Venisin relaxed her internal vines in what humans would have understood as a sigh of relief. The whole "specialist" thing had been a bit of an exaggeration, but it seemed to have gotten them off on the right foot. Without xenodrugs she'd have to manage her little petal’s emotional state carefully, and if that occasionally required some bending of the truth, she'd be a willow in the wind.

 

Truthfully they were way past the edge of the forest here. There was some precedent from her time in the Kvėnzrkrom system, but the sophonts there actually communicated with pain. The acquiescence in the face of pain was normal there. It was like making a very convincing argument, and so what if Venisin liked winning debates more than strictly necessary? From all her reading this absolutely wasn’t the case with humans, and while they had a history of using pain in punishment there was considerable evidence that the practice did psychological harm (just like in most species) and for all that he was a friend Venisin knew that Cantilop would never let her near a floret if he wasn’t desperate. 

 

That said, Venisin was already impressed on the walk home. Aside from some apparent difficulties breathing, her floret-she’d already decided this was going to work out-was doing a perfect job of staying exactly where she was supposed to be. They had just taken three turns and walked down a staircase in quick succession, and Kira’s distance hadn’t changed the whole time. It made her want to rustle.

 

But it was too much. Incredibly, irresistibly endearing, but definitely too much. Either humans were bred to be sophonts, or there was something else here.

 

The fact that Terrans were still uselessly rebelling across Accord space made the former unlikely. Venisin already had some ideas about the latter, but she wasn’t yet an expert at reading human body language. Digibooks were great, but not a substitute for practical experience. So she’d go on growing semi-blind for a little longer. She knew which way the sun was, and that’s all that counted for now.

 

Venisin took a moment to check a street sign on the still unfamiliar station, appreciating how her floret anticipated her stop and took a kind of double half step to make sure she’d stop in exactly the right spot as well. She was just so adorable. Venisin wanted to see her cry.

 

They walked by one of the Arboratis’s many public plazas, and Venisin made a snap decision. She couldn’t-wouldn’t-let a floret into her home without enforcing her ground rules, and before she exposed Kira to that shock she wanted just a little more time for them to get to know each other. It was time for a detour.

 

“Kira, have you been to any of these cafes?” She asked.

 

“No Master, my past owners didn’t let me get out much,” Kira said.

 

“And why is that, hmmm?” Venisin let her voice take that predatory edge again.

 

“Because I always got into trouble, Master,” Kira responded. There was a soft acquiescence in her speech and Venisin had to suppress a rumbling of her leaves. She guessed Kira understood something of their body language by now, and she didn’t want to be an open book just yet.

 

But she would reinforce that beautiful, obedient mindset her little future floret seemed to be in.

 

“Hmmmm, you won’t be getting in trouble today though, because the consequences would be incredibly painful for you, correct?” Venisin let one of her stinger vines flow down the leash and brush Kira’s cheek. With he amount of energy she’d stored in it, the brush against Kira’s cheek would feel like a slight electric shock.

 

“Owww, no Mistress.” Venisin watched with satisfaction as Kira turned a bright red and struggled to find her next breath. 

 

—-

 

Kira managed to get herself into her affini scale chair without any help, something that took an ounce of athleticism and a pound of pure stubbornness. Finding a way to reach the table that wasn’t kneeling on her chair was an additional challenge. She eventually managed it with just one foot under her as a booster pillow. It wasn’t quite as high as kneeling would have been, but that would be the price of avoiding that particular gesture.

 

Kira was being extra careful because, in truth, Venisin’s constant predatory edge was starting to affect her, and that thought led immediately to self pity. 

 

Why’d it have to be this? It would only make the inevitable break more difficult. With this one, she could imagine herself finding some kind of… something. Especially if that predatory edge came with some sort of care to balance it out. Venisin already seemed to have some kind of intuition towards understanding her, especially impressive since she clearly had never talked to a human before. But she- she just couldn’t. Not after- no, not a good time to cry.

 

The zap on her upper back brought her back to the present, and Kira let out a yelp.

 

“You are to continue paying attention to me, even when we sit down. If you space out, it will be because I let you, not because you saw a… what’s the human word…” Venisin idly tapped a vine on the table… ”Ah! A butterfly in your mind and decided to chase it.”

 

“Y- Yes Master”. Kira knew her eyes had gone glassy, and she looked at her Mi- at Venisin for only a second before looking at the table. Her body’s instinctive relaxation wasn’t something she could, or wanted to fight, so she let it happen and waited for Venisin’s next move.

 

Venisin smoothly moved them back to smalltalk as their drinks arrived, and they ended up in an animated conversation about the different ways affini vs human cafes were structured. Kira had always been fascinated by what she could best describe as spacial design, and Venisin had seen quite a few cafes in her lifetime.

 

They ordered in the midst of it, taking only a brief glance at the menu or the waitstaff.

