Aria opened the door to the hab and saw a familiar sight just outside: Trevor, the delivery boy. He smiled and held up a box. 

"Delivery for a sophont by the name of Mane, here!" He said as he placed the box in her hands. "From the tailor shop. Silly thing got this coat custom made and then forgot to bring it home!" The two shared a laugh and then he turned and went on his way. Aria held the big cardboard box in her arms. It wasn't terribly heavy but its bulk and shape made it a bit cumbersome. She took a step back as the door to the hab closed, then turned and walked to Mane's room. She hesitated there for a moment. She didn't want to barge in, so what should she do with the box? After a moment spent lost in thought, she set it down and approached the door, her intent being to knock on it. 

Then she overheard something. 

"Yeah, originally their heads were supposed to explode like condoms when you killed them, but the system wasn't quite strong enough to handle that so instead they're just kinda bobble heads-"

Aria turned away from the door. 

"Effusssss!" She called as she moved towards Effus's room on small, pitter pattering little steps. "Where do we keep the class B's?" 

—------

Mane had stabilized. She and Ena were sharing a winding conversation about…well, lots of things. They caught up on their respective lives since Mane left Gisk, talked about the two or three romantic relationships Ursula had passed in and out of during that time. Mane explained the incident she'd gone through in the arcade. Ena found it rather endearing, and insisted to no small degree that Ursula would as well. Mane blushed and wiggled but didn't have it in her to properly object. Removed now from the incident, as she was, it wasn't hard to accept that she'd been an excellent stranger to that floret in the arcade. 

Mane shot to her feet and rummaged through her dirty clothes. Ena peered over at her from a perch on top of the girl's bed. As she did she muttered something to herself, the specifics of which Mane could neither see nor hear. Those details were not presently important, however. What was important was…

"Ah hah!" Mane jumped to her feet, triumphant. She held Baron Von Buddyfriend in her hands. Ena laughed and pointed a warm, patient smile in Mane's direction. 

"Oh, darling, you are just precious," rumbled Ena's voice. It was more powerful and authoritative than Ursula's, and its effect on Mane was both immediate and intense. Mane squeaked and, a blush on her face, crossed her arms behind her back and looked bashfully down at her feet. 

"M-meep!"

"Hhrrmhehe," Ena laughed. Her eyes fluttered, changed color back to their original state. Ursula smiled at Mane, her face glowing with fondness and pride. 

"So what else have you done on the ship?"

"Done?" Asked Mane, sounding confused. She squinted with uncertainty at Ursula. Was she asking for an admission of guilt? "I…blew up at Melody's owner, because-"

"No, I'm sorry dear, not like that," Ursula insisted. Her body sprang from the bed and came to a stop gracefully just in front of Mane, who she reached out and pulled into a hug. No matter how many times she did this, the softness and warmth of her body always caught Mane off guard. She kissed the head of blonde hair pinned to her body and then asked, "if you're still…a mess, in the ways that you used to be…oh my gosh. Have you not gone out for fun anywhere since you came here?"

"Well, uh…" Mane stammered. "No, actually. I guess, other than my visit to the arcade and Effus taking me to get food…I suppose I haven't. Not unless the shopping trip from yesterday counts." 

"Awww, that's a shame," Ursula purred. "You said you wanted me to be there the first time you went to a gay bar, back on Gisk, remember? You wanna try doing that?" Mane whimpered and buried her face in Ursula's shoulder at the reminder. It was…warm, and good- so very, very good- to be informed that Ursula remembered. 

"Mewwwww!" Mane said in shaky protest. 

"Awww," cooed Ursula, "preciousssss little cub." She scratched Mane's scalp affectionately. 

"Myrrrr," Mane whined again, "not…a bar. Not here…in affini…you know." Ursula nodded slowly and seemed to understand. "But like…maybe a…" she trailed off, the words that were on the verge of tumbling out of her mouth suddenly hitting a brick wall in her brain. 

Oh god, Mane thought to herself, she'd really just almost suggested going to a strip club-

"They probably have a beach!" Suggested Ursula. She nuzzled Mane with a mischievous grin. "Lots of pretty girls in pretty outfits and- ohhh heck, did Melody get you one of those?" Mane was blushing roughly the color of a strawberry now. She wasn't sure, but if Melody had gotten her one it'd be in the extra box of clothes that got sent directly to her hab. It was…a bit daunting, at the moment, to think seriously about digging through all of that. So, instead, Mane simplified matters a little bit.

"I don't- think so? I don't know what all's in that box and I don't really…have the spoons to go and search through it all, at the moment. Plus…um…" would it be uncouth to say that Ursula taking her to do it sounded nice? Mane blushed and turned her attention sheepishly down towards Baron Von Buddyfriend. Crushed by the weight of her own awkwardness (plus some second emotion that was altogether more pleasant), she fed the little virtual pal in silence. Ursula's form shook a tad in the blurry area of Mane's peripheral vision. Mane was far too absorbed in her inner world at the moment to notice that, though. The only information her eyes were capturing, that was also making it properly into her conscious mind, was the greyscale pixel tiger bopping around in the device she held. 

"Want me to take you-" rumbled Ena's noticeably sultrier voice. Mane jumped, startled. By the time she regained her composure, which took only a moment, Ursula was back in the front. That didn't mean her face wasn't still in a confident, even smug configuration though. Ursula grinned down at Mane, with her eyes hooded a tiny bit, and giggled. 

