For the second time in not so long at all, Mirabilis found herself with the absolutely delightful responsibility of caring for a floret through her haustoric implant recovery. And that, at the very least, took the sting off of having to cut Kenzie’s off early. There was, however, one small problem. Upon seeing the way her girlfriend gasped and moaned and adored helplessly at each and every touch, Kenzie had grown very jealous. Luckily, this problem had a very simple solution. A few tender strokes, and even more tender injections later, Mirabilis plopped herself down onto her bed, her arms full with two delirious, pleasure stricken florets. Humming to herself, she arranged Serena and Kenzie together, facing one another. Each pair of eyes was a perfect reflection of glassy, distant vacancy gazing unblinkingly though dilated pupils into its opposite. Each girl’s lips were parted oh so slightly, constantly gasping out helpless moans from every doting touch their Mistress showered upon them.

A little rumble in Serena’s throat caught Mira’s attention. She ceased her ministrations briefly, to ensure there was nothing her floret needed. Delicately, Mira turned Serena about in her grasp, so her human’s wide, glassy eyes fell upon her owner’s face. Slowly, her dilated pupils began to narrow, and, at the sight of her Mistress, An adorable little smile played across her pet’s face. Mirabilis was certain if she had a heart, it may well have stopped in that moment. A brief moment of recognition seemed to flash over Serena’s face, and her lips struggled clumsily to form a word. “What is it, dear?” Mira asked, leaning in close to catch what was sure to be little more than a feeble whisper.

 “Clouds,” Serena murmured.  “Seen clouds like that before.”

Confused, Mira rose up, and looked about for some indication of what her pet was talking about, before remembering where she was sitting. “Ah,” she replied, scooting over to give Serena a more clear view of the landscape painting behind her. “Yes, an old friend painted that after a trip we took to see one of the peaks of this incredibly high, incredibly beautiful mountain range. That plateau was so high that when locals climbed it, they needed to bring their own oxygen. Rather dangerous, but we couldn’t fault them after seeing the view. You could see so many colors from up there, especially at sunrise.” She looked back from the vivid, colorful depiction of a mountainous overlook, towering high above all but the most altitudinous of clouds, and found that her floret had long since slipped back under the haze. Lovingly, she stroked the girl’s cheek, and set Serena back in her place, gazing into her floret pinnate’s eyes.

She let them lay like that for a while, drinking in the sights and sounds of their submission as uncounted minutes ticked by. Looking down at the two adorably sedated Terrans, Mirabilis couldn’t help but wonder just how aware they were of their surroundings. Did they gaze long into one another out of helplessness, or out of desire? Visiting a delicate stroke on each girl’s cheek, Mirabilis shuddered with delight alongside each of her perfect pets, then gently pushed them together, manipulating their arms and legs so their bodies intertwined in a limp, gentle embrace. To her delight, their grips on one another seemed to tighten, just a little. And, encouraged by their responsiveness, Mira gently moved her floret’s lips closer together, until every little squirm or tremble would cause them to brush against one another. 

For a moment, it seemed like nothing would come of her efforts, both girls lay still, ever so close to one another, but otherwise vacant and unresponsive to anything but their Mistress’ touch. But then, a kernel of focus seemed to spark in Serena’s mind, and gently she tipped her head forward oh so slightly, and began to clumsily, sloppily kiss Kenzie, something which Kenzie began to reciprocate soon after. Honestly, Mirabilis could have died in that moment, and been completely satisfied. No amount of trouble could ever make the absolutely priceless sight of her two darling florets lazily and lovingly kissing one another, moaning blissfully the whole way, not worth her while. Unable to help herself, Mirabilis gasped with boundless glee, wrapped her entire body around her two florets, and proceeded to inflict every ounce of joy she could on her lovely pets. With that, Mirabilis’ hab became a slurry of touching, praise, affection, and endlessly comfortable thoughtless bliss. 

* * *

To Serena, time was an enigma. Distantly, she was aware that time was a thing which existed, and theoretically continued to pass. But any sense of its passing was completely lost to her. Memory, perception, thought, consciousness, all these things ebbed and flowed with the tide of her drug trip. One moment, she had been waking up, cozy and heavy in an affini hospital bed, she’d been aware just long enough to catch sight of Mirabilis smiling at her, ruffling her hair, assuring her everything had gone well. Serena barely had the chance to process her owner’s assurance before Mira tapped a button on her tablet, and a blanket of thought-obliterating contentment was thrown over her mind, mixing delightfully with a gentle hum of quiet yearning simmering within her core. As Mirabilis carried her home, the slither of her vines along Serena’s skin created such shattering heights of pleasure, that the wonderful haze which now crept delicately through Serena’s system reached up, and swallowed her whole, sinking her into a peaceful, comforting void.

