Ursula looked over Mane's room. There wasn't much decoration in it, just a dresser and the bed. A bag of books sat by the latter, with some of its contents strewn haphazardly about the floor. That simply wouldn't do, she thought to herself, books needed to be treated gently and with respect. Still, it could- it would have to- wait. She squeezed Mane's body against herself and noted just how small she was. Her body was a bit taller than average but still not as tall as Ursula, and aside from her lithe powerful legs she was lacking in both fat and muscle. She seemed so…tiny, and lost. 

"I love you," she purred gently. "Do you want me to go get us food?" Mane nodded shakily. She seemed to want to say something, but her shaky jaw was evidently not having it. Ursula purred and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "It's alright, dear. Take your time. I'll only be a moment." 

Ursula kissed Mane's forehead and then hopped out of the bed. She made her way out into the living room. She emerged not far from the kitchen, where the floret sat eating a taco and her owner sat across from her hunched over a tablet. The floret waved happily at her and Ursula couldn't help but wave back. 

"What's your name, pet?" Ursula asked playfully as she made her way into the kitchen proper. The floret's eyes lit up with joy as she hurriedly chewed and swallowed so as to avoid talking with food in her mouth. 

"I'm Aria! Aria Lucenmil, First Floret!" Ursula giggled, unable to help feeling moved by Aria's enthusiasm. In gentler circumstances it would be reassuring to see one of the affini's florets so happy to share their status, but…she knew that didn't really mean anything. Still, it did at least mean Mane had a cute, bubbly girl around- and she knew Mane had a thing for those. 

Ursula grabbed two plates and put a tortilla on each. She put the requisite fillings on each, but her own had far more varied contents. Tomato, lettuce, beans and onions, for one. Too bad there wasn't much in the way of fish, she was hankering for some chopped up salmon or something. In any case, she made sure to thank the chef- albeit begrudgingly- and then she carried the two plates back to Mane's room. 

She stopped just outside of the bedroom, though. This was messy food to eat in bed…you didn't want ants, after all. Wait, could affini habs get ants? They were in space, so…probably not? Surely mold was an issue, if nothing else. She turned to the affini and chided herself for doing this. 

"Hey, do you have, like, tv trays or a spare table or something?" She half expected to be smugly told to come eat at the table with her, and she had the feeling that if Mane was emotionally stable then the affini would have done exactly that. Maybe she was just biased, though. It would hardly be the first time. 

"Oh, uh, no,but…" the affini extended a vine to some sort of control panel that resembled a big thermostat and tapped at some buttons. A minute of such tinkering later, she retracted the appendage. "Some of the ground in her room should be formed into one now. It'll send any food debris on it to the decompiler when it returns to normal in a few hours. Will that do?" It was a needlessly showy solution, Ursula wanted to say, but that was hardly a surprise. She fought the urge to roll her eyes and opted to err on the side of civility instead. 

"That will do, yes." 

—---------

Mane noticed that a lump had come out of the floor. It jiggled and shifted until it had taken roughly the shape of a table, at which point two similar but much smaller bumps emerged from the ground next to it. A few seconds later Ursula came through the door with a plate in each hand. She smiled and set them down on their makeshift table. The tacos smelled lovely, thought Mane to herself. As if to voice its agreement, her stomach growled. She hopped out of bed and scrambled over to take a seat on one of the smaller bumps. 

"Eager lil cub, aren't you?" Ursula teased as she sat down. She seemed to get comfy rather quickly in her little seat, which Mane was having trouble doing. It wasn't anything too bad, though. Certainly it wasn't enough to distract from the delicious food in front of her. 

"Yeah, thas me!" Mane trilled, allowing herself to smile. She took the simpler looking taco and set to work devouring it. Its contents were hot- though not enough to burn her tongue- and delicious. Ursula quietly ate hers but she wasn't halfway through it when Mane finished. Mane awkwardly watched Ursula eat the rest, but she didn't mind it. She'd never had a slow moment with Ursula in person before, and she…she was beautiful. The way the light of the room rested on her skin, the sparkles of simple joy in her eyes, the way her extra ears twitched mirthfully as she ate, it was all…breathtaking. Mane could happily sit and look at her for hours on end, were it not for her ADHD. 

"See something you like?" Ursula teased as she finished her food. Mane blushed bright red and spasmed in a fit of happy, embarrassed stimming. 

"A-a lot I like, yeah," she whimpered happily. Ursula's fondness for her always caught her off guard. "Y-you're reallypretty."

"I get that a lot, yes," Ursula purred with a teasing confidence in her voice. "You still hungry, lil cub?"

"I- y-yes, please. Sorry."

"Come now, sweetheart," Ursula purred, "You've nothing to apologize for~" she reached out and playfully poked Mane on the nose with a single nail. "Boop!" 

Mane squealed with joy and flailed wildly, wiping at her face with the back of her hands almost like a cat trying to wash itself. Ursula found this endlessly amusing, if her delighted vocalization was anything to go by. 

"Oh my GOSH, darling, you're soooo cute," she purred. "I'll be back with more to eat, okay? Just stayyyyy put~" she took both of their plates and walked back out. Mane whimpered happily again. 

