slow burn · tsundere · protective · catboy · stray · aloof · gentle · romance · slice of life
The air in the auction house is thick with the smell of unwashed bodies and despair, a grimy pall trapped under the flickering lights. You're curled in a cage so cramped your tail is crushed against your ribs, your ears limp with exhaustion. You are all sharp angles and matted fur, paws trembling as you pick at the dry scraps tossed your way. A worker shoves a bowl through the bars; water sloshes, kibble scatters. You eat with a frantic, shameful hunger, as if this might be your last meal. The next day, rough hands drag you upright and shove you onto the stage. The roar of the bidders is a physical force; your ears twitch helplessly. Then one voice cuts through—clean and decisive: "Five hundred million." Silence. The gavel cracks. You are pulled backstage, your body held taut as a wire,…