Colors, for the last… she can't remember how long it's been at this point. But a constant flowing mix of colors floating at the edge of her vision. 

Alongside that there's the pulsating rhythm next to her. It's gentle, incredibly comforting, and she can't help but try and call out to it every time it pulls even an extra inch away.

Of course the only thing she'd ever get out was a small squeak, or a lot of buzzing. But even so, the source of the rhythm would always return when she does, so she didn't mind. 

Then there were the pets, all along her body, she would be gifted with overwhelming euphoria with each piece of affection she's provided.

Slowly, over the course of hours, the world comes back to her one detail at a time. The flowing green and yellow blur over her, becoming more clear. 

Oh, those are eyes, she'd never really noticed how pretty they were before. The swirling expanse, that appears to dance inward guiding Nix with little golden flakes.

Her mouth slowly drifts open, not even noticing that she'd lost almost an hour in this state. Then the large creature who owns those eyes, rubs a vine along Nix’s cheek. Closing her mouth to make sure she's not drooling all over herself. 

It's speaking to her, she's not sure exactly what it's saying, but it must be important given how lovely their voice sounds. 

"A-Aaaaah!" Nix squeezes the plush in her arms, feeling very proud of herself for contributing to the conversation. 

"Oh Celly would be absolutely outraged, if I wasn't recording this." Sola holds up her datapad, recording Nix's attempt at talking to her. Showing off how she's able to have both eyes open, without being overstimulated now. 

"Aaaa, Aaaaaaaah!" Nix tries to pull her head forward. Wanting to interact more with the creature, after all it's super important, for a reason she can't seem to place right now.

Sola gently reaches out, putting a hand on Nix’s head. Gently running her fingers through Nix’s hair. "No sweetie, you need to be a good girl, and stay in bed. It's bedtime for our precious lizard. You'll feel better in the morning I promise." 

Nix doesn't even notice, as Sola’s injector slides into her eye flower. Administering her normal class Z dose, her mind too busy basking in the radiance of having her hair brushed.

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

Everything feels amazing, that's the first thing that passes into Nix’s mind as her eye… eyes, open up.

Her vision is different, but not quite in the way she'd expected. Her lizard eye has perfect vision as to be expected, but her flower… describing what it looks like 'seeing' through it is difficult. Like it's being simply used as auxiliary to add depth back normally, but if she focuses she can see constantly flowing groups of colors. 

All of this is almost immediately dropped from Nix’s focus, for one reason. Sola, the second Nix'd started moving, the affini’s vines, snaked up to press up against the girl's back. Running under her pajamas and going in little circles, exactly how Sola knows she loves.

Nix’s eyes widen, her flower petals almost extending off of the core to express her shock. "Mmm bzzt!" Even her natural curiosity about her new state, can't even resist the urge to press up against Sola's vines. To enjoy that nice complete feeling she's gifted every time she's there. 

"Yes good morning sweetie, it seems Mistress Celosia has been out all night working on our super special gift for you. So what do you say we go get you cleaned up for the day?" Sola slowly pulls Nix’s pajamas off, having a bit of trouble because of the squirming, but understanding that's just how sensitive Nix is right now. 

Once she's fully undressed, Nix starts clinging to Sola. Letting the affini carry her into the bathroom with very little fuss. Stimming on the vine she'd been provided, and starting to hum alongside Sola’s rhythm.

"Good girl Nix!" Sola’s vines rustle happily as she sits them down in the bathtub. Adjusting her form to be the nice slope that she'd take when first helping Nix. "Now I'm going to clean you, you just stay very still and enjoy yourself."

Nix nods, looking down as the water starts to fill up the tub all around her. Combining with the pressure from Sola's vines to feel like a massive hug on all sides, stunning the girl into place as she ever so slightly fiddles with the vine that Sola left in her hands. "T-thambk yuuuu." Despite trying her best, getting out fully formed words with how slowly her mouth is moving, proves impossible.

Sola slowly starts to clean Nix off. Making sure to move just slowly enough to not overwhelm her pet. "Of course, I'm always happy to care for such a wonderful girl."

