Inosculate
Chapter 4 - Serena Threatens to Blow Herself Up With an Oven
by SapphicSounds
Tags:
#dom:plant
#f/f
#Human_Domestication_Guide
#pov:bottom
#pov:top
#sub:female
#dom:internalized_imperialism
#gentle
#scifi
Hi there! If you enjoy what you're about to read, you can read through all 12 chapters on my patreon right now , there, you can also get access to my discord server, early access to my work, exclusive content (including audio readings of some of my works) AND pictures of my cat (this is not a euphemism). This work is set in the Human Domestication Guide universe. In particular, Inosculate was inspired by a throwaway line from Fluxom's Abcission, and also borrows the characters Hesperia and Ilex from that story as well (with permission).
If you'd like to commission a work from me, feel free to email me at sapphicsounds@gmail.com All characters depicted are 18 years of age or older, do not proceed if you are under 18 years of age.
CW: Threat of suicide without any chance of suicide actually occurring, nobody dies or is harmed.
There really was no feeling quite like knowing you had made everything worse. With just a single slip of the tongues, Mirabilis had accidentally not only destroyed any scrapings of goodwill her photos of Kenzie may have built, but actually made poor little Serena even more distressed. The poor thing was probably convinced Kenzie had been put through something unspeakable. It was enough to make Mirabilis wish she could reach her vines through the vacuum of space, find whatever rebel leader was in charge of the anti-affini propaganda campaign, and show them the error of their ways in the most meticulous of detail. Though, in reality Mirabilis probably wouldn’t have the stomach for that sort of thing, keeping a floret who had caused such immense, wide-sweeping harm was for affini made of sterner stuff than she was.
Regardless, Mirabilis couldn’t dwell on that. She did, after all, have other responsibilities. Namely, looking after the floret she already owned. Whether or not bringing Kenzie back up from her sedatives was still necessary, Mirabilis couldn’t say. She hoped for Kenzie’s sake, and for Serena’s sake, that she hadn’t ruined things so completely that any chance at all of Serena becoming her floret had been ruined. And, if there was a way to still peacefully convince Serena to surrender, she wanted to find it. Declaring the girl a lost cause, a danger to herself and others who needed to be domesticated against her will always had a high chance of backfiring and resulting in less desirable outcomes. Though, if she did wind up on Class-Os, Serena, at the very least, wouldn’t mind. Kenzie, however, probably wouldn’t take well to learning her girlfriend had been last-resorted into an eternally blissed out pleasure pillow. Still, Class-Os were a last resort, and they hadn’t gotten there yet.
There were still plenty of ways things could shake out leaving Serena happy and with her mind more or less in-tact—depending on Serena’s own preferences, of course. But there was no sense not taking all the help she could get. Her Kenzie was a clever little human, and, of course, Serena’s entire reason for being aboard the Baiera. If anyone could help Mirabilis convince the poor girl that the affini meant her no harm, it was Kenzie. Which, regrettably, meant Mirabilis would need to take her floret of the sedatives earlier than intended. It was perfectly safe, Kenzie would be fine. Though she might end up with a bit of a headache, and be a bit grumpy. Still, Mirabilis was certain her floret would understand, and remedying something as simple as a headache would be no problem. The real loss, as far as Mirabilis was concerned, would be that ending her floret’s drugged out recovery vacation early, meant that many fewer days she got to dote on and play with her adorable, helpless, and adorably helpless darling floret.
With a regretful sigh, Mirabilis glanced down at the squirming, gasping bundle of joy she’d been teasing and petting, encased in an endless tangle of her vines. Every little moan, every shudder, every whimper of her name brought Mirabilis endless satisfaction. Having to bring the girl back up early felt like one of the great injustices of the world. She was certain Kenzie would agree, if she were capable of thinking that far ahead. Either way, Mirabilis was sure to hear no shortage of complaints from Kenzie when she found out she was supposed to have gotten three more days of this. But, once her floret learned the reason as to why, Mirabilis was certain Kenzie would understand. She took one last moment to indulge herself, which wound up stretching on to another, then another, and another as Kenzie squirmed, purred and nuzzled adoringly at her Mistress’ every touch. Ten minutes later, Mirabilis sighed in frustration, and forced herself to produce a needle from one of her flowers. Gently, giving Kenzie soothing caresses and soft praise the whole way, she slid the needle into her pet’s arm, and injected the catalyst which would begin the process of off-ramping Kenzie’s multi-day drug trip.