She liked it when Ursula said things like that. Being fussed over, tended to, protected…it felt nice. Perhaps if she managed to wriggle her way out of domestication she could live with Ursula? That sounded too good to be true, though. She tried not to ruminate on her situation. It called up dark thoughts and darker feelings, after all. Things that would only make her current situation harder. The best thing she could do right now was to avoid getting sucked into a death spiral, and the best way to do that…in her experience, at least…was to stay positive as best she could. 

"I'm back, cub!" Ursula's voice, gentle and warm and playful, helped free Mane from the miasma of pessimism weighing on her shoulders. She looked up to see Ursula sitting down across from her. "I noticed a box by the door to your room! What's in there?" 

"That's, uh," Mane blushed. The thought of Ursula seeing her in the outfits Melody had picked out…it sounded adorable and she wanted to try it out but she was also a bit embarrassed. "Melody picked out clothes for me. That's them." 

"Ooooh," Ursula purred. "A proper wardrobe of girl clothes, then?" Mane took a bite of her second taco and silently nodded her head yes as she chewed. 

"Most of it's revealing but…I like what I've tried on. It looks…good on me." 

"Ah~!" Ursula squealed. "I'm so glad, cub! So veeeeeery happy for you~!" Mane felt flustered, but she wanted to ask if she could try some of them on and see what Ursula thought of them. The two ate for a bit. "Oh! Oh oh, I still need to teach you how to walk in heels!!" 

Mane almost choked with how hard her emotions hit her. 

"I-" she croaked. "I'd-likethaat-!" She felt so…cared for. Loved and wanted. Ursula…remembered having said that? She still wanted to do it? She even sounded…excited about the prospect. Almost involuntarily she imagined herself, shakily balancing on a pair of heels, clutching to Ursula's arm for balance- 

"Oh no are you okay!" Ursula stood up and started to run to get water. Mane caught her by the ankle and shook her head.

"I'm-hrrck! I'm fine," she coughed. Her face was so red one might think she'd just come in from the cold.

"Okay, but I'm getting you water anyway!" Ursula protested. "You need to hydrate!" 

Mane smoldered and looked down and twiddled her fingers. "Okay…" 

—------

"I'm sorry she probably can't visit today," Effus said to Aria as she looked up from her tablet. She had honestly been hoping for several reasons that Melody could come visit again, but she was hardly surprised she couldn't. Appointments were a big part of floret life. Granted, she was technically available, but not until much later, and it sounded like it would be such an ordeal on Cordelia's end that with Ursula here asking it of them seemed out of the question. "If Mane isn't feeling any better by then we can ask, okay?" Aria nodded. She didn't seem put off terribly much, if at all, but Effus still felt guilty. 

Ursula emerged from Mane's room and went to the kitchen again for a third round of food. She only carried one plate this time, so presumably either she or Mane had eaten their fill already. Effus fought the urge to ask if Mane liked the food, since she wasn't sure if she was allowed to talk to Ursula. The girl with the fuzzy ears didn't say anything this time, instead vanishing without a word back into Mane's room. 

Her tablet beeped. It was another message from Cordelia….which was promptly followed by several more. 

Core Dee: Hey also before I forget

Core Dee: Mane had some of my aftercare fruit the other day

Core Dee: it helped

Core Dee: I sent you some seed samples in the mail to graft onto yourself mmmmkay

Well, that was helpful information. Effus quickly typed out and sent a thank you message and then returned to her thoughts. She did need to start filling out the acquisition paperwork other affini were sending her. Mane had a few potential owners clamoring for her, in spite of everything, but Effus wasn't sure how to feel about it. She was a complex case, a difficult sophont with baggage and fears and insecurities. Any affini worth their grafts could get her cooperating, but handing her over to one that would just drug her…it felt wrong. Mane deserved care and patience. 

She turned to the message she'd typed up for Erias. Would this suffice? She had no idea if it was enough. Perhaps she could run it by Mane or Ursula before she pressed send. That was a possibility, she supposed, but…she wasn't sure if it was okay to ask Ursula, and Mane…Mane probably didn't want to think about it at the moment. She put that aside and saved it as a draft. Then she opened another message and addressed it to herself for now, just in case she pressed send by accident. She hesitated. What should she say?

"Erias, in addition to what I sent in my prior message, I also want to vocalize a certain…anxiety I've developed with regard to Mane. Her clear and persistent fear of xenodrugs leaves me paralyzed when I try to filter through other affini's requests for her custody. I fear that another affini might make the same blunders I have, even if they do opt out of drugging away her fear and mistrust. Is there any way you could lend me assistance on this matter? I…

I value your wisdom. 

She deserves better than me." 

Effus wriggled uncomfortably. Erias would probably be happy to help her- in fact, she suspected Erias would rather fill the paperwork out herself. Could she…do that? Was it okay to ask that she do?

"How's the food?" She asked Aria.

"Delicious!" Aria squeaked at her. 

Effus's leaves and vines wriggled involuntarily in a show of delight and pride. She hoped that Mane and Ursula had similar feelings regarding her food, and that it had helped Mane's mood improve at least a little bit. She reached over with a hand made of vines and gently used it to pet Airy's cute little head. She weighed the options in her head.

It was probably best to reach back out to Erias asap, she figured, so she pulled up her original message and sent it. She could always have Mane turn in her own version of events- or failing that, her thoughts on Effus's, at a later time. She wondered what Erias was up to at the moment.