April, 2560

 

<Ohhhh! What a perfect little creature! Just look at you!> I heard the sound of Judy's laughter from the living room as I continued to fill the cooler, carefully packing each and every entree and snack I'd prepared. I wasn't the only one responsible for cooking, of course, but I couldn't resist going a little overboard.

<You say that every time you see her, you know,> I called out. <You're starting to get predictable, Ely.>

<Oh hush! Separia says it's important to give Terrans positive reinforcement, and I'm reinforcing that she's positively adorable!> She laughed and came into the kitchen, carrying Judy with her and swinging her back and forth — more giggles from my perfect little floret.

<Well, you do have a point, I suppose,> I said, smiling and reaching out to stroke her hair while my vines finished the work of loading the cooler. Judy was sprawled lazily in Elymia's arms, perfectly medicated into the exact state of calm she needed before a big event. Even just a few months ago, I'd have needed my tablet out to check the exact details to confirm that, but I'd been getting better at using her physiological responses to gauge the implant's effectiveness. I could see her most common impulsive thoughts as they began to form, now, and I could watch them fade like morning mist before Judy even realized she was having them.

No more anxiety. No more appointment brain. No more intrusive thoughts that told her she didn't deserve good things. Just the docile eyes of a floret, and the lazy smile that came of affection. Everbloom, I thought, as I ran my thumb along the curve of her tiny little cheek, she really is perfect.

(Not really, of course. There was still so much I could do, so much I would do now that I could. The more I learned, the more I knew just how much further I had to go. But Judy didn't need to worry about that. I had long since decided that she would never have to worry again.)

<Mmm....Miss....?> She fell so easily into my eyes.

<Yes, flower?>

<I love you~> She giggled and let her eyes fall shut. Elymia's biorhythm went into a vibrato, and she practically shook with sheer delight.

<And I love you, my sweet, darling, little puppy,> I said, scritching her behind her ears. Her tail began to wag, and her tongue lolled out of her mouth in sheer bliss.

"Ooooh, I'm so jealous!" Elymia said. "I want a floret!"

"You'll find one," I reassured her. "There are plenty of Terrans out there, and even if they're claiming to be independent, even if they insist upon it as loudly as they can, trust me, some of them are just trying to cover up what they really want. And it's usually pretty obvious."

"I knoooow, but I want one," Elymia pouted. It really was a very good replication of the Terran expression. She'd clearly been practicing. "They're so precious!"

"Tell you what," I said, gently extracting Judy from Elymia's vines and coiling my own around her, "I'll introduce you to Ophrys and her floret today. I've told you about her and the Terran she's been after, haven't I?"

"Oooh, your super cool co-worker?!" Elymia's eyes lit up.

"Mmmhmm. I have absolutely no doubt she'd love to tell you all about her new floret and how she went about luring her in. But we should get going, Karyon's probably done setting up by now, and everyone's going to start arriving soon."

"Right, right! Should I carry the cooler?"

"Would you?" I could carry it and Judy easily enough, but Elymia clearly wanted to help out, and it'd let me devote just a little bit more of my attention to Judy — and she deserved every bit of attention she could get from me. Before too long, we were out the door and riding the elevator down the residential tower, the panoramic view out the window of the blue-green Punchbowl as scenic as it ever was. Dozens of white sails could be seen here and there as boats plied their way back and forth over its cool surface; later today, there was supposed to be a regatta, I vaguely remembered. Everyone was finding their own way to celebrate the day.

<Miss?> Judy was stirring in my arms, clinging to my vines and making the sweetest little puppy-dog eyes up at me. <Can Celeste please spend the night tonight?>

<I certainly don't have an objection,> I said, smiling and booping her cute little nose, <but we'll have to ask Mx. Senna very politely, won't we?> Senna always got a real kick out of florets asking favors, especially when they were nicely medicated. I, meanwhile, always got a real kick out of seeing Celeste having her way with my little Judypup. Smothering her with her pillowy thighs while Judy went down on her, tail wagging happily. Playing with her puppybits until Judy acted like she was practically on Class-W xenodrugs. Mounting her and pressing her into the bed with her weight as she slowly and methodically pounded her into submission. Dirt, but they were adorable together.

