The past few days were nothing but a blur of pure happiness for Loretta, even with the stress of moving habs. To be fair, the move wasn’t that stressful, given they could just move the hab wholesale onto the station's Affini ring while they were sleeping, without anyone even noticing it was happening. Loretta was learning more and more just how absolutely outclassed the rebels were and was feeling more and more grateful that she was saved.

Even the nightmares of being on the ship had faded after Cherry started dosing her with Class Zs, which made her dreams far more pleasant overall. It was nice to have her dreams back on her side after so long of sleep being a completely unpleasant experience for her. Loretta was finally starting to be happy. Sure, it wasn’t all smooth sailing, she still had trauma responses, but she had a therapist now, and they were helping her work through her problems.

Cherry had given her a nice pink collar which made Loretta’s heart flutter, and Fluffy got one that matched! It was perhaps the best gift she had ever received, not that she remembered receiving many gifts she genuinely enjoyed in her life. Her parents weren’t exactly the best, and she was a bit of a loner in college. The things she was genuinely sentimentally attached to were few and far between.

For now, that consisted of her collar, a gift from her oh-so-wonderful mistress, and Fluffy, the stuffed moth she wouldn’t go anywhere without. People throughout her life told her that she should get rid of her and that it was immature and childish to have a stuffed moth. In her teens, she finally got the strength to stop bringing it around everywhere, but that quickly went out the window as the stress of life began to catch up with her, and her earliest signs of PTSD started to show. Loretta needed Fluffy for the emotional stability she provided. She knew that deep in her heart, and now Cherry was there to ensure that Fluffy was always safe.

Loretta’s implant was scheduled for three weeks from now, and the last week of that would be spent ramping up to the xenodrug dosages she would need to be on for the recovery. This gave her practically two weeks to spend with Cherry (when she wasn’t working) before she would be out of it for a while. The girl had already been on Class E, and now with the Class C and A through her system, she looked and behaved like every other doped-out floret around.

Every time Loretta looked at her mistress, she was filled with immense joy, every touch sending pleasure through her whole body. She couldn’t even imagine calling her owner anything but a joyous ‘mistress’. It was nice. She didn’t have to worry about anything anymore, not what she had to eat for dinner, not where she was going that day, not any doctor's appointments or hormones. It was like childhood. She was cruelly denied by fate, and it was everything she had ever wanted and more.

Loretta was on her tablet when she heard Cherry come through the door, and Loretta’s heart soared even before she saw her. Her biorhythm was like aural calm all through her body, and she leaped up and practically tackled her mistress as she returned. Every point of contact was pure pleasure, and it was only amplified once the affini began to pat her head. Her mind was filled with nothing but pure joy and love towards her mistress, and while logically she knew it was the Class Cs, she didn’t care. She wanted to love like this all her life; it only let her overcome her own hang-ups.

“Mistress! You’re home!” Loretta said before the petting completely blasted her thoughts away.

“Yes, dear, and I have a surprise for you today!” Cherry said, picking her floret up.

Loretta nuzzled into Cherry, who in turn picked fluffy off the couch and placed her into her florets arms. Loretta loved cuddles with her mistress. She didn’t know why she fought it for so long. The way her mistress’ biorhythm just washed over her was perhaps the most relaxing thing she had ever experienced. These feelings were all the more amplified by the Class Cs, wrapping her in a sweet blanket of blissful adoration.

“W-what is it?” Loretta said once the petting had subsided enough to get her thoughts back.

“Well, this ring has a very special cafe that I think you would adore, and not only should we bring Fluffy, it’s flat out mandatory~”

Loretta cocked her head, trying to get her brain to process what had been said, but she just nuzzled into her mistress more. “Whatever you say, mistress.”

“Not even a little bit curious,” Cherry said, using a finger to force her floret to meet her eyes.

Loretta shook her head as she stared into them. She felt her mistress’ eyes were so pretty. She could stare into them forever, and it wouldn’t really change anything. They were pink, multifaceted, and absolutely beaming with nothing but approval and love. The girl didn’t even notice as her owner giggled, bringing her out of the hab and into the Affini ring. Soon they were brought to a shuttle, and Loretta didn’t once stop staring into those eyes.

