Just one more jump, that’s how long it would be until they arrived at the spot to wait for the rest of the ships in this sector. Just one more jump where they can’t replace her, just one more jump to work up the courage to press that button, and free herself from this nightmare.

Nix rushes over to the compartment, her cane clicking against the ground as she finally was going to do it, then the ship rumbles causing her to stumble slightly. Falling forward and knocking her head into the panel, causing it to slip just that little bit open.

And now she’s back on the ground again, just like always collapsing down. No help, no she doesn’t NEED help, if she needs help she’s weak, and if she’s weak then everyone is right about her. 

Nix uses her cane, pushing up off of the ground as hard as she could, her legs shaking slightly as she shoves the panel back into place. No taking risks with contraband, even if she was bleeding, that needed to be closed first and foremost. While they wouldn’t vent her for anything less than treason, she did not doubt their capacity to strand themselves, if they thought that she’d betrayed them.

Then the radio flicks on next to her. "Richard, get ready to jump! We just got word of incoming affini vessels! More than we can handle alone!" 

Alone, yeah right, like they could even handle a single affini, with these few people left on board. "Yes Sir, I'll get us out of here in the next two minutes. Tell everyone to strap in." Nix looks over at the hatch, pulling it open and pulling the pad out. Quickly shoving it back shut afterwards, if they are jumping she is well and truly out of time.

Moving over to her station, she plugs the tablet in. Having it sink up with the jump drive, setting it to start relaying the message, and location the second they arrive. 

Once it is fully plugged in, she freezes up slightly. So she really is doing this, she’s throwing everyone on board to the affini, to maybe possibly save herself. And for what? The chance to be eaten, and have the pain stop? Maybe be 'rewarded' for her betrayal, by having them domesticate her, and tell her story on those damn propaganda lines. 

Crack her spine pops, Nix bites her lip taking a deep breath. Gripping as hard onto the station as she could, having to take a second to pull herself together from the shooting pain throughout her entire body. 

Right, she had to do this, because if she didn't she'd die. One jump or another, would snap that flimsy piece of metal in half, and she'd be left bleeding to death on the ground. In all likelihood, the entire ship's crew laughing at her, all because of something she can’t help.

Nix presses a few buttons. Setting up for their next jump, looking over all the systems… so many she couldn't maintain, yet she just had to hope that her on the spot training would carry her through. Falling apart at the seams, even this jump had a non zero chance of killing all of them.

Beep Beep Beep. Shit, too low on fuel to go all the way. "Sir, we can only jump half the distance you set this for. If we try to go any further, we won't be able to make an emergency jump to get to the rest of the ships. Will you permit me to change course slightly?"

Nix takes deep breaths as she sits down in her seat. Buckling herself into her seat at the console, doing her best to stay calm with the ever impending Affini…

She could just not start the jump, no they'd kill her before the Affini arrived. Doing this is smartest, it's the affini, of course they can track one of the smaller ships during a smaller jump.

"Richard! Richards are you fucking listening?!" Snaps Nix out of her funk, leaning into the communicator. 

"Yes Sir, I'm listening, you can continue." Nix grumbles, flicking her mic back off. Great, now she pissed him off, even if they make this jump safe she's definitely in for a beating.

"Good, I already contacted the ships we're meeting with. Make the full jump and we will be refueled there." 

Damn it, damn it damn it DAMN IT. Of course they weren't going to listen, and of course those ships would never spare the resources to help a ship this small. They'd probably just steal more of the crew, just like every other time they met with a larger ship. Maybe use the free spirit as a decoy to try and jump an affini vestle.

Nix shakes her head, it doesn't matter. The affini just have to make it in time, hopefully without her being found out first. 

Nix takes a long deep breath. Savering the last one she'd be able to take for a long while, before leaning in. Starting to do the one thing she could, making sure this ship would survive a  jump.

BOOM The world shakes around Nix, every part of her body feeling like it is cracking and popping. This was the worst part of these jumps, never knowing if her body would be broken even worse once it stops.

For a split second Nix thought she'd forgotten something. Only to hear a crashing behind her, only to be unable to turn around. Right shit, she forgot to stow her cane, and now it is probably an inch deep in some wall.