At the very least, Mirabilis could take comfort in the fact that she still had several hours before Kenzie would even begin to regain her lucidity, which gave the two of them some time to enjoy what was left of Kenzie’s high. And stars did Mirabilis need it after everything she’d been through. She felt immensely guilty about the whole thing. The last thing she wanted was for Serena to suffer. Quite the opposite in fact, she’d been almost as excited as Kenzie was at the prospect of getting to meet—and hopefully, domesticate—the little human. Making her floret happy was the most important thing in the universe to Mirabilis; getting to have a pair of florets pinnate who could do that for her opened up a whole world of possibilities. Instead, she’d wound up having to leave Serena, a crying, scared mess, having done nothing but make the Terran even more afraid of affini. Trembling, Mirabilis held Kenzie close to her, squeezing her floret for comfort, whispering a soft apology that would doubtless fall on deaf ears.
Her little self-pity and commiseration party was interrupted by the feeling of her tablet buzzing somewhere in the mass of her vines. Groaning in frustration, she reshaped her body into something a bit more cohesive, and checked the notification.
>>Lex: What in the stars did you say to that girl!?
>>Hex: This is Hesperia and Ilex, by the way.
Mirabilis froze in confusion. What were they talking about? Had something happened? Worry crept its way up the whole of her being, one leaf at a time.
>>Eveningbloom: What’s wrong?
>>Lex: Allegedly she's built a bomb???
She stared at the text for several moments, scarcely believing what she was reading, before reality set in and she hurriedly typed a reply.
>>Eveningbloom: WHAT?
>>Hex: A couple hours after you left she started pounding on the door til one of the nurses came to check on her.
>>Lex: She had some story about wanting some tools and components ‘cause she ‘liked to tinker’ and wanted to take apart the oven.
>>Hex: Nurse was a bit suspicious, but they agreed once Serena said they could watch her work to be sure she didn't hurt herself.
>>Lex: We approved it since we thought anything to occupy the poor dear’s mind was better than her stewing.
>>Hex: Anyway she built a bomb.
>>Eveningbloom: From an OVEN??
>>Hex: Apparently there was an… oversight.
>>Lex: We are having people look into it now, but it does seem earlier models of the oven in her hab unit did have a tendency to explode.
>>Hex: She actually sent us some… very helpful articles on the subject. Resourceful little thing. She is either taunting us or didn’t think we would believe her. Perhaps both.
>>Lex: At present we are… uncertain of what to make of the situation.
>>Hex: We have found evidence to suggest the problem was fixed in newer models, but it’s possible there may be a way to deliberately sabotage them.
>>Lex: Most of what we can find are either official company release statements, or sensationalist Terran news articles. Neither are good sources of reliable information.
>>Eveningbloom: … What is she trying to accomplish, exactly?
>>Lex: She wants to bargain for your Kenzie.
“Dirt,” Mirabilis groaned. Of course this was about Kenzie. What else could it be?
>>Hex: Seems to have deluded herself into thinking the bomb will blow a hole in the side of the ship so we’ll have to cave and give her what she wants.
>>Lex: Of course, she’d do nothing more than blow herself up.
>>Hex: Terrans continue to be the greatest threat to their own existence.
>>Lex: Very frustrating, but worth getting to keep such lovely pets.
>>Hex: She wants to talk to you.
>>Eveningbloom: Left hab. On my way.
To any passers by aboard the Baiera who found themselves along the route between Mirabilis’ hab, and the detention wing, the sight of a formless mass of vines hurtling itself through the streets and spewing and incredibly colorful string of curse words as it went wouldn’t have exactly been shocking, though it would have been at least a bit unusual, and perhaps amusing. Never in her life had Mirabilis moved so quickly. Never in her life had she felt more horrified at the consequences of her own actions. Did she even deserve to take Serena after this? Did she even deserve to keep Kenzie? How could she ever look her floret in the eye and tell her what happened, explain that it was Mirabilis’ own fault? No, it wasn’t going to happen. Serena wasn’t going to die. They would find a way to make a deal, reach a mutual understanding.
