NR Ch. 06: Cover 2 Man

"Durataxin, Mr. Maplestone? Is that entirely necessary?"

Acer dropped a vine into the glass with a simulated sigh, his leaves rustling. "I need something to take the edge off, Fan," he complained. "Seven different Affini have told me that I should just claim Jackson already and get it over with, but I can't do it! I know I have sufficient grounds and nobody would judge me, but Jackson would never forgive me."

The bartender left behind a pitcher of the intoxicating liquid and gave Acer a sympathetic smile. He sighed. Usually Affini didn't need drugs to "take the edge off," that was floret behavior. But the existence of a place like The Lazy Vine was proof enough that there were other Affini like him was enough to smother the guilt.

He sucked the relaxing contents of the glass into his vines, the knot around his core loosening up. The fourth bloom had been on edge since Jackson's blowup at the party. Every friend he told about the events told him that Jackson would clearly be better off as a floret, with all memories of this ridiculous, feralist game purged from his mind.

The verdict was universal, except for, of course, Fan Malvaceae, Twelfth Bloom. It had always been a renegade in the eyes of the Affini Compact, telling anybody who would listen that maybe they could learn something from the species they domesticated. Not that many Affini listened, and plenty of those who did had some choice words for it about their species' responsibility to bring enlightenment to the cosmos.

Fan wasn't a radical or anything, it wasn't about to advocate for the end of florethood. It had claimed no less than twenty pets over its twelve blooms, after all. But it took umbrage with many Affini's eagerness to ignore sophonts' desires and decide they were better off as pets. Some sophonts absolutely were better off as pets, but not enough to justify the ever-climbing domestication rates.

"None of them know your ward like you do, Mr. Maplestone," Fan reassured, intertwining three vines into Acer's. "Nobody can force you to domesticate dear Jackson before he's ready."

"But what if they're right?" Acer asked with a groan. "Calling this sport 'feralist' isn't anywhere near sufficient! Incessant advertisements, overt displays of military force before every game, constant risk of injury. I watched one player get into an argument with his coach, and the player was thrown out of an airlock!"

Watching that uncensored broadcast was a sickening experience. Injuries everywhere, even with the genetic modifications the commentators discussed at length. All of the players looked miserable, when they made a mistake the whole team would double over in pain. He didn't know what was happening with that, Jackson never mentioned anything about collective punishment during his lessons. But it made him sick to his core to watch these poor sophonts suffer.

"I watched the video file as well, Coriander insisted," Fan said, refilling Acer's durataxin glass. "You're right, the feralist tendencies are alarming. I was especially perturbed by the commentators promising that 'wormhead executions' would be a feature in future matches."

Stars, Acer forgot about that. He was too distracted by all of the other horrible things on display.

"However," Fan continued, raising a vine. "So far as I can tell, the primary problems in this game come from the influence of the Terran Accord. The feralism I see in your precious petal does not come from his failings, and I do not see grounds for domestication. He needs time to learn the flaws in the Accord worldview."

Acer would laugh if he didn't feel so anxious. Of course that was Fan's perspective. Everything was systemic, individual sophonts needed grace and understanding, shoving them bodily into a massive new social system they didn't understand would do more harm than good. It was an easy case to understand, especially given the horrors of Terran culture. It was rare for the Compact to find a society quite so predisposed to violence and totalitarianism.

Fan and Acer had overseen thousands upon thousands of new arrivals to Gilreath over the centuries, and few species were so universally combative as Terrans. If there was any species that could disabuse the twelfth bloom of its ideology, it was surely humanity.

But throughout the Terran domestication campaign, Fan was a voice for caution. Not a popular one, given Gilreath's rock-bottom independence rates, but that didn't dissuade it one bit. It never bothered Fan that almost nobody on the planet listened to it. It knew it couldn't change the entire culture of the Compact, it didn't want that in the first place. It simply believed that diversity of opinion was vital.

"Most Affini would say two months is more than enough time to learn that lesson," Acer said with a begrudging smile.

"Well Mr. Maplestone, I should hope that if you've learned one thing in the last millennium, it's that I am not most Affini," Fan said with a wink.

Acer's core fluttered. Stars, it was bewitching. Bright bronze eyes, dark purple vines sourced from some planet at the frontier of Compact space, dotted with black and white roses and plenty of thorns. Fan may have preached the importance of giving sophonts a fair shake at independence, but if they didn't end up independent after that fair shake? There wasn't a more authoritative Affini on Gilreath.

"Mr. Maplestone, dear?" Fan said. "Are you still with me?"