Then there was stopping, that was somehow still the worst part. Being stuck against her seat, she could tolerate it, but going back to normal. It felt like every single one of her vertebrae were on the verge of shattering, and being pulled apart, if not for the rod, which was even then only barely holding it all together.

CRUNCH, Nix’s eyes shoot wide as all of the air is knocked out of her lungs. The world around her stops on a dime, sending her head flying forward. Only to be caught by her restraints and pull back, every inch of her body feeling like she’s on fire. Unable to do anything other than take slow deep breaths, to try and pull herself back together, she couldn’t risk taking too long. Her distress beacon needs to be hidden, she can’t afford a single person seeing it.

With a shaky hand, Nix reaches out, and unplugs the transmitter. It should have enough data on the location of the jump, she just needs to go back to her room, and wait for now. After all, there was nothing more for her to do in a ship with too much damage to make another jump. 

Unbuckling herself, Nix rises to her feet. A numbness in her right leg that she was all too familiar with causing her to shudder. “Fuck…” She takes a few slow steps away from her station, her leg buckling slightly under the pressure.

As she turns around, she sees the door behind her. Her cane slammed into it, and shattered into pieces. “Great, I won’t even be able to move around that well anymore.” She takes a few shaky steps, going over to pick it up. Maybe they’d spare something to reconnect it… probably not. 

Nix sighs, starting to walk down the halls as she sees everyone else start to come out of their positions. Looking at her, and giving a slight nod, right they’d treat her like shit constantly, but the second they needed a jump or else they were going to get captured. Then she was someone worthy of respecting, fucking bastards.

Turning the corner to get into her quarters she sees Eric barely awake due to the pain of being slammed into the wall, because of the jump. “Alright out, I need to fix my cane. It was an emergency jump, so I forgot to latch it to something.” She grumbles a bit as the man stands up, giving her a slight nod and walking into the hallway. If they’d just had to jump to get away from the Affini, that meant he had to go back to his position in artillery, to get ready for a possible confrontation.

Nix sits down once he’s gone, pulling her makeshift pad out and making one last modification. ... .... .. .--. / .. ... / - --- --- / -.. .- -- .- --. . -.. / - --- / .--- ..- -- .--. --..-- / .--. --- ... ... .. -... .-.. . / ... .... .. .--. ... / .. -. -.-. --- -- .. -. --. --..-- / .--. .-.. . .- ... . / .... . .-.. .--.(Ship is too damaged to jump, possible ships incoming, please help.)

Sliding the tablet under her bed she leaves the message running through the ship's systems, and being broadcast as far as she could manage. Not even caring that the ships from the navy incoming may see it, after all it may be vague enough to seem like an SOS to the rebellion. Nix pushes the thought out of her mind, content to lay down, and let her body try to pull itself back together, before her new overlords arrive.

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

Nix’s eye slowly flutters back open, unsure of how long it had even been, this time instead of being located in a hospital bed that was around her size. She finds herself floating on something that feels almost like a cloud for the girls' standards. She starts rolling over to try and get up, seeing that there’s a solid three more body lengths worth of distance before she’d be able to get off. “Nope…” She groans, flopping all the way over face first, only to feel an itching on the left side of her face.

Knowing that she’s far enough from the edge to be safe, she slowly forces her body to roll over once again. Wrapping the oversized blanket around her legs on accident. Once she’s back on her back Nix takes a deep breath, getting ready for the hardest part of every day. Sitting up for the first time, she places one hand on the bed, pushing up still expecting her spine to be basically stuck in place. Only for her spine to bend ever so slightly along with her movements, making sitting up far easier.

“Oh… right, they mentioned they fixed that.” Nix grumbles under her breath, right they want to fix her. Just like everyone else in her life, these aliens consider her broken. With her free arm she reaches around her body, reaching her arm under her new pajamas… best not to think about her having been changed by someone else. 

As her hand reaches her back, she feels a lump in the middle. Instead of bending inward like her old scar, it feels like an affini’s vine is running up and down her back despite being entirely alone. “Well that’s not-” Her eye widens the implants they wouldn’t have already. Her hand shoots up to the base of her neck wiggling under a vine that seems to run up her entire body and over her head, nothing, no scar tissue there at least not yet. “Thank fuck.”

