Nix yawns, rolling over in Celosia’s vines as they arrive at the bureaucratic branch of the ship. Looking down the now very foren hallway, only vaguely remembering visiting here once or twice during her initial healing process. While she’d love to keep napping in her owners vines all day, all the build up about Celosia preparing her office to have Nix there has gotten her more than a little excited.

Celosia gently scratches behind Nix’s ears. “Nice timing petal. We are just about to go inside.” She glances over at Alistor. “So, you are just helping me get situated today, then you will be spending some time off with your own floret. Do you have any plans on what to do with them aside from the exercises? If not I would recommend helping them get a few friends.”

Alistor chuckles lightly. “I’ve been considering what to do during our free time. We will start off getting used to each other of course, but I would like to get Wisp some contact with other florets who enjoy ‘outdoorsy’ things, given that Wisp wants to get into running again.”

“Bleh.” Nix shudders slightly, thinking about the outdoors and sitting up in Celosia’s vines. “I still remember having to run the entire ship, how could anyone enjoy the prospect of doing that every day.” She snickers as they walk into Celosia’s office.

The room is almost entirely redone, with Celosia’s desk pushed into the left corner next to a large shelf filled with everything from board games, to painting supplies. Three picture frames sitting on the top, the first a beeple, the second a serpentine creature that had a long blue scaled and finned tail. And then finally one that she’d taken of Nix posing during their first date. 

Celosia happily looks over the pictures, running some vines down Nix’s back. “Everyone has their preferences and hobbies. There are plenty that do enjoy extra physical activity, you just happen to enjoy quieter, indoor activities.” She giggles a little bit. “Although I suppose it may be a good idea to get you and Pearl running around some more. I’d include Jason, but with deliveries, I think he gets plenty of time already out and about.”

“Noooooo.” Nix looks over at the right half of the room, which has another vine cubby for Nix to be able to hide within. As well as a small painting area and chair in case she gets in the mood. “Last time I ran that much, I thought I was going to die!”

“You know we’d never allow that petal.” Alistor chuckles, walking over to Celosia’s desk. “And after this morning, I’m sure that Wisp would love to have you around for the runs they’re going to be doing.” He grins at Nix, his smile as always just a little bit too spiky for her comfort.

Celosia chuckles, and pets Nix. “I won’t have you go too hard into it Nix, but having a variety of hobbies can be good. And even if you don’t like the idea of running too much, at least do a little bit with Wisp. I am sure that we can get them into some art during quiet time, and I think you could use more friends too.”

Nix groans, flopping against Celosia’s hand, but still managing to shoot an incredibly lazy glare over at Alistor. Trying to be annoyed with him for encouraging this, but quickly finding herself too distracted by Celosia scratching in her favorite spot behind her ear to care.

“Without a doubt, now I did get through most of the basics already. Luckily this was a very clean rescue, with Wisp’s injury being the only thing of major note.” Alistor walks over to the desk, pulling out a few stacks of the paperwork. “This is all that’s left that I haven’t personally turned in, and I’ve messaged you all of the work I’d already done privately for you to double check it.”

Celosia smiles and takes the stack, sitting in her chair with Nix in her lap. “Thank you Alistor, and as much as I hate to hear of any injuries, I am glad that Wisp was the only one. I’ll see if any other fishies stand out as special cases that we should monitor.”

“Good, now I’ll leave you, and your pet to your own devices.” Alistor nods to himself, stepping into the doorway. “And little Nix, I do look forward to working with you in the future.”

Nix sticks her tongue out at Alistor. Nuzzling deeper into Celosia’s lap, hoping that he won't be too hard on Wisp, before they get back from work. Once the door slides up behind Alistor, Nix turns her head to look up at her owner. “Mistress Sola will keep Wisp from being pushed too hard right?”

Celosia giggles, and rubs the back of Nix’s neck. “Sola will make sure things don’t go too far. Honestly I think Alistor, and Wisp, need to find their shared rhythm. That and Wisp needs to open up some, they are very on guard, which given what happened to her, it can be very scary to be freshly disabled for any sophont, and in stacking on top of that a new situation.”

