Revrho?

"Can I see that list you’re holding?" Idalec asked, shaking his hand slightly,

"Certainly!" Francis said, surprised at himself that he hadn’t thought of that sooner.

"What were you looking for again, my friend?” Idalec asked, uninterested as his eyes moved along the list that Francis had provided to him.

"Uhmmm..." Sato said, his face turning red as he took quick looks at the silent, angry Prix. "A... like a..." Sato said, moving his hands around in the air as if trying to mold what he wanted into existence for Idalec and Francis to see,

"A woman?" Idalec tried to clarify after a few seconds of Sato playing charades,

“Yes.” Sato spat out as he stopped moving his hands around.

Idalec looked back at the page Francis had given him; it was well formatted, with the columns being labeled just like at Idalec’s father’s slave market: tag #, species, age, magic?, strength, sex, price, notes. Standard stuff. The only notable thing about this list was how long it was.

"My Friend Sato is unaware of what he really wants, Francis." Idalec threw a glance to a backdoor, then at Francis, then again at the backdoor. ‘I hope Sato could at least point out what he wants if he is unwilling to use his words.’

"Oh! Yes, I can show you what we have in stock. It might be easier if you see what we have, Sato." Francis said, looking at Idalec,

"If you may," Idalec replied courteously before Francis got up, walking away to the second floor. Idalec angled himself towards Sato to take a closer look while they waited for Francis. Sato wore a pair of silvery ocean blue shorts, a green t-shirt made of cotton with a large white box in the middle of it with white glyphs on it. 'Is it immoral to help Sato buy a female slave if he was married to Prix? Surely they can't be married. A noble lady like Prix wouldn't marry a schlub like Sato who has no spark of aristocracy about him. But you have to admit he doesn't look like he’s worked a day in his life-’ Sato’s pale skin and soft hands were two giveaways for Idalec, ‘-but he also acts like he was born yesterday...’

"What were you thinking!" Prix whispered angrily,

"I..."

"We are not stooping to the level of buying slaves! None! A slave merchant would sell you if they could! And I bet that boy works for Francis, drumming up sales." Prix hissed, which Idalec could comfortably hear.

“Ahem.” Idalec coughed

"It's nothing against you, Idalec." Prix turned to look Idalec in the eyes,

"I'm not tied to anyone here. I'm actually a student at Roux Academy." It wasn’t exactly a lie since he was still enrolled at the school, but Idalec’s heart was no longer there.

Francis approached the three of them holding a notepad, pencil, and plaque. "Sorry for the holdup, right this way." Francis led them towards the back door that Idalec had looked at.

Behind the door lay a short corridor at the end of which sat a guard on a tiny stool. “Who are you?”

“Francis Earlstein.” Francis showed the plaque to the guard, who didn’t bother looking at it,

"Remember not to open any cages; you can only show them to your clients." the guard said pointedly to Francis, who laughed and nodded along awkwardly before the guard nodded and let Francis and his clients through the door.

“We can make a deal out here, but to make it official we have to sign the paperwork inside.” Francis recited with a laugh to Sato as they walked outside.

This was more of a holding area; brick walls enclosed the area, with tarps running the length of the top providing shade while allowing thin streams of light to leak inside. Metal cages were stacked in neat rows with ample walkways.

“Umm,” Francis said, walking around unsurely with Idalec, Sato, and Prix in tow. “Here we are,” Francis said, rubbing his nose. The smell of pinecone sap filled the whole space; the scent was heavy enough that you could taste the smoke if you tried breathing through your mouth. Prix rubbed away a few tears as they walked. “Our offerings are on this side-” Francis motioned his hand at the right row of cages “-if something else catches your eye, I can still help you out,” Francis said, walking backwards at a crawl, looking back at Sato. “So you were looking for a woman, Sato?” Francis asked, looking into Sato’s wide eyes.

Sato stopped in his tracks. “Cat girl.” Everyone else also came to a stop and looked into the dark cage which had caught Sato’s eye.

Idalec raised an eyebrow in surprise since it took him a few seconds to spot the black figure slumped against the back. She was covered from head to toe in black fur with patches missing, black slits for pupils centered in an amber iris which reminded Idalec of a sunset.

“40-” Idalec read off the number on the cage as the cat inside moved ever so slightly. “40, cat folk, 14 to 18-” Idalec paused to look into her eyes, eyes which had an unmistakable spark of fury and passion that could only belong to Revrho. “What’s your name?” Idalec tried to sound casual to the cat girl,

To which the cat girl replied by flashing her teeth at Idalec. This cat folk looked like she’d jump at them the second they got close enough. ‘Magic? Sealed- why would they do that?’ Idalec wondered, taking another glance at the cat girl; the answer became obvious.

‘Strength? High, female, of course, and 8 silver... Is she really that bad?’ Idalec looked over at the note, which was so long it extended outside of the allotted space, detailing how she ran away multiple times and how she was extremely violent. ‘This has to be Revrho.’ Idalec concluded to himself. “Sorry there, my friends, I was just surprised,” Idalec said, turning his back to the cage to face Sato.

"I wouldn't recommend buying her in good conscience." Francis said after a glance at the list Idalec was holding, before expertly taking a few more steps and saying, "But if you are looking for a cat girl, we do have a few right here-” Francis pointed to a cat girl who was similar to number 40; this one was a Bengal with dark brown spots on a light brown fur coat. She had mostly the same facial expression as number 40, but her eyes completely lacked 40's malice.

“92-” Idalec read out, puzzled, ‘Who puts cage 40 next to 92?’

"Ouuu." Sato stepped over to ogle at number 92.

"92, cat folk, 17 to 20, no magic, moderate strength, female, 3 gold, and she apparently has a friendly personality." Idalec read off a little suspicion of the last part; from experience, cat folk were never friendly.

"Yeah, I want her! What's your name?" Sato said, carelessly moving towards the cage before instantly being grabbed by Prix, Francis, and Idalec. "Why..." Sato asked, confused as number 40 inched closer to the front of her cage, eyes on him.

“Please keep your distance for now, Sato,” Francis said while looking at number 40.

"Oh, I don't have a name, master~. What would you want to name me, master?" number 92 said, breaking the silence. Catching everyone’s eyes, she then moved her hands behind her back, puffing up her chest and putting her legs up flat so that her paws touched the bars of her cage. Followed by a half-hearted “Moew?”

"I need her..." Sato sweated; you could practically see hearts in his eyes. His mouth hung open a little as he took in number 92,

“Of course you’d want someone like that.” 40 snarked. Idalec caught her eye. “Luna…” the cat girl mocked 92,

“Shhh”

"DON'T YOU SHUSH ME!” Luna exploded at Francis,

“We’ll talk with you next,” Francis said thoughtfully before muttering out a small spelling causing Luna to go mute. "Sorry about that." Francis apologized as Luna kept giving all four of them an intense death stare. “Sato-” Francis said, putting on a weak smile for Sato, “- 92’s starting price at auction is three gold-” Francis began writing on his notepad,

“If I pay six gold, can I have her right now?” Francis’s pencil snapped. “What about five? Five gold coins right here right now.” Sato bartered with himself,

“S-sure-” Francis said, puzzled as he looked at Idalec, who was entranced by Luna,

“Master, I’ll be waiting for you~” 92 whispered over

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely save you!” Sato said, walking towards the front, “Let’s get a deal done!” Sato said, clapping at Francis.

“Yeah, let’s go back inside then,” Francis said slowly as he took the lead. Luna looked at Francis's neck, thinking about where the perfect spot would be to bite into it.