Why did she resist for so long? Sure, it was only two days, but she definitely should have broken sooner. Breaking for her mistress was the best thing she ever did. She vaguely knew that Affini around her were cooing at her, and it filled Loretta with warmth and joy. They like just how easily she sank for mistress. Loretta liked it too if she was, to be honest. She belonged here, lost in her mistress’ eyes, a little bit of drool slipping down her open mouth. She felt a vine wipe the line of drool away, and it was pure ecstasy.

Soon, however, her mistress snapped, and the girl was left uncomfortably back in her own skin. She shook her head and looked around, clutching Fluffy in her arms.

“Where are we, mistress?” Loretta asked, looking around, and then she saw it.

It was a cafe, sure, but inside were massive piles of plushies on a pink-carpeted floor. Affini and florets sat at tables with plushies in their arms. Florets lounged in the plushy piles talking with each other, clearly high out of their minds. There was a circle in which people seemed to be showing off their plushies in some sort of a show and tell, and the food smelled absolutely delightful too.

Loretta looked up at her mistress, who smiled back at her. “This is The Snuggly Duck, it’s rather unique as far as I can tell, but I can see this kind of place popping up elsewhere.”

“Why are there so many plushies, mistress?” Loretta asked, not wanting to rack her own brain to connect the dots herself.

“Well, this place is for florets like you, who were unfortunately hurt by the society that existed before we came and who bonded to plushies to make it through. Here you can snuggle and gush about your cute little Fluffy all you want to others who will understand your love!”

Loretta felt her heart fill with love toward her mistress. She was so thoughtful, so wonderful,  so mind-numbingly hot. She had thought to find a place like this and then bring her here! Sure most people would find that the bare minimum required for a date, but right now, Loretta couldn’t really feel as if Cherry was anything but the most wonderful and perfect being in the universe for bringing her here.

“Thank you, mistress!” Loretta said, squeezing her leg.

“Now head inside, I’ll order our food and come get you when it’s ready.” Cherry nodded and immediately took a few somewhat stumbling steps inside. 

She was far clumsier now, and that was perfectly fine as far as Loretta was concerned. Her mistress thought it was absolutely adorable, and that made a bit of clumsiness worth it! She scanned her way around the room and felt drawn to the show-and-tell circle, but old instincts inside her head flared up. They told her that new people were dangerous, that they may try to harm fluffy! Luckily the Class Es kept them manageable, and she was able to approach and find an empty spot in the circle.

The girl to her left had a stuffed bear who looked very well loved, and she looked even more spaced out than Loretta. The boy to her right had some kind of rhinoceros who looked in far better repair. At the center of the circle was a girl who clearly worked here, and oddly enough, she seemed to be independent, too, given the minimum xenodrugs in her system. 

The nametag of the girl read ‘Alexandra Polyokov, Ph.D.’ Oh! Was she a therapist? That would make sense, given the type of place this was. They probably would have therapists on staff to help make sure everyone was happy and comfortable.

The woman herself spoke with a light Russian accent and clearly was used to this kind of group session. The woman acknowledged Loretta but let the girl who was currently speaking finish before addressing the group.

“It appears we have a new friend, everyone! What’s your name, dear?” The woman said, giving a comforting smile.

Loretta felt a bit nervous being put on the spot like that, but her Class Es once again came to the rescue in pushing those feelings down. She couldn’t wait to get her implant so her implant could fix them.

“L-Loretta Adaira, First Floret, Miss!” She said. “And this is Fluffy.” She said, presenting her plushy.

“Hi, Loretta! Hi Fluffy!” The group said with barely contained excitement.

“Is this your first time here?” The woman asked, and Loretta nodded.

“Well, this is a group therapy session where we will be having a chat. You can choose to either talk about your plushy and why you love them so much, or you can talk about why you love your plushy so much and presumably the things that caused you to bond to them. Now I’m aware that those things may be unpleasant, so don’t feel a need to say anything if you don’t want to, but if you can, everyone here will do their best to support you and comfort you through the whole process.” The woman said.

