Everyone freaks out at first, you know? "Oh stars, some random plant is going to kidnap me in the dead of night and make me it's thrall!"
But no. Of course they won't.
The reality is much simpler:
They will find you. You may be one of the ones who thinks you found them- this, of course, is a deception. They knew it would be easier for you if you felt you had that control.
But no, they find you. Maybe it is a meet cute, maybe a 'random' moment in a sea of new and strange- or maybe your ship was captured. Maybe your new therapist took a liking to you. A billion billion billion ways for it to happen. This is the part most feralists dread, the part where they simply drug you and take you.
But no, that would be too simple. And besides, by the time you meet them? You're already beyond escape. They will shower you in the perfect sort of moments, a cascade of words that run down your back in much the same way their vines do- slowly, softly, warmly...yet possessively. They will show you the new world, the new life you can, would, will have. They will smile and watch you experience all your firsts- first kiss, first date, first time drugged, first trauma taken. You may think that you've had some of those firsts taken already.
But no, you have not. Not by a person. Not by an affini. And that is what matters, now that you are already a pet-to-be. Now that your future and past and certainly your present has been lifted from the weave of Fate and taken into their vines.
They will go just as slow as they can bear, yet just as fast as they can get away with. It will feel far sooner than you realize, yet you will find that you look back and think to yourself:
"Why ever did I resist at all?"
You merely thought you did- yet every step, regardless of towards or away, every step was a carefully planned dance.
And a good Lead can direct and control their follower without a single spoken word.
First the drugging was scary- until it wasn't.
Then the memory alterations were...until it felt like freedom instead of fear.
And when they rested their core sample on your spine and made a hum of Approval, you were already smiling.
Truly, we never stood a chance.
