Udo didn’t win the bet, but he got what he wanted. The reaper got up and left, not interested in Addie’s addled affairs. His next move, when he chose to take it, was to pay a little visit to the Fifth Division.
There he thought it would be an easy auction. Wrong thought.
Shortly after he made his first bid, the captain of the Eighth Division started to make his own offers. Soon the first bidder and Senesati-taichou started to bid against each other in a frenzy of calling bid after bid.
Somewhere between, Mitsuhito tried to bid three thousand eight hundred and eighty but before he was even able to open his mouth, the captain already bid four thousand.
Whatever, shit happens.
Moving a little away from the crowd, he continued to watch the spectacle from afar.
"I bid Ten Thousand for the lovely Lilith. I believe I am allowed to spend the money that i accrue whilst locked away, yes?"
All eyes turned to the door as a stranger entered the room. He was dressed in a suit that was perfectly tailored to him. It was a light grey suit, with a thin red tie adding a stripe of color down his chest. on his head was a matching hat tilted ever so slightly, giving the man a roguish countenance. It was accompanied by a lopsided grin that made the entire thing go together perfectly. As he walked by, he turned and winked at Senesati. It was then that the identity of the man clicked for all present. The man striding through was Ishin Katsuji, the Captain of the Seventh Division!
"Better luck next time, eh buddy?"
As he got to the stage, he nodded to Pica.
"Sorry I'm late. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find suits in my size. Now then, when is it my turn on the block?"
"Ten thousand, one hundred for Lilith," Kago announced, raising his newly obtained paddle. He had been late to the bidding due to Sophia's last minute advice about bidding wars. Apparently, being cooped up in the mansion with only her husband and male family members as company made her desperate for any sort of girl talk. If he failed to win the bid for a day with Lilith, the nobleman's wife would never let him hear the end of it.
"I'm not too late, am I?" he added curiously with a warm smile.
"Gbhfffff," was the sound coming from Picca. It was the sound of her stifling a laugh with both hands. Her body was rocking back and forth and she was leaning against a post that held up the curtains.
That was absolutely brilliant.
The auctioneer wavered a moment at the sudden spin on events but quickly regained composure. "Sold to the gentle with ten thousand one hundred." He then looked back at Picca for more instructions.
The woman was laughing too hard to speak so she just motioned towards Captain Ishin and then to the stage. The staff understood it to mean bring him onto the stage. They were very reluctant to try and herd a giant man that had just lost onto the stage though. With a more forceful wave, they relented and pressed the prisoner captain onto the stage.
"For our final even, but definitely not the least in any way, Captain Ishin Katsuji," the auctioneer said. "Once again, bidding starts at two hundred fifty. And remember, Captain Senesati is apparently still open."
[1611]
Read Me
Bidding for Ishin ends Saturday, 11:00 pm sharp. Note that this is earlier! This is to give me enough time to do a final post. That's right, thread will close this Saturday.
The dignified captain glanced at the prison warden and said with a gloatful smirk, "It appears that women will still remain a rarity in the Seventh, Ishin Katsuji."
Senesati smiled at the thought of the Eighth Division winning the lovely Captain of the Divine through the vice-captain's bid. Hmm, appears I am not at a total loss, thought the nobleman.
"Two-hundred fifty-one for the prisoner captain," he announced, turning his nose to the sky and without the slightest glance in Ishin's direction.
"Two fifty-two!” Adelaide raised her paddle on the prisoner as well. Why? She had already bid quite heavily on Captain Anenokoji who would, doubtless, teach her a thing or two on the wisdom of her choice to drink angry. A decision she herself was regretting, because while holding up her paddle the world seemed to start spinning, which was fairly inconsiderate of it, but at least it had left her something to hold on to. The paddle.
Right, she was bidding. She just found these tiny incremental increases funny, especially following the last round of actual bidding (bidding on her Captain, though amusing, wasn’t exactly what anyone was likely to consider ‘legitimate’) where the totals got to be around what she ball-parked her annual salary at. Two fifty-two indeed.
She noticed she was still holding up the paddle after a second or two and slowly lowered it. She was drunk. Really drunk. But, she had had some fun to combat what was, otherwise, one of the worst nights out she’d had in really quite some time.
