Chapter Text
“Good Morning girls! Rise and shine, it's time to smile!” David winced as Eksy finished its little announcement, then turned his head face down in an attempt to hide himself from the new day. Unable to do so properly with the two heavy pillows on either side of him, he let out a low groan and tried to push one away so he could get some space-
“Watchhhhit…” The pillow pressed against his back mumbled, then pulled him closer to her…wait…
…Why the fuck was he in between Claire and Alice?!?
David’s brain managed to clumsily shift from first to sixth gear in a blind panic, adrenaline being squeezed through him and igniting into a wildfire. The arm he had wrapped around Alice began waving wildly, managing to smack all three of them at least twice each before Claire managed to get ahold of it and pin it behind David’s back. In response, he resorted to a sort of wormlike wiggle, trying to wrest himself free and away from the clear and dangerous situation he was in.
Alice managed to flip herself around, facing towards David and wrapping her arms gracefully around his neck and shoulders. She used her newfound leverage to pull herself closer, managing to hook a leg around his lower half and keep him still while she spoke above his head. “Good Morning babe~ Did you have a good rest?”
“MMMMM! MMM MMMM MMMM!!!”
Claire stretched, rubbing her eyes and nodding while she yawned. “Mhmmm. Got a little warm from the extra body, but I think Mistress was still up because I got a dose of Z almost as soon as I was going to message her about it.”
David wriggled harder, but both girls were so much stronger than him that they didn’t even have to glance down to keep him still. It was like he was no bigger a challenge than the white bunny rabbit plush Alice always had, currently pressed up against his chest while she held him down. She giggled at him, dragging a finger down his cheek and catching his bottom lip slightly with the tip. “I think our source of the extra heat is starting to melt a little. Should we let her talk yet?”
His heart rate had started to climb to the point he could feel it in his ears. Danger, it pounded. You’re in danger, and you need to leave. Whatever they had drugged him with yesterday, whatever was in the food and drink- he had no doubt it could happen again if he remained with them. Would happen again.
Danger. Danger. Danger.
“Mmmm….nah. She’ll be fine for a little bit longer. And even if we did let her speak, it would likely just be a mess of syllables and stuff.” Alice poked him none-too-gently and added, “I can tell that she’s going to be a babbler. Maybe we can let her talk after we get some more food in her belly, though!”
DANGER. DANGER. DANGERDANGERDANGERDANGER-
The door to their room flew open with terrific speed as a blur of brown and pink bounded in, vines scooping him into a tight grasp before his eyes had a chance to even blink. “Shhhhh, come to Motzie, dear. Let me hold you~” His hands found themselves wrapped around her chest, with his legs curled up to his own in defense. And now Motzie had to save him and his weird Wardship collar thing was beeping like mad and damn it all to hell because everyone was looking at him and he’s such a fucking loser-
Motzie broke him out of his spiral by taking his head in her hands and firmly tugging it up to face hers. She looked genuinely concerned as she slowly and carefully asked, “Petal, what happened?”
It was like the wellspring of words in his head dried up, and all he could do was boil away in the emotions left behind like dregs. Fuck, he was so useless that everyone around him had to treat him like a starsdamned child. He wrenched his head free from her grip, shaking it and looking away sullenly.
A vine tapped at the bottom of his chin, curling around it and gently tugging him to look at her once more. “Petal, I’m not angry with you. I just need to know what happened, so I can address it.”
He saw Alice and Claire had managed to crawl off of the bed, and were now looking at him with worry on their faces. Wait, was this the kind of thing florets were punished for? His mind flashed to the injuries all over Alice’s back, the bruises and scrapes quite fresh. Maybe that’s what happened to florets when they misbehaved one time too many; a horrifying torture they were forced to endure.
“Petal?” David started as Motzie poked him gently, remembering that he was supposed to answer. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“...Um. I had…I had a nightmare, sorry.” He gave a half-hearted shrug, hoping that Motzie wouldn’t push further because he would really like to go hide somewhere and calm down right now. Alone and far away from this ridiculous bullshit.
“...A nightmare.” Her voice carried exactly how much she believed it, but he had said it and now he had to stick with it.
“Yeah it, um…yeah.”
