“It’s time to wake up, little Seni.”

Seni slowly fluttered their eyes open and, blinded by an intense light, promptly closed them again. Still half asleep, they turned over with a groan and buried their face deep in their blanket.

“I said, it’s time to wake up,” the voice turned to a commanding tone.

They peeked out from under the blanket and saw Kaltxi standing tall over them. Rubbing their eyes, they slowly began waking up. “Wha?” they asked incoherently.

“Get up. It’s an order from your owner,” Kaltxi said decisively.

Seni groaned again, remembering the previous day. The details were still hazy, but they had agreed to become a floret? No, that’s not right, they were still free, just pretending to be a floret. It was barely the start of the next day, and they were already regretting their decision.

“You’re not my owner,” Seni muttered, annoyed, and began slowly sitting up in bed.

“My, you can be so hurtful when you’re sleepy.” The Affini said, putting their hand on Seni’s chin.

Seni jumped and opened their eyes wide at the surprising touch. The hand lifted their head and they found themselves staring directly in Kaltxi’s eyes. Panic sparked in their heart for just a second, before they stopped being able to think. The eyes were like two galaxies, spinning and twinkling in a hypnotising tempo. Their turquoise light turned to green, then yellow, then blue, with spots of all colours appearing and disappearing before Seni could even register their presence. They felt like it was sucking them in, trapping them in the sparkling vortex of space-like clouds for seconds, days, years, lifetimes. For that time, nothing existed for Seni but the Affini’s eyes.

“Up.”

Seni threw off their blanket with one swift move and stood up on the floor, arms by their sides, staring right up at their owner.

“There’s my good little Seni,” Kaltxi praised them softly, stroking their chin. They blinked slowly and retracted their hand. Seni immediately shook their head.

They looked around the room in confusion. “What? When did I--”

“We have a lot to do today, little one,” the Affini interrupted. “I have some errands to run, and I want my floret by my side.”

“I’m not your floret,” they said, staring at the ground and shielding their eyes from above to avoid Kaltxi’s hypnotic eyes.

“Backing out so quickly?” Kaltxi chuckled. “It seems that the floret life is really not for you, after all. One simple order and you’ve already had enough!”

This struck Seni as an affront to their strength and resilience, paradoxically. Though they felt meek in the Affini’s presence, they could not accept it.

They put their arms by their sides again and stared straight forward, their eyes now locked onto Kaltxi’s chest. “No…” They muttered, as if against their own will. “I’m not.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kaltxi grinned smugly. “But you’re forgetting something, aren’t you, petal? That’s not how a good floret speaks, is it?”

Seni sighed. “I’m not backing out… my Master.”

The Affini looked satisfied. “That’s right. Good job, floret!”

Though they were still annoyed by the situation, the praise put an involuntary smile and a light blush on Seni’s face. They looked away sharply with a blink, as if to shake off that feeling, and heard a light giggle in response. To avoid more embarrassment, they swiftly changed the topic. “Where are we going?” they asked coldly, but caught themself right away and sighed. “...my Master?”

“We need to get things settled for your stay here. Even if it’s going to be temporary, I need you to feel at home here,” they responded innocently, though Seni didn’t miss the ironic emphasis on the ‘even if’. They wanted to say something in response, but chose to remain quiet in the end. “Now, get dressed,” Kaltxi said, turning around to leave and grant their ‘floret’ some privacy. “I want you looking good when we’re out together.”

Seni looked at their bedside table and saw a hairbrush and a neatly folded pile of clothes. They quickly recognized the angel-like companion dress from the previous day. Underneath was a pair of fresh underwear and sandals, which they figured Kaltxi must have atomically compiled for them at night, and under those… a collar. "Of course", they muttered and sighed. They picked it up to analyse it more closely.

It was black and had a shiny texture, much like a traditional dog collar, though it was definitely human-sized and the material was comfortably soft on both sides. Right in the middle hung a small, heart-shaped engraved pendant. It read: "Seni Loren, a free human".

This took Seni aback for a second. They obviously hadn’t changed their name yet, but they had not expected the Affini to take that seriously. After all, Kaltxi had already began referring to them as their floret. They shrugged, figuring the aliens’ love of formalities didn’t allow them to label Seni as anything they weren’t really. Seni felt a slight sense of comfort at that. They fastened the collar around their neck and quickly put on the other clothes, throwing their old underwear onto the floor.

Before leaving the bedroom, Seni took another look at themself, now dressed like a proper floret. The dress was shorter than they had realised last time, exposing their skin down from more or less right above their knees. They felt a little uncomfortable at first, but upon giving it a second look, they realised they didn’t hate it, somehow. They brushed back their hair and ruffled it a little, then took a quick breath and sighed, ready to go out.

