Today was a rather busy day at the lab, and Carina Pulver was in her element. Today she was finally allowed to work with her specialty, viruses, specifically a virus known to the Rinans as 'The Skrunklies.' While almost any organic species could be a carrier of the virus, it only produced ill effects in a select variety of sophonts, most notably the Rinans. The little squirrels would have symptoms similar to the very, very persistent Covid-19 in humans. The plan from her Affini superiors was to begin trying to catalog its various interactions with the cells of various sophonts In Vitro to try and figure out why it was so effective as an asymptomatic carrier.

Carina made her way over to the cryostat and carefully, with a pair of tongs, removed the glass vial of viral solution from its stasis cube. It wasn't really a cryostat, not in the traditional sense. It was just a collection of stasis cubes storing a variety of glass ampules containing the viruses. They would be broken when they were needed to ensure that there was no leakage of the virus into the air during storage or transport. She kept the ampule safe in the tongs as she made her way over to her work bay and carefully placed it down on the table before returning the tongs to the compiler by her desk. Now all she had to do was get to work and see if she couldn't begin categorizing the interactions with terran cells first, given as she was most familiar with those from her work history.

Her work was, however interrupted rather quickly by a certain coworker of hers, Calendula Hermetica, Fifth Bloom. She was a proper veterinarian, one of the few on staff, and she had a variety of colored needle flowers all around her body, with every xenodrug one could possibly ever need. She was stunningly pretty, even beyond her bizarre insistence on dressing like a witch at all times, complete with pointy hat with a conspicuous belt buckle. Her outfit was bright and floral orange, complementing her natural yellow flowers and antenna rather nicely. The outfit was rather silly, but Carina found it rather endearing, if anything. Her eyes were the same stunning yellow as the rest of her body, and they were oh so easy to get lost in if one wasn't careful. Carina didn't intend to be domesticated any time soon, if ever. Still, she did suppose that if she had to be domesticated, she would prefer it to be an Affini like Calendula.

"Hi there, Carina! How are you doing today? You've been drinking enough water, I hope? I know you have a habit of overworking!" Calendula said, smiling.

Carina giggled as she compiled a hammer to prepare to crack open the ampule. She had done this hundreds of times at this point, and there wasn't really anything that she imagined could go wrong. "Yes, Callie, I've been drinking enough water. I really don't need you to remind me constantly."

"I wouldn't be so sure; last time I did your checkup you were beyond dehydrated! You are a virologist, petal, it's important to stay hydrated to keep that immune system sharp!"

"Not that you softies would let me work with anything genuinely dangerous to my health. Takes the excitement out of all of this, don't you think?"

"I think that the 'excitement' of your potential death to some horrible disease can be safely removed from any work environment," Calendula said, grinning.

"Yeah yeah, now stand back. You don't want this culture getting all over the place, do you?" Carina replied.

"I think you should really let me handle that cutie; I can break open that ampule without needing to use a hammer."

Carina scoffed at the implication. She was a scientist! A damn good one; she could open a damn ampule herself! She had done this hundreds of times; there was absolutely zero reason to let the damn affini handle this for her. She loved Callie as a friend, but all affini just had this idea that Terrans couldn't handle anything themselves, and it was absolutely ridiculous! She was an independent Terran! Not a doped-up pet who couldn't even walk down the street without assistance from a plant.

She grumbled as she took the hammer to the ampule. She swung perhaps a bit harder than she should have, as she managed also to shatter the beaker the liquid was supposed to go in, spraying the liquid all over the terran and affini. They both stared at the beaker wide-eyed, then looked down at themselves covered in the thick viral solution.

"Fuck." Carina said.

"Fuck indeed," Callie replied.

Almost immediately, a red flashing alarm went off as the holographic form of the digitized Affini that ran the ship appeared in the room. "My apologies, cuties, but it looks like you're going to have to quarantine together for two weeks. Unfortunately, our quarantine hab is designed for one affini, but I'm sure you both will make do! Please follow the flashing lights!"

Carina gulped as she was picked up and moved along with the Affini. Stuck together, in a room designed for one person, for two weeks. She knew all the tricks the affini had to turn normal independent terrans into cute pets. She had been actively trying to avoid them since the Affini arrived four years ago. One of the most insidious was perhaps the biorythym. Spend too much time near an affini, and they could draw you in. Their every movement was hypnotic, beautiful, and designed to worm into your dumb little mind until you were nothing but a desperate, needy pet.