Finally there was one last thing to check, the thing on her face. The reason it felt so tingly, she slowly raises her hand to her left eye. Brushing her fingers over the flower and shuddering, m-maybe it is just an eye patch. Kinda like the spine, she wouldn’t have LOST her left eye… right? 

Beep, beep, beep, the bracelet only barely in her view because she’d brought her wrist up. Yellow, good she had time to calm herself back down, she doesn’t wanna go back under. Back to those memories, and especially not what happened next.

From behind the wall Nix hears rustling, footsteps heading towards the bedroom. “Nix sweetie? Are you okay in there?” Sola’s voice chirps out, sending an initial spark of worry before slight relief. It was just that weird affini, Sola, she’s not with someone new, she wasn’t thrown off to the nearest willing owner.

“U-um… I’m okay I guess? I’m having a bit of trouble.” Nix takes a deep breath, trying to tug the blanket off of her legs. Not wanting to be seen in a potentially ‘cute’, or ‘helpless’ position, if she did her chances of avoiding domestication would plummet… if they weren’t already at zero.

The door at the far side of the room slides open. Revealing Sola once again, the affaini’s bright yellow eyes are the only thing that Nix can clearly see, as light pours in behind the creature. Still not used to only having one working eye. “What are you having issues with, Petal? It seems like you were able to sit up on your own though, good girl!”

Nix’s heart skips a beat, she couldn’t tell if it was because of the sudden flirting, or the anxiety of her being treated like she was already this bushes pet. “I- well I’m having trouble with my vision. I rolled over and noticed I have… well a flower over my eye. Is it some kind of eyepatch?”

Sola flicks the lights to the room on, her face hardening slightly just for a moment. Right, the poor thing probably doesn’t remember most of her time in the hospital room. Her face softens as she walks over, sitting down next to Nix. “Dear… there’s no easy way to put this, but when I came and recovered you. Your left eye had been… removed.”

Nix’s eye widens, her entire body shuddering. Right, she’d been caught… and there were consequences for being caught. “R-right… and is there anything else I should know about?” She looks down at her body, feeling incredibly foren in it. Unsure if she’d even fully count as human with these modifications.

Sola nods, reaching out and making an artificial hand, reaching out to touch the woman’s back, only to have Nix virtually jump away from her. Right, this is still aboard a rebel ship, even if the poor dear was scared enough to find a way to call for help. She is still feral. “Hey it’s okay, I’m just going to touch you to show you what you’re working with, okay cutie? So you can understand.”

Nix takes a breath, nodding slightly. This is fine, just a massive plant feeling up her entire body, which was now PARTIALLY PLANT MONSTER.

Sola’s vine slowly passes into, and under Nix’s pajamas. Tapping the vine embedded in it lightly. “Well the vine is helping your new modifications heal up, as we had to remove the rod, and replace it. Functionally it is part of your spine, truly a marvel of modern day plant tech. You won’t have to worry about anything with it, other than keeping yourself healthy, it will naturally sustain itself to assist in your healing.”

Nix shudders slightly at the touch, it doesn’t feel numb which is absolutely overwhelming. She could barely feel it before the surgery, then after it had been as if her entire back lost sensation… but now, now every touch and tap feels like little pinpricks of warmth. “C-can you not tap that so much… it’s really sensitive right now.”

Sola frowns slightly, pulling her vine back away from Nix’s spine. “Well, apart from the flower graft which is currently being used to keep your socket healthy and healing, the spinal replacement, and a small but needed repair to your larynx. You are entirely untouched, and will remain as such unless you require otherwise.” As her vines shift around, she moves her hand over to Nix’s eye flower. “Also, if I find it necessary to medicate you. You will not need to worry about injections, because I can inject the flower in order to provide it.”

Nix could swear the plant has a hint of pride behind that statement, almost as if she was bragging about how easy it was for them to twist Nix’s newest disability into an advantage for her future… caretaker. “Well I guess that’s neat… so, um, Sola… not to be rude, but you still haven’t told me what’s going to happen to me.”

