The next few days fell into a quiet routine, Raven or Crim waking up. Sometimes switching who’s at the front, and lazing around Azalia’s hab.

Crim as always is entirely fixated on learning more details about the similarities, and differences, between terran bees, and beeple, given their similar appearances and rolls in nature. 

Raven on the other hand blatantly kept up her relentless pace of flirting with Azalia. Following the affini around like a sick puppy any time she wasn’t getting attention, and ending up taking several naps in their caretakers lap as a way of killing the time waiting for the first body mod appointment.

The night before, Crim slowly creeps out of their bedroom, a gnawing lump of anxiety weighing heavy in her chest, as she heads over to Azalia’s room for help. The heavy doses of xenodrugs she’s on, somehow not proving to be enough to guard her, in the face of her anxiety about the next day's appointment. 

She gives a few light raps on the door, before slipping inside, looking around over the different books on all of the shelves. Seeing Azalia’s form plopped on the bed, bundled around her core as the majority of her mass is covering the right side of the bed. While avoiding the left, a habit that had been picked up due to Raven’s insistence on occasionally sleeping with her. 

“Uh… Azalia, are you still awake?” Crim mumbles out, leaning from the balls of one foot to the other. Trying to work out her anxious energy, instead of bottling it up so blatantly.

After a moment of silence, Azalia’s mass wiggles, and slowly pulls itself together into her human form. “Crim? Yes I’m awake, I was just resting, and thinking about tomorrow.” She shifts around a little, and loops a few vines around Crim, lifting the girl up and onto her bed. “Are you okay?”

“I… uh, can’t sleep.” Crim grumbles a bit, tapping her fingers along the vines. Her posture immediately shifting to be more relaxed thanks to the pulsating warmth of Azalia’s rhythm. “Thinking about everything is keeping me up, so I wanted to ask for some Z’s… and maybe just to be held for the night.”

Azalia smiles, and shifts around, her vines curling protectively around Crim. “Of course, you can sleep here any time you want. I’ll keep a close hold on you, while you rest.” As she talks, her vines slowly pet Crim, making sure to rub and scratch the back of her neck, and a little further down her spine. Indulging in this being one of the very few times she’s been allowed near Crim without the full suit on.

“Thanks, I’m just really looking forward to tomorrow, so getting my heartrate down has been impossible.” Crim rolls over ever so slightly, pressing her head up against Azalia’s mass, as she takes slow methodical breaths. “So I figured I’d just come in here, and cheat my anxiety, with some Z’s.”

“I’ll do my best to keep things at a slow and steady pace, maybe some nice natural buzzing while we rest.” Azalia shifts so she is laying down alongside Crim, keeping her vines loosely around her ward. At her mention of nature sounds, the hab started up some quiet and relaxing sounds of a forest being pollinated by bees.

Crim wiggles deeper into the embrace, allowing herself to be bundled tight into the slightly writhing mass of vines. As her head is guided forward, a small blue flower being carefully pulled out, and pushed close enough to tempt her to breathe deeply of it. Each huff, and nuzzle, causing her body to feel even heavier. Drifting finally to sleep thanks to the feeling of gentle pets along the back of her head, and the scent of lavender. 

************************************************************

The next morning, Crim’s eyes crack open ever so slightly. Finding herself secured in a small cocoon of vines, her shoulders and legs both having a few vines wrapped around them. Likely due to squirming or kicking that she’s prone to during the nights.

Despite the importance of the day itself, she can’t help but simply let her eyes drift shut once again. In this one moment of privacy allowing herself to enjoy the feeling of being held by someone who genuinely cares about her again. Drifting back to sleep, aware that Azalia will be carrying her to the appointment today either way.

Azalia smiles down at Crim, steadily stretching before getting up, keeping the bundled terran close as she goes about preparing for the day ahead. Once she has finished some small chores, she begins the walk to the vet, keeping Crim in pajamas, and simply using the bundle of vines to hide her from onlookers.

As they arrive at the hospital wing of their hab ring, Crim starts to wiggle around more. Bonking her head up against Azalia’s core several times, to alert her caretaker that she’d in fact woken up in time to actually speak to her doctor. “Azaliaaaa, I’m uuuuup…” She uses her free arm to slowly pry the vines around her away, knowing full well that she’s being allowed to make these movements, rather than actually managing the herculean task of making an affini move their vines by force. 

