"So the fantasy world, right... and you're absolutely sure you want to be a catfolk? Elves are generally higher status, get innate mana-sight, and--"

I was getting impatient with this, and interrupted her. "For the third time: darkvision, better hearing and heightened senses in general, faster healing, agility, claws... catfolk are just better than elves, sorry if you like elves more. Mana-sight sounds cool and all, sure. But you said it's my choice? This is my choice."

A long sigh from her. "Okay. It's your life, I suppose...."

I awoke from the dream, my head aching softly.

Right. I was alive again! I had a second chance!

I was distracted by the breeze running against me in a strange way, and realized that I was lying on some kind of cushion outside, sort of shirtless or something... wait, no, upon sitting up, I was wearing nothing but a white kilt... but more interestingly, I was a calico. I stroked my own arm, and it was soft fur and... yeah, I could tell it was fur from sight, sure, but actually touching it was somewhere between super weird and super cool.

I had intellectually known it would feel different, but the actual sensation... at least the fur made me look less naked.

My eyes scanned... some sort of marketplace? I was in some sort of sheltered alcove, and humans and elves were passing by, and other furred cat people and dog people and the like.... Wearing just a kilt or skirt seemed more common than anything, among my kind, so it felt a bit more normal that I wasn't either.

Some of them were leashed too, led along by humans and elves, either reluctantly or eagerly trotting along at their sides, which gave me pause... but not all of them.

Still felt like I had landed somewhere weird and kinky, but it was outdoors and nice out, and I decided to head out to explore my surroundings. I poked my head out of the alcove, and saw there were others in a line, a long row in both directions... well, maybe alcoves was the wrong term, they weren't so much part of a structure as big metal boxes open on one side.

I had a sudden intense sense of dread, and a tingling around my neck, and the world darkened a little. If I didn't get my head in the box right now, something really really bad would happen. I pulled my head back reflexively, and the dread and tingling stopped, the world brightening again as I reached my hand up to feel... a collar.

Come to think of it, looking back over the passerbyers, all the furry people -- cats and dogs and the like -- had collars too.

I was one of them. Probably a pet or a slave... but if it was just a sense of dread... I stepped out of my cage or kennel or whatever, and the bad intense feeling increased, but I just started to walk down the street anyways.

I had gotten isekaied, and I wasn't willing to accept that this cool new catboy body meant I'd just be a slave for the rest of my life. The collar tingling and dread increased, along with the darkness, and then there was an overwhelming pain and I screamed, and fell to the ground, twitching and crying.

As I started to sit up, I felt the sense of dread and tingling start to build up again, as my sight continued to dim, and with what was left that I could see of the world, I rushed back over to to my cage, and felt it abating.

Some guy was laughing, and as the laughter came closer, I saw him outside of the cage. He was tall, muscular, short brown hair nicely cut, a bit more on the handsome side, maybe even a bit feminine somehow, the sort of guy I could intellectually recognize was probably perceived as handsome if you liked guys, and he was smiling down at me in an amused but pitying way that made me distinctly uncomfortable.

I stood up to make him feel less tall, but instead I got a sense of disorientation... I was just not used to guys being this much taller than me when we were both standing. I don't think he was more than a foot taller, if that, but I felt a bit of strange vertigo or disassociation from how I expected reality to be. I wasn't short!

Well... I wasn't short in my previous life.

I wanted to say something mean, but my tongue was weird in my mouth, and my teeth were weird little spikes, and my attempt at speech came out as more like a hiss, and I backed into the corner, crouching again... it felt less disorienting him being taller than when we were both standing, and maybe if I made myself very small he'd just go away.

I looked up at him, terrified, and he held out a hand, not quite touching me. He was so much bigger and he had clothes and I didn't and he could basically do anything to me and I couldn't do anything....

"Hey... it's okay kitten... you're still figuring out the collar, huh?" His voice was warm and soft and confident, and he drew his hand back... oh. He had thought I might want to sniff it, probably.

"Breathe," he said gently, and I realized I had panicked so much I had stopped. I slowly inhaled and exhaled.

He looked down at me with that gentle smile. "You're cute, and no one's bid for you yet... well, I have been meaning to get a cat. And you were new to this cage and collar system, weren't you, but looks like you figured it out on your own pretty quick? Smart little kitten."

I relaxed just a bit, looking up at him warily from my corner... yeah, he was half-in my cage, clearly the function wasn't so much to keep him out as to keep me in.

He had pointed ears-- oh! Elf! Fantasy world, right. Probably was why he looked just a touch more feminine than I was expecting, too.

