Chapter Text
Terranhog Day
Guy Manson felt more comfortable than he had in years, maybe decades. He rolled over in his bed – which immediately struck him as odd, as his cot wasn’t wide enough to support tossing and turning without Guy unceremoniously falling on the floor and waking his crewmates up. Guy slowly opened his eyes, taking in the situation around him.
He was in a large, white room. A couple houseplants sat in vases on shelves. There was an ancient analog clock on the wall, tick-tick-ticking its way forward. The clock hit 9, and a gentle tune played, before a gong sound happened 9 times.
“Oh it must be time!” came a surprisingly melodious voice from the other side of the only door to the room.
The door opened automatically as Guy’s captor entered the room, humming to herself.
“Hello there, little one! I’m so excited to meet you! I am Gaillardia Aristata, 3rd bloom, she/hers. From now on, I am your owner~”
The plant smiled expectantly, but Guy could only stare in shock. He’d been captured. He was at the mercy of the Enemy. Guy was a proud soldier – he would never give in to whatever twisted torture techniques these weeds were going to inflict on him. He’d undergone torture resistance training in his time in the Terran Cosmic Navy – and that was before the Affini had entered the game. Guy Manson wasn’t one of those green, doe eyed fresh recruits who couldn’t aim a plasma rifle to save their lives. He’d spent his time training to be a good soldier – he wouldn’t break like those pathetic propaganda pets from the broadcasts.
“Your facial expressions really are adorable. I’m going to have so much fun with you~”
Guy spat at the weed.
“Now now, little one. Is that any way to behave towards your owner?” The plant sauntered towards Guy. He refused to be intimidated by such obvious tactics.
“I’ll never be one of your...pets,” Guy spat out the word in disgust. “I’m a proud soldier, and I’ll die before I surrender to your torture!”
“Yes yes, you’re a free Terran, you’re very strong and powerful and scary and all those adorable little things you ferals always say. Now come, you need to have your breakfast, little one. Follow,” the Affini’s voice sounded just barely inhuman, several layers of voice on top of each other simultaneously.
Guy crossed his arms and steadfastly refused to move from his bed.
“No.”
The Affini’s six eyes turned directly towards Guy at once, staring into his soul like a directed laser blast.
“No?”
A wave of fear surged through Guy, but he refused to back down. This was what he’d trained for.
“No. I-”
One moment Guy was talking, and the next his mouth was stuffed full of a slightly throbbing vine. In the shock from finding his mouth full, Guy almost didn’t notice the needle prick his thigh.
A warmth spread from the injection spot, and Guy felt his thoughts start to get fuzzy. What was he doing again? The memory of what Guy was just doing was right there, but when he tried to remember, the thoughts slipped right out of his grasp, like trying to catch a dust floaty in the air. What was he thinking about again?
There was something yummy in Guy’s mouth. It was a tiny bit fuzzy, tickling his tongue when he explored it. Guy licked at the thing, feeling tiny sparks of pleasure from the taste.
“That’s a good boy~ Are you feeling more cooperative now, little one?”
Someone was talking to him. Guy looked up, and saw the most beautiful eyes he’d seen in his life. They were full of purple and gold, each one swirling just a tiny bit differently, pulling his gaze towards them like magnets. The face the eyes were attached to was even prettier – it looked like it was intentionally sculpted by a skilled artist, one of those ancient artists who made statues but never included the arms for some reason.
“Absolutely adorable,” the face said. A collection of vines and feelers wrapped around Guy – even softer than that fancy special rope his ex had used...Guy blushed. He shouldn’t be thinking about such lewd things in a situation like this. He knew was supposed to be fighting, but it just took so much energy to even try to get upset.
“Wh-wha’ you do? Head….fuzzy...” Guy managed to say.
“Pets who don’t behave on their own need to be taught how much easier it is to obey, little one,” the pretty plant lady mean Affini grinned predatorily, sending a shiver of fear down Guy’s spine. Plantius Flowers the First scooped Guy into her vines and just as quickly deposited him on the floor. “Follow me now, petal~”
Guy wanted to resist, but it was so hard to think...he couldn’t even remember what the super important task he was trying to do was. He’d go back to the important mission he had as soon as his head cleared up. Guy meekly shuffled after the Affini. The bedroom door opened automatically, sliding into the ceiling like one of the old sci-fi films. The Affini left the room first, but a stray vine knocked over a glass vase that was on a nearby display.
“Oh mulch, I’m so sorry flower! I can just be so clumsy sometimes...well, I might as well carry you to the kitchen for breakfast, we wouldn’t want your cute l ittle feetsies getting hurt now, would we?”
Guy tried to grumble, but was having trouble stringing words together. He just nodded and let the plant woman carry him across the floor hazard. Her vines were surprisingly soft, and he involuntarily nuzzled his cheek against one.
