It Takes Time <To Be Properly Taken Apart> - Chapter 44
Chapter 44
Chapter Length: 7,200~ wordsEpheros
Raqi stared ahead in wide-eyed shock at the figure before her. Of all the things to pick up on, the one that came to her mind first was the figure's usage of a title. "C- Captain Marr? Why are you calling me captain?"
The machine(?)'s demeanour did not change in the slightest as it emitted an answer to her query. "Because you are the captain of this vessel; and I am one of your crew. It is therefore only right that I refer to you by your proper title."
What the fuck is happening? Raqi felt completely and utterly lost. The creature standing before her was not the piece of Affini tech that she had picked up after arriving in Compact space. That had been an object, strange and bulky and covered in odd fractal patterns- not at all like a person. Whatever this thing was, she was certain she had never met it before, and she had no idea how it could know her name. "How do you know who I am?"
The soft buzzing in the machine's voice continued to worm its way into Raqi's ears as it spoke. "You are confused at present on account of not recognising me. This is understandable. I have changed forms since last we met, but you would not recognise me even in my original appearance." It had no mouth, or nose, or any other facial features aside from its eyes; which continued to shimmer softly in a manner that Raqi couldn't help but associate with Punica's.
Punica's core was running like a fusion engine. She had never been more alarmed in her life than she felt after hearing the sophont's introduction, and she was struggling to keep herself together as a thousand thoughts raced through her mind. First was the way that the phytodroid- that was what it was, she was sure of it now- had referred to itself as a 'sapient weapon.' Punica understood the concept immediately: the Accord had tried its hand at turning sophonts into these, and the results had been catastrophic. On a conceptual level, it was the type of technology that the Affini Compact would have no reason to ever pursue. They eschewed the use of weapons where possible, and where not possible, there was no imaginable reason they would need to make one sapient.
Is this some kind of frontier experiment? Her processes were running all out of order. If this is a research prototype, it should be in Triangulum; or some other well-controlled galaxy. It cannot be here for testing purposes- there is no civilisation here with craft that could stand up to an unarmed feral pacification vessel, let alone a dedicated ship-to-ship weapon! Her mind fixated on the designation that the phytoweapon had given itself. She had never heard the term 'Epheros' used before; it seemed like an Accordization of an Affini term, but it wasn't phonetically similar to any word she was familiar with. What does that designation mean? Could it have to do with why it has taken a humanoid form?
Raqi blinked. The inside of her mind- her perception?- felt strange, in a way she couldn't describe. It was severe enough to be distracting, even in this situation. She wanted desperately to look away from the figure before her; it was like its simple appearance was the most horrible, awful sensory she had ever seen, and provoked a sort of instinctive need to not be gazing upon it. But at the same time, there was something keeping her eyes locked onto it, and the result was a sort of cognitive dissonance that was making her head swim. "What-" Her throat felt dry as she tried to speak. The sickly sweet smell in the air was making it hard to focus. She couldn't hold eye contact with the figure, and- the figure? She blinked. What? Fuck, what was I- A moment passed, and she remembered what she had been about to say. "What do you mean, 'I wouldn't remember you'? The fuck is that supposed to mean?" The creature's tone was utterly calm as it spoke, its voice devoid of even the faintest indication of hostility or threat. The same electronic buzzing that Raqi had heard when it first spoke was still present, and it seemed to grow more noticeable every time the machine spoke. "You are not currently able to access your memories of our prior meetings." It raised one hand in an illustrative gesture. "There were unforeseen complications in the interactions which occurred during our introduction, which lead me to need to temporarily deprive you of access to your memories of those events. I assure you that I have not deleted them: I have simply used your brainstem transmitter to seal access to those neural pathways on a temporary basis." Adrenaline shot through Raqi's body. "Y- You did what?!" Her heart lurched, and her vision began to swim even further. "What- What the fuck?!" The figure raised its hand slowly outwards, and its tone grew gentler. "Please do not be alarmed. As I said: This action was purely for your benefit. I can undo the block and restore your memories at any time; however, I do not recommend-"
████/anger/
"Enough of this!" A third voice cut through the dialogue, and Raqi turned to see Punica stepping forward to interpose herself between her and Wessmiyr. "You state that you are a sapient weapon of Compact design. If that is the case, what in the stars are you doing in this portion of the galaxy? Who is your creator, and where are they?" Her tone grew more openly hostile with each word she spoke, and Raqi could feel the anger resonating out through her rhythm. "And most of all: Why are you out here in the middle of nowhere on a ship belonging to a xenosophont from an undomesticated race, directly engaging in feralist behaviour by attacking Compact vessels?" /furious-accusatory/
Punica was livid. The implication that this being had been tampering with her xenosophont's memories without her consent was enough to make her phytotoxin boil. Her vines twitched erratically, dozens of them coiled up like springs around her base; ready to leap into action at the first hint of hostility from the phytoweapon, or simply if it did something she didn't like.
