“Altiss.” Celosia maintained her self-assured smile, but Phoebe could tell that this newcomer’s presence was making her nervous. Her eyes were missing their sparkle, but aside from that Phoebe was finding it increasingly easy to read the affini’s emotions based on vibes alone. “I didn’t expect to find you here. Captain chores not keeping you busy?”

 

“Celosia. I hadn’t realized you’d gone planetside,” Altiss said, and though she appeared to still be speaking to her fellow affini, her eyes were squarely set on Jazz. “This is quite the pleasant surprise. I’m off-duty today and thought to use the opportunity to de-stress with my little flower, but some company would be lovely.”

 

Altiss’ “little flower” was busy fixing Phoebe with an utterly bewildered look. Phoebe had two guesses as to what Indra might be thinking: either humiliation over her former subordinates finding her at the end of an affini’s leash in frilly swimwear and a collar that screamed “I’m owned” (this is what Phoebe would have been feeling herself if not for the immobilizing terror), or fury that Jazz and Phoebe had potentially betrayed the rebellion. She held out hope that Indra was yet another spy, but judging by the pallor of Jazz’s face this was, unfortunately, not the case.

 

It all depended on how broken Indra was. With some horror Phoebe found herself praying that Altiss had done a thorough job.

 

Indra’s mouth cautiously opened; with her eyes still glued to Phoebe, her head turned to say something to Altiss, but whatever indictment her lips had been quivering with was extinguished as her owner picked her up by her armpits and lowered her into the water.

 

“M-Miss—!” Indra flustered, scrambling fruitlessly to preserve her dignity. “I’m not braindead, I can climb into a tub by my…” 

 

Her eyes widened as she quickly succumbed to the effects of the bath. Altiss practically lit up with curiosity, her vines poking and prodding the poor girl as the affini tested her balance and inspected her pupils. Her wooden claws gently scratched along Indra’s scalp, and the floret moaned involuntarily.

 

“A very classy selection, my compliments to the chef.” Altiss grinned, evidently very pleased. “Who should I thank?”

 

“That would be Amaranth,” Celosia answered, winking at Phoebe in a way that still couldn't hide her discomfort. “She’s a natural, and a quick learner. Very… pliant.” Phoebe couldn’t have guessed what she meant by that, but if she was only trying to fluster her, then she definitely succeeded.

 

Altiss sighed as she settled into the pool beside Indra, the water flooding over the edge in response before being leveled out again by a spigot. With Celosia and company having moved to the leafy far end of the bath, Phoebe couldn’t help but notice that the captain was effectively blocking their exit.

 

“You’d be a good influence on my little Indra…” Altiss swung one massive arm behind the terran in question, along the edge of the tub. “She has so much potential, but she frightens easily, the poor thing.” Said poor thing was clearly attempting to seethe at this, but the wooden talon running along her neck turned it into a needy shiver.

 

Sufficiently entertained by her pet for the time being, Altiss chuckled and returned her attention to Phoebe. “So, Amaranth, how are you liking the Hotel so far? It’s a little overdone for my tastes, but the little ones seem to be enjoying it.”

 

“It’s pretty cool,” said Phoebe, who thought it unwise to share that the other day’s lunch had been the first actual food she’d eaten in years. 

 

If at any point Altiss had met the real Amaranth and remembered her, Phoebe was already completely fucked, that much was obvious. She could only cross her fingers that the captain was not on a name-and-face basis with every sophont on her ship. The additional unknown variable that was Indra wasn’t helping her odds.

 

“She spent yesterday hosting, actually,” Celosia cut in, and Phoebe was very grateful for that. “If I didn’t know better, I’d have assumed you were made for this place.” She looked sideways at Altiss, smiling coyly. “Twelve vines in Rebel.” A few small tendrils writhed blindly against her false skin as if physically reliving the memory.