In a small lobby just inside the detention block, Mirabilis spied Hesperia and Ilex. In a flurry of vines and flowers, Mirabilis reformed herself into her humanoid shape, and brushed right past them, gesturing for them to follow as she went. “Has anything happened since I left?”
“In the past two minutes? Not really, no. We’re at a bit of a standstill. She’s demanding to speak with you, presumably because she wasn’t satisfied when we told her we didn’t have the authority to just up and deliver Kenzie to her,” Ilex explained.
“I’m not letting Kenzie anywhere near that bomb,” Mirabilis replied.
“We think she has some kind of scheme in mind. It seems… unlikely she would wish to bring her girlfriend near the potential blast radius.” Hesperia had a point. Mirabilis just hoped she was right. Serena might have just well and truly lost it. Even so, the move struck her as strange. Her confusion was exacerbated by the fact that, even while she fretted over the situation, for some stupid reason, despite all her worry and stress, Mirabilis couldn’t help but feel a fluttery feeling rush through her vines. The reckless, irresponsible human was doing something completely foolhardy, but the girl's bravery was undeniable, and it was all for Kenzie. Was it strange this just made Mirabilis want to take her even more? Perhaps this wasn’t the best time to process those sorts of feelings.
The affini trio rounded a corner, and Mirabilis took in the chaotic sight before her. Dozens of affini were scrambling about the place, evacuating dazed looking rebel captures from the blast area, a group of worried affini medical staff were crowded a safe distance away from Serena’s hab, taking urgently among themselves. The door to the hab unit was open, standing at the edge of the doorway was another nervous looking affini who was trying desperately to get a word in edgewise over all the screaming. Taking in the scene, Mirabilis came to a slow stop, and looked to Hesperia and Ilex, “are you sure sending me to talk to her is a good idea? I kind of only made things worse last time.”
They exchanged an uncertain glance, then Ilex spoke. “She isn’t listening to anyone else. You’re the one she wants to speak with.”
With an uncertain sigh, Mirabilis straightened herself out, did her best to appear as though ever single cubic inch of her body wasn’t wound tight enough to crush a Terran sport ball, and performed her best approximation of a confident stroll that said ‘yes, I do in fact know what I’m doing.’ As she approached, the affini in the doorway seemed to recognize her, and immediately looked relieved. They gratefully and silently withdrew, and made room for Mirabilis to take their place. Inside was… well, actually not that different from before. Serena hadn’t gone to any lengths to wreck the place or anything. The only real difference was an open toolbox and a few scattered wires strewn about the floor. Standing next to the oven, and brandishing what appeared to be the appliance’s remote control, was Serena. As soon as the girl saw Mirabilis, her already smoldering, teary eyes focused and narrowed with laser precision. Mirabilis shuddered; she couldn't stand the way the girl looked at her with such rage and contempt. Why couldn’t Serena just see she wanted what was best for her and her most precious person? Doubt crept in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t afford to listen to that now, too much was at stake. Clearing her throat, Mirabilis took a step forward, into that hab.
“Stay back!” Serena shouted, matching Mirabilis’ approach with a backward step of her own. “I’ve repurposed this remote as a detonator. If you come any closer I’ll blow us both out into space.”
Forcing calm into her voice, Mirabilis replied with as much outward patience as she could muster. “Alright, Serena. I won’t come any closer. You wanted me here, right? I’m here.” As a sign of goodwill, Mirabilis even took a step backward, lingering in the doorway the same way the previous negotiator had. For a moment, Mirabilis wondered whether she could cross the room and grab the remote before Serena could hit whatever button she needed to hit. Then she imagined trying to explain to Kenzie that her girlfriend was dead because Mirabilis had overestimated herself.
“I want Kenzie,” she shouted. “I want Kenize. Bring her to me. I also want a ship we can leave on together. In return I’ll tell you everything I know about the rebels, and, of course, I won’t set off this bomb.”