Motzie lowered him down to the ground, her vines uncurling his legs so that he could stand. Her voice was strangely flat as she answered, “I see. Alice, is that what happened?”
Alice shrugged. “I don’t think so? She was already awake, and we were, um…” She looked a bit sheepish now, looking down and away. “We might’ve been teasing her a little bit…”
“Ah. That sounds more in line with my suspicions.” Motzie shook her head and sighed, then turned to face David. “Sweetie, how about you go and get ready for school? I left your clothes out on your bed; let me know if you need any assistance, okay?”
He nodded, dashing to the door and away from the trio looking at him as if he was the strange one for not wanting to get them in trouble. It wasn’t his fault! What else was he supposed to do? It was like all the normal choices one could make has been removed, so only the weirdass affini ones were left.
As if the universe was waiting to prove him right, the clothes Motzie had laid out for him were a fucking joke. It was exactly like so many of those floret dresses that he had seen, the ones with the weird fractal patterning along the sides and so many cloth loops sewn into and along it for Affini to grab onto. He felt the heat on his face rise further as he remembered what he was currently wearing, tearing the dainty pajama-dress-thing off in his haste to remove it from his body and whipping it under his bed in an attempt to never fucking see it again.
A dim memory floated up to the surface of his consciousness, of how yesterday he had agreed to a few concessions so that he could meet up with 25…which also meant he probably couldn’t just sneak out and compile something better. He swore under his breath as he delicately pinched the dress between a finger and a thumb, pulling it off the bed and giving it a wary eye. The interior of it was some weird complicated mess of small buttons and straps and ribbons, which he was…mostly sure wasn’t in traditional women’s clothing. Probably.
“Petal, if you don’t start moving that butt, you’re definitely not going to have a chance to eat a full meal!” David almost jumped out of his skin as Motzie reached past and plucked the dress from his grip, having somehow snuck into the room and directly behind him. She flicked it to spread the dress out fully, holding it up to his chest and giving a hum of approval. “I was a bit worried I had gotten the sizing wrong, but I believe it's going to fit per~fect~ly~.”
He shook his head hard in response to that. “I…do I really have to wear this? I'm not…it's like…” How in all the stars and galaxies of the universe was he supposed to explain to an alien about Terran cultural norms in less than a minute? He settled for, “I just don't like it.”
“But how will you know for sure until you try? Besides, wearing something like this will help while the Class-A still affects your skin.” She had already begun fussing with a few of the buttons on it, adjusting them and allowing the bottom to open up slightly wider.
“Maybe it's, um, maybe it's gone? You said it would only last a few days…” This, at least, did give the affini pause. David felt a small flutter of relief, which was quickly dashed as he felt one of Motzie's vines slowly slide up his back from tailbone to neck. His breath rattled out of his chest from the pleasure, the air desperately fleeing from the way his skin sang at her touch.
“And? How are we feeling now, sweetie?” Motzie was perfectly innocuous as she continued to press into his back, with more vines contacting his shoulders and dripping down his arms. Rather than responding with English, he managed to expel a heavy garbled moan that was broken up with wordless shudders. He felt his knees quiver, then collapse entirely as one forceful press guided him downward and he barely even noticed because stars the pleasure just built and built and built and-
“I believe that proves that, petal. Since you aren't quite ready for my gentle touches, much less clothes that fully cover your skin, I think it best we go with my choice. Arms up, dear~” Rather than wait for him to comply, she manipulated his limbs into position, sliding the dress over his head and-
It felt like a wave of flower petals tumbling down his skin, like the softest bed sheet he had ever relaxed into, like David had somehow discovered some new arcane form of sex that didn't involve any of the expected parameters but it just kept going and going and going. The sides of it were open, but each opening was criss-crossed through with ribbons of gentle silk that Motzie carefully tightened as she went. David felt the back of it slide slowly over his ass, which didn't really make sense because his ass as flat as a board-
He moaned and leaned forward as the front of the dress dragged over something back there, caressing him and driving all semblance of thought out of his mind. Motzie finished the outfit by fussing with the internal system of ribbons that ran throughout the garment, each pull and hook into place persuading him into a more upright posture. David gasped as one of the internal ribbons snapped forcefully into place, flicking his nipple along the way. Motzie finally set him back down, turning him in place and viewing him with a careful eye.