 

When the food arrived, it was a kind of yogurt granola-esque dish for Kira, and a chunk of lab meat for Venisin, and there was a brief lull in conversation as they both began to eat. Kira spun her spoon in the required three circles before taking each bite, and watched as Venisin's glowing vines seemed to dissolve and absorb the lab meat.

 

She wasn't sure if it'd be rude to ask but she'd only seen other affini drink nutrient water and it hadn’t been explicitly forbid–“Hey Master, why do you eat meat?"

 

Kira knew the intense curiosity and the stare that came with it might have been considered rude in many other situations, but she figured Venisin was trying to own her, and in a relationship like that she would never be anything but herself.

 

Venisin just gave her that scary smile again.

 

"I share my lineage with a predatory plant species. On my origin world these vines would hang from trees and lure then paralyze prey. Based on my research they then either decay over my roots or, if they stay in contact with the vines and get dissolved." One of the vines surrounding the lab meat pulsed a particularly pretty purple color. “Much like certain little florets.”

 

Kira blushed.

 

“My turn to ask a question: What’s human’s relationship with pain like? I know they, like most species, have evolved to feel it and generally avoid it, but I’ve also read about things like spicy foods where humans seem to find some things painful yet pleasurable.” 

 

She sounded curious instead of predatory, and Kira could keep her brain in normal working order.

 

“Hmmmm. So for pain in general, I think most people don’t like it at all. But as a species we’re pretty flexible, so for example spicy foods are for most people an acquired taste. And we have things like roller coasters which take a feeling that’s normally negative, like being scared of falling or hitting something, and turn it into excitement.”

 

"Interesting," Venisin responded, "Up until recently I was with a species where pain played an important cultural significance. I think in your terms the closest word would be ‘masochism’ though there was much more nuance to it than that."

 

For once Kira managed to keep a straight face. "Oh yeah, there’s definitely a subset of the population that are masochists, though there’s plenty of very different reasons someone might ascribe to that label. It’s more or less ritual or cultural in certain contexts as well.”

 

Venisin got that predatory look again. “Interesting and how would you say you fit into that?”

 

Kira turned beet red. “I… I like it sometimes.”

 

Venisin snaked a vine across the table and grabbed Kira’s wrist, sending a shiver down her arm and eliciting another moment of gay panic. 

 

It wasn’t fair, why did Venisin get to remain so calm?

 

Venisin looked like she’d learned something more about her. Turned another page in her book-of-Kira and unwrapped one more layer of her soul and Kira knew creatures like her and she absolutely wasn’t going to stop. Kira felt the desire mix with bone deep fear and tried to suppress a panic.

 

She’d apparently done a good job of keeping it inside, because Venisin only saw the arousal, and that was an expression she’d already developed a hunter’s instinct for. The next question came out pitched down, as a rumble.“And little Kira would that something you have experience in?”

 

The question was too close to home, Venisin was going to figure it out. All that effort and it wouldn’t be the drugs but the gay that got to her and– She couldn't– Kira felt her breathing constrict again and suddenly it was overwhelming. She had to stop this– she had to– breath– breathe first– 

 

A vine around her throat and each of her limbs froze Kira’s panic mid stream, and another two around her chest grounded her back to reality. They were firm. Not exactly gentle, but predictable, grounding. Another snaked up the back of her neck into her hair and began massaging her scalp and Kira managed to let go and draw a deep breath.

 

Kira let her eyes close for a moment and just absorbed the calm. A moment later she opened them again, and found the words to hopefully get through to her new overlord.

 

“Please. I don’t want to talk about this. Please?” It came out meek, barely above a whisper.

 

A vine curled around Kira’s cheek and she flinched, but the expected zap never came. Instead Venisin gently stroked her, and Kira shuddered. She finally looked up, and the predatory expression was gone, replaced by something that resembled a combination of focused inspection and concern.

 

“It’s alright little petal, we can save that for later.” Venisin soothed. The stroking ran down her neck, continuing to calm her.

 

Kira looked back down, but directly at Venisin’s torso this time. The glowing vines seemed to have taken on a slightly different hue, but she didn’t know what it meant.

 

“But you know we’ll have to address this, if I’m to take care of you without xenodrugs.” 

 

Kira shuddered again, and she briefly closed her eyes. But she nodded.

 

“I know. Thank you,” Kira exhaled, “M-Master.”

 

Kira didn’t feel talkative after that, and Venisin let her finish her tea in silence.

 

—

 

They walked back to Venisin’s place mostly in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Venisin wasn’t sure how to read what had just happened. Her little petal seemed to oscillate between beautiful, instinctive submission and a violent, feral fear of closeness and vulnerability.

 

That Venisin’s instincts for constricting, controlling contact succeeded in calming her suggested that the submission was real. Especially in a panic that sort of thing would be difficult to fake. But submission came with vulnerability and so something else needed to be there.