 

Altiss burst into barking laughter. “Twelve, huh? You weren’t kidding, she really is something else.” The affini’s eyes narrowed in thought, her claws rapping a quiet pattern along Indra’s skin. The girl’s eyes were squeezed shut in a full-body effort to restrain her own mewling. “That being the case, would you mind doing me a favor? My little rodent spent half the morning playing in the sand, and she really needs a bath.”

 

Indra went laebean red, once again flailing with indignation. “I’m not dirty, and I was playing volleyba–” Altiss quickly silenced her with an exploratory vine ringing around her pink flesh. Phoebe couldn’t help but giggle as Indra did her best to choke back a moan, which only intensified the floret’s humiliated blush.

 

“She’s more than capable,” Celosia said. Phoebe, who did not appreciate being volunteered for something she had no experience with nor intention to try, turned to beg the Affini for mercy or succor, but Celosia was already giving her a candid look Phoebe understood to mean “please trust me”. To Phoebe’s surprise, she did.

 

“Oh, excellent! It’s much appreciated, petal.” Altiss’ unoccupied hand deftly plucked another bean pod from the surrounding curtain of foliage, from a large and easily accessible cluster Phoebe hadn’t touched (and which was not, thankfully, purple). “You don’t mind, do you? It’s just soap.”

 

Altiss smiled appreciatively when Phoebe shook her head no. One claw sliced open the pod, and Phoebe watched the powdery contents spill from the shell and into the water- along with a mystery substance which seeped from between the vines of the affini’s palm. Either Altiss had done a poor job of being discreet about it, or she already understood just how much leverage she held over Phoebe and hadn’t even bothered.

 

Phoebe shot Jazz a glance, hoping her body language hadn’t betrayed the fact that she’d noticed. Their eyes were wide, and beneath the water they’d begun tapping erratically on Phoebe’s thigh. It took her a minute to realize it was Morse- specifically, ‘DONT TALK’.

 

A truth stimulant, then. What a fantastic turn of events. Just when Phoebe was sure the situation could not get less agreeable, she felt something- several things- wrap around her legs and waist beneath the water. Vines.

 

Without any warning, Celosia’s rhythm pumped itself through her vines and directly into Phoebe’s core, her entire body becoming saturated with it in seconds. It wasn’t harsh- well, maybe it was at first. ‘Insistent’ was more accurate. It rippled up her spine, and upon reaching the base of her neck Phoebe felt it plug into her brain.

 

She felt her heart rate drop back to near-normal almost immediately. She was aware of her body; she knew she had frozen up, and that the others could probably see it. But she felt different, as if the world itself had released some of its pressure upon her and allowed her to breathe much more easily. The urgency of the moment had faded into the background- temporarily insignificant- along with her own terror.

 

Most curious of all, she realized she knew exactly what she was doing; exactly what she was about to do, and exactly how to do it. She only needed to begin.

 

Her eyes refocused on Indra. Amaranth reached across the water and grabbed the sponge.

 

She could see it in the other girl’s face: the recognition that whatever was happening was clearly not normal, and something about that excited Amaranth greatly. It wasn’t fitting for a floret to feel as if it had the upper hand, and the doll was happy to free her of any such illusions. 

 

Amaranth gently pushed herself through the water until she had joined Indra on her segment of bench. The floret had begun backing up against the wall of the tub, but Amaranth was already straddling her thighs with her own. Kneeling like this on the bench, the newly lowered water only barely reached her navel, and Amaranth relished in the feeling of Indra’s warm belly taming the prickly chill of her recently-exposed own.

 

That was apparently as much as Indra was willing to take, and she began frantically looking up at her owner for assistance, but unfortunately for her Altiss didn’t appear to see anything unusual about her circumstances. “She’s—! She isn’t actually—“

 

A single finger over her lips silenced her instantly. How easy. Amaranth wrapped that hand beneath Indra’s chin, gently reestablishing eye contact, letting her know it was time to behave. 

 

“Hold still.” And she did. 

