Chapter 3: Introductions
Delaney eyed Praxus when there was a knock on the door. She had called Natalie and instructed her to bring the three of them home and Natalie said that they would be there soon, but the girls were probably going to be tired. It was far too soon for it to be Natalie and the kids, besides, Natalie would have just entered the code on the door and entered. It was her apartment too, after all. One of Praxus' vines reached over and opened the door. Three more Affini came into the room, Delaney just looked at them. The shortest was still seven feet tall and the other two were both slightly stopped over in the obviously too small Terran housing unit.
The first thing that has to go is going to be these low ceilings... One of them said, it’s head brushing the eight foot ceiling in the apartment. The language that it spoke was musical, and Delaney's mouth dropped. What is up with the Terran?
"She's never heard us speaking in our native language, Nova..." Praxus said, giggling. "Delaney Wilson, She/Her Pronouns," Delaney raised her hand. She was somewhat taken aback by Praxus introducing her, but just went with it. "Meet Nova Ecclisia, Fourth Bloom, She/Her Pronouns." Nova raised a vine; she was the shortest of the three of them. "And Ophelia Raxoni, Also a Fourth Bloom, Also She/Her pronouns," Ophelia raised a vine.
"Greetings, Little one." Ophelia sang. Delaney blushed at being called little one again.
"And finally we have Iris Vaochi, Fourth Bloom, She/Her Pronouns" Iris waved a vine and the three new Affini all fashioned themselves to sit down.
"You know," Delaney said, glancing at the fact that most of the floor space was taken up by vines. "I'm worried about how the girls will react... Nat and I tried to shield them from as much of the Accord's propaganda as possible. It was all 'Killer aliens from outer space are going to eat us all if we don't win.' Your propaganda was much nicer, and to be honest, while I'm nervous about you meeting my girls, I am less nervous than if you were randoms on the street."
"Why is that?" Praxus asked, her voice sounded genuinely curious. After all, Delaney was a Terran that had just met the Affini and she was saying she trusted them more than the fellow citizens of her home world.
"Because from what I understand from both the propaganda and reading the bits of the treaty that I've read," Delaney paused and took a deep breath. "It appears that the Compact is ok with people that live alternate lifestyles. I'm a cis lesbian, Natalie, Lilly and Kirsten are all Trans, we are also polyamorous. We've got people in this building that have threatened us before. All we have ever wanted to do is just live our lives and be who we are. Unfortunately, there are people that feel threatened by those that are different." Delaney looked at the four Affini in her living room. "It also doesn't help that developmentally Lilly and Kirsten are younger than they are physically, and Nat and I treat them as such. This, combined with the other things, makes it dangerous for us." The four Affini looked at each other.
You were right to call us, Praxus... Nova said. We need to protect these ones, are you willing to go as far as domestication if needed?
I am... Praxus replied, I intend to file notices on them all once they are asleep and I at least have two of you watching this place. There were various similar sounding mummers from the others as Delaney watched them converse in their native tongue.
You should probably see if you can give her a Class C... Iris said, speaking for the first time. She looks like our biorhythms are starting to affect her…
Delaney
The door clicked and it slowly opened. Natalie was standing there, looking in at three of the aliens and Delaney, who stood and carefully walked over to the door. “Let me explain what is going on here before you three come in.”
“Delaney,” Natalie said, looking her wife in the eyes.There was a look of concern, but also deference. “I understand that you’re the one that is really in charge of the household, but why are there four aliens in our living room?” Natalie, despite all the propaganda that she had watched, was still skeptical of the intent of the Affini. She believed that they wanted to do good and help others, but surely there was also some downside to this benevolent alien species.
“They are there because Praxus called them,” Delaney said, matter of factly. She made it sound like this was a conversation that she had with her wife a lot more often than it had occurred. “I went to the TPN building and she was there and she found me. When I told her that Jason had threatened to send the authorities here after me, she insisted that we come and make sure that everything was ok.” Delaney looked at the girls who were both standing behind Natalie. “Not only to make sure that everything was ok, but she basically is giving us protection…”
“They aren’t going to eat us, are they?” Kiersten asked, her voice quiet and sounding scared.
