Snowy Vines
by Zero
I wrote this short after having the idea in my head for a few weeks, I'd love to know what everyone thinks of it.
Edward shuffles forward in the snow slowly, His whole body in agony from the cold he still pushes through the pain, I have to get to work, he thinks, even an alien invasion is no reason to be late, His boss had told him and everyone else very firmly that the war didn’t give them any exception from work and Edward couldn’t risk losing his job.
He keeps sluggishly moving through the snow, the cold wind smashing into his face forcefully, He tries desperately to warm up his hands, breathing into them to minimal effect and then breaks into a run The quicker I get there, the quicker I’ll be out of the cold, he figures.
Edward keeps running forward, lifting his hands trying to block the snow from his face when unexpectedly his feet hit something and he finds himself flying forward his whole body hitting painfully against the floor as he collapses forwards.
Edward stares up from the ground in pain, It was hard to distinguish which pain was from the fall and which was from the cold, He lies on the cold floor unmoving for a few seconds trying to get any energy back when a strange voice is faintly heard through the snow and wind.
“Are you ok, little one?” He hears, It’s strange to find a Terran concerned with my wellbeing, he thought, He tries to stand up to look at them finding it painful to put any weight on his foot I just have to push through it, he thinks defiantly.
Standing up fully he looks towards the voice, They look strange he thought, The figure looked so tall and seemed to have several hands extending from them, He grew more concerned as they got closer, They don’t look like a Terran at all, he thought in fear.
They quickly came into clear vision rushing towards him, Edward tried to back away but fell back on the floor after trying to put more weight on his foot, The pain nearly made him cry out but it was numbed by fear as he felt a strange vine touch his chin, softly pulling it up until he was face to face with an alien, An Affini, he thought we’re at war, they can’t possibly have good intentions, he thinks as he blurts out “Please don’t hurt me”
“I would never harm you little one, but it seems like you're hurting yourself, Why would you ever come out in these conditions? And your leg, we need to get you to a vet dear”
Edward found the Affini scary, it stared down at him, Its concern must be a ruse, something to do with the war maybe and this vet they wanted to take him to, Maybe it’s some kind of prison for Terrans. “Please don’t take me… I need to get to work” He pleaded, hoping for mercy.
“Oh, you poor thing, You don’t need to work anymore, now that we’re here” The Affini picked him up, Edward pushed back but was quickly overpowered as vines wrapped all around him. “Now you can stay warm little one, I’ll take you to a vet”
Edward couldn’t tell where but he was being moved, Sadness filled his face, He wasn’t going to be able to get to work, He was probably going to be fired and how would he survive then? He had to admit that he was warm like this but it wasn’t worth being fired, He figured that maybe he could negotiate with this Affini as they moved him.
“Could you please let me go? I need to get to work, My boss told us that we’ll be fired if we don’t turn up and I won’t be able to afford to survive if I’m fired” The Affini seemed to almost whimper as he talked “That’s a very sad story dear, being mistreated like that, But you don’t need to fear it anymore, We’ll take care of you all and we won’t force you to work for it and it sounds like your boss needs to be forcefully domesticated so we’ll take care of them too… As for you dear, you seem like such a delightful seed… maybe I’ll take care of you more personally, but that’s a talk for later”
Edward was scared of being taken like this, He found the Affini difficult to understand, Forcefully domesticated? Seed? He found it all very disorienting but being told he didn’t have to work anymore piqued his interest “I don’t have to work?” He asked, fearing he may have misheard them.
“That’s right little one, You can live independently and we’ll give you everything you need for free dear, Or… you can become one of our pets and have an Owner do it all for you”
Edward began to go pale in fear, they were taking people as pets, His fear began to almost overwhelm all his other senses as his mind raced with dreadful possibilities.
“Please don’t make me a pet, I haven’t done anything wrong” He pleaded.
“Oh, becoming a pet isn’t a punishment dear, it’s just… a different way of living, I actually think it might suit you little one…” The Affini sounded like they were going to continue but cut themselves off as Edward looked in terror “How about telling me about yourself little one? Like your name? Hobbies?”
Edward started taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down “My name is… Edward” He slowly replied, Still caught by vines he began to think about how surprisingly warm it was here, How much warmer it was than it was before in the snow… He didn’t know how to feel about it, This Affini took him against his will but he did finally feel warm now.
“That’s a very nice name dear, Any hobbies?”
Edward found the question suspicious “Why do you want to know?” He asked.
“Why wouldn’t I want to know all about the adorable sophont in my vines?” They replied back whilst a vine began stroking through Edward’s hair, He found it strange but oddly pleasurable.
“I don’t know… I’ve mostly just focused on work I’ve never really had enough time for any hobbies” Edward admitted.
