The Affini and her Nerd
In Which Liliac Reviews Mats's Speech and Comforts Him
by Ezra Carmichael
Tags:
#D/s
#dom:plant
#f/m
#Human_Domestication_Guide
#microfiction
#no_sex_no_nudity
#caregiving
#dom:female
#humor
#scifi
#sub:male
Writing Trellis (which includes Liliac and Mats as side characters) has been emotionally rough, so I decided to write something cute. It may have ended up a bit sappier than even this story is used to. Enjoy!
“Liliac, is this speech good?”
“Well, let’s see. You thank the university for publishing your book, good, brief outline of what you did—and what you did is very impressive, good, and… no, Mats, you cannot spend two minutes explaining why Rosewood should never be allowed to publish another paper.”
“But she shouldn’t.”
“Mats, remember what we said about insulting Rosewood?”
“ ‘Bad pets who insult Rosewood don’t get to have their books published.’ I don’t see why you can’t take my side on this, I’m your pet. She’s just—”
“Little one, do you really want to finish that sentence?”
“No, Liliac.”
“Stick to the positives, Mats. You translated the complete works of this Shakespeare cutie and wrote a commentary contextualizing it. You don’t need to insult anyone else, your work speaks for itself. Or at least I assume it does, Heyacinth approves.”
“You still haven’t read it?”
“I tried, Mats, but the plays are so sad. A bunch of cuties who need domestication and don’t get it. I like my stories to have happy endings.”
“Some of them have happy endings.”
“Maybe by terran standards, but they’re still alone, uncared for. It makes me wish we’d gotten to you so much sooner…. But then I remember that if we had, I wouldn’t have my brilliant floret.
“Oh, Mats, are you crying? Did I say something wrong?”
“No, I just… I’m so lucky to be yours. I’d never have gotten this done without you taking care of my meals and bathing and shit.”
“Language, Mats.”
“And stuff. And I still mess up and can’t stop disappointing you and insulting bad scholars who deserve to be insulted, and, and—”
“Mats, that’s why we do domestication. Cute sophonts like you, even when you’re really smart, need to be taken care of and made to mind their manners. You’ve gotten so much better since I domesticated you, so much more your best self. And I’m honored you chose me to take you on that journey.”
“I love you, too.”
We're all very proud of Mats for getting his book published. We're even prouder of him for being a good pet.