 

Altiss laughed, a deep, reverberating alien noise. “My little Indra… she used to be a feralist, if you’d believe it. Quite the fighter, too. We trailed her adorable ship for three Terran days before we decided to board; the way they fought back was just too precious.” The captain relaxed against the edge of the tub, engrossed in her reminiscing. 

 

“They had a surprising variety of directed-energy weaponry, which gifted us with quite the light show; the explosives were less appealing, but saved us the effort of having to de-ice that section of the hull ourselves.” She chuckled to herself, a single claw idly fingering Indra’s collar. “Then we got a message over the comms: something about foliage trimming instruments and “the fires of weed hell”. I’m sure you can guess whose darling voice was on the other end. I don’t usually join the boarding party, but stars, did that put me in the mood.”

 

Amaranth wasn’t really listening. She was busy with her task, and boy was it a riveting one. She leaned against Indra to steady her as her hand slowly pressed the sponge over the floret’s skin. Every little intricacy of her body was fascinating to the dutiful doll: the stochastic scattering of scar tissue; the ups and downs, the variable firmness of her muscles, and the way they tensed reflexively when Amaranth pressed into the right spots. She was particularly invested in taking inventory of every way in which the hard angles of Indra’s body had been softened and disarmed by her transformation into a pet.

 

The sparkling curiosity in Amaranth’s eyes must have scared Indra into submission, because the girl had resorted to turning her head as fully away from the scene as possible. Her affected grimace and furrowed brow were quivering, and she was only barely suppressing her needy whimpers. All of these were good signs.

 

Altiss had briefly stopped talking to watch this play out with open amusement, but she now turned her attention to the third terran in the tub. “I hear you’re quite handy with astrionics, Jazz.” So she did know them; Amaranth had suspected as much. “How familiar are you with your defunct Accord spacecraft?”

 

For a long moment Jazz responded with nothing but a jaw clenched tight in concentration. “Familiar enough.”

 

The captain smiled. “Ah, well, you may be aware that their ventilation systems are… inadequately constructed. Once we removed the airlock we were met with a deluge of gunfire and explosives; unacceptably dangerous, of course, so we flooded the interior with an aerosolized Class-Z. Most of the cuties tuckered out pretty quickly after that. A little unfortunate,” she sighed, “because I was anticipating a hunt. But, as it turned out…”

 

A single vine unfurled from the hand playing with Indra’s collar, latching tightly to its ring. Altiss drew her hand back, her finger absently playing with the leash as it extended from her arm. Her head was propped up on her other hand, the sharp teeth of her dreamy smile chewing on a claw. “...my luck hadn’t entirely run dry.”

 

More vines, grasping Amaranth’s thighs, squeezing Indra’s soft hips, brushing Amaranth’s back, slithering over Indra’s ribs and under her top. Amaranth shuddered as Celosia’s rhythm intensified around and inside of her. The affini were getting possessive. Hidden within the murky golden water, it was impossible to tell which vines were Celosia’s and which were Altiss’. 

 

Amaranth traced the twisting vines with the sponge, gliding alongside them as if to guide them across the surface of Indra’s body. As she slid around to press herself up against Indra’s back, the doll stole a look at her fellow spy. Jazz had sunk into the water nearly to her chin, and was weakly hiding their glowing, flustered face behind one hand. Judging by the undulations on the surface of the water, Celosia (hopefully) was having fun with them as well, though Amaranth could still sense her apprehension.

“Several of them had rebreathers, you see, so we got to deal with them individually. The captain went first- he was a spry one, seemed to have a fondness for crass idioms- when he charged in screaming and firing indiscriminately, but it only took a poke and he was out. There was one hiding behind the barricade in the armory that practically fell into my arms, I’m pretty sure Ipomoea ended up with her. Another broke almost immediately after we cornered it, the poor thing; really, it’s almost like they wanted to be domesticated.” Altiss considered her floret, her leash drawn high and far enough to just barely kiss her owner’s lips. “They probably did,” she concluded, “even if they weren’t consciously aware of it.” 

