated through the menu and selected an item. The device kicked on with a low hum, the glass walls of the box tinting themselves until I could barely see inside. I’d seen compilers before, of course; one of the demos the four affini onstage at Dresden had shown was a smaller, household version of this technology.
There was a large *flash* of light as if a supermassive camera had gone off, and a moment later the glass returned to its previous clear state. Sitting in the middle of the box was a…rather strange collection of items, albeit not surprising ones.
A large bouquet of purple flowers.
A circular container stuffed with my favorite snacks and candies.
A smaller blanket, albeit one that looked incredibly soft and good sensory.
And, of course, the main item currently holding it all: a pet bed. A terran-sized pet bed. Big enough to fit three of me with room to spare, honestly.
“And there we are~! One ‘Warm Welcome for Florets and Friends’ package!” Eowyl tapped a button on the top right of the screen, and the two glass panels not touching walls slid up soundlessly, allowing the bird to hook a clawed foot through a handle on the outside wall of the bed, sliding it off of the compiler and onto the floor with an ease that belied just how strong the bird really was. I stepped over to the collection and nudged it warily with a toe.
“I…didn’t ask for this.”
“It’s a surprise present!”
“I’m not a floret.”
“It's ‘Florets and Friends’, dear.”
“I don’t…you’re not going to let me say no, will you?”
“Correct!” Eowyl flapped her wings slightly as she stepped away from the bed and began to walk to the doorway. “Now, if there’s anything else you need, all you have to do is hit the blue button in the center of the tablet screen, and an affini will be connected to help you, okay?”
“I- what?” There were about a trillion questions I wanted to ask her, and she was just going to leave?! I managed to stumble after the Al’yssrian, beginning to hold a hand up and call out, “Uh, wait, I don’t thin-”
“Don’t forget the blue button, and have fuuuuun~!” The door closed with a soft click behind Eowyl…and then I was alone. I gave the door an annoyed look for a few moments, wondering if I was going to see Eowyl reopen it in a second with a, “Just kidding, Miss!”...but no. The affini, in their great wisdom, really were just giving away a house for free. Well, apparently one room at a time, but still.
That the Affini Compact could actually back up their propaganda was honestly a rather terrifying concept, really. Everyone at Dresden had for years been strictly forbidden from discussing the Affini Compact in any way…so naturally, that was practically all anyone would talk about. I had giggled at the thought of ships bigger than cities, of fields of open greenery…and of devices that created whatever you wanted upon request. It had to be fake, a pipedream; lies spread to convince those without staunch morals to defect to the Compact.
But then it was real. It was all real. Impossibly, incredibly, and undeniably real. And along with it, my dreams of being something more than I ever had hoped were tangible.
Things like owning a home. Or…well, not owning, not in the way it meant in the Accord, but still. It would be mine, and I could add to it and make it safe and comforting and warm, and all I had to do was a freaking mountain of paperwork over the last two days to get here.
I gingerly stepped up to the touch screen, which had brought itself back to the main menu. I rolled my eyes at the ‘recommended items’ button, which showed things like a ‘RealFeel Affini Plush’ or a ‘My First Xenodruggie starter pack’ beside it; it was obvious that whoever designed this had very clear expectations for the average Terran, especially when combined with the large blue button Eowyl had pointed out. Ignoring the various bits of nonsense, I instead selected the search bar with a precise finger press right in its center.
Okay…what goes in a bedroom?
Please Enter Your Query:
> lamp
I figured that a light source was as good a place to start as any. My plan was to start with something simple, just to see how it worked (and if the Affini Compact did their light bulbs by DRM-based monthly subscription service, like printers or toothpaste or silverware). And it’s a good thing I did, because I did not expect to see…well.
An entire seemingly endless list of lamps, of every shape, size, color, light intensity, and function possible. I swiped once…then twice…then over and over, trying to reach the very bottom. And after what must’ve been over a hundred different lamps, I was met with something that made my heart sink:
Page: 1 of 1,924,383
“...Crumbs.”