After another moment of us looking at each other and me mostly relaxing as I realized he didn't mean to threaten me, he stepped back out of my cage, able to stand up fully, and looked above it again, then tapped a bracelet on his wrist against it.

"You're just scared, aren't you? I'll treat you good, don't worry." A gentle smile down at me.

I slowly exhaled as he turned and walked away... I hadn't even realized I had been holding my breath again. He hadn't seemed to expect me to talk... could I not talk anymore?

I sat in my corner and practiced talking quietly to myself for a while, and was halfway through figuring it out despite my clumsy tongue, when I saw another man step before my cage.

Black hair, no pointy ears... human? Really, he looked like someone's dad, and glanced at the price before looking down at me. "Here, kitty." He beckoned with a smile as he held his hand out, and I slowly and warily moved towards him to sniff it, feeling my face heat up as I did... maybe he couldn't see it under my fur. I did want to know if this was the reaction he expected, and he started to pet my head, but I pulled back, causing him to furrow his brow a little.

Still, he didn't seem upset, just like he was evaluating me.

He tapped his bracelet against the top of the cage, and reached in towards me and I hissed again, but he clipped a leash to my collar and started to gently pull on it... and then I got the sense of impending doom.

I could fight, but that felt bad, the pain I had felt from the collar was just a step above literal death... which I had experienced recently, come to think of it.

I stood up, and followed him outside of the cage, trembling... he was taller than me, but it wasn't as bad of a difference as the previous guy.

Literal death... I wondered if I'd get to choose again if I died, not be the catguy and fantasy world I had apparently picked this time... but it had felt so close to terrifying nothingness before the goddess(?)'s hand had taken me and pulled me up for another life. I might not get another chance like that.

I was trying to focus on the past because it was much preferable to the fact that I was on another guy's leash out in public and that was just literally the worst, I hoped he at least wasn't gay... but no, he was pulling me against him now, his body was warm but as I struggled I found out he was quite strong, too.

I wouldn't have anything against gay people, but being made into some sort of gay slave... okay, he was rubbing my nipples now and they were ridiculously sensitive, my body was maybe a little more sensitive in general, but his fingers were rubbing around the little hardening nubs on my chest and it felt intense and I heard a girl making something between whimpering and moaning and it took a moment to realize that it was me, I was making that sound as he rolled my nipples softly between his fingers, and an involuntary shudder went through my body, horrified at how I was reacting to his touch even more than the fact he was touching me, it made me feel somehow complicit in this act I didn't want.

"Please stop." My words were far from perfect, but perfectly audible.

He blinked his fingers stilling for a moment, and then smiled and kissed the top of my head. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle... and you shouldn't talk. Good kitties should be seen and not heard... well, the cute little moans you were making were great, actually, I can tell you're really sensitive, and that's perfect... but language is a bit much."

"Please...." I needed him to understand that this was... I didn't have words. Wrong. It was wrong.

"Hmm. Not too obedient, though. I guess I'll have to spring for one of those collars which stops speaking... customers don't come to my place to listen to the merchandise." He was squeezing my nipples between his fingers, making the pleasure more intense, bordering on pain, and I tried to wriggle away, but I felt the impending doom and the tingling and my vision darkened and his fingers pinched tighter, hurting more, and I stopped, crying a little as I my body trembled against his.

My butt was right up against his crotch, and I realized he wasn't even getting hard from this... maybe this wasn't even a sexual interaction to him, just a testing of merchandise.

I wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.

"Shhh..." How did he make his voice sound affectionate when he was shamelessly raping another guy in public? His hands were moving over my body and actually it felt sort of nice along with deeply deeply violating and the violation was actually less bad, because it was something that was being done to me, not...

I felt sick that some part of my new body wasn't entirely hating this, and I trembled as his hand slipped under my kilt and... no, he wasn't touching my cock, or if he was, something weird... he was rubbing his fingers against me... my crotch, the sensation was weird... slipping his fingers inside of me... but not my ass, my... pussy?

I was not supposed to have a pussy, and it was not supposed to be wet, and I was not meant to have fingers slip inside me or for it to feel on some level pleasurable even with this horrible--!

"Fucking stop already!" I struggled against him despite the collar starting to constrict my vision and promise future punishment, unable to hold back any longer.

He slapped me in the face, hard, and the intense burst of emotions that was carrying my actions froze, as did I.

