Dog of War

The door to the kitchen slid open at that moment, Miss Dawnbloom leading Miss Verdun back into the common area. Each carried a few large bowls and trays. "Alright cuties, we have popcorn, gummy worms, cupcakes, cookies, chocolate, juice drinks, and there will be pizza later so don't eat too much, okay!" Miss Dawnbloom said as the two Affini laid the snacks out before them. They then sat together on the couch, mirroring the Terrans.

 

"Oo, thanks Mistress!" Daisy immediately grabbed a few of the gummy worms and two cookies, offering one to Princess as she munched on her own.

 

"So did you two decide on a movie?" Miss Verdun asked.

 

Ah, they had forgotten about that. Luckily the cookie was good enough that they didn't feel the sting of embarrassment. Melty chocolate and soft, sweet pastry had them humming with delight.

 

The other stuff looks good too, and we haven't had pizza yet. 

 

"Nope! Princess said I could pick but then we talked about other stuff n' I got distracted. I think we should do girl stuff first! Movies are usually after people get settled in, anyways."

 

"I think that's a wonderful idea, petal!" Her owner praised while giving her a pet that they did not feel a little envious of. 

 

Princess raised an eyebrow. "Girl stuff?" 

 

"Yeah! Like makeup or talking about your crush or whatever!" Daisy cheered before pouting. "Oh I guess we're already dating, and you still aren't supposed to see yourself in the mirror, hmmm..." She rubbed her chin as though she was working out one of the great mysteries of life. "Do you know how to apply makeup?"

 

"Does camouflage face paint count?"

 

"That would be a no. Miss Verdun already did your hair too..." Daisy let out a long, lowgroan. 

 

Miss Dawnbloom interrupted by giving her a few scritches near her implant with her hand, causing her to gasp and shudder. Was that what they looked like when Miss Verdun pet them? "You're thinking too hard, pet."

 

She melted into the attention. "Y-yesh Mistresssss." 

 

"Why don't you do her nails? I doubt Princess ever painted her nails before." Miss Dawnbloom shot a quick conspiratorial glance to Miss Verdun that made them worry.

 

Daisy, for her part, perked up as though she was handed some great treasure. "Yeah!!! C'mon Princess, lemme paint your nails!"

 

There was some angle to this, the Affini were plotting something . As to what, Princess had no idea. They thought it over as they finished eating the cookie. Fuck It was hard to say no to Daisy when she looked so excited. Some part of them wanted to try it too. They were a girl now, so they should at least give some other girl stuff a shot, right? Whatever the Affini were up to, they'd just have to deal with or endure as it came up. "Alright."

 

"Yaaayyy!" Daisy pumped her fists in the air, her enthusiasm contagious. "I think a nice pink would suit a girly girl like you~"

 

"Girly girl?" 

 

"I think that's a wonderful idea!" Miss Verdun got up, taking a moment to separate from Miss Dawnbloom. "I'll be right back with some polish." 

 

There was no parting pet this time, which was fine . Princess might enjoy being pet but it's not like they wanted her to pet them. She returned as quickly as she left, and set down a small folding table in front of them. Upon the table she placed three small bottles. Two of them were clear, but the third was remarkably similar to the Affini's own pinks. "There, I hope you like the color I picked out for you~" She brushed a vine through their hair that they pressed into. Every small touch from the Affini reminded them that they were safe now, and they savored them all. 

 

Coming back down to reality from the all-too-brief pet, Princess found Daisy looking at them smugly. "It's- C-can we-" They cleared their throat, "So, what do we need to do?"

 

"Oh, nothin' really." Daisy sang as she moved to sit across from them, rearranging some pillows. She cracked open one of the clear bottles. "Just give me your hands, and don't touch anything until your nails are dry." 

 

Sounded simple enough. Princess adjusted the bear to lean against them and held out both hands. Daisy took the left one first, and began carefully applying the clear polish. It was clear she had a lot of practice, each nail being evenly coated in one smooth motion. Strange, given that they had never seen her with painted nails before. "Remember to not let your nails touch anything !" She reminded, as she finished applying the polish to their left hand and started working on their right. 

 

It was then that the Affini moved themselves off the couch, now sitting around the two of them. Miss Dawnbloom fed her pet and they realized what the Affini had been plotting. 

 

Honestly, she could have just asked. 

 

They might as well preempt it so they didn't have to wait for snacks. She'd probably wait until they asked anyway. "Miss Verdun."

 

"Yes, Princess?"