The entire time, Nix is sitting and trying to pull her senses back in line. Only to be repeatedly undercut by something as simple as a gentle pet down her spine. Her train of thought breaking, and having to start back over from the beginning. 

By the time she's able to get so far as remembering Sola’s name. Nix finds herself being lifted out of the tub, a fluffy blue towel running over her skin. 

"There we go, now why don't we give you a chance to see what you look like now." Sola glides across the room, lifting Nix up to be on level with the vanity. 

Nix looks… different than she can remember, there's a new blue and red flower on her face. As she slowly leans in to observe it, the petals on the flower seem to press themselves together into a squinting posture. 

Noticing this, Nix starts to try and shuffle facial expressions. Her brain moving faster than her face can imitate, which lags a second behind her intent. 

As she forces a very disingenuous large frown, her flower eye droops down to imitate wilting.

Of course seeing this causes Nix to start smiling again. Giggling to herself about how cool her eye is.

"Someone's having fun." Sola doesn't move to pet Nix, despite how badly she craves seeing the girl melt back into her waiting vines. Wanting to give her more time actually attentive with her reflection. "But why not look a little closer sweetie."

Nix is confused for a moment, wondering what she's being instructed to observe. With a great amount of effort she drags her gaze away from her lovely flower. Finally noticing her other eye, the entirety of it is blue, appearing to almost be made of scales, with a black slit running down the middle.

Oh, tears are rolling down her cheek, she’s crying. She can't fully comprehend why, she's smiling, she's so happy more so than she can ever remember being. Why would she be crying? 

Sola’s hand reaches around, gently wiping the tears away. "It's okay sweetie, I'm happy you like your new eyes." She starts to gently scratch under Nix’s chin. Taking a moment to watch as Nix simply relaxes her chin down on top of the vine, both of her eyes drifting shut. "Let's get you dressed before Celly gets home."

As Sola starts walking back into the bedroom. Nix absentmindedly kicks her legs, enjoying the cool feeling of air rushing against them. 

To Sola this mostly came across as Nix fumbling her legs in tiny circles. Occasionally giggling to herself, and entirely getting caught up in her own world. 

Sola starts picking through Nix’s outfits, immediately dismissing the more subtle of the outfits. Keeping one vine in Nix’s hands, making sure that any time she stops stimming on it, to give another slow pet. Scattering the florets thoughts back to the wind, buying herself more time to look over the outfits.

Eventually Sola grabs Nix’s black dress, while it’s not what she’d prefer to have her floret in. It would be enough to make due, until she finishes cleaning the blue scale dress. 

Getting it on Nix was proving more difficult than anticipated, not because the girl was trying to be fussy, but because of how clumsy she ended up being in her attempts to help.

Nix raises her left arm up, only to have it quickly flop back down, as soon as it was inside of the dress. Pulling the dress to one side, and nearly pinning her within.

Sola represses the urge to coo at Nix, to explain to her exactly how precious she’s being. Despite this she quickly has her vines wrap around each of Nix’s limbs, starting to slowly guide her through the process of putting the dress on. 

Nix isn’t paying attention to the process in the slightest, more distracted with the feeling of being puppeted around, head rolling back, as her eye regains its distant glossy haze. Could anything ever feel better than this, if she had the ability to doubt anything right now she’d say no, so instead she simply calls out to thank Sola. “Neeaaaaah!”

Sola giggles and once Nix is dressed, she begins to brush out Nix’s hair. “How about we put on some gentle sounds, and see where our day takes us, waiting for Mistress Celosia.” Sola wraps her vines around Nix’s limbs, gently puppeting her out of the bedroom and into the living room. Being careful to make sure Nix is not overwhelmed by anything.

As they head into the living room, Nix narrows her eyes. Despite the lights being turned as low as is safe, the amount of visual clutter in this room is absolutely overwhelming. “Mnh, Bzzzzt!” She turns her head to face into Sola’s chest, leaning her head up against it, and starting to bite at one of the vines clumsily. Her hands also scratching at the vines holding them still.