A ship? Did she honestly think that plan would work after everything she’d seen? Maybe she truly was delusional. “I can’t do that, Serena,” Mirabilis explained as calmly as she could. “I won’t put Kenzie in danger by bringing her here.” Was that relief she saw on Serena’s face? Had she not wanted that request to be granted? Something was definitely going on. Mirabilis decided to press the issue. “If you come with me, I could take you to her. And I’m happy to have someone ready a ship for you, in exchange for information and this ending peacefully, of course.” The last part was a bluff, of course, but an easy enough bluff to make, since Serena would never be able to make her way to the Baiera’s hangar without being subdued. As far as the information went, Serena clearly overestimated how much value the affini were putting on what she knew. But letting the girl think she had more bargaining power than she actually did seemed like the best way to keep her from panicking and blowing herself up.
“No!” Serena shouted. “I’m not leaving this room.”
That was… also perplexing. Why would she pass up the opportunity simply on the basis that it would require leaving her hab? If Serena wanted to escape with Kenzie, wouldn’t she be eager to leave the blast radius and no longer be in danger of blowing herself up? Mirabilis had to be on to something. “Why not? I’ll make sure to keep myself, and any other affini far enough away from you as we walk,” she explained. “And that remote should have a very long effective range. If we were to try anything, you could still blow the hull open.” Of course, there was no way Serena could actually blow the hull open. But if the human realized that, she would also realize all her leverage was gone the second her life was no longer in danger. And then there would be no way at all to get her to leave.
“I’m not leaving this room unarmed,” Serena insisted. “I want a pistol, and I want that ship. Give me those and I’ll go with you.” Again, Mirabilis was at a loss. Surely, no matter how irrationally she was thinking, Serena understood that a single Terran pistol wouldn’t be enough to take on an entire ship full of affini. She already had the far more credible threat of blowing a hole in the ship, or, Serena at least thought she had that credible threat. So why would a single pistol be the pivotal concession to convince her to leave the hab? Mirabilis’ stress was mounting, why did Serena have to be so twitchy with that thing? Why couldn’t the poor girl just understand that the only thing Mirabilis and the rest of the affini cared about in this situation was keeping her from hurting herself?
A sudden voice at her side snapped Mirabilis out of her thought spiral. “This isn’t the first time she asked for the pistol,” Hesperia commented, having suddenly appeared just behind and to the right of Mirabilis, behind the wall and out of Serena’s line of sight. “We are… torn on the matter.”
“You’re actually considering it?” Mirabilis hissed under her breath, quiet enough so Serene wouldn’t hear.
“We are not taking this lightly,” Ilex replied gravely. “On the one hand, giving an unstable rebel Terran, or any Terran for that matter, a deadly weapon goes against everything we believe in. The risk it would pose to herself and to other Terrans potentially caught in the crossfire is simply unacceptable.”
“On the other, she is currently threatening to blow herself up if we don’t do as she says, which obviously poses a much greater risk,” Hesperia added.
“If we were to give her the pistol, we could lead her out of the bomb’s blast radius, then disarm her.”
“It’s possible she may open fire on one of us, which would certainly be unpleasant, but it’s nothing a quick trip to medical couldn’t fix.”
“Obviously we are looking into every other option possible, but we haven’t found a way to remotely disarm it.”
“We considered cutting the power, but since the explosion is triggered by pressure which has already built up inside the oven, it’s too late for that.” Both affini let out a simultaneous thoughtful hum.
“The unfortunate reality is, the longer we wait, the more desperate and reckless she becomes. Unless we can think of something soon, we might have to just risk giving her the gun.” From the sound of her voice, Ilex seemed to absolutely despise the way those words felt on her tongues.
Mirabilis shook her head. “Give me a little more time. Something doesn’t add up about her wanting the pistol and I think I’m on to something,” she whispered, and returned her gaze to Serena.
“Done with your little secret meeting?” Serena snarled.
“What’s the gun for, Serena?” Mirabilis asked pointedly. “You’re a clever girl. And you know as well as I do how ineffective it would be against an entire ship-full of affini.”