 

"Do you think you could feed me while Daisy does my nails?"

 

"Of course, petal~" An expected tap later, and they were fed a bite of a delicious and moist cupcake. The subsequent petting however took them by surprise. A vine stopped their arm before their hand brushed against the nearby pillow. "Just relax and let me handle everything, okay?" Miss Verdun's vines wrapped around their arms up to their fingers, keeping them still.

 

Oh. That was... markedly more severe than just feeding them. She was close now, it was getting hard to think. Her warmth burned away any opposing thoughts, blanketing them in a nice safe feeling. It was alright if she pampered them, that was normal for a princess. "Okayyy." It was easier to let her handle it anyways.

 

They were rewarded with another bite of the wonderful cupcake. "Good girls~"

 

Princess couldn't help but grin stupidly. They were good girls! If Miss Verdun hadn't been taking care of them, they certainly would have messed up the polish. 

 

"All done!" Daisy announced, screwing the cap back on the bottle. "Well, with the base coat at least. It needs to dry a little first."

 

"Oh, uh, how long will that take?" 

 

"Just a minute or two; this Affini-made stuff is way better all around." Daisy tapped the pink bottle. "We gotta do two coats of this, and then the top coat. 'Nother twenty or thirty minutes of painting, but you still can't use your hands about an hour after, cuz you can still smudge it until it's totally dry. Course once I'm done painting them, we can just start the movie! They should be done before we finish." 

 

Miss Verdun fed them more cupcake, followed by a gummy worm- a sweet and slightly sour candy with a novel chewiness to it. An hour or so of pampering was fine, it was normal for a princess to rely on others. Just sitting there doing nothing didn't feel right, they should at least make conversation. "Are you gonna do your nails?"

 

"Nah. I used to do 'em all the time, but that was less because I liked having them done and more so people would take me seriously as a woman or whatever." Daisy cracked open the pink nail polish, and Miss Verdun let her take their hand. She began to apply it. "Same deal with makeup, really. It was less of a thing I liked doing and more something people would treat me poorly if I didn't do. Not that it's not fun time to time, but it was definitely more a 'societal pressure' thing than me enjoying it. It also was a bit annoying 'cause, like, I was having trouble remembering to eat, let alone find the energy to make food, and doing makeup and nails and making sure I'm presentable on top of it definitely ate at my energy fast. And not doing it made me depressed. But then Mistress helped me out! Now I don't do either and I'm a lot happier." Daisy finished the hand and moved to the next, pausing as her Mistress gave her a few bites of a cupcake. 

 

"Of course, that's just me. You get to have your own whole little exploration of gender 'n identity 'n junk! And I know Miss Verdun is willing to help you out like Mistress helped me! And I'm always willing to talk about it with you, cause you're my girlfriend!"

 

"I see..." Princess mumbled. Miss Verdun eased their mind with the final bite of the cupcake, and they swallowed with a sigh.  "We're not sure if we really get that though. How do you know if you like something because you like it, as opposed to just liking the way it makes people look at you?" 

 

"Hmmm," Daisy finished the first coat for their right hand. "That's a tricky one. You like being pet even though it makes you look like a floret and you still wanna be independent, right?"

 

"Uhm-"

 

Her owner gave her a sip from a juicebox, "An' you like being a girl and wearing all those frilly outfits, yeah?"

 

"M-Miss Verdun chooses our clothes..." That was normal for a princess, and they were cute, and felt nice. A vine stroking through their hair quelled any worries. 

 

Another cupcake would be nice though . 

 

Daisy snorted, "Yeah I figured as much, but you like 'em, yeah?"

 

They nodded, and Miss Verdun fed them another cookie. 

 

Fuck, Those are really good. 

 

"So what do you think about this color?" Daisy tapped their palm, and Miss Verdun raised their hand. Each nail glimmered in the light, glossy and still wet. They weren't just close to the shade of the pink flecks that adorned her flowers, or could be caught in her shimmering eyes, they were the exact shade. Something about that made the fuzzy feeling in their chest grow. 

 

"It's... nice." Princess averted their eyes, blushing.

 

"Ha, yeah, it really suits you." Daisy stuffed a cookie in her mouth and her owner retrieved it as she started painting their nails again. "You could see about trying a few other shades, and not painting them, to see if it's something you wanna do." 

