Seni felt the strength having returned to their body, though still just barely. Their muscles were still sore, but it had become easier to move. They had spent the entire morning sleeping and resting in bed, and they felt very hungry and thirsty, so, straining, they stumbled out and stood up on shaky feet.

Kaltxi had spent the whole time by Seni’s side, keeping them company and tending to their needs, though they had insisted that it was ‘too soon’ to give the human any drug to alleviate the pain. This made some sense to them, considering they had just spent the best evening of their life drugged out of their mind. Once Seni had awoken, the Affini made them promise to stay down and left them home alone to rest, claiming to have some business to attend to.

Thinking back to last night, Seni got goosebumps. In just a few minutes, they had experienced pleasure stronger than anything they had ever known. They recalled the train of thought that had convinced them to give in to the idea. Was the incredible feeling really worth giving up their freedom for? They had had doubts that such a thing would even possible before, but now it got more complicated. They wanted to be able to go back to that feeling, but they figured that Kaltxi wouldn’t let them experience it again if they ended up choosing freedom.

There was still so much more to floret life than what they had had experienced. They wanted to know, above all, what it’s like to live with an Affini, to experience the life they had heard so much about so far – a life just like before, yet different, happier. The thought of such bliss is what brought them here in the first place, and they needed to feel it proper, before they could make the decision.

With their mind hazy from tiredness and thinking, they stumbled into the kitchen. Kaltxi had been gone for a while now, but Seni knew how to take care of themself. They managed to reach out for a glass from one of the high-hanging cupboards and get some water into it from the fridge to drink. The size of all the furniture in the hab intimidated them still. The thought briefly appeared in Seni’s mind that it had been likely purposely designed this way to make any floret living there extra helpless.

Seni opened the fridge and looked for anything they could make on their own in their state. The Affini had allowed them a small selection of comfort foods, including a box of chicken nuggets, which was mercifully laying on one of the lower shelves. They took it out, opened it, and threw it on a plate they found in one of the lower cupboards. There was a space microwave on in the corner of the kitchen counter, though it was just barely out of Seni’s reach.

Seni stretched their arm out as far as they could, able to just barely reach for the door, and slid the plate of nuggets with just the tips of their fingers into the microwave. Then they proceeded to swing the door closed again, and reach for the button. Seni looked up at the rotating meat with a sense of pride. They made themself some food, all on their own!

The microwave beeped and Seni went to take their food out. They hadn’t considered this part. They put their fingers on the plate and attempted to slide it out little by little. It was very hot. They finally managed to grab them with their fingertips and attempted to lift it up, as quickly as they could.

It was far too hot. Seni’s fingers burned, and they instinctively let go, causing the plate to fall down on their head, bounce off, and crash onto the floor with a reverberating loud noise. They were brought down to the floor by the impact.

Seni sat there for a while, recoiling from the pain, and struggled to stand up, but it was too difficult. They resigned to sitting there and resting, examining their body to make sure none of the glass touched them or hurt them. They at least safely concluded that that wasn’t the case and tried again to gather up strength to get up.

The door slid open and Kaltxi rushed into the room. “Petal, are you okay!? I was just heading back home when I heard this terrible noise!” They turned and stared at the scene in disbelief. Seni was sitting slouched on the floor, surrounded by broken glass and chicken nuggets all around them. The Affini quickly ran up to Seni and picked them up, looking around their body to make sure there were no cuts. “Oh, thank stars,” they sighed.

They placed Seni down on the couch and proceeded to clean up the mess. The human only looked down at the floor in shame.

Once they finished, they stood before Seni and proceeded to scold them. “What got into you, Seni? You’re in no shape to be walking on your own, and especially not to do dangerous things like cooking!” Tears welled up in Seni’s eyes. “You’re lucky I was so close to home. When I heard that horrible noise, I rushed in here as quick as I could.”

Seni whispered in shame, “I’m sorry, my Master.”

Noticing the genuine distress in the human, Kaltxi immediately softened their tone. “It’s okay, little Seni.” They put their hand over their mouth. “I failed you; I should not have left you alone. For the rest of our week together, I promise I will not leave you alone for a second!”