I scrolled back up to the top with gritted teeth and began again, slower this time. I don’t think I had ever particularly enjoyed making choices like this. The inane ones that didn’t really matter always seemed to have a bajillion options, and I always got mired in the neverending swamp of it all. The tablet had thankfully detached quite easily from the mount it was on, allowing me to take it over to the pet bed and sit while I browsed. My poor thumbnail took a fair amount of chewing as I worked, trying to sort through the mountain of items.
Ba-Bing!
The blue icon, which I had been steadily ignoring more and more determinedly, apparently grew fed up with my stubbornness, and moved itself under my finger when I was trying to hit a ‘back’ button. It immediately opened some kind of chat box, and no sooner had I registered that I wasn’t alone in the chat room it had dumped me in did I receive a message from its only other occupant. This device also already knew my chat handle, which was…a bit disconcerting.
‹ MaeveIII › : Hello, sweetie. My name is Maeve Umbris, Third Bloom, pronouns she/her. How can I assist you today?
‹ MaeveIII › : Hello? Are you there, darling?
‹ CamCam › : I
‹ CamCam › : Yes, sorry.
‹ CamCam › : I was browsing for my new hab, and this chat opened.
Okay, new plan. Politely excuse myself, close the chat, and then compile the first thing on the list for the rest of the time. I wasn’t quite sure why I didn’t just do that from the beginning, really. They were all serviceable.
‹ MaeveIII › : Oh yes; it does that when a sophont appears to be having trouble deciding on some options.
‹ CamCam › : I am not having trouble.
‹ MaeveIII › : Flower, it appears you have been searching for ‘lamp’ for the better part of two hours. If you aren’t having trouble, then I must recognize and commend you for your thoroughness.
‹ MaeveIII › : How about this, then? Let me give you a few tips, at least? I happen to know this tool quite well- I helped design the interface for terrans, after all~
I stared in fear at the last message. Right. This wasn’t a Terran, this was an affini. I had been talking to an affini. Oh stars, she was probably like three hundred feet tall and had enough flower injectors to domesticate a city. She probably already pinpointed my location and is on her way here now, a thick uncomfortable collar in vine and ready to break me. She-
Ba-Bing!
I glanced down at the tablet again, seeing it had closed the chat window and was instead displaying something far, far worse.
A voice call. Like the chat, it connected itself without my input. Unlike before, I was completely frozen in fear. Neither of us spoke for a few seconds, giving me the fleetingest of hopes that the call had failed somehow.
“Camila~ Are you there, sweet pea?” My brain, operating on millenia of instinct, did the only thing it knew to do when faced with a Dangerous Bad Thing in my hands.
I hucked the tablet across the room like a starsforsaken frisbee.
It spun a total of three and a half times as it arced gracefully down to the ground, whereupon it clattered harmlessly and slid an additional few feet.
There were a few moments of silence, and then Maeve spoke.
“Camila, did you just throw me across the room?”
“Yes, Ma’am…” My voice was near inaudible.
“Why?”
“I…you scared me, Ma’am…” Practically a whisper in the wind.
“...Come pick me up, dear.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” I crawled out of the pet bed and over to the tablet, gingerly picking it (and myself) back off the ground. Upon examination, it appeared to have made its inaugural flight without any damage whatsoever. Figures.
“Camila, you may call me by name if you wish. Do you remember it?”
I shuffled my feet nervously, my throat seeming to close on itself now that the initial shock had worn off. Maeve’s voice was…it was musical and gorgeous and filled my soul with very, very gay thoughts.
“Oh, dear…I think I know what’s going on, now. Is it a little hard to reply to Miss Maeve, petal? You’re not the first sophont I’ve seen who gets a little tongue-tied when someone like me speaks to them, don’t you worry. Here, let me see if I can’t…ah!”
The tablet returned to my lamp search, though instead of displaying as many options as before, it was limited to three. Even better, they all looked like lamps I could see myself using. I wiggled slightly with relief at the sight.
“There we are; I pulled some of your previous purchase history, then found a few that seemed to fit your style the best.” Maeve sounded quite pleased with herself, and honestly I couldn’t blame her. She had gone above and beyond what I had expected, really.
“Thank you?” I managed to squeeze out the syllables one after the other, the high pressure of societal expectations doing wonders on my anxiety wall. The affini gave a satisfied hum in response.
