@Priscilla cleared her throat and interrupted @Trisha's monologue.

"Actually, @Yuki said that the cat is mainly attracted to men. Maybe it would be a better idea to pair him with someone he's more comfortable with."

@Trisha paused and turned around to face the vampire girl.

She looked somewhat annoyed.

"You're sure about this?" She asked skeptically. "Is our new friend attracted to men or is he mainly attracted to dick? If it's the latter, there are plenty of transgirls in our organization who decided to keep theirs after transitioning. Vetita is a wonderful place for those who prefer the futanari aesthetic. On virtual reality, it's possible to have our ideal bodies, and many of us still enjoy phalluses despite being attracted to women."

@Priscilla shook her head repeatedly.

"@Yuki said it was the former. According to her research, the cat is romantically and sexually attracted to men."

I had no idea what kind of 'research' @Priscilla was referring to.

Moreover, how the hell did that crazy ice witch learn about these things?!

The bunny girl looked doubtful.

"It is very common for trainers to condition their slaves into worshiping and loving men," @Trisha said. "Honestly, it's disgusting. There's this ridiculous belief that if you rape a lesbian girl enough and hook her up to elaborate machines, you can get her addicted to male cum and brainwash her entirely. I've seen it happen before. I watched my best friends broken by those brutal training programs. After we rescued them, I didn't even recognize them."

"Cishet¹“Cishet” means someone is both cisgender and heterosexual. It could also mean both cisgender and heteroromantic. In other words, a cishet person identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth, and they're attracted to people of the opposite gender. men are just disgusting..." Someone chimed in agreement.

"I think our feline friend must be worse than we imagined," @Trisha continued. "I think it's safe to assume that he was badly traumatized and brainwashed over his years as a slave, to the point that he doesn't even know what he truly likes and dislikes. As far as I'm concerned, his current feelings are artificial, and he can't properly consent for himself. He needs a responsible guardian."

The bunny girl's eyes scanned around the semi-circle of knights.

"All of you have seen what this cat can do," she said quietly. "He is valuable. If it wasn't for @Adrian's fast reflexes, all of us would have died from that explosion."

Some of the knights narrowed their eyes distrustfully, examining my chained body from a distance. From their perspective, it was probably still hard to believe that I unleashed such a destructive maelstrom, especially since I lacked any kind of a dangerous aura characteristic of a high-level magic user. On the airship, only @Jasper seemed to possess a threatening aura, but he had already been incapacitated.

It was unusual for a person's primary magical abilities to function as a proxy for someone else's.

@Trisha stroked my head softly.

"I don't blame this cat though. He's just a slave, and he's been brainwashed into following his master's orders. It's not his fault. We don't have to be enemies, and I think we can find a lot of common ground if we welcome him kindly ."

She glanced at the wounded and blackened whale that was quietly sedated some distance away in the cave.

"The Laguna can't fly for now, anyways."

@Trisha's eyes turned towards the blue-haired man who was inconspicuously leaning against the wall in the back. He was the only male knight in the entire room, and I recognized him as the commander who had overseen @Jasper's capture. Despite his prominent rank, he seemed to take a back seat in this discussion, and he hadn't said a single word so far.

"I would like to assign custody of this cat to Rose Squadron," she said calmly. "I want your unit to supervise him, @Adrian. Of course, it's too premature make him a functioning member of the team, but I'd like to see if you can get this fiery little kitten to thaw a bit. Get to know each other, and maybe something nice will come out of it. No expectations, though."

The bunny girl had a faint twinkle in her eyes.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

The blue-haired knight named @Adrian sighed, and he slowly got up to his feet.

"If those are your orders, @Trisha, then Rose Squadron will comply. We will watch over the cat," he said unenthusiastically.

"Good," @Trisha smiled further.

"I don't believe many of the knights are very enthusiastic about this decision, though," @Adrian said.

"Mh? How so?"

"We signed up to fight against the toxic patriarchy, not babysit a powder keg," one of the female knights interjected unhappily.

"Yeah! And what about @Flare?! We're abandoning her for a cat that literally set Nellie on fire?"

"I think this is a bad idea..."

"I don't trust the cat either. I'm not sure that I buy the idea that he might be an egg. Honestly, he sounds more like a crossdressing pervert. I hate cismen who play into the 'trap'²A crossdresser, usually a fictional character in an anime, who dresses up in the opposite gender's clothing to trick people into thinking that they're the opposite gender. Term comes from the anime trope of a character dressing up in drag to trick people into thinking that they're the opposite gender. It is considered a slur by the LGBT community. stereotype. That kind of narrative is so damaging for transwomen, and I just think it's flat out problematic. I'm trans and I hate being called a 'trap'."

