Amanda woke up with a start in an unfamiliar, strangely-proportioned room rather than her tiny, grimy bedroom. She blinked and squeezed her eyes closed and then looked again, and it all flooded back at once. This is where her impulsive decision had landed her. Achy, alone, and friendless in a hospital run by alien plant people -- with a mind altering implant already in her head and no idea what would happen next.
She ran over the decision in her mind for the millionth time. She was already worthless, living a pointless existence full of rules that made her life worse but that felt like risking death to break. She had no friends, a lover that she had finally admitted to herself was abusive, and parents who only liked to pretend for appearances and didn't really know her at all. It really was a choice between ending her own life, and turning it over to someone else in the hope that they'd be better than death. Rather than letting herself chicken out or avoid endlessly in the process of searching for the "right" Affini, she'd opted for the "express route" of turning herself in at a domestication center as a potential self-destruction case. There really was no other choice.
Still, she was feeling panic rise as the intensity of the unknown became as real as the bump on the back of her neck.
The door opened and a massive, overwhelmingly broad plant creature paused in the doorway. It was seemingly made of dark green vines with moss, lichen, and fungi all over in every shade of green. Its face was made of overlapping leaves, and hornlike branches jutted up and back from its forehead, with strings of succulent leaves wrapped around and dangling from the branches. It had broad shoulders, large breasts (are they breasts? Amanda wasn't sure what to call the lumps on the chest of the decidedly not mammalian being), wide hips, a round belly, and thick thighs, which were revealed by the narrow, pointed skirt with high side slits that the creature wore. As the creature moved into the room, Amanda realized that its lower body was joined together as it slithered forward like a snake. Its powerful arms ended in relatively small hands with clawlike thorns at the fingertips.
"Holy fuck I hope this isn't mine" Amanda thought to herself, with a sinking feeling. The creature smirked, flashing pointed teeth.
"Well, it's more that you're *mine*, little pet."
Amanda gawked. What..? How..?
The creature seemed amused by her confusion and explained "I just finished my scan of your mind to check that the connection is complete, so I can still 'hear' your thoughts right now as if you've spoken them. Now I will turn down the sensitivity so that I only hear you when you are at an extreme emotional peak. It's more fun for both of us that way."
Amanda was still reeling. How could this be real?
"Oh, yes, introductions. I already know you so well it feels moot. Vetivert Curio, 13th bloom, it/its. And you are now Vinca Curio, 20th floret."
Amanda shook her head in shock and annoyance. "I don't even get to keep my name? I chose it! It's important to me!"
Vetivert tilted its head. "If it was so important to you, why were you willing to trade it for a tombstone? No matter, the fact is that the life you lead as Amanda was, to be frank, *wilted* and I don't want you bringing any of that into your new self. We'll see if you earn the right to name yourself again, and if Amanda is still the name you want, I'll consider it. For now, you are Vinca, my little periwinkle. Come now, time to go home."
Vetivert unceremoniously scooped Vinca out of the bed, plucking the blankets off with a vine, and wrapped her up in so many vines that Amanda felt like she was in a basket, one so huge she couldn't see over the edge. She tried to shift position and found she couldn't move from the pose she was in, being carried like an infant and wrapped up so closely that she could barely move any limb even half an inch.
Amanda felt really uncomfortable and wanted to see out, but she wasn't about to ask and possibly annoy her new -- owner, whoa. She felt a little surge of arousal and fear realizing all over again how powerless she was. She could still see up, but the narrow opening in the vines was mostly just a view of Vetivert's neck and chin. She realized she was being cradled against Vetivert's massive bosom and was surprised how soft and springy its breasts were, like thick moss. Somehow she'd imagined they'd be ropey, hard like the vines of its arms. She wondered what they were made of, and if she was against Vetivert's bare chest or some kind of plantlike clothing.
"We're home!" Vetivert sang out. Amanda heard a door slide open and her heart started beating faster. Now Vetivert had her alone, at home, with literally no legal right to reject anything Vetivert might want to do to her. And she still couldn't even see around her, and still couldn't move! Vetivert moved into the apartment, and Amanda could tell when they were inside because the quality of the light changed, and the sound suddenly dampened. The light was like in an old forest on an overcast yet sunny day -- so filtered that it felt like the light was coming from nowhere yet everywhere. The sound felt muffled like after a snowstorm, or when the power goes out. "Shit, this has to be soundproof" she thought. Not that it was likely anyone would have come to her aid if she had screamed for help, but even that slim chance was out.
Finally, Vetivert unwrapped her from her cocoon of vines and set her upright on the floor. Amanda felt strangely bereft and cold, and resisted the urge to ask to be picked up again. Instead, she looked around at the oversized furniture -- the bed and desk so high she couldnt see the top of them, the desk chair with its cushion at the height of her shoulders. Clearly, this was Vetivert's bedroom. Vetivert pointed at the foot of the enormous bed, where there was a pet bed sized for a Terran, with a soft, domed top.