“You’re quite welcome, darling. Now, I’ve gone ahead and made sure that the filter menu pops up for you when you search, so you can more easily narrow down future options.” She paused, then casually added, “So, which one do you think fits best?”
I examined them, but remembered my earlier idea. My finger moved up to the first one in the list, but right before I pressed it, it disappeared. “H-hey!”
“Sweet pea, I’m not going to let you get away with putting anything less than the best in your new hab. Come on, now.” The teasing lilt in her voice almost entirely covered the barest edge of seriousness…almost. I focused on the two remaining ones, both of which were admittedly gorgeous. The main differences were the colors, really.
Maeve slipped in again. “Mmmm…I think the blue one looks better for a bedroom.” I blinked, then squinted at it closer.
“...yeah.”
“Well, then!” The blue one was selected, the glass came down, and I breathed a sigh of relief. First thing down, the rest of the room to go.
“Well! I hope you feel a bit more confident now, Camila. I wish you luck for the rest of your day~ Though if you still can’t decide, you’re free to message me again, of course. I’m happy to help you however you would need~”
The call ended before I had a chance to sputter at her, which was probably for the best. My face felt like it had caught aflame, and my stomach had all but melted out of my body and scurried away. I quickly pulled up a new search for a ‘soft blanket’ and compiled the very first one, then pulled it around myself as I jumped into the pet bed and buried my face into the soft walls.
My first ever actual interaction with an affini, and it was worse than I feared. I was far too gay to handle something like that on the regular, but nothing about that interaction told me it was anything special.
Crumbs, how was I going to live like this from now on? I didn’t want to become a shut-in, but I equally didn’t wish to melt into a puddle every time an affini glanced my way. I knew they had all those schmancy drugs, but I had heard that the best ones also required talking to an affini to get, anyway.
I frowned, staring up at the ceiling as I thought. What I really needed was a way to, like, talk to an affini without actually talking to an affini. Exposure therapy, or something. But short of stacking two terrans in a plant suit and calling them Dandelion or some other flowery name, I doubted that would ever happen.
My gaze traveled downwards, alighting upon the compiler.
Unless…
Please Enter Your Query:
> RealFeel Affini Plush
1 of 1 results. As I figured, the damn thing would be fairly large by terran standards (about a foot taller than me), had a ton of different options and features, most of which I kind of just ignored. The important things that I certainly did not expect was the built in sound system, which could play a few pre-recorded messages for ‘florets who get a little anxious alone’.
I was definitely outside the intended use case here, but I don’t think that was too big of a deal. The only thing left for me to do was pick a style or design…from the list of about two billion.
Crumbs.
I scrolled a bit, but quickly found myself stuck right back in the choice paralysis of before. I didn’t even know what the difference in textures was, let alone things like ‘puppetability’ or ‘biorhythm emulators’. Fortunately, I actually found a rather ingenious solution. After I scrolled a bit, the tablet gave me a suggestion, which I read, then immediately accepted.
Create plush based on that Special Someone in your life?
Before I had a chance to worry about it, I typed in Maeve’s name, then hit send. She did say she would be happy to help me, and this…kiiiiinda counted? Sort of. Maybe.
The box closed up, the glass tinted, there was another flash of light…and then I was sitting in front of an honest-to-goodness replica of the most beautiful affini I had ever seen. She almost looked doll-like, and she had that hot side shave thing but it was made out of leaves and…stars. I'm gay.
I quickly yoinked the plush back into my bed, setting it up opposite me as I rewrapped myself in the blanket. Okay…let’s do this.
“Um…hello?”
“Hi there cutie! How are you today?” The voice was…not the most realistic. It barely even sounded like Maeve, to be honest; totally threw off the stone top butch vibes. I consulted the tablet, then cleared my throat.
“Disable voice responses, please.”
There. I had a decent imagination; I bet I could come up with way better dialogue than this. Okay, take two… “H-hey there…um, Ma’am– er, Maeve? Maeve. Miss Maeve. Um. Hi.”
Hello there, darling~ My my, what an adorable little morsel I have in front of me…
TOOMUCHTOOMUCHTOOMUCH! I buried my face in the blanket and fell backwards, rolling side to side in an effort to quench the fluster. Oh stars, how did the fake affini I literally filled in the dialogue for in my imagination still fluster me?!