“Y-yeah, I guess I just have a hard time thinking about someone not getting the chances that I was given by Sola.” Nix closes her eyes, curling up as Celosia’s vines act as a blanket. “That and Wisp seems nice, so I don’t want them to be stuck with an owner they won’t like.”

Celosia giggles a little bit. “Oh I think Wisp will like Alistor. The way they were cuddling into him showed that they were already in sync with his rhythm. What it is going to take is some help to make Alistor ease in a little slower. Just because I like going fast too, there is something important about going a bit more slow and steady.” She looks over some of the papers Alistor had given her, putting a few marks on cases to watch before typing on her computer to grab case files. “Wisp was forcibly taken from their home by the accord, and then injured, before being taken by the compact. Your case is why they are being put on the domestication track.”

Nix pauses for a moment at this admission, unsure how to process the fact that her case, and everything involved did actually end up having not only an impact, but one immediate enough for her to witness it personally. “Oh… wow, okay.” She chuckles lightly, glancing up at the stacks of paper. Watching as Celosia glides through paper after paper, making small exact marks for edits and additions. “I know this is kinda odd coming from me, but… can you show your work Mistress?”

Celosia nods and clicks a few times, making the computer translate to floret terran. “Alright, I can show most of it, but I will have a few that I need to keep confidential. Now right here is one that I am looking at. Given we got an influx of terrans on board, I am looking over their cases, setting recommendations, and if there are any that are particularly notable, I begin to comb through their full files, and of course sometimes become personally involved.”

Nix looks over the extensive list of information about the rescues, doing her best to follow along with the explanation. “Uh huh…” She glances over the notes, trying to see if there’s any flaws in the paperwork. Finding none of course, but watching as Celosia makes a few alterations. Expanding where needed, and simplifying where the soon to be floret would be reading.

Celosia giggles a little, and pets Nix. “I’m glad you are taking an interest in my work. Helping these soon to be florets can be very rewarding. Honestly one of the things that the accord was good at which has been helpful has been tracking all information regarding just about every terran, so compiling a complete file is pretty easy.”

Nix nods slightly, leaning back as Celosia moves a vine in front of her eyes. Taking this as an explanation that this is something she's not allowed to see her owner work on. "Yeah, in all the worst ways maybe, it can't even be compared to yours!"

Celosia finishes, and removes her vine from Nix’s eyes. “Yeah, while what we want is within these files, there is a lot of… concerningly obsessive cataloging of the wrong types of information, even by our own standards.” She turns Nix around, and playfully pokes her cheeks. “Seriously, we don’t need to know exactly how long any of you looked at particular ads.”

Nix giggles a bit, wiggling up against the vines. “Yeah, I don’t wanna even know those numbers.” She flops her left cheek against Celosia’s hand, nuzzling into it. “Or what nutrient brands I was a particular fan of when I was twelve.” She snorts, shaking her head. “That’s something I can’t imagine even you could find a use for, Mistress.”

“Yeah, what has been a problem is so little actual food was available to a majority of terrans, it has made finding favored flavors, and foods, rather difficult. Also all those brands were… just about as bare minimum of ‘viable nutrients’. Basically, of all the information that exists, I’d say 80% of it is useless, and 10% is debatable.”

Nix bursts out laughing, nodding along with Celosia’s words. Unable to help but find immense comedy at the obsessive need to have constant surveillance, ended up being so marginally useful in so many cases. “Well then it’s a good thing they’re not in charge of that anymore.”

“Exactly petal, it is a good thing. When we keep track of things, while we like to know a lot and have a full record, we also try to keep it to relevant information. Things like up to date medical records, birth certificate, school records, some general likes and dislikes, family tree. Anything that can genuinely be useful in making sure every one of you adorable cuties are getting what you need.” Celosia sighs, starting to rub in little circles on Nix’s cheek. Guiding her floret to lay back down in her lap.

