Kallie awoke in Mistress’ vines, as she did every day. Trissa was snuggled up close to her, similarly ensnared but still asleep.

“Good morning, pet.” The familiar voice was all around her, dancing in and out of Kallie’s skull and awakening her to electric pleasure.

“Mmmmmm….mmistress,” Kallie slurred, giggling slightly as she did. She laughed a bit more at her apparent failure to enunciate as a vine trailed across her cheek. “Mmmmornining!”

“I have a special surprise for you two today,” Mistress said as she continued to stroke her prize, “but let’s not worry about that yet, hmmm? There’s all the time in the universe to enjoy the moment.”

“What…um…what izzit?” Kallie managed.

“Later, my impatient little floret. Please look forward to it.”

“Mm…kay.” Kallie let herself drift off once more. After all, why not? Mistress wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.

Trissa woke up about five seconds later.

“Mistresssssss! I’m hungry!”

Syringa’s chuckle was deep and rumbling, from where Kallie was. “Let’s get you two some breakfast, hmm?”

Kallie and Trissa obediently let themselves be fed a breakfast of strawberry covered waffles. It was a routine they’d become accustomed to; letting themselves go in warm bliss as Syringa guided their every move.

After breakfast she took them to look out the viewports awhile, to see where they’d ended up this time. She dispersed enough of the Class As in their systems to let them think somewhat clearly.

“A space station?” Kallie asked, cocking her head. It was utterly massive, dwarfing even the affini ships that were docked, to say nothing of the scattering of terran vessels. Syringa’s ship had latched onto one of the station’s many docking arms.

“Hyacinthella Station, to be exact! The closest inhabited planet is Nyrina. Which means you’ll see plenty of those fluffy little cuties around!”

“Maybe you’ll find people to play your board game, Triss,” Kallie said.

“Ooh, that’d be great! If I can, um, remember how to play!”

“Don’t worry, petal. You’ll have help,” Syringa promised. “Now, I’m sure you two won’t mind spending a little while on this station, am I correct?”

“Mmhmm!” Trissa confirmed. Kallie nodded as well.

Syringa strode off of the ship and into the station, her florets leashed and trailing her, shoulder to shoulder. Kallie and Trissa marveled at what must have been an even more excessive display compared to anything they’d seen so far; more opulent environs, more alien species in various states of chemical bliss, the lone outsider exceedingly rare. Perhaps one day they’d be used to all that the Compact was, with them being…

Well, not citizens, per se…

Subjects?

Pets.

Passersby reached down to pat Kallie or her pinnate on the head, eliciting involuntary moans from the wide eyed florets, much to the amusement of their owner.

The presence of rinans had changed one thing; the terrans had nearly forgotten what it was like to be among people who were shorter than them. 

“And here we are,” Syringa said. It was a workshop. A planty and clean one, naturally, but a workshop nonetheless, with evidence of…work having been done.

Is this where the surprise is?” Kallie asked, hopeful.

“A surprise?” Trissa apparently had not been clued in.

“That is indeed the case,” Syringa confirmed. “Right this way, my little flowers.”

The florets obligingly followed, into a back room dominated by something concealed under tarp. Syringa smiled down at them, and proceeded to dramatically yank the cover off.

“I call it the Affini Approxima Platform, but you may refer to her as Dandelion Fluff, Third Bloom.” Their mistress simulated a wink. “They grow up so fast sometimes, don’t they?”

Kallie and Trissa looked up in admiration, at their mistress, and the suit as well. She…really was still looking out for them, and this confirmed it.

The outfit itself, if it could be called that, had a large pod as its core, with dormant limbs branching off where appropriate. The mask was the part most similar to the second iteration, but with an added curtain of the yellow flowers acting as hair.

“But…um…Mistress, how do I fit in the legs?” Kallie asked. “They’re uh…kinda split?” There was something to be said for how she sounded so unsure about stating an obvious fact; she was mostly anticipating Mistress’ playfully patronizing response, something that would strike her as supremely obvious when Syringa said it.

