Revitalising Curse (HDG)
Chapter 3.1
by Zero
Tags:
#dom:female
#Human_Domestication_Guide
#hypnosis
#ownership_dynamics
#scifi
#slow_burn
#sub:female
#sub:male
#dom:internalized_imperialism
#drug_play
#gender_dysphoria
#self_care_is_over_were_doing_drugs_now
#xenophobia
Magnus slowly awoke whilst lying peacefully and relaxed upon a large bed, He considered getting up but saw no reason to, For the first time in his life he felt as if he had no stresses or responsibilities to address and he wanted to enjoy it so for a time he simply relaxed in bed cozy and enjoying himself.
Eventually, his curiosity and eventual boredom got the best of him and he decided to rise, he quickly discovered that his clothing had been changed at some point where he once was wearing the broadly formal clothing that his career demanded now he was wearing oddly light clothing with bright floral designs on them, He briefly felt resentful that his clothing had been changed against his will and without his knowledge but upon feeling the gentle brush of the clothing against his skin the resentfulness swiftly faded away as he felt the immense comfort of them and began to feel somewhat fortunate to have been given them as they seemed much better than the ones he had previously been wearing
Magnus looked around the hab for a moment, He tried to remember what it looked like yesterday but being blissed out through most of it made it difficult to recall much, so he opted to explore the hab now whilst lucid, The bedroom that he was in was very large almost excessively so and appeared quite minimalist with only a few empty shelves and tables adorning the walls, It drew Magnus’ thoughts to that of his old home, It had been quite small and run down as but it did contain all of his possessions and he figured that he’d have to ask Exdela if he would be able to retrieve any of them.
Magnus soon decided to walk out into the main atrium of the Hab where he saw the relative luxury of the hab, The room was clearly the main living space but there was also a kitchen of sorts present, It was a huge room, Magnus felt that it alone was probably larger then his entire old home had been altogether and for a moment he stood in awe almost unbelieving that he had been given this to live in but his emotions quickly found themselves turning negative as he began to feel like a burden on the Affini. He began to think and quickly found himself feeling undeserving of such a home after all he had provided nothing to the Affini in return for it and it was unlikely he’d be much help in the future either.
He eventually decided to walk over to the couch that he vaguely remembered from yesterday and sat down on it and looked over at a blank TV screen, He figured he’d watch it but he wasn’t quite sure how any of this Affini technology functioned, He looked around for a remote but couldn’t find any trace of one, Eventually, almost out of desperation he said out loud “Turn on!” and quickly heard in response “Sorry Cutie! you’ll have to ask your owner” Magnus sighed in response “I don’t have an owner” He replied but heard nothing back, Magnus felt somewhat annoyed by the condescension of this Affini technology but he did find it in equal terms to be quite fascinating, The Terran Accord could never have achieved such a thing he thought.
“Cutie! You have a visitor” was suddenly heard around the Hab, figuring it was Exdela and Mabel, Magnus quickly walked to the door and with some difficulty figured out how to get it to open but in a great surprise Magnus saw not Exdela nor Mabel outside but Cecil the rebel who had forced him aboard her ship in what felt like weeks ago but Magnus really wasn’t sure.
Cecil looked at him sheepishly before raising a hand and speaking “Hello Magnus, Can I come in?” Magnus after a few seconds of thought reluctantly decided to allow her to and gestured for her to enter as the door soon closed behind her.
She walked in quite meekly and sat down on one of the many couches in the hab “You’re further along on the path to become a Floret than I expected” Magnus felt confused at the statement, he was still thinking about becoming a Floret and hadn’t come to any confusion “I don’t understand” He replied “Your wearing compansion clothes designed for Florets” Cecil replied pointing at him apathetically “The only thing your missing is a collar”
“I haven’t decided yet Cecil, But what If I want to become a Floret? It seems quite nice” Magnus explained, Cecil laughed in response “I’m sure it does” she replied sarcastically “You already have an owner in mind?” She inquired “The same one who gave you those clothes I presume”
“I do” Magnus replied “Only if I decide to volunteer” He quickly added. “Well you have a much easier job then me then” Cecil began “I’ll have to find an owner at the nearest domestication centre” Magnus paused for a moment expecting a joke or a laugh but Cecil remained deadly serious “I thought you hated the Affini” Magnus questioned “I do” Cecil replied “But If I live as an independent I’ll live as a second class citizen and the only people who can help me are those who’ll be looking to claim me as a pet and even If I accepted all of that I’m sure sooner or later they’ll force me into domestication” Cecil began to look down “It seems as if becoming a floret would actually mean going up in this Affini hiearchy, I can have someone to keep me safe in this new system and… Well I can’t be forced into it if I volunteer” Cecil laughed and looked back up a small grin forming before quickly vanishing and being replaced by a deep frown “I don’t want to be forcibly domesticated Magnus, The thought terrifies me more then anything else ever has, The longer I wait the longer I’ll be living in fear of that day arriving” Cecil finally finished breathing quite rapidly as if they had partially worried themselves by simply thinking about the idea.
