“We need 150cc synthblood RIGHT NOW!” The medical room was in chaos. Soldiers yelling, amateur nurses hurrying from post to post trying to carry out basic tasks with varying degrees of success. The bag came synthblood was highly toxic to the body and shouldn’t be used other than in extreme circumstances.

It was the only thing they had left.

The patient thrashed and screamed. Their arm, or rather stub of an arm, was being bandaged up. There were too many people, too many factors going wrong. She could hear the soldier's friends yell, asking if he’s alright or too hurry up before he dies. It was all too much.

“WILL YOU ALL SHUT IT AND LEAVE ME TO MY WORK!”

The shout verberated through the empty med bay. Empty? Where were the patients she was supposed to take care of. The room was too quiet, even the flow of the ventilation system leaving not even the faintest sway in the wind. She was completely alone.

The room soon seemed to morph, slowly, imperceptibly. Tubes for the ventilators seemed to turn green, leaves slowly transforming cloth. Bark replacing floor and wall. She… was turning too. Her arms twisting, turning, as if something was slowly spinning it around. Vines growing from the ridges as her hand ended in leafy appendages. Her neck feeling warm, feeling at it, something grew. A flower. A flower that kept growing, wrapping around her neck, fashioning into a collar. Her eyes burned, finding a reflective surface. They were like gems, touching it, the skin on her cheek turning barky, her hair turning into a bushy mess of vines and thorns. Thorns that ripped her skin, revealing not flesh and bone, but yet more vines, more leaves. She tried to run, but her legs failed her. She tried to catch herself, but so did her arms fail. Falling face first towards the floor, she screamed.

Lily awoke in a forest. The earthy scents of flowers and herbs of all colors and shapes. The twisting frames of trees that shade her eyes from the light of above. Her back was supported by what seemed to be soft moss, her fingers moving through the slightly humid surface. She was covered by leaves. The lattice work was clearly created by someone else.

Her mind worked over what happened, what she could remember at least, everything felt muddy in her head. As if a swarm of flies was covering the image of recent events. She remembered delivering flowers, feeling a sharp pain then darkness and waking up here. Where was she?

Slowly lifting herself from the mossy ground, she took a few steps. Her body was heavy, muscles shivering as if she hadn’t stood up in days. Taking small tentative steps, she explored the “forest”.

The forest wasn’t really a forest, standing up and looking around she could see where the walls of the room were hidden behind greenery. Flora of all kinds were growing, crawling and climbing, exploring as much as she was.

“Uhm… Hello?” She spoke into the flora, her mind piecing together memories of the past few days. She could only remember the strange drug fueled haze that kept her staying still. She still felt it, her mind still buzzing, her fingers feeling every ripple in a leaf. Her legs felt the soft cool air of an impossible breeze.

“Hello cutie! Your caretakers will be with you shortly.” Memories started to stream in faster as the effects of the class e slowly subside. She was stabbed, she remembered his face. Oh god, that hateful look. A dam broke in her mind as more memories flooded her. Of people lost, of men killed, of a stub of a hand dripping crimso- the collar around her neck beeped as the sudden flood of xenodrugs filled her system, her knees giving out as she let out a soft whimper.

There was a sudden beep from Elowin’s datapad. Pulling it from her body she looked at the warning and cursed softly to herself. She was hoping to be there next time Lily woke, but it seems the class-Z wore off quicker than she expected. Hurrying to the hab unit, several Affini tried to greet her only to resound with rhythms of alarm at her of worrisome rhythm. She was back within minutes, she wasn’t very far, she was hoping to cook something for Lily, help her calm down. It seemed she had failed already.

The hab door opened, ingredients were left in the kitchen. Tara and Echona were nowhere to be seen. Elowin’s vines tightened as she moved towards her study room. Trying to calm herself and change her rhythm before entering the study to find Lily on the floor, her body limp. The only movement being the raise and descent of her chest. “Oh dear Lily… It’s okay, you’re safe.”

Lily looked up at the creature, the light making it nothing more than a shadow. A part of her screamed to run, fear filling her core as her fingers twitched before vines gently wrapped around her waist and arms and hoisted her up into the waiting arms of… Elowin. Right, she was with Elowin. This was her hab unit. “Imh s-sorry… I didnh mean to alarmh you.”

Her speaking was slurred, her mouth following seconds after she ordered it to. Her hand moved a few seconds after she thought she did, looking up at the strange living plant. Was Elowin really this hot? Stars, her eyes were so beautiful. She could look into them for hours, find herself lost in them for days, maybe weeks. Her hand moved to touch the affini’s cheek, a vine moving to close her now drooling mouth.