They walked out of the room, ready to face Kaltxi, who was now standing by the main door to the hab. He smiled. "Oh, I still love seeing you dressed like this! Are you ready to head out, little one?"

Seni hesitated. "Isn’t this dress a little too… exposing to go outside in, my Master?"

"Trust me, little Seni," he responded, carefully staring down the human’s outfit, "there is no chance that anyone will see something you don’t want them to. Besides," he continued, his sly smile returning, "Florets don’t usually get to choose their own clothes, do they?"

The familiar twisting feeling in Seni’s chest returned, now coupled with a sensation of heat lower down in their body, and they began to shake. It was as if this Affini found enjoyment in humiliating them, and yet, somehow, they felt weirdly excited. They hadn’t been expecting to feel this way, not so early, not from something like this.

They swallowed in embarrassment and straightened their posture. "No, they don’t, my Master."

Kaltxi snapped a leash to Seni’s collar and took a long, proud look at their new ‘floret’. He proceeded out the door, with Seni having no choice now but to follow.

The two got a quick breakfast out in town, and then took off to go on a few errands. The first place they went to was Seni’s hab, from which Kaltxi allowed them to take a few items they needed for their stay, including their video game console, a couple of books and mangas, and underwear – the Affini clarified that only they will choose Seni’s outward clothes for the next week. They packed those tightly into a small suitcase they picked up on the way, which Seni was ordered to wheel along themself.

Afterwards, they headed to a store to pick up some human food. It could all be compiled, of course, but the Affini was adamant their ‘pet’ deserved only the highest standards of care. The two spent a while there choosing things that were somewhat healthy, yet safe to eat – most food tended to flare up Seni’s sensory issues. They also stopped at a sandwich shop for lunch. Just like the day before, the floret employee assumed Kaltxi was going to be ordering for their ‘floret’, only they did not correct them this time.

Seni felt utterly humiliated at first. Though the dress covered them up just fine, it was still very distinctly floret-like. Their collar was also impossible not to notice, and the leash connected to it felt far too short, with Kaltxi not letting go of it for a second. The Affini even slowed down their pace to match Seni’s and encouraged them to stay right by their side, not a step behind. Through all of this, aside from the tiny engraving on the tag, there were no signs that differentiated Seni from a proper floret anymore. A part of them hated this, wanting to break the deal off right then and run home, and yet, they endured. They had asked for this, they told themself, and they needed to at least give it a shot, if only just for the one day.

They felt the knot in their chest tighten every time they felt the stare of another human or Affini they passed on the street, smiling at them, judging them. Some of the Affini went out of their way to approach and compliment Kaltxi on their new ‘pet’, or even directed their praise directly at Seni, calling them some variant of ‘good’, ‘obedient’, or ‘adorable’. They couldn’t understand why, but even though they were embarrassed beyond comparison, compliments coming from the Affini always filled them with a sense of pride.

After only an hour or two had passed, Seni finally gave in to the thought that it wasn’t that bad. They allowed themself to accept the oncoming compliments, and got progressively more brave, even consenting a few times to displays of physical affection, like head pats or scratches. Confusingly, those felt incredibly good to Seni, despite the fact that they couldn’t sense any xenodrugs in the air. Before they could notice, the tight feeling in their chest stopped bothering them, and embarrassment gradually turned into excitement again. To their own horror, they began to enjoy themself, being seen in public as a floret.

Before the two headed home, they made their final stop at a hair salon. Kaltxi kept it a surprise until the last moment, so when Seni realised what was about to happen, they nearly panicked. Everything the Affini had done until that moment was reversible, but a haircut dictated by their ‘owner’ felt too permanent to Seni, like a symbol of Kaltxi’s authority over their body, nearly as bad as a haustoric implant. It was a scary step to take, but they were assured it was necessary, and in the end, they succumbed, not having much of a choice, anyway.

Though Seni had not been allowed a say in what they were going to look like, Kaltxi made sure it matched the human’s style, only more proper. But the change was still bigger than Seni expected. Their fringe was finally cut down to a comfortable size, and their sides were much shorter. Most importantly, the ends of their hair were no longer stiffly pointing off to the sides, but became curled up, further emphasising the angelic look their dress gave them. Seni couldn’t stop staring at themself as it happened. So far, it seemed that every time they had thought they couldn’t look any more like a floret, they were proven wrong.

Having finished running all the necessary errands, the two returned home. Seni unpacked most of their stuff into their small part of Kaltxi’s bedroom. They laid down, wanting to take a break from the terrifying and exciting day for a minute. They closed their eyes, but were not able to fall asleep.

