Wellness Check

Chapter 10 - Mind Games

by Darkfalli

Tags: #cw:noncon #dom:female #f/f #Human_Domestication_Guide #hypnosis #pov:bottom #sub:female #body_modification #bratty_sub #conditioning #dom:internalized_imperialism #drug_play #drugs #mind_control #multiple_partners #ownership_dynamics #petplay #scifi #transgender_characters

See spoiler tags :

#body_swapping #memory_play #robots

Hey its the implant chapter! A lot of fun stuff is in here but I'm gonna have to throw a warning up here. The reason for the warning is that this chapter in the first half has a set of scenes that makes me cry without fail. And well it's also made a beta reader cry so uh,,, CW: Self loathing and heavy feels in the first half

That being said there's plenty of catharsis and cuddly cute dorky fun with the disaster lesbian known as Aster. Basically I break you and then give you lots of aftercare in written form have fun.

It took me a while to get over the whole… whatever yesterday was. Mistress Digitalis was a bully. I bit her vine as she held me just to vent that again. I had been doing so all morning because the affini needed to stop with her mind games.

Anyway, the latest anti-bullying bite occurred while I was being carried to get my implant. I didn't have a choice in it and that was oddly the best thing ever. Like, every time I read up on what it could do, I got mad jealous. I'd never submit to Mistress and become her pet to get it. Thankfully, her forcing me to get it sidestepped that whole issue with no loose ends or weird doublethink to validate my need to not submit. Flawless logic! I was the smartest, cutest, best sophont ever!

The Haustoric Implant was definitely the coolest piece of affini tech I had ever had the pleasure of learning about. It was biotech, but it was more than that. A programmable semi-intelligent symbiote that could learn and adapt to its host in so many awesome ways. It could help process sensory information, it could regulate my motor controls, both of which just meant I could do VR stuff through the implant. Mistress could program it to give me any xenodrug and the implant would make them way more effective and with impossibly precise effects.

I was excited. I was hyped. Digitalis even said she personally designed mine to grow into specific ways for technopathy, and a few other cognitive augmentations I wanted. Apparently, she spent a lot of time on this for me and gosh, I loved this big beautiful affini who wanted to own me!

I stopped biting at her for the debacle yesterday and chirped up at her. "Date me!" My clumsy noise maker messed up the pronunciation a bit, but I'd said that line enough she knew what I meant.

"Be my pet." She smugly replied back. Her favorite retort.

"Never!" I gave her a love bite. Love bites and anti-bullying bites were different. Thanks to my kinky digital girlfriend right next to me in Digitalis's arms, I was an expert in communicating by bite.

Mistress pet me. "I love you too, little aster."

We were in my least favorite place in the universe, outside our hab unit. Soon to be inside a building that is also not our hab unit. A xenoveterinary office and medical center specializing in florets. They also did stuff for normal, definitely not owned sophonts like me.

Nora poked me. "Princess, you're supposed to bite me. I'm not going to get love bites for days, I neeeeeed them, you silly beautiful girlfriend of mine."

Mistress walked in the door while carrying me biting a moaning squirming Nora. The class-E was better than I imagined because I wasn't an anxious mess. I mean, it was suppressing a lot of the bad feelings. Plus, Mistress and my GF did sorta distract me a ton in general. Also, that pesky sense of what Digitalis wanted me to feel was there and I could just lean into that. Barely functioning in public was still functioning in public! Progress.

"I'm here to see Glebionis about my little one's procedure." Digi told the front desk lady. I perked up ,as I couldn't not listen to my affini's beautiful voice, and also I recognized that weird-ass name. That was the doctor-vet who came to my house that one time.

I frowned when memories of how amazing I was to them came back. Gah! They just wanted to help me and I was such a little cutie back then. Simply the best. He didn't deserve that. I should have been nicer to him.

Nora and Digi noticed my mood shift. Apparently, I was easy to read or something. Nora booped my necklace dangly bit. "What got you down princess? I thought you were excited for this?"

I nuzzled into her chest. "I was a good girl to Gleb a long time ago." Nora managed to not giggle which was admirable of her. She did it a lot and I loved it. My girlfriend being happy was always good even if at my oblivious expense. Still that would have been a bad moment for it.

"My beloved little flower, I'll make sure you have a chance to apologize. He doesn't-"

"-hate me. I know. I think you affini are incapable of it." It felt really bad and wrong to talk over her like that, but that's how I knew I wasn't a pet. A pet would know her Mistress was talking and not to interrupt.