“You’re alright little one, come, you must be starving. I’ll cook you something and we can relax in the kitchen for a bit. Is that alright?”

Lily nodded and nuzzled into the vines that held her. Her flower seemed to sway with the strange new rhythm that entered the room. Being easily carried by the affini, she entered the familiar hab of Elowin and Echona. A strange knot in her stomach being felt as she looked around for Tara.

“The two are at the vet. Tara had an appointment to check up on her hand and possibly get something grafted on it. I heard it was a lily flower.”

Lily blushed at how quickly Elowin caught on to her searching eyes, her face didn’t turn any lighter with the mention of Tara grafting a flower on her, and her flower at that.

“So it’s just us two for now?”

Elowin gave a nod as the pair moved from the living room to the kitchen, Lily being placed down on one of the affini sized chairs, settling properly she received… a pet. Her mind quivered for a moment, the sudden pleasured shock against her skin as she let out a deep, content sigh. Her already relaxing muscles lost some more weight as her eyes fluttered open and shut at the warmth radiating down her spine.

Elowin eventually broke the petting, Lily having to hold back a whimper as the affini caretaker moved to the kitchen to start cooking up something. Her mind swam in the heat of the affection, her scalp feeling oddly cold. Part of her knew it was the product of class A’s, but she couldn’t resist the effects, her body squirming ever so slightly as the smell of stir fried noodles and vegetables filled the air. The slightly spicy scents of chili and garlic filling the area where affini vines twisted and turned in a monstrous blur.

“So… how long was I out, can you tell me at least what happened?”

Elowin’s form tightened, a few vines hitting each other in the sudden panic that filled the affini, Lily sensed a feeling of insecurity filling the room as the affini’s melodic voice piped up.

“You.. were attacked in the med bay. It was found that this feralist was resistant to the concoction that was given and managed to wake up at around the same time as when we were in the room previously. They somehow managed to free themselves of the chair and found a piece of glass that they used as a makeshift weapon.”

Lily’s stomach churned, her body suddenly feeling all too aware of the flower that was digging itself into her intestines, slowly regrowing and mending the damage given. The xenodrugs managed to stop her from going over the edge once more, but her mind still rushed with images, of the event, of a gun to her head, of a captain beating her because she disobeyed.

“How long was I out?”

“... three days, you would be in and out of a trauma induced shock, so we had to sedate you many times from not pulling the graft off of you.”

Three days… she was less than a week away from her last day as an independent, and she was gonna spend those last days locked in a room with the people she wanted to avoid the most.

“Fuck…”

“Language cutie! Don’t want your owner to hear you say such bad words now!”

The unit chirped up, an awkward silence filling the room before Lily gave a soft snort. Somehow, this inanimate hab unit managed to break the tense air that permeated the room. Elowin seemed to also relax, vines disentangling as the movements of cooking became more fluent. Her form almost dancing to a more relaxed, yet still stressed rhythm.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“It’s a given little one, it was my fault to begin with, we should have called off the tour after you met with the awake rebel.”

“Nonsense, you couldn’t have known, and plus. I’d probably be more mad at you if you forced me to stop than let me get stabbed.”

“That doesn’t make sense”

“Humans aren’t built on logic. We do stuff that makes no sense all the time, it’s what makes us so curious.”

Elowin laughed at that, the stress disappearing as the hymn of glee filled the room. Lily couldn’t help but smile as well as she looked at the food being finished. A tofu stir fry with a generous heap of both terran and xeno vegetables. It was her comfort food recipe.

“Did Echona tell you about this one?”

“Yes, I wanted to cook you something that you would enjoy and to help.. ease you into the next few days. I’m sure you know we can’t really let you out of our sight for the time being.”

Lily’s mood turned downward, a fork being placed next to her with the bowl of noodles and veggies being pushed right under her face.

“I’m well aware… I wish I could have at least a little more freedom, y’know? I’m guessing I can’t go back to the shop for a while.”

“You can, but either me or Echona have to be there to make sure that you don’t harm yourself or get harmed in any way.”

That was good, she could return to her shop, even if with an affini. The idea of it made her scream internally, but she couldn’t argue about this. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she played with the noodles, fiddling, trying to find her appetite.

“If that’s the case, then I’d be nice to have you around. Since you seem to be the flower expert of you two, and well… I think if Echona joined, she’d have to bring Tara with her as well.”

Elowin’s flowers bloomed, an excited smile playing on her face as a vine moved to rub against Lily’s cheek.

“I’ll ask my coworkers to take care of some of the expeditions tomorrow then. For now let’s eat and relax for the day. We can go tomorrow.”

Lily’s face burned with the sensation of the vine, a blush blooming on her face as she couldn’t help but open her jaw, and take a bite.