The doors to the atrium opened, and Azolla walked inside, Dorothy still cradled in their arms. She expected to see primarily cramped hallways and facilities designed with function over form, similar to how most terran ships were designed. It only seemed natural, even with how massive the ship was compared to anything the Terran Cosmic Navy had, it was most likely in service of something that needed a lot of space.

What she saw instead couldn’t be further from what she had envisioned. The main hall was far larger than she could have ever imagined. A massive, sprawling garden laid before her, with more flowers than she had seen in her entire life. Above them was an artificial sky, with the sun held high above. This was an affini warship?

“It’s… beautiful. I’ve… I’ve never seen anything like this before!” She sat starry-eyed in their arms, and took in the sights around her. Azolla patted her on the head, and walked towards their habitation unit, taking a longer route so she could see everything she wanted to. She had never seen so much greenery in one place, plants of all kinds grew everywhere, some that she recognized, and many more that were completely new to her. She found it a bit overwhelming, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Something else she noticed while they walked were other terrans, quite a few of them were already on the ship. She had assumed that it would be mostly affini aboard for the planetary invasion, but all of her assumptions had been proven wrong thus far.

She took a closer look at some of the other terrans aboard, to get some insight on how well others lived under the affini. A fair few of them walked alone or with other terrans, they certainly looked happier than she was used to seeing. They looked happy and relaxed, not stressed, weary, or with their minds stuck worrying about one thing or another. Other terrans walked with or were carried by the affini. Those terrans looked rather noticeably different. They all wore collars of varying designs, and their clothes looked a bit different from what the others were wearing, having a much larger floral motif. These must be the people who are owned by the affini, their pets.

Noticeably, some of the pets who walked alongside their affini seemed… clumsier, less coordinated, a bit high, honestly. Had the affini done something to these people? In fairness, they looked overjoyed to be in their position, with the way some of them clung to their affini, they clearly loved them completely and totally. If they had been drugged though, was that really how they felt or were they being made to feel that way? Before she continued that line of thought, she realized that with how she was being carried, she looked a lot more like one of those pets than she did any kind of independent human.

“U-uh. H-hey Azolla? I can walk on my own, you know. O-other people might get the wrong idea with you carrying me like this.” She was not a pet, she didn’t want others to think that she’s a pet. She was a normal person that could live on her own and take care of herself, damnit!

“And what idea might that be my little flower?” Their amused grin gave themself away. They knew what they did! They enjoyed this! Other people would think that Azolla owned her like a pet and they knew that!

Her face only got redder as she tried to stammer out a response. “Y-you know full well what I mean! I- I’m not a pet, a-and people are going to think I am!” 

“Mmm, we’ll just see about that. You already seem so docile and sweet, I think a collar would suit you quite well, really.” A small vine pressed up on her chin, gently guiding her eyes to meet Azolla’s.

“Uh-um, I-” She felt butterflies in her stomach, oh stars, why did they have to be so entrancing? She wasn’t a pet, she couldn’t be, that much was clear to her, but this giant plant was really flirty and really attractive and that made thinking clearly very hard! Her cheeks burned with embarrassment and thoughts of being collared cluttered her mind. Why did she have to feel this way?

“Well, you won’t have to worry about that any longer, we’re here!” Azolla opened the door to their hab unit, and set Dorothy down, who almost fell over when they did, not being prepared after having been carried the entire way over.

“Oh, wow. This place is huge!” It was, in every sense of the word. Being sized for an affini, most of the furniture seemed too large to be easily used by her. It also was large to her in a more traditional sense, even without everything being scaled up, this was far larger than anywhere she had ever lived. It was a proper home, compared to the studio apartment she had called home for years.

“I’m glad that you like it, I’ll admit that I wasn’t exactly planning on having a terran staying under my care so soon after landing, but everything still should be ready for you regardless. There is a second bedroom with furniture sized more appropriately for you, and most of the furniture here should still be plenty accessible for you.” When she took a closer look, the furniture actually had subtle design features so it could be easily used by terrans, most seats had a few steps that allowed for easy access, among other things.

“I’ll let you get your belongings unpacked, once you’re finished we can discuss any other questions you may have, as well as get you scheduled for your vet appointment.” Vet appointment. The affini certainly weren’t subtle about domestication, were they? She started to walk to her room, but stopped when she saw a massive stack of papers on the coffee table. Were these all documents?  Hopefully she wouldn’t need to be filling any of that out, that looked, well, miserable.