Seni was about to protest, but realised it would be pointless. They had no choice on anything unless they went back home right now, and they were in no shape to do that. They were entirely at Kaltxi’s mercy at the moment. Helplessly, they were sat down on the soft couch, and simply watched as the Affini cleaned up their mess and worked to make some better food for them. They were expecting Kaltxi to be angry, but instead, all they could see on their face was concern, as they periodically turned around to look at Seni, as if to make sure they were okay and not going anywhere.

Kaltxi eventually fed Seni themself, not allowing the human to even use their own hands to hold the ‘dangerous’ utensils, and put them back to bed for another nap. Seni protested, but the Affini absolutely insisted that they had to rest more, and promised to finally give them some painkillers if they managed to sleep for a little longer.

When they awoke, it felt like everything hurt just a bit less at last. Seni moved to get out of bed at first, but realised that Kaltxi would not like that. Resigned, they called out for them. “My Master?”

They heard footsteps and the Affini promptly appeared in the doorway. “Oh, you’re awake again, little Seni. How do you feel now?”

“A little bit better… my Master.” Seni moved their fingers, as if testing them. “Did you give me painkillers when I was sleeping?”

“Not yet, little Seni, but if you still need them, I can give them to you in just a minute. Right now, I need to talk to you.”

Kaltxi sat down next to Seni and tilted their head down. “I know I have already apologised to you, but I still regret what I did to you last night. I am glad you enjoyed yourself in the end, but I had had no idea how strong the dose I gave you would be – I underestimated your sensitivity. I’m very sorry, little Seni. I would understand if this scared you away from becoming a floret.”

“N-no!” Seni screamed. “I… I mean no, it’s okay, my Master. I don’t feel like I’ve been hurt… I know I got a little overwhelmed at the end, but I enjoyed myself. I enjoyed myself so much that…” They put their palm on their face to hide their embarrassment. “I want to do it again sometime.”

The Affini looked surprised, but proceeded to smile through it. “We can do all sorts of things like that, if you really want to. But I will be more careful not to overwhelm you. That’s a promise.”

They smiled and Seni smiled back.

“I picked up a very mild blend of Class-E xenodrug for you at the clinic today. I’m going to give some to you, to help you with your pain.” Kaltxi reached for the strange device again, put a vial into one of the slots and adjusted some sliders. “It is one of the drugs you received last night, which made you feel so relaxed, but it will be much less severe this time. Is that okay?”

Seni looked at the inhaler curiously. “Y-yeah, I think so… my Master.”

“You will also feel a little bit disoriented and slower, but that will help ensure you do not over-exert yourself again. I will watch you the entire time to make sure you don’t hurt yourself.”

They brought the inhaler part to Seni’s face again. “You know how to do this now, right?” The human blinked affirmatively, and promptly heard the whirring noise again.

Immediately, Seni sighed in extreme relief, feeling their pain fade away. Their muscles went weak, but they could still move them, albeit slowly. Their vision was blurry, but good enough to make out everything around them.

“How do you feel now?” Kaltxi asked.

Seni carefully lifted themself up and out of bed. “I f-feel… much better, m-my Master,” they stuttered out slowly. Kaltxi gave them a warm smile in response.

Free from the pain at last, Seni was able to go about their day as usual, with the crucial difference of being under constant supervision from their Affini. The haziness brought on by the drug didn’t bother them nearly as much as they had thought it would. In fact, coupled with constant help and praise they were receiving, it felt like things were coming even easier to them than when they had to do everything on their own and berate themself for it. It was a fair trade-off for not being able to think quite straight.

At one point, Seni was sitting on the human-sized part of the couch in the living room, right next to their ‘owner’. They were gently stroking their hair with a vine, while reading something on their tablet. Seni had a controller in their hand from the console they had brought from home, and the game was being displayed on the TV. Their eyes were glassy, but opened wide and focused on the image in front of them, their face locked in an expression of absent-minded determination. With slow, unsure movements of their thumbs, they were struggling to navigate their way through the video game world.