"Look... I'll take away your voice, and then you'll learn that it's not so bad to be one of mine. You're a pretty girl, and I'm sure you'll learn your place." He wasn't even that upset... it's not like I was a person to him.

It took me a moment to get ahold of myself after that, but I realized if I kept fighting I'd just end up writhing on the floor again and tried to hold back my tears... they wouldn't save me either. I tried to get my tongue working properly in this stupid mouth. "Don't-- I need my voice!"

He took me by the chin and stared down at me clinically. "If you're very very good and obedient and learn well, I might be able to rent you to those that like their girls to talk... well, most of them are sadists, though."

I whimpered and started crying, shaking my head.

He smiled and petted my head gently. "See? I'm nice to my girls if they're eager and obedient. Things could be so much worse. You'll learn your place soon enough." Placating me, like you would try to comfort a pet you were taking to the vet or something, even though it wouldn't actually stop you from taking them there.

And he was, technically, right. It sounded like I was going to be whored out for the rest of my life, but at least I wasn't going to be owned by a sadist, and it sounded like I wouldn't be rented out to them much either, if ever, if I didn't want to talk.

He was stroking the body I was in still, and it was moaning and squirming, but I had a deep sense of disconnect between it and me. After a little while, he guided me back inside the cage and unhooked my collar. "I'll see you at the end of the sale." His voice still gentle, he didn't seem to hold malice nor empathy towards me.

He stroked me more, less sexually now-- the top of my head, and my cheeks, and started to scritch behind my ears and stroke them, and it felt good-- too good, and that was terrifying.

I pulled away, and he let me, shrugging and turning away, maybe to check out the other merchandise as I slumped hopelessly against the metal walls of my cage. They were cool and hard, and maybe that was better than the softer floor.

I cried shamelessly, I was a girl, or, well, in a girl's body, and I was supposed to be a guy, and I just let the tears flow.... What was the point in having a sense of pride or honor when I was reduced to this?

I heard a tapping, and saw another furry hand, white, tapping the cage, then resting between their cage and mine. I crawled over to them, and gently took their hand, and they squeezed it.

I tried talking softly, but they didn't respond, for whatever reason. Maybe they didn't understand, like the brothel owner had said... but they understood crying, and they wanted to be there for me.

Just holding their hand felt like the closest thing to real human intimacy I had had this day... and we just stayed like that for a little while, and I felt like they'd just let me hold onto them as long as I wanted, as long as I needed...

But it wasn't too long before I heard a woman's voice from the direction of their cage, greeting them and saying they were a good little puppy, and they pulled away and they let go.

I could look out and see who might purchase them, but how would that help. I slumped uselessly against the wall.

I realized other one-sided conversations were going on along the market, and occasional whimpering and yelping and moaning and yowling.. even growling, although that ended with a yelp soon enough.

I didn't want to hear it, and eventually managed to tune it out again.

Another few people came by as the sun slowly marched on in the sky, men and women, but most of them went on after glancing at the price... one elven woman came in and petted me and I whimpered and tried to press against her and summon my words, and she pulled back a little, shaking her head with a patronizing smile. "Sorry. Looks like Bismuth really wants you. I'll come and visit you sometime, okay cutie?"

And like that she was gone and the sun was getting lower and lower and I started to worry that at sunset, the sale would be finalized... but maybe I had until the next morning?

The last slivers of the sunset were fading. The tall muscular elf was back, and frowning as he looked at the sign. "Looks like you're already bought." A slight shrug of his shoulders. "I didn't think anyone would bid that much, guess you'll have another owner." He turned away, started

No. Even this guy would be better than being a voiceless brothel prostitute for the rest of my life.

I moved my tongue a little, and formed words. "Please buy me."

He paused.

I spoke louder. "Please buy me!" My words were a bit slurred, but I prayed that they were clear enough.

He blinked, eyes widening. "A talker, huh?" He turned, came down inside my cage and sat down crosslegged in front of me. "You learned to mimic speech pretty well, huh? Someone taught you that to drive up your price?"

"No, I can... I can talk properly. I can make sophisticated statements, it's just a little hard with my tongue."

"Mmm..." He looked at me for a long moment. "Well, it was one thing picking up a cute nonspeaking pet on the cheap, but taking a gamble seems like a bit much-- I need a girl who's affectionate, and I can see that hate in your eyes. The few pets who can talk tend to be more scheming." A bit of a smile as he talked of leaving me to my fate.

"I... I don't hate you, I'm afraid. You're the handsomest guy I've seen here today, and the nicest." I moved my head forwards, down, bumping it against his hand, hoping this catlike behavior would earn his approval, and he started gently scritching behind my ears and petting my head and it felt really nice.