I managed to sit back up eventually, though I had to clean my glasses after they got all smudged up from the…exercise. The plushie, thankfully, had remained completely still.
“I…um, I. R-right. So I wanted to, um, to…um.” Oh stars, this felt embarrassing to do normally. I tried not to think about it. “I needed help, um…with choosing stuff?”
Oooooh…I see, I see. I imagined Maeve tapping her chin thoughtfully. Well, I think the very first thing you need to do is drug yourself silly!
“I…is that really what Maeve would say?”
I don’t know; You’re the one doing the lines, darling.
“I…right.” I gulped, then shakily reached for the tablet. “Um…w-well…I did see there was that…uh, basket thingy…”
Perfect.
Please Enter Your Query:
> Xenodruggie Starter Pack
It came with an aerosolized Class-Æ blend, a few Class-S chewables that crossed your sight and sound, and some Class-Z’s to help you sleep. I pulled the Æ inhaler out first, dumping the rest next to the pet bed as I sat back down. “So…uh. Do I just…take it? Just like that?”
Only one way to find out, my dearest~
I lifted the inhaler up to my face and puffed once in front of me, then breathed deeply. The effects were…wow. I giggled, then tipped forward and landed directly in the lap of PlushieMaeve…and fudgeymuffins her vines were beyond soft. I wriggled deeper into the plushie and moaned, nuzzling into and wrapping the larger vines around my chest. The feeling of security, of undiluted pleasure was intense, and my anxieties about everything seemed to rapidly evaporate into the wind.
“Whoahhhh…drugs are, um…drugsss, right?” I smiled up at the plushie, imagining she was holding me. “You feel, like, really comfy right…um? I…wow.”
“Good Girl~”
I shuddered, blushing brighter. “I…crumbs. Um, s-so we can do the, uh, the thingy now…righ?”
“That’s absolutely correct, little one. We should order lunch for you, I think. Why don’t you message Miss Maeve, and she can get that sorted for you?”
My head bobbled up and down a few times, and I reached for the tablet and hit the blue button once more. Even if it was just my imagination, the plushie was right!
‹ CamCam › : Heyyyyy
‹ MaeveIII › : Oh, hello dear! How is the hab going? Are you remembering to take breaks, and perhaps get a bite to eat?
‹ CamCam › : f
‹ CamCam › : food pls
‹ MaeveIII › : Oh, of course you can have some food, darling! And while the compiler is more than sufficient for the task, I would heartily recommend you instead order some delivery! Made by hand (or vine) is always preferred~
‹ CamCam › : mmk
‹ CamCam › : what do i d
‹ MaeveIII › : Don’t you worry about a thing, dearest. You just get comfortable, and I can handle everything.
I set the tablet down, wiggling happily. Yay, free food is good. Except now that I was thinking about it, I was really hungry. I vaguely remembered a few of the vines on the plush had special sections on them for biting, so I did my best to sort through them until I found one. The texture was firm, but not too firm; perfect for bities.
“Nomf nomf nommmmmmf….nom. Yayyy,” I giggled at myself. Stars, drugs were great…maybe I should have another thingy of them? Glancing down at my lap revealed the inhaler, though it took me a few seconds to remember how to pick it up.
“J…just one more is probbbbably fine, righ’?”
The plushie chuckled, her voice seeming to come from all around me. “Oh, I think it will be more than all right, petal. But only one more, understand? Otherwise you might be completely helpless for the remainder of the day, and we can’t have that yet…”
“Ohhhh…okayyy…” I tried to puff the thing, but I was having trouble getting my fingers to work, like that one time a few years back I had no heat and almost got frostbite. Thankfully it was much warmer this time around, but the lack of coordination was similar enough. “I don’t…um, I don’t think I can do that righ’ now, actually.”
“Then like Miss Maeve said, petal: don’t you worry, and I can handle the rest.”
“Mmmmm…” I felt my eyelids flutter as the warmth of the vines around me seemed to increase, and a warbly smile made its way to my face. I felt my grasp on consciousness loosen as I dozed for a time, imagining how good food was going to taste like this…
*Knock knock-knock* “Lunchtime, Camila!” I jolted back awake as the voice called out.
The voice that was very familiar.
The voice that belonged to the plushie…
“M…Maeve?”