Sola’s vines start ruffling slightly, right she’d gotten so excited to see the poor thing up after over a week of waiting. And due to the calm behavior, hadn’t actually told Nix anything about why she was there. “Oh well, we actually need you to answer a few questions, Nix. We got your distress messages, and then you were in such a poor state we had to operate, in order to hopefully stabilize, and help you.”

Nix nods, pulling away, and using her arms to slide herself away from Sola slightly. Unwilling to try and test her legs right now, given she wasn’t even sure if they would work properly. “That makes sense, but it doesn’t explain why I’m not in the hospital still… or why I am not wearing more of these cuffs and a collar.”

Sola raises an eyebrow, looking in Nix’s eyes and seeing the terran’s serious expression, before starting to giggle. Reaching out to ruffle Nix’s hair. “Oh little one, it’s because of the healing process. While I could put a cuff on all points, it could fundamentally damage your idea of how to balance. We will switch points daily, in order to make sure that doesn’t happen. I also do not have a collar that can cover-” She reaches a vine around, tracing up Nix’s neck showing that there’s a vine running all the way up her neck and over to the flowers covering her missing eye. “This, I’ve ordered a custom one for you. But it hasn’t been prepared yet. And well, unless you suddenly start acting out. I’d only need to put it on you, to take you out of the hab, which well… I doubt that you could even handle standing up out of this bed, without asking for my assistance.”

Nix’s cheeks flush crimson, just as she thought. Just like everyone else her entire life, she was seen as less than even fucking rebels. She’d show her, she’d get out of this damn bed and walk away, while it wouldn’t get her away for long, it would at least prove her point.

Slipping over to the side of the bed, Nix watches Sola’s vines reach out. Positioning themselves near the side of the bed like handrails. “Now little one, don’t do something foolish. You’re going to need a few weeks of physical therapy, before you can walk alone. And even then you’ll need a cane, or an owner, to carry you when walking long distances.”

Nix’s flush turns to a look of rage, of course an owner. Or back to that damn useless cane! All that fancy plant tech and that couldn’t even fix her fucked up body. Shoving herself forward Nix hops down to the ground, hearing her leg click slightly uncomfortably as she lands with a small thud. Good, she made it onto the ground, and she’s standing at that! She can do this.

Sola shakes her head, moving around to get in front of Nix and putting vines out all around the terran. Of course she was going to be stubborn about this. “Okay, you’re doing a good job so far. Just go a few steps, and I’ll be here to catch you if you fall.” While she shouldn't, Sola couldn’t help but be curious how far the human would try to push herself. This could then at least act as a good way to gauge Nix’s current physical capacities, non invasively.

Nix couldn’t help but start shaking, great, she was going to do this for herself. To prove that she could, but now it was all part of this damn weed ‘helping’ her. “What even is your job?” She grumbles out, taking a single shaky step forward. Her knee buckling slightly under the pressure, nothing feels quite right about her new spines movement. It isn’t numb that’s for sure, but it’s most definitely forren.

“I am a vet, specifically I specialize in work with disabled florets, during the healing process. Which might I add, given you called us for help, we don’t know if you were on that ship exactly willingly, and you’ve shown no tendency towards violence. You aren’t quite being forced into domestication yet… but I am the one who gets to make your case at the end of the day.” Sola laughs lightly, her vines pulling in slightly behind Nix. Mostly to make sure the poor thing doesn’t fall backward. “I have to find out if you’re able to care for yourself, or not.”

“I can take care of myself FINE!” Nix takes another step forward, forcing herself far too soon, due to her own anger at the situation. Her right leg giving out under her, sending her plummeting to the ground in an all too familiar fashion.

Inches before impact, vines shoot into place supporting Nix’s body perfectly. “Now dear, you can not force progress. You are recovering from a very major surgery, and being mad at me for trying to help you, isn’t going to help your case.” Sola slowly raises Nix back to her feet, one of the vines not pulling away and staying attached to Nix’s right hand.

Nix pulls on the final vine, trying to free herself from its supportive grip. Only to find herself stumbling into the side of it, only being kept standing by its support. “Well then let go, and give me a cane. I know how to use them, and I’ll get around FINE. I did it the first time, I’ll do it again!”