“...Mmm…yes, I suppose that will do for today, at least. Let me know if anything becomes uncomfortable, okay petal?” David sagged forward as she released him, only barely managing to catch himself with the edge of his bed before he would have face planted into Motzie’s chest. He was positive that his face was a tomato, his stomach had melted out of his chest, and his brain…well, it had probably been smooshed sometime yesterday from sheer embarrassment, but it certainly was atomized after that.
That same embarrassment slowly gave way to annoyance as they ate breakfast, which itself then germinated into anger as the group met up with Miss Vee and made their way over to the school building. David’s fingers were working overtime as he walked, flexing and twitching and wriggling as he felt the emotions build higher. It felt like he was on a chessboard, only instead of being some cool piece that could move, he was just a stupid pawn. Each turn he was moved forward, step by step until he either reached the end or was sacrificed towards some grander plan. How could he not be infuriated? Motzie, Miss Vee, Alice, Claire…each of them took any sign of weakness or slip-up and just pressed and pressed and pressed, and he wasn’t allowed to fight back because then it really would be all over. No fucking wonder there were so many rebels around still.
He sighed, pushing away the thoughts about how they all did seem to care about him. Even if they did, none of them seemed to ever listen to him anyway. No wonder he kept grinding against them, when they wouldn’t ever compromise.
It wasn’t his fault!
“So! Suppose you take a midday nap after just getting teased and dommed by a bunch of women who are somehow all either at your height, or about fourteen feet tall. Suppose you wake up about two hours later in your stupid large bed, still more than a little worked up.
Ask yourself honestly: Do you not try and find the smuttiest shit on the overnet and bang one out?” Alice clapped her hands, then splayed them outward as if she was genuinely expecting the class to agree with her. Naturally, she was met with a large wall of silence, but smiled as if she had heard raucous applause.
David grimaced from the second-hand embarrassment as he picked up the red crayon and began to fill in the body of the dragon he was working on. He had done his best to draw wrapped around the bottom of the tower, though to the average viewer it probably looked more like it had been stabbed clean through by the building. He wouldn’t say he was anywhere near a fantastic artist (especially when using gigantic crayons for detailing work), but personally he was quietly pleased with the result. A slumbering ancient beast, just like the stories he had read growing up often spoke about. Such creatures often guarded treasure like precious gems, rare software, or even royalty that had been captured and imprisoned.
And speaking of royalty…
David raised his eyes to look at the top of Lucas’s head, where a silver tiara rested. When he had entered the classroom for the day, it had been immediately apparent that a few things had changed. The most notable was that his old seat was free…and that every seat around it was empty, save one. Lucas looked just as yesterday, while also somehow being Different in an intangible way that even David could pick up on. It was like the guy had woken up for the first time, his eyes actually looking at you and not just through you anymore.
And, of course, there was the newfound acceptance of florethood. And the new name. And um…the other things. A wide and carefree smile hadn’t wavered (despite leaking something purple out of her mouth), an unquenchable urge to wiggle unceasingly, and eyes that were certainly much more in line with the florets David had seen. Lucas…Violet’s gaze were somewhere between the one of someone half asleep, and the eyes of an animal without sapience. The terran had clearly been drugged out of her mind and filled with a bunch of affini bullshit. But unlike David, who appeared able to shrug it off…well. Violet was currently learning how to paint her nails, judging by the mess she had made of her desk and her fingers.
“Hi Davie!”, was how she had greeted him, along with a wildly over-the-top waving of her hand. “How are you t’day?”
He stared back, unable to process the transformation in front of him, finally mumbling “I’m fine, thanks.” Not waiting for an answer, David slid into his seat and promptly ignored everything around him while trying to process this whole new bundle of informational overload layered over the existing one. Unfortunately, that went about as well as the last few plans he had made went.
Because of course Violet would not shut the hell up about things, and of course Alice had to go and chat with her for a few minutes. Violet had told Alice all about how her Mistress had helped her last night, and how she felt so much happier and better now that she had accepted who she was meant to be, both as a woman and a floret. She and Alice then hugged…and hugged…and hugged more, to the point that Miss Vee eventually had to come over and extricate Alice from Violet’s lap so class could get a move on.
