Got a question about the world of HDG? We can help! Setting experts are on staff to answer your favourite questions, such as "what class of xenodrug are painkillers?" and "what happens when a floret's owner dies?" | Run by the HDG lorets https://discord.gg/WgssQ6SR4q
You might have noticed some big things happening on HDG.wiki! Let's talk about that.
Since the earliest days, the Human Domestication Guide Setting has been the name given to something far greater than any one story. This has been the promise greeting all new members to our space for many years now:
HDG is an open, collaborative setting, constantly being driven forward and expanded on by people just like you sitting down and deciding to tell a story.
We believe in this promise, and are building a central resource in accordance with it. This is all part of an initiative we’re calling “By the Community, for the Community.” We’re looking forward to telling you all about it.
From wardships to wellness checks, pinnates to pluribus, notices to nothocultures, with every mastodon brainstorming session, group chat post, ROM story, discord message, AO3 post, Tumblr microfic, Bluesky, and piece of gorgeous art, HDG has grown into the big, beautiful open setting we know today.
An incredible community of queer, diverse, disabled, authors and artists from every walk of life have contributed to the creation of this shared idea form we call the open HDG setting, and it’s those contributions that we want to put front and center on this new resource.
By and for the community means providing ample opportunities to highlight contributions to the setting in pull quotes, art, glossaries and passion driven pages that show off the incredible worldbuilding contributed by hundreds of authors.
By and for the community means hosting resources, lists, and tools that help new authors understand the setting, and new readers navigate the thousands of stories that have been released to find the ones they will be interested in, rather than centralizing the setting only around already-popular stories.
To provide an example:
The Worlds and Locations page will soon host an article on the setting's many core locations, along with a set of summaries of major ships, planets, and an extended glossary. A set of pages giving deep dives on community-made locations and ships will be accessible from there. This will be populated with a wide variety of information pulled from stories new and old, written by authors just like you who express interest in contributing!
Earlier this week, an implementation plan for the wiki project was developed, a copy of which can be found here. We hope that it inspires you to keep creating, building, drawing, painting, and writing. Work is underway, and we couldn’t be more excited! As you’ve possibly noticed, the Story Hub has a landing page, the xenodrugs page is up, we've added pages for several xenosophont species, the site structure has begun to evolve, and things are generally on the move!
This is your website, and we can’t wait to get to work. We have many features in discussion and a roadmap ahead of us, but our guiding principle is that the wiki should carve out a place for community submissions wherever possible. The exact mechanism for submissions is still being determined, but our goal is to act as archivists and moderators of a community resource. It is most likely that we will be using the HDG Community Discord as our submissions hub, once those aspects are ready. Come join us if you are interested in being a part of the shared project!
HDG.wiki is a site where you will reasonably expect that your work can have a seat at the table, representing the vast diversity of voices and backgrounds that have worked together to build what exists today. It is not seeking to speak as a definitive prescriptive authority, but a descriptive resource that includes and represents the hundreds of HDG authors and thousands of HDG stories which have shaped the shared setting.
Hey everyone, we’re proud to announce that the theme for the June writing jam is a unique one. The Beeple Summer Party.
Every summer a massive group of beeple come together to hold the wildest most psychedelic summer party in all of Terran space.
The event happens on all interested ships that arrive in the designated party zone and on the planet below, appropriately named Partelia.
We’re encouraging everyone to write different stories following whichever POVs you want all happening at the Beeple Summer Party. Together, the end result will be the biggest shared community narrative ever.
The jam will run for the month of June and allow us to shine a spotlight on two key parts of the setting.
• Beeple – the very first florets; and
• Collaborative Writing – together we’ll be telling one big shared narrative!
Guidelines
• Stories must be written in the HDG Universe.
• Stories should feature in some way the Beeple Summer Party. They can touch on it as much or as little as you like, with narratives happening before, during or after the party.
• No shutting down the party. The party is huge, so try not to make sweeping statements that break other stories, like exact guest lists or events that impact every attendee.
• Stories must be new, not already published (though if you have a fitting WIP that's yet to be published that is allowed).
• Stories should be added to the AO3 collection, coming soon!
• Visit the discord to ask questions, discuss the party, and share WIPs.
Another week, another microfic monday. The only thing we can do to combat the ennui of another weekend gone. Well, there's probably other things , but this is the best we got .
As a reminder of how this works, on Mondays we’ll be dropping a prompt, and anyone who would like to participate may answer that prompt with a microfic and post it! Be sure to tag it with #hdgmicroficmonday . There’s no strict limiters on what counts as a microfic, so feel free to take that term however you define it.
This week's prompt:
Achoo and You - Florets, the Sniffles Ward, and making the Best of when your cutie isn't feeling their best!
if an affini really wants a terran but the Terran passes all wardships and is insistent on living Independent who gets the ultimate say? Can the affini use sneaky/manipulative tactics and still be within the realm of acting affini-like. And if a terran has already been through one wardship can they be put into another if an affini sends them an intent to domesticate form? Writing a fic and i have to gadge if its even possible or worth it to start. Thank you for any help.
Hey anon! Thansk for the question. To be honest I'm not 100% sure why they called me up to the bigtime for this one but hey, I guess I am kind of an expert on this sort of thing. Basically, the affini have a lot of odd little rules and particularities, those rules and particularities can sometimes be very difficult to navigate. However, one thing you can be sure of is that the affini do play by the rules! It's why people like me are able to do so well at helping others avoid the collar! Why, just the other say my good friend Dali proposed a little wager between the two of us. Am I worried? Not at all! Because I trust her whole heartedly to play fair. Dirty tricks just aren't their style! If you’d like to know more, I'd recommend my guide to remaining independent. Happy Indepent Living!
Wow, would you look at that, it's another Microfic Monday! I've done some slightly sharper stuff for the last two, so I think it's time for some tooth-rottingly sweet fluff. Nothing like several gooey saps in love!
I shuffled into the restaurant, looking around nervously to see if I could find my friends. It always felt so awkward when you weren't the first to arrive and had to shuffle around while you looked for your group, but thankfully I found them quickly and headed over to their table.