One of the other knights rolled their eyes.

"Oh come on. Let's not stick labels onto someone else, alright?"

"I just want us to be careful. There's a lot of people out there who want to see Ovum destroyed. We shouldn't just blindly trust someone who simply claims they're trans. We've had trolls who tried to infiltrate us before. It only takes one slip up, and then we'll have another one of our cities burning from leaked coordinates."

"We just have to take some necessary precautions."

"Is that really enough? I seriously doubt some half-hearted precautions are really going to be that useful. I honestly think we're just better off locking the cat in a concrete prison cell, throwing away the key, and then forgetting about them permanently. I don't want anyone watching my back unless I'm 200% sure that I can trust them."

"I don't know about you girls, but I don't want a flaming cat in my bedroom... I want nothing to to do with it."

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

The female knights continued to argue amongst themselves in the background.

Meanwhile, @Adrian slowly approached me, and his heavy footsteps crunched on the rocky pebbles on the cave floor. His serious expression was intimidating, and my first impression of him was a muscular paladin hero that belonged inside of a hack-'n-slash video game. From a RPG perspective, he was clearly built like a tank, which was a role that Ovum severely lacked in terms of a numbers. A majority of their knights seemed to prefer stereotypically feminine roles, like healers, assassins, or archers.

The bulky captain clearly stood out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the girls.

Why was he the only man in this unit?

Moreover, the girls seemed to disregard him when they talked about 'toxic cis men'. It was almost like he didn't qualify in their broad generalizations about men, and he didn't appear to be particularly bothered by the language either. Since he was a leader in Ovum, it probably meant that he believed in their ideology as much as the others.

"What's your name?" The blue-haired knight slowly asked me, his eyes dark and extremely guarded.

I didn't respond.

I wasn't thrilled by @Trisha's words from either, and that bunny girl had made it quite clear that she intended to strip away all of my autonomy. If she intended to objectify me in that manner, then I would rather act like an unresponsive doll. This was something that I used to do as a slave when I was unhappy. When I first came to Vetita, I learned very quickly that lying motionlessly was the best way to respond to rape and other forms of torture. If you didn't react, it was less pleasurable for the assaulter, and they were more likely to get bored.

Withdrawing into a blank shell was a kind of defense mechanism.

They could move my limbs and force me to do things like a puppet, but in the mean time I would bury my ego and thoughts somewhere deep inside myself. I didn't need to share my feelings with people who clearly had no respect for me as an individual person. Eventually time would pass by and then I would drift on to somewhere else. This was the main way that I emotionally protected myself over the years.

"His name is @Fiie," @Priscilla answered for me, since apparently she had the most information about me.

"Interested in taking a pet, @Adrian?" @Trisha teased the knight captain. "I've heard plenty of rumors from heartbroken ladies that you're mostly into men? A catboy would be perfect for you."

The blue-haired knight captain looked unhappy about the councilwoman's jab at his personal life.

"I'm ace³Asexuality ("ace") is the lack of sexual attraction to others, or low or absent interest in or desire for sexual activity.," he responded coldly. "Moreover, even if I intended to seriously date a man, @Fiie is too feminine for my tastes. I'm not attracted to the femboy aesthetic."

"Ironic, huh?" @Trisha remarked wryly. "Sounds like a fancy riddle. Two gay men are incompatible because one of them is too feminine? How is that supposed to work?"

"It doesn't." @Adrian said flatly. "Don't even try it."

The bunny girl shrugged her shoulders and turned her head defensively.

"Matchmaking is hard, okay? Anyways, the cat is your problem now. Who am I giving this kitten to?"

"Trish, I don't think any the knights want to deal with a hostile pet after everything we went through today. Stick the cat in a cage tonight and we'll figure it out tomorrow. I'll come up with something... probably. I get the gist behind what you're planning, and I'll try my best. I can't promise anything more."

"We can always send him back to @Yuki," @Trisha floated cheerily. "Our resident ice witch would love the company."

There was a distasteful expression on @Adrian's face, as if he seemed to think that the bunny girl had a poor sense of humor.

@Priscilla gave a long sigh and spoke up finally.

"I can take him for tonight," she said reluctantly. "But only for tonight."

"Thank you, @Priscilla." @Adrian said. "I really appreciate it. You're a lifesaver."

"Only one night though. One night! No more!" @Priscilla warned him. "I hate cats. I'm not even part of Rose Squadron."

The blue-haired captain nodded weakly.

"Excellent! I'm glad it worked out so well!" @Trisha said cheerfully.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