Acer shook himself out of his reverie. By the Everbloom, what was he thinking? He had enough to worry about without getting all sunny-eyed over the Affini who helped him find his life's purpose. Maybe once this situation with Jackson was resolved he could go back to his secret, shameful fantasies. What those thorns would feel like digging into his core, being called "Mr. Maplestone" while utterly helpless, getting-

"Honestly, what are they putting in durataxin these days?"

"S-sorry!" Acer said hurriedly. "Just, um, just have a lot on my mind. I'm really worried about Jackson, that's all."

Acer saw a brief flash of a thorny smile on Fan's face, before it disappeared back into a look of contemplation. "It's perfectly understandable that you'd be on edge about all of this, Mr. Maplestone. You're always like this when you're getting close to domesticating a sophont."

That much was true. Whenever a relationship with one of his wards reached that fuzzy grey area between independence and pethood, he turned into an anxious mess. He did everything for Jackson, and he loved each moment of it. The bliss of watching the cute Terran with the floppy hair enjoy the food he cooked was unmatched. On one level, it was always like this.

But something still ate at him.

"I'm not sure that's what this is, though," Acer protested. "By the time all my pets fell into my vines, they didn't have this kind of a feralist streak. Jackson lets me do almost everything for him, short of dressing him and letting him make some food. But the way he snapped at us was distressing, to say the least."

"Is he attending therapy?" Fan asked, treating itself to mineral water. Funny, for as much as it raised a leafy eyebrow at Acer treating himself to some durataxin, it was eager to refill his glass whenever he drained it. That anxiety now had to fight against a rising tide of relaxation.

"Yes, but I don't know if he's committing to it," Acer grumbled. "Eliza messaged me after his appointment yesterday, she told me he's been skimping on his assignments. I want to give him his fair shake, I think I have! But if he's not going to do the work to unlearn his feralism, what choice do I have left?"

"Now now Mr. Maplestone, there's no need to be rash," Fan admonished. "You've said yourself that you think springing involuntary domestication on Jackson would do more harm than good. I believe it would do more harm than good to the both of you."

"I don't know if I could bear it," Acer said miserably. "I know it's probably the right thing to do, but he's told me time and time again he doesn't want it!"

"Mr. Maplestone," Fan interjected, its tone sharp. "What is the first thing I taught you about crisis response?"

Acer stiffened. Stars, that voice cut through to his core. "There is no universal right thing," he replied. "The right thing to do changes on a case-by-case basis dependent on the needs of those involved in a given situation."

"Quite right," it said. "Too often, Affini treat every case like a nail to be solved with the hammer of domestication. You know better, Mr. Maplestone. Listen to yourself, accept that you know best when it comes to your ward, and do what you feel is right."

Acer sighed. That was the problem, he had no idea what he felt was right. His instincts screamed at him that allowing Jackson to retain his interest in football would only worsen his worrisome feralist streak. On the other hand, Fan had a point that the game could be stripped of much of its problematic tendencies.

He thought back to the recording Coriander showed him. The herbaceous Affini was of course affronted, going on and on about how Jackson even suggesting they watch this was grounds for immediate domestication. He was disturbed by the broadcast, but under all of that, he saw the appeal of the game that Jackson loved. The intricacies of the game seemed bottomless, appealing to the strategic mind. It was certainly a better outlet for Terran aggression than some other domestication cases Acer saw at his job practiced.

So if it felt wrong to purge one of Jackson's favorite pastimes from his brain, but it also felt wrong to let the feralist aspects of football run free. There was only one thing to do.

"I suppose I'll have to find a healthier expression for this game," Acer mused. "Perhaps there are more sophonts on Gilreath who would like to play!"

"Excellent work, Mr. Maplestone," Fan said. Acer felt like he was glowing. Getting praised by Fan Malvaceae gave him a buzzy feeling that reminded him of how florets described being pet by their owners. But this was different, of course. Acer was an Affini.

"Thank you, Fan," Acer said, sucking up the remnants of a fourth glass of durataxin. Stars, he felt dizzy. "I have to get home, Coriander's leaving sweet little Alice with me while she goes off to save some ship full of misguided mercenaries from themselves."

"Ah, where does the time go?" Fan mused. "I ought to get going to as well, I have to catch that very ship!"

"You're going?" Acer asked, somewhat incredulous. "I wouldn't expect that to be your kind of scene."