Even through her tirade, the artificial lifeform seemingly remained completely unfazed. Less than a second had passed from the end of Punica's sentence before it spoke to answer her: "The circumstances which have brought me to this portion of the galaxy are complicated, and cannot be easily summarised. The same is true of my relationship with my creator, as well as their whereabouts." It lowered its hand back to its front and clasped it together with the other once again. "As for your final question: I assure you that I am no feralist. Every action that I have taken has been in the interest of ensuring prosperity and wellbeing for the sophonts of this universe, in line with the central tenets of the Affini Compact."
Punica took yet another step forwards, her thorns pushing out even further. "You call attacking and disabling ships, putting florets and affini alike in danger to be in line with our tenets?! What insanity has gripped you that you would make such a claim?" /disbelief-anger-incredulity/
"I am perfectly able and willing to provide you with an explanation of the rationale behind my actions," the droid responded. "However, the circumstances that have motivated me into this course of action are highly nuanced, and can also not be quickly summarised." It dipped its head in the direction of Punica's central mass. "I can see from the state of your biological processes that you are currently in a state of heightened emotion. This is not conducive to a productive discussion, and so I would ask that you please make an attempt to calm yourself. Once you have done so, I will answer any questions you may have-"
"Forget about that!" Raqi shouted, interrupting both of them. "I don't give a shit about why you're here! How- How dare you use my BST to fuck with my head like that!" Her fingers shook with anger as she spoke. "Give me my Inos-taken memories back!"
Punica's head shot around towards Raqi. "Raqi, no-"
"As you wish."
Raqi's eyes went wide all of a sudden. The girl's fingers shot outwards, her arms and legs seeming to spasm momentarily- and then her expression went slack, her eyes fell shut, and she lost all strength in her legs; her form immediately starting to collapse downwards.
"RAQI!" Punica had already caught her xenosophont before she had fallen half way to the floor, wrapping a vine around each of her limbs and cradling her in place. Panic shot through her core at the sight of the unconscious girl, and she honed her senses in, checking for any signs of damage. Thankfully, she found a pulse immediately: Raqi's heart rate was stable, and she couldn't detect any other alterations to her biological processes.
"Please, do not concern yourself for her wellbeing," the phytoweapon spoke once again. "I have not harmed her in any way. It was merely necessary to render her unconscious in order to restore her memories. She will recover shortl-"
Dozens of vines shot out across the room and wrapped around Wessmiyr's arms and legs, clamping down upon her like steel chains. The phytoweapon's eyes immediately switched from their light yellow hue to a deep amber, and its gaze shot towards Punica-
Every thorn on the affini's body had begun protruding all at once. Her humanoid form had begun to dissolve, giving way to a mass of vines, needles, and injectors. Within seconds, the entirety of her form saved for her mouth and voice box was gone. Her jaws unhinged far wider than should have been possible, her teeth dripping with caustic phytotoxin, and she screamed a single word in Affini: "Demon!"
A moment later, two dozen more vines shot out towards the bound phytodroid. However, before they could make contact, the weapon dodged to the side; completely ignoring all of the vines wrapped around its limbs. The motion took Punica completely by surprise, and she was yanked momentarily forwards, very nearly losing her grip on Wessmiyr entirely as a result.
"Please stop." The calm in the phytodroid's voice had vanished, and it now spoke with an edge to its voice. "I have not harmed your floret. I do not pose any kind of danger to either-"
It was interrupted by vines converging in on her from all angles at once. It did not matter how quick the droid was this time, for Punica had left it with nowhere left to dodge to. Wessmiyr lunged to the side in an attempt to evade the majority of the vines, but was quickly caught up in a bundle that wrapped themselves around its torso, beginning to squeeze tight down upon it with a force that would have been enough to snap metal.