 

Doing it this one time was certainly novel, at the very least. Another thing to consider, they supposed. Maybe a purple could be nice if they decided to do it again? But did they like it because the colors were pretty and it made them feel feminine, or did it only make them feel feminine because they knew it was a thing girls did? Was it wrong to like something purely because it made them feel a little more like a girl? They sighed. 

 

This gender stuff keeps getting more complex all the time. 

 

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" 

 

"It feels like the more we try to solve this 'identity' thing, the more questions it brings up. Do you ever fully figure it out? Does it ever stop?"

 

"First off-" She held up a finger, as though to count, before immediately resuming painting their nails. "You've only been at this for like, a week and change. It took me years to figure myself out, and I still needed help in the end. This stuff takes time, so be a little patient with yourself! You gotta experiment and try stuff and sometimes that stuff doesn't fit! Secondly-" She flashed two fingers. "Yes and no. You'll likely come to more or less know who you are and be comfortable with that at some point. Although you might reach a point where you think you understand yourself, only to have a realization that'll upend that understanding, like, totally! Also people grow and change 'cause that's just life! You weren't exactly the same twenty years ago as you were ten, yeah?"  Daisy screwed the cap back onto the nail polish to punctuate her statement. 

 

Princess blinked. That was... remarkably sound advice. It was also fairly close to what Miss Nele had said yesterday. Maybe stressing over such things was just counterproductive. They should just try to enjoy the process of self discovery. "You know a lot about this stuff, huh?"

 

"I may be a bit spacey, but I'm not stupid ." Daisy touched her hand to her chest proudly, "I did take gender studies while in college, y'know."

 

"We never got to go to college, or an actual school at all." Princess shrugged. They felt a shift in Miss Verdun behind them; she was nervous.

 

"Really? Woulda thought a nerd like you would have had some schooling."

 

"It's not that, our education was just more... vocational. And private." That was the best way they could think to put it, without getting too close to the wounds of their past. It still put a sour taste in their mouth. 

 

"Why don't you two talk about what movie you're going to watch instead?" Miss Verdun forcibly changed the subject. "You haven't decided yet, right?"

 

"Oo, yeah!" Daisy opened the remaining bottle. "You've only seen The Stars Betwixt, yeah?"

 

"And documentaries," they clarified. 

 

"Still doesn't count!" Daisy took their hand and began to apply the final coat. "That leaves a lot of options, huh? Hmmm...."

 

"Well, how about you two watch that old 21st century Terran mech movie? It's your favorite!" Miss Dawnbloom suggested. 

 

"Oh, I haven't watched that in ages! I think Princess will love it!"

 

"The 21st century did not have mechs? The first combat capable ones did not debut until the late 23rd century and they were too clunky to be worth using. It wasn't until Raytheon-Lockheed pioneered the first neural interfaces in Mechs in the 2340s that-"

 

"Princess it is a movie . Fiction. You gotta suspend your disbelief. There weren't giant aliens invading earth through a portal either. Trust me, it's cool." Daisy applied the top coat to the final finger, smugly proclaiming 'done' as she did so, before falling backwards into her owner's vines.  

 

Miss Verdun's leaves rustled in agitation. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Cordelia. Is it violent?"

 

Miss Dawnbloom nodded. "There is some, yes, but there is a floret cut we can watch."

 

"Awww, the floret cut? But I-" Daisy shuddered suddenly. "Watch that all the time, because I'm a floret!" She shivered again, a blissful look on her face as her Mistress gave her a few pets. " Stars ..."

 

Who do they think they are fooling with such a blatant display?

 

Princess did say Daisy could pick though, and they didn't have anything better to watch. "Sure, why not? It could be fun to see what the 21st century thought mechs would be like."

 

"Yayyy." Daisy weakly cheered, still cradled in her owner's vines. "You're gonna love it. Mistress, can I cuddle with Princess now?"

 

"Of course, petal." Miss Dawnbloom wasn't the only Affini to move. Miss Verdun shifted them to face the TV, keeping their arms still and fingers separate. The Terrans were sitting together between their respective Affini now, the various snacks laid out before them. Daisy leaned in against them, wrapping both arms around their waist. Princess quietly lamented that they couldn't return the hug, but another scritch and a cupcake quickly improved their mood.  

 

The room dimmed as the TV powered on, and Daisy vibrated with excitement as the opening credits played. "I'm really happy to share this with you, it's a really fun movie." Princess leaned into Daisy, enjoying her excitement. It was a bit of a pity they couldn't wrap their arms around her, with Miss Verdun still immobilizing them, but Daisy picked up on the hint and latched onto them. 