And she was drunk. Really drunk.
But she had managed to keep her Captain owned by his own division, and that seemed good. Especially in light of the fact that the lovely Lilith was the Eighth’s as well! Granted, she was now obligated to the literal ladykiller Kago, but that was still something the Eighth could hold its head high about.
She was in so much trouble when she got back to the Division.
"Two Fifty-Four.” Adelaide proclaimed this as calmly as she was capable given the circumstances. Captain Anenokoji was keeping calm, which added so much more humor to this. She had to try as well.
Crisis seemingly averted, Raury discontinued his bidding. He had intended to remain a spectator throughout the entire event, and aside from that...minor hiccup, he had been able to keep it that way. He felt his muscles unclenching from the anxiety of sudden attention, and blessed whatever gods were available for the moment passing quickly. He could have full-on kissed the organizer of this even for allowing the spontaneous bidding, rather than making it all worse by refuting the action.
Addle seemed to be regaining balance as well. Not sobriety, granted. But he felt little of the rage that had been spurring the woman on previously. He choked down the need to chastise her for drinking angry, resigning himself to let her alone for now. He made a mental note to mention his disapproval later (Not that he’d remember something like that) and began to navigate his way through the crowd. Beating the post-event rush seemed prudent. There were a fuckton of people here.
It had been interesting to see shinigami interaction at a more playful event. Things that weren’t war.
Really should get out more. In the open. In like...not bars.
The world was vast, and for once, he was beginning to feel that he was missing out by not associating with the larger, more sober portion of the community.
All this bidding in one kan steps sure was amusing, and he catched himself laughing out when it started. He was even tempted to do the same, but then again, he would have nothing that he could do with the captain of the Seventh, let alone, he did not know what would happen to him if he managed to win the captain at such a low price and with this one kan bidding method.
Thinking about that, a cold shiver ran down his back.
Whatever, time to go, looks like there is not much left for me to do here.
Walking past some of the staff, handing over his sign, he went out of the First Division grounds to a waiting Sekai, already thinking about an excuse of where he was the whole time.
The Captain of the Tenth watched the audience from the side of the stage. She was pleased Kago had won her at the auction. After all, his intentions were quite clear. Lilith certainly didn't mind girl-talking with his aristocratic wife, Sophia Takimoto. Perhaps, in the noblewoman's company, Lilith might even have the opportunity to enjoy some 'noble food and wine' while wearing 'fancy noble robes.' It would be a welcomed and legitimate break from her standard division duties.
However despite that positive future, the Mystic woman's thoughts drifted instead to Senesati-taichou and that young man of the Blood Templar. She hadn't developed a relationship with either of them, and their avid betting had caught her off-guard. Captain Senesati was especially surprising. Lilith had assumed the handsome nobleman had women flocking to his doorstep – beautiful young ladies that had all the time in the world to tend a cozy home and adore him. A busy female captain, covered by scars and driven by the tugs of war and military orders, certainly sounded less appealing, no? Meanwhile, there was also that mysterious Tetsuo. His intentions were far less clear -- vague and concealed enough that even Konsou Choushuu could not pierce them.
Men, she thought to herself with a slight level of dumbfoundedness.
Deftly, Lilith stepped off the stage as her ivory robe flowed behind her. Approaching Takimoto Kago's side, she nudged the vice-captain and smirked, "Who knew you were such a marksman?" She chuckled and added with a congratulatory smile, "Not bad on sniping the sniper."
Floating her orchid gaze upward, Lilith shook her head at the irate Prison Captain. Individual bets for one kan each only did harm to a man's ego. She certainly thought he was worth more than two hundred and fifty-four kan. But spending money on things she could get for free was definitely against the woman's morals.
And why were those triplets not around to increase his value? They certainly clung to him enough. They'd be jumping in glee at this opportunity -- it was a very 'bimbo' thing to do. Then when it finally occurred to her, Lilith shook her head at the realization. To be honest, those three probably spent every sliver of their money on fake hair and nails... more unnecessary ornaments to increase their levels of bimbo-ness.