Once, early in Serena’s Naval career as a long-haul freight pilot, she had been tasked with making a delivery to a fuel refinery station located deep in the heart of a gas giant’s storm. Petrichor had been too large and clunky to safely maneuver through the storm, so she’d taken a more nimble shuttle down from orbit. The storm had rendered her ship’s sensor’s and autopilot useless, forcing her to fly completely manually. She hadn’t been able to see even five meters ahead through the thick, swirling clouds. Needless to say, it was terrifying. But every once in a while, her ship would surface oh so slightly above the dense cloudlayer, and Serena would catch a fleeting glimpse of the refinery’s spires in the distance; then, she would dip back under, into the storm, into blindness. Whenever she found herself navigating those long stints between brief glimpses of clarity, all Serena had to go on was her faith that some intangible unconscious instinct, or implacable bond between a pilot and her ship would keep Serena on course and unharmed, through torrential wind and deadly lightning, until her next glimpse of ephemeral clarity. 

Yet, in those moments when the nose of her ship tipped above the maelstrom, the true struggle would always be to focus on the destination, and not the beauty of the sight surrounding her. The planet’s star would glow so brilliantly against those turbulent clouds, cascading rainbows off swirling puffs of mist and dancing gusts of vapor cast in rosy pinks, shining golds. They would linger a moment, in that transient state, before evaporating off and away from the deep, impenetrable curtain of deep blues, foreboding crimsons and mysterious purples which so starkly colored the layer below. 

And having seen that sight, having peaked out over the blindness to glimpse the glory above, those moments lost in the clouds carried their own special beauty as well. Serena had seen the way the deadly flashes of lightning which threatened to tear her hull apart lit up the clouds with colors more vivid than any painting. She had watched the deadly winds, which whipped her off course and toward oblivion, form and reform endless clouds into infinite new snapshots of unique and fleeting perfection. And lost in the endless, writhing expanse, Serena began to recognize that same ever-changing exquisiteness even from within, making those moments of clarity all the more breathtaking. Perhaps her mind had just been desperately grasping for anything that might help steel her nerve, but somehow, the beauty made the journey less terrifying. It was humbling, almost comfortable. When it had come time to leave, Serena was actually a little sad that she’d likely never see such majesty again.

That memory came to Serena, seemingly unbidden. Perhaps it was entirely by chance, perhaps her haustoric implant, sensing some connection, meaning, or parallel, had brought it to her attention, perhaps something from outside herself had reminded Serena of it, and her drug-addled mind had already forgotten the catalyst. But in a moment of passing lucidity, Serena wondered, were she to liken her current state to some aspect of that memory, what was most apt? 

Was she the transient sprays of mist and vapor, glowing brilliantly and momentarily before being dissipated by wind and heat, returning to the heavy, opaque mass of formless beauty below? Was she the endless, roiling storm of obfuscating clouds which stretched far and away,  blanketing the horizon like so many rolling hills, constantly shaped and reshaped by winds beyond her control, lit solely by ephemeral flashes of brilliant, energetic lightning that permitted only the briefest of glimpses into a beauty she could never truly see the whole of? Was she the ship, thrust into impenetrable fog, her sensors rendered useless, autonomy undone, guided onward only by the steady hand of her owner? Or was she simply Serena, peering out through glassy windows into an endless, mesmerizing haze of striking colors and astonishing shapes beyond her recognition, blindly trusting in something outside her control to keep her on course, and gasping in awe at those brief moments of clarity, only to be thrust back under into a darkness all the more wonderful for it?

Before she had ample time to consider the answer, a gentle brush of Mirabilis’ vines erased the line of thought entirely, and Serena was lost once more.

The next thing she knew, Serena was having the briefest flicker of realization that told her she’d spent untold minutes starting emptily, but lovingly and longingly into Kenzie’s equally blank eyes. Then Serena realized how close together their lips were. A moment later, her lips were on Kenzie’s, and she had the briefest flare of crystal clarity; as her lips parted Kenzie’s, claiming the warm, inviting familiarity of her mouth, Serena understood exactly why Kenzie had fantasized so long and so thoroughly about such a kiss. But before she could even begin to contemplate that wonderful, pleasure-filled joy, the sensation rose and exploded into such untouchable peaks that it plunged Serena back under the gentle stillness of her sedatives. That did nothing to stop her lips from begging, and taking more from the woman she loved, but it certainly silenced any thought beyond the simple, quiet joy of hazy, dreamy euphoria. 