She casually thumbed through some of the papers, she couldn’t read most of it, being written in the local affini language, but there were a few that were in English. Before she could get a closer look at any of it, Azolla gently tapped her on the shoulder. “No need to worry yourself about any of that, little one. You don’t have to fill any of this out, it's all paperwork I need to sign off on.”

“Thank stars for that, I’ve had a long enough day as it is. Oh, hey, what time is it anyway?”

The room itself seemed to reply to her question. “Heya cutie! In standard terran time, the current ship time is 12:35 PM, and local planet time is 6:02 PM, hope that helps!” The voice spoke with an overly sweet, condescending tone. The room had an AI? Hopefully it wouldn’t be too annoying.

“I, uh, thanks, I guess? Wait, aw man I’m going to have to adjust my sleep schedule to the new time, ugh.” Of all the things she had expected to deal with while being aboard the affini ship, jet lag was not one of them.

Azolla had been looking through the various documents, signing them off as they went. “Oh, you won’t need to worry about that, I can give you some class-Z xenodrugs that’ll help with sleep, and we can get you right on the schedule you’d like.”

“Wait, drugs? You’re going to drug me? Is that safe? I mean, I don’t know if that’s a good-”

“Easy, easy, little one. It’s just a sleep aid I can administer so that you can wake up at an appropriate time. I’m not going to give you anything more serious unless you ask to. If it does concern you, though, you should know that at your vet appointment you will be receiving prescriptions for class-G’s for hormone treatment, and most likely class-E’s for your anxiety.”

That helped her calm down, at least a little. It's just a sleep aid, nothing to worry about, she wasn’t about to have her free will stripped from her like those other pets, at least not yet. She didn’t know what was going to happen with the vet appointment and what those other xenodrugs would do more specifically, but she at least has time to process that.

“Okay, okay, sorry. I just- I’m still scared about all of this, thank you.” She took a few deep breaths, and gathered her thoughts. “So, this vet appointment, I’m going to be prescribed stuff for hormone treatment and anxiety? What exactly should I expect from that? I saw some pets along the way that seemed, well, really out of it. That’s not going to happen to me, is it?”

They set down the papers they were looking at, and took a moment to consider a response. “Well, to start with your first questions, we’ll be meeting with a vet for a physical and mental examination, and see what you may need to live the most happy and fulfilling life you can. I saw that you are taking hormone medications for HRT, so we’ll be switching you over to our equivalent, class-G xenodrugs. These are far more effective, safer, and more broad reaching than the medication you have been taking.”

Better HRT? That sounded like a dream to her. While she had finally gotten to the point of more or less passing out in public, she still found herself dissatisfied with her body. She still felt the need to wear baggy clothes frequently, and always hated seeing her naked body. If these class-G’s could solve that, well, she’d be all for it. But it couldn’t be that easy, right? “What about side effects? These things always have side effects.”

“Any side effects you experience should be fairly minimal, while certain variants of class-G’s can trigger allergic reactions in some individuals, one of the goals with the vet appointment is to determine what variants will give you what you’re looking for without any detriment to your well-being.”

“Okay, and the class-E’s? What can I expect from those?” They mentioned these ones were for anxiety, right? To some degree getting that dealt with also sounded nice, but at the same time, it was kind of a part of her. It was probably for the best, at least.

“Well, broadly speaking, class-E xenodrugs can have some effects on coordination or can impair cognition, these are largely sedatives we’re talking about. You shouldn’t have any major issues though. Besides, it would be rather cute to see you all clumsy like that~” Why did they have to be so flirty? Instead of considering the potential side effects of the xenodrugs she instead pushed out thoughts of being their clumsy, obedient pet.

“I- I’m not a pet… I’m not, uh-” Her voice trailed off, still unable to focus properly. Stars, she’s hardly known Azolla for a day and the thoughts of being collared have already crossed her mind.

“I wasn’t even talking about you being a pet. All I said was that seeing you be clumsy on class-E’s would be cute. Was that what you were thinking about when I brought that up?” They gave her a flirty look, prompting even more blushing from the already embarrassed girl.

“W-what? I- I thought you did, uh- I- I don’t even know what being a pet would be like, I’m not-” She only dug herself deeper with each fragmented sentence. Azolla couldn’t help but to giggle at the adorable girl stammering before her.

“Stars, you are simply too cute! I had no idea terrans were this precious~” Composing themself, they continued. “Now then, let’s go to your bedroom so you can actually get unpacked, and we can address some of these worries you seem to be having.” 