<Yes, Miss,> she said, giggling and nuzzling into my chest. Oh, and how lovely it was to hear her call me that. It was still novel, even after almost a year since we'd started — Karyon knew what she wanted, and it was better for Judy to have consistency. The Tam I used to be didn't know what she was missing.

The park in Nanaimo we'd chosen for our celebration wasn't far by train, and it looked as though plenty of others had had the same idea. There were already several grills going, florets running happily to and fro, their Affini looking on indulgently, and even what looked like a pickup baseball game on the far side of the park. The sea breeze left the April day pleasantly warm, something like what climate scientists said was a perfectly ordinary summer day prior to the Collapse. The grass and trees certainly seemed quite happy with it.

Even with all the activity, it didn't take long to spot Karyon. She'd spread out a few blankets and set up a little tent in case any florets wanted some shade. "Tam!" she called out, waving, and before long I was settling in next to her and transferring Judy over to her lap.

<Miss, Miss, Miss!> Judy cuddled up to Karyon and began giving her puppykisses.

<My darling little Judypup!> she said, laughing and giving her a good, long, heavy stroke before settling in to scritch at her ears. <And my beloved Tam as well. Oh, what misery it is, being parted from you!>

<You left maybe half an hour before we did,> I said, leaning into her and petting Judy.

<Half an hour?! Oh, however did I endure?> We were absolutely intolerable together, I knew, but we were making up for lost time — and, for that matter, for time yet to come that I would necessarily have to miss. We might have been unified, but there was very likely a hard time limit on how long we could be. It wasn't something that occupied my every waking thought, but it was there nevertheless, an ambient sense that we had to make the most of the time we had together. It was, I thought, one of the last Terran things I had yet to shed, one that I perhaps never would.

<Ooof!> Elymia let out a very theatrical sigh as she set the stasis cooler down and joined us on the blanket. <Awww, how cute, a floret and her owners. I should take a picture!>

<You absolutely should,> Karyon agreed. <One can never have enough pictures of this sweet little thing.>

<Oh, but wait a moment,> I said, grinning and tracing a vine around Judy's collarbone and down her arm. With its cilia, I felt for the telltale heartbeat, the taste of the skin just above the vein — ah, I thought, right there. Another vine slid into place, this one topped with a brilliant orange blossom that clustered tightly around a hypodermic thorn, wet with antiseptic nectar. With the most delicate care, I pierced Judy's skin, sliding the thorn into her vein, and expressed just a little bit of Class-A xenodrugs into her system. As the hypodermic thorn slid out, I tensed the flower and shook free the hemostatic pollen, which mixed with the gooey nectar and staunched what little blood might have come with it.

The effects were near-instant; once the agent in Judy's veins reached her heart, it rapidly spread throughout her body, and she let out a soft moan as the sensations of the affection we were giving were amplified and refracted across her nervous system. I could actually see the change taking place, the shifts in her microexpressions, and it never ceased to be astonishing. It gave me such joy to be able to do this for her.

<Oh, well done,> Karyona said, smiling and kissing me. <You're getting really good at that!>

<Well, this perfect little flower gives me lots of opportunity to practice — don't you, Judypup?> I slid a vine up under her crop top and began playing with a particular spot in the small of her back that absolutely drove her wild, and right on cue she let out a loud moan that I was certain everyone in the park heard.

<There, perfect!> Elymia said, laughing as she took the picture with her tablet. <I'll send that along to the two of you!>

<That one's definitely going in Floret Chat,> I said to Karyon. <Do you want to do the honors?>

<Oh, I wouldn't dream of depriving you,> Karyon replied.

<Ugh, I'm so jealous,> Elymia said as she tapped away at her tablet. <You two are so cool and you have such a perfect floret. It's enough to make a girl wilt!> She reached over and scritched right at the base of Judy's tail, drawing another long moan from my sweet little pet.