David thought back to the florets he had met before all this had happened. Had all of them been transgender? It certainly fucking felt like it now, with Alice, Claire, Violet…and David might as well throw Potts on there as well, judging by what he had said yesterday. It was fucking ridiculous, honestly. Weren’t trans folks supposed to be, like, a small percentage of the population or something? He remembered some of the statistics when he searched online once; surely this dense a population of trans florets wasn’t just a cosmic coincidence.
And looking down at the dress Motzie had stuffed him in made his heart only sink lower. Was that her endgame? Was Motzie an undertaker measuring him for a coffin, only instead of a literal one, his was to be made of frills and lace and collars and drugs. His anger began to bubble over to the point he almost tore the paper with how firmly he was pressing, only managing to get ahold of himself well after he had completely ruined the drawing with a series of large red slashes carved across the page. Great, and now his government-appointed therapist plant would probably ask about that, too. His Mother’s words rang out in his head: useless, failure, disappointment.
Fuck, it all felt hopeless. The only thing really keeping him afloat from drowning in his emotions was the thought that maybe, just maybe…he could get 25’s help on all this. Unlike literally everyone else he had met in the Compact, 25 seemed to actually not be a manipulative weirdo or a pervert. Maybe 25 could, like, talk to Motzie or something? Get her to lay off David so much, and let him wear normal-ass clothing. Or even get him out of this stupid fucking school!
“Psssst…Davie?”
Violet’s whisper managed to slip through the storm clouds forming around David’s head, causing him to look up at her and gruffly reply, “What?”
Violet had twisted herself halfway around in her chair, grabbing onto the back of it like she was clinging to a cliff. She tilted her head to the left, out towards the rest of the crew. “They’re kind of, um, scaring me…what do I do?” David glanced out at the others, about half of which were covertly and the other half openly displaying hostility towards Violet- and by extension, David. The Captain in particular looked downright murderous, staring the two down with an intensity that implied he was thinking of very specific scenarios involving the three of them and a knife. David swallowed the lump in his throat, suddenly very glad for the gap in desks between them all.
He gave Violet a once-over out of the corner of his eye. “Why are you asking me?”
Violet bit her lip and mumbled with a blush, “Mistress told me to ask a friend for help if I needed it, and um…I don’t think anyone else is my friend right now. I, um…can I hold your hand, maybe?” He…she held a hand out backwards for David to accept, the messy nail polish job still glistening and wet.
David recoiled as if he had been shot. “No, I’m fine. Just…just keep your head down and ignore it. You’re a starsdamned adult, L…Violet.” He fixed his gaze down at the page, not daring to look up at her. “Just deal with the problem and it’ll eventually go away.”
“I…oh.” Violet’s voice had gone wavery and quiet. “S…um, sorry.” She shuffled back to face the front, and he didn’t hear a single peep out of her after that. And that was fine. What, did Violet really fucking think he was going to hold her hand? In front of all the others? In front of all the affini watching just on the other side of that blackboard? No, no, and no. It wasn’t his fault that she had chosen this path, and it wasn’t his fault that she couldn’t handle it. He buried the definitely-not-guilt in the bottom of a mental chest, then kicked it off a cliff. It wasn’t his fault.
It wasn’t his fault.
It wasn’t his fault.
“Hey David? You’re, um, you’re scratching at your collar. Is it not comfy?” He nearly leapt out of his skin as Alice gently rested her hand on his shoulder; realizing class had ended when he was stewing in his head, the entire room was now empty save for himself, Alice, and Miss V…Vera. He hastily stood up, forcing his hands to remain still by his side.
“Yeah, it's fine. Are we ready to go?” Vera reached past him and carefully picked up the drawing and his crayons, storing them in her after looking over his creation.
