It Takes Time <To Be Properly Taken Apart> - Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Chapter Length: 4,000~ wordsRaqi Marr's Grand Play: Part III
Punica had less than a fraction of a second to realise she had made a mistake, had pushed too far too fast, before a pillar burst up from the ground and slammed into her torso. Fortunately, even that was enough for her to partially unravel her form in time, allowing the impact to dissipate throughout her vines to mitigate the damage to any one single area; but she was still flung nearly a dozen metres away from Raqi by the force of the impact. The vines that had been cradling Raqi stretched out even as Punica was sent sailing, ensuring that even as their owner lost their hold and could not keep them held up that when the xeno did hit the ground, the fall was fully cushioned. The vines stayed limp, making no attempt to coil back around Raqi, and this enabled the sophont to leap to her feet with a sudden look of horror on her face. "Fuck! Shit! Oh, Inos, I'm so sorry!" Raqi's exclaimed, her voice filled with panic. She sent a mental impulse to Straessa to do away with the pillar she had just created, then immediately sprinted over to Punica. The force of the impact had meant that Punica had continued to slide for several metres even after the initial blow, and the lack of vineholds had left her with little choice but to allow her body to lose cohesion and tumble. So it was that when Raqi skidded to a halt besides her, she resembled nothing so much as a mass of tangled, floral spaghetti. "Fuck, fuck!" Raqi exclaimed, her eyes flickering wildly over the sight. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I- I just- Are you okay?!" "Quite fine, my dear; though I appreciate the concern." Punica's voice, sounding completely unchanged from usual, emanated from the centre of the vineghetti. "You have nothing to apologize for, little one. You took me by surprise there, I will admit; but you did me no harm." As she spoke, her body began to reform in front of Raqi; vines untangling from the mass and repositioning themselves, threading together to reform the elements which she had dispersed. "And even had you done so, the fault would still lie with me. I am the one who ought to apologize here: I pushed much farther than I should have, and you had every right to react defensively. I am very sorry for overstepping, Raqi." Raqi watched in wide-eyed amazement as Punica's humanoid form rapidly took shape in front of her. She had been curious about the affini's biology for quite some time now, but this was the first proper opportunity she had gotten to observe it up close. The plant's mimicry of a human form was astonishing on a simple visual level, but she realised now that it went much further than mere appearances. Her humanoid form seemed to be comprised of the same three 'layers' as Raqi's own, but each was replaced by a different type of foliage. Bones appeared to be made from a substance akin to the bark of a tree, while her muscles were constructed from thick, corded lattices of small vines. Her skin was by far the most interesting: it seemed that she made it out of what seemed like hundreds of near-perfectly interlocking leaves, which when placed together left only small divets to indicate where one leaf started and another ended. "Inos," Raqi murmured in awe, "your body is... amazing." For a moment, she felt herself gripped by a deep, possessive jealousy. What she had just witnessed was the real version of what she had been playing at earlier. What Raqi needed a Chimera module for, and that even with one she couldn't actually do to her own body, Punica could do at will, and seemingly with a fraction of the effort. The things I could do if I had a body like that... It was only when Punica finished reforming and she could stop gawking that Raqi remembered Punica had said something she needed to respond to. "Oh! I- Are you sure? I mean, I- You did kind of, yeah, but like- attacking you for that doesn't feel... very justified, I guess..." A warm, hearty laugh emanated from Punica's newly reconstituted form. As Raqi watched, the affini shifted around her body to bring the sections of damaged vine from where the pillar had struck to the front. She detached them from her humanoid body and then held them out in front of Raqi for her to see. In total, there were three vines there; which when combined presented not quite enough to have been able to replicate a single of the landamaeri's arms. "This is all of me that was irrevocably damaged. The rest will heal in a few days, or as little as a few hours." She smiled at Raqi. "I do not think what you just did qualifies as an 'attack.' I think - to make use of Terran terminology - that would have been closer to a well-deserved slap in the face." "That's all?" Raqi stared in disbelief for a moment. "Burning stars... I'd heard that affini were practically indestructible, but... this is the first time I've felt like I could actually believe it." A vine extended and gave Raqi a gentle pat on the head, from which this time she intentionally did not recoil. Seeing this, Punica's smile widened. "While that assessment is correct, I think you may be overestimating the impressiveness of my resilience in this particular instance. You struck me, a plant, with a blunt object. Even were I simply an ordinary plant and not the result of hundreds of millennia of