The Night Auction

[undergroundmods]

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The auction house
At exactly half past eleven on Saturday night, the auction house in Knightsbridge opens to its supernatural customers. Inside the elegant surroundings are a wide range of antique, unusual and plain odd items.

As midnight approaches, the seats gradually fill up. The auctioneer, a spindly pale-faced man in a waistcoat, calls for attention. Bidding opens at midnight and ends when all items have been sold or the sun comes up, whichever comes sooner. Let the bidding commence.

On sale tonight
Enchanted Necklace
A necklace which is enchanted to become a map of the city in which the owner is standing.
Starting price: £12

Monkey's Paw
The preserved paw of a monkey, able to grant every individual who touches it three wishes. Caution is advised.
Starting price: £20
Will be sold to Faolan

Runic Coin
A heavy silver coin for use in spell work, carved with runic patterns.
Starting price: £25

Skeleton of a Lady
The bones of a woman called Eliza, preserved by magic.
Starting price: £30

Antique Pagan Jewellery
A set of brooches, pendants, rings, and earrings made in honour of the ancient gods. In various conditions depending on the piece itself.
Starting price: £40

Vanity Mirror
An enchanted mirror that speaks, forever complimenting the person who looks into it.
Starting price: £50

Mogwai
This adorable creature is an extremely rare and unusual pet. The mogwai is nocturnal and should be kept away from water and sunlight.
Starting price: £50

Vampire Compass
A compass that always, without fail, points to the nearest vampire.
Starting price: £60

Bestiary of English and Welsh Faeries
A 17th century two volume bestiary of the lesser inhabitants of the Other Realm, with detailed and sometimes gruesome illustrations.
Starting price: £200
Will be sold to Gilbert Norrell

Antique Harp
Beautiful Victorian Stumpff harp with carved figures, in need of restoration work. Under enchantment.
Starting price: £500

Gleipnir
According to legend, a section of the chain that once held Fenris.
Starting price: £2,000

Notes
Bidding opens at midnight GMT+1 and continues until 07:29 the next morning! Note that while anyone can bid on any item, the items that are listed as being sold to certain characters are reserved for them to win the bid. The last highest bid in the thread at the point when the auction has closed will win the item.

When characters bid on the item, all they know is the description given by the auctioneer, as above. However, some of these items have other properties – both good and bad – that will not be apparent until after purchase. You'll find out what these are after the auction has concluded.

For more information, please refer to this OOC post.

Comments

[knightscode]

Lancelot almost protests that it isn't hard to make carbonara, but... well, he doesn't know how often Faolan cooks for himself -- if at all. No need to accidentally insult him if he burns water regularly.

"It isn't trouble," he says instead, and begins measuring out sections of spaghetti -- dumping some in the pan and putting away the packet again. He checks the heat, watching the pasta a moment as it slowly softens so he can get it all under the water and leave it a bit. "Did you want me to open that now?" he says finally, glancing sideways at the box and lofting an eyebrow as he coaxes the spaghetti further into the water. "Or wait until later?"

[reticence]

Faolan moves to shrug off his jacket and hang it on the back of the chair, taking a seat in it once he is done. He feels something of an overwhelming sense of deja vu in the action, but then again he has only been there once before, and Lancelot had sat him down at the same table in exactly the same way before. Perhaps he enjoys playing host for others? Faolan isn't entirely certain. He doesn't know a lot about the other man himself, truth be told. He hadn't even known that he'd spoken Spanish until he'd accidentally invaded his phone call like he had.

"It's going to be the same thing no matter when you do," he says, with a shrug. "So I suppose it's up to you. If I tell you to do it now..." It might ruin his meal. But if he tells him to do it after, then he might lose his meal, depending. He shakes his head. "Perhaps you should do it now," he concludes. "Though I will simply defend myself by saying that... It's not what I would have chosen for you, if I had had more say in the matter."

[thelittlemerman]

"Fine, fine," he says, still cheerful as he holds her waist just a little tighter. "It'll be a beautiful, decorative addition in my home whenever you're not around to play it."

[falsify]

Well, she's in her element here. The weirdness could just as easily be a woman at ease with her situation. Either way, she smiles broadly at the congrats, "thank you!" There's a thread of excitement coiled behind the stern businesswoman exterior, "truth be told, it's been a while."

[anniesgonemad]

She wrinkles her nose at him. "You're awful." But her words and eyes are fond.

"But maybe I'll be around more; I like your flat." Her place was too big, too empty, as much as she loved her grandmother. It just wasn't the same. It wasn't her home, back in Innishmore. It certainly wasn't her dorm room at District 4. But when she stayed with Finnick, it felt a little bit more like home, pressed up against his warm body, holding him as he held her.

Finnick Odair was home.

[knightscode]

"You're certainly building it up."

