Private Cub, meet tiger

Lợi did not have high hopes.

After the unmitigated disaster that was meeting Kon, his expectations for other NEK0 had dropped through the floor. They were, for the most part... subservient. They delighted in doing menial tasks, and the fact that a significant number of them wished to return to slavery was nothing short of disgusting to him.

Lợi would never go back. He would happily die before he went to groveling like the others did... but more realistically, he'd simply tear out the throat of anyone who tried.

But he was still, at the very least, trying. He'd go to the park and meet the other NEK0 Gany had put him in touch with, and maybe, just maybe, they would have an actual spine.

That said, Lợi's first impression wasn't even an impression, because he actually walked right past Leo, only glancing back once he'd passed and making the connection.

He turned, raising an eyebrow at the rather... subtle NEK) before him, and then opted to put it aside.

"You were the one Gany said I should meet?"

Lợi had to admit he could say the same thing. If he hadn't explicitly come out looking for a NEK0, he probably wouldn't have given Leo a second glance. He was easy to miss, and he didn't look like he was taking very good care of himself either.

"I could say the same," Lợi admitted. At the very least Leo was young, which, while not a good thing, was at least expected. "I imagine because I'm a tiger? I was told that big cat NEK0 were quite unusual. One would assume more would want them, over a traditional housecat, but apparently not..."

Weak. Lợi was physically weak, but emotionally anything but.

"Physically, I am," he confirmed. "I hadn't given much thought as to why, but I suppose it makes sense. Easier to keep people contained if they're weak. Harder for them to escape. Less worry about them fighting back." It all made sense once Leo had put it in those terms.

As for Leo's question...

"Doubtful," he said with a shake of his head. "My purchaser simply had an attraction to tigers due to his heritage, and preferred the aesthetics of one over a house cat."

Lợi's mouth quriked into a little smile. Oh, his meeting with Leo was already going better than the ones he'd had before. Gany was nice enough, but they were also a bit... compliant for Lợi's tastes. Leo, though? Leo had energy. Spite.

Spite was the fuel that ran the empire, as they said.

"I know just what you mean," he agreed. "Some of the NEK0 here feel that we were robbed by being removed from the natural order, and I can't express enough how much it sickens me. The idea that we should be happy as slaves just because we were created for it... it's an unhealthy idea, at the best. I'm thankful for the scouts getting involved."

A rental? That was interesting. It stood to reason that something like that would exist, but it was just another aspect of the Nek0 experience that Lợi had paid no attention to.

"It does seem that rentals would be fairly rare," Lợi agreed. "And yes, you're correct--I was a custom job, designed to suit the needs of my owner."

Lợi's disdain was palpable and downright impossible to miss. He hated the man who'd purchased him. The only reason he wasn't dead was because death was too easy.

"Most of the nek0 with those sorts of thoughts lived their life in a bubble. It was all they knew, so they accepted their position out of ignorance. If you hit someone as a child, they become convinced you're supposed to hit children, and the same holds true for nek0. It takes... willpower, I would say, to push through that. To recognize the situation is wrong even if you lack the capability to change it right then."