Nix nods lightly, starting to nip at Celosia’s hand passively. “Even if only the important parts are still big enough when stacked on top of one another, to be taller than me!” She flashes a teasing grin up at Celosia. “But luckily I have my amazing owners to deal with all that junk.”

Celosia giggles, and gently scratches Nix’s ears. “That’s right petal, all that paperwork that you don’t need to worry about at all. You just need to enjoy being healthy and happy with us.” She begins typing with just a few vines, keeping her others on Nix. “Would you like to draw while I work? Or would you like to stay like this? I am happy either way, but I want you to be happy too.”

Nix pauses for a second, looking up at Celosia then over at the painting and art supplies. Eye darting back and forwarth between her hoby, and the most captivating thing in her world, being struck with a crippling choice paralysis. “I– uh… I- I don’t know.” She frowns, whimpering for a moment, before her implant gently reassures her that Celosia will decide for her if she can’t, and she doesn’t need to be ashamed of it.

Celosia smiles softly, reaching out to pet Nix. Happy that she’d at least given Nix a chance to try and pick herself. “I want you to enjoy your art, however I’ll be keeping my vine on your collar, just for good measure. I’ll pull you in if I get bored.” She slowly lowers Nix to the ground, keeping one vine looped around Nix’s collar.

Nix walks over to the small painting area she’s been given, taking her bag off, and setting it down next to her chair. Starting to pull all of her supplies out and set them up, occasionally peaking up at the different colors that are set on Celosia’s shelf. “Can I have all of my paints Mistress? Pleaaaaaase?” She sits down in her chair, giving her cutest smile to appeal to Celosia’s soft spot. 

Celosia sighs playfully looking to the side. Pretending to be bashful about the request. “Oh I suppose we can let you have the full set for your first piece here.” She gets up, and grabs the larger variety of colors, bringing them down to Nix’s level, and laying them all out for her. “Here you go petal, now don’t make too much of a mess. Or do, we can find out how I want to handle that later.” She pets Nix before walking back to her desk.

Nix nuzzles into the last little pet, as Celosia walks back to her desk. Taking a moment before she realizes that she has no idea what she’s going to paint today. Looking over the options, she closes her eyes, and starts poking random colors, electing to just take a random mix and go from there. 

Over the course of an hour, Celosia works through a number of forms, while occasionally petting Nix with one of her vines. “So petal, what are you painting today? May I see?” She shifts in her seat, watching Nix with a smile across her face.

Nix is very carefully, and slowly, attempting to paint a tree from memory… it’s not going well in the slightest. She sighs, tapping the back half of her brush against her cheek, looking over the mass of brown and greens. “Uh… yeah, I’m still not good at painting trees though.” She steps slightly out of the way, showing off the mess.

Celosia grins and pulls Nix in by the collar. “I happen to think you are doing a pretty good job. Is there any reason you are drawing a tree? I think it is at least good practice for just about anything tree related you want to do.” Once close, she picks Nix up, and nuzzles her.

Nix wiggles around, in the nuzzle, accidentally getting some of the paint on Celosia’s vines. “Well, it’s a little hazy, but I remember watching a show about painting trees with Mistress Sola… and I wanted to do it myself to show her…” She eventually gives in to the nuzzling, returning it in kind and calming down about her painting skills.

“I think Sola would love to see anything you paint. Though I have time for a break, so how about we have a fun little lunch, and then you can continue working on making your trees.” Celosia scratches Nix’s neck a little bit. The tips of her fingers circling slowly around the implant scar. “Then when we go home, you can show Sola your painting project.”

Nix shudders, nodding lightly as her head slips deeper into Celosia’s palm. Always craving that little extra inch of her owners affection, the nice hum in her core of knowing she’s been a good girl. “Yes Mistress!”

Celosia takes a cloth and begins cleaning Nix up. “I think I may need to get some storage for cleaning supplies for cute messy little florets.” She giggles as she gets Nix clean, wiping her floret’s hands before taking Nix to her desk. “I got some nice sandwiches for you to enjoy today, as well as plenty of water for my precious flower.”