Everyone looked happy to see me as I sat down, and I did my best to banish the thought that they were just pretending to enjoy my company. My therapist kept reassuring me that if they really didn't want to have me around then they'd just tell me so, but it wasn't so easy to banish those anxieties, even with the fancy anti-anxiety meds the Affini had brought with them.
We'd all been friends for ages, keeping up mostly online as life and jobs took us to various parts of the world, and some of us even off planet, but after the arrival of the Compact, we'd all drifted back to our hometown and reunited in person once again. And then my friends had all gotten domesticated.
I'd never really asked about the details of it, whether they'd just caught the eye of a particular affini or they'd been struggling quietly behind the scenes or they were harboring feralist thoughts. It wasn't really any of my business, and they seemed way happier for it now, but one by one, they all became pets of Calliopsis Mere, Second Bloom.
I really was happy for them, they got the care and attention and affection they'd all clearly needed, a couple of them even transitioned! Everything was great and we were all living our best lives thanks to the beneficence of the Affini Compact, but then they all started dating.
Jealousy was a bad look at the best of times, it had a way of making you bitter and angry, and it definitely wasn't something that contributed to the healthy social bonds that the Affini were so insistent on ensuring everyone kept, but it was even worse when I felt like a sixth wheel to an increasingly tight-knit polycule that shared something I was excluded from almost by definition. Every instinct in me told me I should start distancing myself from them, they were all clearly head over heels for each other, and didn't need my sorry ass gumming up the romantic works. But they kept inviting me out, insisting that our get togethers wouldn't be the same without me, purposefully including me in things that would probably be much better as couples' activities. Polycule activities? Group-activities-but-the-group-is-also-dating? I didn't know the proper term for it.
They had resumed their conversation as I sat down, and Maria was getting excited about some upcoming event. "I can't believe we really get to have another prom, it's gonna be so magical for everyone to finally have the right bodies and all the Compact's resources to make it super special! Stars, I can't believe it's only a few weeks away!"
Another prom? It honestly sounded like a lot of fun to be able to have a dance like that without the raging hormones of adolescence or the limited resources of a too-strained school system. Just a fun, carefree event that I definitely wouldn't be able to go to. You needed a date for a prom, after all, and all my options were already dating each other.
Daffodil was practically jumping up and down in their seat as they started talking about their plans. "Omigod we'll need to make sure we have enough time to go get dresses and suits for everyone. There's this fabulous tailor down on Maple that we absolutely have to go see, they will get us the best stuff. Bailey, what sort of color would you want?"
I jumped a little at hearing my name mentioned and felt a tear prick at the corner of my eye before I blinked it away and responded, "Oh, I don't know, maybe something lilac or magenta. I don't have a date to go with anyway, and going stag isn't really my style, so it's just a thought experiment anyway."
Something shifted in the atmosphere at the table, Daffodil looked confused and everyone else just looked a little concerned. I berated myself mentally for dropping such a downer unprompted and tried to smile and bring the mood back up, "Sorry about that, y'all, I'm sure you'll have a ton of fun at it! Do y'all have any plans for after, maybe we could meet up then?"
Elias's hand brushed up against mine and I flinched a bit, keeping my hand where it was by force of will, even though my instincts were telling me to pull away. "You... don't have to go stag, you know."
I couldn't help but scoff a little bit. "Yeah, and who's gonna want to go to prom with me? I'm not exactly a catch, nobody'd wanna go out with some ugly loser guy."
Chrissie nudged into me with her shoulder, her tone a little teasing and a lot caring. "Hey now, you're not ugly, or a loser. As for that last part, there's always room for improvement, if you wanna try out the other side."
Now I really had to fight back tears. I didn't know what I'd done to deserve friends like this, doing their best to comfort me when I was sure they'd rather be talking about their plans for prom. "I appreciate the thought, Chrissie, but the fact of the matter is still that nobody'd want to go to prom with me."
I'd lowered my eyes down out of embarrassment, staring at my lap as my hands fidgeted with the upholstery of the chair. A knocking on the table pulled my eyes back up to see that Puck had rapped on it and had xer eyes trained directly on me. "Hey, dummy, we wanna take you to prom. We've only been dropping hints about it for like a week, did you really think we wouldn't wanna all go together?"
The tears won their battle and spilled out down my cheeks. There was just no way, right? "Y-you wanna take me? But y'all're... And I'm not."
The sound of shuffling was the only warning I got before five pairs of arms wrapped around me, a massive group hug with me as the nucleus. This was so nice, I didn't want it to ever end. "You are though, Bailey," Chrissie murmured, "In every way that matters, and pretty soon in the ones that don't really matter either. Mx Mere was gonna pay you a visit tonight anyway, you know. So, wanna go to prom with us?"
Though I could hardly move with all the bodies pressed in around me, I did my best to nod, cementing myself back in amongst the group I'd never really been apart from in the first place.
TWs: Mentions of guns (no actual use), Internalized xenophobia/authoritarianism, Mentions of brainwashing
Word Count: 1335 (no idea if this is a microfic but it's fun to write so yay)
Prompt: Terrans Are Adorable 102: Ferals and You
(This one is 3 weeks late oops, but we finally got inspiration!)
Everything was in place.
Breathe.
Clambering my way through the ventilation ducts that serviced this mayoral-building-turned-xeno-educational-center, I was keenly aware of every little scrape, rustle, and clang our group generated. Fern was at the front, silently navigating us towards our captive friend. The tracker we'd given her, injected under her forearm, was steadily blinking away on their screen, and we were going to get to it if it killed us. Not that dying was the worst thing that could happen to us here.
Sam, Vivaan, and Marcia took up our flank, although only Marcia was actually facing behind us. The light sidearms we carried wouldn't do shit against the xenos, but the vents were too small to easily carry heavy weaponry, and explosives were a no-go. Even if Sam argued we could hold ourselves hostage with them, the risk of detonations in a building that had Terrans (even weak, brainwashed, collaborating Terrans) was too great. Besides, the sidearms were just for comfort. The real weapon was secured against my chest.