The aliens home was huge, dwarfing anywhere Guy had lived before. Something like ivy crawled up the walls, shimmering leaves reflecting rainbow colors like an oil slick. There were floor to ceiling bookshelves stuffed full of real, physical books made of real paper from a tree. An oversized couch with a layer of plastic over it dominated what must be the living room, a 5 foot tall table with red and yellow beans wrapping around its legs sat between the couch and a television set. There was a full kitchen space with a sink, fridge, and a kitchen table with two chairs. There was no visible source of illumination in the home, robbing everything of their shadows like some sort of fae realm.
Guy had been in less luxurious homes of trillionaires to install personal home security systems. Guy still had the scar from when one he was installing prematurely activated. The amount of money this place must cost made Guy’s head spin. He’d be stuck paying this stay off for the rest of his life for the weeds. Was that their grand plan? Kidnap Terrans and charge them rent for their prison cells?
The Affini planted Guy in the smaller of the kitchen chairs, shaped suspiciously like a childrens’ high chair. She positioned a bar in front of him, trapping him in the chair like a roller coaster safety bar. Guy tried to push it up, but his arms were having trouble responding to him, and it didn’t budge.
“ Oh petal, we’ll let you out of there once you’re done eating, okay?” Guy’s captor had her vines spread all over the kitchen, retrieving ingredients out of cabinets, mixing them, and starting the stove all at the same time. “ Would you prefer blueberry or chocolate chip pancakes?”
Guy blinked, failing to clear his head. It had been years since he’d had options more diverse than flavored versus unflavored synthcubes. “Uhm. Blueberry?”
“Good choice petal!” the Affini pet Guy with one of her vines extending from behind her, without moving her head to look away from her cooking. “You know, the ship we’re on right now is shaped like one of your Terran blueberries! Slightly larger than one though…”
Gaillardia retrieved a vineful of blueberries from the fridge and dumped them into the batter, still humming to herself. The Affini finished quicker than Guy expected, and soon enough there was a steaming plate of pancakes in front of him that made him stomach rumble painfully – a reminder of just how few synthcubes he’d been eating per day on the [ship name].
“Wh-where’s th’ fork?” Guy asked. He didn’t want to get his hands all sticky, and the pancakes were absolutely drenched in syrup. Guy had always loved pancakes when he was younger and had the opportunities to eat them, but he was never able to avoid getting his hands sticky, which quickly put him in sensory hell. Still, he was hungry, and he wanted to eat.
“You’re clearly far too intoxicated to be handling sharp objects, petal. You misbehaved earlier, and now you’ll have to behave and let me feed you. No isn’t an option, cutie, so just relax and let Mistress take care of you,” soon enough a perfect bite of pancake entered Guy’s mouth, and he moaned around the fork in delight. He was supposed to be resisting, but he was physically bound and he might as well enjoy the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted in his life.
The stack of pancakes steadily shrank as the satisfaction in Guy’s tummy grew. It felt so good to just follow along with the plant feeding him. He could resist later, when resisting wouldn’t deprive him of the delicious food that tasted like it came straight from heaven itself. Had he died in battle?
The meal was perfect, but it couldn’t last forever. Eventually the pancakes ran out, leaving just crumbs and syrup on the plate. The Affini took the plate to some sort of cube in the kitchen and the plate disappeared before Guy’s eyes, crumbs and all.
“You disintegrate your dishes?!” Guy blurted out in shock. That seemed like a monumental waste of energy.
“Of course not, petal. We decompile them. It’s a much more directed process than simply disintegrating objects. Their mass goes back to the reservoir the compiler draws from, so it can make fresh new plates or food again in the future!” The Affini seemed to be genuinely enjoying explaining their technology to Guy, and he couldn’t help but be drawn in.
“Doesn’t that take like, a bunch of energy?”
The Affini seemed genuinely surprised by his question. “Well, I suppose to you it would seem like a lot of energy, but this really is, as they say, peed nuts to the energy the Compact has at its disposal, little one,” she ruffled Guy’s hair, and he tried his best to ignore how nice it felt. “Such a curious little sophont you are! You really are a ball of sweetness under that hard shell of yours, aren’t you?”
Guy pouted, but wasn’t in much of a position to do anything else in his adult sized high-chair that he was still locked into. He was also still fairly high, and it was taking all he had to avoid drifting off and staring at the pretty plant lady.
---------
It had taken a few hours for whatever Aristata had drugged Guy with to wear off completely. The giant woman had decided the best way to spend this time was watching films with Guy strapped to her lap. It should have given him plenty of time to plan his escape, but it had been so easy to let the petting and the movies distract him. It was only after two full movies that Guy felt his mental faculties returning to him enough to start to think properly. He had to find some sort of way out of here. That meant getting this 12 foot tall plant monster to stop petting him and leave him alone long enough to slip out, find an escape pod, and make him escape. Or something like that, at least. Guy was sure he’d have to improvise – no plan survives first contact with the enemy, after all.