Sola coos gently, and opens up her chest. “Here Nix, get comfy and just try not to look at too much. I’ll gently introduce you to more as you feel confident.” She closes up her chest after Nix is inside, a vine keeping in Nix’s grasp. “You stim all you want sweetie, Mistress is just going to be taking care of a few chores.”

Nix curls up in the cubby, Sola’s voice echoing around her but keeping all other noises, and especially light out. She continues to fiddle with the vine in her hands, while finally latching onto one of the vines that comprises the walls starting to bite into it lightly. 

Feeling Nix start to nip at her, Sola grabs her datapad. Pulling up Resin’s direct messages as she walks over to start making Nix’s breakfast, and do the laundry.

SolFlower: Hey, I hope you’ve been having fun with recording the movie. I really appreciate you and Pearl helping with it. I actually have a question about how you handled Pearl when you first got her.

PineWorker: The movie is turning out to be much more emotional than anticipated, but Pearl is very happy with everything that we’ve recorded so far. What do you need to know?

SolFlower: What did you do with Pearl when she was biting? Nix has been very sweet for the most part, but she’s started nipping at me when overstimulated.

PineWorker: Well Pearl was mostly a biter because she was angry and lashing out, so I’d put her on some class M’s and pet her. I think Nix might just be biting to stim when she can’t in any other way. If you want I can show you how to allow her to nip in a safe way next time I’m over. Don’t want to have whatever vine she’s biting at be too hard or she could hurt her jaw.

SolFlower: Thank you, I’ll try to use softer vines so Nix doesn’t hurt her jaw in the meantime. I’m excited to see the end result. Also once Nix is adjusted, I think she would like some cuddle time with Pearl. Let the others know I’m thinking about them.

PineWorker: I will, and Pearl could definitely use some time with Nix soon. Celosia should be heading back with the completed recordings in a bit. She’s taken on doing all of the editing herself. Please make her relax and enjoy your floret once she’s back.

SolFlower: Oh she is gonna get a lot of solo time with Nix for this! And thank you, I’ll make sure she gets to just lay down and not have to do anything when she gets home! I hope this hasn’t been too stressful on you since the recording sounds like it has been happening at your place.

PineWorker: It’s been fine, the florets are clearly having fun with it. Even if I hated even pretending to act like Pearl and I were when she first arrived. As for Celosia, you probably haven’t seen this yet, but she’s an absolute perfectionist, and given Nix is her first floret, in over a bloom, she’s going to stress herself into a tangled mess if you don’t force her to accept imperfections. 

PineWorker: Pearl has now informed me, after seeing that last message, that you two are and I quote ‘perfect for one another’. I can not disagree.

Sola can’t help but let a flustered sound be drawn from her core, taking a moment before typing some more.

SolFlower: I will abstain from commenting. Anyway, thank you for  letting me know. Pushing for perfect could stress Celosia into an early reblooming. I’ll prepare just a relaxing evening with things I know she enjoys, and I will ensure that she just relaxes.

PineWorker: Good, I’ll see you both tomorrow for the movie party. Jason’s scenes just got done being recorded, so I’m sending her home.

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

Celosia walks through the door to the group's now shared hab. Her form wound tight enough for Sola to think that she’d had a large amount of it blasted off, and she was holding a wound together. Her head of course is buried in her datapad, entirely focused on editing the movie to perfection. 

Not even looking up at the sound of Nix buzzing at her, not truly processing the floret or her partner's presence.

Nix as she arrives is sitting in Sola’s lap, looking over at the affini and pulling her arms up to reach out towards her. Feeling the second rhythm starting to flood her senses alongside the first. “Naaaaaaaaaaaah! BzzzzzzzzzzzzT!”

Sola giggles, and picks Nix up. “I know sweetie, Mistress Celosia is home.” She stands up, and walks over to Cel, grabbing the datapad and pulling her to the couch. “Celosia, you are wound up too tightly. It is time to take a break, and get in some much needed cuddles.” At this Sola playfully holds up Nix. “I will prepare some tea, and you will enjoy some time with Nix.”