To the point where Lancelot isn't entirely sure what to expect, especially considering he got it from the Night Council auction. He turns the spaghetti a little further, gently bends it until it's all underneath the water finally. Satisfied he can leave it a moment he checks the heat on everything one last time before scooping up a cloth to make sure his hands are clean.

"You didn't have to get me anything, you know. Although it's sweet of you to."

Pulling out a chair he drops down beside Faolan finally, setting the cloth aside and dropping a hand instinctively as Lily appears beside him to nudge at him. Hello! Hello Lancelot! Have you seen the box! What is in the box?

[reticence]

Faolan raises his eyebrows at the other man at the use of the word 'sweet'. Sweet to have gotten him this, that's a bit of a laugh, he thinks to himself. Perhaps it would be more applicable if he'd succeeded in some of the other items, although really, thinking of himself as 'sweet' in any context is a bit of a stretch.

"I owe you," he says, simply. "And I can't help feeling that I still owe you, perhaps even more now, thanks to this." He doesn't explain himself further. Not about the gift, and not about the rest of it either. But Lancelot has ever been there for him, since the moment they'd encountered each other that first night and the other man had taken care of him, forced him to take care of himself, for that matter. He has cheered him up when he has been in a mood, and he has supported him through frankly some pretty terrible ideas and situations. It's the least he can do, to try and thank him for that.

"Next time it'll be better," he promises, awkwardly. "Perhaps I can feed you for a change. Out, that is," he corrects, quickly. He really isn't much of a cook, if Lancelot hadn't already guessed as much.

[knightscode]

He laughs a little at the correction, shakes his head at Faolan.

"Only if you want to," he says, giving Lily a last scruff before leaving her be. He tugs the box toward himself finally, checking around it to find the right way to open it before lifting it -- and startling back, hand flying to his chest as his heart skips up a bit.

"Faolan," he chides, and lets out a huffing laugh. "It isn't for two weeks yet!"

[reticence]

Faolan holds his breath slightly as Lancelot reaches to open the box, and the reaction is -- rather what he'd expected. At least until the other man starts laughing. For two weeks? Faolan raises an eyebrow at him in response to such a comment, obviously puzzled by it. "I don't..." he says, uncertainly, before deciding that it's perhaps best to explain himself than struggle to figure out what Lancelot means.

"It's a Monkey's Paw," he says. "They're. Supposed to grant wishes. At least, that's the superstition, anyway. Three of them, to be exact. Though I don't know whether I'd advise it..." He purses his lips slightly, obviously more than a little hesitant about the whole exchange. "You don't have to keep it, I don't. Like I said, I'd tried for something else. I can just take it back. Make it a rain check. A dinner would have been better..."

[knightscode]

Oh. The surprise shows on his face. He'd thought -- well, he'd thought it some sort of peculiar Halloween prank in truth. A terribly early one. He frowns down at the box, peers back into the box a little hesitantly.

"A monkey's paw? I'm not sure I'd trust a wish granted by a monkey, it might have a sense of humour."

He lets out an awkward huff of amusement, carefully takes it out of the box. He's a mixture of horrified of fascinated, in truth, because -- well it is part of an animal but it's also magic.

"How does it work? I assume it's enchanted in some way -- that... Well, that you can't just kill a monkey and use it to start making wishes. Surely then everyone would do it?"

[wolfmarked]

"You don't seem to have much regard for the fae." Of course, she says it with a small laugh. Because, well, it's quite an understatement. Still, it isn't an accusation. It's merely an acknowledgement, in its own way. "I admit-- I don't really have much of an opinion one way or the other."

Except that they'd been strangely active, something that unsettled her greatly. Still, as long as they weren't a threat to her, she wasn't overly worried. Other people could worry about them, so far as she cared.

Then, it struck her that manners might be of the essence, so she offered her hand politely. "Sofia Hughes."

[hurtfew]

Well, she has been polite and seemingly listened to him -- and she has been interesting. He takes her hand after a moment's thought.

"Gilbert Norrell," he offers in turn. "And I have very little regard for fae, Miss Hughes, as should you! The fae have a whole other realm of their own, and yet they have begun to take control of parts of London! They are tricksters and deceivers, with no regard for law or manners! If we allow them to be indulged as curiosities they will soon overrun us all!"

[wolfmarked]

"I keep my distance from them, but..." She shrugs her shoulders. It can be dismissed, likely, as either youth or some kind of pragmatism. Difficult to say, really. "As long as they're not bothering me and mine? I'm not in much mood to cross them, y'know?"

Skip bit her tongue slightly at the last word. There was the Irish girl, sneaking past her carefully trained posh Londoner accent. She had to check herself better. Conversation was no reason to get lazy.

[hurtfew]

The accent does not bother him -- for Gilbert Norrell is talking about a favourite topic now, the fae menace, and all his focus is on that.

"Oh, but they are Miss Hughes! Very much so! They are bothering all of us! Perhaps they have not reached where you live yet, but the fae have already made four claims in six months! Does that not seem dangerous to you? Is that not an invasion, if they are exiting their own realm to begin taking ownership of parts of ours? No! If it continues unchecked then it will be everyone's problem, for we risk London falling under fae majority!"

