Krile followed Cici through the wide boulevards that now made up the formerly familiar city. It still boggled her mind that they had been able to do so much so quickly. The official surrender was about two weeks back and they’d occupied the planet for about a month prior but still, they were building a new city on top of the old one in weeks what would have taken humans years. 

These new affini buildings didn't not lack for grandeur either. Each and every one of them could have been a defining piece of architecture in a terran city. From what she saw many of the buildings followed a design concept that placed a shopping center on the bottom few floors with apartments filling up the rest. Though Krile was unsure whether or not to call them ‘shopping’ centers as none of them seemed to accept money. The check out merely serving as a method for the storefront to mark the removal of inventory. 

Acicularis stopped in front of a particularly colorful cafe. “Oh! You must be hungry little one. Lets get some food to bring with us!” Krile was dragged in before she had a chance to agree.

The inside of the cafe in its basics was familiar to Krile. Places to sit and a counter from which to order. However in addition to being much larger than most cafes Krile has ever been in it was also substantially cozier. Bookshelves lined the walls with signs saying they were free to read and take. The furniture seemed to even be real wood as far as Krile could tell. The clientele seemed to be a mix of affini and humans. It surprised Krile how quickly the aliens had integrated into society. The average person seemed to be perfectly content with their new overlords.

They both shuffled down the line and Krile was able to get a better view of the menu. It was the sort of stuff she would expect from a cafe, breakfast sandwiches, burritos, salads, with an assortment of smoothies, coffees, and teas. There was also a section of the menu dedicated to ‘affini beverages’ which had a wide assortment of minerals and other nutrients that presumably were combined into a drink.

The line moved briskly and as they neared the front Acicularus leaned down to Krile “I’ll order for us, what would you like?”

“A breakfast burrito and strawberry smoothie please.” Her usual order when she had the money to afford something extravagant.

Acicularis smiled and gave her a head pat. Krile blushed at the physical attention, she supposed she had accepted her physical touch earlier at the hospital but this felt a bit personal for what she assumed their relationship was. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed and saw that several affini were giving the humans they were sitting with the same sort if not more physical affection. 

That made Krile calm down a bit, it must just be an affini thing she reasoned. While she looked around she also noticed more than one of the humans here had what Krile surmised must be an affini implant. It was a flower, each different and sprouting front different parts of their bodies, one person had it coming out of their neck while another had one in their arm. She made a mental note to ask about it to Acicularis as they got to the front of the line.

“Two breakfast burritos, a strawberry smoothie, and two nitrogen phosphorus and potassium blends to go please.”

The human behind the counter gave Acicularis a wide smile that struck Krile as weirdly genuine before they shuffled back to the kitchen to give their order to the kitchen as the pair got out of line and found a place to sit.

“Cici, why did you order two burritos? I don’t think I’m hungry enough for that.”

“Oh, it's for my friend that we’re meeting, little flower” the affini gave Krile another pat on the head with one of her vines which Krile accepted without the embarrassment. She wanted to be accepting of affini culture, even if it included the kind of physical contact that she had been without for years. Krile had to remind herself not to get attached to her. That she was just a professional helping her and she’ll be out of her life. Getting attached would only hurt her.

An employee called out their order after a few minutes. The two got up to take their food which gave Krile a chance to see that the employees eyes were glossed over. That explained the smile earlier, but it made Krile wonder why the affini tolerated people getting high on the job. 

Breakfast burritos and drinks in tow the two left the complex for the park across the street. They spent a few minutes searching around before Acicularis waved at an affini on the far side of the park. As they approached Krile was able to get a good look at them.

They had the familiar shape of an affini. A relatively human looking body made of bright green foliage with a number of vines hanging at their sides. Covering their body were thin branches that reminded Krile of a weeping willow. The branches were covered in thin purple leaves that had a mesmerizing sheen to them. The boughs that covered her head were parted to show her face which had quite soft features despite the material it was crafted out of. A familiar gay panic struck at Kriles heart as she took a seat opposite of her.

“Hipatia, this is Krile, she/her, the human I told you about.” Acicularis pointed a vine at Krile while she set out their food and drinks. “Krile, this is a dear friend of mine Hipatia Morne, First Bloom. She/her”

The new affini offered her hand which Krile took and gave a gentle shake.

“It's a pleasure to meet you Krile” Her voice was a deep velvet that made tingles run up and down Krile’s spine.