There was a flicker and I shivered. Her, that possessive predator briefly made its presence known. I didn't even need to look up from Nora's bosom to know it happened. Mistress cowed me without lifting a vine or uttering a word. The predator was only there for a moment, but the feeling lingered. Not fear, no. It was anticipatory submission.

"Aster, do not interrupt me again. Am I understood?" Her voice followed.

"Y-Yes Mistress!" I blurted out, before even processing the words. She caught me in a moment of vulnerability, but didn't press further. She didn't force me to submit fully. She should have.

Digitalis gracefully brought me to meet my surgeon. The same semi-masculine affini with his small yellow flowers that I whined and cursed at half a year ago stood before me. My affini set Nora and I down, making me feel small and powerless while surrounded by these giants. My coordination was already off so walking around was out of the question.

His delight bled into his voice. "I wondered how long it'd take before I'd be giving you an implant."

Uh… "Uh… what?" That did not compute. Like at all. I was the most anti-domestication person in the universe when we met. How did he think I'd be getting a Haustoric Implant at some point?

"Miss Aster, I did your psych evaluation. You were going to end up a pet eventually, I just didn't know whose pet you'd be." Well that was an insult if I ever heard one.

"I'm not a pet. I'm an independent sophont being forced to get this implant." I pouted at the giant.

He hummed and scratched his chin thoughtfully before kneeling down to face me closer to eye level. Gelb reached out a vine and held up the dangly part of my necklace. "So your name is not Aster Lutea, Second Floret, the floret of one Digitalis Lutea, Third Bloom here to get her Haustoric Implant?"

"That's my name, but I'm not a floret. I never agreed to it or signed anything."

He then looked concerned. "Then I'll have to cancel the surgery for you. I apologize little sophont. You are free to leave."

I paused… H-he wasn't going to give me the implant? I glanced up at Mistress. She was supposed to tell him I was a pet and I had to have it. Today was my surgery day! The day I got my new hardware. I didn't leave. I couldn't. Mistress needed to tell me something, some order or command. I needed her to sort this out.

Mistress barely hid her glee at my dysfunction. She knew. Gah!!! That diabolical mastermind was pure evil. This was a game to her. Digitalis just wanted to watch me squirm. That evil affini did this to me and refused to take responsibility.

The moment fell into silence. A statue of a girlfriend stood next to me not helping. Nora never helped me when people bullied me. I guess I should be thankful she didn't join in.

Glebi patted me on the head and then gave me chin scritches. "I'm just teasing you miss Aster. You'll get your implant today." Why did he have to bully me too? I got enough from Nora and Mistress.

I was fully leaning into the comforting pets when Mistress's rhythm carried a reminder, a feeling I was supposed to have. Remorse… She wanted me to do my apology thing. I pulled back a moment from the brief pampering. "I-I'm sorry about how mean I acted towards you when we first met. You didn't like deserve that. Thank you for helping me."

"Miss Aster, you were incredibly adorable during that house call. You don't need to apologize for your cute little tirades." He reached out and petted me again. "You're a very good girl~"

Mistress caught me as I melted into an Aster puddle. "Now my beloved smart little flower, it's time for you to take a nap." A sleepiness flooded me, but I fell asleep in Mistress's vines and I knew she would keep me safe.

I found myself in a memory. The kitchen of my old apartment. It was very surreal to be back here and I was confused as to the why and how. This place was long gone. I checked. So why was I in my messy old apartment that I could never manage to clean?

Thinking back was a little fuzzy. I was lucid. I felt lucid, but not perfectly. Stuff was fading in and out of the deep background of my memories. This was very dream-like. Scratch that, this was either a dream or some weird VR thing, and I know Nora and Mistress weren't that mean.

"Oh, fuck off." Came my voice, from my chair, at my computer. She rotated the chair around to look at me. I saw myself, my old self as I had been… The emaciated transgender woman with obnoxiously long unkempt unwashed hair. She wore a scowl so deep I didn't think she could smile.

I, uh, got a bit nervous seeing my old self with so much… vitriol directed at me. "Excuse me?" If this hateful bitch was who I used to be… I did not apologize enough to anyone.

She scoffed. "You heard me. Fuck off with that whole Mistress crap. You're acting like a fucking pet. We aren't a pet, we're not a slave."

"I-I'm not a pet!" Her words hurt. That vitriol hurt. Mistress promised me she'd protect me from this. From people being mean. Tears welled in my eyes.

"She lied to you. The bitch can't protect you. And she wants you as a slave. Gah! You're so weak!" Her words hurt. They hurt so bad. She's supposed to be me. I was Aster the beautiful cute adorable- "You're ugly, worthless, pathetic, weak, and pitiful."