Sola looks almost shocked, not at the girls screaming, but at the fact that the first time she’d had surgery she’d been forced to recover entirely independently. “Oh you poor dear, I simply can not allow that. Healing is a long, and very methodical process, and if you don’t follow my instructions, you won't get better.”

Won’t get better huh, Nix already knew what that meant. ‘You won’t get better free of us. We will make you get better as a floret’ blissed out of her mind like a useless idiot. “Fine, I’ll do what you tell me to. Just, please let me keep some level of self reliance during the treatment.”

“Well of course you’ll keep your self reliance! I’m trying to give you a new pair of legs, even as a floret it’d be cruel to not get you back to the most comfortable state you could be in!” Sola reaches down, tapping lightly along Nix’s legs. “And that includes making sure you can walk all on your own.”

Nix rolls her eye, trying to ignore the defingly cute enthusiasm of the plant's behavior. Simply gripping on a little tighter to the vine, and taking another step forward. Not pushing herself to move as quickly, and managing to stay standing on her own. 

“Good job flower!” Sola claps, watching Nix take shaky steps away from the bed and towards the living room of her hab unit. “Now what do you say we do a small walk to the living room, then I’ll get you whatever breakfast you want! After all, you deserve a treat!”

Yeah, a treat, just like you’d give a dog after you got them neutered. “Sure… sounds great.” Nix barely even bothers with responding to Sola, partially due to her disinterest in the treatment, but also because it was taking so much focus to walk properly.

It takes a minute to get to the doorway of the room, Sola giving affirming compliments with each and every step. If Nix even does so much as stumble, she’s there to catch her. Putting her back up right, and having the girl take a break to compose herself. 

Entering the living room Nix is met with all kinds of physical therapy stations. One thing immediately clear to the terran, Sola clearly either enjoys what she does immensely, or has so many disabled florets pass through, she never had time to put them away. She really doesn’t want to find out either way.

“So sweetie, what would you like to eat? I know the basics on how to make a lot of things, and if I don’t have supplies for it I’ll have it delivered.” Sola, without even asking, swoops in, pulling Nix into her vines. Supporting the girls back with her vines, but letting her legs dangle. “And you did a good job with walking out here, but we don’t want to put too much stress on your legs. I’ll carry you to the table, for now can you be soooo sweet and just kick your legs for me? Just get them moving!”

Nix has to pull back from hissing at the affini. Trying to pull herself up, only to find a vine wrapped around her chest keeping her in a relaxed position. “Is this really necessary?” Getting a curt nod from Sola, Nix rolls her eyes, starting to kick each of her legs one at a time. Imagining that she is kicking Sola square in the face. “Also… I want waffles. With honey.”

Sola nods slightly, walking around the room a few times. Putting some of the equipment away, and pulling out a few of the machines that had been seemingly gathering dust. “I’ll get those ordered, just as soon as I’ve got everything you’ll need for your sessions out. We’ll be doing one every day, and hopefully after three or so weeks, you’ll be all ready to walk entirely on your own!”

“Three weeks?!” Nix couldn’t tell if it was shock or anger in her voice. Surprisingly it’s not necessarily at Sola in this case, just realizing how much healing she had needed after her original surgery, healing she’d never been provided. “And then I won’t even need a cane?”

“Well yes and no, you will not need a cane to get around the house. Maybe if you want to go to one of the closer shops, but it would be wise to use one if going any further, your legs and back will likely still ache, if you stress them too much. But staying committed to your exercises, will keep that to a minimum!” Sola finally walks over to the kitchen. The only place in the main rooms of the hab that seems to have Affini sized furniture. Nix is swiftly sat down on a chair that’s far too high up for her to safely get off of, in her condition. 

“W-wow… Honestly I couldn’t even get around without my cane before.” Nix chuckles, tapping the table as a small way to stim out her nerves. Looking away from Sola at the hab wall. “I just figured that was a permanent thing, especially with how things had been done to me.”