As her head pops out of the bundle, she laughs lightly, noticing Anemone standing on the opposite side of the waiting area. Grinning from ear to non-existent ear, obviously just as excited about the mods as Crimson is. “Oh hey Doc, as ya can tell, me and Azalia have become closer friends since ya last saw us!”

“Oh I can certainly tell.” Anemone motiones Azalia forward, opening the door to the surgical hallway. “Come on in back, we will get Crim all set up for her first major surgery.”

Azalia giggles and begins following Anemone while a few vines that had comprised the cocoon start petting Crim. Once they enter Anemone’s office, she sits down and unravels the rest of her vines fully from around Crim. Allowing the girl to wrench herself from the embrace. “So, is there anything we will need to watch out for after this first set?”

"Your biggest concern will be adjusting to Crim’s new hands. While they will be able to change their hands back to terran normal to assist in the process. Their reach, will be majorly reduced, I'm going to recommend you either take time off of work to handle it yourself. Or go and speak with Solosia Versa to see if they have a spot open, and can help with Crim’s recovery, they’re a specialist." Anemone reaches out, plucking Crim up into her vines. As she prepares an injection to put the girl under. 

"Sounds great to me! So just arms this time, and then more from there each time after I'm healed up?" Crim hops forward, more than willing to assist the affini in any way she can with getting to the point.

"You will also be getting your neck fluff this time, then next appointment we will do your legs, wings, and lower body, and the one after that we will focus primarily on your head." Anemone grins, patting Crim on the head and sliding a flower up against the girl's thigh. Giving a quick prick, and watching as Crim drifts to sleep in her vines.

Azalia gently pets Crim, watching as the girl immediately flops over in Anemone’s vines, before looking up into Anemone’s eyes. “So, there are some things I would like to bring up with you as Crim’s vet. Did Crim give any indication in her files about being a plural system? Would this affect anything mentally that would be important for you to know?”

“It was listed in a quite uncomfortable way, so it’s likely up until now she’d been lying about their existence with enough consistency, that the affini responsible for her accepted the lie, not wanting to push the system as a whole to interact with one another, and possibly cause harm to both sophonts.” Anemone shakes her head, starting to walk towards the operating room. “Luckily now that they’ve acknowledged one another, it was easy enough to correct myself, but the fact that they felt the need to hide this fact from us, until accidentally revealing themselves to you, is disconcerting.” 

With a few light pats, she places Crim down onto the operating table, and starts to apply straps, and restraints to make sure Crim can’t so much as flinch during the procedure. “Are you aware of any reason they’d feel motivated to lie about this?”

“The two seem to while caring on some level for each other, they have very… diametrically opposed viewpoints. Raven believes that Crim is unable to take care of herself, on top of wanting to be domesticated. Crim on the other hand doesn’t want to be domesticated, and wants to show her independence, to prove Raven wrong, while at the same time being completely absorbed with bees and beeple, and becoming more like them.” Azalia shakes her head, stepping up to the edge of the operating room.

“Ah, yes that does sound like quite the difficult moral quandary that you’ve found for yourself stuck with. While I know many affini would encourage the domestication of both, based on Raven’s needs and desires, I also understand any perceived advances towards that would cause Crim unwarranted distress.” Anemone sighs, patting Crim a few times on the head, before walking back over to talk to Azalia. “How about while I deal with this, you go and speak with Solosia, they had a floret who also landed in the… gray areas that we find ourselves in with sophonts all too frequently. Maybe they can give you advice on how to handle it, and fit you and Crim in for some PT while you’re at it.”

Azalia nods slightly, pulling her datapad out, and looking Solosia up while they talk. “Alright, and thank you. Oh, and before I forget, Crim was worried about vaping with the beeple in the hive, and messing up her dosses. Is there any way we can get her set up with a vape so she can enjoy her time there some more?”

"I've… not actually considered that, if you're out for too long I'll move Crim into a private room, and take care of her." Anemone gently guides Azalia out of the room. "Maybe go speak to one of the affini who run the onboard gardens, if they don't have a way to currently provide her that experience. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to figure something out."

With that Anemone closes the door to the operating room. Leaving Azalia alone without Crim for the first extended period since the girl’s arrival. 

Azalia turns around, her form tightening slightly as she begins to walk away, pulling her datapad out to look up where Solosia’s new hab is. Sending a quick message asking if she can come visit in the process.

LyricalLinguist: Hello, I apologize if you're busy today. Anemone recommended you as a PT for a sophont I'm currently caring for. She's getting intensive beeple mods, and the very first part of the progress is replacing and adding arms. 

