Ennervia woke up with her vines wrapped around Aurora and the cute little thing rubbing up against her letting out sweet little moans. The plant supposed that meant she was enjoying this and that her initial assumptions that sleeping together would only increase her pack bonding response were correct.

Dirt, roots, dirt, and vines. She wasn’t supposed to get attached like this or let Aurora get attached like this, but she just couldn’t help but find the human adorable. Perhaps she could just let loose… take the day off work and spend time with the cute thing, explore her body intimately and discover all the cute noises she could make, see all the desperate needy glar- No, she had to go to work today.

Unfortunately, Aurora couldn’t be left alone, so she supposed the human had to come with her. This complicated things, seeing as her coworkers would see that she got a pet and start teasing her until her vines were stuck a shade of blushy yellow for the entire day. Her efficiency would go through the floor, leading to more teasing and AAGH.

Sadly she didn’t have much choice. She had to bring the poor thing, which meant she was doomed. Absolutely positively doomed. She shoved the inevitability of her own embarrassment out of her mind and started going through the human's daily routine. Bath, dressed, fed, and picked up for a talk.

“S-so petal, I uh, I have to go to work today, and since you can’t really be left alone, I’m bringing you.”

Aurora lit up with a smile of pure adoration. “I get to meet mistress’ coworkers!”

“Y-yes, you do. Now I need you to promise that you will be a good girl and not bother me too much.”

“Ok, Mistress! Where do you work? Is it an important job?” She asked.

“I uh… I work at the Office of Transitional Neoxenoveterinary Archaeobureaucracy.”

She tilted her head. “The Office of Traditional Neolenovortinery Arachnoburracrocy?”

Dirt, she was too cute, nonono please stop! “Close enough, dear.”

“What do they do?”

“Well, we dig through old Terran records, sometimes having to reconstitute them if they were destroyed or otherwise lost, and then file them into the Affini systems. We use the data to help new pets be as comfortable as possible, as well as to ensure things move smoothly for independents.”

“Wow! That’s so cool!” Aurora said, clearly not understanding ny of what that meant..

“Yes, dear, now, be good; you wouldn’t want to cause any problems, would you?” Aurora shook her head in response. “Good Girl!”

Why did she say that?

* * *

Luckily, the rain had decided to let up for a day, and the sun was shining harshly down. Paradiso was a resort planet before the Affini, carefully curated to provide a tropical yet pleasant environment for wealthy Terrans. Ennervia couldn’t help but find their work acceptable, even if Terran terraforming was primitive at best.

Luckily, now the populace could enjoy all of the planet's luxury for themselves! Ennervia couldn’t help but find herself drawn to her. The plant she was uplifted from was something very similar to the Terran Aloe Vera, from which she took her name. However, unlike the questionably medicinal sap of the Terran plant, hers was actually medicinally active. 

Also, unlike the Terran plant, she was native to warm, humid environments. The air was good for her and left her feeling pleasant and warm in the ways an Affini ship really couldn’t for her.

However, none of that comfort would really help her as she stood in front of the local OTNA office. Her coworkers would be ruthless; she knew that. She had been preparing for it all the previous day, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was going to have one of the worst days of her entire life.

Unluckily for the plant, her floret seemed to catch on to this and looked up at her mistress. “Miiiistress~.”

“Yes, dear?” Ennervia replied.

“Stop being a big dummy and go inside!”

The human was currently swaddled in the Affini’s arms, covered by a thick umbrella of vines to prevent her from getting a sunburn, nuzzling into her mistress with adoration in her eyes.

“R-right.”

No going back now… Ennervia shook her head and went inside. She immediately scurried past the receptionist who tried to say hello, past her other coworkers, before landing behind her desk in her office. She had somehow successfully avoided any sort of interpersonal conflict and made it to her office! This was a glorious occasion mayb-

“By. The. Everbloom. Is that what I think it iiiis~” The all too familiar voice chimed from the corner of the office.

Ennervia shot around, still holding her floret, and saw the all too familiar face of her coworker/best friend. “H-Hazel… I didn’t see you there, uh….”

“That’s a floret, isn’t it?”

“Uh-”

“Yes Miss! I’m mistress’ floret!.” Aurora chimed.

Betrayal! Sabotage! Ennervia couldn’t believe she had been betrayed by her own forcibly assigned floret!

“Awww, already so well trained isn’t she.” Hazel said, moving over to pet Aurora, who seemed to love the attention.

“What’s your name, cutie?”

“Aurora, miss!”

“Awwww~. Ennervia, I thought just last week you told me that you would ‘never ever take a floret ever, please stop asking me’ followed by a noise which could only be described as nervous screaming.”

“I uh… look…” Enervia huffed slightly. “Aurora here was being held by rebels, and she was accidentally shot… the doctor ruled that her class E dose would render her unable to take care of herself, and given her attachment to me, I was the only one for the job.”

“Well, I think that it was for your good as much as her’s” Hazel said, wrapping the two up in vines. “You are an absolute nervous wreck, and you need help, and little Aurora here seems very enthusiastic about providing it.”

“R-right.” Ennervia said.

“By the way, I just told everyone else in the office, so have fun, you two!” Hazel said before bolting out of the door.

AGH! Betrayed again by her own best friend!

Soon, practically the entire office was crammed into Ennervia’s own, asking and bombarding the two with questions that Ennervia desperately tried to avoid answering and Aurora was all too enthusiastic about filling in.

She couldn’t believe she had been betrayed like this! By her floret and own best friend even! This was a disaster!