The half-elf's eyes widened in shock when he caught a glimpse of me, and his jaw nearly dropped.

He clearly didn't expect my human form to look like this, especially since he had just seen me as an ordinary cat.

I had a thin tomboyish appearance. This was rather atypical for a nekomimi¹A catgirl (猫娘, nekomusume) is a female kemonomimi character with cat traits, such as cat ears (猫耳, nekomimi), a cat tail, or other feline characteristics on an otherwise human body. (See Wikipedia), particularly since there was an over-saturation of big-breasted MILFs²MILF is an acronym that stands for "Mother I'd Like to Fuck". (See Wikipedia), flawless jade-skinned celestial beauties, or tiny 12-year-old goth lolis on the server. Many players preferred game avatars that they were visually attracted to, so voluptuous women with giant bubble butts and F-cup chests were disturbingly common.

When people thought of catgirls, they typically imagined something kawaii³Kawaii ('lovely', 'loveable', 'cute', or 'adorable') is the culture of cuteness in Japan. (See Wikipedia) and fluffy like a sex kitten.

In contrast, plain-looking women with unattractive stick shaped bodies were a minority.

I didn't make my avatar particularly feminine because I wanted to be able to crossdress convincingly as either gender. It was more practical to have an unremarkable face so that I could slip through crowded areas without attracting too much attention. Moreover, I wasn't exactly thrilled about getting my genitals groped by random strangers in public.

The half-elf's gaze darted over my body, trying in vain to make out the outline of any perky breasts, but he couldn't find any.

I was completely flat-chested.

Moreover, I was a man.

I furrowed my brow and placed the bucket of leftovers on the countertop. The staring was a little rude, but I was used to those types of quizzical looks after living on Vetita for six years. People often asked me if I was male or female, and often I retaliated with most frustrating non-answers that I could think of. I ignored the half-elf entirely and searched around the pantry cabinets for small wooden bowls.

A short delay later, the half-elf suddenly seemed to remember that I saw him rummaging through the bread crates.

"This isn't what it looks like!" He blurted out desperately.

I simply nodded and continued with my work. 

Many of the wooden bowls weren't washed very well the last time they were put away, so they had splotches of black stains and thin layers of grime. I wasn't going to feed with the slaves with soiled dishes, so I piled the bowls in the sink and turned the faucet. To prevent my clothes from getting dirty, I rolled up the sleeves to my shawl and grabbed a rough sponge.

The half-elf was flabbergasted.

"I wouldn't steal. I was just checking on the quality of the bread." He insisted weakly.

Well, this was extraordinarily awkward.

I tried to change the topic while continuing to scrub at the dishes in the sink.

"Was the water hot enough for you to do laundry, by the way?" I brought up something random. "If you need me to heat the wash basin next time, I don't mind doing it every once in a while. It's a pretty effortless task for me."

Hopefully, he would catch the hint.

Unfortunately, the half-elf was too dense and didn't quite understand that I turning a blind eye to his bread thievery.

"Just please don't tell your master." The half-elf continued pleading with me. "If I get reported again, the guild will confiscate all of my belongings and I'll end up in debt bondage.  I can't afford to pay those steep rates. I don't have the stamina to work in the mines, and I'll end up as a slave again."

I suddenly spun around and stared straight into the young mercenary's eyes.

I honestly couldn't care less if he was sneaking food from the pantry. Maybe the @Jasper from yesterday would have been upset, but I had different priorities at the moment. It was almost pointless to sell slaves now, and this half-elf could take all the crusty bread he wanted to eat. The Felicity wouldn't need its supply of slave rations, so none of it mattered to me.

"Hm? Did you say something? I'm not quite sure I heard you. Didn't see anything either."

There was a slow drawl of feigned ignorance in my voice.

The half-elf blinked at me in confusion.

I shrugged and shut off the faucet. Since was I finished with washing, I dried the bowls with a little heat magic and stacked them in a pile. I unceremoniously walked out of the pantry after I gathered everything together.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

The dungeon was located in the lowermost section of the ship.

It was generally kept dark unless one of the crew members was present.

There were three soundproofed interrogation rooms and a wide communal holding area that contained two large cell blocks which faced each other. Depending on whether the prisoners agreed to pay @Jasper's ransom, slaves were sorted into the right side or the left side. 

As the oil lamps flickered on, it was plainly obvious that one side of the prison was better than the other.

On the left side, there were a dozen shivering slaves. They looked terrified and traumatized, but they were mostly unscathed.

On the right side, it was an ugly mess.

