#pinnate

I know it won't be my duty to safeguard and guide you but - now we get to be our best selves. Together.

Her Wonderous Designs

Chapter One: Prolonged Vet Visit

Trillia Yyve, First Bloom (She/Her), was an Affini - giant sapient plants that delight in providing guardianship of all xenosophonts that they encounter. After all, no sophont is better off without an owner. Affini come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Trillia was tall - about 14 feet tall if she stands upright - but she usually prefers to make herself appear smaller. Her face was a pale mask, with three faux eyes, emitting a lavender luminescence. Around this mask spiraled out three petals, colored white and fading with a purple gradient at the tips. A sign of her age. She was nearly three-quarters of the way through her first natural bloom. She’d made peace with the process; The likely, but not necessary, dissolution of her current identity, and a new personality being birthed. She was a few decades from having to face that eventuality. Today wasn’t about processing her feelings, however. It was about her sick floret: Holly Yyve, First Floret (She/Her).

The Affini paced around the waiting room of a veterinarian clinic, specifically meant to treat Terrans afflictions and administer treatments deemed necessary by the floret's owner and the vet themselves. Trillia kept checking her data pad every few minutes. Her vines shook every time, her leaves would wilt, and her core would thrum. No new updates. The young Affini would have to pester Teysa Pollup - her florets vet - for information regarding little Yyve’s health. Teysa and Trillia knew each other for quite a while - while Trillia studied Xenosophont Behaviors and Psychology in the library, Teysa would often bug her for no apparent reason. Teasing her about how hard she’s working, running her hands through the others' vines and across her petals… Good times… not like now.

Trillia is awoken from her reverie by a welcome sight, as if stepping out of her fantasies. A tall, thick Affini with purple vines, atop her shapely form, a deep blue mask, with eight eyes glowing with a blue hue. These faux eyes were shaped as sharp almonds angled downward, in 2 columns. Arranged around her face were bright blue petals. Her many constituent tendrils tended to branch off into smaller and smaller appendages in a fractal pattern. @{Useful for surgery!} She’d often muse in a low voice, smooth like silk. Teysa informed Trillia that her floret had requested her mistress and was quite distressed. This prompted Trillia to quickly - but carefully - navigate the halls of the clinic into her florets room.

The girl is mewling and whining quietly. Her attention drifted to informational posters written in Affini throughout the room. Some of the posters are larger than Holly herself. “M…mistress…” Her voice was bright, but labored by her difficulty breathing. The woman on the gigantic hospital bed struggled to turn to look at her owner. She was in a flowy orange dress, her feet - or perhaps it's better to describe them as paws? - were pulled towards her body. They were just barely concealed by the hem of the dress. The warm color complemented her skin, peach-colored, which shone bright red when she was blushing. Her neck was adorned with a lovely leather collar, with her name inscribed on the collar itself and Trillia's engraved on the tag. At her extremities, calico fur covered paws. Teysa had replaced her hands and feet shortly after domestication. The procedure was enthusiastically agreed to by Holly, despite the fact it almost fully robbed her of her ability to hold or manipulate objects. She was perfectly okay with this. Her hab already took care of her nutritional needs while Trillia was out, and for almost everything else, her mistress was happy to assist. She would lift Holly up into chairs, feed her food (when it wasn’t in a bowl), and keep her entertained.

The floret tries to get herself up to see her owner. She sensed that her mistress was upset and wanted to comfort her. The effort it took to pull herself up made her shake. “Please, Miss Holly. Save your strength…” Trillia looked her precious girl up and down. Examining her. A tentative vine wrapped around her pet's forearm and up towards her hand. Trillia gives a reassuring squeeze. Her precious kitty shudders and lets out a breathy sigh.

“M-mistress’s touch~!” She exclaimed, before a coughing fit wracked her body. Several vines wrap around her torso, neck, and a few even gently pet the girl's calico kitty ears, eliciting a pleasant purr. Trillia purrs in kind. Her vines gently constrict and release to give a pleasant feeling of pressure around the catgirl's slim body. Holly’s tail swishes slowly and occasionally brushes against her mistress's lovely vines.

“We are very confident we’ll have a cure synthesized within the week,” Teysa says, abruptly cutting short the moment. “She’s on Class-E and Class-G xenodrugs, currently. Until a cure for her condition is synthesized, we will need to keep her off Class-J’s, unfortunately. I know how catgirls get, trust me.” She lets out a sigh and steps next to Trillia, laying her head against the trembling Affini.

