Flort's Anonymous

There are very rare instances in which a relicta flos cannot be released from Affini care and must be placed under special wardship. These interventions tend to occur when a sophont is deemed to pose an extremely high risk to themselves or others. Relicta flos placed under temporary wardship are usually assigned to a specialist who handles the case personally...

Hab Ring D. It isn't the worst place to rot in interstellar obscurity. I pulled out my data pad and gazed wistfully at my background photo. A towering mass of vines and flowers and beauty, draped over my comparatively little frame. There was nothing in the world like being owned by her. Nothing. Nothing I wouldn't do to end up back in her arms, no price too steep. No indignity I count myself above, I would do anything.

With dread, I glanced at the foreboding steps - dimly lit. I figured the Affini would build the safest possible infrastructure. I wanted to be sure this would work. I needed to be. I suppose if I overshot the severity of what I was about to do - well. I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. Another shaky glance at the long flight of stairs, originally meant for Affini and only slightly modified. The terran modifications actually made the stairs more dangerous, adding a ton of steps. I wouldn't have been jostled around that much if every step was still several feet high, ironically enough. I'm sure the terran who engineered the redesign for this stairwell wasn't thinking that someone would throw themselves down with the intent of maximum damage. Or... perhaps they had considered it? I shudder at the thought that my resistance has been accounted for. Gathering all of my courage, I open up the ship's local messaging service, contacting Scylla Syllgada, Fifth Bloom (She/Her).

C: Hey. I - well. I found a way we can be together.

S: ??? Comet, what are you talking about?

C: Don't worry, finally I get to surprise you. It's all going to work out, and I can be your pet again.

S: ...Comet, are you intoxicated? You know that, without my direct guidance, that is incredibly dangerous.

C: Oh, so you care now?

S: Why must you be so ridiculous, of course I care, Comet! I'm following the Compact's protocol, and I'm going above and beyond by offering continued assistance as a volunteer. I'm trying to keep my feelings separate from my moral imperative.

C: Well.. if you care so much then... come find me at that library across from the old floret park. Come see me.

S: What? See you? For what purpose?

S: Comet?

S: ...Comet?

I tap away from the messaging application and am greeted once again with my own bright, smiling face, warm and happy and in the embrace of my Guardian. I watch as that happy face is replaced with a grim reflection in the screen - a scarred, feral girl. Lost, and afraid. Alone. I had one though when I started to run towards the stairs.

I hope this hurts.

Pain. Throbbing pain, splitting pain. The tumble itself - I fully don't remember. All I remember is - my datapad making noises I couldn't discern. Beeping every few seconds. What I later discovered was Scylla frantically messaging me for information. An explanation. To explain why my haustoric reads out that I'm in critical condition.

I take some time to evaluate what's wrong. and - well, I... can't feel my legs. Hacking coughs wrack through my body, and I cough up some blood into my palm. Oh - good. Definitely some internal bleeding there. Surely she'll take me back now. Surely this nightmare will be over, and I'll be in her arms again soon. Surely. I pull up my datapad and just type out "Owie..." on the cracked screen and send it to her. The blood from my coughing smears against the screen and leaves a crimson trail along it. I giggle. While my legs were most certainly paralyzed - I mean, stars above, I couldn't feel them! - There was still a burning sensation that only grew stronger. More crimson fluid flies from my lips as I cough; this time I can't cover my mouth, and it flies onto myself and the floor... I wail in pain. "M-mommy please, i'm sorry... i hurt myself mommy. i - please..." I whine to nobody. To myself. To Her. If only I had more of those god damn painkillers. I didn't realize that even through those, something could still hurt so terribly. That probably wasn't the best sign. If a doctor asked me about my pain on a scale of 1-10 I'd tell her to bite me, and then I'd probably tell her like an 8 or 9.

Soon enough, I see a few of them. The plants. I whimper and try to scurry away and wince, crying out in pain. Before I can open my mouth to explain, Scylla stabs me with her injector, and everything feels so much better. I giggle at her and make cute little grabby hands covered in something red. "M-m..mommy!!! Hi!!! mommy mommy!!!" I giggle more, in a fit. I cough up some more of that red something and pout, remembering something.

Scylla's vines twitch and her leaves rustle as she processes what is actually going on. "Why...?" She looks at the red and the broken girl in front of her, a growl rising in her throat that she tries to stifle.

"Scylla, no matter your feelings, we must attend to the sophont in emergent danger. Even if it appears self-inflicted. Especially then." A strange Affini places its hand on her shoulder, and Scylla sighs.

"You're right, Liiac. You're right. Can you help stabilize my relicta flos and get her somewhere? I have to fill out an emergency wardship form." She stares at me, and I giggle at her. She turns away as a growl rips through her throat and she stomps off.