If you're busy with another sophont currently, that is alright. And I would simply appreciate any advice you can give about how to handle her physical recovery.

SolFlower: I’d be happy to help your little one, those mods sound adorable, but they will need all the extra help they can get! I will of course have some at home exercises for you to run through with her. Would you like to meet up, and maybe you can show me her medical readouts, so I can get her specific case file set up.

LyricalLinguist: Oh no, she’s not mine! She’s entirely independent! But I’d appreciate being able to sit down and talk about her. I'll forward you her personal case file, and then perhaps we can talk at your hab? 

SolFlower: Oh alright, well I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, independence can be a very important thing to some sophonts after all. And I’d loathe to actually upset her by implying otherwise, I’ll look over everything and formulate a plan while you’re on your way. Take all the time that you need.

With a small sigh, and a few clicks, Azalia sends out everything relating to Crimson’s file. A few vines having tightly bundled themselves around her arm in embarrassment at the implication that Crim is hers. 

She had of course placed at least three letters of intent, to make sure no one would think that Crim is free game. As well as the foolish hope that she might just be able to call Raven or Crim her floret someday. Even if she was surprised to see several others with letters already in place for the girl.

The remainder of her walk is spent looking around the area, noticing how slow today is. Most of the ship is staying in, and relaxing, for the last few days that they’ll be on world. The few newly moved on board preparing their new habs to call home for the foreseeable future, even a few affini she recognizes showing their newly attained florets their home.

She chuckles to herself, relieved that she’d not been the only one lucky enough to find a sophont to care about on Helios 201, even if her particular case is more complex than a simple adoption.

The walk ends with Azalia standing out front of a massive intricately painted hab door. Clearly intended for an affini much larger than herself, the door itself having a painting of vines bundling inwards around a massive blue flower with a red core, and yellow sunlight radiating behind it. 

Azalia knocks on the door a few times, making sure to be light enough not to risk damaging the paint job in any way. Her form finally losing a little bit of its tension, taking comfort in the fact Anemone had promised to keep an eye on Crim for a little while extra if necessary. 

The door slides up, revealing a living room filled with different art pieces. Most only vague shapes or colors in comparison to the detailing on the front door, and before she could say, or do, anything a small lizard girl with bright blue hair, and a flower identical to the door’s, replacing one of her eyes, rushes on all fours out of the bedroom. 

The floret hops up onto her feet as she stops in front of Azalia. Her scaled tail thumping on the ground excitedly, Azalia’s eyes catching a vine running up from it, and under her companion dress to support her spine. Her chin is also hidden under the exact same type of neck fluff that Crimson is getting today, as her face twists into a wild spiked grin.

“Ah-” Just as Azalia is about to speak, a fused pair of affini rushes out of the bedroom. Their form is absolutely gargantuan, with a large nest still open in the middle of their chest, where their floret had just jumped out of. Combined yellow, orange, and red flowers acting as hair, while they appear to be wearing a red version of the blue companion dress that the floret is in.

“No no wait!” The floret clears her throat, clearly taking advantage of her owners being caught off guard. “I am Nix Versa, first floret!” She does a little bow, gesturing towards her owners. “And those are my owners, Solosia Versa Fourth, and Sixth bloom!”

Azalia blinks a few times, before smiling softly, and placing a hand on top of Nix’s head. “Thank you for introducing yourself, and your owners.” She ruffles the girl’s hair slightly, as she looks over at Solosia, actually recognizing one of the heads from working at the xenoburicratic wing of the ship. “I hope everything looks good on your end about Crim?”

“I was actually talking to Sola about her a week ago, it’s very rare for us to get a sophont wanting to visit a hive moon, and joining our little trip across the stars like this.” Celosia laughs lightly as they walk over, and pluck Nix up off of the ground. Barely pulling her away in time, as she tries to take a bite at Azalia’s hand.

“And someone just woke up from her nap, and heard we are going to be having another guest.” Sola wiggles the little lizard around. Pulling out a vine, and starting to shake it in front of her face. “Sorry about that, she gets really bitey when she first wakes up.” 

Nix immediately bites into the provided vine. Cuddling up against her owner’s chest, as the vines wrap around her chest and bundle her up. Satisfied with being able to finally introduce her owners as their new combined self.

Azalia nods ever so slightly, her vines pulling up as close against her chest as possible in order to prevent more attempts at biting. Feeling for the first time in her life, small in comparison to another affini, while she’d heard of exceptionally large affini scaling up to planets in her studies. 