“That’s correct, dear~ I work in the building, so I picked up the food from the front, and brought it back to you! Are you…presentable, darling?”
Oh no.
I scrambled clumsily out of the vines and bed, almost tripping over myself in the process. Crumbs, I needed to hide the plush…except there wasn’t anywhere to hide it. Oh stars, I really wished I had compiled some more furniture right about now. I made my decision quickly, and hoped it would be enough.
“I’m coming iiiiiiin~” The door opened smoothly and soundlessly, revealing…oh gosh. Maeve Umbris, Third Bloom was even more ridiculously attractive in person. Thankfully, I was sitting back down in the pet bed, blanket pulled up to my waist while I leaned back against the far wall. “Oh, it's so lovely to see you in person, dear. Are you alright, by the way?”
“I…um. I took drugs, so I can talk betterererer…erer now.” I kept almost tipping over as my head bobbed about randomly. Balancing while high was hard.
The affini nodded solemnly; perhaps she was used to this kind of stuff. She crossed the room to the pet bed while she replied in a low voice that sent shivers down my spine, “Oh, that’s just wonderful, flower. Now, where would you like to eat your meal? I notice you haven’t yet compiled a desk, so I take it you would prefer to remain where you’re sitting…?”
I nodded vigorously. “I…yyyeah, no moving for me right now, please…”
“Of course, Camila, of course. Don’t you worry, I have just the thing for situations such as this…” I didn’t see her move, but the compiler began to turn on anyway. After the glass went back up, I saw a strange square table, one that was only a foot off the ground. Maeve easily lifted it out with a few of her vines, setting it carefully so that it covered the middle few feet of the pet bed, right over my outstretched feet. I hoped she wouldn’t notice how it made it much more obvious how the side of the bed I was sitting on was a good bit higher than the other.
There was still a good amount of space on the other side, which I suppose is a good thing, since Maeve took a seat there, her vines unraveling all over my feet to do so. I couldn’t help but grip the edge of the table as the vines seemed to caress and massage.
“U-um…mmmMISS M-Maeve, can you st…can y…sssshhhhaaaa…” The thought flew out of my head at awesome speed when the vines reached my thighs, deeply pressing into sore spots I didn’t even know I had. Maeve took the opportunity to unpack my food, which had arrived in a stack of boxes. The first one contained a mouthwatering selection of fried foods, the second appeared to be a tray of spaghetti and meat sauce, and the final tray remained sealed. I bit my lip at the spaghetti, nervous. “I…is there, um, tomato chunks in this? I kind of don’t…it's not a good texture for me…”
“Of course not~ I made sure that everything I brought would be delicious and enjoyable to eat.” The affini picked up one of the items from the first box, gently blowing on the steaming morsel…and wafting the aroma directly across to me. I couldn’t even attempt to resist the scent, openly drooling as I blindly reached out with both hands towards the delicious food. As soon as my limbs were fully stretched out, her vines grasped my wrists and pinned them firmly to the tabletop, with her hands coming down a second later to enclose mine fully.
“Cammie, do I need to teach you manners? You have to ask, dear~”
Unfortunately for me, I was far too preoccupied with the hands she had placed over mine. Each of them were easily big enough to palm my entire head (or wrap around my neck), with room to spare. “Y…you’re, um…big…”
A laughter that sounded like a hurricane striking wood shook my ears. “Or perhaps you are just small, sweetie. That’s why you need to eat your food, yes? So you can grow up big and strong?”
I tilted my head, confused at the idea that I wasn’t done growing. Maybe she didn’t know how Terrans worked? I wasn’t some lost little lamb, I was, like, an adult! Or whatever. “Can…can I have my hands back, then?”
“Mmmm…no.” My mouth opened and closed in a silent protest as I met her eyes for the first time, seeing the golden glitter amid the violet clouds within. She began to learn towards me, smiling widely as she added, “You’re a bit too uncoordinated at the moment to be handling feeding, so I will be in charge of that.”
“I-I…b-but…I can do itt, promise!” My protest appeared to give her pause, and for a second I actually thought I was safe.
For a second.