Nix lets out a little buzz, shifting her body around perfectly in time with Closia. Once she’s fully clean, she takes her water bottle and starts to sip from it. Knowing better than to try and feed herself lunch at this point, after all that would be robbing her owner of the experience just as much as herself. 

Celosia’s vines snake down Nix’s face and jaw, giving her cheek a little brush as she begins to feed Nix, simply enjoying the quiet ambiance of her office. “I won’t keep as much paint as we have at home here, but I’ll also make sure that it gets restocked after we leave, so I want you to not worry at all about how much you use.”

“Yes!” Nix taps happily along her cup, taking little bites of today’s sandwich. All too happy to draw the meal out far longer than it would have ever needed to be, if only to avoid leaving her owner’s lap for another few minutes. 

As the sandwich comes to its end, Celosia takes up simply petting Nix, leaning back in her chair and gently scratching Nix’s scalp. “When I finish today, I think we will take the long way home. I want to give Sola some more time with Alistor and Wisp, and I would also like to have some more time with just the two of us.”

Nix squeaks, rolling her head back as her eye flower fully blooms in excitement. The idea of going on a walk around the ship and creating new memories proving incredibly exciting. “Yesssss, can you bring me to a new place today Mistress?”

“Of course Nix. I’ll make sure it won’t be too crowded, but there will be some affini, and florets there. It is a quiet little place where my coworkers, and I like to relax after work. I know you will be quite an adorable centerpiece, amongst all of us.” Celosia giggles, and begins running her vines over Nix’s belly playfully.

Nix presses her stomach into the hand, closing her eyes, and starting to just laze about in Celosia’s lap. Able to feel her owner’s vines shifting over back to her work for the day. Giving up on actually talking, and starting to let out little buzzes with each tauntingly short stroke of Celosia’s vines.

A couple hours later, Celosia moves her seat back, and begins to stand up, keeping a firm hold on Nix. “Alright, I think that is enough for now. Let’s go enjoy our afternoon walk. I have to show off to my coworkers how cute, and obedient you are after all.” She heads on out, closing up the office behind her, and heading outside.

Nix starts to roll around in Celosia’s vines. Waking up from her half nap, half feedback loop of Celosia’s attention, slowly pushing herself to sit up, while still being prominently displayed against Celosia’s chest. “Awwww, I wasn’t that bad was I?” She looks up at her owner, sticking her bottom lip out to pout about the implication she’d ever been disobedient in the slightest. Even if she knows all too well how playfully disobedient can still be after everything.

“Oh you have your moments, but I know it is just playing. After all, you love it when I push just the smallest bit past whatever resistance you manage to put up.” Several of Celosia’s vines wind up and down Nix’s sides, giving her little tickles, as they continue their walk.

Nix bursts out laughing at Celosia’s assault, only managing to worm her way deeper into the tickling. Instinctively taking a bite at one of the vines that sneaks up in front of her mouth, in order to stop her laughing from echoing throughout the hallways. 

The tickle play slows as they walk into a wooded grove amongst the administrative wing of the ship. Celosia keeps the vine in Nix’s mouth, simply smiling and waving at her few coworkers around, making sure they all can see Nix. “Here we are, one of my favorite quiet places. It is where we come to take our breaks, play with our florets, things like that, which I think you would enjoy a lot.” She slowly lowers Nix to the grassy ground. Curious about how she’ll respond to being let out in the park.

Nix almost immediately flops onto the ground next to Celosia. Staying close to both her owner, and the tree, as she takes a look around the area. More than a little anxious about meeting another affini’s floret today. Especially given all the groups here are pairs she’d never met before… except for one.

Nix perks up slightly, seeing Tina Hipila sitting around next to her owner. An affini who has little pine bristles running up and down their body, with what looks to be overgrown pine cones acting as a pair of earrings. 

Tugging lightly on her leashes vine, Nix points over at Tina. Hoping to catch up, given before she was domesticated, she’d basically ghosted the floret, due to her own personal anxiety.