“Y-you too.” Was all she could get out of herself. She busied herself with drinking her smoothie so she had an excuse for not talking. When it hit her tongue she was blown away by the flavor. It was like nothing she had ever tasted before, as if they had used real strawberries to make it. The two affini each dipped a vine in their drinks. Hipatia also leisurely opened up her burrito and allowed it to cool.

“So how's the climate committee?” Acicularis asked, saving Krile from having to think of something to say.

“Slow mostly, the terraforming engines we need to start anything only just rolled off the shipyard. It’ll be a few weeks until they get here. Which is fine by me. Some team members want to rely on the former Accord’s environmental data we have from the old terran networks to tell us what damage was done instead of the lengthy process of an environmental audit, but who knows how much that was tampered with for terran politics. Especially when we know how politicized the topic of climate change was for them. I-” She caught herself mid ramble. “Sorry, we didn't plan this so I could rag on my coworkers all day.”

Hipatia turned to look at Krile again. “Would you like to tell me a bit about yourself, little flower?”

Krile blushed, it was one thing for Acicularis to call her these things, but her, with that voice. For the first time in months Krile thought back to when she admitted her loneliness to Juno in one of her messages. Juno implored her to find someone who could fulfill her emotional needs while she was away. Back when Juno was with her they both had other partners off and on during their marriage. The ability to put herself out there just shriveled up when Juno left however. Krile pushed the thoughts away. She chided herself for thinking about dating a plant she had just met.

“Sure, uh, I was a librarian before the war. Librarians used to work at these places called libraries where you could borrow books for free and return them. But those havent existed around here for at least a hundred years, we just sort of kept the name. I usually was either hired to sort private collections or assist people in research.”

A ripple of pink danced across Hipatia’s eyes.

“You know a lot about human history then?” the affini leaned her elbows against the park table.

“I don’t have like a degree in it specifically or anything. But I have done a lot of research in historical topics”

Hipatia tapped a vine on the table in thought “Do you know about the old town you were living in? I haven't been able to find the details on that yet.”

“Oh well that's actually an interesting story” Krile was able to forget her feelings for a moment as she infodumped “A few hundred years ago during the final height of union power a tenants union formed in what was then called San Francisco. They did this to combat the high price of housing and living which was far more than what the average person who worked in the city could afford. Apartment building after apartment building the tenants unionized and joined with their neighbors. A lot of them even bought the building itself and they became self managed. A few decades later when unions were made illegal one of the concessions was that while the tenant unions were busted, the self owned buildings got to be divided up as condos that the tenants owned. The former union members were still all neighbors and so a lot of them still worked together to make sure their building would stay theirs, by keeping it well maintained so the city didn't have an excuse to condemn it and force them out. Things like that.”

Krile was suddenly aware of how much she had been talking. "Sorry I didn't mean to ramble like that.”

Hipatia’s eyes were gleaming with enthusiasm “Nonsense, you were answering precisely what I had asked” She turned to address Acicularis. “She is positively adorable, she doesn't have an owner yet does she?”

“Owner?” Krile was sure she must have misheard or it be a mistranslation.

Acicularis was too busy entertaining her friend's line of thought. “Nope! But I could always release her into your custody.” Acicularis held the last syllable in a singsong tone.

“Cici what did she mean?” Krile tugged on her vine in an attempt to get her attention.

“Oh, right. I’m sorry little one I was going to explain this when we got home but since it's come up…” Acicularis picked up Kriles burrito and held it up to her so that she would take it. After making it clear that she wouldn't continue unless she began eating Krile took the burrito and started nibbling on it. Just like her drink the food was a dimension of flavor she didn't think existed. Each ingredient tasted as if it were the real thing, or as much as the real thing as Krile could guess. It was like everything she had eaten until now was just a suggestion of what flavor was. Dividing her attention on eating and listening made the panic that was creeping in settle down.

“So when an adorable sophont like you is having trouble taking care of themself someone like me comes and helps them do just that. If after helping them create systems that let them take care of themselves they’re able to live without my help, then that's fantastic! I give them a big hug and we part ways. But if they’re still struggling then we talk about domestication which just means that an affini like Hipatia takes care of you all the time and makes sure you’re super comfortable and happy!”

“So thats wh-” Acicularis put a vine up to her lips.

“Ah ah, finish chewing before you talk little flower”

Krile, embarrassed both by forgetting her table manners and how much her heart fluttered at being treated this way by the affini, blushed heavily as she swallowed her food.

“So that's what is happening with me? You’ll help me take care of myself and then leave?”

