A Florets Mental Health Blog

And now there’s a sequel, for those in the back who weren’t listening. Why? The lack of consent and autonomy in HDG is a vital component of the world. It serves many purposes.

The disability narrative is one where there is no autonomy. You will be treated as a disabled person would be, without autonomy whether you want it or not. If you get to opt out, then the disability kink and the fantasy of a world where everyone is treated like you are evaporates.

The Affini are imperialist, ever expanding. In real life, this is bad. The clear lack of consent in the setting ensures that this is not muddied. We are not arguing in favour of imperialism. We are kinking off the bad thing.

The element that makes HDG different from something like mechsploitation, is that the brainwashing isn’t just individual. This is not a single hound who has been fried into thinking their handler loves them. This is an entire society that has been culturally domesticated with unconditional love and a lack of scarcity into accepting a world where human beings are kept as pets. What’s more, the People doing it are high on their own supply. Affini are benevolent, which means they are well meaning and kind. It does not mean they are right.

Sometimes, a new reader to the community will become entranced by the allure of the unconditional love and the lack of scarcity and they will read stories where the characters are also entranced by the allure and a kind of spell will be cast. The reader, for a moment, begins to get cooked right alongside the character. This is fun in the moment.

But you must step outside of the magic circle.

Consent and Consent 2 take you by the hand and remind you just how fucked up this whole thing is. How even the most agreeable seeming human who goes along with the entire thing is still incapable of consenting in a society that is so fundamentally and profoundly unequal.

The stories are short, snappy, and written by one of the most talented and beloved community members who knows a thing or two about the topics involved. The magic circle and subject agency, the things that real consent are made of in our world, are vital components to the hypnosis audios Cadence makes. The profound nuance of consent and every possible perspective on its violation are essential to her story Dancing to her Rhythms.

bonus: i liked how the sketch of their body looked before refining + adding clothes so i slapped the colors on top of it too