“In all likelihood, if you had received proper care. You could have gained a level of independence from your cane, but that surgery they did on you was barbaric. Even for Terran medical standards.” Sola spoke with the venom only someone who had seen countless sophonts come in due to improper medical care could. Her entire body rustling slightly, before taking a deep breath and turning to face Nix. “But that is the past, you are here now and you are safe. Now time for the fun question, what kind of cane do you want petal?”

As Sola asks, a vine slides within her mass. Pulling out a datapad, and starting to tap away at it, first ordering the pair breakfast to be delivered. Then switching over to a far more cutsie brightly colored application, handing it over to Nix.

Nix takes the datapad, looking at the bright colors, almost having to squint. Everything looks so damn odd with one eye, and these bright colors are not helping. “Hey there cutie! How can I help you today?” The pad chirps out, in by far the most infantilizing tone Nix had heard since her arrival, maybe her entire life.

Shooting up a glare at Sola, Nix takes a deep breath. “I would like a cane please.” It barely took a second for the pad to have its screen flooded by all shapes, sizes, and colors of canes. 

“I’m sorry dear, but I only have the apps for florets. It is very uncommon for a disabled terran in your state to not have a caretaker. Let alone be brought to me.” Sola reaches out, patting Nix as gently as she could. “But you can pick out whatever you like, anything that makes you feel comfortable.”

Nix’s head tries to dodge the vine, only to end up with it brushing against her cheek instead. Damn depth perception, she should have just taken it. “Okay then…” She taps through several pages, all of the canes being decorated in bright poppy colors. Spiraling around, and calling as much attention to it as possible. “Can… I just have blues?” She speaks at the tablet, if it was designed for florets this should work right?

“Coming right up, cutie!” The tablet transitions to a screen filled with different blue canes. One sticking out to Nix in particular, it almost looked like a mix of salamander scales going down the shaft with a black grip. Tapping on it, she orders the cane, having to press down the anxiety of worrying how she’d afford such a detailed creation. Forcing herself to remember that it is all free to her.

“Great job!” Sola gently scoops the pad out of Nix’s hands. Making sure not to give the girl too much time with it yet. “I really like what you picked, the scales are actually based on these adorable little sophonts we found and domesticated a few blooms ago.” She swiftly slips the pad back into her chest, sitting down across from Nix. “But breakfast should be here soon, so I need to know if you wanna go talk to my friends afterwards. Or if you wanna wait until tomorrow? There’s a little pressure to find out what happened, given where we found you.”

Nix’s eyes widen slightly, beep the cuff is yellow. Calm down, calm down, they don’t know anything, and if you stay calm they won’t know anything. “Um… I’d prefer to go tomorrow. Just getting out of bed took… more energy than I’d like to admit.”

Sola’s eyes narrow slightly, Nix almost swearing she saw a small bit of gray bleeding in at the sides, before quickly fading. “Okay dear, then we will eat. Enjoy today, and then I will bring you to speak to everyone in the morning. I’m sure we can sort this all out.” She nods to herself, perking up slightly at the sound of her doorbell. “And that is breakfast.”

Nix looks down, unable to repress a slight pang of guilt. She’d told the truth, all of this is taking far more energy than she has… but she also really doesn’t want to be forced to be around more of these weeds. This one’s constant coddling was bad enough, and if that app was anything to go by, the rest are even worse.

Looking over at the front door, Nix watches Sola go over and open it. Revealing a smaller male terran with spiky brown hair, dressed in a bright and poppy pink and black delivery outfit that has vines leading up to a glowing heart over his chest, holding their food. 

“Thank you dear, please do give my thanks to your owner when you get back.” Sola gently brushes a vine against the boy's cheek, causing him to nearly melt on the spot. Having to take a moment to compose himself, taking a step back.

“I will thank you ma’am!” And then he was off, skipping back down the halls, towards the caffe that Sola had ordered their breakfast from.

“So what, is he like a slave or somethin?” Nix couldn’t help but have her eyes locked on the entire exchange. Unnerved by the floret more than anything, mostly due to the fact that his  excitement was something greater than she’d be able to fake on her best day. “I thought you don’t doooo that?”