The slow movements suddenly turned into an abrupt mashing of buttons, followed by a frustrated groan and dying noises coming from the TV. They reached up to nudge Kaltxi’s vine away, as their touch was distracting them from the game, and looked back at the screen. The game was resumed and Seni’s expression went back to careful determination, staring at the game, trying to concentrate as hard as possible. A few minutes later, the same thing happened again, and Seni’s groans grew more desperate. The Affini put down their tablet and looked at the TV screen as well.

“You seem frustrated, are you struggling, little Seni?”

Seni sighed. “This dumb skeleton keeps coming at me and… he’s so fast, and I can’t dodge in time.” They brought up their hands and looked at their fingers ostensibly. “It’s not supposed to be this hard, it’s… I think it’s the drug. I can’t concentrate… um, my Master.”

Kaltxi reached down for the controller. “Let me try something, okay?” Yeah, right, Seni thought, no way this ancient alien was better at video games than them. But instead of attempting to play, they just pressed the menu button and went into the settings. They selected difficulty settings and chose an option Seni had never seen before: “Floret Mode”

“Whu-” they paused. “Wh-what’s ‘Floret Mode’?”

“A game can’t be fun if you’re too disoriented to pay attention, don’t you think?” Kaltxi smiled smugly. “So the Compact requires that all games have floret modes, just so cuties like you can still enjoy themselves while blissed out on your xenodrugs!”

Seni curiously took back the controller. To them, the difficulty of the game felt much more reasonable now, though to anyone with a sober mind, it would be stupidly easy. The enemies took twice or three times as long to wind up to attack while their own movements were far more responsive, reaction times became a lot more forgiving in general, and all abrupt movements on the screen slowed down enough to stop disorienting them. Seni smiled, and as they continued playing, their expression gradually turned from careful and determined to calm and joyful. “Th-thank you, my Master!” they finally remembered to say after a minute.

They continued to play for a few more minutes, until a sudden realisation sparked up in their head. Seni paused the game again and pondered for a moment. “Um, my Master?” the Affini turned to them. “Does this mean, um, this drug… Is this how florets usually feel?”

Kaltxi slowly put their hand on Seni’s head, making sure not to surprise them, and patted them on the head. “Every floret feels different, petal.” They paused, then added, “But if you must know, yes, I do believe class-E xenodrugs are a very popular way of keeping florets happy and calm for most of the time.”

Seni put down their controller, lost in thought. They stood up and began walking around the room. Without bending their knees, they took a few steps in one direction, then turned around on their toes and took a few steps in the other. They repeated this a few times, experimenting with different paces and styles of walking. They then sat down on the floor, stretched their legs and arms, and then lifted themself slowly and carefully back up. They started moving their arms in every direction, touching the walls, then touching various objects they saw around. Kaltxi was watching this show intently with visible confusion painted on their face.

As if feeling out what movements were possible, they were flexing their muscles and reaching out their limbs in all directions. After a while, they stood in place and squinted their eyes as if thinking about something as hard as possible. They quickly picked up one of the books they had left on the living room table and flipped through pages, concentrating as hard as they could on each one. Then, as if forgetting what they were doing, they closed it and began moving around the room again.

After a few minutes of this, Kaltxi finally couldn’t help but chuckle. “Little Seni? What in the world are you doing?

Seni turned around in surprise, as if they had forgotten about Kaltxi’s presence. “Oh!” They brought their fingers together awkwardly. “I was, um, trying to see what it would like, walking and um, doing things, while on the drug... s-since I’d probably have to get used to it, if I become a floret, I mean.”

The Affini laughed out loud at this. “And?”

“Um, I think it would take some time,” they squeezed their hands into fists, “But I could live with this!” They smiled and then added abruptly, “Um, my Master.”

“Then how about we let you stay on them, even after your pain fades?” Kaltxi asked, smiling kindly. “Just as a test.”

Despite the drug in their bloodstream, Seni realised almost instantly that it was yet another trap. If they agreed, the chances of them ever backing out of becoming a floret would dwindle even further. They expected the tight feeling in their chest to return at the thought, but were surprised when it didn’t. The flood of emotions, the various scary feelings that would normally erupt in them simply didn’t happen this time, and instead, they seriously considered the offer. They were happy feeling like this. Though they felt disoriented, they were able to think just fine, and they easily imagined themself doing just about everything they could do before. It may have been a trap, but did it really matter at this point?

