Melody sat on the giant affini couch next to Aria. It was entirely too big for them, of course, but it still worked as a kind of weirdly plush bed. The two found it quite comfortable. They currently had their arms around each other and were lovingly trading nuzzles. Lots of cute lesbian mewling filled the gently circulating air of the hab, with plenty of giggles to go with it. A while passed as they delighted in the simple joy of each other's company. Melody traced the backs of Aria's thin, delicate wrists and hands with her fingers. The class-G regimen both of them were on had their skin exceptionally youthful and their faces full of soft squishable liveliness. 

"Gossssssh," Melody said in a low voice that bordered on a moan, "your skin is so soffffft Airy. You using any moisturizer or something? I wanna be this smooth tooo!" She smiled and nuzzled into Aria's neck. Aria nuzzled back and rested her petite little chin on top of Melody's head. 

"Nothing like that Melody, sorry," she apologized with a slight bit of  laughter in her voice.  "I guess my class-G's just worked with my body really nicely in that department. But, but, you're soft too! So hecka soft!" She threw herself against Melody's body and just barely sent the girl to her back. Aria squeezed her beloved tight and made a high pitched "mrrrrRRRRR squish!" sort of vocalization, which was positively saturated with simplistic honest joy. 

And then Aria's stomach growled. 

"Oh! Are you hungry!" Melody sat up instantly. "I brought snacks! Or we could...maybe...cook something together?" She felt giddiness blossoming in her heart. When had she and Aria last seen each other? It felt like forever but it couldn't have been too long. 

"Cooking sounds nice!" Cried an excited Aria with sparkles in her eyes. "We could watch cartoons while it's in the oven!" She hopped down from the sofa, doing an acrobat's flourish as she landed on the floor. Melody was delighted and clapped vigorously. 

"And she sticks the landing! The crowd goes WILD!" Melody squealed, clapping as fast as she could. She hopped down from the sofa herself and saw that Aria was extending a hand and waiting for her to take it. "What's this?" She giggled, "Airy is inviting her girlfriend to a dance on the stage! Why I never!" She took the hand and swooned. Aria stifled a giggle. 

"Dork." 

"Oh, such cruel words to be using in front of an audience! I'm wounded!" Melody clutched at her heart in mock pain and winked playfully at Melody. She leaned backwards and pulled Aria with her, both of them stumbling. "I'm afraid it's terminal! The only thing that can save her is...true...love's…" she flopped on a human sized stool and pretended to die. "...kiss. And now I am the dead. Bleh." Aria rolled her eyes but, obligingly, dropped to one knee. 

"Oh!" Airy cried up at the ceiling, "what devilry is this? The lead performer by my jesting struck dead? The horror! Such tragedy we've met!" She lowered herself onto her knees. "If only I'd thought to kiss her, twould all be alright!" They both started corpsing. In a matter of seconds both of them were on the ground in a fit of raucous laughter. 

"Oh my god, you NERD," Melody guffawed with a smile from ear to ear. "I don't think 'twould' is or ever was a word, Aria!" She convulsed a while longer with delighted bursts of compulsive sound. Aria, too, had no composure left to keep. 

"Whateverrrrrr, it made you laugh ya big dork!" They shared a moment longer lying on the floor, both laughing at each other and themselves for being such adorable silly lesbians. When the fits of wild giggling finally became tame and started weakening, then eventually came to pass entirely, they spent a quiet moment together and lost in each other's eyes. They were both lying on the floor, which made it a tad less romantic, but both girls savored it thoroughly nonetheless. They quietly reached out with their left hands and took hold of the other's using their own. 

Then Melody's stomach growled. 

"Oh, I guess I'm hungry too. Come on, let's toss something in," Melody said after a brief but heavily reluctant pause. "Whattaya got here, sweetie? What are we working with?" 

"I'm not sure!" Said Aria. The two girls helped each other up to their feet. "Come on cutie, let's go first!" They made their way to the kitchen, holding hands with their fingers laced. 

-----------

Effus wasn't sure why she thought leaving Mane with Mort would be a good idea. The human's morning had gone excellently for a first under affini custody, sure, but in hindsight nothing had really suggested that Mane would really be better yet in any lasting way. She stood now with a crate in one hand, and the other hand pressing the button that opened Mort's door. The button succeeded in its intended function and the doors slid open to reveal Mane sitting with her upper body crumpled up over an affini table. Mort, naturally, sat opposite her doing his "two hands but actually like a billion" trick. 

"I'm here now, Mane," said Effus in a voice she hoped the human would find calming. Mane sat up and, looking dejected, hopped her way down from the table to the floor. It took multiple steps, but when Effus started raising a hand to assist Mane the human glared at her until she dropped it. Nooooo, she thought to herself. They had been doing so well together! 

"I apologize for the stress," said Mort in a mournful kind of way. "I presume you wish to tell your affini about the interview yourself? If not, I will eagerly do so-" Mane turned to Mort with an almost hateful look in her eyes. "That's a no. Got it. My apologies. I'll get back to my work." Mane scurried out of the room and then came to a stop, presumably waiting for Effus to join her. Effus did so, feeling worry build up inside of her. The sound of the doors automatically sliding shut didn't even register to the plant. 

