Jean was preparing to sleep after his long day. The trip to the mall with Gwyn went just fine, though he felt eternally grateful to himself for not staying at the miserable party. Still, one thought couldn't escape his mind. Who was this 'Tree' person he had just met? And why did she run away from him like that? He was confused. She said something about not wanting to talk to sophonts, and he wondered if that was her personal prejudice, or if she was somehow dangerous, or what other possible reason could she have to want to avoid contact with him.

As he was getting undressed and brushing his teeth, he realised that the affini had left an impression on him that was going to be very difficult to shake. Though she treated him pretty rudely, he couldn't help but want too talk to her again. His thoughts were interrupted by an incredibly loud, buzzing noise coming from his mini-tablet. He reached for it quickly and looked at the screen.

- "EMERGENCY ALERT: JEAN TILDER. DIRECT THREAT TO YOUR EMOTIONAL OR PHYSICAL SAFETY. TAP HERE FOR DETAILS."

Jean looked at the message, horrified. He read it over a few times, then when it finally hit him, he tapped the screen without hesitation. To his surprise, all that appeared on the screen was a weird old-fashioned messaging app he had never seen before.

- "[EMERGENCY_ALERT]: Hello, Jean. I chose this method to message you anonymously. I want to apologise for my strange behaviour during the Celebratory Jubilee."

Jean rubbed his eyes. He looked over the screen again and almost burst out laughing at the mix of relief and surprise that filled him.

- "[user]: it's okay but why???? like this?????? you freaked me out!!!! LMAO"

- "[EMERGENCY_ALERT]: As I said, it is to message you anonymously."

-"[EMERGENCY_ALERT]: I only left you behind for your own good. I am known to have a strong biorhythmic effect on sophonts, and I did not want to influence you too heavily."

Biorhythmic. Jean had heard that term somewhere before, though he was no expert on the affini's machinations. He inquired about it.

- "[user]: influence how?"

- "[EMERGENCY_ALERT]: A shift of your biorhythm towards mine would cause you to think about me, be more likely to listen to me, or in extreme cases, crave my presence near you. To prevent this from happening, I usually do not converse with sophonts. I apologise for my weakness and for later hiding this from you."

Jean paused. Was this... why he couldn't stop thinking about her? He thought he was just fascinated by her, but in retrospect, he realised there was no rational reason for this fascination. He could have easily left her right there when she ran away from him, but instead, he followed her, making a fool out of himself by how needy he was for this affini to talk to him more. Still, just knowing this was not enough to cure him of his feelings. He didn't see any reason to hate her or be mad at her for it.

- "[user]: it's okay, I'm not upset."

A pause followed while Jean tried his hardest to collect his thoughts. He waited for another response, but it seemed like Tree didn't know what to say next, either. He couldn't hide that he was still curious about her. This was his second chance to shoot his shot, having just barely missed his first due to her running away. He knew he wanted to know her better, and whether that was biorhythms speaking or not, didn't really matter to him.

- "[user]: i don't really mind being affected by you ! do you want to hang out sometime? i still wanna know you better!"

More silence. Whatever this app was, it didn't let Jean see when the affini was typing, so he just assumed she had a long, elaborate response to write. He set his tablet down, still turned on, and started pacing around the room nervously. Why was he nervous? He couldn't understand what was happening to him, but he figured it had something to do with the biorhythm thing. His instincts were telling him to turn the tablet off and refuse to talk to this affini, as she was playing a trick on him to domesticate him. But he had never believed the Accord's propaganda. To him, it was simple - if his body needed him to spend more time with this affini, why deny himself that?

- "[EMERGENCY_ALERT]: It will be better for you to stay away from me."

- "[user]: or what? scared I'll fall in love with you?"

Jean giggled to himself at his own message. Got her good, he thought. From what he knew, most affini didn't really have an issue with exerting their influence over humans, but this one was different, somehow. He tried to come up with a reason why. Maybe it was annoying to have so many people fall for you, and end up having to turn some of them into florets? He thought to ask her how many florets she had already, though the moment didn't seem nearly appropriate, so he made it a point to do so later.

- "[EMERGENCY_ALERT]: If you are willing, there is something I may need the help of a sophont like you with."

Now we're getting somewhere, he thought. He smirked as he typed out his next message.

- "[user]: bet"

- "[EMERGENCY_ALERT]: Then, I will inform you of the details soon."

Jean smiled to himself, satisfied. Just like that, he secured himself a date with this affini. Still, there was one more thought on his mind though.

- "'[user]: alright, just not like this. pls just add me on the regular overnet or something. seems like you somehow know my name, anyway."

- "[EMERGENCY_ALERT]: I will see what I can do."

- “[We apologise. EMERGENCY ALERT was a false alarm. Please, return to your normal activities. You remain safe and cared for. If you are still in emotional distress and would like to speak to someone, please tap [here].]”

Jean decided not to take his tablet on that offer. He closed the message and began to look for something else. In his Overnet messenger, he found Gwyn’s contact. He thought it would be a good idea to brag to them a little bit.

- “hey dude, guess who just messaged me.”

- “Uh, I dunno. Anne Honner?”

- “EW, what the hell. she’s not even my type. srsly no clue why people r still shipping us.”

- “Alright, then who”

- “you’re never gonna believe this. remember that weird affini i told you about? she sent me a message in this super weird emergency alert system. i think she’s gotta be some kind of government agent to do this stuff.”

- “Nice!”

- “An emergency alert though? Whoa, she must’ve been super desperate to reach out to you.”

- “well anyway, guess who just secured himself a date.”

- “OMS!!! No way, what the fuck dude. How DO you do this shit?”

- “inherent charm i assume. lol”