“Well we’ll have to fix that little one, There are so many opportunities for new florets”
Edward suddenly felt the vines lightly uncurl around him, The Affini kept a tight grip of him keeping him near what he assumed was their chest but finally allowed him to look around, He saw that they had just entered some kind of building.
“What’s a Floret?” Edward asked curiously.
“We’ll talk about that after you meet with the vet little one,” The Affini said as they kept lightly petting him with every pet feeling slightly better than the last.
Edward was soon brought into a smaller room with another Affini in it who spoke immediately “You’ve finally got a sophont for me Olearia…” They seemed to almost grin as they spoke, Edward found the mysteries disconcerting but was glad to have been told the name of the Affini that held him… Olearia, He repeated a few times in his head testing his pronunciation.
Olearia loosened her vines and placed Edward on a large table “This little cutie seems to have hurt his leg”
The other Affini looked him over intently, A few vines began touching the leg in question “Does it hurt little one?” They questioned.
“Slightly” Edward confessed. He still found it strange that these Affini seemed so concerned over him but he figured it couldn’t hurt to tell them.
“I think you’ve strained your leg, poor thing, luckily a few xenodrugs should help it heal quickly little one” They grinned at him in an almost predatory way, Before he was able to respond he felt a swift vine inject him with something.
“What did you just give me!” Edward said quickly in concern but quickly felt his anger and concern vanish almost instantly as he felt a light pet from Olearia. “Don’t worry yourself with that dear, It’ll help you with your injury, We can’t let a cute sophont like you be in pain can we?”
Edward sat being pet for a while trying to process all the changes he’d experienced although the pets were making it hard to think coherently until suddenly Olearia looked down at him with a serious expression “We have something important to talk about flower”
Edward felt the pets stop as he looked up at her in concern, Did I do something wrong, Are they going to hurt me?
“You asked earlier what a Floret was…” Edward nodded “Well a floret is a sophont one of us take on as a pet, We live with and take care of them and keep them very happy and content their whole life” Edward felt the petting return as Olearia explained “And little cutie… I’d like you to be my Floret” They said excitedly in anticipation.
Edward felt like he should be scared but the petting continued and he just couldn’t work up the effort to be concerned about it, After all, what would be wrong with being taken care of, I’m just living, I don’t want to work hard, he thinks.
“You see little flower, We occasionally find sophonts who seem born to live as adorable florets, Who’ll clearly end up domesticated at some point because of their cuteness, We call these sophonts seeds, little one, and I believe that you are one of these seeds”
“I am…?” Edward replied just barely able to speak coherently with Olearia’s constant petting, Part of him wanted so much to just surrender to the pleasure of the light pets but he couldn’t convince himself to do it just yet.
“That’s right little one, Not only are you extremely cute but you respond really well to my pets, You’ve been adorably meek for me too dear.”
Edward didn’t respond, simply rubbing against the vines petting him, trying to maintain contact with them for as long as possible. Olearia seemed to chuckle lightly at his display “Would you like to be my Floret then dear?” She asked again smugly.
Edward could barely piece together enough of his mind to speak and sheepishly nodded instead. “Use your words little one” He heard gently in response, “I want you to say it”
Edward desperately tried to respond, piecing together his mind, trying to recover from the pleasure, He began to feel the petting reduce slightly as if Olearia was trying to help him. “I want to be your Floret!” He shouted out surprising even himself with his enthusiasm.
“Oh that’s wonderful, My cute floret, I can’t wait to take you home” He heard as the petting returned in full force and he felt himself surrender fully to the pleasure, losing all sense of coherency only able to feel total contentment and safety from the comfortable, warm vines
4 days later...
Edward Bellerose First Floret woke up to the immediate feeling of warmth in their Owner's vines, They looked around and swiftly saw their Owner’s face smiling down at them “How did you sleep, my dearest Floret?” They asked whilst vines lightly moved them around, helping them stretch as they woke up.
“Great!, Mistress… As always” He replied joyfully, Life with Mistress is always so perfect, he thought as his Owner kept petting him and playfully ruffling his hair. He felt his collar familiarly, His Mistress had given it to him and feeling it always made him feel so comfortable and happy.
“You’re so adorable dear,” His Owner said whilst watching him, “I think it’s time for us to go out to eat flower” They said as they wrapped more vines around him, almost engulfing him in a cocoon of warm vines “It’s still snowing outside little one and I could never let that coldness hurt you again dear” His Owner explained as Edward lovingly hugged up against the vines.
Edward had, had a tough time explaining his new role as a pet to his family and friends, They had all questioned why he’d throw away his independence and freedom but they just didn’t understand his love for his Owner, There’s no way he could ever bear being separated from his Mistress and as his Owner carried him through the snow he had one word stuck on his lips.
“Plampt”