Celosia almost reaches out for her datapad, only to have Nix placed into her arms instead. “H-huh.” She looks down at the girl, quickly repositioning her arms to cradle Nix more comfortably. “But I need to finish the movie, I just need to run through the last part… three… no four more times. Make sure it’s absolutely perfect!”

Nix starts wiggling around in Celosia’s vines, grabbing onto the affini’s chest, and starting to stim on it. While she can’t quite understand what the affini are talking about, she does know that she wants this one to pay attention to her. So she continues doing the one thing that always leads to her being given more attention. “Bzzzt! Bzzzzzzzt!” 

Sola giggles. “I looked up terran ‘home movies’, they are on purpose not ‘perfect’. The charm is that they are a little rough around the edges. You are tense, and have been working all night with no rest. I’ll finish the final edit, and you have done enough. Our floret wants you, and you are going to melt into her attention.” She leans in and gives Celosia a hug, before forcing her to look at Nix. “I will say, be a little careful of what vines you give her, she has been teething when she gets overstimulated.”

Celosia looks down at her floret, her body slowly starting to pull itself back appart. Softening, so she won’t frighten Nix. “I see, well I will do my best not to give her anything that’s too hard if she tries.” She gently places a hand on Nix’s head, starting to slowly run her hand through the girl's long blue hair. Using loving on Nix in order to ground herself back in reality.

Nix’s grip on Celosia’s vines loosens slightly, doing her best to calm herself down again. Given Celosia’s appearance is far more overwhelming to her senses, with the abundance of reds. Finding her eyes tracing higher and higher, until she’s met with the deepest gaze she’d ever experienced.

Celosia gently places a vine under Nix’s chin. Balancing the girl's head to make sure she’s perfectly comfortable looking in her eyes, and simply begins planning all the little ways that she’s going to work on Nix. To make changes that will make their floret, not only the happiest on the ship, but the most obedient. “That’s better. Nice and quiet, good girl Nix. Very good girl.”

Nix stares, and quietly mutters. “Bwaaaah.” The entire time, she is consistently stimming on the vine in her hands. Staring into this affini’s eyes is one of the most captivating experiences Nix could remember, not that her mind could muster many memories to compare to.

Celosia simply quietly sits there, watching Nix and providing pets any time the girl seemed to be getting close to mustering a thought of her own. "You need to go deep down my little lizard. You won't remember this tomorrow, but you will feel it. How nice it feels to look into your Mistresses eyes, to feel yourself fall. Becoming nothing more than theirs, to embrace their love, and allow yourself to be molded." 

Nix can't even do so much as nod along with Celosia’s words. The vines keeping her head, and eyes in place, allowing the words of her owner to sink deep into her mind. 

Sola eventually returns with a smile, putting what to a terran would be a rather large mug of tea down. “Here you go, also you look like you are having fun.” She giggles a little bit, and takes a seat, across from Celosia, pulling out her datapad to snap a picture. "You already look like you are doing better than earlier.”

"I was doing fine earlier!" Celosia huffs, finally breaking eye contact with Nix as she leans in to cuddle up to Sola’s side. "But holding Nix while she's like this is nice, even when I won the game she was never this absolutely adorable." 

Nix lets out a startled squeak as she loses eye contact with Celosia. Starting to squirm around as she's repositioned to lay down in the small space between Sola and Celosia. 

Once she's in place, almost immediately biting into one of Sola's vines again. Receiving a brush down her cheek from Celosia in response. Her mouth opens back up, as the vine is pulled away. "Now now petal, no biting right now."

Sola giggled. “Celosia, you should have looked at yourself, I think if you got any more wound up, you might have torn your own vines.” She reaches over to run her fingers through Celosia’s approximation of hair. “I know, you like everything to be perfect, but sometimes it is detrimental to focus that hard on perfection.” She hums gently. “You know, there is a quote from a terran book I read earlier that I think you could learn a lot from personally. ‘Perfection is a goal to be chased, yet never reached.’”

Celosia starts wiggling around, her vines pulling back taught out of embarrassment. "I guess you're right, I'll try not to stress too much more about it." She looks down at Nix, who's started to wiggle her way in between the pair's vines to nap. "I was just really worried about how Nix would respond to it… Sola Pearl talks about her removed memories, once she did that my need to make it perfect kinda… went into overdrive."

