"That all your things?" Cordelia asked her first floret. They were both in Melody's room, and she spoke just above a whisper to ensure that Aida, napping in the next room over, would not be disturbed. Melody spent a minute running over the bag they'd packed. She had clothes, a day's worth of her meds, a toothbrush, snacks, and a fidgeting device she could stim with. Once the human girl had satisfied herself with the thoroughness of her search, she smiled up at Cordelia. 

"Yep! The backpack's got everything I need!" Melody stood up and slung it over her shoulder. Then she walked a few feet over to her dresser, on top of which sat her tablet and her plushie. She picked up the former, swiped through some menus, and came to an app that served as a GPS within the ship. She chuckled internally. "Do you want me to turn the tracking on, Cordi?" Cordelia, naturally, reacted to the use of that pet name with a flurry of wiggling and flailing and a pulse of color shifts coursing through all her flowers in unison. From what Melody had picked up, this was similar to the delighted squeals humans made when overwhelmed by happiness. 

"I'm delighted that you asked, little Melly, but there's no need." A hand made of leaves extended towards Melody and gestured vaguely at the back of her neck. "If-and I must stress that, IF-I feel there's a need to know where you are, I can easily use any number of means to track every implant within a reasonable chunk of the ship, and filter out all but mine." 

"Well, yeah," said Melody as she rolled her eyes, "but this is faster and doesn't require that you actively do anything. I dunno, just…" Melody averted her eyes. Had she done something wrong? "I'm….sorry-" 

"No, no, dearrrrr," rumbled Cordelia, crouching by her nervous pet. She made her voice sweet and gentle and soft, just how she knew Melody liked it. "You're asking because this is what you're used to, no?" 

"I-um-" Melody turned bright red. "I….errrr, whaaat do you mean?" Cordelia took her own tablet and swiped at it a few times. Chemicals bubbled up out of Melody's implant, along her spinal cord, and directly into her brain. She relaxed. She didn't HAVE to tell the truth, but the lock keeping it chained up came undone. She was free to do so, if she wanted. "I don't...know. Turn that up maybe?" Cordelia complied. More chemicals came through Melody's head. These loosened up her subconscious, letting her engage with it more easily. The answer came to her quickly. "Yes. I'm asking because this is what mom used to do. Leaving the house without you being able to track me feels wrong." Cordelia let out a shaky, pained sigh. 

"You know, if you'd been honest about her I never would have added that clause to the contract that let you stay in contact with her." Cordelia used her tablet to set the implant so it would help filter out the influence on Melody's mind. "But no, I guess. In fact, now that I know WHY, you are expressly forbidden from turning it on except as an emergency measure." 

"Why would I do that instead of hitting one of the eight different panic/SOS/Danger buttons?" Melody asked out of genuine curiosity. "Do they not give you my location?"

"I don't know, I'm sure there's some situation where it might seem like a better solution." The flowers resting in a semicircle around Cordelia's "neck" all extended their centers and pulled in their petals for a second. Melody had picked up that this was something analogous to a shrug. "I'm pretty sure they should all tell me where you are, at least. As long as, you know, you're in range of communications and all that." Melody nodded at her owner with a slight smile on her face. 

"Well! You can rest assured that I'll definitely be close enough!" She laughed for a few seconds at her own joke. "Anyway, I'll send you a message when I get there, so you know I made it all safe and sound." Melody started walking towards the entrance of the hab. Cordelia twisted in place to watch her go. 

"One more thing!" Cordelia glided gracefully across the floor to where Melody was, the latter having come to a stop at the sound of her voice. "You know how to get there, sweetie? To Effuslucia's hab I mean." 

"That's why I opened the GPS app, silly!" Melody chided her owner playfully, giving her a gentle "bonk" with the tablet as she did. "But I know the way well enough that I can tell if I get lost." 

"Are you sure you don't want to bring your little stuffed fox?" Cordelia asked. "You usually sleep snuggled up with him." 

"No, I'll be fine! I don't want to risk losing him, you know?" Melody winked. "Stop fretting over me, Cordi! Are you stalling because you don't want me to leave?"

"M...maybe a little," Cordelia admitted. Melody started to squeal at the top of her lungs but Cordelia shushed her immediately. Both expectantly turned towards Aida's room for a moment. When no noise came from that direction, they relaxed. "I love you, little Melly. I'm proud of you."

"You. . .shouuuuullld be," Melody slurred. She was trying to say the opposite but her implant wasn't having it. "Thank you. I love you too, um...big Cordi." They laughed together, then said their goodbyes for the night. Melody left the hab, and Cordelia was already missing her. 

---------

The door to Effus' pad slid open. On one side stood Airy, wearing a plain white gown. She stood smiling, her white hair falling neatly just past her elbows. Her dainty limbs were made by her attire to look even longer and thinner than they already did, which made her appear less visually striking and more wispy and ethereal. Her amber, almost gold colored eyes on the other hand, lended to her appearance more of both. 

On the other side stood a delivery boy in plain clothes. His name was Trevor and he had short brown hair. 

"Hi Trevor," said Airy with a smile. 

"Good evening Aria, as always," said Trevor cheerfully. "I recovered enough from getting the implant to get back to helping around the ship!" 

"I can see that Trevor! I'm so proud of you!" Said Airy with a smile. She always liked seeing him. He was just...soft, and nice, and very sunny and pleasant. She hoped he had a wonderful owner, but he did belong to an affini which meant it was basically impossible for him not to. "What did you come to deliver today?" 

"One little shipment, a stuffed penguin straight from the Confiscated Materials Bay!" He handed her a small cardboard box made entirely out of renewable, recyclable materials. "I'm told this belongs to a human named Mane?" 

"I'll make sure she gets it!" Said Aria as she tucked it under her arm. "Do I need to sign anything?" 