<Well, there's going to be plenty of ostensibly independent sophonts around today,> I said. <Why don't you go and have a look, and see if you can't find any likely candidates?>

<Oooh, that's a good idea,> she said, nodding. <Maybe I will! Future floret, here I come!> She was up and practically running in seconds, and Karyon and I couldn't help but laugh.

"She's going to make some sweet little Terran very happy one day," I said.

"I still think her personality is more suited to a Rinan," Karyon replied, "but the core wants what the core wants."

We spent a while simply cuddling on the blanket, Judy suspended in our vines and squirming helplessly as we pleasured her. More and more sophonts began to trickle into the park, and it wasn't long before more of our party joined us.

"Tam!" Vanda emerged from the throng, scruffy little Lysander in her arms and another Affini, who walked with a hunched gait and whose foliage seemed to droop off them in long, hanging sheaves, in tow. "There you are!" <And here you go, sweetie, go say hi to Judy,> she added, setting Lysander on the ground and giving him a gentle push forward. He stumbled, already adorably baked on, if I had to hazard a guess based on his pupillary response, Class-E at a minimum.

<Heyyy, Judy,> he mumbled, leaning up against me to steady himself.

<Oh heyyy Lysander,> Judy mumbled back, giggling. I spun off a thought process to listen to their conversation, in case they needed me, while I continued listening to Vanda, who was making introductions.

"This is Seduma Hedychium, Second Bloom, it/its — it'll be joining us at OTD starting next week!"

"Oh, welcome aboard!" Karyon said, offering a vine. "Karyon Sparaxis, First Bloom, she/they."

I did likewise. "Tamara Slaine, Hapaxanthic Bloom, she/her."

"Hapaxanthic?" it said, entwining a few of its vines with ours momentarily. "Ah, yes! Vanda was telling me about you! A very interesting case."

"An interesting case, am I?" I said, smiling just a little sardonically with both my face and my biorhythms — I'd gotten passably decent at that kind of stereo emoting.

"Well, one doesn't often hear about- actually, I suppose I should start with, is it alright for me to ask about this, or would you prefer not to talk about it?"

"Oh, I'm not sensitive, ask away," I said. Even if this went poorly, it didn't matter — what mattered was in my lap, mewling in delight. My core shivered just to think of her, and I gave a little pulse with my biorhythm, watching her body react to it almost as if she were a part of me. In a way, she was. <Judypup, aren't you going to introduce yourself?>

<Hmmm?> Her eyes swam in her head as she lifted it to look. <O-oh...hi... uhm... I'm... Judy Slaine-Sparaxis, First Floret, she/her.> She giggled and buried her red little face in my chest again.

<Well hello! I'm Seduma Hedychium, Second Bloom, it/its!> It reached in and gave Judy a few gentle strokes with a clump of vines. "What a lovely floret. A hybrid implant, I take it?"

Karyon nodded. "A little bit of both of us."

"That is so romantic," it said, taking a seat next to me on the blanket.

"These two have been absolutely inseparable from the moment Tam came on board," Vanda said, settling in next to Karyon. "If Tam hadn't been, well, Tam, there would have absolutely been an office domestication betting pool about the two of them."

"Oh please," I said, giving my biorhythm an amused flutter, "we both know Karyon would never agree to be my floret." That got a laugh from everyone.

We chatted idly for a while after that, and I told Seduma about some of the surgeries I'd been through, and what a bear of an argument it had been to convince the Medical Board that I could be trusted with a floret. We didn't just talk about that, of course; it was also very curious about Judy, especially when it learned that Judy was into speedrunning.

"Oh no, now you've done it," Vanda said, laughing.

"No no, tell me, tell me!" Seduma said, its biorhythms rippling with eager energy and its vines taut and ready. "I want to know all about it! Terrans have such fascinating cultural practices! Like, for example, did you know about limericks?! They're such a fascinating and adorable little structure of rhyming couplets-"

"I think Tam is probably quite aware of limericks, Seduma," Vanda said, cutting it off with a gentle tone.