As Lilith continued to watch Ishin, the seconds of finality for the auction's close rang in her ear.
"Final bets. Going once..."
Then, in one sad, sympathetic movement, Ishin's puppy blue eyes caught hers, practically begging Lilith to do something. After all, he was willling to pay ten-thousand kan for her, no?
She hated that look. It was too... ugh. She felt her knees weaken. This isn't even fair.
"Going twice..."
"Oh all right..." Lilith called to the auctioner. "Two thousand for Ishin-taichou, please."
Even if she could make him do whatever she wanted any day of the week, Lilith certainly didn't want Ishin to think there was no value in that. And since he'd likely be mad at her if she didn't bet on him, that attention would likely dwindle. And Lilith couldn't have that. She liked his attention too much.
"Bidding is closed," the auctioneer stated with a swing of the hammer. "Congratulations to the young lady for winning surprise entry Captain Anenokoji. And congratulations to Captain Maikeru for winning Captain Katsuji?" He glanced back in puzzlement to check if that was within the rules for prizes to bid on each other.
Picca shrugged and gave a single nod.
"And congratulations to our other winners as well," the auctioneer finished.
The event organizer stepped onto the stage and activated her microphone again. "Thank ye- you for coming everyone! I know some of you are, some of you are disappointed that you did not win but please, let me know if you want another event. I wi- would be more than happy to organize these. Let me know if you have certain popular officers that you would like to see here as well.
"And lastly, let me say thank you for being so generous in the bidding. I'm sure the charity appreciates it very much and they will put it to great use. All of you can feel free to suggest what the money is used for. Either write in, or visit their website and W W W dot shinsanryusankan dot com."
Picca performed a graceful bow to show her appreciation to everyone that showed up and bid on some captains.
"Oh, and remember to tell your graders that you were here!"
[1842]
Winners:
Lucas Bulwark won Captain Uchiharu
Arashi Ryoujin won Captain Matsumara
Takimoto Kago won Captain Maikeru
Adelaide Pierce won Captain Anenokoji
Lilith Maikeru won Captain Katsuji
Thank you for having your names in your signature. That saved a lot of searching.
Lilith walked toward the stage and shook one finger at the Seventh Division captain reprovingly. "I think you'll need a few lessons on sniping, Ishin. You have to improve your timing a bit." She brought her finger back down and then shrugged, "But then again, I can't criticize you too much. You were aiming for an incredibly rare, exotic, and obviously valued creature."
Coyly, Lilith smiled. "Though in the meantime, I still need to figure out what I'm going to do with you... I guess it really depends on how much I want you to enjoy it..." Leaving her comment at that, the Mystic woman smirked, then spun away from him and walked through the crowds.
"What do you think people will do with their captains?" One Founder asked as Lilith passed him by. "Heck, I don't even know what I'd do with a captain. They have to be kind of boring, right?"
"What are you talking about?" asked an arcanist beside him. "They're freaking captains! That's so cool. I'd be happy just to walk around with them all day."
"It'd only be cool for five minutes. I mean, think about it. In order to be a captain, you have to train a lot, right? So really, how interesting can a person be if they devoted all their time to training? It'd be like walking around with a life-sized action figure."
Overhearing the rather rude comment, Lilith nearly turned around. But just as she opened her mouth to begin her lecture, she suddenly realized that she had gotten more boring since becoming a captain. Life was... Busy, yes. Tedious, true. Stressful, definitely. But there was no time for shopping, gossip, or random beach vacations with too many mai tais.
Deciding it was better to keep her mouth shut, Lilith remained quiet and walked to the other side of the courtyard. Eventually, she reached Picca, who was finishing up conversations with various other shinigami-- most of whom were curious about the next possible auction.
When Picca was finally done, she turned toward Lilith and greeted her with a polite congratulations on her win.
Lilith, in turn, smiled and admitted, "You know, Picca, I have to say... I wasn't very fond of you for a little while there. Being secretly sold by you isn't anything new, but I don't think I'll ever get used to how uncomfortable the experience is." She chuckled, then nodded her head humbly. "Though I have to say thank you. This was more fun than I expected it to be, and I'm looking forward to my day with my bidder."
