👩💻 Dog of War
written by Mindcrank, date(s) read: 2025/09/19 - 21
So this is a Human Domestication Guide story (freely available on ao3), basically hypnosis kink in a space utopia. And this particular story has infested my brain, like it's been a week and I'm still thinking about it.
Basically a grizzled mercenary named Beckett decides it's time to retire and surrender to Affini, and he doesn't want to be domesticated, he's totally gonna be a good independent Terran.
Spoilers
He does, and in the process, figures out her gender and that they're plural.Their Affini, Camila is a delight. Like yeah she's a scary alien who will drug and hypnotize someone to make them into a pet; but goddamn, she loves to spoil her princess and make them feel like the most special pet around.
So yeah, the big focus of this is Beckett working through their dysphoria, realizing they've never really lived before now and also dealing with all their trauma. When they finally realize they can just relay on others, I could almost cry. Also a notable scene is a coronation, that's like super wonderful but also like more than a bit fucked up when you think about what's actually happening. I also adore Beckett's boots hyperfixation which builds up to a wonderful payoff; also their love of the Dune books, which isn't nearly as important as the boots, but has a good funny reference by the end.
There is some negatives to this work though. Kink-wise, there's CG/L content, especially in the latter half, and god I do not like that kink. It makes like perfect damn sense for the character but still it's not something I care about lol. Also I wonder if the story would be better if parts of the last third was trimmed, but despite all of this, I legit super adored this story so damn much.