“No, princess.“ Delaney said. “They would never harm a sophont; our days of worrying about what others think and worrying that they will do something to us are over, I think. Praxus specifically asked that you three come home because the girls would sleep better in their own beds. Of course, they were at grandma and grandpa’s, but you know…” Delaney smiled at her family, glad that they were all safe and all back together again. “Are you ready to meet our guests?”
“Are they going to be staying with us for a while?” Lilly asked.
“I think they will be close by at least until things settle down a bit,” Delaney said. “I know that we will be seeing a fair amount of Praxus because she’s basically going to be my new boss. Let’s go in the apartment. Everything is going alright, I promise you and I would never put you in harm's way ” Delaney led the small group into the apartment. As predicted, Lilly and Kirsten tried to hide behind Natalie and Delaney. Delaney led the small group into the apartment and to the couch, the four of them sitting down. Natalie on the end, Lilly and Kirsten in the middle and Delaney sat on the other end of the couch. After they were sitting, Delaney looked at the four Affini. “So you all know me already, let me introduce my wife, Natalie, and my two daughters Kirsten and Lilly. All of us use she/her pronouns” The three of them raised their hands as Delaney said their names.
“I am Praxus Rapiloni, Fifth Bloom, She/her pronouns.” Praxus said. As Delaney figured would be the case, Praxus handled the introductions of the other three Affini. “First we have Nova Ecclisia, Fourth Bloom, She/Her pronouns, then we have Ophelia Raxoni, Fourth Bloom, She/Her pronouns and finally, Iris Vaochi, Fourth Bloom, also She/Her pronouns.”
“It’s nice to meet you all.” Iris said.
“The reason why I have brought this group of Affini together is to provide round the clock protection to the four of you.” Praxus said, her voice soothing. “I am going to be taking over as the head of TPN and Delaney, if she chooses to continue to work, is going to be my head producer.”
“What do you mean ‘if she chooses to continue to work’?” Natalie asked. “How are we going to pay for stuff if we don’t work?”
“The Compact is post scarcity, little one.” Praxus said. Natalie leaned forward like she was about to say something, Delaney held a hand up to stop her. The Affini might be in charge overall, but Delaney was in charge of the family. “No sophont has to work if they do not want to. Our aim is to take care of all of the needs of every sophont, and over millennia we have perfected taking care of every species we come across.” She paused and looked at the four sophonts. “I can already tell that the four of you are what we call Pinnates. That is to say a group of two or more sophonts that shouldn’t be separated for moral or ethical reasons. This applies to independents, as well as florets.”
“We don’t have to worry about being separated?” Kirsten asked, her voice barely audible.
“Never, little one,” Praxus said. “We will never separate you from your mommies.” She waved a vine. “I’m going to be keeping an eye on Delaney, Iris will keep an eye on Natalie, and Nova and Ophelia will watch Lilly and Kirsten.” Datapads around the room beeped. “I have sent everyone’s contact information to everyone. If the four of you need anything, call us. We will be either here or nearby.”
Delaney was in the nursery with the girls and was getting them ready for bed. She had diapered Kirsten and had laid them both down in the bed.
“Mama?” Lilly asked. “Are we going to be safe?”
“Yes,” Delaney said, “We are safe… and we are safer than we have ever been.” Delaney slipped Lilly's pacifier in her mouth and smiled.
"Goodnight, Mama," Lilly mumbled around the pacifier, already starting to fall asleep.
"Goodnight, Mama." Kirsten said, receiving a kiss on the forehead.
"Goodnight, Princess." Delaney said after removing her lips from Kirsten's forehead. She slipped Kirsten's pacifier in the girl's mouth and then gave Lilly a kiss on the forehead. Now it was time to go have a talk with the adults.
Delaney sat next to Natalie and they joined hands.
"So you're not going to take us as pets?" Natalie asked, glancing at Delaney. "Girls down?" Delaney nodded.
"No," Praxus said, "At least not unless you ask." She wiggled her vines in an amusement sort of way. "That said," She paused, and looked at the two Terrans. "If you are thinking about it, please come see one of us rather than going to a domestication center." There were assorted noises from the other three Affini.
“A....” Delaney tipped her head to the left in confusion. “Domestication center? What’s that?”