Mistress was touching her. Serena couldn’t move, she didn’t want to. How long had she been asleep? Had she actually slept at all or had she simply forgotten the time since her last brief peak above the clouds? Mistress was petting her. She was with Kenzie. Serena tightened her grip on her girlfriend, and let the tug of her Mistress’ vines pull her mind under once more. 

Light peaked through the curtain of Serena’s mind. And, when she opened her eyes, Serena realized that light also happened to be peaking through the curtain of Mirabilis’ bedroom, which, she supposed, was also her bedroom now. Languidly, Serena stretched and rolled over to catch sight of her owner’s sleeping form. Mira stirred, and, seemingly without waking, wrapped her arms around Serena and Kenzie, and pulled them both closer into her. If Serena had taken the moment to consider it, she would have realized her drugs had seemed to be wearing off. Mira’s touch was enough to silence any thoughts lucid enough to notice that, and push Serena back down into that safe, comfortable void once more.

Serena drifted back up to the sound of her owner’s voice. “We should let her sleep dear, let her wake up on her own then we’ll see how she’s doing, okay?” 

“Yes, Mistress,” Kenzie pouted. For a moment, Kenzie was quite disappointed, she was very much looking forward to playing with her floret pinnate. Her disappointment didn’t last long though, the feeling fading out and being replaced by a sort of dazed, cozy happiness that left her a little fuzzy in the head, but mostly lucid. It was around then that Serena wondered why the hell she knew that, but her own confusion was quickly replaced by that same feeling Kenzie had, and she stopped caring. Things only got better for Serena when Kenzie fell back into bed and nestled herself in the crook of Serena’s neck, sighing contentedly, earning a delighted little gasp from their Mistress. 

She lay there for a while, letting wakefulness and awareness slowly reaccumulate. This time, Serena was fairly certain, the drugs had mostly worn off. At some point, Serena heard Mirabilis stand, and, with a tender stroke across Serena and Kenzie’s necks, their owner quietly left the room, then the hab. Eventually, as clarity slowly coalesced, Serena opened her eyes, and pushed herself up in bed. A pleased purr sounded next to her. “Morning, love.” 

Serena stretched lavishly, and leaned down to answer her girlfriend with a soft kiss on the cheek. In response, Kenzie, too, sat up, and leaned her head against Serena’s shoulder. “Welcome back, feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I am, no pain.” For the first time since her surgery, Serena took a moment to consider what had actually happened to her. There was a piece of Mira inside her now, interfacing with her nervous and endocrine systems. Before, she’d tried to focus more on the effects and outcome of the surgery than what it actually did, to avoid grappling with having a plant symbiote in her brain. She had looked at it as a way to improve her overall mental and physical health, a way to bring her closer to Kenzie, a gateway to even better drug-trips. Now though, for whatever reason, the idea of having a part of Mirabilis within her, looking after her wellbeing, designating who she belonged to, it sent delightful little shivers of submission down her spine.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Kenzie asked. Where Serena gave her a puzzled look, Kenize paused for a moment, then seemed to realize what was going on. “Oh, right, you haven’t been told. Mira turned on the interfacing network while we were both drugged up, it’s currently still active. So I can sort of, kind of, distantly get the impression of how you’re feeling or what you’re thinking about? Anyways the implant, it’s nice. The idea kind of freaked me out a bit at first, but as I grew to trust Mira, I started to realize I kind of didn’t mind having a part of her inside me, looking after me. Nowadays, I kind of think of it as her giving my mind a hug.” Kenzie blushed a little at that admission. 

“That’s actually really adorable, babe,” Serena giggled. She leaned forward to press a quick kiss to her girlfriends lips, and was a little disappointed when that didn’t send shocks of cascading pleasure all through her body. 

“Feeling a little too sober?” Kenzie giggled. 

Heat rushed to Serena’s cheeks. “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

“Mira went to go run a couple errands, but she said she wanted us to both be completely free of any drugs for when she gets back,” Kenzie explained.

“Why is that?” Serena asked.

Kenzie smirked a little. “She wants to experiment with the haustoric implant interfacing network thing today, and she said she wants a, and these are her words, not mine, ‘fresh canvas’ to work with.”

“What a dork.” They both broke out into a fit of giggles, then collapsed into one another’s arms.