The worst part was Carina was rather susceptible to these; especially Callies. The stupid plant was so pretty and so easy to look at; she had caught herself staring into the plant's beautiful yellow eyes a few times, lost in a daze, hanging onto the plant's every word like a damn floret. She couldn't let herself sink like that here; she would be stuck with Callie for two weeks in a hab designed for one person. They would be in close proximity constantly, with nothing to keep each other company but each other.

Carina realized that Callie smelled really nice, a floral musk that smelled vaguely of marigolds and honeysuckle. Growing up in an agriworld, she was lucky enough to know what those things even smelled like; most terrans she knew had never even seen flowers before the affini arrived. Callie also swayed really nicely, and her heat grew and abated in a rhythm, but not one that Carina could place. There was also a soft humming too, coming from deep inside the plant herself. They all matched up in a beautiful cacophony, and the poor girl soon found herself lost in it. She could stay like this forever, all her anxieties and worries gone in the blink of an eye, lost in the sounds and motions of the affini.

Maybe being a floret wouldn't be so bad; she could just let all those thoughts empty from her head, lose herself in Callie's rhythm. She didn't even have any florets right now. She would be the only one. Her pretty little familiar. Yes, that would be nice, belonging, not having to worry about anything but-

"[WARNING] DECONTAMINATION COMMENCING." A robotic voice said.

A buzzer sounded, and soon Carina was blasted with a stream of uncomfortably warm water covered in suds. She was absolutely drenched, which luckily snapped her out of whatever reverie she just lost herself in. This would be harder than she thought if she couldn't even make it a few minutes without sinking into Callie like a stone. However, at the moment, she was drenched, and it seemed that the decontamination shower didn't come with a blast dryer. How inconvenient.

The door into the quarantine hab opened with a hiss, and Carina immediately realized that the room was under negative pressure, as her ears popped slightly upon entering. It was probably to prevent the virus from leaving via any unknown cracks. Callie seemed to not even remain wet for very long at all. However, her hat was rather wet, but she simply placed it on the kitchen counter, which Callie realized was far too tall for her. Obviously, when the ship meant one person, they meant one affini. Well, technically, 'the ship' was, in fact, legally an affini. A lot of affini ships had digitized affini running them.

The one running the ship they were on, the Althaea, was obnoxiously sweet at times. Her holographic avatars varied, but when she formed as a terran, she wore fluffy pink dresses that made her look like somebody out of a magical girl anime, and it wasn't even surprised to find the hologram sitting on the couch smiling. It seemed to be in its terran form at the moment, complete with gaudy pink dress and a smile on its face.

"Helllloooo, cuties! Welcome to your home for the next two weeks, you have full amenities and a fully functional compiler, and I do apologize for the scale issues; you're the only human working in this lab, Carina!" The bubbly voice said.

"R-right," Carina replied, grumbling slightly.

"Anyway, if you need anything, I'll be keeping a thread listening in, don't worry, I won't remember anything going on unless you call for me!"

Carina sighed. "Of course, Marshmallow."

"Bye bye cuties!" The hologram said, flickering out.

Callie immediately looked at Carina. "First, we should get you out of those clothes. You must be very uncomfortable."

Right, she was sharing a hab with Callie, an affini whose biorythym she was particularly susceptible to. She couldn't help but hang onto the plant's every single word as if it were the gospel of some divine goddess. It wasn't unpleasant exactly, but it was certainly existentially terrifying. In fact, Carina supposed the problem was that it wasn't unpleasant. That she genuinely enjoyed falling into the plant's rhythm. Perhaps it was that submissive lesbian part of her that didn't really care that much about existential things like freedom of choice and just wanted to be a cute, drugged-up pet. Carina would not be having any of that today.

Carina was snapped out of her reverie by a snap as Callie handed her a folded pile of clothes along with a towel. "Go put these on in the bedroom; I won't peep! And don't think you have a choice on the matter; I will help you if you refuse."