 

“But this one…” The captain purred as her fangs played with her own taut vine. “This one was all teeth and nails and spirit. She really put her all into it- I was so proud of her. Once she realized she was outmatched though,” Altiss giggled, “she turned tail and ran. Watching her little tush book it towards the back of the ship… oh, I was infatuated immediately.” She ran her claws through Indra’s wet hair, and was rewarded with another moan. “That’s when I knew I had to have you.”

 

Altiss looked at Amaranth and grinned. “She’s quite the catch, isn’t she, Amaranth?”

“Yes, Miss Supra,” the doll answered perfectly, over Indra’s shoulder so the floret could feel Amaranth’s whispered breath against her ear. She maintained eye contact with Jazz; hoped the other girl was imagining herself in Indra’s place. Under different circumstances she would have laughed when one of Celosia’s vines reached up to brush Jazz’s ear in the exact same spot, making the terran gasp, but Amaranth was a good doll and settled for a coy smile. 

 

“When I found her in the command deck, the little rascal had destroyed half of the ship’s records. Lucky for us, there were some older backups stored in another room, but that sort of behavior simply wouldn’t do.”

 

Altiss’ vines, tired of hiding, quietly broke the surface of the water to explore Indra’s untouched upper half. Amaranth had been impressed with how well the floret had kept herself together, but from Indra’s reaction the doll could tell that the tides were about to turn. 

 

The captain’s grin grew predatory. “The cutie had quite a bit of steam left, but really all it took was a little constructive restraint…” She lifted her floret undetectably in the water, her vines circling Indra’s legs and pinning them into a kneeling position. Amaranth followed them with her sponge, lost in the story, only partially oblivious to Indra’s resulting whines. “...binding her legs… holding her arms…” The vines forced their way between Amaranth’s front and Indra’s back as her arms were cleanly drawn into place behind her. “...and some light entrancing…”

 

A claw below her chin brought Indra’s gaze back to her owner’s, and in seconds her shivering had slowed to a halt. Amaranth felt the tamed rebel go slack against her chest, her jaw unclenching as her face loosened into an absolutely precious, empty and awestruck expression. Altiss ate it up greedily, the slow swirling light in her eyes drawing the little morsel in, consuming her in mind alone. It took a moment for her to remember she’d been in the middle of telling a story. 

 

“She was so docile, she didn’t even need Z’s. Such an obedient pet for her captain, you were.” The pet whined in defiance, but her body disagreed with her and the sound came out quiet and gentle. Pretty soon, Amaranth mused, her mind wouldn’t be listening to her either. 

 

Altiss began testing her grip on Indra again, and this time the girl didn’t resist. She simply mewled and moaned pitifully as she writhed in Amaranth’s arms. “The ‘resistance’ ended pretty quickly after that. Or at least as far as I can remember,” the captain chuckled richly, “I was a little distracted. We impounded their ship, and the cuties were almost immediately snatched up upon our return to the Phellos- most by the rest of the boarding party, the rest by their little fan club that had emerged during the chase. We just saw one as we were walking in, actually, being doted on by half of the lobby.”

 

“That’s what they don’t tell you about feralists,” Altiss said, and she turned to explicitly address Celosia. “They’re feisty, and petulant, but in truth all of that passion is merely hiding an instinctual desire; a craving to submit.” 

 

Celosia had once again put up her emotional wall; her eyes were fixed on Amaranth, their usual swirl now stuttering, but to her left she was busy ardently claiming Jazz in her vines. Amaranth’s own binds were becoming more zealous, their rhythm intensifying and confirming that every last one of them was Celosia’s. Her twitching hand couldn’t maintain its grip on the sponge, and it dropped unceremoniously into the water. “You can unleash yourself upon them,” Altiss continued, “in a way nothing else in the universe can provide, and the returns… the reward once you break them open, when they finally spill out into your hands…”

 

She carefully planted her thumbclaw on Indra’s tongue. The girl was crossing a critical point. She let her captain enter her mouth obediently, and the hundreds of needles hidden throughout the affini’s body vibrated audibly, her leaves involuntarily flexing like a shiver up a terran spine. “…is positively delectable. Mold them to your will, in their entirety, and they will only flourish for it.”