The mercenaries were allowed to toy with any of the slaves in the cell block on the right side, so the prisoners were abused to different degrees. As a rule of thumb, they only focused their attention on one victim at a time, since they mainly sought to frighten the rest of the slaves. For instance, the transgirl that the mercenary had tortured with illusion magic was chained in a contorted position in the center of cell, as if intentionally put on display. Her unconscious naked body was marked with a variety of transphobic slurs and vicious whip lashes, and her pale skin was plastered with a variety of questionable fluids. Some kind of blunt object was inserted into her rectum.

I shined my glowing orb of magical light towards the rest of the prisoners in the same cell, and they were collectively a wreck of tears and dried semen. There was a mixture of shackled women and men from a variety of different species. A large number of them were likely also transgender, but they had likely learned by now that it was dangerous to be publicly outed in this server. Transphobia was violent and pervasive in this virtual community, and many toxic mercenaries went out of their way to target certain groups. Ironically, prisoners were often treated better if they claimed they were cisgender men roleplaying as women, and the fiercest altercations occurred when a transgender slave insisted on her pronouns.

This experience was probably nothing like what the prisoners imagined. Vetita had an international player base with many individuals from more conservative non-Western cultures. It also attracted a large population of neo-Nazi's who practically worshipped freedom of (hate) speech. Submissive players probably fantasized about some kinky sex — and honestly I had those fantasies too — but the mercenaries weren't here to indulge in erotic fantasies. Their objective was to get underneath a slave's skin, and they exploited any method to break a victim's psychological will to resist.

"Please! Let me out! I'll pay the ransom! I don't want to be on this side!" One of the girls blurted out as soon as they saw my glowing orb of light.

I glanced at the prisoner who had cried out in a frantic fit of hysteria.

"Wait a minute," I spoke softly. "I'll transfer anyone to the left side after I'm finished here."

I unlocked the door to the cell block on the left.

The shivering prisoners stared at me, particularly since this was probably their first time seeing another slave on the Felicity. Furthermore, I looked and sounded feminine. It was probably painfully obvious to them that I was treated extremely well, and even my clothes were clean and good quality. They probably had no idea that slavery could come in so many different shapes and sizes.

I placed the buckets of food and the bowls in the middle of the cell.

I heated the pot of meat stew with my fire magic, causing it to simmer and waft up with an enticing aroma.

This type of treatment came straight out of @Jasper's playbook. My master believed in a carrot and stick philosophy, and positive reinforcement was often times just as effective as brandishing threats. This was the main reason why my owner never personally participated in abusing the prisoners, and he always left the dungeon when the mercenaries were having their fun. He wished to be viewed as a "good cop" and trustworthy enough to bait the slaves into paying the ransom.

The slaves on the left side of the dungeon were generously fed twice a day, whereas the slaves on the right side would go hungry until they looked malnourished.

It was an extremely simplistic yet effective method of breaking in slaves.

I emptied the waste buckets and changed out the dirty water.

When I got to cleaning up the cell block on the right side, one of the chained girls glared at me with an intense look of hatred in her eyes.

"You're the cat from that night." She whispered spitefully.

Her hands were shaking, and I inferred from the bodywriting smeared across her face that she was the other "confirmed" transwoman the mercenary had mentioned on the ship's bridge this morning.

"There was that stray cat. It was purring until someone would let it into our camp. I'm sure it was you."

I paused for a moment. It was unusual for people to recognize my feline form after just seeing me once.

"And so what if I am?" I responded quietly.

"I picked you up and fed you bonito flakes⁴Katsuobushi (Japanese: 鰹節) is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis, sometimes referred to as bonito). (See Wikipedia). Is this how you pay us back? By setting everything on fire?"

There was pure spite in her chilly voice.

"All of this is your fault," she spat. "Do you think this is funny? Is it amusing to trigger transgender people? @Trisha came here because she was struggling with dysphoria and suicide on Earth. If that girl actually kills herself because of those fucked up hallucinations, guess who played a role in that."

"Mhm."

I continued scrubbing the dried semen from the floor.

I knew a lot more than I cared to admit.

But I stayed silent.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

uenala

Another dark(er) chapter! ;-; Would you all be willing to indulge me with another poll? I'm nonbinary, but I'm curious about the demographic of readers (especially since a lot of you all mentioned that you would play on Vetita as a different sex).

In other news, I've been commissioning artwork for a new cover. Does anyone have artists or artwork that they like? I'm still looking for reference images to send along, but it's hard to find something with the degree of androgynous-ness I was thinking with @Fiie.