 

Miss Verdun fed them bits of popcorn, and gave the occasional sip of juice as it played. The premise was fairly simple: aliens were invading Terra, still called 'Earth' at the time, and causing havoc that required many cities to be evacuated. Novelly, the invasion wasn't from space, but from a portal deep below the sea. The governments of the world had united to fight them, inventing the mechs. The designs were pitiful, full of obvious and glaring weak points, but Princess held their tongue. 

 

The shielding is non existent, the armor plating is lacking, and who the hell would put the cockpit in the head? Everyone knows the weak point of a mech is the pilot. 

 

Princess had thought of no less than a dozen ways they could disable such a machine when the trouble they were asking for found them. One of the monsters had incapacitated the lead's mech, and his brother had to retire on account of an injury. Due to their unique connection, something the story required for the use of the Mechs, the lead had to retire as well. The action had died off a little, leaving room to comment. "You know the drift stuff isn't really that far off."

 

"Oh yeah?"

 

"They used to use tandem neural links in order to operate most Mechs, doing so unassisted is too much for a Terran mind. It's a bit backwards, though; neural linking with another person forces you two closer, it doesn’t require you to have compatibility beforehand. It can make it hard to tell who's who, and that takes a toll in its own way. These days, we just use specialized AIs to do a lot of the heavy lifting, but it's not uncommon for pilot and AI lines to get blurred. Especially if the same pilot and AI have been working together for some time."

 

"Huh. Did you use to pilot mechs? You seem to know a lot about them." 

 

"...No. We handled the clean up when those lines got too blurry." 

 

They felt the concern from Miss Verdun before she spoke, her vines tightening around their arms slightly. "Uhm, dear, are you sure you'll be alright watching this?"

 

"We can totally watch something else!" 

 

Princess shook their head. "It's fine. We want to see this; it's Daisy's favorite, after all."

 

Daisy cuddled in a bit closer, "Awwwh, you love me."

 

"Maybe." They stuck their tongue out at the pet. It was then that a new character introduced themselves- and addressed the lead as 'Mister Becket.' 

 

The movie stopped immediately. "Okay little one, I really think we should watch something else."

 

"Ooh, yeah. Kinda forgot about that, sorry." Daisy winced. "In my defence, it's hard to think of Princess as anything but Princess."

 

Miss Dawnbloom soothed her pet, "It's not your fault, petal, you aren't responsible for yourself. It's my job to remember those things for you."

 

"It's fine."

 

"Princess?" Concern was heavy in Miss Verdun's voice.

 

"We're fine. It took us a little off guard, but that's not our name, and it wasn't our name then. You should know that Beckett was just one of nearly a dozen identities we used. We want to watch the movie." 

 

"Are you certain? It was the one you were using most recently. I can probably get Jess to censor any future uses of it if you want."

 

Princess shook their head. "It's fine. It doesn't bother us. Honestly, the amount of glaring weaknesses in the mechs bug us more. We're enjoying the movie so far, and would like to finish it."

 

Miss Dawnbloom exchanged a look with Miss Verdun before she spoke again, giving them a few wonderful scritches. "Alright, petal. But if it starts upsetting you, I want you tell me right away, alright?"

 

"M-hm." The movie finally resumed, and Miss Verdun gave them one of her berries. The berry burst in their mouth, obliterating all their other senses momentarily just so their taste could fully appreciate the depths of the flavor. A thousand kinds of sweet, with somewhat savory undertones. Rich and decadent as even the best chocolate. 

 

Fucking hell Those are good! 

 

There was a bit of drama playing out on screen when they came back to it. The girl was the only character that the lead was interested in entering the drift in, but she carried a lot of baggage that made it unstable. It was also made fairly evident that the monsters were metaphors for the ecological collapse that started getting bad in the early 21st century. They even classified them in categories up to five. 

 

The plan to collapse the portal seemed silly; using Mechs to escort a destabilizing device was bound to draw attention. A number of nuclear submarines from the era could easily carry out the same mission stealthily, and possessed greater speed than the mechs seemed to have. They could even utilize the mechs elsewhere as a distraction. At this point, Princess had given up on any of the military tactics making sense. The movie was clearly aiming more for spectacle than hard science fiction. They just had to turn off the analytical part of their brain and enjoy the ride.

