I had not expected to be sold.
I suppose very few do.
And certainly not on another world.
The collar is not uncomfortable. Usually I am not aware it is on me. It is noticeable, of course, when I see my reflection, as, for example, when I wish to adjust it a bit, on my neck, that it may sit more attractively on me. He wishes the lock, for example, to be squarely at the back of my neck. He is clear on that point. It is perhaps the first thing one notes, when one looks upon me, or any girl, whether she is in a collar or not. I think he will keep me in a collar, as he likes me that way. I realize now that I belong in one. I did not always realize that, but I suspected it. Most girls are not collared, but some of us are, particularly those who have been brought here from other places. They expect that we will wear collars. Surely, whether or not a girl wears a collar is the most important thing about her. You see instantly what she is, and you understand how she is to be treated. Too, in the collar, you know what you are to do, and how you are to act. The collar makes things very simple.
The collar might be removed, but that would make little difference, as we are marked, tastefully but unmistakably, most commonly on the left thigh, high, just below the hip. That is done shortly after we are brought here.
By that sign, if by no other, we are identified as what we are.
Usually we are distinctively garbed.
We are not to be confused with free women.
The tunic conceals very little. Men will have it that way.
Here I am no longer ashamed of my body.
I do not feel self-conscious, as I am an animal.
Here I am a far less beautiful animal than many, but, I think, too, I am a not inferior animal, either, to many. I have seen the eyes of men upon me. It is an interesting feeling, knowing that one is an animal. If I had not been of interest to men I do not think I would have been brought here, an animal, for their markets.
It is an interesting feeling, knowing that one is an animal, and is desired as such.
Men decide how they will have us before them.
I do not mind.
Rather, it pleases me.
It pleases me to be so, before them, as they will have me be, unmistakably displayed as what I am, honestly, forthrightly, without subterfuge, or hypocrisy, so markedly and visibly different from themselves, an animal, which may be of interest to them.
I do not object.
Rather, I am pleased.
How the free women hate us for that!
Here I am well displayed or exhibited. Here I may not conceal my nature, and needs. The tunic, the collar, the mark, make that clear.
Here we are helpless. We are denied our finest weapons, pretense, prevarication, and deceit.
How free we are, then, animals, so different from their free women.
How the free women despise us, and how we fear them!
I have learned how to walk, and move, and turn, and hold my head, and speak, and many things.
We are expected to improve our value.
Men expect much from an animal of my sort.
We are trained, as other animals.
I think it pleases them to train us.
Too, they clearly enjoy owning us, as well as other sorts of animals.
At night we are usually chained, or kenneled.
I did not always wear a collar. I was not always subject to the chain, the kennel, the whip.
I come from far away.
It is a very different place from those with which you are likely to be familiar. It is called Earth.