 

Three terrans, whose minds were about to simultaneously break, and Altiss was entirely focused on the affini across from her. “Twenty to thirty rebels; in and out in five minutes and seventeen seconds.” The tension in the air was electric. “And if I remember correctly, Celosia,” Altiss said, “you were ther–”

 

Phoebe was ripped from the water, a shower of crystalline droplets following in her wake, as Celosia abruptly stood and pulled both her and Jazz close to her chest. “Dirt, I lost track of the time,” Celosia said, already stepping over the edge of the tub, “we have somewhere we need to–”

“No.”

 

Everything froze. Total, utter silence. Indra, completely spent, was lying dazed in the tub, and stray droplets of water were still rolling off of the leaves and bark of her owner beside her. Altiss had wrapped one massive, clawed hand around Celosia’s arm, and the look she was pinning the other affini with was absolutely, terrifyingly severe. 

 

“We need to talk.”

 

 

“Alright… well. This changes things.”

 

Jazz gripped the towel around their shoulders, keeping a wary eye on the floret sprawled across a nearby cushioned bench. The trio were waiting just outside the door to the spa; the affini had led them here after carrying the terrans back to ground level. 

 

Celosia had told her terrans to be good (Phoebe didn’t know why she felt all tingly whenever Celosia said that) and left Indra in their care, before following Altiss to one of the maintenance closets scattered throughout the premises. “The circulatory system of the Hotel,” Rosifax had called it, but it was just full of tech stuff. The former rebel was still recovering from her “bath” and was only half lucid. 

 

“Tereus isn’t compromised, probably. We can still report to them- we have time.” Jazz stopped worrying over contingencies to check in on Phoebe. “Are you okay?”

 

The other girl didn’t hear them. She was crouching near the soft, waterproof carpet with her towel wrapped around herself like a cocoon, and she was still staring at the spa door. “What just happened?”

Jazz flinched, her brow gradually furrowing in concern. “You.. you really don’t remember?”

“The last thing I remember is you telling me not to say anything, but then I blinked and we were leaving.” Phoebe looked past the Jazz‘s legs towards the access closet. “What are they doing?”

 

Jazz knelt in front of her, placing their hands on her shoulders to lock her gaze with their own. “I can’t–,” they stammered, chewing their lip anxiously, “Just try not to panic.”

 

“Why would I be panicking?” Phoebe paled; Jazz losing their composure like this was never a good sign. “Jazz, what’s going on?”

 

Before Jazz could answer, Indra had gained enough consciousness to drag herself upright. She took one look at Phoebe, went bright, sputtering red, and practically threw herself back through the door into the spa, full sprint.

 

“Ah, roots…” Jazz sighed, bouncing fretfully in place. “I’m gonna go wrangle her. Wait here,” she said to Phoebe, “I’ll be right back,” before hurrying after Indra.

 

Phoebe was left with a hole in her memory where the last several minutes were supposed to be, and nobody to fill her in. Being out of the loop was starting to feel really gross. She was done with following orders and done with being hung out to dry- and for Indra, of all people. 

 

Very carefully, she crept over to the access closet and held her ear to the (thankfully non-automatic) door. There were no windows, but she could follow the conversation well enough from the sound.

 

“…letely unfounded accusations–“

 

“I’m sure you’d love for them to be unfounded, wouldn’t you? I just finished talking to Rosifax Dextris, and Berberi Calidum before that, so as it currently stands you have two testimonies and a very sloppy trail stacked against you.”