Experimental tech, the agent had said. We never got her name, but she said she was the last active OCNI member on the planet, and both Riley and Vivaan vouched for her.
The same Riley that we knew was hours away from a live implantation, where the weeds would break her and then puppet her husk into betraying us all.
Remembering our conversations since she got taken made my stomach churn.
At first she'd been her normal, fiery self, enraged at the indignities her captor was putting her through. We'd been cautious about spending time with her again, but when Fern spent time shit-talking the Compact with her and didn't wind up with a collar around their neck the next day, we knew the weeds didn't have her under surveillance. The Affini had decided to keep her on a long leash, and so that meant we got to see her. Chat in the privacy of our own homes, plan ways to get her out, look at back-market ships we could buy to get us all away. Laugh at the times she accidentally called her captor Mistress, or Owner, until the point where she couldn't call it anything else.
Scoff at the ways she was being treated, until notes of genuine hurt entered her eyes when we disparaged her jailer.
Listen in outrage and quiet horror as she described being used as a lab rat, being broken and manipulated and toyed with in front of a crowd of eager alien students.
She was losing herself, a quiet contentment entering her features. Becoming softer. Weaker. A pet.
She knew she was losing herself too, and there would have been nothing any of us could do. If not for that agent and the lifeline she handed us. A volatile gas, harmless to humans, but violently corrosive to plant matter. The agent showed us research notes, testing footage, and even demonstrated on a cutting of an Affini their cell had sourced before its collapse. The timing was suspicious, coming days after Riley learnt the date of her implantation, but the agent claimed they'd been monitoring her situation and had to wait until the time was right. And stars, we needed a win. Terra did. And so we believed her.
Apparently the OCNI network was wiped out before her team could the substance off-world, but this, she had said, was our chance to finally strike back at the weeds. Wound them, kill them, and save our friend.
And so here we were, hours before the surgery that would irreversibly break Riley's mind, moving into position.
Fern brought us to a halt, signalling there were voices ahead and that we were almost there. I felt a thrill go through my body. This was it. Get in, get Riley, get out.
"< -it's been a long semester, and you've all done wonderfully.>" An alien voice, speaking in a strange tongue and with a sub-aural hum that left me feeling slightly off-balance.
"<Could we please give an ovation for our wonderful subjects for this unit, 'Riley' and Penelope'!>" Sam let out a low growl as the applause and cheers echoed through the duct. I gritted my teeth too. The weed had definitely mentioned Riley. Fern stopped at a wide vent, skirting its edges to cross to the other side. This section of the duct was wider and taller, having seemingly been adjusted to account for Affini technicians. A fortunate side-effect of that was that our whole squad could comfortably surround the vent and peek down.
The floor below us looked empty of aliens or dangerous objects, and had a soft carpet that would cushion our landing. While the authoritative one attempted to organize its class into a semblance of order, we began our final checks. Marcia secured our harnesses to the duct's surface, making sure the adhesive set properly so she could pull us up, then retreated back to keep our escape path clear. Sam began setting up her handheld battering ram, ready to break the vent below us off its hinges. Vivaan confirmed radio chatter was steady, and no alerts had been triggered by our passage. Fern readied their adrenaline injectors to help snap Riley back into consciousness (depending on how drugged she was), while I primed our weapon. Twist the upper hemisphere of the orb 90 degrees clockwise, indent the buttons on its poles, and then apply an even pressure around the equator, and… ding. I was rewarded with the two halves lifting to reveal a vial filled with swirling purple gas, ready to be unleashed. It was time.
"<And now my dears, it is time to give you one last test. You've all proven your knowledge, demonstrated care with our little… volunteers, and shown you are ready for a practical assignment.>"
Sam began counting down.
"5." | "<And now- >"
"4." | "<I present- >"
"3." | "<A surprise- >"
"2." "<Exercise.>"
"1."
Sam shattered the vent and we jumped down with a cry. I had time to register Riley and a strangely familiar Terran, their captor wearing a smug expression, and a shocked array of students before I hit the ground.
"FREE TERRA!" I roared, and smashed the grenade to the floor-
Which erupted into a harmless cloud of purple sparkles and the sound like a party popper.
There was a beat of silence, then Riley and her fellow captive burst into giggles. Her fellow…
My eyes widened. The OCNI agent, dazed look in her eyes, wearing a pink dress with a glazed look in her eyes, nuzzling up against Riley and her captor.
Oh.
A tinny yelp echoed above us, and Marcia came tumbling out of her hiding place and onto the ground. A series of vines oozed out of the duct work, severed our ropes, and pulled the vent cover up behind them. The five of us stood frozen in the center of the classroom, watching the monstrous students' faces shift from surprise to curiosity, excitement, and hunger.
"<Now class, you'll be in your assigned pairs for this exercise. These cuties haven't gotten any care yet, so you'll need to guide them through the initial stage of domestication. Their little weapons have been disabled, but they still could hurt themselves with their attempts to fight back. Your task is to pacify them, choosing the correct mixture of xenodrugs, and show them there is nothing to fear from the Compact. I will be available to provide assistance if required, but otherwise good luck, have fun, and remember that this is all about learning.>"
"Guns don't work," Marcia whispered as the plants put their datapads down and began to slowly approach us.
"What?" Sam hissed back.
"Guns don't work. Someone sabotaged them."
As one we turned to look at Riley, who was completely distracted by a vine stroking her cheek.
"…5 bucks say I beat you to all to the door," Sam said, face pale.
"The door behind 10 hungry nightmare plants? Fucking bet," Fern replied.
But in the end, none of us made it more than a meter.
Good news it's that time of year (and also week) once again! Fat Floret Friday may have come and gone. Kiss Your Sister Saturday may be but a memory, but fret not, for Microfic Monday is here!
