Mane's face turned the deepest crimson her pale complexion could possibly have allowed. Ursula pulled her into a soft and protective yet still firm embrace, which meant having Ursula's chest squished up on her. Mane's hormonal touch-starved brain really, REALLY liked that. It liked the sensation quite a lot. 

"H-hiiiiiii~" Mane purred on auto-pilot and nuzzled into Ursula. The two had never met in person before, and her touch was every bit as soft and caring as Mane had imagined it would be. The Terran whimpered and mewled pitifully at the touch, prompting an affectionate hand to reach around and scratch her neck. Mane became utterly discombobulated and groaned gleefully as small happy twitches slithered out of her through her extremities. 

"Who's a good giiiirl, who's a good sweet giiiirl~" Ursula cooed over Mane. Her face was sweet and soft and loving. Melody fought the urge at how adorable these two were together, though she couldn't help but notice how flustered this girl made her ex. It was super cute. 

"So who's this gorgeous thing, cub?" Ursula playfully asked and nuzzled the top of Mane's head. While Mane tried to find the words to answer the question, Ursula's claws extended and very lightly probed at the base of her neck. Mane's mind ceased to function, entirely too overwhelmed by her useless lesbianism. This only encouraged Ursula further into cooing over her and showering her in pets and scritches. Mane went fully limp against Ursula's body and mewled. 

"Thas...my ex…" Mane awkwardly mumbled. 

"Oh...oh dear." Ursula seemed worried for a moment, but then she seemed to remember something which set her back at ease. "I see she's a floret and you aren't, that's interesting. What brings you here, cub? Besides the whole...having done a patricide, thing?" Mane seemed to grow sober and straight-faced instantly in response to the question, though a slight squeeze against Ursula's body changed that rather quickly. Mane relaxed again and, once more, nuzzled in. Ursula smelled really nice. 

"Well...I turned myself in to become a floret, but I've...it's been rocky." Mane sighed. Ursula was soft and comfortable. She wished she could stay on this station with her for a while. "That's...that's why I've got the cuffs, too." Ursula smirked with the kind of playful expression that only comes from mild-mannered harmless evil. 

"I thought you were just trying new things, dear," Ursula purred in a kind of mocking tone. Mane laughed and it seemed to leave her feeling better. Ursula smiled wider and nuzzled her again. 

"May I ask, now?" Melody piped in. She seemed interested. "I have a question of my own, specifically, it's-how do you two know each other?" Ursula smiled wide and went back to scratching the back of Mane's neck with her big plastic claws. Mane gargled on an answer that died there in her mouth and whimpered happily as she buried her face, which was burning with embarrassment, in the crook of Ursula's shoulder. Melody stimmed happily to see Mane so cozy and feeling so welcome somewhere. 

"We were internet friends back on Gisk," Mane managed to get out in between fits of her soft weak mewling. Ursula giggled and kissed Mane's hair. Her smirk cocked up on one side as she shook her head in a show of play disappointment. 

"That's a silly way to put it, doll. Not that I can think of a more accurate one, though," said Ursula as she turned her face downward slightly to point it at Mane and performed a sort of deep giggle. She rubbed Mane's back with the hand that she wasn't using to give scritches and cooed over her for a moment. "Melody is cute, I take you two are on amenable terms now?" Neither Melody nor Mane was in any hurry to answer, but after an awkward pause a few seconds long it was Melody who broke the silence. 

"I suppose so," she said, "I hope so anyway! Would you say that we are, Mane?" Mane squirmed, overcome by her nerves and not wanting to put an answer in writing. Ursula made to say something, but she was cut off by the girl in her arms. Mane's voice was weak and hesitant as she spoke. 

"I-I guess that we are," Mane almost whispered into Ursula's collar bone, "On decent enough terms, I mean, I suppose…" Ursula's face winced with worry and her arms gave Mane a reassuring hug. Mane took the gesture as permission to loosen up and lean in. She sniffled and a light flow of tears trickled down her face onto Ursula's shoulder. She took notice very quickly and began humming soothingly for Mane, who the sound seemed to calm. The three stood there for a little bit in silence. Melody was the one who chose to break it. 