Fan flashed that smile, stunning white thorns that could light up the sky. "Traditionally, no," it said, drawing itself up to its full, towering twenty feet. "But even I have my needs, Mr. Maplestone. A ship full of unrepentant murderers coming to carry out further murders for the sake of copyright infringement? Those are sophonts I'm delighted to shove into domestication."

The two of them embraced as they left The Lazy Vine, heading in opposite directions. Fan was on its way to the spaceport, and Acer had to get home to collect Alice from Coriander. He cursed under his breath, they had spent more time together than he intended. The hours seemed to melt away whenever he saw Fan, and now he was late to meet Coriander.

He unfurled his form into a more efficient shape and took off, taking care to avoid running into anybody. With this much durataxin coursing through his veins, he didn't want to risk hurting anybody. Ooh, it was going to be fun cooking dinner for Jackson and Alice tonight feeling like this. Inebriated cooking was an absolute delight.

Before he knew it, he was walking into his Hab, where Jackson, Coriander and Alice were waiting. They were hardly sitting idle waiting for him to return home. Alice was helplessly bound in Coriander's vines, wearing a leather collar and leash he recognized from Jackson's gear collection.

Jackson, for his part, was dressed in nothing but his Wasps jersey, pussy on display, as he fed the helpless Alice a plate of precious pink cupcakes. The sweet girl was already filling out beautifully, she looked like the perfect floret now. Between the blonde tresses cascading down her shoulders, the cutesy pink ballgown, and the white satin opera gloves, she was flawless. Nobody worked miracles like Coriander.

"Ah, welcome home Acer!" Coriander said. "I hope you had a lovely time with Mx. Malvaceae, I took the liberty of coming over a little early to keep sweet Jackson company. Alice was so excited about seeing her little crush again, wasn't she?"

Coriander took a grip of Alice's curly hair and made her nod, ignoring her blushy cheeks and whimpers of protests. Jackson was grinning his face off, his pussy dripping all over the couch. It was nice to see him in a good mood again, nothing cheered him up quite like having somebody cute to torment.

"Every time she finishes a cupcake, she has to tell me something she likes about me," Jackson said, feeding Alice another bite. "She's having a pretty hard time with all the Class E in these, though. All she could say after the last one was 'voice pretty!'"

Alice squirmed in her bonds, but didn't make any indication that she wanted this to stop. Acer slipped down onto the couch behind Jackson, wrapping five vines around him in a cautious hug. He was terrified that his ward would pull away and that he would ruin this lovely scene, but instead he leaned into his vines with a happy little hum.

"Hey plant," Jackson said with a goofy smile. "How was your super-secret meeting that definitely wasn't with your big, bad plant crush?"

Coriander giggled at that, and Acer blushed. It wasn't a crush! They were just friends. And coworkers. And Acer looked up to Fan and its steadfast convictions. And also he would rest at night thinking about how its thorns must feel-

"It was perfectly lovely, if you must know," Acer said in what he thought was a perfectly nonchalant tone. "And I absolutely do not have a 'crush' on it. Crushes are for cute little sophonts like you and your Patrick Bradshaw."

Much to his delight, that was enough to make Jackson blush and grumble. "It's not my fault he's the cutest guy in the Accord!" Jackson protested. "And I know I'm right! You turn into a giggling schoolgirl every time you talk about Fan."

"He does have a point, dear," Coriander added, poking an injector into Alice's neck. "You are often rather preoccupied with Mx. Malvaceae."

"Don't take his side!" Acer exclaimed. Jackson giggled and stuck out his tongue, and Acer simply could not let that stand.

"Did somebody let dominating a floret convince him that he's in charge?" Acer hissed, wrapping more vines around his ward. Jackson squeaked in protest as he took Alice's leash in one of his vines, but Acer noted that he was now even wetter between his legs.

"No fair!" Jackson said, squirming with little intent to actually escape. "I'm not your floret, you can't just grab me like this!"

Acer chuckled, brushing a vine across his folds. "I'll happily release you if you ask, petal." Jackson did not ask to be released, so Acer kept him captive.

"Did you have durataxin with your plant crush, ya big tree?" Jackson asked. "You always get more dominant on that stuff, and you smell like it too."

"What an astute little sophont," Acer cooed, sticking a Class A injector into Jackson's thigh. "I have had some durataxin, and it's going to be your problem this evening. Well, I say 'problem,' but I highly doubt you'll have any problems with it whatsoever."

By that point, Jackson was too full of Class A to respond. So Acer stuffed three vines into his pussy and gagged him, leaving him to squirm and moan his brains out. Alice, her dom now incapacitated, whimpered needily.