“Your case is a bit different. You tried to self terminate, so we can’t just leave you alone where you might hurt yourself. For now you’re my ward, which is kind of like being a temporary pet. After a while I’ll decide if you are well enough to go back to living alone, or with your pinnate if we find her before then. Or if you need to I’ll sign you up for domestication and we’ll find an affini who will take wonderful care of you.”

“So I don’t have a say in my freedom anymore?” Despite Acicularis’s best efforts Kriles panic was getting away from her. She was getting committed, she thought. it was just in a friendlier way.

She felt a vine begin to stroke her hair which made her shiver at the initial contact, but the touch felt reassuring and grounded her in the moment. She looked over to her blind side expecting to see Acicularis’s vine reached out over to her but looking back across the table she saw it was Hipatia’s.

Hipatia spoke to her again “A lot of humans have had the thought or assumption that being an affini’s pet is analogous to the concept of slavery or prison. Neither of these concepts exist for affini. It is moreso similar to a mix between the human concept of pet ownership and a relationship between two humans. There is love and affection and you are cared for to the utmost extent, but there is also a clear difference in power between the two parties.”

Krile stared at the affini for a few moments as she digested the information. That put a lot of Acicularis’s behavior into context. The more she thought about it the more it made sense that an alien species would have different opinions about the nature of romantic relationships. Though she still felt weird about the idea of being forced into one.

“Do you do this with every species you find?”

“Yes we do.” Hipatia chimed back. “It comes from our original method of procreation which involved covering our pets in pollen and sending them off to our mates.”

“Hipatia!” Acicularis whipped her head around to see if anyone had overheard “You can’t just talk about the p word out in public!”

“Pollination!” Krile exclaimed, emerging from a moment of deep thought. Oblivious to Acicularis’s embarrassment. “Gods above, now that I think about it in those terms this makes so much more sense.”

Acicularis covered her face with her vines, as if to stop any passersby from recognizing her.

Hipatia chuckled at Acicularis’s embarrassment, then looked down at her now only warm burrito. “Oh I should probably eat this before it gets cold. '' The willow branches that covered her body suddenly revealed themselves to be just as prehensile as her vines as they grappled the food. Hipatia’s chest opened up into a carnivorous mouth as the branches tossed the burrito into it. The mouth quickly closed on its meal as Hipatia made a satisfied low rumble.

Krile was left staring at the place where the mouth had been and wondering why that was one of the hottest things she had ever seen.

“So, Krile” Hipatia’s attention made her look back up from where the mouth just was. “I’m sure you can tell by now that I’m a bit of an anthropologist. I’m also staying with Cici while I'm in town. May I have a standing invitation to ask about any human topics that come up? Starting with what you meant by that comment about gods earlier.”

“Of course,” Krile said, almost without thinking. She cherished the opportunity to teach a topic to someone genuinely interested. “I was referring to the gods of the Sumerian pantheon. Sumer being one of the first places on earth where humans transitioned from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agrarian one. It's not a popular religion these days, but once during a research consultation I had stumbled across the stories of their gods and it- It spoke to me unlike any interaction with faith I had before then.”

“Informative and adorable, thank you Krile.” Hipatia’s vine went back to stroking her head. Krile wanted to object to being called adorable, but she could count on one hand the amount of times she had been touched by another person since Juno left and she was deathly worried that if she objected she might never get touched again. She quietly moaned at the touch and desperately hoped that the two affini hadn’t heard her.

Acicularis tossed her now empty cup at Hipatia which dinked ineffectually off her face. “Nerds, I’m surrounded by nerds.”

She pulled out her tablet partly out to check the time before standing up. “We should get going. We still have a lot to do at home before your bedtime”

“Bedtime?” Krile’s question wasn't answered as she was guided up off the seat and onto her feet by Acicularis who kept a vine in her hand. Hipatia wrapped a vine of hers around Kriles' other hand as they set off.

You’re just engaging in affini cultural practices, Krile told herself. Nothing to get flustered or cagey about.

The two affini walked Krile out of the park and back onto the street. It seemed like now that she knew she noticed so many more humans walking around with collars being held by affini. They all seemed gleefully happy in their positions too. Krile wasn't sure what to think of it. She was definitely kinky enough to have been into something like this if Juno was willing. But to lose her right to change her mind scared her.

By the time they had covered a several blocks Kriles back pain had gone from ignorable to unmanageable. She assumed she must still be on some painkiller for her to have made it this far. The years isolated had not only affected her weight but caused the modest muscles she had built up to disappear, meaning she could barely carry herself a few blocks before needing to rest which made her all the more ashamed to ever come out of her home. Feeding into itself in an awful loop.