"What brings you here, Ursula?" Melody asked with a smile. "You don't seem like a floret either." Ursula laughed and shrugged. 

"This was the first ship that offered permanent residence to those of us on Gisk without it being, like, a paper-thin domestication...thing. I decided it was better than staying where my family could find me." Ursula, now finished speaking, giggled again. The three girls shared another brief period of silence until their attention was seized by the sound of chains and rattling metal. 

A towering woman, whose height was in excess of seven feet, strode into the clinic on confident steps. An almost comically oversized shackle wrapped around each of her broad wrists, and the two were connected by a thin chain. She held her massive, muscular arms up so her hands were behind her head. From her right hand hung a huge silver briefcase. Short red hair hung from her head in a pixie cut. 

"Eh hem!" The woman cleared her throat in a needlessly dramatic fashion. "I'm Daisy. I have an appointment here?" Ursula reluctantly let go of Mane, stroking her face with the back of one hand and flashing one last warm loving smile at the girl before they had to part. She turned to the woman with the briefcase and smiled. 

"Welcome, Daisy, this is the right place! Come on this way, we'll check you in!" Ursula instructed, winking at Mane. She handed Mane a card with the clinic's information, notably including the chat addresses of several human volunteers. She was one of them. "Keep in touch, precious. I wanna know how you're doing." Then Ursula led the towering woman over to the receptionist and Melody took Mane's hand. 

"Come on sweetie," Melody whispered, "Let's go look for Effus!" She practically skipped out of the building with Mane in tow. Mane was still far too gay and flustered to resist, so she found herself stumbling along on Melody's heels. She was...happy, in a way that she did not think she had ever been at any time in living memory. The feeling had almost come to feel alien for its extensive leave of absence from her life. 

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

Effus was standing off a block or so away from the clinic and taking a break from pacing across the ship’s entertainment district which was nearby. She didn’t want to wait in the clinic itself while Mane had her appointment. Erias, in all honesty, kind of scared her. She was ancient, and off puttingly had no rhythm to her body, and she walked around with her core totally exposed and beating like a human heart. She was a downer, too, but for some reason Cordelia and one of her coworkers had both recommended her. Part of Effus was expecting them both to be disastrously wrong, but she was ready and willing to be proven wrong. In the meantime, she struck up a text conversation with a friend named Solanum from a faraway ship, who was also kind of off putting to her but for entirely different reasons. 

KnotAVet: Hey Sol are you there Mane's seeing the vet right now

A few minutes came and went before she got an answer. 

SolarFlower: I'm here. Autumn says hello by the way

The mental image of Solanum’s human crowding the tablet and pestering Sol to give her a message made Effus’ leaves rustle happily. She thought of what she should so to that adorable little human and it occurred to her she had an opportunity to check something.

KnotAVet: Hi Autumn! I've been eavesdropping and a bunch of the "independent"  humans on the ship are calling her "Son of Cain"

KnotAVet: Apparently the first human to be murdered in affini space being someone named Cain is funny for some reason

Without waiting for a response she had a change of heart and decided to switch to a less gruesome subject. Thinking about Mane turned her attention to the previous night, the frustration from which was still fresh in her bark. 

KnotAVet: Mane had a nightmare last night and won't tell me about it ugh

KnotAVet: What do

It was a minute before she got a proper response. 

SolarFlower: Son of Cain???

SolarFlower: One moment

Sure enough, it was hardly a minute between being asked to give “one moment” and receiving another message clarifying things. 

SolarFlower: Autumn has explained the meaning to me now, I don't recommend letting her hear the other terrans call her that.

SolarFlower: Has she been reluctant to share her problems before?

KnotAVet: Yeah, it's been like...what's that terran phrase? Pulling hamburgers?

KnotAVet: She keeps hiding things for no reason

SolarFlower: I think its pulling ribs. Or horses. But I skipped that part of languahe review honestly.

SolarFlower: It's common for stray terrans to have trust and comfort issues.

SolarFlower: Unfortunately if you're not willing to break past her barriers by force then you'll need to wield a measure of patience in this regard.