 

It very much delivered on the spectacle once they had. The last big fight after that was intense, even though it cut away from the action frequently. Like the last two sequences, characters that clearly were meant to die showed up to quickly announce 'retirement,' before disappearing from the narrative. Earlier, the black market character had just walked off and wasn't seen again. Even so, it was impossible to stay annoyed when Daisy would lean over every so often to gush about the cinematography, or how much she liked certain parts, or to sneak in a quick smooch. In the end, the characters managed to destabilize the portal at the cost of a few more 'retirements.' The conflict was over, something the leads celebrated with a tender moment.

 

Daisy pulled herself into their lap, and gave Princess a deep kiss. The vines holding their arms hostage finally retracted, letting them pull her closer. The movie was pretty good, but it didn't compare to this.  

 

The lights slowly came back on, and they separated. "Thanks for watching that with me."

 

"Of course." Princess flexed their fingers, cracking the joints. It felt good to have their hands back. They took advantage of it, grabbing the last cupcake from the nearby tray and picking up Mister Bear. "What do you want to do now? You mentioned playing a video game?"

 

Daisy lit up, bouncing in their lap. "Yeah! I wanna play Super Smash Sophonts with you, it's really fun! It's a rework of this really old game series where you try to knock each other out of the ring, but the Affini touched it up a bunch and balanced the characters and added a ton !"

 

"So like wrestling?" They were good at that. 

 

"Uh, yeah, kinda like wrestling! I'm pretty good though, and it's more fun when it isn't just one on one." Daisy looked to the Affini, "Do either of you wanna play?"

 

"Actually, Camila and I were going to get the plizza ready now, but why don't you two have fun?" Miss Dawnbloom gave her a headpat as she got up. "We'll just be about half an hour, okay?"

 

"Awww, okay. I guess I gotta teach Princess how to play first anyways." 

 

Miss Verdun followed suit, getting up after her. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me, okay Princess?"

 

"A-alright." 

 

The Affini turned to leave, and Princess felt a pang of worry. Was Miss Verdun really going to leave without giving them even a small parting touch? As if sensing this, she immediately turned back around, giving them a few scritches under their chin that made them melt. Another vine joined in, stroking through their hair. "It's just thirty minutes, petal, and I'll be just one room over. You just enjoy yourselves and I'll be right back."

 

"Yes, Miss..." Princess mumbled, half dazed.  

 

"Good girl~" The vines gave them one last vigorous bit of attention that made them gasp. They were a good girl!

 

Princess nearly whined as the vines retracted, why did they have to stop? The fog in their head faded as the Affini left the room, and they came back down to find Daisy, smiling at them smugly. "Don't say a word," They grumbled, their cheeks burning. 

 

"Wasn't gonna, Miss Independent~" Daisy paraded across the pet bed and pulled two controllers out from a storage compartment underneath the TV. She skipped back over, handing them a controller and collapsing next to them. "Jess, can you start up Super Smash Sophonts please?"

 

"Of course, cuties!"

-_-_-_-

Camila couldn't recall if she ever felt this vibrantly happy before. Her vines were curling and unfurling, wriggling with delight, her leaves rustling, her flowers in full bloom. She had barely been able to contain herself long enough to make it to the kitchen. "Did you hear that, Cordelia?!"

 

"I did."

 

"She called me Miss !!! On her own!" 

 

Cordelia chuckled. "I know love, I was right there." 

 

Camila could hardly contain herself as she gathered the materials for the pizza. "She was actually worried I might leave without petting her! Stars , I don't know how I managed to keep it together! She was just so precious ! I'm absolutely going to have to grab that footage from the security cameras!" 

 

There was a beep from the compiler, and Cordelia retrieved a pizza base from within. "It's good to see you this happy, you deserve it." The other Affini slid up behind her, massaging the dough into a circle in front of her. Having her this close had her core practically vibrating. Goodness, there was no way she didn't notice! "You know, you could probably break her tonight. I suspect the fear she held about a potential collar was the main source of her resistance. Without it, I'd be surprised if Princess could put up much of a struggle. She's even craving your touch now. Two days should be plenty of time for her to recover for the festival."

 

It was a very tempting prospect, however... "I actually was already planning on doing it at the Flower Festival, after the little ones have had some time to enjoy themselves."

 

" At the festival? I knew you were always a romantic, but goodness Camila." Cordelia span the dough, giving it a flip, and started folded the edges over for the crust. "Now, I'm not trying to second guess you, but are you sure that's wise?" 

 

Camila spread the tomato paste onto the dough. "I suppose it is a bit public, but I'm positive that she's into a bit of exhibition and humiliation, so that shouldn't complicate matters. Oh, I don't think I told you how she reacted when I tightened her corset earlier!"