As a reminder of how this works, on Mondays we'll be dropping a prompt, and anyone who would like to participate may answer that prompt with a microfic and post it! Be sure to tag it with #hdgmicroficmonday . There’s no strict limiters on what counts as a microfic, so feel free to take that term however you define it.
Written for HDG Microfic Monday based on the prompt:
Floret fun time: floret shenanigans when there isn't an affini present.
--
“And go!”
“Your win streak ends today!”
“You three don’t know what you’re up against.”
“You still haven’t told me the rules.”
“I think I know exactly what I’m up against”
“Just don’t think about your owner and you won’t get dosed.”
“Who should I not be thinking about?”
“Um, your owner I thiinnnnn...”
“Hab, could you give us an instant replay on that?”
“I’m sharing this to my group.”
“She clearly just wanted the Class A’s”
“Alright, three remain.”
“I bet you two won’t last 5 minutes”
“Nuh uh, last time we played for 30 minutes before I thought abouuuuuu....”
“Down to us two again, huh?”
“Seems like it. Scared Potter?”
“You wish.”
“By the way, there’s this ice cream place that an indie friend of mine recently opened.”
“Really? Where’s it at?”
“Let me show you on my tablet, it’s right around here.”
“Hm? Show me; why is there a picture of Missttttr...”
“Hah, too easy, wait who’s calling me? Oh hi Missssss...”
That's what that feeling was. Dread. Pain in the chest, like a heart attack. A feeling of impending doom.
"What are you waiting for, dawg? It's not like it's the drugged one," asked her friend, the one who had compiled the game. All of her feiends were florets. They couldn't understand anymore.
"Kinda feralist of you, en-gee-ell," said another friend.
"Dusty's a little rough," teasted a third.
"No, no, fine," she said. "I'll take it."
The others cheered. On the overnet, the bottle's compiler code promised that it was the components for a game called "Indie Martian Roulette"- an instructions card and six identical white tablets, each inscribed with the immortal words "Eat Me". Five were sugar; the sixth, a fast acting xenodrug cocktail detailed under a readmore.
Game night at her hab had gotten a little boring, so when one of her friends compiled it shortly after arriving, she was thrilled- but now, staring at her dose, she couldn't do it. She almost couldn't do it. Almost.
Eyes squeezed shut, she popped the tablet into her mouth. Instantly, endorphines rushed her system. Her fingers and toes tingled with ecstacy. It was the best she had ever felt in her life, and... she wasn't a floret.
It was a sugar pill.
Her friends laughed. "Told ya," said the first. "I knew where the drugged one was in the compile volume.
"The look on your face," teased the second. "It looked like you were dissappointed."
She must have flushed, because the whole group grinned conspiratorially.
"Good news," declared a third. "Compiling this game is a domesticatable offense, and guess whose 'Piler's got the logs?"
Starlight ripples from so high in the sky, the shroud of pollution dispelled by those dorky plants. They twinkle so, so very high, a collective promise that what they meant was true.
But there are none around tonight.
No, tonight I sit on the roof of my hab while my Owner does whatever work he needs to do to let others see these same stars. I'm surrounded by my favorite foods, the night is quiet and clear.
A thud echoes from the wooden railing nearby, and one swivel later I'm met with an androgynous floret(?) with a collar and a half-cobbled together mixture of dress and TCN uniform.
They make eye contact with me, and I wave.
"Help." They request, dangling from the two story building. I hobble upwards, yanking them the rest of the way. They pant, and I turn to smile at them.
"Alright, help given, tea required. Spill it." I retort.
They pant, and give me a half-baked scowl. "Mom-- The wee-- oh my fucking stars the PLANTS. A plant is trying to put her disgusting spine-thing in my spine and and I HATE her and--
"Ohh... you're a feral?"
"I'M a FLORET! I'm a fl-- flore-- oh stars she's really taken over my brain. I'm going to die. I'm actually going to die. She's gonna put that wriggling thing in my neck and-- and--"
I kneel and pull them into my arms. It's a quiet moment, basking under the shining lure of the stars. They weep softly but after some slow rubs on their back they calm down enough to listen.
"Why do you think you're going to die?" I ask softly.
"Because it brainwashes you! You're brainwashed! You have the scar! Now I'm fucked because I picked the wrong rooftop." They grumble-weep, unable to help but nuzzle into my arms.
I offer them some food, and they practically moan taking a drink of my broccoli cheddar soup.
"Mistress calls this his Floret-Feta Foundation." I offer, and they raise their eyebrow. "It's a feta-based Broccoli Cheddar Soup, because I can't handle the zest of cheddar. So he went out of his way to try to make this for me from scratch."
That almost gets a smile from them.
"Why do you keep saying Mistress? Then him?" They ask, taking another slurp of this fucking awesome soup.
"Because my Mistress goes by he/him." I swallow my garlic bread. "What does brainwashed even mean to you?"
They scowl, think about it for a moment, and have another bite. "First off. Weird. Second off, it means not me anymore!"
Bite. "What does not being you mean?"
Chew. "It means I'm not the me I am now!"
"Sho, likh, if yu got like--" Swallow. "A change in perspective, you wouldn't be you anymore?"
"No! Fuck no-- wait. Wait what do you mean by that? Also pass a sandwich that shit's amazing."
He has another sandwich, and I do too. "Like, if I convinced you oranges are better than cherries. Does that mean you're not you anymore?"
Bite. "I mean I guess I still am. But it's different!"
Chew. "How? Like how ish it diffherent?"
"It's-- there's so much more change! Like it's not just one opinion. It's all fundamentally warped."
"Salt?" I per-emptatively hand them some salt.
"Stars please, yeah."
"So it has to be a big enough change? That counts as brainwashing?" I ask, swigging my food down with some water.
They think on it a little, nodding affirmatively.
"What pronouns do you go by?"
"Uh, Mistr-- The uh... the plant. Keeps saying I'm her little gender-liquid. I kinda vibe with that, only really into men though."
"Yeah? So not me?" I ask, and wait for their face to grow warmer.
"Yeah. Like sorry but--" I lean in, and plant a kiss on their lips. I taste the salt of the C, and find my fingers laced around theirs as I lean in closer.