“Yes, my Master,” they finally said, “I would like that.”

It took a while, but Seni got used to the constant influence of the xenodrug. They spent the rest of their day either chatting away with their ‘owner’ or simply blissfully laying on the couch, free from any of their usual stress or anxieties. For the first time in their life, it felt good to simply allow themself to do nothing, to relax, not thinking about anything in particular.

The next day, and each of the days that came after it, they found themself actually excited to receive their daily drug dose, which was something they hadn’t expected. They were still times where they found the constant dazedness tiring, or needed a minute to think harder about something, and asked for a dose of antidote, but those never became a serious enough issue to make them consider stopping the drug altogether.

For those days, Seni spent nearly every second in clear view of Kaltxi, playing video games, watching TV, reading, going on walks and errands together, all while under the influence of xenodrugs. The Affini was taking care of them as best they could, although it took some trial and error. They had got them more dresses, all in the same distinctly floret-like style as the first one, and were making sure to order them to shower and brush their teeth, which they had found out Seni hadn’t been doing regularly enough on their own. They also made them eat healthy food and remain hydrated.

Three or four days had passed before Seni finally stopped being scared of becoming a floret. Their life had not changed as drastically as they had thought it would, but all the small things – the drug, the constant care and accompanying by their Affini, the genuine kindness they felt coming from them – all added up to create a different, happier life for Seni. Sometimes, it even felt to them like there was nothing in the world that could make them feel bad anymore.

Sadly, this could not entirely be the case. Though the drug was helping, their intrusive thoughts didn’t completely go away, and they occasionally found themself succumbing to the anxiety. Domestication was supposed to be a guaranteed way of making a person harmless, but they were still afraid that they were going to hurt someone. And aside from that, they were worried that knowing just how ugly the inside of their mind was would cause Kaltxi to back out of wanting to own them.

One of those times, Seni decided that nothing can help them better than simply talking to the Affini about it. They were laying on their lap, dozing off slightly, though they were still not able to fall asleep while being touched. Kaltxi was stroking their hair, and the two were enjoying a moment of relative bliss. Seni wasn’t able to fully relax, though, with their thoughts filled with worry. They sighed and asked carefully, “Hey, my Master, I---” they paused and began to think. The Affini’s attention turned to them quickly, but they weren’t sure what to say. They decided to approach the topic from a different angle. “I’m wondering… how much do you know about me?”

Kaltxi smirked, “I know you’d make a cute pet.” Seni looked away flushed and the Affini giggled. They put the human up straight and turned more serious. “But I’m not allowed any of your private information unless you sign a contract, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Seni sighed shakily, unsure if from relief or disappointment. “The-- the Affini at the clinic, they knew some more stuff about me. They told me they thought I had intrusive thoughts.”

“Well, do you?” Kaltxi’s face was entirely serious now, with a hint of worry.

“Well, I--” Seni paused and turned quiet. “I think I do… I think about some pretty messed up stuff sometimes? I don’t want to hurt anyone, but it’s like the thoughts just appear in my head, and they tell me to hurt other people, or Affini, or myself. I try to get rid of them, but they keep coming back.” Despite the drug coursing through their bloodstream, they began to tear up from overwhelming emotions. “I thought I needed to be domesticated to get rid of them, but they told me they don’t think I’m really dangerous, but I still… just…” They sniffled quietly. A vine wiped the tear from their eye, but they lightly winced, their emotions overwhelming them too much to accept the touch, so the vine quickly retracted.

“If they told you you’re not dangerous, I can promise you that’s true. And the Affini have more ways of helping you with those feelings than just domesticating you. All you’d have to do is ask,” Kaltxi explained carefully, slowing down their words and to make sure the words reach Seni entirely, even through their state which was altered by both xenodrugs and their strong emotions. Though they were being kind and protective of Seni, their voice also held a hint of a different kind of worry, which the human didn’t understand.

Seni looked down at their feet and began to fidget, but was unsure how to verbalise their thoughts.