So far, Guy had only been able to observe the xeno being aggressive when it had drugged him in bed. He hadn’t been able to see the plants movements, which was concerning, but surely if he was ready in advance he could compete with an Affini. Aristata was huge, after all, and everyone knew big things move slower than small things.
There was no better time than the present, so Guy executed his cunning plan.
Guy casually stretched, enjoying the pops of his joints. Then, carefully, slowly, Guy tensed his muscles and suddenly burst into movement. He landed on the coffee table and ducked into a roll, his training from boot camp actually coming in use for once in his life. Guy leapt off the table and landed in a run, conserving the momentum from his fall for speed.
“Awh, did somebunny get the zoomies? Don’t you worry little one, Mistress is happy to help you get all that extra energy out~”
Guy had to get away. This monster had left him a drooling idiot for hours! And the way she just...held Guy and watched movies with him... Surely it was some sort of plot to mess with his head, make him loyal to the Affini rather than his people. Guy darted straight for what had to be the doorway for the hab.
Unfortunately, the door did not automatically open for Guy, and he couldn’t find any sort of handle. Guy turned around, back pressed to the door, trying to stay as far away from the approaching Affini as he could.
Miss Aristata came to a stop in the center of the room. She had countless thorns in place of teeth, and her smile was full of predatory intent. Her eyes shifted, deep, dark hues of blue, purple, and black. Guy struggled not to shudder.
Unexpectedly, the door behind Guy opened, making him fall on his ass.
“Go on, prey. You want to run? Run for me. Give me a good chase, okay little bunny? You get ten seconds before I start. Ten…Nine…”
The countdown put too much pressure on Guy to even try to think about what this Affini was doing to him and what her motives could possibly be. Guy saw a way out, and he scrambled for it. No time for higher thoughts, just run run run. Guy’s bare feet slapped against the surprisingly comfortable floor underneath him.
He was in what appeared to be a residential district, rows of houses, or Guy guessed they were called habs here, lined the street Guy was on. Every single home was clearly lovingly tended to, stunningly beautiful gardens in front of every home. Affini dotted the street, the vast majority with at least one glassy-eyed Terran in tow.
It was a shame that the weeds’ slaves were right in front of Guy and he couldn’t help them, but he had to prioritize his own freedom first. Once he escaped with insider information about the way prisoners are treated, surely the Terran Cosmic Navy would be able to use that information for something useful. He could finally be useful, if he could only escape this ship.
The humans and Affini alike were a blur to Guy as he sprinted past them. A quick glance back told him that Miss Aristata was chasing him, though she looked completely different now. Her more human traits were gone, cast off entirely in favor of some many- legged bounding thing chasing after him.
Guy had to use his size to his advantage. The weeds could change their shapes, but they still had to obey the laws of physics. They couldn’t just shrink themselves.
Up ahead was a grove of trees leading to a veritable forest. Guy wanted to question why and how there was an entire forest on a spaceship, but this thought quickly dissolved in the panic of trying to escape the several ton behemoth hunting him. Guy didn’t have time to question these things, and he was damn well going to use everything he could to his advantage. He was smaller than the Affini, and surely that would help here.
Guy darted away from the vines of a nearby Affini who tried to grab him. They were working together now! Guy’s exhausted legs kept pumping, taking him into the bramble of the forest. He ran for another few minutes into the increasingly dense forest, until he couldn’t anymore. Guy sat on a convenient fallen log, gasping for breath. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, shaming him for not keeping up with his ‘required’ workout regimen. Guy wiped some sweat off his forehead with a sleeve.
“Oh peeeeetaaaal?~ Where aaaarreee youuuuu?~” came a sing-song voice, one that Guy instantly recognized as Miss Aristata’s.
Fuck.
Guy’s shaking limbs told him he couldn’t run, and with no other option, Guy crouched down in the tall grass, trying to keep himself as quiet and still as possible. Maybe the weed would wander past him, and then he could double back to a more comprehendable part of this ship where he could find the docks. He just had to keep his breathing as quiet as he could.
Leaves rustled and twigs snapped nearby, as Guy’s hunter slowly, methodically approached his hiding spot.
“Where are you, little Terran?~ You know you can’t hide from your huntress forever, flower~” her voice almost felt like it was purring, a deep rumble filling Guy’s chest from the inside. He tried to ignore it.
“Could you be over...here?” a creaking of wood as Miss Aristata lifted the log he’d sat on minutes ago. “Hmm, not there! Could you be...in this tree?” her vines searched a nearby tree, to no avail. “Gosh, I wonder where my spicy little Terran could have gone! He must have gone up ahead…”
The Affini sauntered right past Guy’s hiding spot, a trailing vine very nearly touching his arm. Guy could feel the sweat drip from his face , irrationally worried the Affini would hear the sound of the sweat droplets falling.