Effus growled at herself. Had she been expecting some easy way out? A magic formula of sweet words and affection that would convince the poor hurting human to trust her? She wasn’t sure, frankly, and she didn’t like when she didn’t feel sure...about this, or about anything. She felt an urge to complain more and fought it for a moment but ultimately she decided that it was better to get the venting out of her system rather than risk hurting the poor girl any more than she already had. 

KnotAVet: but every time we have a breakthrough she goes back on iiiiiit

KnotAVet: and she refuses to let me use drugs which I've taken as a challence <.<.<.<

KnotAVet: I shared the readings from her cuffs day one right? I've never SEEN a stray so upset

It was true. She couldn’t remember having ever met a terran, except for a rebel, who was SO uppity about domestication. Class-O drugs specifically, perhaps-many sophonts seemed to her like they were irrationally upset about that-but the mundane use of soothing xenodrugs? It made no sense to her! Why live with these awful things when there was an easy out offering itself with a smile?

SolarFlower: That is troubling.

SolarFlower: An effect of trauma perhaps? I believe the standard guidelines for carghjkl

Hex has joined the chat.

Lex has joined the chat.

Effus’ flowers all seemed to react differently to this development. These were two other affini from Solanum’s ship, They were extremely entertaining, if a bit...she believed the Terran word for the vibes of these two was something like “whacky?” There was zero chance they had any helpful insight but their antics would provide a wonderful escape from her agitation. 

Hex: I recommend trying xenodrugs anyway.

Lex: Damage to trust can be repaired later, healing her soul is more important in the short term.

Yeah, she’d expected them to say as much. Rather than bother responding, she silently deleted their suggestions from what was now a group chat. She decided to stay quiet for a bit and watch the fireworks-as terrible as their advice was, it didn’t feel as offensive with the open knowledge she would never take it seriously. At least, she hoped they knew that. If they said this to her knowing the context, and under the assumption she might listen, that was...well, she was more confident she knew the right Terran word for that. “Ignorant” was a pretty good contender, as was “apathetic.” 

SolarFlower: This is a private conversation, you cannot just burst in here.

Hex: Has she been implanted yet? It's important to get that done when possible so that it can help her with all the confusing thoughts.

Lex: Additionally, her spirit still needs to be broken so that she can understand the flaws of her previous ideology and heal into a lovely floret.

SolarFlower: Ignore them, please.

Effus laughed and cracked a massive smile on her bark mask of a face. Yes, obviously, she had no intention of taking their advice. Drugging Mane into submission would be easy, and swift, and a cruel betrayal of their entire relationship at this point. She knew for a fact there could be no “recovery” without utterly destroying everything that Mane was as a person, which she would be okay with if Mane was your run of the mill violent Terran, a danger to the innocent, or stars forbid a Free Terranist-but Mane wasn’t any of those things. What she was...if she wanted happiness as what she was, she deserved it. Not that she would ever explain this reasoning to Erias, who would physically prevent other affini from giving that kind of treatment to any Terran she became emotionally invested in whether they were safe or not (unless they were an ongoing threat to other Terrans, of course). 

SolarFlower: I suspect the best course of action here is to provide her with comfort and empathy, and let her come out of her guarded shell on her own.

SolarFlower: Though I know it is difficult to see her suffer in fear in the meantime.

A bittersweet pang stabbed at Effuslica’s insides. She felt for a second the cruelty of being saddled with this responsibility. She wanted to care for Mane, she wanted Mane to get better, but she was young (for an affini anyway) and inexperienced comparatively and Mane was a difficult case and potentially the first of her kind from this species and those were jobs for specialists who had proven their mettle. She was just...she had experience, she supposed. Dangerous Terrans. Violent Terrans. It had never been complicated though. 

KnotAVet: why couldn't you get the first murderer in affini space

KnotAVet: Thank you

KnotAVet: tell the other two I'm going to lecture them about something extremely boring as punishment

Hex: If all else fails try giving her pictures of Dawn. That should help her calm down.

Lex: And then use drugs.

Hex: Here we took these earlier today.

Lex sent 158 attachments.

SolarFlower: Please make the topic dreadfully dull, I am begging you.