Noticing Seni was not going to speak, Kaltxi changed the course of the conversation to something that was apparently bothering them. “Was that the only reason you wanted-- you were curious about becoming a floret?” the Affini stumbled, but corrected themself seamlessly and looked at Seni with an expression of disappointment and pity.

Seni’s sorrow disappeared all of a sudden. “N-no!” They jumped in a light panic. “I mean, florets always look so happy, like they don’t have to worry about anything. B-but it’s also just so great to be with you, it’s like I’m so much happier here than when I have to do everything on my own, and I like that you take care of me, and I can only focus on doing what I like, and I also feel so happy just from you being next to me, and...” they listed off before stopping themself. “But I can’t help being scared.” They hugged themself lightly and tears began to flow down their face again. “I’m worried that you won’t like me if you learn more about me. O-or that the drugs will just make me lash out and hurt someone for real. Or… just so many other things. I think I’m just worried about everything,” they explained, sniffling.

Kaltxi smiled softly at the crying human and opened their arms to welcome them in case they needed a hug after all. Seni slowly shuffled up to them and leaned their head against their chest.

They began speaking, sincerely yet sternly. “Little Seni, I will never hate you. If you’d like, you could even tell me everything about you right now and I will still not hate you. Affini simply can’t do that. I want to help you, and I promise that to any extent I can, I will. If you become mine, I will sign you up for therapy, whether you like it or not, and I will make sure you receive a nice implant that will help you stop those thoughts for good.”

Seni smiled lightly, feeling reassured. Kaltxi placed one hand over them and they cuddled up into it.

“And as for the xenodrugs, they cannot cause harm to a sophont unless someone terribly misuses them. But I’m sure you knew that, didn’t you? You’re just anxious, I understand,” they whispered softly. Seni nodded with a hint of shame in their movements. “I promise you, little Seni. If you become mine, I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

“And if I don’t?” Seni asked.

“I will still do everything you let me do. You are my friend, after all.”

Seni looked up in surprise to see Kaltxi smiling widely at them. Friends, huh… They had never thought of it that way, but realised that they also considered the Affini their friend, domestication or not. They’d done so much for them. And still, they could do so much more, if they just asked.

Seni realised that, no matter what, they wanted to be a part of this Affini’s life. They spent the next few hours cuddling up together, and all their worries eventually were replaced with bliss and a feeling of great, overwhelming safety.

About five days had passed since their initial agreement, and Seni had got well used to nearly every part of their new life. They began to accept that becoming a floret can only be good for them. They found that now, after everything they had experienced, it was harder to find reasons to resist than it was to simply give in to this life. They were defaulting to the thought that this was going to be their future, and the fact that they could still go back to independence was now only an afterthought.

With Kaltxi apparently busy with their own thoughts and work, Seni was sitting in the living room with their mini-tablet in hand, frankly bored out of their mind, looking at social media posts from their friends. Anne had been posting many selfies with her Mistress, and all the comments from people they knew were overwhelmingly positive, congratulating her, being excited for her, or even mentioning their own plans for domestication. It took Seni by surprise. Just a couple of years ago, there had been extreme public fear of the Affini and everyone on the internet was screaming about how their arrival was the end of the world as they knew it. Partially, Seni thought, that might have been true, but it all turned out for the better, even for those that remained free.

Seni’s thoughts wandered further, and eventually brought them all the way back home, to their family. Their mum and ren were some of the last humans stubborn enough to not trust the Affini, at least the last time they had talked to them. They seemed to believe that taking away humans’ ability to govern themselves was inexcusable; somehow even more so than the actual slavery, poverty and death that occurred under the Accord’s rule. They also hated the idea of domestication, claiming that it was a fate worse than death.

Even before they began to get curious about domestication, living away from their parents had changed Seni a lot. It gave them space to discover who they were really, even if they still struggled with some of their daily tasks due to autism and depression. It also gave them the ability to form their own opinions, and while they had always realised that their parents had some amount of prejudice against the Compact, now they understood just how wrong they were. The Affini didn’t want to hurt anyone, and humans – free or not – that trusted them always seemed to end up better off.