Carina had to make conscious effort to avoid making eye contact as she took the clothes and nodded. Each lapse would only send her further down the slippery slope to florethood, and Callie was not the type to even realize what she was doing to her. Not that she would be saying anything about it, she didn't want to make Callie uncomfortable or force her to take measures for her own comfort. Also, the bioryhtym would help keep her calm. Yeah, that was it.

Callie slipped into the bedroom and found that there was, in fact, only one bed. That would be a problem to solve later. Right now, she needed to change. She tossed off her lab coat and soaked clothes, stripping down until she was completely naked. She sighed as she looked in the mirror attached to the door. She was short, soft, and squishy. She wanted to look like this for less than wholesome reasons. She was always a massive sub, and the affini allowed her to change her body to be however she wanted, so yeah, she was going to make herself into the cutest thing she could.

She had been called a seed before, but she wasn't having any of it, she had made it four years without getting domesticated, and she definitely was not going to start now! So she put on the cute... floral... dress. Carina felt pretty, really pretty, but she also looked like a floret, just sans collar and dopey look. She didn't want to bother Callie, though, so she just went with it. It would be far too supsicious to go, 'HELLO, YES, MS. AFFINI LADY, MY DRESS IS FAR TOO PRETTY AND CUTE PLEASE GET ME A NEW ONE.' Callie might catch on that she was trying to avoid being domesticated, which will only lead to them trying harder to domesticate her. Yeah, that was sound logic. Absolutely nothing could go wrong with that.

She used the scarily efficient towel to completely dry her hair before heading out into the hab, where Callie had retrieved her hat and was sitting on the couch looking at her datapad. Carina made her way over to the couch and tried her best to climb up onto it. Unfortunately, it didn't go very well, as it was far too tall for her, and the girl was short and not very strong. Callie, for what it was worth, saw her struggle and smiled.

"Would you like help, little one?" She asked, beaming.

Carina accidentally made eye contact and immediately sank, falling from the couch, only to be caught by Callie. "I got you, cutie. Come on."

The girl was lifted onto the couch, and placed on top of it, frustratingly leaning against the plant. She had just escaped staring into the eyes, and now she was being drawn into the warmth and the sound, and oh stars, this was heavenly. Carina had never been able to appreciate just how soft Callie was before truly, but she was so soft and so warm and smelled really nice. The sounds of her biorythm were so calming, and it was so easy for her to just sink into the feeling.

She nuzzled into the plant like a needy cat, letting out a whimper, some perverse desire building within her that she couldn't shake. She needed something, but she wasn't sure what it was. She was already as close to the plant as she could be, so that wasn't it. What was it that she wanted then? A hand came down and began to ruffle her hair, and Carina was left a mewling mess. She nuzzled into the hand; yes, this is what she needed, headpats. Every touch sent sparks down her spine and scattered any attempt at thought to the wind.

"Awww," Callie said, lifting the girl's face by the chin. Carina stared into those eyes, and any chance of resistance was blown away. "You didn't follow my recommendation to head to Class J cafe, did you? You seem very touch-starved, my little petal."

Carina moaned, shaking her head while keeping her eyes locked on those pretty yellow orbs. They were so beautiful, so easy to lose herself in. There was nothing more important in the universe than the plant in front of her. Carina needed more. She would give herself piece by piece until there was nothing more she could give just to feel another few moments of this bliss.

"Well, you are sinking into my biorhythm very easily, which is usually a sign that a cutie like you is touch starved or lacking in neurochemicals, probably both."

Carina nodded along, not even processing the words being said beyond the surface level. Stars, Callie was so pretty, very very very pretty. She wanted this plant to do unspeakable things to her.

"We'll do a checkup tomorrow, but for now..."

Carina heard a snap, and her reverie was broken. She looked away, blushing profusely, imminently aware of the kind of state she was just in. Stars, she wasn't supposed to be sinking that hard after just a few minutes! How was she going to make it two weeks?

"Back with me, petal?" Callie said

"Y-yes, thank you, sorry for bothering you," Carina replied.

"No, it wasn't a bother at all. The cute thoughtless stare you were giving me was nothing short of precious. I could almost start imagining you in a pretty little collar."

Carina let out an eep. "N-no, I'm good, quite happy being independent, thank you!"

"Of course, Carina, of course." The grin on Callie's face was nothing short of predatory, but only for a moment. Then, just as quickly as it arrived, it was gone.

Carina gulped; she was doomed.