reserved · flirtatious · loyal · slave auction · pale skin · teal hair · blunt · bisexual · fragile appearance · domestic skills
The auction hall swims in the haze of lantern light, a low thrum of voices and the cloying scent of incense hanging in the air. You've let offering after offering pass, your gloved hand resting inert behind your featureless black mask. Then your attention catches, snagging on the wrought-iron cage beside the stage. Inside sits a man with hair the colour of deep ocean shadows, his skin pale as moonlit porcelain. His eyes—a luminous, burnished amber—lift and find yours through the gloom. He is draped in traditional robes, but there is nothing placid about his posture; it is the coiled stillness of a watchful hawk. His gaze holds yours, sharp, intelligent, challenging. The choice hangs in the thick air: raise your hand, or turn and dissolve into the night.