“R-right.” They walked her over to her room. Even with the furniture more appropriately sized for her, the room was still quite large, and the ceilings were still high enough for an affini to stand up comfortably. She lazily tossed her backpack onto the bed, and laid down.

“Comfy there, Dorothy?” They laid down next to her, and pet her on the head.

“Immensely, I wasn’t even aware it was possible for a bed to feel this good!” She rolled back and forth on the bed, and rolled into Azolla, who then pulled her into a loving embrace.

“I’m glad to hear it, now then, you still seem to be worried about the class-E xenodrugs, correct?” They spoke with warmth and compassion, and wanted only to make sure she was completely comfortable and understood what was going on.

“I mean, it's just… I don’t want to lose myself, I saw those other pets out there and they seemed really happy, but… if they were drugged, then did they really feel that way, or were they just made to feel that way? I guess I just worry about the class-E’s potentially being similar for me, you know? I know you said you just want everyone to live their best lives and all, but I guess I’m just wondering what they actually feel…” She pulled her legs up to her chest, worry filled her mind once again.

“I understand, Dorothy. As I recall saying earlier, I think a firsthand account will do wonders for you. You can see how genuinely happy our florets are. Most of them willingly decided to become pets.” 

That sounded pretty hard to believe, even if the thought had started crossing her mind, would so many other people really be so willing to give up their rights to be owned by an affini? “You also asked about how they really felt, right? Well, if you’d like, I can show you a small taste of what it's like to be a floret. I can give you a low dose of class-A’s, they’ll heighten your sensitivity to touch in a way that’s highly pleasurable, it’s a fairly common xenodrug. It’ll only be temporary, and If you want to stop sooner, you can tell me and I’ll administer the counteragent for it. Aside from that, I can simply treat you as I would my own pet, you can get an idea of what it's like from there.”

“I don’t know, maybe? That sounds kind of scary, if I’m being honest, but also, I want to know.” Was she really thinking of submitting to them? Even if it was just for the evening, it feels so wrong to her. At the same time, it was only the one evening, she’d get to see what it was like, and then never do it again if she didn’t want to. She took a deep breath, and gave her answer. “Okay, alright. I think I want to, can you show me, please?”

“I’m proud of you for facing these worries you have head on, Dorothy.” Azolla pulled her in closer, her vines gently hugging her whole body. “Before we begin, I want to check in about one more thing, if things end up getting sexual in nature, I want to confirm with you if you are okay doing anything like that.”

She didn’t respond, and continued to lay on her side, looking down. “It’s perfectly okay to say no, I want you to be comfortable with all of this.”

After another brief silence, she looked up to Azolla, and responded. “Yes, we can.”

Flashes of silver rippled across their eyes. “Very well, then. if you decide against it later, I understand perfectly.”

She looked down again, pulling away from Azolla’s gaze. Had she really just done that? Her mind burned with worry and second-guessed her decision. Countless “What-ifs” filled her mind, telling her to back out and play things safe. She steeled herself, took another deep breath, and stuck with her decision. She realized that she was now wearing a collar, it having been put on her while she was lost in thought.

“Wait, what? When did…” She felt at the collar, and heard a small jingle, the bell on the collar gently rattled on her neck.

“I figured you should get the full experience. Stars, it looks so perfect on you~” She couldn’t stop blushing. Despite her embarrassment, a smile formed on her face.

“U-uh- I uh- T-thank you, Azolla, uh-”

“Please, for now, you refer to me as mistress, understand?” They gave off a devilish grin. Dorothy’s eyes met theirs again, the way they glistened and shimmered was absolutely entrancing to her.

“Y-yes, um, m-mistress.”

“Good girl~ Now then, let’s get started, shall we?” A small vine with a soft pink flower on the end gently pressed into Dorothy’s leg, when they drew it back, she saw the small needle on the end that pressed into her. Where she was injected, she felt a wave of warmth and pleasure radiating outwards through her whole body.

With that pleasure also came the heightened sensitivity that Azolla mentioned. Her clothing became far more noticeable in her mind, at least, until she felt a few small vines from her mistress wrap around her back and pull her in for another embrace. She felt every individual vine, every movement eliciting a small moan from her. 

“M-mistress!” Her mind flooded with pleasure, her anxious worries washed away, giving way to a nice fuzzy bliss. 

“Oh, my sweet, precious little flower. I’m going to show you how much of a good little seed you really are~ How much you were meant to be a pet~” They lifted the quivering mess of a girl into their arms, and looked down at them lovingly. They hoped that when this girl wanted to be domesticated, that she would choose to stay with them.