Actually seeing one in person genuinely large enough to likely make moving around a ship inconvenient, is quite the interesting experience. “Well thank you for stopping her, Crim and Raven bite sometimes, and the last thing I’d want is them getting jealous, because they can’t make a mark on my vines like your floret could.”

Solosia giggles a little bit, and nods. “Trust me, I understand. Our little ones can become very jealous and ‘possessive’ of us… even independents.” She motions in towards some seating. “Please, come and sit down, we can figure out scheduling that works out for Crim and Raven’s PT, as well as what kinds of things you can do around your hab to make things easier on them.”

“Thank you.” Azalia slowly follows behind Solosia, looking over the bright blue couch, and noticing that the left side is entirely ripped up from what seems to be claw punctures. “I’ve done everything in my power to make the hab more approachable for them, very similar to you here.” She gestures over to the kitchen, and how there’s smaller versions of everything that’s affini sized to be reasonable for a sophont to use themselves. “My main concern currently is the increased difficulty they will face with using even that as they get smaller.”

“Becoming smaller in a living situation already suited to us affini will bring Crimson some extra difficulties that she may have trouble dealing with. Of course wanting to stay independent hurts one suggestion, but we can work around that.” Solosia runs her fingers through Nix’s hair and fuzz lightly. “If her wings won’t be added in till later due to her body construction, that means she will be working her limbs harder than most beeple, at least until then. Beeple are very good climbers, and Anemone is skilled at getting very close to what various sophonts want, so I would get some terran ladders, and maybe even some climbing things like at the park. You could install small ‘jungle gyms’ for Crim, which we could also use as a loose method of at home exercise.”

"Got it, I'll go and talk about getting more installed in her bedroom, as well as getting a sleeping area installed for her in my bedroom, so I can have a closer eye on her while she's healing." Azalia nods slightly, watching as Solosia pets Nix. "My main goal is having everything set up for when her or Raven is out. Raven is a lot more willing to depend on me, while Crim has a tendency to push herself instead."

“Oh I remember how much Nix tried to show off, you will have to be ready to watch over her from afar, especially during her recovery.” Solosia giggles lightly, before shaking their heads. “Like you have said, Raven being willing to ask for and accept help will make her easier to deal with. Crim should be given chances to do things on her own, but just make sure you stay close enough in case she gets in trouble.”

"Absolutely, luckily as long as she believes that it will further her goals of becoming closer to beeple Crim can be convinced to act more dependently." Azalia shakes her head as she pulls out her datapad. "If you don't mind my asking, do you have any recommendations relating to socialization for sophonts who express intense anxiety around being perceived, or meeting new people? While she's responded well enough to meeting new beeple, at the mere mention of sophonts outside of that category being around, even if not to interact with her, seems to be enough to make her horribly uncomfortable, to the point where she'll willingly switch with Raven to escape."

“Well, with Nix, we mostly just kept her introductions to one or two people at a time. Nix likes to act cute, and during a walk when we are taking most of the attention she is okay, but once you get to three or more strangers, Nix freezes up and likes to retreat. Crim sounds pretty similar in that sense, so I would suggest keeping introductions to smaller groups. Then if you ever have to introduce her to more, make sure she has a friend nearby who she can ‘lean on’ for lack of a better term.”

"Got it, she's actually befriending most of the beeple hive on board. So whenever we go out, I'll maybe see about asking one or two to join us." Azalia nods slightly, looking down at Nix. "I honestly can't believe I'm genuinely considering getting a floret already. This was not how I expected a routine stop to go."

Nix peaks up at Azalia, looking between her owners and the new affini. Taking a moment to consider her words before spitting the vine out, and crawling up to the edge of Azalia’s lap. "Neither were my mistresses when they got me!"

"She's right you know, when Nix landed in our laps we weren't even that good of friends." Sola’s head nuzzles up against Celosia’s. "But the little cutie ended up pulling us together."

"Exactly! So just roll with it if you want her, I mean how much trouble could one sophont be anyways?" Nix snickers lightly, as her tail flicks from side to side behind her. 

Solosia looks down at Nix, getting a genuinely concerned expression on their faces. Knowing exactly how much trouble one potential floret is capable of causing in a remarkably short amount of time. Looking back up at Azalia, they give the other affini a look that can only be surmised as 'good luck'.