It was difficult to think about everything that was happening. Everything felt like it was happening too fast, and Seni had not expected for it to be so intense. They had thought they’d still have time to prepare, to get into the floret mindset gradually, but it seemed that their Affini had other plans. In just the few hours they’d spent out in town presenting as a floret, Seni had experienced so much that was new to them that they already felt overwhelmed. Being a floret was so different from being free… it seemed like far more than just being a happier version of themself. They were being seen as less of an individual, like they were not their own person anymore. It was far more than they thought they’d bargained for.

And yet, there was still something exciting about it. Their avoidance, their fear of thinking about florets, had began fading in the past few days and the barriers they encountered had been getting progressively less strong. It was all dream-like, in the sense that Seni could not believe that something like this was happening to them, that they had gone so far just to explore what they had believed was a whim. They wanted to snap out of it, wake themself up and head back to everything they’d known before, away from the Affini, florets and everything that made them so scared and confused.

Before the Affini invasion, every human had been taught that individuality and resolve were some of the biggest virtues of humanity. This view crumbled immediately in the big picture as soon as it became obvious that resisting the Affini was impossible, but it had still managed to grow its roots in humans’ hearts, causing them to fear anything that stripped them off those things. It was no wonder that domestication was so scary. Individuality would become limited as soon as a contract was signed, changing the human’s name and allowing them to be defined only by the Affini that owned them. Resolve was often gone entirely even sooner than that, through the use of drugs and psychological tricks that the Affini liked so much to play.

For Seni, it had been no different. They valued their individuality. Though they had always struggled with taking care of themself on their own and making their own decisions, they hated relying on people. They took pride in everything they ever managed to do alone, even something as simple as surviving. Being ordered around, watched and escorted everywhere was difficult to accept, but on the other hand, it felt inexplicably relieving. They knew that after going back to their own life, there was going to be something they would miss about this.

Maybe it was not having to decide what to do, maybe it was the constant affection, both verbal and a little bit of physical, or maybe it was a combination of those things and then some. Of course, they wanted the option of doing what they wanted and the ability to be left alone sometimes, but everything they had been told before had suggested that this would still be the case. It was beginning to seem like, even though there was far more to floret life than they thought, scarily enough, it wasn’t all bad. They had come to a terrible realisation – that they were struggling to see a reason to back out now. That in itself was enough to make their instinct tell them to run, but now there was something in them fighting back, telling them they needed to go further, they needed to see more, they needed to know what it’s really like.

Seni needed to stop thinking about it and go on about their day somehow, even through all the brand new changes. They could hear Kaltxi doing something in the other room, but they apparently weren’t interested in checking up on their ‘pet’ right now, content with knowing they were resting safely in their bed. The peace and quiet was great, having given Seni’s mind and body some time to recover, but they were now getting restless. They looked at some of the things they had brought back from their home. They had some books, manga, stim toys, and a notebook they had always wanted to use for drawing but never had much motivation for. They brought it with them because they had figured that they would get bored a lot, having little opportunity to go outside unless Kaltxi allowed them.

They began scribbling down some things absent-mindedly. First, they drew Kaltxi. The Affini’s look had always intrigued them, with their body consisting entirely out of vines, branches and the occasional leaves, with an inside core whose light could be seen illuminating through them. It was like a mass of things forming one big, vaguely humanoid pile, rather than a single unit. They had personally seen their hands untangle and deform into a mass of vines, and they knew that they were probably able to do even more than that. It was a little bit gross, but they also found it intriguing and made a mental note to examine the Affini’s body more when they got the chance.

Then, they drew themself. They depicted their own body in a rather unflattering way, emphasising their imperfections and anxieties. They had never hated the way they looked, but they always had trouble maintaining good looks, mostly due to lack of motivation and the occasional depressive episode. They drew themself again, but this time, the new version of them that they had been getting used to seeing lately. They gave themself the gifted dress, the new haircut, the collar, a larger smile and finally those big, unfocused pupils of a floret. They stared at the two pictures. They couldn’t exactly describe the way it made them feel, but it was something between nostalgia, anxiety and frustration. Seni closed the notebook and tossed it back in a drawer. They settled for re-reading one of their comfort mangas to pass the time instead.

Seni peeked out of the bedroom to see Kaltxi sitting on the couch, reading a book. “Hey- I mean... My Master, what are you doing?” they asked, smiling awkwardly.

Kaltxi put their book upside-down on their knees and said, “Hello, little Seni, did you have a nice rest?”

They shook their head. “I wasn’t resting, really. I had so much on my mind, I couldn’t sleep or relax.” They walked closer and repeated their question. “What are you doing, my Master?”

The Affini showed them the cover of the book, though it was an Affini language, so it looked like meaningless scribbles to Seni. “I decided to read up some more on xenodrugs. I’m not sure if you knew this, little Seni, but I’m still pretty young by Affini standards and I have never had a floret before. I want to know as much as I can about what I can do to take care of you -” they made a barely noticeable pause “- or any other potential floret I might have someday.” Seni rolled their eyes.