 

“Berberi spoke with you?” Celosia actually sounded a little hurt, but only temporarily. “And I resent being described as “sloppy”, by the way.”

 

“Pulchris, this is serious. Yes, I spoke with Berberi, because she was worried about a floret whose biorhythm was beginning to resemble yours, but who ostensibly belonged to someone else. I didn’t think much of it- because I trusted you- until I learned you’d never told Berberi about Jazz.”

 

“I wasn’t obligated to tell her about Jazz.”

 

“Irrelevant, let me finish. I followed her trail back to Rosifax, who was suspicious for a number of reasons, all of which they ignored on account of her seeming “fresh” and her biometric data being present on the Phellos’ database.” Phoebe heard the distinct sound of a wooden claw tapping a tablet screen. “‘Amaranth Inlex, Fourth Floret’, belonging to one ‘Asterid Inlex, Third Bloom’.”

 

There was a short moment of silence where Celosia didn’t respond. “…I don’t see what the problem is—“

 

“You know stars-damned well what the problem is, Celosia, don’t—“ Altiss sighed. “I just want to know where she came from.”

 

“Altiss, I have this under control. You trusted me for a reason, and that reason hasn’t changed—“

 

“And I’m starting to question that trust. It’s not about control, Celosia, it’s about basic responsibility. We have standard protocol for a very good reason. I know that everything has to be unnecessarily complicated with you, but this is over the line. You tampered with a floret biometric database, you lied to Berberi, you lied to me–”

 

“I never lied to either of you.”

 

“Lies of omission, then. Unless you can resolve everything you’ve done and register her properly, as a former feralist, then I’m seriously going to have to reconsider your—“

 

There was a scuffle and a -thump- against the wall. Phoebe flinched away from the door.

 

“You wouldn’t dare.”

 

“…No. I wouldn’t. But I’m wondering if I should; and Celosia, I really, really hate that feeling. That’s what’s upsetting me the most about this; you say you have this under control, so please, convince me.”

 

“She’s a wonderful sophont, Altiss; she’s not a danger to anyone.” Another stretch of awkward silence. “…I had Cestro’s help.”

 

Altiss groaned. “Of course you did. What– actually, dirt and leaves, I don’t want to know. Have her on track for implantation by the end of the day tomorrow, and I might not call a meeting over this. And if Jazz—“

 

“She doesn’t… she doesn’t know about Jazz, either.”

 

“…She doesn’t?” Despite everything she’d learned thus far, this was the first time the captain seemed genuinely shocked. “Pulchris, what exactly did you tell her?”

 

Phoebe didn’t hear anything else, because she was already backing away from the door. She nearly screamed when she ended up running into Jazz.

 

“Sorry, I caught up with Indra, she…” Jazz stopped when they saw Phoebe‘s face. “Is something wrong?”

 

Celosia knew. Of course she knew. Only a complete idiot would believe they could actually infiltrate a Compact outpost full of florets. “I think this was a mistake.”

 

Jazz looked confused. “Like, the spa, or–”

 

“Everything, Jazz.” Phoebe was struggling to look them in the eye. “I was too dense to understand everything I was getting myself into. I’ve only been here for three days, and I’m already letting you all play with me like a toy.”

 

Jazz floundered, and Phoebe had to fight against her instinct to drop the subject and apologize. She knew they got anxious when they felt like they were losing their grip on a situation, but she couldn’t leave this unaddressed. “Amaranth, I was only trying to–”

 

“Stop calling me that!” Jazz had approached to place a comforting hand on Phoebe’s arm, but Phoebe smacked it away. She briefly glanced at the closet door before adjusting her volume. “I’m sick of this place! I’m sick of pretending to be a dead girl! I, I just…”

Just want to go home? Where would she go?

 

“...Just give me some space,” she whispered. “Please.” 

 

She headed up the ramp, alone. Phoebe kept waiting for Jazz to chase after her; to tell her the truth, to comfort her or apologize. They never did.