[wolfmarked]

"You make a good point." Because, well, that was what the man had to want to hear. And he wasn't entirely wrong, no. It wasn't anything she particularly cared about, not until they started interfering with her own personal way of life. "I suppose I've been distracted lately, with the losses within the werewolf community from the Blood Moon."

[hurtfew]

It is exactly what he wants to hear, and he likes her all the more for saying it. Enough that her aside is one he indulges instead of barrelling onwards with his own topic, brow furrowed in thought.

"I had heard rumours it was going poorly. It is a difficult time, I understand, with their power reduced."

[wolfmarked]

"It will be some time before we've fully recovered from the losses." She smiles, though, and bows her head a little. "Still, there is that much to be said for the pack's way of life. When something happens, they truly do rally as a community."

With fewer divisions than other factions she'd seen. But that needn't be said.

[kleptofaeniac]

"A while?"

Kenzi's brow twisted with the question. She hadn't thought the girl would have had a job before, much less a legitimate (ish) one. If Alice had lied about her age...

She didn't want to think she'd lied about being a sister too. Not now.

[falsify]

"A few years, maybe?" She gives Kenzi a thoughtful look and nods to confirm her estimate, "there's more business on the... Shadier side of things, you know?"

Let's not think at all about anything she may or may not have disclosed, okay. Totally just your aver maybe witch with ambiguous business dealings.

[reticence]

"I don't know," Faolan says, awkwardly. "That's all the information I was given when I won the bid. It would grant the three wishes, but. You should be careful how you use them..."

He sits there in his seat, watching the other man carefully lift the thing out of the box. Watching the look on his face. This isn't what he had wanted. He'd wanted to thank the other man, not frighten him. Lancelot had accepted him into his home and here he was, giving him... A severed animal part. As a present. What the hell is wrong with him? What is Lancelot going to think was wrong with him, for that matter? The room is suddenly too hot and Faolan's feeling far more foolish than ever before for bringing the thing here and presenting it to the man in the first place.

[knightscode]

"There's bound to be a book on them somewhere. I wonder if it's a form of fae magic? Fae grant wishes themselves, perhaps they can imbue something with some of that..."

Lancelot tilts his head in thought, looks down and around sharply as Lily leans in to sniff at it.

"Ah--! No, no wishes for you. I'm not sure what you'd wish for, but we don't want it whatever it is."

Food, of course! Endless amounts of food. He sets it back in the box carefully, picks up he cloth again to try and rub the odd feel of dead monkey from his hands and stands again.

"Well, I can safely say it's the most unique gift I've ever had."

[reticence]

Faolan abruptly pushes himself to stand from the table, nearly knocking the chair from underneath him with the suddenness of the movement. With the simple gesture of wiping his hands like that and the phrase to follow, Faolan has heard and seen everything he needs to, to know that Lancelot really could have done without the thing. Everything to know he's made a mistake. And, as is so often the case in a moment Faolan is left feeling uncomfortable, his flight instincts kick in full gear.

"I'm sorry," he says, reaching to grab for his coat, "It was a mistake coming here, bringing that. You can. Get rid of it if you want, I'll..." He can't find the right words though, so instead he shakes his head and turns, heading back towards the front door.

[knightscode]

He blinks around as Faolan stands suddenly, Lily jumping back in surprise and flicking her ears. What is going on? Are they going somewhere? Are they going for a walk?!

"Faolan," he chides, "it'll be a bigger mistake for you if you leave. I just put spaghetti, don't make me waste it. Sit down, or I'll follow you home and leave it on your doorstep!"

[reticence]

Faolan has only taken a few steps away, although he slows at the tone of the other man's voice. The set of his shoulders is stiff, awkward. He's obviously uncomfortable, obviously embarrassed. He obviously doesn't really know what to do with himself and the shitty gift that he's brought the other man, knowing that he wouldn't appreciate the thing (who would, really?). The fact that Lancelot still wants him to stay puzzles him. Enough to make him pause.

He turns to glance back at the other man, his eyes guarded, wary. Like a stray dog trying to figure out whether this is something he can trust or not. The analogy really isn't that far off, all things considered. After a moment's pause, although Faolan does not step back towards the table, not yet anyway, he does hover there in the threshold of Lancelot's kitchen, and speak up to say, "You've had enough scares this evening as it is without subjecting yourself to my flat."

[knightscode]

"Then you had better sit back down, I think."

Lancelot jerks an eyebrow, offers Faolan a twitch of a smile as he moves to stir the pasta. He looks like he's thinking about it, at least, which is reassurance that Lancelot isn't going to have to wrestle him to the ground to keep him there. Lily pads closer to Faolan and studies him questioningly. What is he doing? Why is he standing suddenly?

"We can save the haunted flat routine for Halloween."