Acer happily picked up the plate of cupcakes and took over feeding her, redirecting his attention to Coriander. "Would it kill you to back me up when my ward is teasing me?"

Coriander giggled. "And miss seeing you blush like that? Absolutely no chance," she said. "It's not like he's wrong."

Acer grumbled, but he didn't really put his core into it. It was all in good fun, and it was impossible to be grumpy with his pet-to-be writhing in bliss in his vines. "Don't you have some misguided Terrans to rescue?"

"Oh I certainly do," Coriander purred, running her vines through her new floret's hair. "My darling little pet here told me all about the copyright death squads, it's going to be a delight to rescue them from such abominable feralism. They sleep on metal slabs on those ships!"

It never ceased to shock Acer how awful conditions were in the Terran Accord. Why did those poor dears fight so hard for something so untenable? They had wisdom and experiences worth sharing, certainly, but their devotion to atrocious conditions was remarkable.

"I'm sure you'll find plenty of pets-to-be in need of firm vines," Acer said with a smirk. "Now get going! Fan gets testy if it has to sit around waiting."

"Very well, keep your vines on!" Coriander said. She disentangled a panting, needy Alice from her vines, poking an injector into her neck. "There's the counteragent for her Class E, she should be a touch more coherent now. Her favorite stuffed animal is in Jackson's bed, her dietary needs are in your pad, please make sure you brush her teeth and get her in the pajamas I compiled and-"

"Coriander dear, please relax," Acer said. "I'm perfectly capable of caring for sweet Alice for a night, stars know Jackson is. We'll have a lovely time, won't we?"

Jackson was just barely coherent enough to nod, and Alice turned to face her owner with a bright smile.

"Go have fun Mistress!" Alice chirped. Stars, she was embracing her role in record time. "Mr. Maplestone and I are gonna have so much fun with Jackson."

Coriander wrung her vines, but ultimately relented. "Alright munchkin, have a fun night for Mistress, alright?" She slipped a vine under Alice's chin and tilted her head back, her eyes rippling out into pink and gold rings. "Remember that you deserve care, fun, bliss, and everything else that comes with the life of a floret."

Alice moaned, clasping her hands behind her back. "Y-yuh Mistress," she moaned. If Acer had to guess, Coriander had already trained her not to touch herself when she was hypnotized. If there was ever evidence that some sophonts were made to be florets, Alice Apiales should be Exhibit A.

"That's my good girl," Coriander said, giving her a quick pet. "Acer dear, please don't hesitate to contact me if something goes awry. I can't promise I'll respond immediately if we're engaged with these poor dears, but-"

"Coriander, if you make Fan wait any longer, it's going to start pulling your vines off," Acer said. "We'll be just fine, off with you!"

Coriander grumbled, but she left with one last pet for her floret. Once she exited, Acer released Jackson from his vines, giving him some pets of his own. Jackson grumbled some nonsense about how Acer shouldn't be treating him like a floret, but he didn't do anything to resist the pets.

"You look really hot when you're all tied up," Alice blurted out, her cheeks instantly turning bright red. "Uh, s-sorry! Mistress gives me Class D every morning, I don't have a filter anymore!"

Jackson laughed. "Hey, I'm not gonna complain about a compliment," he replied. "Especially from a floret like you. Do you see how you look at your Mistress already? You're not even implanted yet and you're more helplessly in love than most of my friends."

Alice's blush turned even deeper. "You're one to talk!" She shot back. "You wouldn't stop talking about Mr. Maplestone the whole time he was gone!"

Jackson sputtered and stammered, frantically grabbing the plate of cupcakes and stuffing one in Alice's mouth. For her part, the floret just hummed happily around the mouthful of sweet treat, tapping her gloved hands on her thighs. It was only fair, Acer thought. Jackson played a major part in getting Alice domesticated in the first place. It was perfectly reasonable that she would try to get him pushed into the same place.

"Is that true, little beagle?" Acer asked, already knowing the answer.

Jackson humphed. "Y-you came up in conversation," he said. Well, that certainly wasn't good enough for Acer.

"Patty dear, please review your logs and tell me how often I 'came up in conversation' this afternoon," Acer said with a smirk.

"Certainly, Mr. Maplestone," the Hab AI said with a chime. "By my count, during seventy minutes of shared time between Jackson Meadows, Alice Apiales, and Coriander Apiales, Jackson initiated conversation about you on seven separate occasions."

"How interesting," Acer said, possessive clicking sounds filling the living room. "I can't say I know too many independent sophonts who discuss their guardians with such frequency. I don't even need to ask Patty to reach the conclusion that the conversations were glowing."