I tried not to think about how nice it felt, because I felt if I let myself think about it, I'd panic.

I made myself not pull away, and continued, "I woke up kind of drugged or something... I was kind of out of it, and wasn't prepared to be sold... but I was hoping you'd take me back with you...." Well, that I felt kind of drugged or something when I woke up wasn't a lie, at least.

I rested my head on his thigh, wrapping my arms around his waist. "Please...." He stroked my back and I pressed into it, hating that it felt kind of good, and made some sort of little noise as he started groping my butt... I nuzzled against his crotch and he was mostly hard and that was disgusting but it also gave me a glimmer of hope.

What's worse, being one guy's sex slave, or hundreds of guys' sex slave? The answer was obvious. I nuzzled harder, deliberately rubbing my cheek against his hardening cock... I needed to please him.

I needed him to want me, to buy me, maybe I could negotiate things out with him later, but with him I'd still have a voice... I could still negotiate for more, maybe. Or less? Something.

He gave a long, soft sigh. "This is a terrible financial decision." He pulled away from me, pushing me away, and I whimpered and clung to him.

"No, calm down, cutie... I'm going to buy you if you let me go, I'm just noting it's a bad idea." His voice was a little amused, and he stroked my back and body.

I slowly released him and pulled back, looking up into his eyes even though my own teary eyes were making it hard to see his face that clearly.

He stroked my cheek very gently. "But you're interesting... I'd always wondered what it would be like to own a human girl, and you're the closest I can legally get, and you have a cute fur pattern... sure. You'll be mine. Say 'thank you, Master'."

I took a deep breath. I had worked customer service, back on Earth, I could lie. "Thank you, Master!" I hated how girly and affectionate my voice was sounding, but judging from the way his smile was spreading, he felt differently. He stood up and tapped his bracelet against the top of my cage, then sat back down next to me.

"A minute or two until the bidding closes... mmm, not the ideal time to do something fun, but come sit in my lap, at least."

I climbed into his lap, turning around, and I could feel his hard cock against my butt as his strong arms settled gently around me, and I trembled. I was terrified of him, his body... he'd want that to go inside me eventually, right? "I was so scared of what would happen to me...." There. Admit the fear, but not that it's about him.

"I know... that must have been terrifying, with you being sort of a person and all."

"...sort of?" The words slipped out of my mouth without me thinking about it, more indignant than I had meant to express to him too.

He squeezed me against his body softly, and stroked my thigh, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "I can hardly publicly call you a person, can I? That's a pretty big faux pas. Well... now that I own you, people will think I'm just being silly and proud of my pet, I suppose."

The sun set.

I was his, for now. Hopefully not forever, but there were worse fates here.

"There we go... all safely mine." He petted the top of my head, and I pressed into the petting, not knowing if I was doing it for the lie that I liked him or because I desperately needed comfort as he clipped a leash onto my neck.

"...is the leash really necessary? I'll follow you."

He laughed softly. "You're a feral kitten, right? From somewhere else, too. You haven't been trained to be good and appreciative no matter who touches you and how, have you?"

"...no...."

"If people see you off a leash around here, that's what they'd expect."

I shivered and pressed a bit closer against him. He was the only protection I had, against himself or against anyone else in this world.

He stroked my back. "You'll get used to it, pets always do."

How could I convince him I liked him so he wouldn't get rid of me? I swallowed, and rubbed my body against his a little. "...please keep me on a leash... I don't want to be touched by anyone besides you, Master...." There. No guy could resist that sort of move, right?

He blinked, and smiled down at me, bemused. "Imprinting already?"

I stared up at him, trying to force my face to look guileless. "...is that bad? You're... you're my owner now."

"Yes, I am." He sounded as if he was kind of still realizing it too, and smiled, happy about it. He stood up. "We're going back home now. It's a bit of a walk, I hadn't really intended to get a pet today... but I'm glad I saw you."

I stood up, ready to follow him. "I'm so glad you saw me, Master!" It was true, and some of the honesty leaked into my words, but I was also disgusted with myself, fawning over him like this.

He walked along, and I walked after him, looking up at him, unwilling to look around and see if everyone was looking at me on a leash and laughing at me... or worse, not laughing at me, looking at me with lust.

But if I was very careful with my lies... maybe he'd keep me.

Maybe he'd talk to me... maybe he'd let me read his books, if books were even a thing here.

Maybe he'd be the only man who'd molest and fuck me.