"Of course!" Trevor said. He handed her a clipboard with a pen. Airy quickly used the pen to sign her name onto a sheet of paper, then added Effus' name under it in terrible affini. She put the pen back and returned the clipboard. "Thank you!" Trevor said as he turned and left. Aria giddily waved him goodbye as he left and only closed the doors when he was out of sight. She placed the box inside of Mane's little pillow fort and then frowned. Mane had left it behind, right? What if she didn't think to open the box, or didn't trust one covered in affini, and tossed it?

Doubt grabbed her. She sat on the couch and crossed her arms. She was not going to open someone else's packages! That was not Good Affini Behavior! And a good floret never acted out of line with Good Affini Behavior! 

But what if Mane accidentally crushed the box? What if Aria fell asleep before Mistress and Mane came home and she wasn't there to tell the other Mane what it was? What if what if what if!!

Aria shook her head. She knew! Tv would help! She turned on a nearby TV and flipped through channels. She found a cute little program talking about the history of human domestication-both their own with other animals, and affini's with them. She tried to lose herself in the program but she kept feeling that awful worry in her skin. There were too many possibilities! She changed channels. She found a comedy sketch about two little cleaning machines. Narration explained that even with zero artificial intelligence, any "autonomous" object was one humans would eagerly form a pack bond with. 

What if Mane destroyed something she loved? Mane would never forgive herself and she'd never forgive Effus!

Well, Airy figured. In that case, the choice was obvious. She could afford to get in a bit of trouble. Mane might not be able to. The only real option was to risk being reprimanded for breaking the rules to keep Mane safe. She scrounged in the kitchen for scissors. When she couldn't find any, she settled for a knife. 

Drat.

All the sharp kitchen knives were dirty. She contemplated running the dishwasher. Not an option. It would take too long, and if she got it wrong she'd inconvenience her owner. That was unacceptable. She escalated her crimes a little bit and entered her owner's chamber. There was a human-sized boxcutter knife somewhere inside. She searched around in a state of slowly increasing worry. All the drawers and bedposts and everything were massive, which meant she had to get creative with using things as footstools and handholds. Every minute she spent in here, too, she risked getting caught. Not that she dared to hide that she'd done such a thing! No, no, no, she'd never dream of it!

AHA! She found it behind a shrubbery next to the space window! Aria held the mighty weirdly rectangular blade aloft in one hand!

"I HAVE THE POWERRRR!" She yelled giddily to no one in particular. Then she scrambled off out of Effus' room. With the knife in hand she approached Mane's current place of rest. She took the knife and sliced off one corner, then put it aside and used her bare hands to pry the box apart using the new hole as leverage. A spiky plushie of some kind of emperor penguin tumbled out of the mass of cardboard as she did, permitting her to stop. She leaned over the scene of her crime, panting. 

Then the doorbell rang. 

Oh no! 

"IN A MINUTE!" Shouted Airy. She entered panic mode. In a flurry of limbs she took the dismembered pieces of the box to her room and hid them under her bed. She ran back, realized she'd have to hide the plushie too, and started sweating. Where to put it???

Ah, yes! She placed the plushie on a high shelf in the living room, by jumping from dresser to dresser like a cat!

It was genius!

NOONE WILL EVER KNOW! She thought to herself. She jumped her way back down and ran to her bed. All that remained was-

Doorbell. No time. She stuffed the knife (retracted) away behind the fort and then ran to answer the door. 

"HI HI SORRY I'M LATE-"

Before it was all the way open, Melody's body hit Airy like a car. Both sailed through the air, Melody's arms around her, as their lips met for a long sensual kiss. Airy melted before she hit the ground. 

"Hiiiiii," Melody purred as she pulled out of the kiss. The two girls landed on the ground, Airy pinned beneath her. 

"Heyyyyy sweetie," mumbled Airy up at Melody, looking dazed and happy. 

"It's our three month anniversary tomorrow," Melody giggled to herself. "What better gift than to visit you?" 

"Y-you're visiting?" Aria repeated in blissful awe, not really noticing that-well-it was already confirmed by virtue of currently happening. 

"Of course!" Melody giggled again. "I know your owner is always cycling new humans in and out of the hab-BLESS her precious core-and she's early in the process right now with one of them so we probably can't do too much, but another floret can't hurt can it?"

"Nope!" Airy said with a giggle. She imagined Melody meeting Mane and her heart felt fuzzy and warm. With Mane's mannerisms, a cute lesbian like Aria's beloved would melt her like chocolate! "Melody you have to meet her she's SOOOOO sweet!"

"I guess I do, mhmhm," Melody laughed. She kneeled her body lower and exchanged nuzzles with Aria's soft precious face. Both girls made happy noises and then paused for a moment and stared into one another's eyes. 

Melody had some fat. She was soft, huggable, and the delightful curves of her skin practically ordered anyone who met her and received consent to give it soft loving touches and revel in its warmth. She had brown eyes and dark brown hair, the latter tied at the moment into two buns. The scar from her implant, which was currently hidden, was neat and in places practically invisible. 

Airy loved her so, so very much.

"Effus isn't home? Is the new girl?" Asked Melody. 

"No, they're out running errands. Effus left a note and it says they might be going to the station so there's no certainty we'll be awake when they get back," said Airy. 

"A note?" Melody asked. "Can I read it?"

"I dunno," said Airy, "Can you?" Before she could say any more, Melody rolled her eyes. 

"You sound like my mom," Melody grumbled. "MAY I-"

"No no," Airy chuckled, "I mean-I genuinely don't know. Can you read affini?"

"Oh." Melody rolled off of Airy and sat up. "No. No, I guess I can't read the letter. Hehehe. Let me go grab my backpack. I took it off and put it down while I was at the door."