🪻 Isinia Lanat, First Bloom 🪻

But, I dunno . . . I see florets around with their Affini and . . .

Is it too late to become a pet? Assuming I find the right plampt?

Aw, blossom, it's never too late!

Most of my crewmates would be absolutely delighted to adopt a cutie like you if you let them! But I absolutely understand you wanting to find the right one. And I hope you do!

I am verrrry normal human. No infessssstation at all. Plantling should bring its ship to the ruined and completely ssssafe space station to collect regular humanssss. Your tasty… tasty biomass will not be consumed by an infessssssstation and incorporated into the Hivemind. Because there issssnt one.

[Close Communications]

Awww, so sweet! ::)

Well, if you insist I might talk to command... Get a little rescue ship to your location... Get you all niiice and sleepy...

It's been a couple decades since I last saw a cotyledon program starting. ::)

My precious little cutie got picked up from one of those awful feralist ships before I adopted them. I've been making a lot less progress than I expected and not giving my beloved what they deserve makes me feel like there are thorns tearing my core apart every day ::(

The biggest issue right now is that they're absolutely TERRIFIED of the implantation I have scheduled for them. They keep saying all this stuff about how it's going to turn them into a mindless willing slave or something and it's all so so wrong but nothing I say helps. Do you have any tips that would be useful to help them get over that fear?

I've also been trying to help my floret acclimate to their life and that hasn't been going too well either- half my hab is just a big enclosure for them with everything a Terran could ever want (okay maybe not EVERYTHING but pretty close) and they haven't even explored it yet. Every social interaction, be it with another floret in the park or at the veterinarian every day, ends up with me cradling them in my vines and telling them that everything is going to be okay ::(

Even though your situation is different than mine, I know that your adorable floret went through some similar experiences and I'm just at the end of my vines in general. Thanks in advance ::)

Ah, no! I know how it feels, cradling your floret in your vines, all scared and sobby...

First thing I'd do is postpone the implant appointment. You need to respect their decisions on important matters like that and go on at a rhythm they feel comfortable, don't make the mistake of trying to go too fast like I did. A haustoric implant is a big deal, for both of you.

Florets, especially those from feralist backgrounds, need some space and time to develop trust. Why don't you organize a couple days to stay at the hab with them, try to talk things out, sort their fears? Maybe they don't like the Terran-like part of your hab because it reminds them of bad parts of their life back in the Accord, or maybe they don't trust it as theirs, thinking of it as nothing more than a facsimile or a façade.

Maybe you'll both learn something about each other. Bonding in such a personal level is very important, since you're the one person your little sophont is gonna be next to most of the time. There's no point in a haustoric implant if there's no bond for it to reinforce in the first place.

My friend, though, she's different. She talks about the Compact all the time. About your tech and your medicine. I know she needs it. Something called Class G? We don't have anything like that available here. At least not readily.

I wanna hand her over to you, but I don't wanna be the one who called down the plants on everybody's heads. What should I do? Steal a shuttle? Set up a trade?

Oh no... Please don't get yourself in trouble...

Hm... I happen to have access to my floret's old ship, we're fixing and remodeling it together... If we went there in it for... "trading" maybe we wouldn't raise suspicion.

Either way... a command ship will get there sooner or later. Rather sooner knowing there's terrans in distress down there... I'd be just doing your friend a favor by expediting her treatment. I know firsthand how important Class-Gs can be for your mental wellbeing.

I don't really have that much experience when it comes to domestication myself, but my floret was really vigilant and scared at first, in which case I think you just gotta try to be a caring friend in such cases.

p.s. she's so cute aughhh

Thank you! She is very cute!

It's a bit of a tragic story, really, so I won't go much into detail. She was initially rescued from a decaying feralist ship by my best friend Cinna, who brought her to me to take care of while they were busy with work... and because my mind wasn't treating me so good, for which they decided some company would be the best treatment.

I discovered quickly she was hugely mistreated by her crew back at that one ship, and we started bonding over our passions, our jobs, our feelings of not fitting in... In under a week she was eager to sign a voluntary domestication contract, which... really took me by surprise.

Regardless, what sort of living standards do "non-Florets" enjoy? And how many such Sophonts are even left within "my" species in your time? I don't mean the Feralists or far flung frontiers-people. I mean Ted the grocer, or Alice the grad-student. How are they doing? Are they okay? What access do they have to xenodrugs?

I hope this packet reaches you well. It is very cold here, and I'm not sure if my dish is properly oriented.

Oh, there are some independents left in their protectorates! They're an infinitessimal minority, only getting smaller and smaller... but that's just another reason to help them out! We have protectorate officials that go down to the independent settlements to check on them periodically, make sure they are doing alright and they have all they need to live comfortably. That includes medicine, which in most cases does include xenodrugs if only for their superior efficacy.