"Please desist," it repeated, even as more vines wrapped themselves around its limbs. "Cease attacking me. I mean you no-"
Wessmiyr was cut off once more as Punica intensified her grip upon the phytodroid's body. Bundles of vines wrapped around its arms and legs and began to pull at them, as if trying to rip them from itstorso. It had no effect at first, but Punica continued to apply more and more strength, heaving with all of her might at the appendages; intent on quite literally disarming the threat.
"Cease." Wessmiyr's voice had begun to crackle. "Desist immediately. You are at risk of damaging-"
In response, Punica wrapped a vine around the artificial lifeform's head to silence it. She could feel its joints starting to give. Just a bit more force and it would be-
â–ˆ/STOP/
/STOP/
Punica's limbs froze. Her mind halted, struck by an overwhelming wave of sensory information that left her in shock. For a moment, she could not process what had just happened to her, and almost a full second passed in which she remained entirely motionless.
██/RELEASE-ME/
/RELEASE ME/
Punica's body complied automatically. Her vines relaxed and retracted, unwinding from around Wessmiyr and pulling back to her side. She only processed what had happened a split-second after it had done so, and the realisation filled her with horror. The phytodroid was not somehow puppeting her limbs or controlling her; she had sent that impulse to her own body. The command to let go of Wessmiyr had been so strong that she had complied with it before it had even reached her conscious mind. There had been no opportunity to decide whether she wanted to follow it or not; she had simply acquiesced on pure reflex, as if responding to some conditioned stimuli.
She forced her mind to focus, pushing whatever had overtaken her out and focusing back in on Wessmiyr. Her pet was in danger. She had to stop the threat to it. Wessmiyr had to be pacified, by whatever means were necessary. She sent an impulse to her vines once again, directing them to strike towards the weapon-
██/REMAIN-STILL-DO-NOT-MOVE/
/REMAIN STILL DO NOT MOVE/
Her vines stopped before they could move more than an inch, and this time, they remained that way. Internally, Punica's consciousness felt like it was suddenly being pressed down upon by a crushing psychological weight. It was reminiscent of the way she had felt when she had been scolded for nearly endangering one of their demonstration florets during xenopharmacy class when she had messed up a dosage- the way the teacher had commanded her using her biorhythm to Stop, and Punica had immediately frozen on the spot. She had never forgotten that feeling, and what was happening to her now felt nearly identical.
Only one thought emerged in her stunned mind: How?
"Cease your attacks. You are not capable of overcoming me, and will only harm yourself by trying to do so."
With some effort, Punica was able to direct her gaze towards Wessmiyr. The phytodroid had returned to a standing position with its arms held steady at its side, and its head pointed once again towards Punica. "Your current actions are in error. I do not mean any harm to either you or captain Marr. There is no need for us to fight, and I would strongly recommend that you desist in attempting to pacify me."
Punica was tempted to try and attack Wessmiyr again, but something in her mind held her back. She wasn't sure if it was leftover influence from whatever the weapon had just done to her, but she felt reluctant to make any sort of move against the creature. She realised after a moment what it was; she was afraid. Fear, in a situation like this, was almost completely foreign to the affini. There were normally no creatures that could pose a threat to them in one-on-one combat, and so the feeling of being afraid of physical harm was something most affini could go dozens of blooms without ever experiencing. In Punica's case, it manifested as a painful, almost incapacitating throbbing in her core that made her feel as if her vital processes were on the verge of failing.
It felt wrong; horribly so. She was not supposed to feel like this. She hadn't even realised that she had such emotions. Why would the affini, an immortal species with thousands of years of bioengineering, even retain such unevolved emotions? She was sure this should not have been possible. There was something wrong with her. She was failing, malfunctioning-
There was a small noise from behind her that cut through the confusion in her mind. It was soft and familiar; a mixture between a groan and a breath. Punica's attention snapped behind her as her gaze fixed on Raqi. Her xenosophont stirred slightly, shifting around on the floor where Punica had deposited her, but her eyes remained closed.