She started humming a song about saying no to her body, her old workout song. It helped her manage another block until the pain finally made her drop to her knees in a gasping cry.

Two two affini immediately dropped to her sides and held her.

“Sweetie, what's wrong?” Acicularis cooed soothingly in her ear.

“It's nothing, just tired. I’ll be okay in a second” Krile lied.

Hipatia looked her up and down, thought for a second, and then leaned in to whisper to Krile. “Is it your back?”

Krile couldn't bear to look at her so she simply nodded. Ashamed that she had ruined whatever Hipatia seemed to like in her.

“I’ll handle it Cici” Hipatia told the other affini as she wrapped Krile up in her vines and picked her up, cradling her in front of her chest. Her willow boughs draped over to give Krile a bit of privacy. Once she was situated the two affini began walking again

Krile was once more beet red. Both from exhaustion and now from being held so tenderly by this plant woman. Unbidden thoughts of her status as a burden to these two flowed through her mind. But usually when these thoughts would spiral one after the other, they instead petered out as a new noise took precedence in Kriles mind. It was an almost imperceptible thrumming that slowly rose and dipped in intensity. Krile reasoned this must be analogous to a heartbeat. She found it to be positively mesmerizing as it engulfed her thoughts and stopped her catastrophizing in its tracks. She could hear the affini talking to each other, even picking out her name a few times. But the thrum stopped her from worrying and she soon settled down into a blissful haze.

She lost track of time listening to the rhythm and after what felt like a minute or two she heard Acicularis let out an excited “We’re here!”

Krile peeked out of the willow branches to see a magnificently large apartment. The living room alone could hold at least four copies of the small studio she used to live in. The walls were a dull gold that all seemed to flow into each other. As if the whole building was created as a single object. The furniture was also massive. Every couch and chair sized for an affini. There were also several towers of boxes in the near corner of the room

Hipatia leaned her face towards Krile. “Would you like to walk again? I wouldn’t mind carrying you some more, in fact I would enjoy it quite a bit.”

Normally Krile would politely decline such an offer but with the rhythm still lingering in her mind she didn't feel the embarrassment or shame she would typically feel by saying. “I would like to be held a bit longer yes please”

Hipatia smiled and stroked her hair, parting the branches so that she could see all the things Acicularis was pointing out.

“Over there's the bathroom. It has a bathtub, sink, everything a human needs for uh…bathroom stuff.” She inclined her head behind her. “Over there's the kitchen for all your nutritional needs! I’ll show you how to work the atomic compiler later today.” She pointed to the doors on the other side of the room. “Those are mine and Hipatia’s rooms” A second vine shot out towards the stairs. “Up there is another bathroom, my office, Hipatia’s office, a few rooms I haven't decided on, and your room!” Hipatia followed Acicularis up the stairs and to the loft marked off as Kriles.

It was bigger than her whole apartment was. There were windows above the affini sized bed that was letting in the afternoon sun. Empty dressers, bookshelves, and a vanity decorated the room, thankfully all human sized. On the other side of the room were floor to ceiling windows that looked over the first floor. Krile spied a control device near the door that she hoped would let her frost them over.

Before she knew it Krile was being brought back downstairs and set down. She was a bit reluctant to give up Hipatia’s touch, but was back to normal enough to not be willing to ask for more. 

Acicularis ducked into the kitchen for a moment, Krile watched her fiddle with a machine embedded in the wall, a quick zapping sound and she pulled a fresh towel out of its cubby. Another zap and a bottle was removed. Acicularis brought both back and handed them to her. ‘’Here's your towel and soap, feel free to use as much as you like. Do you feel like you can take a bath on your own? If not one of us can certainly help”

“No no, I can do it, it's fine.” Krile assured them. She couldn’t imagine the sorts of feelings that would rile around in her if either of them saw her naked.

“Alrighty then, we’re going to get some things put away. A fresh set of clothes is already in there and once you’re done we’ll do your meds okay?”

Krile shuffled off into the bathroom and quickly undressed. Seemingly like everything else the affini built the bathroom was astonishingly big. The tub itself looked like it could even fit two affini. She tossed her towel onto the counter and took a look at the soap bottle. Most of it was written in what she assumed was the affini written language. The only recognizable text was several letters printed in bold across the front of the bottle, ACE. Below that was the only intelligible human language on it which said ‘for bonding with, relaxing, and uninhibiting your floret’.

‘Uninhibiting…’ Krile thought. She supposed that affini would probably bathe with their pets, so a soap advertising itself towards more…kinky situations wasn't far fetched. She let the thought pass, she was bathing alone. She ran the water and squeezed the soap in.