“R-right…” Seni sat down next to Kaltxi. “Xenodrugs, huh…”

“Anything you’d like to know about them as well, petal?”

Seni was staring off into the room. “I don’t know… I mean, I heard a lot about them before. I know that they are for making florets, more relaxed, I guess? That’s what you were doing to me, too, right? ...m-my master?”

Kaltxi shuffled through their book. “Yes, petal, but that is only one kind of xenodrug. It’s called class-E. I used it occasionally to calm you down, but many florets are on a consistent, small dose of it throughout most of their lives. Most florets also sometimes receive class-A xenodrugs, which cause your body to be more sensitive to touch. Though I’m not sure if you’d like that kind, personally. There are far more kinds, one for almost every letter of your human alphabet, but it seems those two are the most common.”

The human put their finger anxiously in their mouth, thought for a few seconds, then realised and took it out. “Uh, well, um, maybe I could try the A one sometime, either way… I mean, being touched isn’t all bad, I just don’t like it when it’s without permission.” Seni tensed up a bit. “And it feels much different when Affini do it. I had a hug from the Affini in the- I mean, from Sal- from Miss Salama,” they stumbled, “and it felt pretty good. Well, it was more like a massage than a hug, but, it felt pretty good.”

“My, she didn’t tell me about that!” Kaltxi paused and realised something. “Oh, I should explain! You see, Miss Salama and I have been talking a lot since we met – mostly about you, little Seni. She told me about your visit to the clinic, as I have said in a message to you, but she could not say what exactly you talked about, as it was confidential.”

Seni sighed in relief, but their face quickly turned to confusion. “Wait, you’ve been talking about me so much?” Kaltxi had just said they hadn’t had a floret before, yet they seemed obsessed with them, and this only drove the point home even more. Seni began to blush. “It sounds like I really caught your eye, huh?” they smiled, now carrying the smug look that they had associated Kaltxi with before.

The Affini tilted their head back sligthly as a sign of surprise. “I-- I suppose you could say that, yes.” They smiled back at Seni. “It’s true that you are special to me. I am happy we managed to get to know each other.”

The two didn’t end up discussing too much about xenodrugs, though they still spent most of the day together, talking, relaxing, and getting used to each other’s presence more. Seni found a lot of enjoyment in that, which meant they were only reaffirmed in their earlier worry that life as a floret could be pretty comfortable. But it had got late, so they took their mind off it by getting ready to sleep.

They barely managed to spend a minute laying down before Kaltxi walked into the bedroom after them.

"Have you enjoy yourself today, little Seni?"

"I…" Seni hesitated, looking up at their ‘owner’, "I don’t… know? It’s all so confusing. Being outside with you was embarrassing, but I also felt kinda happy? Whenever there’s anything new to me, I feel like I’m right on the verge of quitting, but then… I keep wanting to see what happens next." They closed their eyes and covered their face with their hands in resignation.

Kalxi sat down next to them. A few minutes of silence followed as the Affini seemed to consider something deeply and carefully. Finally, with something between gentle kindness and determination, they spoke. "If you’d like, I can show you one of the things that happen next." Seni sat up attentively, and the Affini carefully reached out to grab their hand. "There is a certain thing that is often one of the greatest joys in a floret’s life, yet you haven’t properly tried it yet."

Seni perked up anxiously. "You mean… you mean xenodrugs?"

Kaltxi chuckled and reached for a device from his own bedside table. "It’s not only the xenodrugs. The joy comes from how they can make you feel, and…" He looked in Seni’s face, though they closed their eyes to avoid gazing back. "...how your owner can make you feel."

Seni’s breathing became heavy and shaky. It obviously another trap, or something that was only meant to convince them to become a floret. They knew that in the end, this Affini was determined to achieve that; with everything he had done so far, he was undeniably striving to make Seni more and more willing to succumb to him. But they were too deep down the rabbit hole now, they thought. Every trick they’d fallen for, they ended up enjoying far more than they had expected. And, maybe against their own best judgement, they trusted Kaltxi now. They knew he wasn’t just going to drug them into saying ‘yes’. The Affini were far more cunning than that anyway.

They had had a small taste of xenodrug-enhanced touch before at the clinic, and they knew how good it could feel. Still, they were afraid of trying it again. They were afraid that they’d like it too much, that it would be too good not to give up their freedom for. Seni gathered up all the power they had to calm down. They needed time to think about it, but there wasn’t any. It was either going to happen now, or they knew they’d never be able to bring it up again. They closed their eyes shut and squeezed their hands into fists.

If it was going to be so good, why did they want to resist it? If it’s really worth becoming a pet for, what’s wrong with that? Seni counted to five in their mind. One… two… three… four…

"I want to try it…”Seni finally uttered in a shaky whisper, “I want to try it, my Master."