She had no idea what was going on in the world outside her.  Or even two feet away from her, to be honest.  Whatever she had gotten completely obliterated her ability to focus on anything other than what she could feel, and the ability to care that it HAD been obliterated.  She just floated in a small cloud of blissful sensation for as long as it lasted.  She slowly woke up as her bladder began to intrude on her little piece of sensatory heaven, a small note of discord in an otherwise serene mindscape.  She tried ignoring it, but it was fairly insistent, demanding that it be addressed now.  “Stupid bladder”, she grumble, and forced herself to open her eyes.  Nothing had changed, except…as the room spun a bit more, she looked around.  “Whoa”, she said.  Or she’s pretty sure that she said it.  Clearly her head wasn’t really ready for her to do that.  Feeling off, she had no idea why, until it caught up to her.  Her brain was moving faster than her body was.  Blinking, she looked around, but slower.  Alone…but still tied up.

Waiting while squeezing, praying that she doesn’t soil herself, she looked around.  “Hello?”, she called out.  “Is…is anyone there?  Please…I need to use the bathroom”, and cringed when she noticed just how deep and gravelly her voice was.  The door opened up and another Affini swooped in.  This one was the same size, but was…it looked different.  The flowers all looked…they all had a similar shape, but vastly different colors, even though the Terran was able to see some others mixed in. 

“You’re awake, little Terran.  Good, good.  I’m Sarthusea Canus, Second Bloom.  She/Her, and I’m your Nurse.  I’m going to help you, but I’ll ask you to be on your best behavior, ok kitten?  Nod if you understand me.”

She made sure to nod as carefully as she could, scared that her head would just keep flopping.  “Why?  Why…umm..kitten?”, she asked, trying not to talk.  Just listening to her voice made her cringe, and just…her cuff beeped once, but she ignored it. 

“Well, I know it’s different.  Most other Affini, well everything is flowers and blooms and what have you”, the nurse said.  “But I was keeping an eye on you while you enjoyed your first Class-A xenodrug sponsored relaxation session, and you just reminded me of this cute kitten I saw.  It was so cute and adorable I nearly cried, all curled up and gently rubbing its cheek.”  While she talked, the nurse was carefully unwinding the restraints, and massaging her limbs.

“Thanks”, she muttered.  “I got this”, and she rolled over.  And then kept on rolling over when her body didn’t stop when she told it to.  Panicking and yelping as her foot got tangled in the blanket while the rest of her kept moving, she flailed, but suddenly there were vines holding and supporting her as her body mostly hung off the bed.  It didn’t feel anywhere as good as they felt before, but they were still nice.  Honestly, the girl thought for a moment, she was so touch starved that any touch was a good thing.

“Oh dear.  Looks like those xenodrugs aren’t fully out of your system yet, little one.  Let me help you, ok?  Last thing I want is for you to get injured.”  The vines moved, rustling, and the jostling alone nearly made her lose control.  Crying out for the nurse to slow down or she’d have an accident, the Affini nodded.  “You’re alright, little kitten.  I’ll help you onto the toilet, but I won’t be looking, ok?  I don’t think you could even sit up safely by yourself in this condition.”

The girl blushed as she realized that the nurse was right.  Nodding, she whimpered a “hurry please”.  What happened next was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of her life.  The vines helped her onto the toilet, held her steady, and then helped guide her hands to the waistband of the shorts that she was wearing.  “I’m not looking, little one.  Tangle my vines, I’m not.  And I’m a nurse, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”  SHE was a nurse, she wanted to protest, and then realized that the Affini was right.  Had a patient told her that, she’d have smiled and then said some variation of ‘Then you know why I’m doing this.’, while trying to give them the most agency.  The sigh of relief as hydrostatic pressure was released was probably louder than the sounds she was making.  And it must have been the drugs, or maybe not, since she’d been holding it in so long, but it felt amazing to finally pee.  Once she was done, she cleared her throat and motioned with her hands to her pants. 

“I’m…ummm…I’m all done.”  The vines lifted her up, and as she pulled her pants up, she was able to see the large bandages covering her upper thighs.  “Did you do this?”, she asked as the vines drew her over to the sink so she could wash her hands. 

“What, you mean your wounds?  Oh yes, darling.  I did.  And while I don’t know for certain what made them necessary, I have an idea.  And if you ever need to talk, darling, I’m here”, she said.  Honestly, the way Terrans treated their own made her want to shudder sometimes.  The girl nodded, murmuring thanks.  “No need to thank me, darling.  Now, wash your hands, and brush your teeth”, and a vine reached out with an odd looking toothbrush and a small container of what looked like toothpaste.  It tasted like….like mint and sage and felt great.  Granted, her movements were a bit slow, but Sarthusea didn’t rush her, or get mad that it took so long.  No, she seemed to be cooing under her breath and practically vibrating with…If the girl didn’t know any better, she would have said that the Affini was holding back some sort of noise.   Looking up, she saw that she was wearing a thin, wide black choker in addition to the wrist and ankle cuffs.  Some kind of monitor.  Or explosives, just in case I get out of line.