Guy waited to the count of a hundred, then two, before he dared emerge from his hiding spot. He slowly, cautiously crept onward, hopefully in the direction he came from. A twig snapped, and Guy darted to the nearest tree to hide behind. Was the Affini still nearby? Guy had to sneak away fast enough to not be found, but stealthily enough to not be heard.
“Who are we hiding from, petal?” came a voice from his ear. Guy twisted around, falling on his ass in the process. He didn’t see Miss Aristata, even though he definitely just heard her.
“What’s wrong little one?”
Guy darted away from the sound again, tucking into a roll as he ran. He sprinted as fast as he could, unconcerned with what direction he went as long as it was away . He made frustratingly little progress before his foot caught on a root and he fell once again.
“Isn’t it so hard to keep running?”
Another burst of adrenaline, and Guy ran off in a random direction. Where was she?
“You can’t run forever sweetheart~”
Again, she was nowhere to be seen, despite everything she said sounding like it came from right next to him. Guy crossed a small stream he definitely hadn’t seen before. He scrambled on the bank and threw a handful of pebbles behind him aimlessly.
“You don’t really think you can hurt me like that, do you flower?”
“Lashing out like a frightened little animal…”
“So adorable and small~”
Guy couldn’t stop looking over his shoulders – how was she doing this? No matter how fast he ran, her voice was still in his ear, close enough for him to feel the warmth of her breath.
“Such helpless prey~”
“Run for me, little rabbit~”
“So good for me~”
Guy’s lungs ached, his heart was pounding in his chest, he couldn’t keep this up. Guy saw a nearby bush , and scrambled into its recesses. Guy gasped for air, body desperate to make up for the anaerobic reserves it burned through.
“You really were meant to be my pet, little one~ You ran right into my vines like good prey,” the voice came from just behind Guy, but the vines wrapping around his limbs gave him the worrying feeling this time wasn’t a trick of some sort.
Guy thrashed his body, but the Affini’s vines might as well have been industrial vises for all the good his efforts did. Unnaturally soft and comfy vises.
“There’s no point in fighting, cutie~ You’re just so small and adorable and I’m having so much fun with you, prey,” Miss Aristata’s voice rumbled through Guy’s body, making his thoughts feel all warm and fuzzy.
N eedles pierced skin, pollen puffed into his face, and vines massaged every muscle in the helpless terran’s body. Guy’s skin got hotter and hotter, the touch of his clothing against his skin suddenly far too much to bear . Miss Aristata’s vines felt overwhelmingly good against his skin, stoking the flame of need ever higher. He’d never felt so needy in his life, he craved more, needed more.
... he was already stuck in Miss Aristata’s vines. He’d run, and he’d been caught. Would it be so bad to let himself enjoy the sensations he was going to experienc e regardless ?
M iss Aristata’s vines stroked all over his body, separating apart into countless hair-thin feelers that traced feather-gentle over his skin. They drew invisible circles on his nipples, sensitive to touch like they never had been before. Miss Aristata’s touch felt like pure electricity pumping directly into his nerves, every cell in his body crying out in desperate submission.
Guy’s eyelids felt so heavy, and he let them droop half shut as he desperately rutted against his Huntress like an animal in heat. Stars, it felt so good to let his Affini do whatever she wanted to him. Not that he had a chance of stopping her. That much was being written directly into Guy’s base instincts through the language of sweet, sticky love coursing through his veins. He let out a pathetic whimper of need, wordlessly begging his Mistress to keep taking him, keep touching him, keep breaking him.
The needy flame of submission, crying out to obey, completely overtook Guy’s last fluttering flames of resistance. Guy moaned and thrust against the vines with abandon, unable to care how much he was humiliating himself.
He wanted to break for Miss Aristata. He-
Darkness.
A moment, an eternity of stillness.
Guy opened his eyes.
He was in a large, white room. An ancient analog clock on the wall struck nine, and a gong sounded nine times.
“Oh it must be time!” came a familiar voice from the other side of the only door to the room.
This felt familiar.
The door opened automatically as Guy’s captor entered the room, humming to herself.
“Hello there, little one! I’m so excited to meet you! I am Gaillardia Aristata, 3rd bloom, she/hers. From now on, I am your owner~”
Hadn’t this already happened? What was going on? Guy thought furiously, no lingering high in his system like when he was running. Why was this Affini repeating word for word what she’d said earlier?
“Your facial expressions really are adorable. I’m going to have so much fun with you~”
The clues clicked into place.
Guy had failed his first attempt at freedom, and the universe had granted him another chance. He would not waste it.
...no matter how good it felt when he gave in.