“A Domestication center is a place where sophonts that wish to volunteer for domestication can go to start the process.” Praxus said. “They will usually be paired with an Affini and that will become their owner.”
“Why would you want us to come to you first?” Natalie asked.
Praxus’ vines shifted. “Because if any one of the four of you would like to be domesticated, all four of you will be kept together, even if only one of you wants to be domesticated. I also think it would be better if the four of you all had the same owners…”
Natalie and Delaney shared a look. “I worry that we would be too much of a…” Delaney paused “Vineful?” Praxus chuckled.
“Handful works…” Praxus said, still chuckling. “I don’t think you four would be a handful.”
“How would it work?” Delaney asked.
“Well,” Praxus said, vines going over and joining with Iris’ vines. “Due to the fact that there are four of you, a pair of Affini would probably have to take the group of you. At this point if anyone were to take you four, I would like it to be myself and Iris." Delaney and Natalie looked at each other.
"I..." Delaney said. "Natalie and I were talking about this before you all landed. We both agreed that if it were just us, we would volunteer, but it's not just us, it's also the girls and they should be free to make that decision on their own."
"They would be..." Praxus said, "The only way that they wouldn't get a choice is if they could not take care of themselves, which, from what you've said, there might be a chance of that."
Natalie looked at Delaney. "What did you tell her?" Her voice wasn't accusatory, but was curious. She was slightly more concerned about the fact that Delaney had told this alien, who she had just met, about how they took care of the girls.
Delaney shrugged. "Something that she needed to know. She's going to be my new boss, and we're going to be spending a lot of time with her, I think... She said that the girls are basically our florets." Delaney looked from Natalie to Praxus and back again.
"How so?" Natalie asked, she wasn't sure that she understood the connotation there.
"I explained to her how we take care of the girls..." Delaney said, shrugging. "How we set routines, take care of all of their medical needs, their food, everything." Delaney looked at Praxus. "I am pretty sure that as long as we can prove that we do a good job of taking care of them, everything will be ok."
"That is correct..." Praxus said, “Given the fact that everyone is healthy, happy and seems to be well taken care of, you have nothing to worry about. I will say, however, that if you need any assistance with taking care of the little ones, please come to me or Iris…” There was a murmur of approval from Iris. “So, Natalie, what is it that you do for a living?”
“Well, assuming that the Compact hasn’t obliterated my employer,” Natalie said, a chuckle escaping her throat. “I worked for a company that used to do defense contracting with the Accord. We did intelligence gathering using what is called open source sources…”
Nova leaned forward, her vines twitching. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” Natalie shifted uncomfortably under Nova’s gaze. “Open source sources being things like publicly available news sources, web pages, things like that. We often found OPSEC stuff from the Accord out there, but not much in the way of stuff from you all. You covered your tracks pretty well.”
“You only saw what we wanted you to see…” Nova said. “We’ve been at this for a long time. I’m in my fourth bloom, meaning I’m close to one thousand of your years old. We’ve been doing domestication campaigns since well before I was a new bloom. Species that we are waging a domestication campaign against get the information we want them to have. Nothing more, nothing less…”
“Noted…” Natalie said. “I feel… complicit in the takeover of the planet though.”
Praxus emulated a tip of her head. “Oh?”
“I learned a lot from every time that you all broadcast something. Between Delaney and I, we had set up a system to automatically record your broadcasts.” Natalie looked down at her feet. “I knew what the endgame was, I knew what you, as a species, wanted. It wasn’t the stuff that the Accord tried to make us believe. You wanted nothing more than to take care of us.” She paused and raised her chin, her voice confident. “I also knew that if I relayed that to my superiors, they would probably have had me tried for treason, as everyone on the planet was supposed to be supporting the Accord, not the Xenos that wanted to eat our brains or make us work in your mines on some faraway planet. I know how those rumors got going…” Natalie watched as Praxus, Iris and Nova shared a look.
“How did they start, little one?” Nova said. “Knowing might help us combat them…”
Natalie looked at Delaney, and then back at the four Affini in the room. ”That’s what the Accord did to every species that we conquered. The race that had been conquered we put to work in the capitalist machine. Those that refused were…” her voice trailed off, her not finishing the sentence.