I shakingly dove into my old bed to curl up and hide. "S-Stop!"

"You let that ugly bitch of a fern turn you into some sniveling welp." She insulted Cyathea that-that bitch!

She could say that stuff about me, but Cyathea didn't deserve it. She put up with this for so long. "Take that back! Cyathea saved me. Saved us! Look at you! You're skin and bones. You can't care for yourself. You need hel-"

"I don't need anybody! Not the fern bitch, not the xeno hacker, not the maid, not friends, and not a pathetic pet like you."

"S-So what if I'm a p-pet? So what if I want to be one? So what if I probably already am one? I'm happy now. I'm loved now. I deserve to be cared for and loved and happy… W-Why can't you let me have this? Let me have this, p-please. I-I need this." Tears were pouring out.

She looked as upset as me, but her heart held anger too. "I didn't need those things! No one ever gave a shit about me! Why should anyone give a shit about you? W-Why do you get to be loved when I don't?" She was crying too. "You act like you're all happy and great, but you hate me. You hate thinking about me. Your owner buried me, but I'm still here and I hate you too."

I crumbled into my bed wishing she'd go away. Wishing Mistress would make her go away. The worst part was, she was right. I did hate her, and she was me.

There was a soft sobbing noise filling the hab unit. My old hab unit. The place was still a mess as it was before Nora waltzed into my life and never left. There she was curled up on the bed. Aster physically the same as I am now except still barely dressed. She didn't have her necklace from Mistress. Her hair was unwashed like Mistress did for me. She looked like she hadn't been eating consistently like Mistress made me.

She was so sad and sobbing and I wanted to hug her. I walked over from my seat on the couch and climbed into bed and went to cuddle with her. My old self pushed me away. "Get away!" She was so lonely and she pushed me away.

I tried again and she repeated the motion. "Let me help you."

"I-I can't." She sobbed. "I'm just going to hurt you too. I always say or do something and drive everyone who cares away. I don't deserve them. I was terrible and they all hate me."

"They don't hate you. They love you." It hurt to watch her do this. Mistress and Cyathea could never hate her.

My old self finally looked up at me. "They should! I was awful, I'm still awful! Every time I ever tried to make a friend I'd slip up and say something and hurt them."

"You never meant to hurt anybody. You were never awful to terrans and you thought the affini were enslaving you, it's understandable tha-"

"I hurt them! Even if by accident, even if it was only a little. If I hurt people I care about, then I don't deserve them or their love." She spat back at me. "If it wasn't so bad then why do you hate her? If it's forgivable, why do you want your Mistress to kill her?"

"I-I deserve to be-"

She got angry with me. "If you do then she does!" My old self shoved me off the bed. "But we both know she doesn't deserve any of it and that means we don't either. If she isn't allowed to be a loved pet. Then you aren't either."

"B-But Mistress-"

"You're going to hurt Digitalis. You're going to drive her away. It's only a matter of time. Just leave her before you hurt her. We both know she doesn't deserve what you'll do." My past lonely self collapsed back onto the bed and continued her crying. The same crying I did for weeks.

The same crying I did on the floor she shoved me onto. She was right. I did hurt the people I got close to, and it hurt me too. I curled up afraid of hurting the ones I so dearly loved.

I was in Mistress's lap cuddling my girlfriend. The warmth of their bodies calmed me. The only problem was I knew how awful I could be, and I knew I'd hurt them one day.

The beautiful voice of Digitalis spoke down to me. "What troubles you, my beloved flower?"

"I-I'm going to hurt you. I'm awful and I'll do or say something and hurt both of you."

Nora pulled me in for a side hug. "My silly little princess, You aren't allowed to say that bad word about yourself."

"But it's true! Even if you take away the word, the feeling is still there. It's always been there."

Mistress put a hand on my head to silence my thoughts with a pet. "Aster, you could never hurt me. I love you and you know this. Hurting others, if that is a thing my adorable little pet can do, just means you have to apologize. Just like with Cyathea, and just like with Glebionis."

"But if I was alone then I couldn't hurt people!"

"No dear, if you were alone you'd be hurting yourself, and you're a person too." It was unfair to hear that from her. She always saw something in me that I didn't. I saw that frail spiteful gremlin, or that lonely girl. Mistress saw something beautiful in me and never stopped trying to show me it.

"But I don't deserve-"

Mistress silenced me with a vine to the lips. "You deserve love, care, and happiness. Most importantly you deserve forgiveness. If I have to drill that into your mind every day from now until the stars fade then I will. You are my beautiful sweet adorable intelligent pet. I love you. And you should love you too."