meticulous bioengineering, I do not believe it would have done significantly more harm." Raqi slowly pursed her lips. "...Okay, you do have a point there." It was only now occurring to her that Punica was right: a giant pillar was just about the least effective thing she could possibly have come up with in an attempt to damage something with the body of a plant. The fact that it was blunt and had a large surface area meant that all the damage would be spread out rather than concentrated in one area, and that was the kind of thing even normal garden plants coped incredibly well with. In the moment, it'd just been something she'd done as a reflex; a barely-conscious action, taken in response to what she had presumably been perceiving as a very real threat. But if that was true, it was interesting that it had manifested in such a benign way. Perhaps even then, her intention had only been to push Punica away; not to actually harm her? Her thoughts travelled a little further back into memory, recalling the state of utter transfixtion she had been in in the lead-up to the reaction. Even remembering it was enough to make her immediately move to bite her lip. "Y-yeah, um..." Raqi turned back around towards Punica, the redness in her cheeks having intensified substantially. "I guess that was kind of meant as a 'stop, too far', rather than a 'get away from me entirely.'" She felt herself space out very slightly after saying that. Had she just openly admitted to what was, for all intents and purposes, being okay with Punica flirting with her? What the hell was she doing?! Why was her mouth doing this? Why was she doing nothing to stop it? Why, even in the midst of a stream of panicked thoughts, did she still feel largely disinclined to do anything to stop it? Probably because it was really hot, a voice unhelpfully added. Shut up, Raqi replied. "That was how I interpreted it as well." The vine that was patting Raqi stopped to give her hair a more firm ruffle for a moment, leading her to stare indignantly down at the floor. "And in case it is not clear: I very much appreciate you choosing to show restraint, when you absolutely did not need to do so." Raqi nodded, not looking up at her. "Y-you're welcome." It seemed that her brain had decided these interactions were not nearly as dangerous, as the adrenaline that had shot through her after fabricating the pillar was now starting to fade. And now that it was, she could feel she was probably about thirty seconds away from complete and utter collapse. "Uh, Punica," she said, a small hint of urgency in her voice. "I, um... I am really tired now." The playfulness immediately vanished from Punica's demeanour, and she nodded solemnly; slipping easily back into her usual mask of responsibility. "I understand. That is entirely reasonable given the day that you have had; you must certainly be feeling overtaxed." A hint of frustration directed at herself slipped into her voice, as she realised the ways in which she was responsible for that. "In no small part because of my own actions. I apologise again for letting myself get so caught up in the moment: The way in which we were communicating was just so novel and exciting to me that, combined with how you looked at me afterwards, I was not able to contain myself." A look of realisation similar to the one that Raqi had worn after her accidental admission abruptly formed on Punica's face. It occurred to her that she had flirted more with Raqi in the last ten minutes than she had in the entirety of their relationship until then. Her own drive for intimate and close connection had taken her so thoroughly by surprise that she had barely been able to resist it, and when faced with the added implication of a tired sophont in need of comfort and care; 'barely able' had become 'entirely unable.' That thought filled her with anxiety. Immediately, she removed the vines she had been using to pet Raqi's head, drawing them back into her body. The idea that she had so utterly lost control of herself was alarming; she had even been aware of what was happening, and she should have known how bad of an idea it was given Raqi's personality, but none of the usual calculations she would have performed about the efficacy of acting in such ways had occurred. She had simply been overtaken by drive and desire, and barely hesitated at all before acting on it. Could she have stopped herself, if she had tried? She didn't know. The fact that she hadn't actually thought to was probably worse than all the rest of it put together. Was this what it was like, being around xenosophonts? She had so little experience with this. Almost her entire adult life had been spent in the company of only other affini; a conscious choice made in an attempt to avoid finding herself in this sort of a situation. It had worked perfectly: she had been able to flawlessly avoid ever catching the attention of an independent xenosophont as a potential owner, and the one or two times she had accidentally fascinated an overly susceptible sophont, she'd quickly snapped them out of it then made herself scarce. The only times she had ever interacted with xenosophonts in depth had been the pets of her colleagues, whom she had occasionally petsitted for or taken samples from as part of her xenobiology research. Those interactions took place in controlled environments, where the worst Punica could potentially do was misspeak and cause