Magnus thought for a moment about how to respond, He felt fortunate that he didn’t feel as forced or as fearful as Cecil obviously felt but he couldn’t think of any way to reassure her, It didn’t help that he was still learning about Domestication but before the silence grew awkward the Hab unit announced “Cutie! You have another visitor” Magnus rushed over happy for anything to serve as an excuse for not having to attempt to reassure Cecil.
The door opened before Magnus was even halfway there and Exdela entered with Mabel laying visibly within her vines, She had the distant look in her eyes that Magnus vaguely recognized from seeing the other Florets so Magnus assumed that she was probably on some Xenodrugs “Good Morning dear, I hope you slept well” Exdela began for glancing over at Cecil with obvious concern “And who is this adorable sophont?” She asked lightly while making an attempt at lightly petting Cecil with a vine however, Cecil flinched the moment the vine made contact and quickly moved away from it.
“Umm…” Magnus began presented with the awkward task of introducing the two “This is Cecil” He began “Cecil, this is Exdela Rine Third Bloom and Mabel Rine First Floret” Magnus explained, There was a silence for a moment as Exdela wrapped a vine around Magnus’s hand affectionately before speaking “It’s very nice to meet you Cecil” She started “What were you two talking about? If you don’t mind me asking of course” She spoke softly as if worried about spooking Cecil.
“Well…” Cecil began seeming embarrassed “I’ve been thinking about well…” Cecil stopped for a moment and took a deep breath “Volunteering for Domestication”
“That’s wonderful dear” Exdela began, speaking calmly yet vines moving around elatedly “Do you have an owner in mind?”
“Well that’s the trouble” Cecil explained seeming to grow more relaxed “I don’t really know many Affini…”
“That’s perfectly fine Flower, A Domestication center can find an owner for you, I’m sure there would be plenty of Affini desperate to take a sophont as adorable as you as their Floret” Exdela explained speaking quite enthusiastically whilst slowly moving some of her vines near Cecil as if to test if she would accept being petted this time.
“That’s what I’m concerned about…” Cecil explained seeming to have quickly regained a tense posture “It’s just… Well…” Cecil seemed to struggle to find the words.
“This isn’t easy to talk about” Cecil eventually said with a demoralized sigh.
“I could help you with that Flower” Exdela spoke tenderly “I could give you a Class D Xenodrug, It might make it easier to…”
“No, No, No, I don’t want any Xenodrugs” Cecil spoke quickly interrupting Exdela her head shaking rapidly, her voice somewhat panicked “It’s just that… I’m worried”
“Shhh” Exdela cooed her vines gently moving to Cecil’s arm, She flinched as it made contact but made no effort to move her arm away and Exdela began lightly stroking her arm “It’s perfectly normal to be worried little one, It’s a big change after all,” She said reassuringly slowly moving more vines towards Cecil which began to pet and caress all over her body tenderly.
Cecil seemed to grow more relaxed, She still seemed to have a look of slight worry but it seemed to vanish more and more with every pet from Exdela’s vines as Cecil relaxed deeper into the couch. “Now, little one would you like to tell me what exactly is troubling you?” Exdela asked although it sounded more like an order than an actual question.
“I’m worried that… that my owner would change me… make me someone that I’m not… That they’d force Xenodrugs on me” Cecil explained slowly although seemingly more confident than she was before.
Magnus looked on at the situation with fascination but also some concern, When Cecil came to him with concerns he felt almost useless in response, unable to think of many ways to reassure or help but Exdela had with alarming speed managed to reassure Cecil enough that she’d quickly gone from worry and concern to more relaxed then Magnus had ever seen her before, openly discussing her worries with someone she’d only just met, It was a striking difference from the strong rebel captain Magnus had last seen her as, Exdela certainly seemed to work fast, Although Cecil’s presence raised several questions such as why she was even here to begin with. Were the Affini really in the habit of releasing former enemy combatants so quickly? Magnus began to think through these questions but quickly gave up speculating planning to ask Exdela later.