“Yes, dear. Motzie is going to be heading out a few minutes after us, but we can set off now if you’d-”
“Yes! Um, yeah, that’d work for me.” David nodded rapidly as relief washed through him in waves. Not having Motzie nearby and getting to see 25 as soon as possible? Yes, please. He took a few stumbling steps towards the exit, then promptly remembered he had no idea where he was heading and needed to follow. He impatiently waited for Vera to set off, then followed behind her and Alice, crossing his arms over his chest and hoping to any deities listening that no one was going to comment on the obvious dude wearing a dress. They exited the school building on the opposite side from normal, heading along a wide brick path to some kind of sky-rail transport system. He could worry about how cool that sounded when he wasn’t freaking the hell out and so excited that he could barely sit still.
They boarded the railcar and took a seat near the front, which had a floor-to-ceiling glass panel offering breathtaking views as they quickly lifted up to the…well. Not the sky in the normal sense of the word, at least. The ship they were on operated on the same principles of pseudo-gravity that terran ships did: spin some rings on a central axis, then live on them. Easy enough.
Except, of course, that affini ships were orders of magnitude larger than even the largest terran ships, with the Illastria stretching just over a hundred starsdamned kilometers from bow to stern. And while as much as half of the ship was made up of engines and other important things, the half in the front was still fucking gigantic. Each ring was (according to Vera) twenty kilometers in diameter. Twenty fucking kilometers. And while apparently the rings themselves were thick as all hell, it was apparently still over ten kilometers from one side of the inner surface to the other. The land was so far away that the atmosphere tinted it heavily blue, creating an uncanny feeling that the other side of the ring was almost underwater.
Alice broke him out of his thoughts with a tap on his shoulder. “So like, how’d you and 25 meet, anyway? I haven’t spoken to them a lot yet, but I heard they were busy meeting folks, right?”
David leaned back in his seat, keeping his head tilted up in thought. “Yeah, I met 25 online. There was this forum where folks would post that was, like…um…” He paused, trying to think of how best to describe ‘the place he went to vent about affini bullshit’ to a floret without upsetting said floret (or her Owner). He finally settled on, “It was a good space for talking about our collective struggles fitting into the Compact.”
Alice nodded sagely. “Oh, gotcha! Yeah, I wasn’t allowed to talk with any of the other folks 25 met for a while, since they all kept posting on feral sites and were pretty nasty. But then a lot of them turned out to be great florets, and then I was allowed to talk with them a whole bunch!” She wiggled in place and continued excitedly, “I’m really interested to meet the sophont that links all of you together, you know? We have a chatroom together, but it's just not the same as meeting someone in person, y’know?”
David blinked and mumbled, “Uh, yeah.” He hadn’t really paid close attention to what she just said, having been busy thinking about what exactly he was going to do when he met 25 again. Maybe 25 could get him in contact with someone who had guy clothes that didn’t itch to hell and back? Or maybe a Terran doctor who could figure out how to get his skin’s sensitivity back to normal? Stars, there were so many possibilities…ah, that settles it. His first priority would have to be to get 25’s username, so David could contact them at a later date.
Alice kept going on about someone named Jess who kept hogging all of 25’s time, but David mostly tuned it out as the railcar coasted down to their destination, arriving at the station with nary a bump. They disembarked and set off towards a more crowded area, where storefronts and shops lined every street. It was definitely one of the more Affini-heavy parts of the ship, to the point that the air itself felt more perfumed than normal from all the scents they all released so damn constantly. David shook his head a bit, trying to clear it and focus.
He just needed to hold out a little longer. 25 had given him so much advice already, all clearly to help David be independent!
“Oh, you should tell 25 about all the fun you’ve had in your Wardship! They made sure you’d get one and all, so I bet they’d be really excited to hear how well you’re doing!” Alice patted his shoulder, oblivious to the way David’s footsteps stumbled a bit. She added, “It's honestly great that they brought so much attention to you and the others; it might’ve taken way longer to help you out, you know? Oh! We’re here!”
They had arrived at a corner in the road, though Alice had stopped them about five feet before the corner itself, so he couldn’t see around it. The floret checked her tablet, then turned to face David and commanded him to, “Stay here until I give a whistle. It’ll be a fun surprise, okay? Okay!”
