The hab unit fell silent. After a few hours of talking and then a subsequent hour of drug addled cuddling. Lily now sat in the affini sized sofa with a sleeping Tara on her lap. She had of course attempted to release herself from the girl's hold, but the grip was surprisingly strong. The independent sophont assumed it was the class J that made Lily so cuddly. She hadn’t joined them in the cuddling, more so because even with her xenodrug mix running through her body, she still felt undeserving of such attention. Tara had later clambered on top of the poor woman and left her with little option other than to satisfy the girl’s need.

Elowin and Echona were cleaning up the mess that was made. She had offered to help with the clean up, but after three suggestions, echona threatened to fill her up with class J as well. The severity in her voice made Lily believe the affini. It was interesting to observe the two affini intermingle, they were making light conversation in their melodic language, often talking about how cute the group of pets were. Their vines wrapping around each other as Lily felt the shift of their rhythms, creating a strange harmony that she could feel… almost, no. She quickly stopped her thought process and continued to pet the girl in her arms, until she heard. “What of Lily? This would be the first time you met her in a non professional environment.”

Elowin stopped at the mention of Lily, their discussion of possible florets for the affini was becoming a ritual in the hab unit. Every now and then, Echona would offer another case, another poor sophont that needed a home to Elowin. “What of her? She seems delightful to talk to, if not a little reserved. She shows the signs of an independent, not a floret.” Echona’s leaves bristled as she felt her rhythm return to herself, disagreement. “Lily has shown signs of not properly caring for herself, I could send you her case file. I’m her ward after all, but the next review will arrive in a few weeks, the decision will be to domesticate her.”

There was a shuffling noise from the sofa, the two affini’s disregarded it and returned to their discussion. Elowin’s mind reliving the past meetings with the terran. “I don’t want a floret Echona, I’m perfectly content being without one, my work would require me to attend several of the parks and ensure there were no issues.” “And Lily is a florist, who loves plant life and to grow and care for them. After thinking over it for a while, you two might fit.” Echona interjected, Elowin’s form tightening as she looked to her lover. “Lily also owns a flower shop and is always busy, I’d rather not force her to lose that position, she seems to love it too much.”

More shuffling, the two affini finally look behind them to see Lily on the sofa, her face red and absentmindedly playing with Tara’s hair, her wristband flashing yellow. “Is everything alright dear?” Elowin asked, moving closer to the girl. “I’m fine.” The affini stopped, the girl had said that in affini. Realization dawned as her flowers bloomed and leaves bristled. “I… I wasn’t aware, I’m sorry Lily.” The girl gave a noncommittal shrug before returning to petting the floret in her arms.

“It’s inevitable that it gets brought up, Echona has been sending me a list of affini that might fit me so that I could meet someone I might enjoy.” There was rustling behind Elowin, the discordant tone of shame coming from the affini. Lily looked tired, the previous reserved exterior cracked, revealing the soulless expression of despair. Elowin had seen it before, any affini who ever cared for a terran rebel would. It was the dark acceptance of fate, the burden of a weight unseen, but wholly felt.

“Are you alright dear? Perhaps we should…” Those eyes, the human was staring into Elowin, past her. It was intense, painful, yearning, hate, fear. It was as if she was seeing the girl anew, the promise of pain, of suffering. Another flash of yellow, the terran spoke, voice hollow, calculating, the floret in her arms shuffling uncomfortably. “I can gladly call it a day, let myself return to my hab unit, be alone, tired, forgotten all over until you all get a reminder of my pain. That’s what you want right? A reason to grab me, to take me and strip me of what I am.” The bracelet flashed yellow once more, anger filling the hollow voice.

Echona wilted at the pressure, her biorhythm turning discordant, aimless as she looked for the words. “Everything I am, it’s painful. My existence is a reminder, a pain hidden deep within the girl in my arms, in me.” The tone grew stronger, determination, grim and dark. “I could no longer be me. Not after Tara’s memories were stripped, our memories.” The shuffling of the girl caused Lily to look down, biting her lip as she settled Tara to the side of her and jumped down the couch. “That’s the problem, Echona. That’s why I cannot be here, that’s why no matter what. I’m fated to lose my own past. The only way for that to happen is to put that damned implant in me and remove the pain, the suffering, the love I had for a woman that will no longer recognise the gift I GAVE HER!”

The bracelet flashed red, a warning showing on Echona’s datapad, a request to administer the xenodrugs laid within the band. The affini stared at it and then looked back to Lily, a test. “No matter what, once the month is over, transfer me to another ship. I don’t want to see her face again.” The tone that filled the room was not Elowin or Echona’s, it was the tone of a terran, tears rolling down her cheeks, pain filling her chest, she was lashing out, screaming in fear, in pain, for help.

The press of a button and Lily could feel the pinprick in her wrist, heat traveling into her veins. The familiar disconnection from her body, the lag in her movements, the loss of coordination as her legs buckled. Vines caught her as the two affini talked. She didn’t listen to them, she didn’t care, she let the drugs wash over her, extinguishing the flame that filled her chest as tears continued to roll. The familiar coolness of her mind flooded with ecstatic warmth as her eyes lulled. She was so. Tired.

-

Echona and Elowin sat together, watching over the two sleeping figures in silence, there was uncertainty in the air. Vines wrapped around each other as they found that equilibrium, thoughts merging, rhythms following in perfect harmony. Soon their thoughts flowed in tandem, they had their own of course, but it was easier to share them this way. Elowin smiled, it was interesting to experience something only close couples could achieve, even Tara seemed to sway with the rhythm, following along.

