Auction Room: Darcy and Seraphina
Some slaves didn't want to be sold. They fought with their handlers, refused to move and had to be dragged towards the audience. Some of them had to be held there, whilst others looked down at their feet and quivered as if this was the most terrifying thing they'd ever known. Darcy was not one of these slaves.
With his chin up he glanced around the room, not looking at anybody in particular. Somewhere in front of him was his new master, waiting to take him home. Why on earth would anybody jeopardise their chances of getting out of here?
The auction house had washed him with cheap, abrasive soap that had no smell and clearly didn't moisturise the skin. His hair had been subjected to a terrible shampoo and conditioner in one, with no treatment mask, serum or volumising mousse to follow before being dried. Darcy tied his hair up often, but at the moment it was out of necessity; if he left it down he'd never be sold.
And that was what he wanted, wasn't it? A new master who would take him away from this awful place and the horrible people inside it. His previous master had always kept him in a cage, but it was large, comfortable and completely his own. He could see the city lights glittering through the window, and had plenty of things to entertain him when his master's attention was elsewhere. The living arrangements at the auction house weren't so comfortable or private.
They had redressed him in his own clothes, possibly because they looked and fitted better than anything the auction house could supply. Darcy wore a skirt he could just about bend over in, under which the tops of his black stockings were just about visible, paired with a lacy off-white camisole. His favourite cardigan with a fur trim collar and taupe Stuart Weitzman highland boots completed the look. The boots were the last thing his previous master had bought him.
Darcy toed the floor and tried to look as doe-eyed as possible as the auctioneer wrapped up his stat summary and opened the bidding at five thousand dollars.