Azalia laughs at Solosia’s exasperation, and begins to pet Nix. “Thank you for the advice, all of you.” She hums slightly, mulling over Crim and Raven’s behavior in her head. “I really wonder how to convince Crim to take the steps towards domestication. Raven practically already is fully my floret during her time out, and I don’t think it will be that hard to convince Crim in the long run.”

"You can never be too sure, trust us on that. If a sophont that at least in their own mind, truly deeply doesn't want domestication, they almost always have a deep core fear relating to the topic. If you want to convince her of anything, you'll have to figure that out first." Solosia gently runs their hands down opposite sides of Nix’s back. Watching as their floret starts to buzz and go back to resting. "We will be more than happy to come over, and help with the physical therapy, but sadly figuring the emotional part out is on you."

Azalia nods, and returns Nix to Solosia’s lap. “Thank you, I’ll see what I can figure out, and see if Raven can help give me some insight. I don’t want to force Crim, but it does feel like she would flourish under domestication in the long run.” She slowly stands up as her datapad buzzes in her chest. “Crim’s body mods should be applied by now, I should probably start making my way back to the vet.”

"We understand where you're coming from." Solosia laughs lightly, standing up keeping Nix cradled in their vines. "Here we'll walk you out, Nix here has a date with her girlfriend today." 

Nix grins, flopping backwards against her owner's as the group walks out into the halls of the ship. 

*************************************************************

Once Azalia arrives back in the medical wing of the hab ring. Anemone walks out of one of the patient rooms, a curt smile on her face. "Well I've got good news, but you seem like you've also got a lot on your mind." She swiftly walks over, looping a few vines around Azalia’s. "So why don't we talk a bit about that first, Crimson is still fast asleep, so no need to worry."

Azalia loops her vines right back, dragging her mask out of its neutral negative state, to a small smile. “Sounds good to me, let’s sit down for this.” She leads Anemone to a nearby bench. “So, Crim’s bodymods went well, that’s good. I was able to line up some time with Solosia for physical therapy. We also talked quite a bit about sophonts in general.”

"Oh, did you? So what about sophonts did you talk about then?" Anemone casually slumps down on the bench. Her petals shifting the position of the black and whites, as a visual indicator to others working in the wing that she’s taking a break. "Is there anything that you'd like my advice on?"

“Well, we started with her therapy of course, but we eventually got to things to add to make Crim feel more capable on top of helping her exercise. After that we began talking about the…impact of Crim and Raven being plural, and what each of them want…and a little of what I want.” Azalia fidgets a little bit, her chest bundling itself into knots because of guilt. “Some ways to gently guide Crim towards maybe deciding differently on her independence, as well as how to help her socialize better.”

"Ohhhh, I never would have guessed!" Anemone flashes Azalia a slight cocky grin. Starting to jab at the affini with a few of her vines. "Well if you want to have her reconsider her options… I'd see about signing up to stay on that moon with her full time, after all it seems like that has become her end goal in all of this. So once she's experienced time as part of that hive, then you'll have a chance to convince the cutie to sign up for domestication."

Azalia nods lightly, her vines flinching at each of the jabs. “Alright, I can do that, though in the meantime I’ll be trying to help Crim see that asking for help, and being cared for can be a good thing.” She gives Anemone a small hug. “There is one thing I am kind of worried about regarding the hive moon, I’m afraid that Raven is going to absolutely hate it, and I don’t want either of them unhappy.”

“Now that’s a valid concern, and a very good reason for you to accompany them the entire time.” Anemone gently leads Azalia to stand up, leading the way into Crim’s hospital room. “To be the one to pull them both out, if anything happens that you believe is harming them.”

In the hospital bed, Crim is laying sound asleep. Bright yellow fluff around her neck, while her top two arms have lost a good bit of their reach, and a second set is now placed down a few inches under them. Despite the bandages covering most of the limbs up, Azalia can see each hand is three distinct segments like a beeple’s rather than the normal terran hand.

“Now, I’ve sent you a whole sweep of paperwork on how to take care of Crim’s new arms. As well as the headset that is sitting on the guest table, that’s all programmed with the basics of teaching her about her limbs. You’ll need to do sessions with her every day for a week, and then when the final set of bandages come off, that’s when you’ll be going to Solosia for the rest of the process.” Anemone walks up, gently petting Crim’s cheek. “Given Raven’s enjoyment of the process, and Crimson’s stated tendency toward doing things she just shouldn’t, I’ve elected to put them on J’s for the healing process. I hope this won’t cause any difficulties for you.”