"But I was awful! How could I love the person who hated and spited the first being to give a crap about me?"

"Because she's you, and you deserve to be loved. Every sophont in the universe deserves to be loved and happy, even the worst ones. If they can't stop hurting others then they will be made to stop, but that doesn't mean that they will not be cared for all the same." The affini were so unfair. The idea they could just make everyone happy and loved was insane yet… They could do it. The more important thing was that they were probably right. No one should have to suffer. No one. Not even me.

"Thank you Mistress. I love you and I'm sorry for every awful thing I've done to you." The tears were there but they were tears of happiness.

Her big beautiful smile lit up the room. "I love you too. And you are forgiven for the one awful thing you've ever done to me. That you thought you were awful to my beloved little pet, Aster Lutea, Second Floret."

"Hey, what about me! You've done plenty of awful things to me! Like depriving me of love bites from my favorite vampire princess." Nora the absolute bully teased. "Jokes aside, I love you too. Just be nicer to my girlfriend. I love her as much as I love my Mistress."

"O-Okay." I said.

She pulled the collar of her dress out to expose her neck and shoulder. "Lady Aster, please take my blood."

"As you wish, my loyal maid." I sank my fangs into her.

I was back in my old apartment on my bed.

"Look who the fucks back." Old me said from her chair. "The useless whiney pet."

That insult didn't sting like it used to, mostly because it was true and I liked it. "I am a pet. I'm Mistress's floret and we love each other. That means she loves you. You Aster are loved."

"Fuck off. No one cares about me. You hate me." She refused to accept it, because how can you truly love someone else unless you love yourself.

"I-I don't like you," Mistress's words echoed in my mind. "But I love you. Because you are me and you deserve love and happiness."

Old me threw her keyboard at me. It hurt. I wanted to hate her, but Mistress loved her. Nora loved her. Cyathea loved her. I loved her.

I stood up and approached her. She hurled insults but then I hugged her. She thrashed in my grip but her weak frail body couldn't fend me off. I held her and held her. "You deserve to be loved. I'm sorry that you had to wait so long to feel it." She struggled. "I love you, and you deserve to be happy. That's what the affini showed me. What they showed us. We matter. Even when that's hard to believe."

She broke down crying in my arms. The same way she did in Cyathea's. She was hurt. She was so hurt. All she needed was someone to love her unconditionally so she could learn to love herself. Someone to hold her when she felt sad. Someone to care for her when she couldn't. She deserved those things even if she never got them. Everyone deserved love, even me.

I turned and saw the lonely girl from the hab unit. Still driving everyone away, because she cared so deeply about others she feared to hurt them. Stuck in the idea that she mattered less than others and thus she should suffer alone to prevent the possibility of ever harming another. Hurting others was wrong, but hurting myself was just as wrong.

"It's okay to make mistakes sometimes. That doesn't make you any less deserving of companionship. You deserve to let yourself be with someone. Even if it's with someone new." I told her.

She wailed. "I-I don't! If everyone deserves love and happiness then letting myself cause more pain is wrong! Being alone protects people. They matter, we both know that."

"They do, and that's why we have to reach out to them. Because we can give them love and affection. We can make others happy and withholding that from them is just as bad if not worse. You matter. They matter. Love is a thing that is given and shared. I am giving it to you, and now you need to pass it on to someone else. I love you Aster and so help me if you don't get up and post on that messaging board I'll do it for you."

She resisted. She wailed and I marched up the stairs to the computer room and posted that same ad for cuddles. I left out the no affini restriction. From the window that overlooked the place I watched Nora and Mistress come in and give her the love she needed. Aster deserved love. She deserved to let herself be loved.

I deserve love. Everyone does.

Loving vines held me as my eyes opened. The little sensory details all those dreams missed were back. I was actually awake, and in the hold of my actual real Mistress.

"Welcome back little one. Do you feel alright? Your implant kept clearing out the xenodrugs we gave you to make your recovery peaceful." The concern in her voice was there, but it was there because she cared. Because She loved me.

Nora was next to me and stirred. "Hey princess! Welcome back." My girlfriend sounded relieved.

"I uh, I think I'm good or… I'm working on it. I had some weird dreams, but they helped." It was sort of hard to explain the trippy feeling of arguing with past selves.

Mistress smiled and I knew that meant everything was alright. "Those dreams are usually related to the implant integrating itself and processing your memories."