Sola shakes her head, taking the meal over to the table. “That was Jason. He’s the floret of a friend of mine who runs a caffe and breakfast onboard. The only reason they even started it was because he requested to, he always wanted to work at one, and while they don’t normally do delivery. I get exceptions, given I work with pets, who sometimes like you can’t go out.” As she pulls the bag of waffles out, Sola can’t help but let out a light chuckle. Seeing Nix’s watering mouth.

“You just gave them a whole shop? Because they wanted it?” Nix blinks a few times, that was… honestly something she’d never expected to hear. “But I did not realize how hungry I was. Thank you for ordering in for us.” She has to resist smacking her lips, the smell of it all. It almost brought her back to being a little kid, before her spine had been an issue. Running through their home on a saturday morning, making two and drowning them in the closest thing honey they could afford.

“They simply went through the proper channels, and we trust his owner to know what is best for him.” Sola unpacks the breakfast, stacking the waffles, and honey in front of Nix. Placing plastic utensils next to her as well. “And it has been, he made most of their recipes based on his childhood. Even if he doesn’t cook them all anymore.”

Nix doesn’t even bother with the pretense of the conversation. The mixing smells of both honey, and waffle mixing and overwhelming her senses, and very empty stomach causing that bud of hunger that has been there since waking up, to burst forth.

She immediately pours the honey on, in almost comical excess before digging in, Nix can’t help but let out little squeaks. Having become far too used to the bland, nearly inedible rations that she’d been surviving on for the last several years.  In comparison to the cheap dry, horrible cubes and bars she’d become accustomed to, this was just like biting into the softest cloud she’d ever imagined.

Sola simply watches her charge eat, seeing the honey drip off of the bites, and onto Nix’s pajama pants. The girl doesn’t stop even for a second, to notice the mess she was making of herself. “Dear, you can savor your meal, I am not going to take it away from you.” 

Nix doesn’t bother with responding, the shrub could deride her for this behavior all she wanted later. This was something Nix had needed for longer than she could possibly imagine. After barely two minutes the entire stack was gone, Nix only barely resisting the urge to lick the plate clean of the extra honey.

“Alright dear, I’m going to grab you something to drink. You’ll need a lot of water for the healing process to work properly.” Sola goes over to the cupboard, pulling out a very large water bottle. It was clear on all sides and has a bendy straw poking out of it. “You’re going to need, and likely want to drink your way through this several times a day. I’ll make sure it’s always close enough for you to grab, and refill it if you ever run out.”

Sola quickly fills it with a mix of water and ice. Placing the cup down next to Nix, only to have the girl wrap both hands around the cup, ignoring the handle and jamming the straw in her mouth. Starting to drain the entire thing dry, acting as if she’d been lost in the desert for months. 

“Good, now once you’ve finished I’ll fill that up again and we will go to the bathroom. Because you little missy have made a real mess of yourself.” Sola giggles, eyes tracing over the crumbs and honey covering Nix’s entire pajama set. “But that does mean that we’ll get to pick out your first new outfit!”

A mess? Nix’s eye drifts down to see crumbs mixing with honey on top of her pajamas. Great, this definitely was helping make the case that she’s independent, and can care for herself soooo much better. “Okay… can I just wash myself alone?”

“I’m sorry but no, if you tried to use the shower you may slip and hurt yourself. And in the bath you could very easily drown yourself by accident, as things are right now.” Sola picks up Nix, pulling her back into that cradling position. “I will stay in the bath with you, keep you safe, but I’ll only provide what you need to clean with. Does that sound fair sweetie?”

Nix groans, she couldn’t help but relax into the embrace. The combined feeling of fullness, along with Sola’s gentle warmth against her skin. Almost clawing at her to relax further. “Y-yeah, that seems fair enough… and you do have a good point. I barely made it a few feet earlier.”

Sola nods, keeping a placid expression in order to keep Nix in such a relaxed state. But internally she couldn’t help but cheer at being able to get Nix in such a docile headspace on her first day. While this was a first, working with new rescues from the cosmic navy, let alone personally rescuing one. She couldn’t help but enjoy the creature's ploys at independence, while still turning back to her for help every time. Dirt, is this why everyone keeps getting their own florets. She’d always been too worried working on others’ to get one of her own, one that needs her particular brand of care at that. “Well, I am glad you see it my way. Let’s get you clean petal.”