More and more vines moved over to Cecil until she was practically laying in Exdela’s vines “Your owner would never give you Xenodrugs if you didn’t benefit from them dear, especially if you didn’t want them” Exdela began as she began to lift up Cecil and move her close to Mabel who had seemingly fallen asleep in her vines “But why don’t we move to the root of the problem flower?” Cecil hesitated for a second and then nodded “You need to be able to trust your owner” Exdela stated while her vines began to stop petting Cecil “Your owner can take your opinion into account but you need to trust that they will do what is best for you”
Cecil lay in Exdela’s vines motionless for almost a minute seemingly deep in thought before Exdela snapped her out of it by speaking again “In fact, dear I have a friend who wishes to take on a Floret who I think you would be just perfect for” Exdela said whilst gently putting Cecil down back onto the couch “And you two can take it as slowly as you need to Flower”
“That… sounds nice,” Cecil said slowly although seemingly happy, Exdela in response pulled out a small tablet-like device and started typing into it “That reminds me” Exdela suddenly said her vines seemingly grabbing something else “You’ll need one of these too Magnus dear,” They said whilst vines slowly placed another tablet-like device in Magnus’s hands “What is it?” He mouthed in reply “It’s a tablet dear… In case you want to communicate with me or Mabel when we're not around, You’ll probably need it to navigate this ship too, It connects to the Overnet so there’s plenty of others you can talk to as well, I think it might help you adjust” Magnus looked down at the tablet for a moment, It was quite large with an almost luxurious feel to it, Getting anything like this in the Accord would have been incredibly expensive yet the Affini were just giving him one just like that, A smile involuntarily formed on Magnus’s face as he felt around the tablet before turning it on.
“I can take you to meet them now if you’d like Flower” Exdela’s voice caused Magnus to look up from the tablet, She was addressing Cecil again who seemed to have been sufficiently reassured by Exdela “They certainly seem excited to meet you” Cecil quickly nodded in response before Exdela swiftly picked her up in her vines, Magnus had expected her to flinch at least temporarily but she didn’t, in fact, she seemed to enjoy being picked up like that, Magnus found the change almost mystifying although it did still seem like a positive change.
Exdela slowly began to set down a sleeping Mabel on the couch Cecil had been sitting upon before looking over to Magnus “I’ll be back soon little seedling, keep an eye on Mabel would you” Magnus nodded and Exdela quickly left the hab with Cecil as the door closed behind them and Magnus was once again left mostly alone, He thought of Cecil for a second, He had felt so frustrated when he had been forced upon her ship but thinking about it now it all worked out quite well after all If he hadn’t been he probably wouldn’t have met Exdela or Mabel so it certainly seems as if it were something of a revitalizing curse.
Exdela quickly wrapped up the adorable sophont in her vines keeping her safe and secure as she took them to meet Oleander Labelle First Bloom, They were very young for an Affini and many in their first bloom don’t choose to take a Floret at all but Oleander had been insistent that she wanted to take on a Terran as a Floret ever since the Human Domestication Treaty had been signed and so little Cecil seemed like a perfect fit for her.
Exdela felt somewhat disappointed as she traveled to have left Magnus and Mabel alone but she certainly couldn’t leave a cute pet-to-be like Cecil alone with all her doubts and worries about Domestication and besides Magnus and Mabel will certainly need playmates when they become connivents and if all goes well with Oleander maybe Cecil could become just that.
Her thoughts drifted to Magnus for a second, The poor thing had seemed so scared when they had woken up but they had adjusted rather well, Accepting Class A and Z Xenodrugs was a good sign, It would probably only be a matter of time until they volunteered for domestication, Part of Exdela was tempted to try and use some force to push Magnus into it quicker, It would be for the best, They were obviously a seed after all, The quicker they volunteered the better but the poor thing seemed fragile and Exdela didn’t want to risk the trust she had built up, She hoped that maybe some time alone with Mabel to discuss the topic might be enough to finally convince him.
Her ponderings on her Floret-to-be were cut off as they reached the outside of Oleander’s hab unit, She looked down at Cecil laying in her vines and saw that she appeared nervous, She considered offering some Xenodrugs but felt that it could probably be a good bonding opportunity if Oleander were to do it, she just hoped that she wasn’t too excited to meet Cecil, She still seemed to be getting used to Affini touching her after all and Exdela certainly didn’t want Oleander scaring her off, Exdela looked down at Cecil one last time and lightly petted her before entering the hab in hope and anticipation.