"There. You may now see for yourself that she is unharmed, as I have said." Wessmiyr's voice sounded once again throughout the small room. "She will likely need a few more moments to recover-"
The fear seemed to drain away to nothing. Everything fell to a standstill, Wessmiyr's words failing to even register in Punica's mind as she watched Raqi. This was her xenosophont. Her treasured, cherished belonging. Her pet. She existed to take care of it, to ensure that it was happy and healthy; and most importantly of all, that no harm ever came to it. That was her purpose in life; and right now, she was failing it. When she thought about it that way, it suddenly didn't matter how afraid she was any more. It did not matter what manner of creature she was facing, nor how outmatched she found herself. The reality of the situation was simple: Her pet was in danger, and she needed to protect it. She would not fail Raqi again.
Warning: Incoming Projectile
Wessmiyr was taken by surprise as a flurry of vines shot towards eir. Wyr was just barely able to evade the first few, but eir dodge sent her right into the path of half a dozen more, and in an instant, wyr found eirself with vines coiled around eir torso, left leg, and left arm. Even with eir thought acceleration at max, eir body simply wasn't designed for evading attacks; not ones coming from something as quick as an affini, at least.
This is futile and pointless. Why does she persist in attacking me? She ought by now to understand that it is no use. Mounting frustration grew in eir processor responsible for survival and threat-oriented emotions, but wyr quickly airgapped it from eir decisionmaking circuits. It ultimately did not matter if the affini was slow to learn: Wessmiyr would simply continue repeating eirself until wyr was understood.
With an impulse, wyr tapped into her biorhythmic disruptor and prepared to unleash another pulse of sensory input, this one tailored to convey the message /CEASE/. Another vine had wrapped around eir right leg in the time it took her to perform the necessary cognitive functions, but it would not matter. A hundredth of a second later, a wave of noise, light, scent, and resonant vibrations was launched out from eir chassis, and the affini's vines immediately went slack.
-for less than a second, after which they tightened back around Wessmiyr with renewed force.
What? The phytoweapon was taken aback, high levels of surprise registering in numerous processors. For some reason, the pulse had not worked properly. Wyr could not stop to consider why, as in the half-second of shock that she had been inactive, more vines had wound around the right side of eir body. Wyr quickly prepared and then released another pulse, this one intended to have Punica /RELEASE-ME/.
But just like before, it did not have the desired effect. Punica's vines froze for a moment, and almost seemed as if they were going to start to retract- but before they did so, they regained their strength and began to grip even harder against Wessmiyr. The moment they did so, alarms began to go off within the phytoweapon's mind.
Alert: Nearing maximum safe pressure threshold! Please decrease pressure on outer chassis.
Warning: Safe pressure threshold exceeded. Reduce pressure on chassis immediately
Alert: Chassis sustaining damage. Crumpling detected in: central mass, left arm, left leg
WARNING: RISK OF DAMAGE TO VITAL COMPONENTS. REDUCE PRESSURE IMMEDIATELY Blight! How is she doing this?! At this, Wessmiyr began to panic. Pushing eir servos to their limit, wyr strained against the vines in an attempt to pull eirself free. For a few moments, wyr was able to pull several of the ones coiled around eir torso off, but moments later they were joined by others, and wyr found eirself quickly being overpowered. "Stop!" Wyr broadcast. "Stop this at once! You are at risk of damaging me!" The only response was for Punica to send even more vines at eir. Seconds later, Wessmiyr's body was fully encased in vines, and wyr lost what little room to maneuver she had left. Eir struggling ceased to find any purchase, and the pressure all around eir continued to increase. "S-stop-" Wyr broadcast once more, eir voice crackling. "This is your f-f-final w-warning. If you do not stop, I will be forced to-" Alert: Chassis sustaining damage. Severe crumpling detected in: left arm, left leg. Risk of damage to internal motors
Warning: Servos at 100% pressure