That seemed to get her attention. Serena baulked, clearly caught off guard by the question as she cobbled together a justification. “I-it might not be enough to kill a whole ship but it’s still enough to take some of you plant bastards with me.”
Like a spider descending on unsuspecting prey, Mirabilis unleashed a slew of questions, tearing the girl’s weak justification to shreds. “But I thought your goal was to escape with Kenzie, not kill affini? The bomb is a much more effective threat, so why ask for a pistol as well? And why are you so insistent on keeping yourself in danger by staying inside the blast radius?”
Squirming in place, Serena flicked her eyes from Mirabilis to the detonator. For a moment, the horrible thought that she’d pushed too far occurred to her, then Serena broke open. “I—you—I’m not leaving! Don’t come any closer!”
“Do you know what I think?” Mirabilis asked. “I think you know you can’t cause any of us any real harm, but you don’t want us to know you know that. I think you realized after I left that we want to keep you alive. Of course, you don’t believe us when we say the reason why we want you alive is because we genuinely care about your wellbeing. So you assumed all we really cared about was your rebellion information.”
“You’re wrong!” Serena stammered, her tone suggesting Mirabilis was very much not wrong.
“From there, you realized the only real bargaining chip you had, was to threaten suicide in the hopes you could use our desire to keep you alive to bargain for Kenzie. But there were two problems with this plan, one begetting the other. First, you needed to find a way to credibly threaten your own life, hence your stunt with the oven. But the problem with the oven-bomb is that as soon as you left this room, all your bargaining power disappeared since you would no longer be in danger.”
“You want to see danger? I’ll blow this ship wide open,” Serena screamed.
Mirabilis sighed, shaking her head. “No, you won’t, and you know you won’t. You know the only thing that bomb will do is kill you. And you know we don’t want you to die. And that’s what the pistol is for. You don’t want to point it at us. You want to point it at yourself, so you can leave this room and still be able to credibly threaten us with suicide.” Confidently, Mirabilis took a step toward Serena.
“You want to see a credible suicide threat? Take another step,” Serena hissed.
Surprising even herself, Mirabilis called the bluff, and took another step, causing the girl to flinch. “Serena, stop playing games with your life. We’re not giving you a pistol, and I’m not letting you endanger Kenzie by bringing her here. We’re not going to hurt you, none of us would ever dream of hurting Kenzie. Everything I’ve done to her she asked for of her own accord. The way I see it, you have two choices. You put down the detonator, and I’ll take you to see Kenzie. Or we can see which one of us is faster, but I guarantee you that it’s me.”
Looking well and truly cornered, Serena’s eyes swept from the detonator, to the oven, to Mirabilis, then back to the detonator. Hands shaking, she slowly placed the detonator on the counter, and collapsed into a ball of tears. Rushing forward, Mirabilis caught the girl before she hit the ground, wrapping her in her vines and holding her close, shushing her soothingly. “It’s okay, dear,” she whispered. “You made the right choice. I promise.” Half expecting Serena to thrash and squirm, Mirabilis kept her grip relatively loose. Perhaps she was simply too overwhelmed and exhausted to resist, perhaps her need for comfort trumped her distaste for the affini, but Serena simply went limp in her arms. “That’s it,” Mirabilis soothed. “That’s a good girl, you were so brave. I’m so proud of you.” Unable to contain her relief, Mirabilis’ whole body shuddered right along with Serena's. On shaky legs, Mirabilis stood, bringing Serena up with her. She tilted the girl’s face up to look into her eyes, catching a mix of fear, exhaustion, desperation and, beneath it all, hope. “I’ll take you to see Kenzie now. She’s missed you dearly.”
Hi there! If you enjoy what you just read, you can read through all 12 chapters on my patreon right now, there, you can also get access to my discord server, early access to my work, exclusive content (including audio readings of some of my works) AND pictures of my cat (this is not a euphemism). This work is set in the Human Domestication Guide universe. In particular, Inosculate was inspired by a throwaway line from Fluxom's Abcission, and also borrows the characters Hesperia and Ilex from that story as well (with permission).
If you'd like to commission a work from me, feel free to email me at sapphicsounds@gmail.com All characters depicted are 18 years of age or older, do not proceed if you are under 18 years of age.