Seni wondered whether their parents would change their mind if they called to explain their new relationship with Kaltxi and their thoughts about domestication. Finally seeing them happy would probably affect the line of thinking of most parents, after all, but Seni’s were usually different. It had always been difficult to get them to be satisfied with anything that wasn’t precisely what they wanted.

Seni’s usual anxiety was lifted by the drug, though, so they struggled to find a reason not to give it a chance. They went into their contacts and found their mum on the list, and then stopped for a bit. With their finger hovering over the button to call, they sat preparing themself for the conversation to come. They didn’t even know where to begin. The unsafe feeling they had always had around their parents was enough to cause them to nearly never tell them much about their new life, as they knew they would be faced with judgement every time. Now, after so much had changed, and even more was likely about to change, opening up was going to be even more difficult.

Their thoughts were quickly interrupted when prompt appeared on the top of their screen:

“Incoming video call from: Mum

[Accept] [Decline]”

Speak of the devil, they thought. Instinctively, they wanted to decline the call, but they caught themself as they were just about to call either way. As the tablet rang, Seni sighed, quickly slipping the collar off their neck, and shook their head lightly, as if to clear their mind from the drug.

“[Accept]”

Their mum appeared on the screen. “Hello, Seni, dear! I decided to give you a call, since you haven’t had time to reach out to your terrible old mother yourself,” she said sarcastically, giving them a disappointed, fake smile.

“Hi, mum.” Seni responded to her remark with an annoyed look, but then sighed. “I’m sorry, I swear I wanted to call you, but I’ve been terribly busy lately.”

“Oh, what could possibly keep you too busy to worry about your own folks,” she responded. “I don’t suppose you’ve finally found yourself a job?”

Seni groaned quietly in disappointment, but then simply shook their head. “I’m still not looking for one. I was miserable at my old job and I don’t need one anymore,” they said sternly enough to surprise even themself. “I’m not going to go back to working unless I find something I actually enjoy.”

“You had better be careful, the news says all the good jobs are being taken over by the aliens or their slaves,” their mum warned.

The last word in her sentence was spoken with such contempt that Seni felt genuinely hurt. All their thoughts about wanting to fill their parents in on what was happening in their life now were quickly shoved aside and they began to regret accepting the call to begin with. They figured it simply wouldn’t be possible to get their parents to understand.

“They’re not slaves, they’re-- never mind. How have ren and you been doing?” Seni avoided the topic in the end.

“Oh, we’re doing just fine, though we both miss you dearly. Your ren’s job has been terribly tiring for them, lately. After all, neither of us are getting any younger!” She chuckled half-heartedly. “But, well, we manage.”

Seni looked down into their tablet pityingly. “You know, they don’t have to work either. The Affini will understand if they take a break, or, you know… just quit?”

Their mum scoffed. “Well, I know you youths may have your own ideas, but we don’t want to be parasites to society. We know better than those plant people how important good worth ethic is.”

This remark cemented Seni’s suspicion that nothing at all had changed in their parent’s approach. “So, I suppose you still haven’t changed your minds on Compact?” they asked.

“No, and you had better not start this again,” she scolded. “I’m not in the mood to listen to you defending them again. They came down here, forced us into slavery, and now they’re all high and mighty acting like our saviours. We don’t need them nor want them here.”

Seni covered their face with their palm in annoyance. “I’m not defending them, I-- I just wish you’d give them a chance. Everyone over here really trusts them, they help us. Don’t you think humanity is doing much better now than when the Accord ruled? No one is being forced to do anything anymore,” they pleaded, and then added: “Especially not to become a floret.”

“Of course, they’re not forcing anyone – except those they don’t like,” their mum scoffed, “How can you--” she stopped abruptly and gasped, terror overtaking her voice as she stared deeply into the camera, past Seni themself. “Oh, my stars. Seni! Where are you?”

They looked in the preview of their own camera in the corner of the screen and realised that they must have shifted and accidentally uncovered a little too much of the obviously Affini-suited house they were in. Not ready to give their mum the whole truth anymore, they scrambled for an excuse. “Oh, I’m just-- I was-- I’m staying over at my Affini friend’s house for a few days.”