“Oh…but sweet Camila, promises are built on trust, are they not?” I nodded, unsure. She continued, “And what if I happened to know that you were quite literally sitting upon a mountain of lies? Why would I trust someone like that to take care of herself?”
My heart skipped several beats before the drugs washed it all away. “I...I…well, um. The thing is, Maeve-”
“Miss Maeve, darling. For now.”
“I…Miss Maeve.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I was…I…” My brain was swimming in drugs, unable to come up with any kind of an excuse as to the problem. Eventually I just bowed my head, feeling her vines snake around me and lever my side of the pet bed up, retrieving the items I had stashed underneath it.
“Well, well…what have we here? A lovely little plushie of myself, and…ah, the Æ blend inhaler, with plenty of puffs left…”
I squeezed my eyes tightly shut as she leaned towards me again…only to feel the familiar soft faux vines of the plush settle behind me, forming a pseudo chair to lean against. When I stole a glance, Maeve was smiling down at me, her eyes dancing fires of gold. She ever so delicately cupped my cheek and chin in her palm, running the pad of her thumb through my hair as she spoke.
“Oh…sweet little seedling, you look so precious like this. I can’t wait to see what you look like in a collar…”
I blinked slowly. “I…b-but-” A vine extended from her hand and shushed my lips immediately.
“No lies, little one. You are a seed, even if you can’t admit it yet.” Her eyes pinned me effortlessly, her voice binding my worries. “Why do you think we gave you this test?”
“Mmmph?”
“Oh yes, this whole room is a little experiment, sweetie. We wanted to see how you would respond to a situation, and more importantly, how much you were willing to ask for help when it was needed. And my darling, you need someone to give you help, whether you ask for it or not.”
The inhaler came back into view, my eyes finally pulled away from hers so they could lock on it. Miss Maeve’s vines wriggled in expectation as she added, “And what I think you need, more than anything else right now, is a bit more puffs of…help.” She punctuated the word by moving her vine from my lips to pinch on either side, forcing my mouth open so she could slip the inhaler between my lips directly. I balked; I had gotten this high from breathing it in after puffing it in front of me. How high was I going to get if it delivers its payload like this?
Wait…puffs?
My pleading, desperate eyes met hers again, towering over me as she added in a nonchalant voice, “It’s as I said earlier, Cammie. If you took more than one, you would be completely helpless for the remainder of the day…now breathe deeply for me.”
I inhaled on reflex…no. I inhaled on her command, my lungs no longer under mine as they drew the potent drug deep within me. My body tried to convulse in response, but it wasn’t permitted to move; her vines tightened on my legs, pulling the majority of my chest under the table while my arms and hands remained pinned on top of it. I had no leverage, physically or otherwise. And yet still I struggled, still writhed, still gasped. The feeling of the pet bed on my back was pure sensation, a waterfall of exuberant joy that distracted me as much as it invited me deeper, deeper, further. When I opened by eyes, I saw two faces; the plush mirroring the real Maeve’s smile. A whimper escaped my lips around the inhaler, and I did my best to hide my blush, to tuck it down and away.
“Sweet, sweet Cammie…” A vine curled under my chin, lifting my unfocused gaze up to hers again. “What a silly little thing you are~ But don’t you worry, dear. I understand.”
“I-I…whaa?” I’m glad she did, because I didn’t. What was she even talking about?
Perhaps she picked up on my confusion, as she continued, “I understand that you’ve been wanting something, of course. So many of you were denied it, and you in particular seemed ever so excited to finally have it~”
Oh. I nodded slowly. “I…mmmmph…” I had always wanted a place of my own, it's true. It wasn’t something I permitted my heart to yearn for, and now it was finally, finally within reach.
There was a flicker of something that ran through her eyes as her grip on me tightened. “And now, little one, you’ll have it. The safety, the comfort, the warmth and joy…
“Just not in the way you realized, little floret-to-be.”
“mmM?” The words slowly cut through the fog. F-floret? Me? I shook my head slightly, trying to reject her pressure.
“Oh yes little seed. Yes you are. Cammie, you managed to compile two things for your hab today. One was a plushie of your new Owner, and the other was a basket of xenodrugs. There are no words in this language that properly describe how little of a chance you had. There are no actions you could take that would change my feelings on this. You will be happier under my protection, my care. Do you disagree?”