minor upset; and any such mistakes could easily be rectified by another, more competent affini nearby. But the downside of that approach was that now that she was in a situation where she was forced to interact with a xenosophont, she had no prior experience that she could call upon. If she had spent time around independent xenos in the past, then she might have known that seeing Raqi behave in such a manner would provoke the response it did, and would have had time to practise reining herself in. But as things were, she barely understood her own instincts, and any exploration of them which would occur with Raqi would be happening without a safety net. If she made a mistake, if she came on too fast and frightened her as she had done today- Everbloom forbid, if she were to lose herself even further and push too hard and break the girl- there would no one whom she could call upon for help, and no tools like class-B's and cognitive remappers with which she could metaphorically turn back time. By the time the spiral concluded, her rhythms were in complete disarray. I cannot let that happen. Today's behaviour was a mistake that I must not repeat; the consequences if I slip up... She couldn't afford to keep dwelling on this. Raqi was tired, and she needed her to be focused right now; not an anxious wreck. Pushing the thoughts to the back of her mind for her sophont's sake, she refocused her attention back to the girl. "Do you wish to return to your room? I can carry you, if you are feeling tired." At this, Raqi's eyes seemed to light up with an almost childish wonder "Really? I, uhm..." Her lips pursed into a look of awkwardness. Punica tilted her head. "Is something the matter?" "No, no! I just, uh..." She gingerly wrapped her left hand around her right upper arm. "Getting carried is kind of like, a thing only kids do in Landamar for the most part. ...But I would actually quite like that." Punica let out an amused chuckle. "I see no reason to let cultural conceptions like that get in the way of doing something you want." With no further hesitation, she sent out a number of vines towards Raqi. She was gently pushed into a bed of tendrils, much as she had been a moment earlier, and then hoisted up into the air upon it; where she was brought over and deposited on Punica's shoulder. When the vines first began to let go of Raqi, she let out a panicked 'Wah!' sound, and began flailing in an attempt to find purchase upon the plant's shoulder. However, she quickly found herself supported by several more vines that she had not noticed, which moved to prevent her from falling. Any time she leaned too far in a particular direction, or seemed as if she was about to lose her balance, another appendage would lean in and press against her to keep her steady. She continued to wobble for a few moments, but seemed to adapt to the process remarkably quickly; and in under a minute, she was leaning back with no concern for her own gravity. "This is really cool," she remarked approvingly. "You're nice to sit on." Experimentally, she tried making herself bounce on Punica's shoulder; but was disappointed to find very little in the way of give. She supposed it made sense. "Hm..." However, a moment later, her brows furrowed, and she attempted to reposition her legs a little bit. Once she had done so, she remained still for around a second, then tried putting them elsewhere. The cycle repeated, and eventually, she started moving her entire body around on Punica's shoulder; unable to find quite the right angle to get comfortable at. Punica watched in silent observation as Raqi continued to fiddle around for almost another minute. The girl was surprisingly picky about the way she sat; seeming to shuffle around frequently, and to continually readjust herself in an attempt to try and get comfier against the vines. The process was intentional enough that Punica eventually began to wonder if there was something she was not seeing. "You do not seem overly comfortable," she remarked. "Ehhhh-" Came the reply, as Raqi experimented with tucking her knees up to her chest. "It's just, I have a condition that makes normal chairs kinda uncomfortable to sit in. I have to be pretty specific about where I put pressure on my back, or some of the muscles end up getting strained really easily. And I can't really manage sitting up straight more or less at all." Barely a second after Raqi had finished speaking, vines had wrapped around her arms, legs, and torso, whisking her off of Punica's shoulder and pulling her down to her chest. There, the plant matter opened up very slightly to allow her to lean comfortably into it, the foliage tilting inwards at an angle in order to make it so that gravity would naturally guide Raqi's form further in; rather than her needing to work to prop herself. At the same time, many more vines wound around her body, creating something akin to a harness moulded around the shape of her body. It was formed perfectly in order to accommodate the curvature of her legs and spine, and as she leant into it, Raqi let out a small noise of approval. "This is waaayyy better," she said. "Good." Punica reached out, and very gently ran a hand through her feathers; taking care not to get too engrossed in it. "I would ask you more about this medical condition, but I have put you through more than enough for a morning." "Mhm, yeah." All of a sudden, Raqi was starting to feel very