“Don’t you dare! Those plants are not your friends. I knew you weren’t fit to live on your own; you make terrible decisions and trusting them is just another one.” She turned to pleading. “Come back home, Seni, we’ll take good care of you ourselves.”

Seni managed to stop their panic and just groaned in annoyance instead. “I don’t like you telling me what to do all the time. You’re complaining as if the Affini are controlling people’s minds, but you’re trying to control me! Isn’t that hypocritical!?” they asked accusingly.

The expression on their mum’s face turned into anger. “Well, maybe we wouldn’t have to control you if you knew what’s right for you. You quit college, you moved away from us to a whole different city to work a dead-end job, and now, you’re almost letting those aliens turn your brain into mush.”

Seni got angry back at her. Everything they’d done to avoid their parents was precisely for this reason. Their parents never had their best interest in mind, all they wanted was to keep them in line and force them to do what they wanted. At least if they let the Affini control them instead, they would actually become someone they wanted to be, Seni thought. It was hard to formulate their sentences without letting their emotions slip out.

“Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, the reason I moved all the way to Coral City and took that horrible job was because I wanted to be free from you telling me what to do!?”

Their mum shook her head in disappointment. “Seni, you have no idea what you’re talking about. You can’t possibly be okay with all of this. They’re destroying our way of living.” She let out a long, dramatic, condescending sigh. “Maybe you just can’t understand it. I suppose it’s up to us old folks to have to remember what’s right.”

“I’m an adult, too, you know,” Seni stated. It took everything in them to get themself to calm down. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you, but I’m tired of you not trusting me.”

“You don’t make good decisions, Seni,” she repeated. “You can’t expect us to trust you when you’re always doing things like this.”

Seni’s calmness abruptly ended and their face burned up with annoyance again. For the past week, everything had been going so well, and they felt so loved, but now, they were once more being told they were a failure who couldn’t do anything right. Maybe it was the drug, or maybe it was the newfound joy they had been experiencing lately, but something caused them to let go of their inhibitions and speak straight from their heart for once.

“I’m tired of you always telling me that! That I never make good decisions, or that I never know what’s right for myself… You know what? Maybe you’re right.” Seni’s eyes burned with passion. “Maybe I can’t. But I know that if there’s one good decision I’ve made in my life, it’s trusting my Master. At least they will lead me to do what’s actually good, and not just what you want.”

The horrified look on their mother’s face immediately brought Seni right back down to Earth. They shouldn’t have admitted it. They knew she wouldn’t understand. They’d made a horrible mistake.

“Your… your…” Their mother couldn’t even say that word. “How dare you! After everything we’ve taught you! After--”

“[Disconnect]”

Seni sighed and sank face-down into the cushions. For a second, they damned the drug for making them let their emotions go like this, but then they realised what they had said was true, and they didn’t want to lie anymore. They were fed up with being disrespected by their own family. Their tablet rang again.

“Incoming video call from: Mum

[Accept] [Decline]”

“[Decline]”

They took a deep breath. Then another. They struggled to calm down, even despite the drug in their bloodstream. For a minute, they deliberated on whether to ask Kaltxi to give them a higher dose, when an idea suddenly hit them. Their sorrow turned into determination. Their heart began to pound, but they knew what they had to do. Seni picked up the collar and fastened it tightly around their neck.

Kaltxi’s voice called out from the other room. “Little Seni, are you okay? I wanted to give you some privacy while you were talking, but you sounded very upset. Is everything alright?”

Seni stood up from the couch and walked proudly over to Kaltxi, who was looking down at them with worry painted all over their face. The human stood tall and proud before them, though they were shaking nervously. “Yes, my Master,” they said in a cheerful and intent tone that surprised Kaltxi, “I feel very good, and in fact… I have something to give you.”

On one of the shelves in the human’s part of the room was a small stack of books. They opened the top one to find a neatly folded loose sheet of paper stuck between the pages. They took it out, handed it to the Affini, and promptly fell on both knees before them. Shocked, Kaltxi slowly unfolded it and took a look at the inside. Right on top, in big bold letters, it said:

“HUMAN DOMESTICATION CONTRACT: SENI NGARI, FIRST FLORET”