"I uh, it was more like I was processing my memories but I could talk to them? I think my Implant gave me therapy." I did read it was kinda intelligent, but not truly independent. It was a part of me now, same as my brain. I wasn't the Aster who was about to get her implant. I was an Aster whose mind was tied to and helped processed by the implant. Ship thy name is Theseus.

Nora giggled. "So what did you learn in therapy?"

"Uh… I need to love myself and let myself be with people." It was kinda a simple lesson when I thought about it. The hard part was letting myself believe it. I still had trouble believing it. But I understood why I needed to.

Nora stopped looking amused. "Did you not do that before? I'm pretty sure you were happy with yourself and very much together with Miss Talis and I."

Mistress seemed to get it. "Aster is under the influence of my hypnosis. She didn't have a choice in her self-love, and she wasn't exactly letting herself be with me in the way we all know she wants to be."

Right that. That nagging little voice in my head was telling me not to be a pet, I didn't deserve to be loved that way. I could ask Mistress to remove it, and I knew she would try and possibly succeed. Perhaps I should ask, but maybe not? Old Aster didn't need to be removed, she needed love because she's me.

I really wanted to submit to her, to be her pet, her floret. I could say the words, but that'd be submitting. I wish she'd force me to be one. It'd be more fun… Mistress would do it if I asked. I just needed to tell her. Aster deserves love and that meant letting myself have things I wanted.

"Mistress… c-can you make me your uh, pet?"

My affini got the biggest smile on her face. "I already have my beloved little pet, but you want me to do more don't you?" I nodded. "Don't worry little one, your resistance was a gift from me, and I'll make sure to take it away exactly how we both want."

I smiled and chirped back, "Thank you Mistress! I love you so much!" I got up and kissed her and she kissed me back. Gah!!! I loved the big beautiful plant so much!

Nora pulled me back down and snuggled me. "Awww, I'm so proud of you princess! I'm so happy you can finally admit that without a class-D. Now you get to be my connivent!"

I thought back to it… I did admit this once before on that xenodrug. The class-D did make me admit what I wanted but was incapable of saying on my own. My thoughts were still giving me trouble, but I was getting better. I had been getting better for a long while. Now a part of Mistress Digitalis was in me and the first thing it did was let me attempt to reconcile my trauma and self loathing. Affini were truly unfair and I wouldn't have it any other way.

My Mistress's perfect voice cut into my thoughts. "Now little Nora, I think a more appropriate term would be pinnate. How would you feel to be separated from little Aster?"

Nora went a tad still as she thought about that. Her soft still body held me tight in our Mistress's vines. My girlfriend then erupted into loud squees right next to me. "fdkjgndsn, I got a pinnate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She had me all little spoon and started kissing me on the neck as vines moved my hair to help expose it. Ah-AH! Nora's kisses made me flustered and whimper and shiver. I didn't even get to ask what a connivent and pinnate were.

Eventually, she stopped by Mistress's will and just cuddled. It was only then I realized we were on the couch and not the bed. It probably wasn't even morning.

Mistress then placed us down gently on the couch. "I'm going to go start lunch little ones." She sang as she drifted into the kitchen to prepare a meal with lots of love.

I made a typing gesture with my fingers on Nora. A moment later a vine slipped a tablet into my hands. I looked up the words and uh.

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: So are florets pinnate more than girlfriends?

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: The description is in floret speak and I don't get it.

[GhostExMachina]: Yup!

[GhostExMachina]: We'll never be separated ever.

[GhostExMachina]: People who date and stuff don't hang out constantly like us

[GhostExMachina]: Like even when I go out sometimes I still have a bit of me watching and listening to you back here.

[GhostExMachina]: I really really love you and want to be with you always

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: Well, I really really love you and want to be with you always more 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

[GhostExMachina]: Silly princess, I definitely really really really love you and want to be with you always the most! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

We got really silly until it was just pages of hearts emojis. Mistress sent us a one terabyte file of heart emojis and then scooped us up for food. She fed me every loving bite of her homemade mac and cheese.

After eating, I got lost staring at Mistress for a while. My affini held my undivided attention as I longingly gazed upon the perfect visage of her beauty. Every rustle of her leaves, and every subtle movement was in perfect clarity. Her existence was a song and I was one of her instruments to play it…

My focus narrowed on her lips as she was about to speak. "My precious little Aster. I'm going to tinker with that beautiful mind of yours and gift you a little bit of resistance so we can have more fun."

Mistress Digitalis ordered me to relax and I was out like a light.