@{It hurts me to see her like this.} Trillia lets out, in Affini. This part wasn’t meant for Holly’s ears. It would only burden the kitty, who was already being such a brave girl.

@{Yes, I know. She’ll be okay. Holly is my number one priority, currently.} Teysa runs her vines across and through Trillia, gently avoiding her core. They were close but hadn’t fully crossed that threshold. Yet. Teysa had an eye on Trillia - and indeed filed an intent to domesticate her along with her floret. She intended to keep them as pinnates - given the clear bond the two shared. Trillia was such a romantic, it honestly surprised Teysa. Trillia always seemed the type to be too timid to push for her own satisfaction within a dynamic. It was nice to see the cutie could advocate for herself. Partially. She was far too dependent on her elders for approval - something Teysa used to her advantage quite often. The “@{luring}” of Trillia was slow, but Teysa already sensed that she’d give in soon. Her own pair of cuties~! What a treat!

@{I’m going back to the waiting room…} The younger Affini’s voice quivered as the older bloom’s tendrils gently petted her. Teysa decided to push her luck and, with a feather-touch, brushed against Trillia’s core. She shuddered in response, and Teysa winked her left set of eyes.

@{Go. Go… I’ll tend to your pet. Be well, Miss Yyve.} Trillia gasped at being called “Miss”, a term which was reserved for female-identifying florets - or, florets to be. She was stunned, trying to justify in her mind why Teysa could have made such a mistake. How she could make such a mistake?

How could she make such a mistake?!

@{W…Wh… um. Thank you for the well wishes, Teysa!} She almost yelps out. Her core misfires several signals, the leaves on her vines themselves shuddering. The feeling passes. She couldn’t have meant - well - that. “Call if you need me…” She says in Terran to her pet. The floret gives her mistress a dreamy smile and purrs in response. Her guardian steps closer and leans in - the three petals around her faux face gently brush against Holly’s cheeks and the top of her head, tickling her ears. “Be good for the doctor, baby. I’ll be back before you know it.” They both trill at each other a bit, and finally, Trillia lets her floret rest in the cozy medical bed.

The kitty was dosed with a custom cocktail of anxiety medications and pain relievers. Non-addictive, of course. In any case, addiction is a problem that was fairly easily treated. In species that are even capable of addiction, there’s an observed set of behaviors. It turns out that addiction is nearly non-existent in individuals who have everything they need to thrive in their environment. The Affini Compact was finely tuned to provide the necessary amenities to all beings under its care. Thus, powerful and benign drugs are offered to florets, provided they have an Affini chaperone willing to accept responsibility for them.

When Trillia was sure that her floret could not see, and therefore wouldn't be distressed by the sight, she wept to herself. A lonely little whimper as she curled around herself atop a comfortable Affini-sized sofa. a curious floret shuffled close and timidly whispered: "Are you okay?" They had genuine concern in their eyes. Maybe Trillia's weeping was not as covert as she imagined. She eyed the curious Terran, gathering herself and her thoughts.

"Aren't you just the most precious little thing, worrying about a stranger like me~!!! What's your name, sweetie???" She trilled out in a fake-happy voice she uses with florets. They typically like it enough - Holly prefers her affect she takes on when talking to other Affini.

"Oh, um... my name is Thimble Pelei, Third Floret (He/They)..." Thimble speaks in a voice that trembles in the presence of Trillia, whose assortment of triplicate eyes easily intimidates the poor Terran. Thimble was dressed in attire that made her guess that Thimble enjoyed working for his owner as an assistant or secretary type.

"Well, Thimble, it's nothing to worry your pretty little head about... I'll be just fine. I promise. I’m Trillia Yyve, First Bloom (She/Her)!!! How are you doing??? Is your owner around???" She looks around - mostly a performance for the cuties' benefit. Affini don’t see with their eyes; they’re for decoration. Appearances.

"Master is busy attending to Sylvia and her- her silly doctor's visit." Thimble had noticeably twitched, and their tone shifted. This gave Trillia the impression that some sort of implant override had occurred. Sometimes florets need a little push to be their best selves~ Trillia nodded and continued to converse with the little floret for a little while, and if she was honest with herself, the distraction helped.