 

"That's not what I meant. It's not Princess I'm worried about." 

 

Camila paused as her friend's vines wrapped around her own. "Oh?" She turned to face Cordelia. 

 

There was concern etched into her mask. "Camila, If you don't break her soon I'm worried you'll snap again. You nearly lost control of yourself last time, I thought you were going to scramble her brain in front of me and my pet. I enjoy a good breaking as much as the next Affini, but I think Daisy would prefer having enough of her pinnate left to play with after."

 

Ah. She nearly had broken Princess utterly then. The hunger had gotten the best of her in the moment, but it wasn't gnawing at her like that anymore! It was fine now! "It's just a few dozen more hours, and I'm feeling a lot better now that she's letting me pet her! I mean, she even called me Miss just a moment ago, and I got to brush her teeth earlier! You said it yourself, she needs my touch now!" Camila turned back around and started layering cheese to take her mind off it.

 

"Yes, and that's satiated you for the moment, but I know you Camila. You don't want some of her, or even most of her. You need her , all of her."

 

Cordelia was right. She knew that, deep down. "At this point her 'independence' is merely an odd quirk of paperwork, no one is going to see her as anything but a pet. I'm pretty sure she doesn't even see herself as independent anymore. If the hunger gets bad again, I can take solace in her independence being measured in hours . There's even a few more things I can savor taking from her just in case."

 

"I suppose that's true, it is only a few more days." Cordelia pulled over a small bag of pepperoni for Camila. "So, tell me more about this breaking you have planned."

 

Camila's core thrummed with joy as she recounted the idea. "Well, after the little ones had some fun together, I was going to take her aside. Perhaps ask you to make up an excuse to take Daisy. I was going to walk her for a bit, pointing out how much better the Affini have made life here, how the festival was a celebration of that, how happy all the florets are. Then, we stop. I direct her to look into my eyes with a brush under the chin, and ask her to let me take care of her, and to be mine. If that alone doesn't do it, a few words about how much she means to me should give her the final nudge. Perhaps work in a quote The Stars Betwixt. I was thinking of the line Zhuva says to noin, towards the end of the forty-second chapter."

 

"Oh Camila, " Her friend swooned, "you really do spoil her, you know. I assume you'll want to do it in the festival's center as well? Also was this just going to be pepperoni?"

 

"Just pepperoni, it's the first time she's had a pizza after all. We can give her one with more on it later." Camila placed the pizza in the oven. "The center would be nice, in front of the statue ideally, but the timing is more crucial. That's what will let her finally break on her own terms. I'm positive I'll know it when it happens."

 

"Well, in that case, I'm sure I can drag Daisy away to meet up with a few of her friends visiting from the Vervarium . I believe Cadence always brings Ariande and scruffles down for the festival. We can meet up later that night so she can hear the good news. Daisy has been asking me if Princess was going to be a pet soon. She desperately wants to cuddle with her on class As." 

 

"I'm sure Daisy will be ecstatic to hear that Princess is going to be her pinnate."

 

"About that. If they're going to be pinnates, they need to cohabitate, you know." Cordelia interwove a few vines with her own, and pulled herself close . "Have you given any thought about when we'll be joining our Habs?"

 

"Ah- that's- uh-" Oh stars, she had entirely forgotten about that! Camila could barely hold her feelings back for her while alone for a few minutes, how could she live with her without compromising their friendship? "We should wait until then, I wouldn't want to stress Princess beforehand." Putting it off was the only thing she could come up with.

 

"I suppose lumping it in with all the other changes becoming a floret brings isn't a bad idea. I think tonight has proven a wonderful trial run, however, as will the morning. Have you received word from Viola yet, by the way?"

 

"Yes, fae sent me a message during the movie. Fae said the program has managed to compile a list of the various encryptions, and how to recognize what order they've been applied in. It's starting to crack the key, but progress is slow. It takes so long to figure out what the encryptions are that it only has about a second to actually work on the key. Fae won't have it until sometime early morning, but she'll be meeting me in a private room in a cafe to go over it then. Do you think you could watch Princess tomorrow?"

 

Cordelia smiled at her, that warm gentle smile that made Camila want to throw caution to the wind and confess her true feelings. "Of course love, what are friends for?"

 

"O-of course," Camila forced a smile, feeling something wither inside. "We are friends after all."

 

"Now, you mentioned something happened while you were dressing her?"