Krile got in when the water was about a quarter of the way full. She couldn't remember the last time she luxuriated in a bath like this. Almost as soon as she got in her legs felt more relaxed than they’ve ever been. She made a deeply contented sigh as she sunk deeper into the water. The tub was about half full now but with only a modest amount of bubbles which struck Krile as odd for a bubble bath soap. She reasoned that she must have not used enough and gave it another good squeeze underneath the faucet.

The deeply relaxed feeling climbed up her body. She felt as if she were unclenching muscles that had been clenched for years. “Relaxing indeed” Krile muttered to herself. The cloud of negativity that usually hung over her mind seemed to melt away along with every ounce of soreness. The only feeling in her besides bliss was a deep longing. It felt similar to her near constant yearning for Juno, but a more general need for closeness with someone. The island of longing in a sea of bliss bothered her, maybe she just needed some more bubbles…

“Enjoying yourself?” Hipatia’s question roused Krile out of her internal revelry. She looked over to see the affini leaning on the side of the tub looking down at her. “Mhhmmm, s’relaxing” Krile didn't even notice herself slurring her words. Her mind was instead taken up by thoughts of how beautiful Hipatia was and why she wasn't being held by her right now.

Hipatia examined the bottle of soap Krile had used and made a face of mild shock. “Yes I would imagine you feel quite relaxed right now” She sighed. “Alright, let's get you cleaned up” As soon as the affini’s vines touched her Kriles mind fractured into a thousand pieces. The next coherent thought she had was noticing how much she was mewling over Hipatia cleaning the suds off of her.

“Nnooo” Krile squeaked out

“No? No, what?” Hipatia’s voice was a glass of ice cold water in the desert to Krile.

It took all of Krile's remaining brain power to put together a sentence. “If you look at my body…you wont like me anymore”

“Oh, darling” Hipatia brought her close and squeezed her in a loving embrace that turned Kriles brain into mush.

The next thing she knew Krile was dry, bundled up in new clothes that were incredibly soft, and resting in Hipatia’s lap, her head against her chest hearing that familiar thrum. She listened to Hipatia and Acicularis talk to each other, though nothing they said seemed to stick in her mind for very long.

“You already said you were interested in her, I don’t see what the problem is.” Krile felt Acicularis’s vine hold her arm in place as she poked her with something. The pain didn't last long however, and Kriles mind was already back to focusing on how lovely Hipatia’s chest felt against her cheek.

“Yes but I wasn't imagining today, she seemed like the kind of human that would fight with you about it for a while” Hearing Hipatia’s voice again made Krile coo in delight. Both affini paused their argument to aww over the half conscious human.

“You didn't read her file, almost four years alone! A human! This isn't even her first attempt at self termination. And apparently the fleets still haven't caught sight of her pinnate’s ship since they left the system. This goes beyond being able to take care of herself. She needs a constant source of affection in her life, something that won't be there the second I let her loose. She needs an owner, don’t pretend like the writing isn't on the door.”

“The wall, the writing is on the wall”

“The writing can be wherever it wants! I am her case worker and I am deciding that she needs an owner.” Krile felt another poke in her arm. “At least try it out, an official report on her wellbeing isnt due for another few weeks.”

“‘Try it out’ You let a human dose herself with a frankly dangerous amount of Class-C and then sent me in to check on her. I’ll be surprised if she can ever stand to be more than a hundred feet away from me again.”

“I thought she was just going to use enough to wash herself with! I wasn't expecting her to empty the bottle.” Acicularis’s vine grabbed Krile’s arm again “One last injection and you’re all done honey” A third poke hit her arm, which made her wince. But a few headpats from Hipatia and she forgot almost instantly. “The drugs were printed on the bottle, you can compile an antidote and sober her up right now if you want”

“Hmm” Hipatia wrapped her vines under Kriles arms and held her out to look at her. Krile was confused and didn't understand why she wasn't being held against her anymore. She squirmed her arms to try to get back to her cozy spot in Hipatia’s embrace. 

“She is pretty cute like this isnt she?” Hipatia brought her back into her embrace. Krile immediately cuddled up against her, pushing her face against the foliage. “Fine, I acknowledge that for this one specific sophont this was the right thing to do”

“Yes! I knew you’d see it my way” Acicularis dashed into the kitchen leaving the two alone for a moment. Krile wrapped her arms around the affini and gave her best attempt at a hug. All she could focus on was how happy she was to be hugging Hipatia in that moment.