I, of course, couldn't resist. I gave a theatrical throat-clearing and recited:

<There once was a lawyer named Rex

With minuscule organs of sex.

Arraigned for exposure,

He maintained with composure,

"De minimis non curat lex.">

Seduma clapped its hands excitedly. "Oh very good, very good! Did you make that up on the spot?!"

"No, no," I said, laughing. "It's Blooms old, but the good ones stick around forever."

"Ah, ah, still, very good! I don't get it at all, but very good!"

I had a few more to offer it, but we eventually managed to entice Seduma away from talk of limericks with talk of speedrunning once again. We even switched back to English, so Judy could have input.

<See, the game updates 60 times a second, and every update is a frame, so when I say Persimmon Skip 2 requires multiple frame-perfect inputs I mean that I have specific windows of 1/60th of a second where I have to get all my inputs exactly right!> Not even being high could stop my precious little Judypup when she got excited about speedrunning. I was so proud of her.

<Intriguing! And this is difficult for Terrans, I take it?> Seduma said, hanging on her every word.

<I think like, maybe five sophonts have ever pulled it off in a run?> Judy said, leaning back against my foliage and rolling her shoulders a little to make a little nest for herself. <We thought it was TAS-only until like, three years ago. I wasn't the first to do it, that was SyntheticToast, but I was the first to get it in a real run. That's how I got my first Top 3 PB!>

<Ohhh, yes, I know about PB! That goes on sandwiches.>

Judy broke down giggling, and it took her almost a minute to recover. No one dared to interrupt — she was being far too adorable for that. <No, silly!> she finally said, still laughing, <it means personal best.>

<Ohhhh, I see, I see. So, your PB is one of the three fastest, then?>

Judy took a moment to collect herself, waiting for the giggles to die down. <Who's got two thumbs and the Mecha March 3 world record?> She gestured at herself with both thumbs and said, <This girl!>

<Oh my, the world record?> Seduma looked appropriately impressed, but then, I think it was mostly reacting to how incomparably cute she was.

<Which is to say,> I clarified, <the Protectorate-wide record. It's trivial to maintain leaderboards across that distance now, and my Judypup has beaten Mecha March 3 faster than anyone else in the Protectorate! Which means, unless someone's running the game outside the Protectorate and we haven't heard about it, which I think is pretty unlikely, my little puppy has beaten Mecha March 3 faster than anyone in the known universe!> I tickled her mercilessly, and set her back to helpless giggling as everyone present admired what a talented and perfect little floret my Judypup was.

<Oh, did I miss speedrunning talk again?> The part of my mind that had noticed Ophrys coming helpfully informed the rest of me that she'd clearly had her foliage redone recently, bright and vibrant with a few new grafts of Terran flowers she'd discovered and integrated into her flashy personal style.

<I think Seduma will be happy to fill you in,> I said, turning to smile up at her. <Looking lovely, as usual~>

<I don't know what you mean,> Ophrys said, winking at me. <Seduma, was it?> They introduced themselves while Ophrys set her floret down on the blanket, and I immediately extended a vine and pulled her close. Her jet-black latex skin was slick and warm from the sun, and she stumbled just a little on the stiletto heels that had been integrated into her feet.

<Hello, Elena~> I purred, lifting her chin to make her look up at me and ensnaring her with my eyes almost immediately.

<Hi, Miss Tam,> she responded dreamily. I teased her just a little, my vine tracing the line around her face where the integrated latex skin replacement terminated and her natural skin took over; she shuddered and nearly fell right into me.

<Hey Elena!> Judy said. <Miss, can I cuddle with her before Miss Ophrys gets her set up?>

<Of course, petal!> I set her down gently and let her glom onto Elena, nuzzling into her neck. They'd gotten so close since Elena agreed to be Ophrys' floret — not so close as she and Celeste were, but frequent cuddlebuddies at get-togethers and whenever me and Ophrys quietly arranged for them to both come with us to the office on the same day. They enjoyed one another for a few moments before Ophrys turned her attention back to Elena.

