The appointment ended with a demonstration of the shock function. @Wren wanted @Prisicilla to know how to operate the device, so she triggered the probes and I was instantly writhing on the examination table. It felt like a thousand volts of electricity passed through my most sensitive internal organs, and a miserable cat screech wailed through the room.

The blindness made it even worse, since it seemed to highlight my perception of pain.

I had never experienced anything like this before, and it felt a hundred times worse than being whipped or poked with a cattle prod. For that matter, no one had ever tried to to electrocute the intimate parts of my body. Back in Tower Anchorage, I had certainly been mistreated in a variety of different ways, but the slavers were relatively straightforward and predictable. Their main objective was to maximize the value of their merchandise. At least, they had never attempted something so disturbingly creative while I was being sold at the markets.

Intense feelings of pain and wretched despair flooded through my mind.

Was all of this a mistake?

Originally, my plan was cooperate with Ovum until they trusted me enough to relax their guard. At that point, I could move to rescue @Jasper and then escape this twisted place. In order to do so, I was trying to be as obedient as possible. I hadn't even attempted to struggle or resist against my captors, and I had done everything that @Priscilla had asked of me. For a slave, I thought I was quite well-behaved.

But it somehow didn't seem to matter.

I was still being shocked with cruel devices despite my best cooperation.

What kind of message were they trying to send?

I just didn't understand them.

The senseless pain was so bitter.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

@Priscilla must have picked me up while I was still twitching from the witch's impromptu demonstration, and my overstimulated mind was so dazed that I didn't hear the last bit of the conversation between the two women. My pelvis ached badly even as we left the clinic, and my entire feline body was trembling faintly from sharp residual numbness. 

The vampire girl's clattering footsteps seemed urgent.

When we entered the hallway, @Priscilla immediately swerved into the nearest empty room. She slammed the door behind her and hastily put me on a table, as if she was dealing with a situation that she didn't know how to manage. The girl seemed alarmed and almost upset.

"Are you okay?" She asked me anxiously, her voice somewhat breathless and distraught.

She sounded unsettled and even a little frantic.

Her hands immediately went to the mark on my forehead, as if she wanted to somehow touch the cursed sigil, but she seemed to change her mind moments later. I felt the contact of her fingers for a brief moment. They were cold and clammy, as if they belonged to a frightened haunted ghost, but she withdraw her pale hand immediately. 

"Sorry, I—"

She froze mid-sentence.

The vampire girl seemed at a loss for words.

I could vaguely sense that she wanted to touch me, but her hands kept wavering in the air. One moment, she would reach out towards me, but then she would hesitate and pull back.

"This isn't... I..."

@Priscilla stammered for a few moments but then closed her mouth.

Her hands shook, and she took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"I... I didn't think..." She whispered.

The girl genuinely sounded upset.

"@Wren... Wren is..." @Priscilla struggled to explain, but her sentences were fragmented and broken. She clearly had something she wanted to express, but she couldn't find the right way to convey her thoughts.

"...S-She's been through a lot. It's the same with @Yuki. They were captured and tortured for many years before Ovum finally rescued them... and... and... they just weren't ever quite the same afterwards. After all the horrible things those men put them through... they... they..."

Her vocabulary struck a roadblock again.

I could tell that she was trying to avoid using the word 'abnormal'.

'Normal' was a loaded word in extremist movements like Ovum, and it had connotation almost akin to a slur. In the real world, many 'abnormal' people were shunned for their psychiatric differences or committed to mental asylums, and in many senses Ovum fought against that prevailing prejudice. The radical left believed in welcoming and affirming people from all 'abnormal' walks of life, whether they were furries, LGBT, masochists, or schizophrenics.

A majority of Ovum was mainly transgender, but in theory their organization supported many other minorities.

"I... I know that it doesn't justify everything they do... but..."

@Priscilla fought to maintain a semblance of self-control.

"...If you can understand... we... didn't start it... and..."

She almost seemed defeated.

"We're all just trying our best to survive," she said weakly.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

@Priscilla slumped back against the wall.

She was quiet for a long time.

She was clearly bothered by the sudden modifications @Wren had made in the clinic.

When she spoke up again, her voice was soft and barely audible.

"I used to have a pet cat," she whispered to me. "On Vetita. Here on this server."

Her sentences were short and telegraphic.

"We were very close," she said tersely.

There was a long pause.

That was clearly an understatement.

I had no idea what kind of vibrant memories were associated with those four short words, but something about it was very heavy. @Priscilla was a former pet owner. This wasn't easy for her to talk about, and she struggled through each little phrase as if she was fighting a metaphorical battle against her past.

"She used to get into a lot of trouble." @Priscilla said quietly. "Too much trouble."

She started enumerating her grievances.

"She was an annoying brat and I hated her. Truthfully, I actually wanted to sell her to someone else, and I threatened to get rid of her almost every single day. I would kick her out of my room and make her sleep outdoors in the cold. The idiot wouldn't stop following me, and I tried to do everything in my power to get her to stop."

A flurry of passionate words burst out of the vampire girl's mouth, almost like a small deluge of emotions pent up behind a dam.

"I didn't realize how much I cared for her until I lost her," she said finally.

Her voice became hollow.

"Hades Rook captured her. They tortured her. I watched her break until she was completely gone."

The vampire girl sounded like she was holding back tears that were on the verge of spilling from her eyes.

I wasn't sure if she was actually crying. I couldn't see her face.

"That's why I can't take another cat. I don't want another pet. I can't watch it happen all over again. I'm sorry, but I can't keep you. It hurts too much. We'll have to find someone else who's willing to adopt you."

@Priscilla sounded exhausted.

"I hate cats," she repeated.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