"Do you...want to talk about it?" Effus asked with caution. "It clearly didn't go well. Do you want…" dirt, right. No xenodrugs. "...tea? Chocolate?" 

"No, and I don't like tea." Mane sighed. She smeared a hand down across her face. The poor thing looked so...tired. it broke Effus to have to look at. She could help so EASILY, if only Mane would let her! "Chocolate...sounds nice." 

"Okay," said Effus. "Let's get you a nice big chocolate bar for being such a good girl." She watched Mane intently for any sort of reaction to the phrase but didn't see or hear any, not even subtly. That did mean Mane wasn't bristling defensively at her, at the very least. 

"Okay." Mane stuffed her hands in her pants pockets. She looked angry, confused, and...scared. Effus noted that if Mort had threatened her little human she was going to give her a piece of her mind. 

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" The two walked through the human medical district over to a kind of food court that sat by the entrance of a huge park. Mane didn't answer for a long time. Effus was starting to fear that she wouldn't do so at all when the human finally piped up. 

"Class-O's. What are they." Mane didn't pronounce this like it was a question. She spat the words out, grinded on them with her teeth on the way out. She sounded angry and bitter and hurt and betrayed and on space Mort how dare he!!

"Well...sometimes, humans that are...especially dangerous, or...resist rehabilitation, we're forced to give them class-O xenodrugs to ensure their happiness and safety."

"Their compliance," growled Mane. Effus found herself supposing that she had chosen correctly in giving Mane the cuffs. Her surrender, it seems, had been an act of coerced self-preservation. She chose not to say it out loud, though. There was no need to upset the human any worse. 

"Their safety and happiness," Effus reiterated stubbornly. "Now, you can look at it as class G stands for gender, that's the hrt stuff, class B stands for blank, that's memory things...and going off of that, O is short for orgasm! It's not a punishment, dear, we promise!" Mane rolled her eyes and her face twisted in a way she'd never seen before. It was...assymetrical. Was Mane doing that consciously to freak her out? Not every sapient creature valued facial symmetry that way, but perhaps Mane just didn't know. 

"It's not a punishment," Mane snarled, "Okay. Tell me how giving orgasms to murderers is helpful." She was glaring at Effus now, with that look of...something. Effus knew it couldn't be good, deliberate or not. 

"Class-O xenodrugs flood the recipient's brain with intense joy and often butnotalways sexual bliss in such a way that they lose all interest in anything but lounging happily around!" Effus said cheerful, putting on her bark mask the brightest face she could. "It's far more humane than a barbaric solution like violence or incarceration." 

"If it's not a PUNISHMENT," Mane hissed. Her voice was dripping with venom. Her eyes blazed with a terrible disgust. Was...this the last face Mane's father ever saw? "Then why do you so quickly compare it to imprisonment and corporal punishment? If our 'happiness' is so important, why even fucking bother? Why not class-O our entire species? Do you recognize that it's a punishment or are you foliage FUCKS so selfish that you prioritize our happiness over our lives and your florets above even that?" Mane's gaze was hot. It felt like Effus' outermost parts were going to rapidly wilt and then combust. Mane was heaving with heavy breaths, staring up at Effus with eyes that belonged on a predator species. But then, it was gone. Whatever fire burned inside of Mane went out and she cast her dull green eyes down towards the ground. Her hair, clean now but still wild, fell in front of one eye. Her arms hung straight and limp. "Just do it. We all know there's no hope for me. I'm fucked." 

"Sweethearrrt," cooed Effus. She sounded wounded and distraught as she leaned over to be face to face with her ward. "No dear, not at all. You're going to get better and you'll find a nice sweet owner and they'll take very good care of you and you'll never have to be scared or angry again, I promise. I PROMISE." She tried to wipe a tear from Mane's face but Mane pulled away. 

"Just...just don't. I'm sorry. I'm...please don't please don't please don't!" Mane threw herself against Effus. "I don't wanna die please don't do that to me!" Effus reached around and cradled Mane in two enmeshed sets of vines. 

"Dearrr," she whispered to soothe the human. She noted the display of physical affection, but was well aware of its shaky grounding in a bad emotional outburst. Mane was not doing this out of affection and treating it like she was would be neglectful and potentially abusive. 

"I won't let you be class-O'd," Effus very pointedly did not promise, because she could do no such thing. "Come on, let's get you some chocolate." Mane nodded gently. When Effus stood up and released the human, she offered a vine for Mane to hold like she did last time. Mane did not take it. 

------------

Lasagna was in the oven and Melody and Aria were leaning on the wall talking about their owners. Aria chomped a cracker down and then took a swig of soda. 

"I really like how Cordelia is pink," said Aria with a smile. "She's sooooo pretty and unique! You'll never lose your affini in a crowd!" As she spoke, her eyes practically sparkled with joy. Melody giggled happily and as she did, her own eyes did the same. 