Dumb dreams made me almost submit! The joke was on Mistress, I realized that I deserve love and that I was so amazing she'd never be able to make me her pet. I, Aster Lutea, Second Floret, was the greatest most adorable smart silly loving independent sophont in the universe! Gah! I was perfect and had the perfect roleplaying girlfriend and soon to be other perfect affini girlfriend. I'd be theirs forever… Wait, I meant they'd be mine forever!

In spectacular Aster fashion, I finally had begun piecing together months of scheming. I was going to take Digi out on a date and woo her so much she'd become my girlfriend on the spot. My current perfect and loving girlfriend volunteered to assist me after I swore her to secrecy. The details were still being ironed out but I'd have everything ready uh… eventually!

For now, I got to enjoy time with my loved ones, time learning tech stuff, and also eager anticipation for my implant to finish growing the fancy stuff so I could be a tech sorceress. Mistress Digitalis explained the whole concept of her carefully and intentionally overgrowing my implant. It sounded cool. I mean replacing parts of my brain with cooler better techy bits had been my goal since I realized that was an option. Like who wouldn't forsake their humanity if they had the choice? Sure, there was that weird existential stuff of whether or not I'd truly be the same sophont, but that was boring. The thing I actually disliked was how slow it was. There was a huge risk of losing bits of myself in the steady conversion, or at least there would be a huge risk if Digitalis wasn’t the best affini tech specialist on the planet!

She had a constant connection to my implant through her own cyborg stuff, plus there were the bi-daily brain scans. I trusted she knew what she was doing. Digi did tinker with the implant to make it optimized for this exact purpose. It'd grow into my muscle and sensory bits and give me mental senses and control over tech. Tech sorcery. No more tablet or keyboard to type with, I'd type with my mind.

All that thinking about my implant had me feeling the incision bit again on the back of my neck. A piece of Digitalis was inside me forever. Gosh that was hot. A device that gave her complete power over me and grew into my brain and spine and a bunch of other places. It was like a collar around my soul. Wait, I wasn't supposed to want a collar.

Nora nibbled my ear causing me to jump. "You are thinking awfully hard for a silly little princess."

I pouted. "I'm very smart and I like thinking."

"And you were thinking about the implant weren't you? About how Miss Talis is inside you now. About how she owns you entirely and can control every little tiny thing about you." Nora pushed me onto my back while we were in Digi's lap on the couch. Her body pinning me down while playfully teasing me with probing touches.

Mistress was above even her, happily smugly watching. She didn't even say the words, but I heard them in my mind anyway. Do you want to be my pet?

I laid beneath both of them, completely helpless and at their mercy. My lips went to answer the unspoken question, "Y-" My words stopped. Mistress wanted me to stop and thus I did so without thinking.

"Flower, think very very carefully for me. Do you want this to be the moment you say that word?" Dirt and stars she knew. This evil mastermind of a Mistress knew.

She was right. I-I wasn't supposed to give in. I-I was… wasn't a pet. Gah! She didn't even try to break me this time. "I uh, I um… computer?" My computer would be the perfect distraction and I could feel all awesome, and capable and like Aster the bestest most adorable independent hacker sophont ever and not like Aster the broken, needy, begging, helpless, owned, controlled pet…

A vine reached out and positioned my clumsy fingers on my clacky keyboard. Mistress had me at my computer, sitting in Nora's lap who sat on the affini's lap. When did she… A little message appeared.

[GhostExMachina]: I bet you can't access the Planetary Office of Transportation's local railway monitor system.

Oh, how dare she! I could do that in my sleep. OTNA had the tightest terrestrial network security that I'd seen, and Mistress showed me how to get into there. Breaking into POT was easier than gaining administrative access to the Affini Fan Server For Extraordinary Florets #2540.

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: Oh you're on, but what do I get when I win?

[GhostExMachina]: Mistress will body swap us and I'll dominate you as a busty vampiress, but if you get caught I'm going to play with some new hypnotic triggers of yours.

Gah!!! Those both sounded awesome, but I'd definitely have more fun getting dominated. Jokes on her, I've already broken into other POT systems before.

I started using my mouse and that's when I realized… I was still on a class-E. Clicking on the correct tiny button took like three tries. I was going to hit the wrong thing at the wrong time, or mistype a command line bit. I had been had. That bully.

I grabbed Nora's arm and pulled her sleeve back so I could nibble her. She squirmed and moaned under me and I uh maybe got turned on by feeling my seat beneath me squirm against my bottom. If it weren't for Mistress keeping us together on her lap I think we'd have fallen off again.

My girlfriend moved my bite to her collar and then started groping me. We were a tangle of synthetic and living flesh held up by the vines of a loving Mistress. A Mistress who upped our dosages turning it all into a hazy doped up touchfest. I was so uncoordinated that Mistress tangled my limbs in her vines and coordinated my body for me.