"I-is... mommy mad at me...?" I look up at the other plant, almost forgetting entirely the events of the last year. It shakes its head at me and gets to work. Injectors of all kinds push fluid into me, pull it out of me. I giggle, and squeal, and squirm.

"Scylla is managing her own distress. You scared her." The feminine-sounding doctor lady explains in short sentences that make it seem like she's mad, too.

I don't get to respond to that because I feel a familiar stinging sensation in my neck, and everything fades to black.

I awaken in a vet's office, being looked over by the Affini that accompanied Scylla. "She's awake." The doctor had done a lot of work, but I still couldn't feel my legs. Still felt like I'd been punched everywhere a hundred times. To my left, there was a surgical table where - yup, pieces of bone had been deposited. There were several tools and a great many lights and monitors. The bed was far too large for someone of my stature, reinforcing the feeling of being a child at the doctor's. Waiting for the hard part to be over so you get to play again. Watch TV. Do something.

Scylla walks into room and looks at me with sad eyes, and asks for a moment of privacy with me. Once we have the room, she walks to the medical bed and lets out a growl. I shrink and nod. "I des-"

"Oh, no. It is not your turn to speak, Starling. That chance was squandered. What the hell were you thinking, jumping down a flight of stairs like that? What if I didn't have your biorhythms monitored? What if I was busy, or off the ship, or what have you? Are you trying to prove you're incompetent? You're doing a great job of it!" She lets herself pause, noticing that I had been wincing, backing away from her against an extremely comfortable pillow.

"I d-don't... know... I wanted my Guardian back, I wanted you, Scylla I-" I look to my left, and right, hoping for some invisible member of the audience to bail me out. There was none.

"Guardian, now? What happened to Mommy? Is that only when you're pathetically trying to lure me into being your Owner again?" She snarled at me, revealing some ugly truths. "Or, is that only when you're so high you can't think? Is that when I'm your Mommy?" She clenches her fist and turns away. "You know I was scared that you died, right? I was scared. My pet scared me." She seems to be calming down, and my brain sparks some realization in it, why she was acting like this. What it reminded me of.

"You're already my emergent warden, aren't you?" I chuckle and cough, and wipe some of the blood that comes up. The excess is being drained but that only does so much.

"...what...?" Her eyes are wide, and she looks me up and down. She knew my fall was self-inflicted. The motive was clicking into place. "You didn't, tell me you didn't..."

"I... d-did. I hurt myself. Badly. So that we could be together again. Can't you see? I-isn't this so much nicer than being apart?" I desperately try to convince her, and cough into my hand again. No blood this time.

"No. This isn't better than being apart." She looks at me, scanning for any hint of deception. She found none. "Emergent Wardens are only authorized to protect their wards for the period of time that they cannot care for themselves and present a danger to themselves or others. What happens when I take you to your doctor, and she clears you for release?" She growls to herself. "It's deeply disrespectful to put me in this position, knowing I wouldn't refuse a desperate girl in need. You pervert my kindness, little Terran." She steps to the medical bed, looming over me. Stars, she could end me with a single blow... and I wouldn't mind at all.

I shrugged, my eyes wide with terror. My body is shaking and shivering. "...I... don't..." I couldn't look at this goddess in her face. I was too ashamed. "I just needed you. Life w-without you is hell, life... is hell. I don't want to be independent. I don't want it." I start to sob and pull up a pillow, and let my tears stain the large comfort item. "I'll do anything. I will."

She pulled up an Affini-sized chair and sat next to the hospital bed. Her eyes never leave my face. I knew Affini didn't see with their eyes, but the effect was still nice. "Well. You get what you wanted. I'm your emergent warden and - since I stepped up, I'm the one that's always going to have to. That's how it is. So you're stuck with me." Her thorny mouth curled into a frown. "Don't look so happy about it. You've done a terrible thing, and this is a tragedy." She wilts under my pouting gaze.

"I'm sorry that I... um... scared you. That wasn't what I was trying to do." [Implant Activation: LLPOF-XD001] I immediately felt my body relax and my mind release. My eyes go wide. My Guardian's datapad beeps, and she grins, knowing already what it means. I also know - my haustoric is back online, in its full capacity.

"Are you sorry?" Her words almost seem to curl into my brain like vines and pull out the truth. The thing I was concealing so tightly felt all slippery, lubed up with Class-D xenodrugs, and now free to release into her prying clutches.

"No. I'm not sorry, and I'll do it again." I feel myself say, followed by a giggling fit. She won't let me lie anymore. She won't let me be a bad girl as long as I keep hurting myself. She'll see. It's a perfect system, we can't go wrong here... I give her a big smile, and she turns away.

In the wake of our newfound social position in relation to our planty overlords, you might find that a few things you've grown accustomed to are... difficult. Especially if you were one of those people who had a, let's say, involved? Affini managed a lot of your life, up to and including your hormone levels, your mental health, and your social needs. Even your species, if you were desperate enough to not be considered "Terran" any longer.