WARNING: PROCESSOR DAMAGE IMMINENT. REDUCE PRESSURE IMMEDIATELY Punica's voice roared through the room, the overlaying tones filled with anger and rage. "I will not let you hurt my floret again!" At that moment, Wessmiyr disconnected the processors responsible for causing eir to panic. Instantly, eir emotional state fell back to one of perfect calm, the warnings and alerts buzzing at eir mind reduced to mere information. She demonstrates such incredible determination. Presumably, it is this concern for her floret that is allowing her to ignore the disruption pulses. It would have been incredibly impressive; were she not using that determination to verge on crushing Wessmiyr to death. Even then, the phytoweapon couldn't help but grudgingly admit how it was indeed appropriate for an affini. As a race, they can overcome any fear if it is for the sake of their pets. That, I cannot help but commend. Yet that same dedication often blinds them to the truth of situations, and causes them to see threats where there are none; as it is now. For a moment, Wessmiyr allowed eirself to feel disappointed. It is a shame that it has come to this. But I have no other choice if I am to preserve myself. Then, the pressure indicators at the periphery of eir consciousness flashed critical again, and wyr turned eir attention elsewhere. Bringing up a map of Punica's vine configuration that wyr had created while watching the affini rebloom, wyr loaded up a template that displayed the locations of all key structural vines within the affini's body. There were nineteen of them in total, and severing those would remove her ability to control the remainder of her vines. The moment the template loaded, markers were overlaid on top of Wessmiyr's vision indicating those of Punica's vines which were structural. In less than a tenth of a second, eir targeting core outlined a trajectory that she could use to sever all of them in one strike. The one part of Wessmiyr's body that Punica had failed to properly bind was eir tail. The phytoweapon had refrained from utilising it during their confrontation thus far; intent on misdirecting the affini into thinking it was simply there for aesthetic purposes. As a result, it was only loosely secured compared to eir arms and torso. Wessmiyr took advantage of this and sent a command to eir tail to reconfigure itself. This was another technique she had avoided making use of so far; it would not have done to alert the affini to the fact that she could change eir form at will the same way it could. Eir tail thinned out in such a way that it slipped through the vines binding it, and then whipped around over eir shoulder at lightning speed; the injector at its tip growing outwards as it did, increasing in length until it had gone from a needle to a blade. Punica was too slow to respond, as Wessmiyr had known she would be. The affini tried to adjust her vines to catch eir tail, but it was no use. The path was clear, and the thin strip of core alloy on the edge of her tail blade would cut through all of Punica's structural vines as well as air. The trajectory had already been planned out ahead of time, and the only thing wyr needed to do was send the nerve impulses to deliver the strike that would end it. Wessmiyr's tail began to extend rapidly, mass being diverted from elsewhere on eir body towards it. It shot outwards like a hypersonic projectile- There was a disturbance in the corner of eir vision. Something blue with streaks of yellow and purple had suddenly appeared within the trajectory of her strike. Wyr was going to hit it after eir had cut through the eleventh structural vine. Though eir vision was operating at a high latency due to resources having been diverted elsewhere, pattern recognition suggested the shape in question could only be one thing: Raqi Marr. Rot! If wyr stopped eir strike, wyr would lose the element of surprise. Punica would be able to restrain eir once again, and wyr would have no way of getting out. If wyr allowed that to happen, there was a very real risk of- It didn't matter what might happen to eir. In a situation like this, the wellbeing of xenosophonts always came first. Wessmiyr redirected the strike to the ground.
Warning: Safe pressure threshold exceeded. Reduce pressure on chassis immediately
Alert: Chassis sustaining damage. Crumpling detected in: central mass, left arm, left leg
WARNING: RISK OF DAMAGE TO VITAL COMPONENTS. REDUCE PRESSURE IMMEDIATELY Blight! How is she doing this?! At this, Wessmiyr began to panic. Pushing eir servos to their limit, wyr strained against the vines in an attempt to pull eirself free. For a few moments, wyr was able to pull several of the ones coiled around eir torso off, but moments later they were joined by others, and wyr found eirself quickly being overpowered. "Stop!" Wyr broadcast. "Stop this at once! You are at risk of damaging me!" The only response was for Punica to send even more vines at eir. Seconds later, Wessmiyr's body was fully encased in vines, and wyr lost what little room to maneuver she had left. Eir struggling ceased to find any purchase, and the pressure all around eir continued to increase. "S-stop-" Wyr broadcast once more, eir voice crackling. "This is your f-f-final w-warning. If you do not stop, I will be forced to-" Alert: Chassis sustaining damage. Severe crumpling detected in: left arm, left leg. Risk of damage to internal motors