Washing her hands, the vine-bedecked Terran looked at the nurse.  “Ummm..can i..can I at least try to walk?  Even a little?  I’d like to try, please.”  The Affini responded by helping the girl to the ground.  The vines still stayed around her, but they began to withdraw slightly, got looser around her.  Halting steps took the girl from the bathroom, and she leaned up against the doorframe for a moment.  “Just gimmeaminit”, she said.

“No problem, little one.  You’re doing fine”, Sarthusea said.  “You can just stand there for as long as you need to.  Take your time.”

She did just that, and then when her body felt like it was more or less in sync with her mind, she began walking to the bed again.  As she was sitting down, the vines making her skin tingle as they slithered off of her, the door whooshed open and Ilex came in.  “Oh, you’re awake!!!  That’s good.  Those xenodrugs really made you so cute and adorable, but a bit difficult to talk to.”

The nurse looked at them both and nodded.  “I’ll leave you to it.  Little kitten, I’m going to get you something to eat, yes?  Nothing too harsh on your stomach.”  Then left the room, leaving Ilex and his captive audience there.

“So…what happened?”, she asked Ilex.  “And where’s the other one?”

“Oh, you mean Hesperia?  Well, our cotyledon Dawn needed some extra time to get going today, so Hesperia stayed behind to help our little flower.”

“Cotyledon?”

“Oh yes.  That’s…hmmm.  We can discuss that another time.  Let’s focus on you right now, dear.  Now to answer your first question.  Your band is programmed to give you a little dose of a class A-type xenodrug in the event that you start having a panic attack.  It seems like you’re a bit sensitive to them, so we lowered the dosage.  I’m sorry if it distressed you, but we simply can’t allow you to be distressed like that.”

“So…so just like that?  Just like that you’d medicate me against my will?”  Beep.

“Sort of.  We would normally respect your wishes, but this is an automatic device that only looks out for your safety.  It can treat you for a few medical conditions in the case of emergencies, or it can also transmit data about your heartbeat and some other vital signs.  And once we’re sure that you’re not in any danger, then we’ll take it off.”

“Promise?”, she asked in a suspicious voice. 

“Absolutely”, Ilex said.  The girl nodded, because what choice did she have?  None that she could see.  “Good!!  Now that we have that little bit of business out of the way, we can continue our discussion from last night, if that’s ok.”

Before she had a chance to answer, the door opened and Hesperia swooped in.  “Sorry I’m late.  Autumn is with Dawn, playing those video games she likes.  You wouldn’t happen to know anything about old console games, would you, little one?”, they asked with a hopeful look and sound to them.

“Well…..actually sorta kinda.  I grew up on a small colony on…well, that doesn’t matter”, she said hurriedly.  “The point is that none of the stuff we had was new.  I mean, we were still using the Mark Three series power converters and those were phased out about…about a hundred years ago.  But we were an out of the way colony, so Terra didn’t bother sending replacements, and we just made do.  Sometimes we could trade for games, but most traders didn’t carry that sort of stuff.  Anyways, all we HAD as kids were old video games.  I could remember not only the plot but the graphics and music of every single one, since it was all I had for years.  I played those things until I not only beat them but I knew exactly what was going to happen and where.”

“Really?”, Hesperia asked.  “would you.”

“Be willing to come over one day”, Ilex added.

“Help us out?”, they both finished.  Then they both planted hands before them in a beseeching gesture.  “We would be in your debt.  It’s for a great cause.”

“The greatest, which is”, ilex said.

“Making our Dawn smile.”  Hesperia explained.

“Who’s Dawn?”, she asked again.

“She’s our cotyledon.  Kind of like a ward”, I lex said, waving her hands.

“But nothing like the other type of ward”, Hesperia added with a wave of a vine.

“Maybe you’ll get a chance to meet her one day.  You’ll like her, everyone does”, they both said at the same time.

She laughed, a short barking sound that she couldn’t help.  “Do you always talk for each other?”

“Well, we’ve been living”, Ilex said.

“Together for so long that”, Hesperia added.

“We just know what the other one will say”, they finished together. 

She blushed and nodded.  “I’ll help however I can”, she said and the both smiled at her.

“Now”, they both said, “onto the next bit of business.”