Magnus didn’t have much to do after Exdela left and Mabel was still asleep so he couldn’t have a conversation with them so he simply browsed the tablet he had been given and found to his surprise that it had plenty of information about Domestication on it some of which eased his worries and some of which made it worse, He discovered an implant that all Florets have to receive, The Haustoric Implant it was called where a part of their Affini owner is implanted inside of them and it grants their owner significant power over their floret, It allows them to administer Xenodrugs from a distance which Magnus didn’t find too perturbing but it also gave them the ability to alter thought patterns and while it did mention that the extent of the use of this implant differs from Floret to Floret it still seemed like a significant amount of power to give to someone like Exdela.
Magnus upon thinking about it recalled what Exdela had said earlier about Trust and found it to be more than accurate on this topic, Florets seem to give up a lot of power to their owners on the basis of Trust that their owners won’t use that power in a way that they don’t like and Magnus found this difficult to contemplate, He thought back to his life in the Terran Accord where he’d never really been able to trust anyone, Sure he had friends and acquaintances but those were just people that he happened to speak to frequently and he certainly wouldn’t really trust them on any matter of significance and what struck him further was the permanence of the whole thing, The implant couldn’t be removed once implanted so he couldn’t receive it as a test and decide later to get rid of it so he’d have to be very certain on his decision on Domestication since once he had that implant there was no going back.
He saw a few chat rooms on various topics one of which was for Independents considering Domestication and he felt that it couldn’t hurt to seek outside advice and decided to join it prompting his tablet to ask for a nickname to use, He considered just using his real name but eventually decided to go for something more unconventional and imputed ‘Rhea’ The mother of Zeus in Greek Mythology, He’d heard about it somewhere and figured that the name seemed fine.
The chatroom opened and seemed almost packed with people with messages appearing at a speed quicker than Magnus could read them, It seemed as if there was a very large group of people considering Domestication, Magnus was with some difficulty just about able to track one conversation about people having difficulty trusting their owner with the Haustoric Implant, Some questioned if they could become a Floret without getting the Implant at all, What jumped out to Magnus was a mention of Class C Xenodrugs which were said to make you bond with your owner quicker which would likely make you trust them more Magnus thought, He thought for a second that maybe he could try them to ease his fears but the thought of using drugs to trust someone seemed like it would be inauthentic somewhat, Like it wasn’t a real bond.
Magnus distracted himself from the dilemma for a few minutes to look into the other parts of becoming a Floret, Being considered a pet of his owner with no political rights seemed somewhat concerning at first but it’s not like the Terran Accord offered much in the way of political rights anyway and while he had some objection to being considered a pet it certainly didn’t seem like it was an unusual designation so Magnus decided that he didn’t mind it too much.
Magnus kept looking through, Living with his owner and letting them make most decisions on your behalf seemed somewhat concerning but Magnus read that Owners would practically always take their Floret’s opinions into account even if they weren't always followed but he felt that it was unlikely that Exdela would prevent him from engaging in hobbies which seemed relieving and in addition, he saw mention of stipulations in Domestication Contracts, He recalled for a second Mabel signing one, The chatroom mentioned that you could write down certain limits or desires as a stipulation for how you’d be treated as a Floret and he saw some users talking about becoming what they called ‘Autonomous Florets’ Where they hoped to be somewhat self-reliant and self-directed as a Floret while also maintaining some time entirely lucid of Xenodrugs which sounded quite nice to Magnus, He could maintain some autonomy to make his own decisions and all the care and guidance that an Owner would seem to bring,
Magnus sat relieved for a second, Practically every fear he'd thought of about volunteering had been dispelled surprisingly fast, It seemed like trust in Exdela settled most of it but the contract stipulations he could make certainly put him at ease but suddenly his mind went back to the Implant, It still seemed so worrying to give such a degree of control over to another, He could trust Exdela with these other matters but could he really trust her so much as to practically surrender his mind to her? Magnus sat silent for a moment thinking it over, trying to weigh up the benefits and losses of the Implant hoping that an easy conclusion would come to him but he quickly found that no easy conclusion stepped forth, He felt as if he was in for a while of anxiety-inducing deliberation when his attention was drawn to Mabel who was seemingly awakening.
“Mis…Mistress?”
Thanks for reading Chapter 3.1 as always any feedback is encouraged