Praxus seemed to understand the word that was missing from the statement as she reached over and gently rubbed a vine on Natalie’s back. She was actually surprised that Natalie didn’t flinch. “It is OK, little one.” Praxus said gently. “That is something you never have to worry about again.”
Delaney reached up and rubbed her eyes. Except for her three hour nap, which had done little to quell her tiredness, she had been running for almost twenty four hours. “Tired, little one?” Nova asked gently. Delaney just nodded.
Delaney yawned. “Having your planet taken over by an alien species will make one tired…”
Praxus had a thoughtful look on her face."You know, rest is something that you've probably not gotten much of before our arrival. We are going to have to fix that..." Natalie and Delaney shared a look and before Delaney could respond, Natalie spoke.
"What are you going to do? Give us a bedtime?" Natalie asked, her eyes growing wide as the multiple pair of eyes that made up the faces of the four Affini all looked at her.
Delaney hissed into Natalie's ear. "You did this, and I am pretty sure I can't save you..." Natalie sank into the couch, trying to find somewhere to hide.
Iris was the first to speak. "If it needs to be done, then yes." She said, her voice measured. "However, not taking care of yourself will be one of the fastest ways to find yourself in a wardship." Iris leaned forward and glanced at Praxus. Is it safe to assume that these four are in a wardship that isn't official at the moment?
Praxus responded with her vines moving in all sorts of directions, some so fast that Delaney and Natalie had trouble keeping track of all of them. Yes, they are; while we have been sitting here, I have filed a Notice of Intent on the four of them; of course they don't know it yet...
Natalie leaned forward, frowning. "I don't like that I can't understand you when you are speaking..." Delaney rested a hand on Natalie's leg, trying to keep her from freaking out. She had no idea what the Affini were saying, but she was pretty sure that it pertained to them and that it could be something that could decide their fate.
Delaney leaned close to Natalie's ear. "Enough." she hissed. "You do realize that at least two of those four are the ones who ultimately will decide if we are to remain independent or not. The last thing I need is you making my life hell."
Praxus spoke in English, startling both Natalie and Delaney. "Language, little one." The Affini looked at the pair of them with all six of her eyes. "Delaney, you are correct, two of us are going to ultimately decide if you are capable of remaining independent or not. One of you is not dependent on how the other behaves." She ran vines around the room, turning lights off. "Now, what do you say we go get ready for bed?"
"Yes, Ma'am..." Natalie said, her voice sheepish like she had just been caught doing something that she shouldn't have been. She stood, and walked toward a closed door in the apartment. After she had shut the door, Delaney looked at Praxus.
"Sorry about that, I tried to stop her..." Delaney's voice was quiet and she didn't look at Praxus; In her head, Praxus had already replaced her as the head of the household, meaning that the Affini was one to be listened to. A vine entered her field of vision from the left and gently raised her chin so that she was looking at the Affini that the vine belonged to. She was surprised to be looking at Iris' glowing orange eyes.
A vine stroked Delaney's cheek. "She is going to have to get used to it sooner or later..." Iris said. "You have done well with the resources you had, little one. Now you and Natalie are going to be able to take time for yourselves and be able to take care of yourselves." Clicks emanated from Praxus and Ophelia. "There are going to be changes, but know that we want nothing more than to make sure that you are the best possible versions of yourselves."
Praxus sat upright and looked at Delaney. "Until any of you are florets, you are still in charge of the household." She paused, trying to figure out the best way to say what she wanted to say. "Even after all four of you are florets, you will still be the one that everyone comes to."
Delaney looked at Praxus, her left eyebrow raised. "Who said that we were all going to choose to be domesticated?"
Delaney was getting changed while Natalie sulked in the bed. "I can't believe that we got sent to bed like children..."
Delaney dropped her nightgown over her head and looked at Natalie. "We didn't. You did." she walked over and pulled the covers back and sat on the edge of the bed. "It didn't help that you were basically throwing a tantrum. You're not in charge in this house, I am." Delaney turned to look at Natalie.
"Yes, Ma'am." Natalie said quietly. "I apologize for showing you disrespect." Natalie looked at the floor.