<Alright, flower,> she said, reaching down and tracing a particular shape on Elena's back. <Are you ready?>

<Mmm...always, Mistress,> Elena moaned softly.

<Have fun~> Judy said, giggling and giving Elena a kiss before Ophrys gently pulled her away. Vines coiled around the latex-clad floret, moving her limbs and teasing her artificial skin. I watched as Elena twitched and shuddered, watched the telltale signs of her implant flooding her system with Class-A xenodrugs, watched her lose herself in sensation. Ophrys gently pushed her down to her knees, tracing long and complicated figures on Elena's body, to which she responded as if programmed — which, I knew, she had been.

<Are you ready~?> Ophrys repeated, kneeling down behind Elena and whispering in her ear.

<Mmmmf! Yes! Yes! Please, Mistress!> Elena whimpered helplessly, her eyes rolling as she desperately arched her back, staring up into Ophrys' eyes.

<Good girl. Now freeze.>

With a sudden jerk, Elena stopped moving. Part of it was hypnotic, of course, but her implant would now be dosing her on Class-M xenodrugs as well, locking her into that position, back arched and arms contorted in sheer pleasure, just where Ophrys had placed them. She curled possessively behind Elena, her foliage spreading out in a colorful canopy to shield her from the sun. Now that they were unnecessary to keep her in place, her vines mostly retreated, and with one hand she gave Elena's hair a few gentle strokes. <Good girl, Elena. Good girl.>

Ophrys had done an astonishing job with Elena, I had to admit. Her anxiety, her tension, her fear of her own nature were all gone, replaced with an absolute joy in being displayed, being teased and toyed with, and being absolutely powerless to stop it. I could never have managed such a transformation, but then, that was what three Blooms of practice gave you. Elena Boquila, Third Floret, was a masterwork, and I was jealous of the skill that had reshaped her.

<Oh, that was a good one, Ophyrs,> Karyon said, and I could feel her biorhythm dancing with pure admiration right alongside mine. Everbloom, but we fit so well together. No wonder our friends made fun of us for taking so long to officially unify. <A beautiful pose, such tension.>

<I couldn't agree more,> I said, tracing along the contours of Elena's body with a vine — Ophrys had given us standing permission to tease Elena when she was frozen like this, and I could just imagine how wonderful it must have felt for the little floret, loaded up with Class-A the way she was. <I never really considered the potential of Class-M xenodrugs until I saw the way you use them. Getting the accreditation to graft them would probably take years, but, I am quite tempted. What do you think, Judypup, hmmm?> My vine slipped down to stroke Judy, who was lying on her side with her head in Elena's lap.

<Mmmm, you can do whatever you want to me, Miss,> she murmured happily as she rubbed her face up against Elena's soft, latex-coated thighs.

<I think they'd make a lovely pair,> Ophrys mused. <Just let me know if you do end up pursuing it. There's nothing quite like a collaboration~>

We flirted back and forth, on that topic and a few others, for at least half an hour, long enough for the baseball game on the far side of the park to come to a close, and the participants and fans alike began to fan out across the park to join in the festivities. It wasn't long before three of them, two in Nanaimo Otters uniforms, joined our little party.

<Well I see you've gotten yourself all set up,> Jill said, leaning over and grinning in Elena's face. <Whaaaat, not gonna say hello? Hey all,> she added, glancing up at us. <And hey, Judypup!> She leaned over a bit further, bat resting on her shoulder, and rubbed Judy's tummy.

<Awoo!>

<Hello, Jill. How'd your game go?> I asked — she was sweaty, and her uniform had a big dirt stain running up the side, so clearly it had been a fun one.

Before she could answer, Rebel, their plumage bright violet and and green in the Otters' colors, broke in with, <This bitch right here not only knocked an RBI double, she got the other team's catcher's number.> They popped the top of the stasis cooler and extracted a beer, which they opened with a fizz-pop.

<Hey, what can I say, girls appreciate a good gun show,> she said, flexing her free arm and making her thick bicep stand out. The extra six inches of height, she'd put on with Class-Gs, but the muscles were all hard work, and she was very proud of them. For my part, I was a bit flattered that was she was filling my old shoes — as Rio had said at a game night last year, there should always be at least one muscle mommy around.