Celosia grins, slowly standing up and starting to walk over to Tina and her owner. Not saying a word as she sits down next to the other affini, starting to watch Nix with intimate curiosity.

Tina looks over and grins at Nix, giving her a little wave. “Hey Nix, I didn’t expect to see you around here. How have you been? I’ve been really worried about you.”

Nix blushes a bit, feeling her leash loosen, before flopping down next to Tina. “Well, I uh…” She laughs to herself, gesturing back at Celosia. “I got myself two owners, Mistress Celosia, and Mistress Sola.” She squirms a bit as the vine still looped around her collar rubs her cheek. “It ended up taking up a lot of my time, and I kinda… was too anxious to text at first, then everything with my domestication happened, and I don’t think I’ve had a single moment to sit down, and use my datapad, ever since. Mistress has been very particular about how I spend my days while I adjust, and make new memories.” 

Tina takes Nix’s hand in her own, and gives a little squeeze. “I’m happy for you, but now that you are past that and making new memories, how about we be friends. If it is too much I understand, but I think everyone could use more friends.” Her smile stretches a little wider, as she nestles up against Nix’s side. “I’ll make you a special pizza either way.”

“That sounds good to me.” Nix looks at her hand in Tina’s, simply sitting there for a moment. The haze in her memories, causing her to struggle slightly to place exactly how their first encounter with one another went. “Honestly I saw you today, and was worried that I’d really hurt your feelings after everything.”

Tina’s owner, Fir Hipila fourth bloom, takes note of this conversation, pivoting away from the talk about work with Celosia, to watch this more intimately. Half out of curiosity, and half to make sure that nothing is said that could trigger Nix after receiving Celosia’s little explainer. 

Tina shakes her head. “You didn’t, I understood that you were worried and really stressed, so I figured you were taking some time to focus on your health, and stability. It’s really nice to know that you have two caring mistresses to handle that for you now though.”

“Yeah, Mistress made me play this suuuuuper rigged board game against both of them at once!” Nix snickers, letting her hand be pulled into Tina’s lap. “Needless to say it only took a few days before we were preparing for my domestication.” She taps her eye flower, showing it off as it fully blooms into a shocked expression. “I had lost before I even got my cool new eye!”

Tina giggles, and squeezes Nix's hand. "That sounds like a lot of fun. Making a game out of domestication could lead to all sorts of fun results. I bet your mistresses really pushed you hard into realizing what you wanted."

“Well Mistress Celosia did at the very least, that and my girlfriend Pearl! She helped rig everything in my owner’s favor.” Nix gently reaches into her bag, pulling her datapad out to show off pictures of the completed game board. “It was basically a way of tricking me into admitting my needs, even if I refused to accept them openly.”

“That makes sense, I suppose you were very much in need of domestication. I may be partially misunderstanding though, I volunteered a little bit after boarding the ship, and working at the pizza place with my mistress. I realized I had a good time with her, and I asked what would happen. We had a small trial run, and I liked it, so of course I said yes.”

“Yeaaaah.” Nix scratches her cheek, looking back on her hazy memories of being incredibly unhappy for a reason she’s unable to place. “Honestly it was only a matter of time regarding my domestication, so I’m glad my Mistress helped things along more quickly.”

“I’ve noticed that it is really easy for us to come under domestication. The benefits just far outweigh any downsides. And honestly the few ‘downsides’ are barely even that. We were hardly free before, and being with the affini we just get to have a good life where we are cared for.” Tina flops down onto the grass. “So, how often do you think you will be coming out here? I’d like to know, so we have an easy time to come and hang out.”

“Oh uh, Mistress is going to be taking me here every day from now on! I’m coming to work with her while Mistress Sola is dealing with patents in our hab.” Nix rolls over next to Tina, sticking her tongue out at her new friend. “So if you hang out here, we should see each other pretty frequently.”

“Great! I’ve got a frisbee that I like to throw from time to time, I could start bringing it, and we can just take turns tossing it to each other. Either that, or we can try playing a bit of a ball game. I could talk to my mistress about maybe getting a volleyball set up.”