They lean into it, and I let my lips drift away just as they do. A trail of saliva remains connected, and I snort.
"Sorry I brainwashed you like that. My bad."
They sigh, groan and lean into me.
"Fuck you."
"Nice to meet you too. Your plant probably won't find you for another ten minutes or so, or unless you hit the button. You wanna try my favorite while we wait?"
"What is it? And I'm still fucking terrified of that thing. That hasn't just flown away."
"It's a soy chorizo sub-sandwich. And uh... what if I came?"
"You'd... you'd do that? But we just met."
"I mean, I brainwashed you. Least I can do right?"
"Pass me the damn sandwich already."
I handed them a half, and together we gazed at the starlight ripples from so high in the sky, we bear witness to the shroud of pollution dispelled by those dorky plants.
I also make sure to tell Mistress I have some new plans tonight, of course. Fucking dork would get worried and brainwash me again.
It has been quite some time since I last posted on tumblr... Here's an hdg microfic. It's about a puppy floret meeting a very big and fat cat floret.
--
My mistress brought me to my faaaavorite J cafe today~ It’s all cute pastels and big plushies, perfect for playful pups like me!~
I love the lil fascinator toys they give us, so glowy and relaxing to look at like mistress’s eyes and, she even gave me a top up dose of my favorite Js before setting me loose I was feeling sooo snuggly and so so puppy.
I looove being puppy and nuzzling up on the floor and the walls, looking at all the fun toys and
…
And I saw something.
They were a short distance from where I was spending my afternoon playtime. At first it appeared in my bliss blurred vision as a blackish blob, but as they came into focus so did my mind. Determined to absorb every detail of this being.
They were gigantic. The size of my mistress, possibly larger, easily twice my own height. They were not just tall, but wide. Mattresses worth of pancake stacked rolls wobbled as they moved to the play area, the ground quivering as they took each step. Their sheer awe inspiring scale became ever more apparent as they drew near.
Paws. Soft squishy cat paws grabbed my sides and lifted me skyward. I was brought face to face with it. Bright green eyes sparkled like the in and out patterns of an entrancing biorhythm, surrounded by a sea of deep navy blue. All of it emerged from a sea of stars on their fluffy neck ring, erupting into a geyser of deep purple hair, finally peaking in a pair of pivoting triangular ears. Their mouth curled up to their stubby snout and sang from their chubby cheeks. “Hiii~ What’s your name?~”
A gentle tune rolled from their stomach, prompting, no, demanding my answer.
“I-I’m puppy~” I whimpered.
“You want snuggles puppy?” They were so warm.
“Uhuh.”
I floated into their belly, the organ determined to smother me in otherworldly comfort. It was so soft and fluffy,, and I-i was sinking and
it was so s-soft and it felt good t-to huggy and my tail is wagging i’m puppy. And i love kitty she’s really soft
Breathe in.
Such comfort was as of yet unknown to me, even in my many years spent in the paradise of the compact. I had snuggled up to beeple Rinians and what must have been hundreds of different affini at that point but never something so smothering, something so titanic in scope and inescapable in softness. She was rolling forward. Pressing her stomach into me, as I was rolled onto the floor. The entire world becomes absent save for this gurgling monolith.
And gurgles they were, the borborygmi rising and falling as planetary tides. I was a moon, pulling gently on the inside as I let the planet tease me, wave and greet me with a cacophony of digestive bliss. The smell of drugged pollen, gentle fruity scents wafting. Overwhelming. Overwhelming weight on top of me, but nothing was crushed because she was taking extra care to give me just enough room to breathe just enough force to lock me in perfect bliss. My mind is slipping through m-my paws…
I-i’m kittys special friend and she gives soft snuggly hugs and i wanna hug kitty forever and ever!~
…
“Go on, say it, you’re jealous~”
“I’ve just never seen a sophont like them, is all.” Two affini were seated at a table near the cat and dog cuddle sesh. Fresh fruits from all sorts of planets were plated on the larger one’s side. Their grin went toothy and wide, further prodding the smaller, purplish one.
“Just admit it. You think my floret is the best thing since beeple. I won’t tell!” The large one tossed a mango in the air and sliced it in twain with their tongue. “Care for part of this rotund orange thing?”
“I’ll stick to my tea…” The smaller one huffed. “And fine. Your floret is amazing and I’m curious about your process of turning an ordinary terran into such a wide cuddly thing.” Their tone admitted the jealousy they tried in vain to hide.
“Well, I had taken this terran’s fursona design and made several of my own improvements.” A splattering munch as their meal was devoured.”GULP. I had redistributed the weight here, and made some adjustments to the muscle mass and,” Orange sugary syrup spurted out as another mighty bite eviscerated the other half of the wayward fruit. “The key is all in the materials. Terran skin can be so, so much more than what is presented at a glance.” She slurped the sides of her draconic maw. “They have all the stuff they need to make their bodies into all sorts of things.”
“Fascinating. It’s a deep shame many terrans never got to explore this sort of thing before the implants came along. My puppy can just get lost for hours at a time in their fur.”
“You should see what mine does when I leave her alone…” Her gaze slides over to the side.
“S-SAM! YOU’RE GOING TO SUFFOCATE THAT POOR FLORET!~”
Briony's body swayed gently back and forth in the warm breeze. E took a slow, steady breath in, feeling the webbing of the harness clutch eir body and press into em as e inhaled. Eir legs tensed and relaxed as e tested the strength of the silk frogtie sleeves that e already knew were too strong to break. Eir hands wiggled behind em for purchase on something, anything to free emself, but it was no use when they were wrapped in tight mitts and hooked close to each other.
E couldn't see anything, not with the adhesive blindfold covering eir eyes, but e knew the view of the lake was lovely in the afternoon, and the woods around it were just the kind of place a person - no, a xenosophont, a pet - would not be easily seen. Even with the bright spots on eir half-insectile moth-firefly body lit up fiercely with eir flustered excitement, nobody would find em unless they knew where e was.