Warning: Servos at 100% pressure
WARNING: PROCESSOR DAMAGE IMMINENT. REDUCE PRESSURE IMMEDIATELY Punica's voice roared through the room, the overlaying tones filled with anger and rage. "I will not let you hurt my floret again!" At that moment, Wessmiyr disconnected the processors responsible for causing eir to panic. Instantly, eir emotional state fell back to one of perfect calm, the warnings and alerts buzzing at eir mind reduced to mere information. She demonstrates such incredible determination. Presumably, it is this concern for her floret that is allowing her to ignore the disruption pulses. It would have been incredibly impressive; were she not using that determination to verge on crushing Wessmiyr to death. Even then, the phytoweapon couldn't help but grudgingly admit how it was indeed appropriate for an affini. As a race, they can overcome any fear if it is for the sake of their pets. That, I cannot help but commend. Yet that same dedication often blinds them to the truth of situations, and causes them to see threats where there are none; as it is now. For a moment, Wessmiyr allowed eirself to feel disappointed. It is a shame that it has come to this. But I have no other choice if I am to preserve myself. Then, the pressure indicators at the periphery of eir consciousness flashed critical again, and wyr turned eir attention elsewhere. Bringing up a map of Punica's vine configuration that wyr had created while watching the affini rebloom, wyr loaded up a template that displayed the locations of all key structural vines within the affini's body. There were nineteen of them in total, and severing those would remove her ability to control the remainder of her vines. The moment the template loaded, markers were overlaid on top of Wessmiyr's vision indicating those of Punica's vines which were structural. In less than a tenth of a second, eir targeting core outlined a trajectory that she could use to sever all of them in one strike. The one part of Wessmiyr's body that Punica had failed to properly bind was eir tail. The phytoweapon had refrained from utilising it during their confrontation thus far; intent on misdirecting the affini into thinking it was simply there for aesthetic purposes. As a result, it was only loosely secured compared to eir arms and torso. Wessmiyr took advantage of this and sent a command to eir tail to reconfigure itself. This was another technique she had avoided making use of so far; it would not have done to alert the affini to the fact that she could change eir form at will the same way it could. Eir tail thinned out in such a way that it slipped through the vines binding it, and then whipped around over eir shoulder at lightning speed; the injector at its tip growing outwards as it did, increasing in length until it had gone from a needle to a blade. Punica was too slow to respond, as Wessmiyr had known she would be. The affini tried to adjust her vines to catch eir tail, but it was no use. The path was clear, and the thin strip of core alloy on the edge of her tail blade would cut through all of Punica's structural vines as well as air. The trajectory had already been planned out ahead of time, and the only thing wyr needed to do was send the nerve impulses to deliver the strike that would end it. Wessmiyr's tail began to extend rapidly, mass being diverted from elsewhere on eir body towards it. It shot outwards like a hypersonic projectile- There was a disturbance in the corner of eir vision. Something blue with streaks of yellow and purple had suddenly appeared within the trajectory of her strike. Wyr was going to hit it after eir had cut through the eleventh structural vine. Though eir vision was operating at a high latency due to resources having been diverted elsewhere, pattern recognition suggested the shape in question could only be one thing: Raqi Marr. Rot! If wyr stopped eir strike, wyr would lose the element of surprise. Punica would be able to restrain eir once again, and wyr would have no way of getting out. If wyr allowed that to happen, there was a very real risk of- It didn't matter what might happen to eir. In a situation like this, the wellbeing of xenosophonts always came first. Wessmiyr redirected the strike to the ground.