…

Nora poked me in the cheek. "Sleepy princess, you lost the bet." I found myself curled up in Mistress's lap with my partner.

I groggily attempted to push myself up, failed and then got lifted up by warm soft vines. "Wha?" Those same vines placed my glasses back on and turned my head to look at my monitor. A message from an affini system admin was up and I had gotten caught. Something something contact my owner bla bla paperwork.

My mind's cogs started turning a bit faster… "Y-You cheated! You distracted me and stuff."

"I'm not the one who started the biting, princess." She had a point, but also she sneakily bullied me… Probably. "Say, aren't you feeling a little cold wearing that~?"

My hands started fiddling with the claspy thing behind my back. "Okay fine, maaaybe I started that… Also, I feel a bit hot. Did someone mess with the thermostat?" My fingers finally finished whatever fidgeting they were doing.

"No flower, it is the same temperature that it has been since we moved in." Mistress answered. Her tone was completely normal and without any subtle mind game stuff at all.

"Oh, uh I might have a fever 'cause I feel warm." The implant was supposed to keep me nice and healthy. I tossed the small bit of black cloth with tiny red hearts on it away. Neither looked worried. Nora was giggling at me. Something was fishy about this situation. What was the thing if I lost the bet… new hypnosis things. Oh crap something was going on and they were making me feel really warm for some reason. "Nora what's going on?"

"Nothing, my beautiful silly vampire princess." She was full of it. "Speaking of my vampire girlfriend, when was the last time you drank blood~?"

"I'm not an actual vampire you dork." I poked my sharp fangs with my tongue by accident.

Nora was definitely up to something. My maid was messing with me. "Then why are you hungrily staring at my neck?"

I blinked. My eyes were locked onto her neck. Mistress had removed her collar. My fangs were out and wouldn't retract. There was something about her neck, it needed to be bit. I had to bite it. I was going to bite it. I hissed and lunged.

My fangs dug deep into her neck. I sucked on it. Lapping up blood. She was prey and I was a predator. As her struggling died down I let go and curled a smile. "Wake up my little maid. I can't have you dying from a little blood loss like that."

"L-Lady Aster. I'm so sorry, I feel a tad lightheaded." My whimpering little maid did seem a bit woozy. Poor thing worked so hard to serve me day and night.

I gently caressed her cheek. "My beloved loyal maid, you have nothing to apologize for, except perhaps for tasting so irresistibly delectable." Ah, the flustered look on my servant was priceless.

"Of course milady, Is your thirst sated~?" Nora asked, causing me to pause.

I took in what just happened. "Nora, what was that?"

"Our normal lady Aster and maid Nora roleplay." She said as if that explained anything. Her teasing smile took over her face. "Isn't it more fun when there's like an actually thirsty vampiress?"

I touched my lips. They were wet with a little saliva, but no blood. Nora's body didn't even have blood. I had tasted it and it was all an illusion. Okay, that was pretty cool, but I had a complaint. "Yea it kinda is, but I don't like dominating you. I mean I guess I did while doing it, but like…"

"You want to be the helpless maid in her ladies grasp." She finished my thought. "Don't worry. Mistress is still working on it and when we start body swapping I'll be lady Aster for you."

My face lit up. My mind raced through being embraced by her, all confident like I was… I made some squeaking noises that I'm sure Nora and Digi added to their collections. Gah!!! Vampires were hot and romantic and stuff. All of this because of a small little body mod. I was so glad I bugged Cyathea to get them for me.

Mistress chimed in startling me. That whole hypno-roleplay made me forget she was even here. "Girls I'm going to go start on dinner. So no aggressive play while I'm gone. Little Aster's implant isn't done growing it's protective brain layer." Digi got up, and placed us in the fancy hovering chair that moved just like the last spinny chair, but couldn't tip over. Affini and their magical tech. I should get a hoverboard… Okay yea, I don't have the coordination for that even without the clumsy xenodrug.

In the meantime, I decided to message Cyathea. It had been a while and I bet she'd love to hear I got my implant. She did always talk about me getting domesticated or whatever.

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: Hi Cyathea

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: Guess what?!

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: I got my Haustoric Implant!

[ConfernedNoises]: I'm so happy for you little one!

[ConfernedNoises]: So are you a floret now?

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: Nope

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: but Mistress keeps trying

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: She's very crafty

[ConfernedNoises]: Mistress?

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: I meant Digitalis

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: I started calling her Mistress sometimes

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: Don't judge me!