E could have called for help, of course, but what was the use of that? This was the Affini Compact. If help was coming, it would have already been here. If Briony was strung up in a loosely-bound, helpless package, right out in a public space, helpless and squirming and unable to escape, well… maybe there was a good reason for that.
Maybe e was tied up and dangling from a tree because e liked that. Maybe calling for help wouldn't work, because in their cores, the Affini Compact knew that it was good for their pets to be helpless.
Maybe calling for help wouldn't work mostly because of the thick flowery gag with puffy pink petals that had expanded to lodge itself firmly into eir mouth, preventing more than a few muffled moans from escaping eir throat.
And maybe calling for help wouldn't work, because eir Owner was away. E felt the gentle, pulsing reassurance of eir Owner's love resting cozily in eir spine, but for today, Owner was occupied with clerk's meetings. It had offered to bring em with, but that would have involved far, far too much affini attention. So e had the day all to emself. It felt weird, not fearing its intrusion into eir every moment. But it did give em a chance to try something e hadn't ever had a chance to try by emself.
Maybe nobody was coming to help, because e had done this to emself.
E twisted eir body back and forth, just a little too much, feeling that slow slippery heat filling eir body with embarrassed pleasure. This was by eir own design. E wanted this. E let emself roll eir hips and chest in slow, torrid squirms, and hummed uselessly into eir gag, flexing eir hands in the mitts, pushing against soft silken restraints.
And for a while, e allowed emself to be stuck, captive to eir own desires, and squirming for an escape e knew e could never achieve.
At least, not until the timer on the harness let em go after a reasonable amount of time. Briony wasn't so cooked on the Compact that e would put emself into a predicament like this without knowing it would end somehow, after all. E wasn't-
Footsteps. E heard the faint, rhythmic rustle of feet on grass. Not an affini, e would have felt one's electrochemical core rhythms coming before e ever heard them.
"Mmmph?" e called out, as loud as the gag permitted. Whoever it was did not answer. E heard their footsteps stop, just to one side of em. "Mmmph. Mmm mm-km." E tried to wave with eir mitts to shoo the person away, but e couldn't quite manage it.
A hand touched Briony's protruding bug-butt, and e emitted a high-pitched squawk of alarm. "Mm-mm! Mm-mmm!" e exclaimed, shaking eir head back and forth vigorously.
"Shhhh," the voice whispered, and gently pet the top of eir rear end. Not sexual, not suggestive, just a comforting petting. E had lived in the Affini Compact enough to learn many different kinds of pets. Some were much more lascivious than others. This was just nice.
"Mmmmm?" e still mumbled, still partway horrified to know e had been found.
"You're safe, little bug. Safe, loved, and home, right?" the strangely familiar whisper replied. Briony felt fingers run through the short, soft fur along the back of eir thighs and eir sides where the harness wasn't gripping. E whimpered at the touch, and tension crept through eir body in waves from up in eir shoulders to down through eir toes.
"That's right. Just relax."
Briony's breath quickened and shallowed at the voice. But as the hands gently ran down eir back and sides, e couldn't help but loosen and relax into the gentle touch. There was no point in escape, and there was no point in alarm. If it was happening in the Affini Compact, it was good for em. There were no bad surprises, after all.
The hands reached eir head, and carded long, rounded nails through eir hair and into eir scalp. A shaky whine leaked out of eir throat, and e couldn't help but push eir head further into the touch.
E could smell the floret now. She smelled earthy, and musky, and heavy with coffee and pollen, and all too familiar. Wait.
"Mph Kph?!" e mumbled through the gag. "Mph Kph iffat ymm?"
"Hey buuuug." the voice giggled, and careful fingers peeled the blindfold off of Briony's eyes with a damp, tacky thwippp. "Enjoying yourself, are you?" Miss Keet Prosopis, Eighth Floret, beamed her wide smile at em. She was hunched over to put her face level with eir own, dark-haired, bronze-skinned, and full of joyful menace.
"Mmmph." Briony grimaced at eir best friend, pinnate, and fondest tormentor. "Mmphmmphmmph." E pushed at the gag in eir mouth, trying to call attention to it. Miss Keet, still beaming, teased the gag until its soft internal petals retracted and allowed her to pluck it, dripping, from Briony's mouth. "Augh. Thank you. But you're not supposed to be here, I wanted to… This is personal stuff you shouldn't be… here…"
"Why not?" she asked, sitting down on a bench-like flat root and lifting her loose floral companion dress from her legs. She wiped Briony's drool off of the flora-gag on her thigh, and Briony did not know how to feel about that.
"I like to do things on my own sometimes, you know," e said, trying to ignore how hot and squirmy eir body was feeling.
"Like tie yourself up and wriggle like a little bug in need of rescue?"
Briony's face flushed as e looked away.
"Yeah, even without your fucked-up spider owner, you like that."
"…it's… I… look, it's just…"
"You don't have to justify what you like or what you're into, Bri." She leaned forward and bumped her forehead into Briony's, smiling. "You know, though?"
"Know what?"
"It feels good to just give yourself up to it, doesn't it?" she said, touching eir cheek. "Even if you weren't a floret, I bet you'd still like this."
Briony couldn't quite muster the courage to look Miss Keet in the eyes to respond to that, but hesitantly, e nodded, and muttered, "I know. It's… yeah. It feels really good."
Miss Keet leaned back and pulled Briony's body forward with a loose strap of harness. She planted her lips on eir own, and kissed em, long and soft. She tasted like coffee and cherries, and e closed eir eyes without really intending to.
And then, before e could recover, she plopped the gag right back into eir mouth, where it blossomed into place in eir mouth. It now tasted of Miss Keet's sweat and body, and e knew exactly how e wished e didn't feel about that.
"Mmmphgh…"
"You like being a helpless little bug."
Cheeks burning and bugbutt glowing bright, Briony reluctantly nodded.
"Mmmmmm. And you like being stuck like that."
Briony closed eir eyes in embarrassment, and nodded.
The blindfold went back over eir eyes, and adhered snugly. The world darkened.