The void left by the Affini leaving us behind felt insurmountable. My fellow terrans, it is NOT! We must take the lessons the plants have taught and forge a new path forward! We're all we have. That fact should make us grow closer together, not isolate ourselves in habs. We shouldn't find the hole we're comfortable dying alone in; we should find each other. We should hold our faces, we should laugh and cry and rage together. We are terrans, and we have never survived alone. We have always needed each other, now more than ever.

So - I'm going to tell you a story. About a nice girl I met, who I think is just so lovely. I know what I do for her is a pale imitation of what her previous "Partner" did, but. I didn't walk out on her.

We met at one of the Floret's Anonymous meetings. My friend had just had an outburst, and Bethany was timidly looking around the room for permission to speak. Before any of the crowd could be overly judgmental of the girl, I nodded and gave her a smile. Her face lit up, and she looked around the room. "Um! Hi, everyone! I'm Bethy~!" The chorus of everyone saying hi, Bethy. I never broke eye contact with her as I listened to her ramble for a while. "-so... um. That's it. Now I'm bored and sleepy. Thanks for listening!" The poor girl was too - I'll say - naive. To notice. All the stares and whispers. So after the meeting, I approached her. Her eyes lit up, and she smiled. "Oh! It's you again!!" A sad smile tugs at my face. "Yeah~ me again." She looks into my eyes, and I notice - she's actually paying attention. When I speak, she listens. I have no idea why, and I still don't. I just know that my girl loves listening to a pretty lady run her mouth. "So, Bethy. I know you've been having a rough go of it. Some meanies would try to say we all have, but you need some extra help. Don't you?" She bounces on her heels and nods. "Oh my gosh! Everything is sooo confusing here, Daphi! Everything, everything! Like - oh my goodness, I don't know how to work anything in my weird apartment, I don't know where most of the people like to hang out, I don't know anything." Her eyes pleaded with me as she whined out, and I giggled at her. Of course. She was fully flort-brained, it only makes sense. I mean - Hab Ring D was confusing at the best of times, and originally built to house the Affini themselves. Most of the buildings were specifically built with the image of an Affini literally lifting up other species. I let her complaints wash over me, and blush as I say, "Well... I suppose it wouldn't be too much trouble to show you around... as a chaperone or something. Don't get any silly ideas, girl~." I make my voice extra flirty just in case, because - well - Bethany is a bit ditzy. I can't lie about that. But she's the best of us. Her blush was even more fierce than mine. "If I wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd absolutely love to have you - um - show me around~ and - show me stuff and -" She struggles to flirt back in a similarly coy way. She defaults to overt bids for affection. "and! I want to munch on a good snack while we look at pretty things on the ship!" My eyes go wide, and I chuckle. It's still funny to me that she asked ME out first, but that's how it happened. I'd like to say her instincts were sharp and she knew I was a good person and yadda yadda yadda, she definitely just heard my Mommy voice and melted instantly. I know that. I'm not stupid. "I'd absolutely LOVE that, sweetie~!" My voice drips with the saccharine tone I remember the plants deploying. "I know just the spot, buddies of mine have a fun little third space for girls like us, who just need to get away from it all!" I was referring to a little clubhouse that had a diner attached. It's called Sanctuary. Fairly popular, but never booked fully out. I blame that on a lack of marketing - it's a truly spectacular place to go. "Wanna go to Sanctuary with me, Bethy? We can talk and eat, and dance, and afterwards! I can walk you back to your hab. Wouldn't that be nice?" She nodded, and I gave her a little smile and a hug. "It'll all be okay. We're all in this together." We parted ways after the hug broke, and I gave her everything she'd need to contact me on any platform. Told her to ring me anytime. Anytime. I made sure she knew that.

We - well. That was how Bethany and I met on a more "friendly" level. I'd say that the more important foundation for our relationship was that first day at Sanctuary, and the night at her place. Actually, after that night, she hasn't really left my side. I haven't felt a need to make her. Quite the opposite - I want to take care of this scared girl for as long as I can. Personal feelings can make some of the aspects of her care difficult, though. Managing her outbursts feels like a divine test, but learning how to best help my girl teaches me how to help others.

So - I'm setting up a little service. Nothing as comprehensive as Affini's domestication program, but an important outreach program. I checked with the plant assigned to maintain Hab Ring D - it's one of her hobbies, isn't that rich? - and she told me that I am fully allowed to establish organizations, provided they are certified cruelty-free.

So, here goes - the Phoenix Initiative is proposed as a way to help vulnerable people find solutions to their problems. Usually, the problem is "I need a friend," but the problems we solve can go much deeper than that. I'm envisioning safe-use centers for those of us afflicted with Xenodrug addictions, gender clinics, even chaperoned hangouts with recovering florets. I was trying to avoid the use of the word "daycare," but truly, some of the more flort-brained people among us need to have the more alert take charge.