Punica saw the strike coming too late. She had been lax, allowed herself to fail to register the phytoweapon's tail as a combat-capable part of its body; and now she was about to pay the price. By the time she had seen the glint in its tail, it was too late to do anything about it. The bladed edge curved through the air almost faster than she could follow, darting towards her vines at blinding speed- -only to miss and embed itself in the ground. For a moment, Punica could scarcely believe what had happened. How did the phytoweapon miss? Surely a creation like this should not have been capable of inaccurate aim- she would not stop to question her incredible luck. Before it could try and strike again, Punica wrapped yet more vines around the creature's tail, binding it and holding steady. Now, it was truly contained. Now, she could pull it apart and crush it into dust, grind it down so that it could never again threaten her beloved- "Punica! STOP!" Punica forgot all about Wessmiyr. Her gaze shot towards the sound of the voice to see Raqi sprinting towards her, the girl's eyes wide and her voice filled with urgency. "Stop, stop, stop stop stop stop stop stop! Both of you! STOP!" "Raqi!" Punica exclaimed, relief washing over her in a flood. "Oh, thank the Everbloom-" "Punica, fucking stop! Do not crush eir!" Her core lurched, and relief turned to confusion at her xeno's words. Raqi spoke quickly, her voice as loud as she could make it without shouting, and filled with urgency. "Wessmiyr doesn't want to hurt me, Punica! Wyr already had a way fucking better chance than this, and wyr didn't take it! Wyr's been here for months already, and in all that time wyr didn't lay a vine on me!" She ran up and grabbed one of Punica's remaining tendrils, shaking her head fiercely from side to side. "You have to let eir go! Don't fucking break eir!" Wyr? Eir? It took Punica a split second to realise these noises were pronouns. The realisation that Raqi had suddenly started using completely foreign pronouns for the machine only confused her further, and she found herself struggling for words. "Raqi, this- This machine is out of control! It is clearly incredibly dangerous! I have to disable it-" "No, wyr's not!" Raqi's voice grew even louder, and she shook her head once more. "Seriously I- You have to stop fucking attacking eir!" More than just urgency, there was desperation audible in her voice now. "Wessmiyr could have killed you fifty times over by now if wyr wanted to! The fact you are still in one piece is a fucking miracle! You have to stop NOW!" Punica's core lurched again. She turned her attention back to Wessmiyr, only now realising she had barely been paying any attention to the phytoweapon since Raqi had started speaking. Her vines had gone slack from inattention, but Wessmiyr had not taken advantage of that to try and escape. In fact, the phytoweapon had gone completely still in Punica's grip; seemingly not making any attempt whatsoever to do anything. For a moment, Punica thought it might have gone offline; but as she watched, she saw the lights in its eyes continuing to flicker. Is it damaged to such an extent that it can no longer move? She hesitated. Or is she right, and it is genuinely not a threat? Her mind raced. She wanted to trust Raqi, but it was possible that she was being influenced somehow. Wessmiyr had caused her to pass out without even touching her by manipulating her brainstem transmitter. Was it possible that it could be using that to control Raqi even now? The thought set her needles on end, and before she even realised she was doing it, she had begun tensing her vines again- "No, Punica, stop!" She was stopped by the sound of Raqi's voice once again. "Punica, I swear to all of the Hundred Gods that I am not fucking with you right now! I need you- please, please, please trust me on this! I cannot explain- I do not have the time! If you break eir you are going to be making the biggest mistake possible!" Even faced with this, Punica hesitated. Raqi took in a deep breath. "And also the only reason you're even in this position is because wyr was going easy on you! You can't just kill eir after she spared you; that is fucking horrendous etiquette!" That confirmed it; there was no way Raqi was being controlled. At this, Punica finally relented. She retracted her vines all at once and allowed Wessmiyr to fall to the ground. The phytoweapon impacted a moment later with a great 'thud', the sheer weight of its form denting the ground underneath it. Wyr wobbled and then began to fall, extending one hand outwards to catch eirself as she collapsed onto one knee. Wessmiyr remained still for several seconds, before slowly raising eir head towards Raqi. As wyr began to speak, the lights in eir eyes had returned to their normal golden yellow. "Ah. Thank you, captain Marr. Your assistance is most appreciated." "Oh, dying stars." Raqi's gaze flicked between Punica and Wessmiyr, and she let out a long, shuddering breath. "Oh, Inos..." But before she could say another word, she was wrapped head to toe in vines by Punica, as the affini surged over to her. "Raqi, oh, Raqi- I- I am so glad you are all right!" "W-Wah?" Raqi let out a surprised squeak as she was squeezed in a manner very reminiscent of a living plushie. "O-of course I'm fine! I just got knocked out for, like, uh-" She paused as it occurred to her that she had no idea how long she