“That will be fine, and you are right, it will be for the best as far as keeping Crim out of trouble, at least until she is healed enough to have her fun.” Azalia brushes Crim’s new fur, giggling a little at how the fuzz feels. “This is all wonderful, I know Crim wouldn’t be able to hold back her excitement if she were off of Js.”

"Indeed, now what do you say you go get her home? I'm gonna set her next appointment for a month from now, just enough time for her to heal and adjust, as well as being right in time for us to be at another station, so she'll be conscious enough at the time to get a look before she’s down for a while." Anemone gently wiggles vines under Crim’s sleeping form. Being exceedingly careful about moving her over into Azalia’s vines. "And good news on that too, she'll be getting much smaller on our next appointment together, so you'll get to carry her around more~"

Azalia giggles a little, before pulling Crim close. “Thank you, I’ll be sure to take advantage of it. I’ll also be able to remove the extensions on her pajamas and clothes, which I am sure she will love.” She carefully adjusts Crim to be comfortably secured in a hammock. 

“One month sounds perfect, I’ll make sure she is ready for it.” She gives Anemone a light hug. “Do you think you could get a couple of those green house contacts, given how much I will be caring for Crim while she recovers? If not, I’ll figure something out to go, and speak with someone.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Anemone nods, gently leading Azalia out of the hospital room, and towards the hallways. “I’ve got a few more appointments this week, but how about this? I’ll go figure out getting her some form of similar inhalable medication during her week on J’s, and then I’ll come, and deliver it to you, alongside her first at hab check up.” She taps her vines alongside her sides as she thinks, the black and white checkered petals switching places. “And I tell you what, I’ll also find you a graft that can allow her to take ‘hits’ from you personally. Hopefully assisting with the bonding process, sound good?”

Azalia nods ever so slightly, a smile filled with genuine excitement finding its way onto her face. “Thank you so much Anemone. It really means a lot. If you get too caught up in other things, don’t feel bad about telling me that I will need to do it myself.” She pets Crim a few times. “I’ll see you in a week, don’t overwork yourself.” She begins to walk away towards home, ready to bundle Crim up for lots of cuddles.

“No promises!” Anemone laughs, waving Azalia off, before turning around to get ready for the last appointment of her day. 

***************************************************************

As Azalia passes through the doorway into her hab unit, Crimson shows her first signs of life since the surgery. Her top level of limbs twitching ever so slightly, before being held down by Azalia’s vines. “Bzzzzzt…” Gets hazily mumbled out, as she wiggles her chest around ending up sandwiched even tighter between the vines. As she tries to squirm her way out of the bundle, despite the fact that she’s at risk of crawling towards being dropped several feet onto the ground. 

“No no Crim, you are waking up from surgery, and it is time for you to rest, and relax.” Azalia moves to her couch, laying down and unraveling some of her vines, making sure to keep a hold on Crim. “It may be hard to say, but how are you feeling?” She gently brushes some of Crim’s bangs back.

Crimson squeaks, wiggling around, and involuntarily moving her bottom set of limbs. Not yet sure of what’s attached to her, or how to control them. “Whaaaaa…” She lazily flops her head to the side, her gaze drifting up towards Azalia’s head, almost immediately getting sucked into the vast expanse of the affini’s eyes due to a lack of having her guard up.

Azalia brushes Crim’s cheek while smiling. “There we go, such a good girl. Just let me take care of you. We have some fun ways to teach you how to use your new arms.” She rubs over Crim’s new neck fluff a little bit with a smile. “We will also do a lot of cuddling, and you will be spending all your time around me for your recovery.”

Crimson’s eyes slowly close, and open a few times, as she watches Azalia with all the attention, and adoration that she can manage. "Cuddles…"

Crimson slowly pushes her legs against the couch. All four of her arms dragging limply at her sides, only being moved by the assistance of a few vines that are wrapped around each. 

With every ounce of effort she can manage. Crim manages to push herself back on top of Azalia’s lap, despite having just been put down, before curling her legs up, and relaxing to the sound of Azalia’s warm pulsating rhythm.

Azalia begins to pet Crim, letting her rhythm beat freely. “Such a good girl, such a good bee.” She gently traces a vine around Crim’s neck before gently trailing it down her spine. “Such a cute little one, you’ve convinced me, bee cuddles really are the best.”

Crimson simply starts to buzz lightly. Wiggling around under each of Azalia’s pets, as she basks in the experience of being affirmed of who she is as a sophont.