"Me too! Has she ever held you?" Melody asked. In response, Airy shook her head no. Melody took this as an invitation. "Her vines and bark are like, reaaaaally soft! She's so gentle and she smells so sweet too. Oh! Oh, speaking of not losing her!" Melody grabbed her tablet from the table and opened a chat program. In seconds she sent a text message, and within minutes she got an answer. When her tablet beeped to let her know, she checked it. 

Mellow Dee (3 minutes ago): Hi Cordi aaaaaa i got to glomph my gf!!!! Im here safe and sound say hi!

Core Dee: HI MELODYGF!!! ITS SO CUTE HOW BOTH UR NAMES ARE MUSIC THINGS I JUST GOT THAT!!!

Melody conveyed the message to her girlfriend and both of them laughed. They locked eyes. Aria licked her lips hungrily. 

"Ooooh, does that mean something?" Melody teased as she set the tablet back down. 

"Maaaybe," Airy teased back, "we've never made out, and you look soooo soft and kissable!" 

"Hehehe," Melody laughed, taking her girlfriend's face in her hands and licking her own lips. "Well then, I guess we have to change that don't we?" Both of them lunged in for a kiss. They sucked on each other's mouths for a while, rubbing each other's backs with their hands. They moaned tother, Melody pushed her girlfriend slowly back-

They bumped into a wall. Something soft fell off the cabinet and bounced off of Melody's head, killing the mood. 

"Heyyy," Melody grumbled to herself as she looked up at where it had been. "Why was that up there? And what is it?" Her eyes slowly traveled downwards until she saw a stuffed penguin on the floor. It was spiky and a royal shade of blue. "Oh! You got me a stuffed penguin!?" She was absolutely delighted. She bent over and picked...it...up. This was a very specific stuffed penguin. Her favorite Comm Mon, to be specific. It was such a thoughtful gift!

"They stopped making these before the affini even took my planet over, how-how did you-?"

"S-sorry," Aria blushed, "but that's not...for you. It actually belongs to the new girl." 

"...oh." Melody traced the penguin plushie with her fingers, tentatively. Sure enough, she found the exact spot where a manufacturing error had given it a tiny extra bump. 

It was physically impossible that this plushie belonged to anyone besides her ex. 

"Hey Pengi," she whispered as tears came to her eyes. She hadn't seen him in so long...she squeezed him tight as terrible emotions came fizzing, wild and turbulent, to the surface. "It's been...so long…" she remembered first meeting her ex in her high school's video game club. She remembered that damn fox of theirs wearing down her entire team until Pengi took it out with a lucky critical hit. It was a bittersweet sort of memory, to be holding the plushie that represented her old champion again. 

"You...okay?" Asked Aria. She reached out and wiped some of the tears out of Melody's eyes. Melody appreciatively nuzzled into the touch. 

"Yeah...I just...need a minute." She rocked Pengi back and forth, clutched tight in her arms. "What's the new girl's name?"

"She's Mane. Why do you ask?" Aria sounded worried. "Did you know her?" 

"Mane…" that meant she named herself after her ace mon from high school. Of course she did! Of COURSE she did! Melody's legs wobbled under her and she flopped backwards against the wall. She laughed. It was a laugh of tension, of relief, the laugh of someone narrowly escaping a brush with the Absurd. "She fucking WOULD. Pfffft, pffff hahaha!" She laughed more, but it was a jovial kind of sound this time. She set Pengi down on a table. 

"So...did she kill her dad?" 

"Yeah," Aria seemed to wilt. "It's a real shame. I always hate when someone dies."

"I don't," Melody muttered. The words "I'd have done it myself" bubbled forth but the implant turned them back. "Mane's father was a cruel, evil, terrible man. The galaxy is a better place without him." 

"I'll...take your word. Did you know them?" Asked Aria. Melody nodded yes. She contemplated revealing Mane was her ex, but chose against it. 

"Yeah. Mane and I were...really close, once." 

"What happened?" Asked Aria again. Melody frowned. 

"When the war was coming close to an end, it was rumored that our planet had already surrendered. I was eager to become a pet and put my life behind me, but Mane...she wasn't, so much. It caused...tension. Tension we might have been able to work through but…" Melody sighed. "Mane had to move in with her dad at one point. He put her to work with him and she hated it. The stress from that compounded things. She became...volatile. She was never violent or scary or anything, but...she had two outbursts one week." Melody sighed. "To simplify a big convoluted spiderweb of fuckups-almost exclusively hers, but which were the result of a long line of much smaller ones from me-we drifted apart after that."

"Oh…" Aria held one of Melody's hands. "She wasn't abusive was she!?" 

"No, I'd never say that!" Melody spoke and shook her head. "I don't think so anyway. Not that...her situation excused her behavior. And I said as much. But that's all in the past now. She's here. She's in better hands." 

"Mhm!" Squealed Aria. She held up her own. "Some of the best!"