Alice nodded hard, and Jackson growled at her. How precious. He was so desperate to cling to something he didn't actually want deep down. The only problem was that before you hit those desires deep down, you had to dig through several layers of free will and consent. Many Affini wouldn't care about such things, but Acer couldn't let himself do much more than tease.

"Well, as much as I would love to sit here and torment Jackson all night, I ought to get some dinner in the two of you," Acer said. "Before I do, I would like to have a little chat in private with my ward. Alice dear, will you be alright on your own?"

Before she could say anything, Jackson piped up with an eager grin on his face. "I don't know Acer, newly domesticated florets can't be trusted on their own," he said. "You never know what they might do! I think we need to keep sweet little Alice all safe and secure until we can attend to her again."

Now it was Alice's turn to sputter and whimper. But she didn't say anything to contradict his assertion, so Jackson grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into his playroom. Acer followed behind them with a smile, watching as Jackson half-threw poor little Alice into a leather chair.

Ignoring her half-hearted protests, Jackson strapped her in. He pulled leather belts across her wrists, ankles, waist, and chest, making sure he tightened it right on top of her newly budding breasts. Alice mewled, but that only gave Jackson an opportunity to push a ballgag between her jaws and lock it in place.

"There, that ought to keep her from doing anything she'll regret!" Jackson said as he slipped a clicker into her hand. "Press this if you need out, alright? We'll just be in the next room. I'll give you something to keep you occupied while we're gone, though."

He slipped a visor over Alice's head and switched it on, and the floret let out a shaky little moan around her gag. This was one of his favorite tricks, lighting up his prey's eyes with spirals until they melted. Jackson would make for an excellent Affini, Acer thought. Such a shame he was a silly little Terran with a head full of misbegotten ideas about independence.

"That ought to hold her," Jackson said as he left his playroom, leaving Alice and the quickly-growing wet patch at the front of her dress. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Let's discuss this while I prepare dinner," Acer said, shepherding Jackson into the kitchen. He typed a quick command into his pad instructing Patty to monitor Alice more closely as he did, also pulling up Coriander's exhaustive instructions for how to care for her floret.

"Sure thing! What's on the menu?" Jackson asked as he climbed up onto a stool. He looked so cute with his legs dangling in the air like that, sitting around in nothing but his Wasps jersey. Acer wanted to scold him for not waiting to be lifted into the stool like a good pet, but he stopped himself. Feeding him would make up for it nicely.

"Well, Coriander sent me a list of every single food Alice has eaten thus far and notes on her opinions of each one," Acer said, rolling his eyes. "It looks like she hasn't had a chance to try pizza yet, and she seems to have a high opinion of everything that might go in it. Does that sound good?"

"Mmmm, you make the best pizza," Jackson said dreamily.

"Seems like you've recovered well from our incident yesterday," Acer said, pulling premade pizza dough from the stasis chamber. "I'll admit, I was afraid that our interactions might be a touch more frosty than this today."

Jackson squirmed in his seat. "Yeah, I was a little bit fuc- um, messed up about it when I woke up this morning," he said. Acer smirked at his self-censorship. "I'm still a bit upset, if I'm being honest. Not like I was, though. I know you were just trying to look out for me and all the other florets, it just hurt to feel like you didn't trust me."

That stung. It wasn't a matter of him not trusting Jackson, he wouldn't still be independent if he didn't trust him. Acer steadied himself, this was a delicate situation. He didn't want to say the wrong thing and trigger Jackson's insecurities once more. Because of this, he didn't make a comment about his ward's

reference to "other florets."

"Well, I do want to tell you that this has nothing to do with my trust in you," Acer said, picking up a rolling pin and flattening the dough into a disc. "I trust you a great deal. You would not have the degree of freedom you enjoy if you didn't. This has everything to do with unlearning harmful mental patterns."

Jackson hummed thoughtfully. "Harmful how though?" He asked. "It's just a game. I know that a lot of the stuff around it is bad, I'm not a big fan of the postgame floggings. I've loved football my whole life, it hasn't turned me into a violent maniac."

Acer fought back an annoyed grumble. Terrans could be so stubborn. "That's the problem at hand though, starshine," he said. "You don't notice the harmful thought patterns because they seem natural to you. The advertisements, the genetic modifications, the military displays, they're all simply part of the experience to your mind."

Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but he seemed to think better of it and pursed his lips. Acer wasn't naïve enough to think that one well-reasoned point would adjust Jackson's perspective, but the Terran took his guardian's opinions seriously.