<Yeah, well, boys do too,> Rio said, stripping his uniform shirt off and hugging Rebel from behind. <So finish that beer, you and your gun owe me a post-game fuck.>

<Calm your shit down, bro,> Rebel said, winking and taking a very slow, very loud sip. <Isn't thinking about baseball supposed to cool that off?>

<Fuck you. No, wait. Fuck me.>

<Oh, go on, you two,> I said, pushing them gently towards the tent and its waiting stash of pillows. <I know it's probably been at least six hours since you did it last. Here, Jill, sit down, cool off a little.> One of my vines grabbed another beer from the cooler and passed it to her before I sealed it back up.

<Much obliged,> she said, popping it open and taking a long pull before settling down on the blanket, leaning back to rest her head on Elena's free thigh. <Aaaaah yeah. Hell of a nice day, isn't it?>

<With so many adorable little flowers sheltering beneath my foliage,> Ophrys said, beaming with sheer flirtatious delight, <how could it not be?>

<And what a lovely view.> I wasn't just talking about the Punchbowl, deep blue in the sun, the seawall to the north no longer the dingy grey of institutional neglect but bright and colorful, a floral mural reinforced with coral that stretched out into the water, tapering off to join up with the mainland in the distance. Before us, on the broad field of the park, were hundreds of Terrans, hundreds of Affini, all intermingling and exchanging affection in one way or another. It was the promise of the Compact in miniature, writ in hugs, cuddles, kisses, gentle strokes of a vine, the soft moans of florets in the throes of xenodrug-laced ecstasy.

It was a beautiful, perfect day, and I was sharing it with my wonderful friends, my beloved partner, and my perfect little floret. And if the world I lived on wasn't perfect yet, well, it had only been six short years since the signing of the Human Domestication Treaty. We had certainly come a long way, but we would never leave such important work unfinished.

But today was a day for relaxation and celebration. We spent long hours out there, drinking in the nourishing light of the sun and the nourishing sight of so many happy sophonts. Judy migrated back and forth between Elena's lap and mine every so often as Ophrys readjusted her position, giving Elena brief moments of mobility to squirm and moan desperately before being frozen again in a new pose. When Senna finally arrived with their gaggle of florets, the fun and clamor both redoubled; Celeste wasted no time, pouncing on Judy at once, pinning her to the ground and straddling her. They were so adorable together!

They eventually made their way to the tent, and I let them play while the conversation carried on, and as friends and neighbors dropped by to say hello. Tecta even came by with Clara, who was still scratched and bruised from whatever fun she and her owner had been having last night. Anthemis brought Sammy, who promptly joined the floret cuddle-puddle centered on a still-frozen Elena. The sun made its long arc across the southern sky, and we Affini slowly shifted to keep the shade on them as our conversations turned and twisted. We discussed all sorts of things, from the cute and silly things our florets had done recently to pending cases for those few sophonts the Office of Transitional Decarceralization was still directly overseeing — very soon now, we'd be switching over to standby procedure as we were folded into the Bureau of Terran Wellness, on call in case any Terran traumatized by the carceral system required specialist intervention or aid. Our job would never truly be over so long as any Terran touched by that wretched system was still alive, but the majority of the work had long since been settled, with those Terrans unable to care for themselves placed in homes with their new owners, happily adjusting to life as pets.

Everbloom, but I loved my job.

Eventually, as the afternoon wore on into evening, I found myself in conversation with Seduma once again. "You know, I never got the chance to ask," it said, "what precisely you meant by Hapaxanthic Bloom when you introduced yourself."

"Ah, well." I touched my chest, and unwove my vines just a little to expose the slightest glimpse of my core. "I still have Terran greymatter in here, you know. Eventually, it's going to deteriorate, and eventually it'll die, and when it does, I'm going to die too."

"You're not going to rebloom?" it said, shocked at the idea.