Nix blinks a few times. “Uh… let’s stick to the frisbee… but if you wanna do more physically intense stuff. I do think I have someone to introduce you to, eventually.” She chuckles a bit, shaking her head. 

Tina giggles, and stretches out a little bit. “Alright, I can work with that, though I do think just getting to do more stuff like this, you would end up having fun, especially if we keep it more casual. If you would need to work up to it though, I will help. I am fully on board with meeting someone else who would also be more into some of this out of the gate.”

“Indeed, this may come as a surprise, but Alistor adopted a floret himself recently. One who is more predisposed to more physical activities, in comparison to my little Nix.” Celosia leans down, gently scratching behind Nix’s ear. Watching her leg start to kick lightly from the waves of pleasure.

“Y-yeeaaaaah.” Nix lets out a quiet squeak, as she fights to continue her explanation, giving Tina a thumbs up. “I’m sure you’ll get along great.” She presses her head more against Celosia’s hand, looking up into her owners’ eyes for a few indulgent moments.

“Alistor has a floret?” Fir chuckles lightly, pulling Tina up against her side. Starting to gently run her hand across her pet’s midriff. “Next you’re going to tell me that the sun we’re currently closest to is really a black hole.”

Tina gasps, and giggles lightly, soon drifting into almost a purr of happiness as Fir continues the belly rub.

Celosia shrugs, and shakes her head. “We are still close to a sun, and not a black hole. Also Alistor admitted to being rather jealous of our relationship with Nix, so he volunteered to go on a little fishing trip. His new floret happened to get his attention while he was out.”

“Yeah now that sounds more like Alistor.” Fir nods slightly, continuing to pet her floret. Watching as Tina curls up and rubs herself against her bristles. “I had noticed him getting more stressed recently, but this being the reason is still astounding.”

Celosia brushes her fingers through Nix’s hair with a smile. “It is, but at the same time, he was bound to push himself too far at some point with the paperwork, beyond even the most dedicated bureaucrat. I think this will be a good learning, and growing experience for him.”

“Well I guess I’ll just have to see it then, once he’s back working with you, invite him to bring his pet along to meet Tina. I’ll be looking forward to seeing this myself with tangled vines.” Fir chuckles, her form shuffling around as she grabs a small bag from within herself. Pulling out the promised frisbee for their pets. “But for now, why don’t you two have fun playing with one another.”

Tina eagerly reaches up for the frisbee. “Thank you Mistress! Come on Nix!” She giggles a little bit, and takes Nix’s hand once more, pulling her onto their feet and towards a more open portion of the grove.

Nix squeaks, being pulled out of direct eye contact with Celosia, and starting to pull herself back to the moment rather than simple blank adoration of her owner. "O-oh right! Yeah let's do… that!" She chuckles as they get a few feet away from their owners. 

Celosia’s vine slowly pulls away, and releases her leash as a form of giving approval. Nodding slightly at Nix, as she goes back to talking to Fir about more details about Wisp and Alistor.

Tina giggles at Nix as they begin lightly tossing the frisbee. “So, still in that early phase where you and your mistresses are having trouble even staying away from each other long enough to do things.”

“Well Mistress has been very concerned about me, especially since I woke up.” Nix nods, running and catching the frisbee to the best of her ability. Almost stumbling as she comes to a stop. “I get really really anxious at the thought of being alone, and I think the idea of leaving me alone at all, makes them anxious too.” She tosses the frisbee back much more lightly then Tina had thrown it. The disk wobbles slightly from her lack of understanding on how to throw it properly.

Tina catches the frisbee and tosses it back, going a little softer than the first time, but still hard enough for stable flight. “I see, I get it.” She grins, watching Nix catch the disk. “Alright, now try throwing it a little harder, that will keep the frisbee flying more stably.”

Nix plants her feet, throwing it just hard enough to feel confident, over shooting Tina slightly and watching her run after it. “I…” She hums, looking down slightly. “A lot of stuff has been confusing recently, so thanks for just… hanging out, and playing with me.”