I nodded my head rapidly, but that made me a bit too dizzy, so I had to stop. “Nnn…mmnnnn”
“See, dear?” Maeve chided me gently, pinching my cheek. “You can’t even see the simplest of facts. Or perhaps even worse: you know I’m right, but are refusing to admit it out of sheer stubborn feralism.” That…that didn’t seem right? I couldn’t focus on a response with the way her vines crawled over my skin with fervent desire. The inhaler was gently pulled away from my mouth…and a mewl escaped my throat, the pang of need already too strong.
“I…p-please…”
“Please what, Camila?” Her fingers drummed on the table, a staccato rhythm of unrelenting intensity. “Was I wrong? Are you not a feralist?”
“I…nnnn…” I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to understand a way out of the questions, the predicaments. “B-but I-”
“Answer honestly, sweetie. Not the first choice, dear. Think and Feel it out.”
“I…yes.”
“You’re not a feralist?”
“Nnn!” I shook my head. “Nnnot.”
“Are you a sweet, adorable little pet?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“Good Girl.” The inhaler slipped back between my lips and my next breath blossomed into petals of pure pleasure swirling thickly within me. My muscles went completely slack as my body surrendered to her control, as I accepted that I needed her praise more than I needed the freedom of choice. The drugs made it so easy, and she made it so…so...
The next time she moved, it was as if there were afterimages in the motion. The next time she spoke, it was deep enough to drown in, yet sweeter than any nectar to listen to. “Your new home will be with me, dearest little one. And soon, your new home will wrap around your very spine, so you are always protected, always safe, always mine. Inside and out, everything you are will be caressed with every ounce of my love.”
Safe.
Protected.
Hers.
The submission in my belly bubbled to the surface in a burst of gasping breaths, the hammer blows of her words imprinting directly on my mind and soul. One of her vines wound around and around my body, squeezing me like a tube of toothpaste and forcing the words out. “Pllleaseeee Miss…I want it?”
I…I wanted it.
Stars above, I needed it.
I needed her.
Her laughter was everything to me, and in a violent storm of motion that harmed not a hair on my head, she lifted away the table and my food, the last barrier between myself and her. The weight of her body pressed fully against me, my hands finding themselves pinned above my head, wrapped around the chest of the plushie. Maeve selected the vine I had been chewing on earlier, inserting it like a bit in my mouth without resistance. “I know that you desire it now, dear. I can see the flame of independence sputtering so beautifully. But to extinguish it fully, to bind you to your new Home, your new Owner…”
She had trailed off, letting the view of her injector vines fill in the rest. Each of them were wickedly sharp, each of them leaking freely, dribbles of orange and blue and violet and red. My eyes grew wide as I felt her line the needle tips along my neck and arms.
“Cammie, it’s time. I want you to pull those last dregs of resistance, those glowing embers of feralism, and the threads of freedom…pull them all together, pull them tighter and tighter. Press them into a glowing core of emotion, of passion, of past pain…” Her torso seemed to ripple as I focused, as I felt my thoughts sharpen, become clearer. Fear and panic returned in flutters down my spine, and cold beads of sweat ran down my forehead as I began to struggle what little I could.
Maeve’s chest shuddered, then seemed to part itself as
Home
revealed itself to me. A great glowing sphere, my own core cowering before it, surrendering to it, embracing it as my foundation, my everything. The needles slid in with a whisper of pain, pumping something that made me writhe in ecstasy, separating my existence from reality. I was no longer terran, barely even Cammie; I was a nervous system floating in an ocean of pleasure, the glowing star overhead warming me, bringing me life, bringing me safety.
It grew…closer? Closer, I think…distance meant so little to me now. But it was pressing itself against my skin, my flesh seared not with heat but with Control, with…with her Love. I was hers, fully, completely.
I was Cammie, because she called me that.
I was her pet, because she permitted me that.
I was alive, because she had given me that.
She had saved me. It was so…so easy to understand that, now.
“There we go~. And what a pretty face you're making, little pet. So empty and open and safe…and ever so perfectly mine.”
The world around me narrowed as she towered over my form, as her vines began to cocoon me fully, to envelop me, devour me, remake me. More injectors joined the others, each one welcomed with open arms.
I was Home.