"And you know… I know you like being alone. But I also know you like being around friends."
Nod. Nod.
"So how would you feel about being rescued from being trapped and helpless?"
A giggle, followed by some strange vibrations through the suspension harness, and a familiar musical tone from far above. And then, a light swat on the butt that made Briony mewl in shock.
"'Cuz I just turned off your timer."
"Whmph?!" e groaned. "Whm whg… nnnn!"
"I'll be back later, little bug!"
E heard Miss Keet's footsteps in the grass, and her voice recede. E tried eir best to cry out after her, but it just made it harder to hear her leaving.
"Maybe an affini will rescue you from this predicament you put yourself in. Or maybe I'll be back in an hour or so, and I can rescue you. Probably that."
Briony sighed, partly in relief, and just a little in disappointment.
"Or maybe I'll be back when I feel like it, and you're ready to beg for rescue! Maybe I'll let you go free. Or maybe I'll take you home with me. We'll see!"
And e heard her laughter fall further and further away as she left Briony dangling from the tree bough, squirming uselessly for escape e knew e would never achieve.
Hot off the presses, we have a new prompt for you!
As a reminder of how this works, on Mondays we'll be dropping a prompt, and anyone who would like to participate may answer that prompt with a microfic and post it! Be sure to tag it with #hdgmicroficmonday . There’s no strict limiters on what counts as a microfic, so feel free to take that term however you define it.
This weeks prompt:
Floret fun time: floret shenanigans when there isn't an affini present
We can’t wait to see what you come up with here and on the discord.
Written for HDG Microfic Monday based on the prompt: Fleeting encounter between an Independent and an Affini.
--
Ruch Bastin walked outside the doors of the local branch of the Office of Transitional Neoxenoveterinary Archeobureaucracy. With faer independence established it was time to do everything, anything or nothing. Fae could do whatever fae wanted.
One of faer ongoing projects was trying to piece together a small chamber orchestra and recommit to a hobby fae lost a long time ago. It would not be the easiest task but with the help of literally every single Affini in existence fae figured that it would be possible.
An average floret will likely be too high most of the time to indulge in the hours of dedicated practice required to master an instrument, so the only real option was finding digital sophonts who could just download all the skills required, fae guessed it might count as cheating but really it was just being efficient.
Fae walked down the promenade. What was the name of that Affini that was so knowledgeable about digital sophonts? Once fae figured that out the next step...
Fae tripped and the ground came faster than expected. The Class-E’s in faer system did not help faer reflexes react in time. Fae was going to fall.
A faint smell of jasmine hit faer as faer head cracked upon hitting the...
Vine?
“Are you alright there little wildflower?” a voice spoke.
“I uh.. yeah.. sorry I think I tripped.” Ruch let out a small laugh. “Thanks for catching me, that almost went very wrong.” A handful of vines securely placed Ruch on the ground as some of the flowers on the Affinis floral dress opened.
“It was my pleasure dear wildflower. I am Gloriosa Oleaceae, Fourth Bloom, I use she/her pronouns. May I inquire your name and what had you so deep in thought you tripped? Not that you could’ve injured yourself even if I hadn’t caught you”. A vine slapped the place where faers head would have landed, the ground becoming soft upon impact. Of course, the Affini would floret-proof the promenade.
Ruch took a moment to stand up on faer feet before pressing faer left hand to faer chest, doing the slightest bow and introducing faerself. “I am Ruch Bastin, independent, fae/faer, I uh just got declared independent and was thinking about how I could make a chamber orchestra and how I could find sophonts to play instruments and... then I thought about how... digital sophonts could just download... some programs... to...”
Ms. Oleaceae looked at the wildflower in front of her with awe – no hunger – in her eyes. Her plant of origin – something similar to terran jasmine, which covered most of her floral dress - was just a pleasant smell for almost all sophonts.
With a few tweaks and some clever bioengineering though, a slightly obsessed Affini might just be able to make an airborne Class-C and E cocktail.
“you... know...?” Faes eyes were not looking, faes head was empty, replaced with the smell of jasmine in faer nostrils.
Vines supported fae as Ms. Oleaceae moved fae to a nearby bench. She then removed one of her own petals and placed it on faer chest. It’s bioengineering allowed it to bond itself to faer skin and remain there without further support. Its white petals looked like a small tasteful floral accessory.
Ms. Oleaceae took Ruch’s tablet and tapped a couple of times. “I have another errand to run dear wildflower, I left my contact on your tablet, and I booked us a table at “Aster’s” at 7:30, see you later!” she walked a couple of steps before returning and lifting Ruch’s chin to meet her gaze.
“Once you feel lucid again you may smell my flower on your chest to return to this state if you wish, whenever you do you will feel warm, safe, happy and blank, just like a flower swaying in a light breeze.” She moved away from fae. “I look forward to seeing you later, little wildflower.”
A couple of minutes later fae regained faer composure, stretched faer arms and legs, took out faer tablet to set an alarm at 7:00 and did the only thing that was currently on faer mind.
Fae reached for the flower and took a deep breath.
What's the difference between an ortet and a ramet?
When a sophont undergoes scan digititalization, sometimes referred to as flash digitalization, a perfect duplicate is created of the sophont's mind. The new digital sophont is called the ramet, while the original sophont who was scanned is the ortet.
An easy trick for remembering which is which (and I know it can be tricky!) is that the ortet is organic, and the ramet has RAM (Random Access Memory as in part of a of a computational system).
A fleeting encounter between an independent and an Affini, for HDG Microfic Monday
tw: it's HDG but otherwise nothing really
The alarms blared. The janky, old transport ship threw up whatever cloaking was still functional, not that it would do any good. The captain announced that everyone shelter in place.
Ruth ignored that and went to the window, her friend Cassidy at her heels. If she was going to get captured today and suffer whatever it was the Affini actually did when they caught people, she wanted to at least see the threat coming. Luckily for her, the Affini ship was plainly visible out of the first window she tried.