She had darted off before he had a chance to respond to any of that, leaving him standing awkwardly next to Vera, who smiled at him with far too many teeth when he glanced at her. He would have to see if he couldn’t get 25 alone and away from all the affini, if he was going to get to say his piece honestly. It was a fantastic bit of luck that Motzie wasn't here, honestly. She probably would have kept way too close, judging by how she-
A familiar set of vines landed on his shoulder from behind him. “Ah, there you are sweetie.” His stomach fell as he recognized the voice immediately, though Motzie sounded…different than normal. The melodic notes hidden in her voice, the way it seemed almost to precede the words themselves…was missing entirely. It was like a chord made up entirely of awkward notes, setting his teeth on edge in a way wholly unlike a Terran ever could.
When he turned to look at her, he figured out why. Her eyes were aglow with red and orange in a way that was fucking terrifying, causing him to take a few steps back just to give himself some space. Every other emotion roiling through him was extinguished in an instant, save blind fucking panic that left him almost shaking.
“Now, I recall you had promised to be on your best behavior before this little outing. And while I fully believed you were doing much better up until now, I just received a report from Miss Effluviae that you had said some hurtful words to her precious Violet?”
David shook his head hard. “I…I didn’t do that! I just…they asked for my help, but I was, um…” Oh fuck, of course they were going to take Violet’s side on this. But it wasn’t his fault! He had tried to be normal and civil, and politely tell Violet not to bother him! It wasn’t fair that, just because Violet couldn’t take some sensible advice, he was getting yelled at for it. David tried to stand his ground as Motzie took another step closer, but still flinched as a few extra eyes opened on her arms. All looking at him.
“We will of course review the recordings to see exactly what happened, but I’m afraid that Violet has no reason to lie anymore. Andraste was very clear that her Violet had turned over a new leaf last night.” She shook her head in disappointment, even as she motioned for them to begin walking around the corner. Moments later, David heard an ear-piercing whistle, as if Motzie had somehow known Alice was ready. She continued, “I won’t begrudge meeting with your little friend, but when we get home you and I are going to be discussing this at length.”
David’s throat felt like it had gone a bit dry. Discussion. He knew what that meant. He would be sat in a chair, and then would have to quietly acquiesce as someone with all the power alternated between over-the-top yelling and bone-chilling statements. He would have to tone out most of the words so the barbs didn’t dig into his skin, and then he would feel all…empty and distant for the next day or two. He fucking hated it.
…But maybe he didn’t have to, if he could convince her that he was right. He began to respond as they turned the corner, revealing a quieter street connecting two larger ones. There weren’t many entrances to buildings, so the only folks on it were a few xenos passing by, and a few florets hanging out near the other side-
Oh.
Except that one of the florets was 25. Undoubtedly, absolutely the same person David had met at the asteroid. The same hair (or maybe a bit longer?), the same features, the same practiced and careful way they held themselves, as if trying to convince the world around them that 25 was relaxed, but instead landing directly into the uncanny valley of body language.
25 was sitting and chatting to Alice and a third floret (and of course, that third one was practically glued to 25’s side), and they…no, he was wearing a floret dress even more ridiculous than Davids. 25 had been transgender the whole time. Had to have been. It explained why his hair was long, it explained why he ‘helped’ David so much. The anger boiled and bubbled and blew open into full-blown rage, then a frighteningly calm fury that chilled him to the bone.
Because David was right now, he was sure of it. It hadn’t been David’s fault.
It was HIS fault.
25 stood up as they approached, holding out a hand and casually saying, “David! How’s it going?”
As if a handshake could make up for 25 being the whole reason he was in this fucking mess. He had clearly been convinced he was trans too, and roped David into his bullshit and then lied. 25 had told him all these things but left out how fucking hopeless it all was. He lied.
It was his fault, not David’s.
David felt his collar buzz slightly as it began to beep. Fuckssake, now he was going to get drugged before even getting to ‘talk’ with 25. Maybe that was Motzie’s plan all along; give him hope only to rip it cleanly away. Except it wasn’t clean, it was a raw and bloody wound made out of betrayal and loathing and he hated how hurt he felt by this. They were supposed to be nice. They were supposed to be understanding. They were supposed to see he was an Independent.
Well, fuck Motzie.
No, fuck all of them .
