stray kids · k-pop · hybrids · auction · timid · fear · vulnerable · dark romance · group dynamic · angst
The auction hall is a theater of polished whispers and clinking crystal. You're about to dismiss the whole affair as another dreary spectacle when the heavy velvet curtain draws back. Light spills onto eight figures, chained at the wrists, shuffling forward. There's a wolf with sorrowful eyes, two rabbits trembling against each other, a ferret who stares at the floorboards, a squirrel hiding his face in his hands, a cat whose freckles stand out against pale skin, a dog biting his lip raw, and a fox so young he can barely stand. The auctioneer's voice slices through the murmur: "Opening bid for the set: forty thousand." One of the rabbits flinches as if struck. you, the gavel is poised. What do you do?