This ones my favorite~!!

Thank you @draggingdragoonsdragon

Affini were, by and large, compliant with the policy shift. Opinions on the decisions are mixed, but it's essentially agreed that relicta flos are sophonts to be pitied. Requests for resources are always granted, maintenance of terran habs is upheld. Cruelty towards Terrans is rare, and universally punished.

I pull up the ship's intranet and find Scylla Syllgada's social page, biting my lip hard enough to draw blood. I send her a DM.

"Scylla,

I have attempted to respect your wishes by staying away for an extended period. My datapad is cracked beyond reasonable use, my fingers will bleed, and I will open myself up to infection - which I will not treat on my own - unless you recquisition a new data pad for me, as well as a blueberry muffin for my trouble.

I miss you, but I understand your decision to stay away.

Forever Yours,

Comet Syllgada, Third Floret (She/Her)"

I whine to myself as I send off the message, and I don't have to wait long for a response. Still, five minutes is five minutes when you're waiting around. I can feel my implant sending a message to my head. [Remain in place. Guardian Syllgada will be with you shortly.] I tense up and stay in my exact position and pose.

Maybe this is one of her inspections? Or... maybe... I lose myself in fantasies of her vines wrapping around my body like they used to. Of her needy appendages, finding succor in my sexuality and sensuality. I meant something to her! The fact that she'd return so swiftly means something, too. I meant something. I was hers. That doesn't just go away.

But that hope was dashed away when Scylla actually appeared in front of me. This tall, silent woman. Green vines, accented with blue flowers and markings. She was a beautiful thing - truly. Even without the baggage of being my former Guardian, my Owner, my Purpose. Her antennae bristle at my attentions; clearly, she's put off. I try to calm down. Her sudden appearance startled me a bit, and I just looked up at her and tried not to break. In her arms was a box, in her eyes a universe of sadness. She set down the box in front of herself, let out a sigh, and slowly turned away.

"Guardian, wait, please..." I exclaim, moving to stand.

"I am not your Guardian, Comet." Scylla turns and speaks in a cold tone. The type she used when I was in trouble. "I am Scylla Syllgada, Fifth Bloom. You are Comet Syllgada, relicta flos. You are not mine anymore. I legally cannot be your Guardian if you're hoping I'll show you mercy, here. It's not up to me. Plus... I thought you'd be happy." She gets a cruel glint in her eyes.

"Daphi, you know I like to stay prepared! I got good rest and ate up before I arrived. I'm going to be a-okay!" I rub at the back of my neck, sighing. There used to be a feeling, there. Like when I lied. Guess without a strict hold on my leash, I... fell back into old habits.

The tall woman chuckles and throws her arms around me, pulling me into a warm embrace. "Hey, we Terrans have to stick together. We're all we got~ so you know I had to ask!" A few of us, including myself, squirm a bit overhearing her words. We all start to settle in. "Okay, everyone! My name is Delphi, She/Her. I'll be leading today's meeting. Some things you should know and ground rules: This is Floret's Anonymous. We are a support group for the abandoned Terran population of Hab Ring D. We cover a wide range of topics and discuss our stories and struggles honestly and without judgment. We only have a few rules - but they are important. "Rule One: Only the Abandoned are allowed to attend meetings - no, I don't care that your best friend is a Beeple, the Beeple's best friend is their Owner, so keep that in mind. " "Rule Two: No cross-talk. We share our stories, and that takes bravery and honesty. If someone has harsh feelings about their former Owner, I don't want someone who misses their Owner to pipe up about how great the Affini are. We all know that they're great - to beings they care about taking care of. For reasons we cannot know, Terrans are no longer on that list. You're allowed to love your ex; you're not allowed to yell at someone who hates their ex. Got it?" We all nodded. Smatterings of approval, some begrudging acquiesces. My friend Bethany, who is sitting next to me, whines a bit. She is toying with the string of her top nervously. She leans over to me and whispers, "Do... you think Mommy is ever going to come back...?" I give her sorrowful eyes, look to the floor, and shrug.

"I don't know what to tell you, Bethy. The plants left us here. Your Mommy is probably still stationed on this ship, of course! Just - not where we can see her." I bite my lip to keep from spilling my own guts out about my Guardian. I miss it so much. Bethany nods as she absorbs this information. Daphi concludes:

"To wrap up this preamble, I'm so proud of all of you for making it here for another meeting. I know it can be bleak out there in Hab Ring D, but we're doing just fine. We'll make this place home yet." She ends her speech and pauses for a bit. I look up at her with my puppy eyes and pout for a few beats. She smiles and hands me the microphone.