had been unconscious for. "-less than a minute, or something!" She gave Punica a smile that jittered from the adrenaline still running through her body. "It's not like I nearly died or anything." The moment she finished her sentence, the look on her plant's face shifted. Punica broke eye contact with her, and she could feel a quivering in the vines wrapped around her body. The smile vanished from Raqi's face, and she spoke: "Oh, shit. Did you-?" "I... I was afraid that you might have been hurt." Punica's voice was tiny and crackling; lacking any of the elegance or mesmerising beauty it normally held. Her eyes darted from spot to spot as she spoke, and the vines comprising her humanoid form slackened with each moment. "I- When I saw you pass out, the- the look you had-" Oh, oh, oh fuck. Raqi leant forwards and bundled up as many vines as she could, then began squeezing them tightly up against her chest. "No, no, no! I wasn't in pain- I think. If I was I don't re-" no do not say that that is not going to help "I'm fine! I am not dead, I am- I am totally fine! Promise!" Punica held herself together for just a moment longer, and then she fell apart. Her form collapsed all at once, and the vines holding Raqi fell into a heap on the floor. In the collapse, dozens or perhaps hundreds of leaves fell from Punica's body, pushed around on gusts of air and sent to float across the room. When her mass had settled, Punica had been reduced to a tangled web of vines and flowers, with a single softly glowing amber orb in the centre; just barely visible under a light covering of vines. The vines attached to her core twitched and heaved at their bases in motions that Raqi couldn't help but compare to the way a landamaeri's body shook while crying. Instinct took over for Raqi. She didn't fully understand what was happening, but she knew without a doubt that her plant was in pain, and she needed to help her. Moving quickly, she made her way through the mess of vines on the ground- taking care not to trip, lest her
A short distance away on the other side of the room, Wessmiyr observed the display playing out before eir with utter fascination. Wyr had taken the opportunity to tap into the Chimera module while both Raqi and Punica were distracted; siphoning resources away from other parts of the ship to rebuild and repair the parts of eir body that had been damaged. In a process that had gone entirely unnoticed by both sophonts, the sections of plating that had crumpled had gradually buffed back out to their previous form, and the dents and scratches that wyr had accrued from Punica's vines had vanished completely. System diagnostics showed hull integrity at 100%, and wyr was once again functioning at full capacity.
Yet the ongoing repairs were relegated to the back of eir mind as wyr instead focused all of eir sensory equipment on the entwined bodies of Raqi Marr and Punica Granatum. Both of their actions fall entirely outside of established parameters for affini-xenosophont relations. For an affini to receive comfort from a xenosophont, particularly one whom is not yet their floret...
Eir contemplation was interrupted by a message from one of eir processors.
> Observation: OT#1 behaviour incompatible with previously established psychological profile. OT#1 should not be able to tolerate receiving comfort from this xenosophont.
Yes. This is perplexing in the extreme. Wyr ran a series of quick simulations to look for a probable explanation for this change in behaviour, but there was only one that seemed at all likely. The only plausible explanation for this is that she has undergone a radical shift in behaviour post-reblooming; far beyond the scope of that which could normally be expected.
Query: Is it certain that the reblooming itself is the cause of this change?
Wessmiyr paused. No. But what other possibilities are there?
Processing...
Response: Uncertain. I do not see what else could have caused such a drastic shift. It can only have been the reblooming process affecting her psychologically. Processing...
Response: Understood. Wessmiyr's internal forum fell silent. But as wyr continued to watch, the words of eir processor stayed with eir, and something about the conclusion did not feel right.
Response: Uncertain. I do not see what else could have caused such a drastic shift. It can only have been the reblooming process affecting her psychologically. Processing...
Response: Understood. Wessmiyr's internal forum fell silent. But as wyr continued to watch, the words of eir processor stayed with eir, and something about the conclusion did not feel right.
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 : : Affini Compact Naval Vessel Classifications ::Book 2
withering away :: The Prism System :: Intoxicants :: Plurality :: please believe me :: Landamaeri Domestication Guide :: Hypnotic Centres :: The Domestication Initiative :: Affini Maturity :: bullying :: Memory Maker :: chronic fatigue syndrome :: Uplifting :: lingo :: optimisation :: Digitisation :: Iterations of the Self :: Conflict :: eat :: Grooming :: Attractivity Conditioning :: the nature of pleasure :: Dreams :: chores :: Screen Games ::
Book 1
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 :: aftermath :: Physical Confrontation :: Garments :: Interspecies Comparisons :: Touch :: Equality :: Hypnokink :: Speaking :: ahftrojn,lpijmnhfkg :: Pretheya :: Magic :: scared :: Materas Marr ::