[SystemLurkerPrincess]: I'm not a pet

[ConfernedNoises]: I will never judge you

[ConfernedNoises]: except to determine how adorable you are

[ConfernedNoises]: The judgment is very adorable

"What is it with affini and thinking I'm adorable? I mean, I am definitely adorable, but like they make a point of that and the small thing a lot." I asked my girlfriend whose lap I was sitting in.

She wrapped her arms around my waist which felt really sensitive today. I think Mistress forgot to fully clear out my system of the special touchy time xenodrugs. Nora said. "Princess you are very adorable, but do you remember our talk on flirting? Affini flirt constantly… You still don't understand flirting do you?"

"Not even a little." I answered honestly. "Also, does that mean Cyathea wants to date me? I mean, I really like her, but I'm not really feeling girlfriend vibes off of her. Obviously, I can't just turn her down, because she's really nice and I don't want her to feel bad. I like her, but like not like-like her. Ya know?"

"Aster, not everyone who flirts with you wants to date you. Some just like to flirt. Plus Digitalis has dibs and affini respect that." My loyal slutty maid really understood all this relationship stuff super well. I sure as dirt didn't. Nora really was the bestest ever.

"Gosh, I love you so much." I turned and kissed her on the cheek. "Also, I thought you said people could have more than one partner. Does that not apply to affini-floret relationships?"

"Love you too princess." Nora gave me a kiss back, while she mulled it over. "I assume there are affini floret polycules, but I haven't run into one yet. Like I said, not everyone that flirts with you wants to date you. Otherwise, the Compact would be the universe's largest polycule… Okay, I'm totally getting Miss Talis to file a request for the record of largest documented polycule in the Compact."

Relationships were already too complicated when it was just dating one other person, this polyamory stuff was basically unintelligible. Worse, I just discovered flirting didn't mean wants to date… "Wait, if flirting doesn't mean that someone wants to date you then what is it? Like, it's just talking or doing stuff at that point, right? Why have a special word for it?"

Nora sighed. "Aster, princess. I love you but I don't know if it's possible for me to explain flirting to you. I've already tried."

"Yea probably, can you at least point out when people are like flirting with me when they actually like me romantically?" Maybe I could start learning by her pointing it out. I'd be so lost without her and Mistress.

"I'd totally love to help you, my beautifully silly princess!" She laughed at herself before clarifying. "That was me flirting with you romantically, you silly."

I paused as I thought about it. She did say compliments were flirting or whatever. Oh and using love in reference to me was flirting like she explained for those messages digi sent. I thought it over… "Wait, have you been flirting every time you've called me a silly princess?"

Nora stared at me. For a moment, I thought she left her body again but no, the subtle bits were still there. She was… shocked, I think? It took her a while to get over whatever surprised her, but when she did, she doubled over laughing. Like completely collapsed into hysterical unrelenting laughter that she also had come from my speakers.

I really didn't get which part she found funny, but hearing her laugh was nice. Actually, it was nice that my implant was making the egregious noise levels mentally tolerable. I can't imagine how much I would have hated that pre-implant.

When she recovered, she looked at me and said, "You definitely look cold, you should put some clothes on~" That was a really weird thing to say considering I was wearing…

"Nora, why the dirt am I naked?!"

I hope you enjoyed that wild ride. I apologize for any tears but hurt/comfort has hurt. Turns out Aster wouldn't break because she had unresolved trauma. And yup that's a breaking scene but well... it wasn't dramatic and submissive enough so we're going to do it again better. I love all you readers and uh the comments mean a ton to me. (Shout out to noëlle and SleepyTessa I love seeing your comments)

Love Darkfalli ❤️

Also, special thanks to my beta readers, who are wonderful and great and amazing and provided me with lovely feedback on all 15 chapters of Wellness Check (plus the super duper top secret extra bit *cough* _crossover*cough*):
AsphodelVeil
BiSound
EveningRespite
Fluxom
Simulated Beehive
Glitchy Robo
lise_lemonade
And more!

Also uh maybe check out my other stories:
Lost & Found A new story about uh, well... hmmm a sad little terran lost on what to do gets found by an affini and gets turned into a pet with lots of really varied kink scenes (like its 80% kink scenes after a point)
Unit 7.322 (aka Tess) A dronekink HDG story about a war-drone built to slay affini and also programed to obey being sent out to face down the affini. A story which was inspired by the wonderful, awesome, and gay Fluxom, who told me a bunch of gay ideas and I wrote it. (yes that Fluxom, the one that wrote Abscission and Snuggly)

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