Delaney swung her legs up into the bed. "Tomorrow morning," She reached up and started to rub Natalie's back. "You are going to apologize to Praxus." Natalie laid down next to Delaney and sniffled.
"Yes, Ma'am." Natalie's voice was quiet.
"You heard Praxus," Delaney said softly. "They are basically going to be watching us to make sure that we can take care of ourselves and the girls." Delaeny reached up and turned the light on the nightstand off. "When she confronted me in my office after she did something to Jason, she knew things. and she told me that the only reason that they knew what they knew was because they had managed to obtain a copy of the OCNI database. Our family structure was in that database. I don't think she picked Iris, Nova and Ophelia to be the ones that were here by accident. I guess we will find out what we are being primed and prepped for soon enough."
Natalie rolled over and looked at Delaney in the darkened room. It wasn't quite pitch black due to the light that came in the windows from the street outside. "What makes you think we’re being primed for something?”
Delaney turned her head to look at Natalie’s form laying in the bed. “Praxus asked if I’d help to convey the info that is in the treaty to the masses in a way that they would understand and respect it.” She paused and reached over and stroked Natalie’s hair. “I told her that I didn’t think that I had much choice because Jason had threatened to send the authorities after me. That’s how we ended up here.”
“Any idea who wrote the speech?” Natalie asked. It was a fairly well written speech and was one that any Terran media agency would have been proud of.
“Praxus said she’d look into it and let me know. I asked for a copy of it.” Delaney said. “Let’s get to sleep. We are going to have a long day tomorrow…”
The four Affini sat in the living room and were having a conversation. "What is the plan?" Iris asked.
"Well," Praxus said, vines wiggling. "I am going to take Delaney to TPN, and we are going to work on the beginnings of the messaging to the citizens of the Protectorate. Iris, I want you to take Natalie to her place of employment. She has alluded to doing intel work so send any information you can up to the Chrysanthemum. It sounds like Delaney and Natalie want to be domesticated, but they are not going to force that upon Lilly and Kirsten. Nova and Ophelia, you two are going to take care of the two that are basically florets. The next couple of days are going to be long for this group."
"How are we doing at bringing the living accommodations up to Compact Standards?" Nova asked. She was on the committee that was in charge of bringing structures up to the standards that the Compact had. "I do worry about the integrity of this building, most of the buildings here seem like a good gust of wind will take them out…”
“Well, as soon as we get some buildings built, I would like to have the four of them move near Iris and I.” Praxus said. “A hab unit with enough space to provide a bedroom for Delaney and Natalie, and separate rooms for Lilly and Kirsten, plus office space for both of the leaders of the family.”
“What are the extra rooms going to be used for if those two decide they want to be domesticated and they don’t want to work anymore?” Ophelia asked, glancing at Praxus.
“They either get removed from the hab or we re-purpose them into something else.”
“Sounds good to me.” Ophelia replied, “Would you like Nova and I to try to gauge Kirsten and Lilly’s thoughts on domestication?”
“Quietly…” Praxus said. “While I want this whole family, I don’t want to make any of them upset and require forced domestication, or worse: to turn feral. I want them to come willingly. Consider the four of them in a wardship without the paperwork. I will work on getting a compiler in here for them tomorrow.”
On the other side of town, Richard and Diane had been watching the location of the datapad that belonged to Diane. They had seen it move to the TNN building and then rapidly move from there to the building that Delaney and company lived in. Diane sat on the couch, sobbing. “First we lost our son to the weeds and now we’ve lost our daughter.”
Richard wasn't convinced. He could think of several ways that Delaney could have gotten from downtown to the building on the edge of the city where they lived at the speed that she had gotten there. “She could have been picked up by the TCN and moved that quickly, We don’t know that she’s in enemy hands yet.” Even with the news saying that the Accord had surrendered to the Affini Compact, Richard still considered the Xenos to be the enemy. If he had the opportunity, he would try to take out as many of them as he could.
Jason slowly opened his eyes and looked around. The last thing he remembered was that he was in his office squaring off with one of those plant things. Two things stood out to him: the first was that this wasn’t his office; the second was that he was naked and restrained to the bed he was laying on. He couldn't tell if he was in a bedroom or a medical facility; He had been in bedrooms that looked like doctors offices and he'd been in hospital rooms that more closely resembled hotel rooms. He was momentarily startled when the dim lights that were around the room suddenly got brighter.