“I’ll send you her file.” Elowin sent a thought, disagreement. She didn’t want to care for the girl, even how much what she saw hurt. “I don’t think that would be for her best, plus didn’t she want to be transferred?” Echona replied, worried. “I’m certain you realized the issue of the two being pinnate, the isolation that Lily was performing caused great pain to both.” Elowin relented, her partner was right. Even as Lily attempted to distance herself, it was clearly forced and distressing to the two sophonts.

“I just don’t want to force her into anything. She seems so… interesting and independent, I want to be her friend, I don’t want her to believe that my actions are to domesticate and take away her freedom.” The other affini shook her head, the two bodies separating slightly on the contention. “You’re perfectly fit for her, you don’t want to take things from her, you find her interesting, she even seems to mimic you. It’s like looking at the terran version of my lover.”

Elowin’s leaves rustled at that before sighing, the two reforming as she agreed. “So… what is it that you’re not explaining?”

The station was bustling with humans, many were in military uniforms. Enjoying their shore leave after a month out fighting the war against the affini. Field medic and surgeon Lily Aveler was stressed. She’d prepared for this meeting for some time, she saw the transfer documents, a thrill filling her body as she sat by one of the few cafés on the space port. Her thoughts soon swallowed the world as she looked down at her comms device, hand tapping against her forearm as she… she yelped as a hand surprised her from behind.

“Tara! TARA!? TARA!” The woman jumped on her friend, her lover. Arms tangling around the shipmate as a flurry of happy coos escaped the medic. “It’s been so long! I… missed you.” Tara barely got to respond as her lover wrapped around her body, a blush escaping her as she looked at Lily’s outfit, it was her style. A long flowy skirt with a cut down the side, a white, tight top and one of her black dress jacket.

“I have too dear. It’s been so long.” Tara leaned against Lily, softly kissing her cheek, which gave a nice warm red to the medic’s cheek. Her hand creeped until they entwined. Settling back down on the seats, they simply stared for a moment, enjoying the sights of one another. The only time their gaze broke was when the order finally arrived, a souffle for them both.

After that, Lily seemed to have broken the trance that tied her eyes to Tara. Her hands fumbled to open her satchel. “Oh! I forgot! I uhm… got you something. I know how you fidget a lot, and I’m sure being up on deck, you’ll probably have some free time.” Her hands left the bag, revealing a multi-colored cube, each side assigned their own color, it seemed to be made out of metal, the sides being coated with a metallic paint. “It’s a rubix cube! I saw it at one of the online stores before we docked. It’s some old invention from the 1900s”

Tara took the cube in her hands, she looked at it for a moment before turning it, the sides moving to reveal a grid of nine squares, soon the cube was scrambled and Tara looked at it, puzzled. “The point is to scramble the cube, and then rearrange the squares back into their original spots, good mental exercise!” The communications officer smiled before putting it away, pushing away the urge to fiddle with it more. “I love you Lily.” “I- I love you too!”

-

Lily awoke in her bed, the haze of her xenodrugs causing her sudden lurch from the bed to make her nauseas. Groaning softly, she rubbed her head as if to clear the fog that had wrapped around her mind. Her memories were hazy, she remembered meeting her friends, talking, laughing, playing some games, cuddling Tara. The last memory made a part of her ache, she tried to push the feeling down, the want and hurt that was growing in her.

Getting out of bed, she noticed a note, her name written in an affini script similar to cursive. “I hope this does not mean our date is canceled.” Lily groaned before starting to grab the note, stopping herself from crushing it in her hand as she thought of the conversation. Elowin seemed to disagree with Echona, perhaps it wouldn’t be a “potential owner” kind of date. Though… the thought was quickly crushed along with the yearning as she got up.

She was still wearing her dress, it was ruffled from sleeping in it, but was otherwise not in horrible shape. She was happy the affini didn’t strip her for bed, it was good to know she could keep that decency. Entering the living room, she called for the hab to make her some food before turning on the kettle and sitting on the sofa.

She thought over the next few days, she’d have to meet with the assistant almost as soon as the curfew was lifted, her hands moving to the data pad as she looked at the floret in question. They used to be a rebel at The Evanescence, an old research vessel that was captured and refitted for the rebel cause. It seemed like they were forced into the position as a rebel as all other records show a history within xenobotany. There were no records on class Bs either, so perhaps they could weigh in on the more… xeno like plants she had.

She went through some more paperwork on the shop, requested more seeds, looked through inventories if she was missing something, ordered a few more blades for scalpels before her list of tasks slowly faded into oblivion, leaving the terran with nothing else to do.

Food and tea was ready after she sent the last request, her hope that the action of feeding herself would help distract her quickly flickered into a dull smoke as it only brought her to think over what yesterday's events brought forth. She was lonely, and that sucked. It was a confirmation to her that her life was going downhill. Her mind moving to the grim reality of the clock, days kept ticking by and she realized how little time she had left before she… the thought ended there as she tried to follow another line of thought. Tara, no not that one either, that one hurt even more.

Thought after thought soon flowed, she groaned as she tried to distract herself with the news, the broadcast telling of the fishing operation and the known members. A thought, an idea suddenly flared to life, her mind churning out the beginnings of a plan as she filed a form to the domestication office. It took about 2 hours to finish, but at the end she finally sent it in, suddenly feeling a lot more excited for the next few days.