 

Venisin loved seeing little florets in distress, but she hated when that distress wasn’t something she could control. She told Kira they’d save it for later, and so she’d try a more sensitive touch. A plant could go through rock with the gradual growth of its roots.

 

At least it looked like despite what had happened Kira had no trouble maintaining the required distance from her the whole way. Venisin also noted that Kira hadn’t objected when Venisin put on the leash, though that might just be because her last potential owners had already used one on her.

 

They quickly arrived back at Venisin’s hab, and Venisin kept a side eye on Kira as her little petal took the main living space in. She’d put a lot of effort into creating a space that was cozy and multi leveled, to better remind her of the jungles on her native homeward. It still had a big couch in the center across from a wall sized view screen, a small table with seating off to one side, and a gorgeous window to space on another. But all the furniture came in unusual, organic shapes and Venisin had made sure any openings were flooded with flora.

 

The entire room was in a kind of half light, with subtle glowing patterns on walls and furniture to bring in some of the native textures as well. Though these replicas weren’t nearly as dangerous. That privilege she reserved for herself.

 

Kira certainly seemed amenable. A slight tension seemed to leave her shoulders as she took in the space. The earlier correction on her focus seemed to have stuck–Venisin noted that even when completely overwhelmed by the new space, a tiny fraction of Kira’s attention remained consistently focused on her.

 

Venisin stretched her internal vines. This was going to be one of the most important moments. 

 

"Alright, let's go over the house rules. I mentioned this earlier, but I don’t intend to use xenodrugs to enforce your compliance. That doesn’t mean I intend to control you any less than other affini might. In fact I’m arguably significantly stricter." She paused to let Kira take things in. "That's both because of my personal preference, and because you’ve demonstrated a habit of doing what you shouldn’t, and I believe you need the structure."

 

Kira didn’t seem to react to that, so Venisin continued. “First off. Furniture is a privilege, not a right. For now you're allowed to curl up on the low furniture, but anything above the height of your knees is off limits.”

 

Still no reaction. “Second. When I come in, I expect you to meet me at the door and greet me.”

 

Venisin watched the slight jitter in Kira’s deep inhale, but decided to continue. “Third. We will meet every night to talk about how you’re doing and handle any needs or punishments.  I expect complete honesty from you when we do this. “

 

She paused for a moment. “Actually that shouldn’t even be a house rule. I expect you to be honest with me at all times, and to be forthcoming with things I need to know.”

 

Kira only nodded in response to this, so Venisin went on.

 

“Some additional rules:

 

You will not leave the house without permission.

You will not deliberately destroy things.

You will use common sense, if you think I wouldn’t want you to do something, you won’t do it.”

 

Kira seemed to accept those, she hadn’t moved in a bit, so Venisin decided it was enough for now.

 

“That’s all for today, but you might get more rules from me every evening when we discuss how you’re doing. Any questions for now?”

 

Kira looked at her for a moment, then shook her head.

 

Venisin brought the vine out instantly, and gave Kira what she figured would be a medium painful shock on her upper arm.

 

“How do you respond to one of my questions?”

 

“Y– Yes Master. I mean no. No Master. No questions.”

 

Kira gave a sheepish little smile, and looked up at Venisin from under her eyelashes, and Venisin couldn’t help but ruffle her hair with the same vine that had just shocked her.

 

“Good girl. Alright, here’s your data pad. I’m going to get some paperwork done; you can relax in the living room.”

 

Venisin watched Kira sink into the ground a little as she walked away. There was always this undercurrent of energy in Kira, it bordered on a kind of anxious restlessness. It hadn’t escaped Venisin’s notice that her corrections–regardless what for–seemed to make it temporarily go away. Kira didn’t even attempt to stand up, though Venisin hadn’t made any rules forbidding it. Instead she crawled over to one of the low cushions and curled up in a way that reminded Venisin of a species called a čkat from her native homeworld. The complete relaxation and peace was absolutely adorable.

 

She'd meant what she’d said about the structure being good for Kira. It was a solid bet given what she’d seen in those first few minutes and her history of getting into trouble. Still, privately she was incredibly glad that she she was taking so well. This was inevitable from the moment Cantilop had sent her to take on this problem floret, but there was a kind of rightness to it anyway that Venisin found incredibly pleasing. There were clearly some mysteries to solve here, but with at least that baseline Venisin felt confident she could proceed.

 

—

Kira held her tablet but didn’t really process what she was reading. After finishing the house rules Venisin had gotten busy doing something in the kitchen. It would be so easy for Kira to sink here, the same way her body was currently sinking into the coziest couch she’d ever been on. She could sink into the comforting structure of someone who clearly already cared for her, and, despite claiming to not yet understand the nuances of human’s relationship to power and pain, had an almost scary gut instinct for it, and for her. But she’d stay strong. She had a promise to keep.