If all they could see was a feral, maybe it was about time he fucking acted like one. If he was already going to be punished, he might as well be punished for something real and not just because he hurt Lucas’s feelings.
He didn’t care how stupid it was, or how there was no fucking way he was going to be able to hit a floret if 25 was even half as good as Alice was. He didn’t care, he didn’t care.
He just needed to let it all out. He had tried so damn hard to fit in, to follow along, to hide his true feelings. And for nothing. What did he have to lose?
He stepped forward and anchored his foot firmly, before winding back his left and swinging as hard and as fast as he could, his eyes half shut in sheer focus on channeling every iota of himself into this one last moment.
…And then it connected.
And David felt as 25’s cheek was pushed back, his body following a moment later as David followed through. David felt a brilliant star of pain from his knuckles as his body’s nerves caught up to the rest of him, the agony lancing up his arm as he suffered the consequences of throwing the first serious punch in his life and impacting solid bone.
And fuck, it felt good. It felt Right. It was his raised middle finger to everything that was this cornucopia of bullshit, and he relished how both of the other florets gasped in shock.
“Screw-” was all David managed to get out before he felt his collar constrict, and then a sharp pinch on his neck as it injected him with something. David’s eyes went slack and he collapsed immediately as the world began to unfocus around him, though rather than hit solid ground he felt Motzie’s vines bind him tighter than they ever had before, hard enough to hurt. He tried to open his mouth, tried to scream, but it was like every muscle in his body had lost contact with his brain and his brain was quickly shutting down after them. He was locked in his body like a prison, unable to move so much as a finger as he watched everyone finally begin moving again, springing into action to check on 25. Because in their eyes, he had done nothing wrong. Fuck, 25 had probably lied about all of it. He had doubtless planned out this whole stupid gauntlet David had gone through, all so David would be broken and reformed into a perfect pet. Jokes on him; he convinced David to rebel far better than the Captain ever had.
Eventually 25 managed to clamber up to his feet, though by then David was lying on the ground. He and Motzie exchanged words in the weird planty language (yet another sign of this being a setup if there ever was one), though 25 switched to Terran fairly quickly.
“Can she understand me right now, Motz?” David fumed at that. She? She? So what, were they all in on this now? All of them convinced they knew better? Fuck them. He wished he could punch 25 with his other hand, show them all how much of a woman David really was.
25 knelt down next to David, his right eye already beginning to swell. Despite this, his gaze almost looked…pitying. What David wouldn’t do for the ability to spit in 25’s face. He wasn’t helping David. Help would be letting him escape. Help would be not telling the affini to put David in a Wardship.
“David…fuck. I don’t know what the last few days have been like for you, but…” 25 sighed, looking away for a moment before meeting his eyes again. “Let Motzie know when you wanna talk to me about this, I guess. She’ll decide if you’re ready.”
David tried to release a string of expletives as he felt said affini pick him up, but they came out as a completely garbled mess of letters. “Hush” was all Motzie offered, closing his mouth with her vines and holding it shut until he finally gave up. They were moving away from the rest now, he could tell by the way the buildings slid by. It was strange; Motzie’s vines no longer felt as soft as they normally did. It was like they were rough wood instead of soft silk, like branches from a tree keeping him from falling as Motzie wove through the crowds. One of her vines shifted in a way that bumped into his left hand, causing David to hiss from the sharp spike of pain that drove up his arm anew. That did seem to get the affini’s attention, as she carefully picked up his arm and examined his hand with a careful eye. He moaned as she briefly tried to bend his fingers outward, then let them curl back into the loose fist instead.
“...I see. It appears that you have fractured your hand. Don’t worry- it doesn’t appear to be too bad, but it does change my plans somewhat. Fortunately, I am nothing if not adaptable.” She held up her tablet and pressed a button of some sort, and his collar beeped before pinching him again and-
If the last drug had knocked out his body, this one was like a thick blanket wrapping around his mind. He struggled against it for a few seconds out of sheer adrenaline, but that could only last so long against the chemical hand pressing his consciousness firmly into the floor of his skull. The last thing David heard before slipping into a dreamless sleep was Motzie almost singing, “Let’s get you off to the Sniffles Ward, okay? We’ll get all our problems sorted soon, you have my word~”