Loretta felt that anxiety bubbling up, but the warm chemical blanket pushed it away, the dull sound of her mistress’ biorhythm soothing her even from this distance. It would be so much easier to do this if she had her implant, so she decided that she would wait until then to actually talk about the really hard stuff. For now, she could be vague and talk about the stuff that didn’t hurt as much.

“I-I uh, don’t have my implant yet, Ms. Polyokov, so I won’t talk about too much, I don’t think.” She said.

“And that’s completely ok dear, don’t feel pressured to say anything if it makes you uncomfortable. You can even just watch quietly if you like if that’s what makes you happy.”

Loretta nodded. “Now, where were we…”

The conversations moved along one by one, and Loretta did provide input and support a few times! The sight of her words helping another floret with their pain made her feel good inside, and she held onto that feeling as the circle made its way around to her. By the time it was her turn, Loretta was feeling a bit more comfortable with the idea of talking about her trauma, just not the really bad stuff. Maybe earlier on…

“So, Loretta dear, would you like to speak today?” Alexandra said.

Loretta nodded and squeezed fluffy tight and immediately felt the pressure of the entire room upon her. Unlike usual, though, it wasn’t a pinning, anxious pressure of people judging her, it was a soft, warming pressure, like the feeling of being in her mistress’ vines. It filled her with even more confidence to speak, and so she did.

“W-well, Fluffy, here was a gift from my mother on my first birthday. It took me a good while to come around to her, but eventually, we were absolutely inseparable. My early childhood was fairly happy, even if it was such a long time ago. I grew up on a research colony owned by Ingrahm Technical Solutions, and my parents were reactor researchers. They loved me as much as they could and provided for me well, but when I turned 10, t-they uh…”

Could she say it? Tears began to well up in her eyes as the memories of that day ran through her head, breaking through even the strong Class Es she was on. But the calming presence of the group helped ease the pain.

“T-there was a containment failure in the reactor they were designed due to a contractor cheapening out on the magnets. They were vaporized instantly along with 5,000 others, including the CTO of the entire company.” Loretta said, squeezing Fluffy close. The girl next to her pulled her into a big hug.

“B-because a rich guy died, there was actually a very successful class action lawsuit against that contractor and Ingrahm, which meant I ended up in a very good home with a very large trust fund. My grandparents took care of me well, and I don’t have any complaints about them, but I guess I ended up getting into particle physics trying to wrap my head around the accident report in my teens… I think I don’t want to talk any further now.” Loretta said.

The rest of the group gave her the comfort and care she needed after a rough time, but the girl next to her was perhaps the most helpful. Loretta somehow tuned it out when walking in, but the girl was some kind of anthropomorphic cat person. Fuzzy from head to toe, with cat ears on the top of her head and cat-like eyes on her face. Loretta had no idea how she missed it, but she was rather spacy these days.

“That was so brave of you!” The girl said, smiling. “I’m Heather, by the way! Heather Oleander, Fifth Floret!”

Loretta leaned into the hug wiping her tears from her eyes. “T-thanks, y-you didn’t need to hug me, you know. I’d have been fine…”

“Nonsense! You needed a hug! You don’t even have an implant yet, and you talked about something really rough. That deserves a really big hug, like, a mistress-sized hug!”

As if on cue, Loretta felt herself pulled into a hug from behind. Loretta immediately relaxed as she felt her mistress’ rhythm wash over her. 

“Our food’s ready, petal,” Cherry said, smiling at her floret.

Loretta nodded, melting completely into her mistress.

“I’ll message you later, Loretta! By the way, Fluffy is super cute!” Heather said, letting Loretta go.

Loretta, for what it was worth, had no thoughts left in her to respond. She was in mistress’ vines, and that made everything ok. She had nothing to worry about as her hair was stroked. Things may have hurt in the past, and her life may have been rough, but none of that mattered now. Loretta belonged to Cherry, and her life was good.