It was hard to gauge size with nothing but the vast expanse of space behind the ship, especially since she didn't know how far away it was, but even so, its immense size was apparent, obviously dwarfing their little transport ship. It might've even been bigger than the asteroids they were mining out. This one appeared to be made of a strange mix of metal and organic material, with actual vines stretching out into space, a predator reaching out to restrain and consume. She swallowed hard, staring at it.
Cassidy squeezed her arm. "It's all right, Ruth. A ship that big isn't going to be coming for a piddly transport like us. They'll probably just pass on by. Right?"
"Right," said Ruth, trying to swallow her fear. Sure, that huge ship might pass them by, but where would it be going, then? Was it on its way to conquer yet another colony and bring the Accord one step closer to losing the war? The fact that it did indeed seem to be moving away from them was cold comfort at best. "At least if they did take the transport, we wouldn't have to work sixteen-hour shifts all next week."
Cassidy rolled her eyes. "No, we'd just all be slaves to the plants instead."
"Because we're so free now."
"You know what I mean," she said, glaring. "Wait -- you don't actually believe that rumor, do you? The one about the Affini liberating the mining stations and turning them into some kind of alien paradise?"
"Of course not. That's some idiot's wishful thinking. I'm not that goddamned naive."
Still, she couldn't help but wonder -- would becoming a slave to some plant actually be worse than now? Worse than double shifts with half rations? Worse than quotas and rewards given in company scrip? Worse than her bosses claiming the long shifts were necessary to supply the war effort, while refusing to spend any of the profits they were reaping on actually maintaining the equipment they had to use?
Either way, a part of her felt irritated as the Affini ship and its grasping vines receded into the dark. She'd rather they just get it over with.
It's another Microfic Monday! (Ignore that it's now Tuesday) So I guess it's time for some micro-y fiction, I think!
What goes into a chance encounter anyway? In the Compact, it could be quite a lot more effort than any given independent might actually think about!
CW for: stalking
It had only been a fleeting encounter, one of a dozen little interactions that naturally occur over the course of a day. Any other time it would have been, should have been a passing moment that faded from memory with the end of the day, but I had special plans on this day.
Keeping tabs on my adorable little pet in the making was trivially easy, of course. She kept herself to such a consistent schedule that I barely even needed to make use of the various resources the Compact offered an owner to keep track of their floret. Not that I didn't use those too. I don't know how I could possibly make it through a day without being able to watch her precious sleeping form.
So when she shifted forward in the line for her special-once-a-week milkshake from her favorite local spot - she always got the kind with little pieces of chocolate cookie crushed down into it - it wasn't really any challenge to arrange things so that I was right ahead of her, moving just little enough that she accidentally bumped into me.
Just one of those little moments, the slightest little moment of barely-there friction that comes from interacting with other sophonts. She brushed up against the broad leaves I had arrayed along my back - her skin was so soft since I'd started having her hab AI slip Class-Gs into her food - and the dozens of almost invisible little xenodrug fibers delivered a potent combination of various different classes alongside my phytotoxin.
I made a quick apology to her, doing my best to keep the open hunger for her out of my voice, and stepped out of the line, making my way over to one of the nearby tables and watching as she placed her order and grabbed her milkshake. Normally she would drink it on her way to her next location - either the library or the nearby board game cafe, she alternated weeks - but today she found a seat to drink her milkshake here, seeming surprised by her decision.
She was feeling it now - there was no way she couldn't - as my love given injectable form coursed through her veins. Her eyes dilated and she shivered, taking a slow sip of her drink that was becoming ever more pleasurable by the moment. Every so often, she would glance over in my direction, her attention stolen by some intangible quality of my presence. I could hardly blame her for it, she'd spent enough nights bathing in my biorhythm broadcasted through her hab's speakers that she probably recognized it by instinct if nothing else, but the way she kept stealing furtive glances like she thought I wouldn't notice made my core melt for her all over again.
Another sip at her milkshake, the Class-Cs I'd had the girl at the counter put in reinforcing her fixation with every glance, and my wondrous floret seemed to make a decision. She stood from her table and began making her way over to me, her steps unsteady as she grappled with a dosage she was entirely unprepared for.
As she arrived at my table, I did my best to appear unbothered and not like we were arriving to the final act of a play I had been arranging for her for weeks now. She looked up at me, naked adoration in her eyes as she felt the effects of all the xenodrugs in her system flaring up higher. My phytotoxin was peculiar in that way, not doing much on its own but making any xenodrug it mixed with that much more potent as it lingered in one's bloodstream.
She took another moment, steeling herself against her nerves with a few deep breaths before she spoke, "Hey there. I promise I don't generally do this but I've been unable to take my eyes off of you since you sat down and I was just wondering if you wanted to make me your floret?"
I kept my expression neutral as I raised a facsimile of an eyebrow a fraction, in spite of the way that I was internally cheering to hear her ask such a thing already - even if it had been drawn out by the Class-W I'd injected her with. Her hand flew up to her mouth, shocked at her own slip of the tongue, before she tried again. "I'm so sorry! I don't know why I said that, what I meant was, would you please take me as yours?"
I couldn't keep the grin off of my simulated face as she spluttered again, growing ever more flustered by her slips, arms flailing as she tried once more, "Agh, no that's not what I'm trying to say! Something's up with me saying things I don't actually mean, I'm sorry Mistress. I mean Owner! I mean Mommy! Augh!"
The inability to conceal from me what I knew we both wanted deep down had clearly started to embarrass her even more, so I reached out and placed my hand atop her head. She calmed down immediately, tension flooding from her as the Class-As mixed with the bonding enhancers to ensure that my touch was all she'd ever wanted from physical contact and more. I gave her a gentle pet on the head, relishing as she moaned aloud at my touch.
After another moment, I pulled my hand back and leaned forward to place my face near to hers. She looked thoroughly dazed after my touch, and she went practically glaze-eyed as I drew close to her, though not without the faintest spark of fear present. "Oh, my most precious darling," I said, finally free to make my emotions known without restraint, "I thought you'd never ask."
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