Tina catches the frisbee, walking back over to Nix to give her a hug. “Of course, I’m happy to just hang out and help things not be as complicated. I can’t claim to make things simpler, but I can help by just being normal, and hanging out.” She then lets go and gets a little distance, before tossing the frisbee back at Nix.

“That’s all I’d ever ask.” Nix actually has to hop slightly to catch this throw. Astounded with herself as she lands surprisingly easily, her leg almost buckling as Celosia quickly slides up behind her, and uses a few vines to help hold her up. 

“Careful petal, Sola still needs to go over jumping with you if you want to start doing them.” Celosia gently nuzzles Nix’s cheek. “I’m happy you’re having fun though.” She slowly pulls away, carefully looking over every inch of Nix’s body. Trying to repress her urge to not let Nix go back to playing.

“I’m fine Mistress. I promise.” Nix chuckles, dusting herself off slightly as she takes a few tentative steps away from Celosia. Getting ready to toss to Tina again, managing to get a decent hang of throwing it by now. 

Tina grins, catching the toss. “Don’t worry Miss Celosia, I’ll keep the throws low. I didn’t realize how much more Nix needs to work on.” She then twirls the frisbee a little bit. “If you need to let the frisbee land before picking it up, that is perfectly okay Nix. Just do what feels right, and I’ll do my best to keep it from being too much.” She then tosses the frisbee once more, this time letting it stay within normal reach for Nix.

“Thank you petal, jumping is something never showed interest in during her first round of physical therapy. So Sola didn’t work on that part as much as the rest.” Celosia nods, holding back to comment that she’d never have expected Nix to try to jump for anything in general. Starting to watch the game the two florets are playing far more intentionally.

Nix nods slightly, following behind the throws from that point on, instead of rushing herself to catch them as soon as possible. “Yeah, honestly I just got excited and wanted to make the catch.” She chuckles, the frisbee sliding into her grasp, before she throws it to Tina once again.

Tina jumps herself to catch the frisbee. “Excitement and happiness can just pull that out of you. And if I remember, your spinal issues probably stopped you from really physically expressing yourself. Even if you don’t get too sporty, I think you could have some fun just getting out, and moving! It never has to be like… super intense, but just a small jog, rolling around in the grass, or doing some fun activities like us playing frisbee can do a lot to take your mind off of things.”

“Yeaaaah, honestly I never thought I’d be able to do this comfortably at all.” Nix laughs, taking a few deep breaths while she waits for Tina to get ready to throw again. “And I know Mistress Sola’s going to be happy to hear I’m exercising, outside of our normal physical therapy.”

Tina waits for Nix to catch her breath, before giving her another easy toss. “If you need to take a break, don’t feel bad about it. I want you to have fun but I don’t want you to push too hard. We can take as long as you need.” She waits for Nix to either toss the frisbee back or call for a break, ready for either decision.

Nix catches the frisbee with one hand this time, before flopping backwards into her owner's vines. Taking a few deep breaths like Sola had taught her to, for when she needs to catch her breath. “Yeah I think a break sounds good… And I’m going to have to deal with adjusting to my body mods too soon! So hanging out, and having you teach me some games, could be fun?”

Fir grins at this, leaning onto her side to get closer to Tina. “Well if Tina wants to, I’d be more than happy to clear our schedule to be able to have time for you two to play, every few days.”

Tina flops into Fir’s vines happily. Rolling around on top of her owner’s bristles. “That sounds great to me! After you get your mods, I’ll find stuff that is not too complex, and could help you get used to it all while still playing. I’m sure Miss Sola will have plenty of regular exercises, so I won’t try any of those unless asked.”

“The exercises are mostly safe to do in groups, and with Sola busy with a new patient we’d actually really appreciate having a workout buddy for Nix.” Celosia starts scratching behind Nix’s ear again. A thrum of relief flowing through her body, happy to have reintroduced Nix to a friend, as well as having her respond well to coming to work and spending time away from Sola.