Her anticipation, as it turned out, was right on the Compact’s closest approximation to money, if that was even a thing. By some command, the pod opened up, with just enough room for two terrans within. Before Kallie knew it she was already being gently hefted into the air; Trissa’s short yelp signified that she wasn’t the only one. They were tucked neatly into the pod, which closed up soon after.

“No more bearing the burdens of both of you, little one,” they clearly heard Syringa say. Unseen hatches allowed in her vines, offering caresses of reassurance. 

“Kinda…cramped,” Trissa observed, with a short giggle. They were right up against each other, and the only natural place Kallie found for her arms to settle was around her pinnate. Which was, as it turned out, surprisingly comfortable. But Kallie did have one lingering question.

“How do I…we…drive it?”

Syringa’s condescending chuckle put that line of questioning to rest. “I’ll be handling that function, my dear. Neither of you will ever have to worry about straying too far from me. You need only to let me handle everything.”

Kallie felt herself breathing a sigh of relief. That was in line with the rest of the Syringa Experience, and she hadn’t led them wrong yet. “Thank you, Mistress.”

Trissa nodded as well, but realized Syringa probably couldn’t see it. So she added, “mhmm!” 

“And if Dandelion is asked a question, either of you can respond as you see fit. But if you’re feeling shy, I can handle that as well.”

“Um…I think I can handle it!” Trissa said. Kallie felt her breath on her face. It felt nice.

“Simply look up and the suit will recognize your intent, little one. Keeping your heads down will allow you cuties to talk amongst yourselves, with no one else hearing you. Besides me, of course!”

Trissa did so and found some semblance of a receiver. “Okay!” she said, and the suit carried her voice outward, though it didn’t sound much different. Something selling out from the back of her neck prevented her from worrying about that fact, however. Instead it was all too easy to simply lean into Kallie, who was in turn leaning into her.

“Now let’s take you for a walk, hmmm?” Syringa’s jubilant voice suggested. And the florets felt their platform start to move.

While they couldn’t really see their mistress, they knew all the same that she was there. She was in her biorhythm, which the platform only seemed to amplify, which made sense; affini were supposed to have them, after all. But she was also in the florets themselves.

It didn’t take them long to draw a crowd, which the girls could see through a display that had opened up on the “front” of their pod. Affini, their rinans, a fair amount of humans, and countless others.

“Um…hi everyone!” Trissa had said through Dandelion, in her obviously human tones. “I’m Dandelion Bl…Fluff, Third Bloom! A real affini from, uh, space! And I’m really pleased to meet you all!”

The audience communicated their adoration to an almost excessive degree, with countless caresses and headpats which the pod somehow made both of them feel. 

Good thing, Kallie thought, that the crowd couldn’t see the two humans squirming at the attention. 

“Thanks for everything,” Trissa told her, pulling her own attention back to her pinnate. “I’m glad you don’t have to be the legs anymore, but I never could’ve made it here without you!”

“Don’t count yourself out,” Kallie said back. I couldn’t have been Dandelion alone, and who knows what the plants would have done if we’d been revealed immediately…” she shivered at the thought. But things had worked out; she was safe with Trissa, and Syringa, and they’d all managed to protect each other.

Because, after all, if Syringa had so easily designed a suit like this, it could’ve only been from the experience of a human in disguise. Kallie awaited the day…well, maybe not. Mistress was fine as she was. But maybe one day she’d reveal her true self? Although a growing part of her was starting to think that Syringa might actually be a real affini.

She shook her head to disperse the line of thought. Too complicated, right now. Especially when Trissa was right there, staring into her eyes, or trying to. Overcoming the initial difficulty, Kallie returned the eye contact, and…damn, she was really pretty. She’d noticed it when they were both cadets in the Cosmic Navy, and she continued to notice it over and over again.

And as she stared, Trissa adjusted her arm to boop her on the nose, before leaning in for a kiss.

Kallie almost ceased functioning right then and there; her face could’ve burned a hole through any number of things. But, scarcely able to breathe, she still managed to reciprocate. The passion grew from there, both florets clutching each other tightly.

After all, how could they have known that everyone around them could see them perfectly well? 

THE END