"Well, the greymatter doesn't have a choice, and despite all you see, and despite how much the phytocortex is networked in with it, I — the sophont you're talking to — still am that greymatter in large part. When it goes, I go. Ergo, Hapaxanthic Bloom."

"I see, I see," it said, nodding. "But that's so sad!"

I shrugged, a gentle riffling of my vines and my biorhythm. "It's something I've accepted. I have one lifetime to live, and I get to share it with Karyon and Judy. What more could I ask for?" There was more to it, of course — there was still enough Terran left in me to fear death on a level that could never really be ignored, but it wasn't so defining, so gut-wrenching a dread, as it had once been. I had done what I had bloomed to do, and I had given Judy what she wanted most and what she deserved. Everything else, every moment I had from now until the last neuron fired, was merely the afterglow of that monumental achievement.

"And the rest of you will just... wilt?"

"Maybe. Maybe not," I said, a bit mischievously. "Not even Camassia knows for certain if the phytotech she used is close enough to the genuine article to support independent life. But then, you know, it's funny, this is actually sort of the root of the argument I spent years making."

"Oh? I've heard a lot about it, of course, from Vanda, but I'd be curious to hear your take on it as well!"

"Well, you know I used to be a lawyer, right? And what a lawyer is, and all that?" When it nodded, I continued. "So, I have experience making convincing arguments, and I know what to rely on and when, and while this is a very straightforward one, it's also fundamentally an emotional one, so I couldn't rely on it, even if it was ultimately what we were all arguing about. It's very simple: we Affini bloom from xenoflora all the time, right?"

"Oh yes," Seduma said, nodding along. "Certainly. Especially so far from the Core Worlds!"

"Right! So..." I paused, my face articulating into a wide grin and my biorhythm rising to a crescendo. "Why all the fuss now that an Affini's blooming from xenofauna? And if one does — if there is another nascent Affini somewhere in all this, who goes on to bloom in their own right — well, I know they're going to bloom into a good world, one I had a vine, however small, in making better. And they will have friends ready-made, here to greet them and help them learn and grow as they've helped me learn and grow, and in time they'll go on to make this world and other worlds even better. Maybe there'll be a bit of me mixed in, just from how closely intertwined we are, and maybe there won't be. I don't know. No one does. And that's fine, I mean, who doesn't love a good mystery? It's going to have a happy ending either way."

There were other conversations to have after that, and florets to play with, and independent sophonts to tease. Jill wandered off with a particularly cute floret who couldn't resist a tall, strong, sweaty butch; Rio and Rebel returned again and again to the tent, joining me and Celeste in throwing a frisbee for Judy to chase during their inter-coital breaks. As afternoon slipped into evening, Karyon and I found our laps playing host to a pair of very amorous florets, tired from the day's exertions but still very full of love and affection they felt impelled to share with one another. I caught every little microexpression, every shiver, every subvocal gasp as they touched one another; their psyches spilled out in front of me like a textbook showing me their thoughts, their needs, their desires, such that I knew precisely where they would reach out and touch one another even before the idea occurred to them. It was like their lovemaking was an echo of their love. It was beautiful.

But time, alas, time is the one thing we hadn't yet worked out how to domesticate. Our vines subtly began to pack things up as our friends and their florets drifted off to their own homes, and before long we were carrying Celeste and Judy back to the transit station — Senna had, of course, agreed to the sleepover.

Judy stirred from the impromptu nap she'd fallen into, sleepy little tuckered-out puppy she was, and looked up at me with love, nay, with worship in her eyes. I met her gaze and she instantly fell into it, her implant gently assisting. "She's so perfect," I whispered to Karyon.

"She is," Karyon replied, leaning gently into me. Our vines intertwined, and almost in unison we reached into one another and gently traced a little heart on each others' cores. "And so are you." She always said that.

"And you," I replied, as I always did. A moment later I added, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For her. For making this possible." I said it so often. I could never say it often enough.

Karyon smiled, and I felt it through the vine I still had coiled around her core, and through the vine she had coiled around mine, warm and bright and full of love. "Thank you for sharing her with me."

She always said that, too.