"I guess that makes sense," he said begrudgingly. "I don't see why that means we can't have any football in the Compact. That's capitalism, not the game!"

"And this is precisely what I wanted to talk to you about," Acer said, almost glowing. "Fan recommended that we search for an alternative to Crown League broadcasts. We could simulate games and broadcast those, we could seek out video games, we could teach your friends how to play!"

Jackson looked shocked. "Wait, really?!" He asked. "You'd do that for me?"

Acer smiled. "I would do anything for you, petal," he cooed. "Anything under the stars."

Jackson turned bright red and fidgeted in his stool, too flustered to speak. Acer didn't push the envelope any further, choosing instead to focus on preparing the pizza. It was fortuitous that Alice's food preferences aligned so neatly with Jackson's favorite pizza toppings.

Acer's ward generally liked foods that were very "boy" coded. Wings, steak, generally a diet that leaned heavily on meat. But for pizza, Jackson preferred a vegetable medley: bell peppers, roasted red onions, mushrooms, and artichokes atop the traditional base of tomato sauce and cheese. Acer had seen him devour an entire 16" pie with these toppings in one sitting.

"Despite that, I do still apologize for misleading you about the game yesterday," Acer said as he lit an open flame to char the onions. "That wasn't right or fair of me, and you deserve better than that. With any luck, Coriander's expedition may lead us to the Crown League hideout itself! Then we can see about bringing some high-quality football to Gilreath."

"Are you serious?" Jackson asked, still stunned.

"Well, we can't count our horses before they're born," Acer said. "I can't imagine many of my peers will be wild about such an idea. I think we'd need to demonstrate that this sport can be played safely first, free of the influence of the Terran Accord. For now, why don't we focus on teaching your friends and finding a good video game?"

"That's definitely better than no football," Jackson said with a smile. "Thanks, plant. It really means a lot."

"Oh believe me little beagle, the pleasure is all mine," Acer said as he slid the pizza into the oven. "It's going to be about ten minutes until dinner's ready, would you like to go play with your little girlfriend until then?"

Jackson's blush returned with haste. "She's not my girlfriend!" He exclaimed. "We just like each other, that's all."

Acer giggled. Terrans were so cute when they tried to deny the obvious. Even as Jackson rushed out of the room to go tell Alice that she made "such a cute little princess," his cheeks were still so red they were almost glowing. The drippy trail he left behind himself was more than enough proof that he loved this treatment.

The fourth bloom watched happily as Jackson took out all of his embarrassment on poor Alice. The bound blonde girl took to florethood like second nature, albeit with plenty of assistance from Coriander. She had posted scores of videos of Alice's in-depth training on the overnet, and it seemed the precious girl didn't have enough of an independent brain left to remember her negative feelings toward the Compact. An implant was going to do her wonders.

"Do you have a problem with me ruining this pretty dress, sweet princess?" Jackson asked, his voice dripping with faux sympathy. Alice shook her head frantically, her eyes wild with desire. Jackson smirked and cut the dress off of her with a pair of safety shears.

Acer was distracted from Alice's naked body by a ding on his pad. He looked down and his core jumped, it was Fan.

biggestfan: How did your conversation with sweet Jackson go, Mr. Maplestone?

PocketAcers: Perfectly lovely. He was flustered to the stars and back by the lengths Affini will go to for their pets.

PocketAcers: Well, future pets in this instance, I suppose.

PocketAcers: And anyway, why are you messaging me right now? Don't you have ferals to rescue?

biggestfan: We're still scanning. Whatever these copyright death squads make their ships out of is some sterner stuff than the typical Accord spacecraft.

biggestfan: Coriander is in minute forty-seven of an extended rant about the absurd priorities of feral Terrans.

PocketAcers: Sounds about right. She's already laid waste to the feralism in little Alice. She's currently falling apart in Jackson's paws.

biggestfan: Paws? I thought Jackson was a Terran.

PocketAcers: Oh, he is. But his days as a human Terran are numbered.

biggestfan: Well, enjoy your plotting. We've just received some sort of signal, I think it's almost time.

PocketAcers: Good luck!

biggestfan: And to you, Mr. Maplestone.

Acer smiled, looking back up to see Jackson holding a vibrating wand against Alice's chastity belt. By the Everbloom, she looked precious in that thing. Sometimes Acer wished he could be like Coriander.

Then again, as Jackson looked over to him and gave him a glowing smile, this method certainly had its benefits.