sleepy. "I can tell you about it later. For now I kinda wanna rest." "That is absolutely fine. Just relax there, and I will take you back to your room." "Mhmm." It always surprised Raqi how quickly her mind could change states. In what had been probably only a little over an hour, she had gone from resolute, to depressed, to elated, to exhausted, to filled with adrenaline, and now back to exhausted. She wanted to be more interested in the experience of being carried by Punica: it was the kind of thing that, under normal circumstances, she would've taken quite some joy in. But as she was, the moment she had been told to relax, she had suddenly felt all of the energy go out of her. Any plans she might have had to try and stick her head over the edge of her harness seemed to disappear into a lethargic desire to just lay there and be still. The sensation only grew stronger when she felt Punica beginning to move. She had thought for a moment that she might be in for something of a bumpy ride, but it turned out instead that the only thing she felt were a series of faint, gentle vibrations running throughout her body; no more extreme than those she was used to experiencing during sub-light travel back in Landamar. She'd always found the sensation particularly calming: she had many memories as an adolescent of just dozing off while leaning against one of the walls of her spaceship, her eyes closing and her mind turning to daydream. That had been one of her favourite ways to pass the time when travelling. Her mind had always obliged her by providing vivid images for her to turn her attention to, ones which only tended to become more detailed as she let herself be drawn into them- Less than a minute after Punica had started moving, Raqi was sound asleep. Nestled close into her body as she was, Punica was easily able to sense the change in the other woman's respiratory pattern and heart rate. The moment it registered, she was interested to note that she found herself relaxing as well. She realised that she had been remarkably stressed herself, on account of the various difficult interactions the two of them had been through in the last twenty four hours. How a creature as small and seemingly feeble as Raqi could be capable of such immense bouts of energy was a mystery to her. She was starting to see her as something of a creature of extremes: she seemed to flit back and forth between states of intense activity that bordered on hypomania, only to fall just as quickly back into listlessness; with seemingly minimal, if any, middle ground. Admittedly, it was far too early to be making any medical conclusions about her just yet: she had after all only known her for two days. Two days. The thought echoed in her mind. That they had gone through so much in just two solar cycles was almost difficult to believe. During her time on the Longbough, as well as her various assignments prior, there had been entire years in which very little of note had happened to Punica. She was fairly sure that the last two days' events were probably worth three or four of her most boring years in terms of the stimulation she'd received from them. And in terms of the value of the experiences, the ratio was doubtless even more severe. It did not take the ambulatory mass of plant matter very long to reach Raqi's room. Now that she didn't need to keep pace with the humanoid, she could disperse as much of her form as she wished and switch to moving by using her vines instead of legs. This mode of transport was both much faster, and substantially more stable; which meant she could get to her destination both quickly and without waking her sleeping passenger up. Once she had arrived, a vine reached out to tap the button to open the door, and she headed inside; not bothering this time to duck and instead opting simply to dismantle part of her upper body so as to avoid the top of the door frame. Once she was inside, she made her way over to the bed and gently lowered Raqi down onto it. The xeno barely moved as she was placed down, only seeming to stretch a little bit to get comfy, then immediately returning to her state of listless slumber. Punica couldn't help but spend a moment just staring down at her; transfixed by how utterly adorable she looked while unconscious. It was a general rule that living beings were at their most vulnerable while asleep, and this often seemed to translate into them exhibiting behaviours that were decidedly enjoyable to witness. Before she really even knew what she was doing, one of her vines had snuck out from her mass and returned to patting Raqi; very very gently, of course, so as to avoid waking her up. It was tempting, seeing her like that, to consider what more she might do to the girl. But she had spent more than enough time being tempted today, and it was time to let the xenosophont rest. She took hold of Raqi's duvet with her other vines and gently lowered it over her, ensuring that she was well covered before retracting her vines, before quietly making her way outside and leaving her to slumber.
A L E R T : : t h o u g h t f o r m s_d e t e c t e d
I D : : aftermath :: Physical Confrontation ::TerraTranslate :: Raqi Marr :: Punica Granatum :: The Affini Compact :: Landamar Mobile Fleet :: Hormone Replacement Therapy :: The Chimera Module :: Affini :: Intersidera :: Posters :: Magnesium :: Wonderland :: The Hundredth Time: Part I :: Communication ::