"Sorry. Ena's quite fond of you, it seems," Ursula purred. "Not that I can blame her though. You are absolutely precious," she almost sang, stepping forward and extending a hand to pet Mane with it. Mane graciously accepted and purred as affection flooded her brain with an amount of endorphins she hadn't felt all at once in a long time. "Would you like to go bikini shopping with me and then spend a day at the beach?" Asked Ursula with a powerful grin. "It would be an honor." 

An honor?

That was…not the way Mane would've expected Ursula to put it. She blushed, and gave a hurried nod. 

The doorbell rang again. 

—-------

Erias watched the door to Effus's hab slide open. On the other side stood a cute human floret, presumably Effus's first floret. That would mean her name was…

"Hello, Aria, First Floret," purred Erias with her kindly old forest creature voice. It evidently washed over Aria like a wave. Aria nodded nervously and invited Erias inside, which the elderly affini obliged at a leisurely pace. She was in no hurry, and this was her first time seeing the Second Bloom's habitation unit. As she looked back and forth, it jumped out to her that none of the furniture seemed to be human sized. This made her feel a little bit…"nestled," she believed the Terrans would say? Many affini would applaud that detail, say that it accustomed future florets to a world not meant for them. Erias…not not feel the same way. Still, it was hardly inconsistent with those qualities of Effuslucia that caused her friction with the…what was it that Ursula called Mane? Ah! Yes, the "pub." She turned her attention back to the floret. "Which room is-" 

Aria pointed preemptively to a small door with a box sitting outside it. "That one, Miss!" It occured to Erias only after a half-second thinking that this response was probably owed to Ursula asking the same question earlier. She was getting slow…

"My gratitude, dear floret," purred Erias. "Your aid is appreciated." She approached the door and knocked. "Hello, this is Erias. Is Mane awake?" Clutter noises on the other side of the door. 

"Yes!" Came Mane's voice. "You may come in!" Good, Erias thought, she sounded like she'd at least recovered enough to put on a mask. Whether she was actually in any condition to be doing such a thing…well. That was a different question entirely. 

—----

Mane watched the door to her room open and Erias entered. She had the same aura of elderly grace as last time, though without the pressure of that meeting's circumstances…that aura was much less scary. Mane wiggled her ankles to try and exhaust the slight nerves that were provoked within her anyways. This effort did not succeed. 

"Hey," Mane mumbled. She wasn't sure how much she needed to be on guard. This was the same potential foe that she'd been so afraid of last time, after all, even if they weren't here to put her soul under a scalpel this time. She felt Erias's attention fall on her and suddenly remembered how it felt to be under the gaze of an affini taking you seriously. 

If Erias weren't her only lifeline, it would be terrifying. 

"Hello there, little one," Erias purred. She lowered herself onto one "knee," which put her head level with Mane's…and her core wasn't far below it. She was only a foot or so away. Mane couldn't help but notice the pulsating of Erias's unusual, completely exposed core. It was distracting and a little bit unnerving, especially so…close to her. Was it making a sound, Mane wondered? She didn't…hear a sound. 

"Ursula caught me up on the situation," Erias said slowly and clearly. "I intend to expulse that affini from this ship- from this system- and I have enough signatures that he'll comply if he knows what's good for him."

"And if he…doesn't?" Mane asked with one eyebrow raised. 

"Then I'll have to be a good affini and go through the proper channels," said Erias, who chuckled with her entire wildly undulating body. "And this old hag can swim fractals around that self-centered braggart, she assures you." Mane laughed at the mental image of Erias trying to do a front stroke with those weird, spinning limbs. Not that she was one to talk, she couldn't do it anymore either. Probably. 

"Ah! Well then…thank you." Mane said gently. 

"I…was just dropping by to see if that's what you wished," said Erias. "I will drop it if that's what you wish- although I have no choice but to preface that saying there's nothing to gain in preserving the peace." 

"Why…?" Mane asked, her face making it obvious that she was thoroughly perplexed. 

"May I ask that you clarify what you're asking?" Erias asked, gently. 

"Sure, uh," stammered Mane. "Why…if you know there's a correct approach, why bother asking me?"

"Because I will not act in your name without your permission and freely given approval," Erias answered. Mane swallowed and nodded. She could…yeah, she saw no reason not to trust that. Perhaps it was just an incentive to trust the old vine, that was worth being cautious of, but she could at least trust that to be the worst ulterior motive on the table.

"Yes, please," Mane whimpered. "Please get rid of him." 

"Get rid of him?" Teased Ursula. "How very unfloretty of you~" Mane blushed and wiggled, unsure how to take that. 

"Don't let another affini catch you using that as a compliment," muttered Erias. "I can't bail you out too often or affini will start having blank domestication papers for you left in my desk." She patted both Mane and Ursula's heads, then stood straight. "I'm on my way to confront him, then. Do I have permission to speak to Effus first?"

"...yeah." 

"Please understand," Erias said gently. "You are under no compulsion to let me speak to her and there will be no reward for doing so, nor punishment for opting out of it." 

"I…see," Mane mumbled. "Then…no?" Erias nodded.

"Understood. I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"Okay." 

Erias left and waved goodbye to Aria. Mane didn't hear the thorns on the inside of Erias's body grinding together in anticipatory frustration with Arliss. If she had, she may have felt it relatable.