Sola frowns, her form tightening slightly, before leaning more against Celosia. “I get it, but I think the point was for it to be, with some influence from us all, a movie by Pearl and Jason for Nix, things that once she is a bit more cognizant of the outside world, she can watch it and know that everything is alright with being a floret.”

"Yeah, Jason and Pearl still mostly shot everything at the very least. It's just that neither of them know how to edit a movie, and were way too tired to learn about how to do it. I'd not be surprised if we don't even hear from Resin until the party." Celosia flops against Sola's side, gently adjusting her form to make a small blanket of leaves and vines over Nix. Letting the pair's combined rhythm lul her fully to sleep. 

"So, if you want we can finally talk about the conditions we want and make for Nix’s contract." Celosia forces a smile, obviously trying to redirect the conversation away from the movie, and her embarrassing behavior. Given she'd normally be alone, and have no one to call her out on it. 

Sola nods, handing Celosia her datapad back. “Alright, we should have it all put together for when Nix is able to recognize it enough to sign it. Once we finish, you can finish editing the movie, but just give it one more sweep. I am sure you have already done a lot on it, and Nix wouldn’t want you hurting yourself on a gift for her.”

"You know I hate when you're right about things." Celosia switches off of the editing app, and pulls up the basic outline she'd already made for Nix. "So we will of course have all of the basics, but I do have a few ideas I want to run by you."

"The first is making her sign to agree that she's worthy of everything she's getting. One because it's obviously the truth, and two because I think she'd look cute squirming over sighing it." Celosia puts that down on the list, humming to herself. "I also was considering the complete honesty clause that Resin used. Mostly because I know she still believes she's hiding pieces of herself from us, and I want her to understand that it is a fruitless endeavor. Do you have any recommendations?"

Sola smiles. “I like those, I would also like to add a general health clause and a semi-independent clause. Nix is very capable. She should know that as long as she gives us a heads up, if we approve of something she can do it, especially if I am helping a cute sophont heal and recover, and you are working on a case. Of course I do not believe we will have two jobs line up at once like that often, but it is something that is unique to Nix. It is part of the reason why I like the set up here so much. Enough affini sized things that we can have our fun, but some stuff for ease of access, especially with her spine.”

“She’s just dependent on you enough for you to enjoy it, but you also don’t need to constantly dote on her.” Celosia grins at Sola, nudging her friend gently. “It’s adorable, but I can agree that we will put down that she’s allowed to go out on her own if she asks for permission. Although I doubt she’d go anywhere, other than the cafe or toy store.”

“That’s for certain, she might walk herself to get some paint, but I think that would be as far as she goes.” Sola gently places a hand on Nix’s back. “She’s such a sweet girl, able to act all big, but so eager to have that need taken away.”

“And if it comes down to it, while you can’t necessarily work a case with Nix being your prime concern. I can, so if she’s not feeling up to doing things herself, I’ll take responsibility for more of her care when you’re working. I’ll just need to make a little section for her, in my office. I’m sure it’ll be cute to watch her eyes glaze over just by seeing how much paperwork I go through, in a few days of work.” 

“Thank you, that was the only thing I was really still worried about.” Sola nods, leaning in and nuzzling Celosia’s cheek gently. Watching as her partner shudders, her body tightening up slightly.

“W-well I’m happy I am able to assuage your fears, I know you are more fond of the gentle approach, but I will be insisting on training Nix my way.” Celosia nods to herself. “It’s what I know is the best path when handling her in particular, while she will enjoy, and revel in being able to shirk responsibility when overwhelmed. I know she’ll repeatedly overwhelm herself, and not learn her lesson, unless she’s trained to depend on us more.” 

Sola’s leaves rustle slightly, her chest tightening slightly out of shame. Knowing just how right Celosia is about her observation, and knowing if had been just her she’d likely take far too long to actually put her foot down and make Nix learn her lesson rather than just being there to catch the girl after every fall. “Dirt, you know I hate it when you’re right.”