The door slid open and one of the weeds glided in, causing Jason to glare at it. “Leave me alone.” He said in a voice that he hoped that was demanding enough for the weed to leave him alone.
“Jason,” the creature sang, the pink and white flowers that made up its spindly body opening and closing in time with its speech. “I am Incarvillea Ringgold, Seventh Bloom, She/Her pronouns. I’ve already received your file from my colleges. I am informing you that you have been selected for immediate domestication. Your implant will be scheduled once we verify that you are healthy enough for surgery.”
“I am a citizen of the Terran Accord,” Jason growled. “I reject your authority and demand a representative as is my right.”
Incarvillea looked bemused, as if the Terran that was restrained to the bed was nothing more than a cute puppy that was busy gnawing on its own leash. "Little one," She said, her voice more of a musical melody than a voice that one would expect from a human. "As of about twenty four Terran hours ago, the Terran Accord ceased to exist, and at that time all rights you had under the Accord vanished." She paused and looked at her datapad. "Under Sections 57, 61 and 102.3v of the Human Domestication Treaty, you have been selected for immediate domestication and implantation. Now I will not hear any more from you on the subject." As soon as she had finished, Jason started to speak again.
"You can't do--" Jason got out of his mouth before a thorn pricked him in his left leg, causing him to attempt to pull it away from the vine that now dripped a clear liquid as it withdrew from his leg. "Ow! Fu--" His voice was reduced to something similar to a baby babbling and cooing.
Incarvillea looked at Jason, "That's better..." She examined the figure on the bed, which was still looking confused and indignant as they babbled incoherently. "As I was saying, Under Sections 57, 61, and 102.3v of the Human Domestication Treaty, you have been selected for immediate domestication and implantation. You have not been given the ability to appeal." She paused, and looked at the figure on the bed; he looked angry. "As of this moment, you will be known as Aspen Ringgold, First Floret, They/Them pronouns." The figure on the bed glared, but could do nothing to stop the tears from slowly escaping the corners of their eyes.
Praxus and Iris sat in the darkened living room; Ophelia and Nova were out doing rounds ensuring the security of the building. Praxus had heard too many reports of 'the authorities' showing up in the middle of the night, and of sophonts subsequently missing from that point forward. Her datapad pinged and she picked it up off the table. She read the message and made a clicking sound.
“Good news?” Iris asked, knowing what most of the noises that her partner of three blooms made meant. Praxus simply handed the datapad over to Iris, who looked at it. “Aww. Who is that cutie?”
“That is Aspen Ringgold, First floret of Incarvillea Ringgold, They/them pronouns ” Praxus paused and looked at Iris. “That is the Terran that was formerly known as Jason Thrumold, Delaney’s boss. I got them to Incarvillea as they needed to be broken… Their record is… too bad to allow them to remain independent….” She smiled, green thorns making up the ‘teeth’ in her mouth. “Their last act of freedom was to, uh, try to throw a potted plant at me.”
Iris chuckled… “Bad choice of weapon… I take it that their file was really bad?"
Praxus shrugged. "Yeah, well..." She made a movement that looked like a shrug. "Let's just say that they were less than a model citizen." Nova and Ophelia came in and joined the two that were still in the apartment.
"Everything is clear..." Nova said, gliding past Iris and seeing the photo on the datapad. "Cute... Who is that?"
Iris looked up at Nova. "This would be Aspen Ringgold, First Floret, they/them pronouns..." Iris smiled. "Also this is Delaney's former boss..."
"This was not a voluntary domestication, was it?" Ophelia asked, glancing at the datapad. "Is this the person that you Z'd at the TPN building?"
"Yes..." Praxus sighed, she wasn't overly happy that she had to take the measures that she took with Aspen. "The file that the OCNI had on Aspen was... rough, so no, this one was involuntary. Let's say their past caught up to them..."
Delaney lay in the bed, unable to sleep. Next to her, Natalie was breathing deeply. She was the one in charge of the household and she often felt like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was uncertain of what this new future would bring; whatever it brought, she knew one thing: this family would face it together.