The Slave Auction Meme (Continuation from Bakerstreet and Other Starters)

[chaneystarr]

SLAVES

1. The Newbie - This is your very first auction and you don't quite know what to expect. Hopefully you remember your training and don't disgrace yourself in front of your new master. Hopefully someone thinks you're worth buying at all.

2. The Oldtimer - You've been bought and sold and bought again so many times. You've seen it all before and don't think this time is going to be much different. In fact, the only real anxiety you've got is whether or not someone's going to pay for a more than slightly used slave.

3. The Pet - You're a pleasure slave. A bed warmer. A decorative piece of artwork. You're meant to look pretty and be pleasing and not much else.

4. The Guard - Your master hired you because of your ability to swing a sword or shoot a gun, not your looks.

5. The Escape Artist - Somehow you always manage to squirm out of your master's chains. Too bad you seem to get caught after a while. Maybe your next daring escape will be permanent. Then again, maybe your next master has special ways of keeping you locked up.

6. The Undercover - You aren't a slave at all, you're just pretending to be one. Why? Well that's up to you. Either way, your cover is blown if you don't act the part.

7. The Specialist - You have a skill that no one else has. Something rare and valuable. Something your master needs more than anything else.

MASTERS

1. The Customer - You've owned slaves before and this trip to the market is nothing new to you. Still, you're hoping to find something worth your while.

2. The Gift - Someone bought a pet for you, isn't that nice of them? Or maybe it isn't so nice. Did you even want a slave in the first place? Well you're stuck with one now.

3. The Giver - You're selecting a slave for someone else, and they need to be perfect. Perhaps you'd better test them out first to make sure you're getting your money's worth.

4. The Trainer - You specialize in taming unruly slaves and making them over into perfect, obedient, well-trained pets.

5. The Rebel - You hate the idea of slavery, but the system isn't going to go away any time soon, so the next best thing is to buy up any slave you can get your hands on and free them, right?

6. The Companion - You want someone to be with you always, someone you can talk to and depend on, someone who will never leave your side. It's a good thing that money can buy that these days.

7. The Undercover - You're not actually a Master. You're at the auction for an entirely different reason. Maybe it's special policework, maybe you're trying to hunt down a certain someone. Either way, your cover is blown unless you act the part.

( Meme ganked from Bakerstreet and copied here for more explicit content. Enter/Read at your own discretion. )

Comments

[moraxiom]

[ He can feel that exhaustion, the want to rest, and instead of responding immediately he just...

Scoops him up. ]

Something akin to that. [ And he starts to move forward towards the new home. ]

[battlebesties]

[ He gives a startled yelp when Zhongli picks him up without warning, hands instinctively going to grasp onto his shoulders for balance. ]

Hey! I can walk!

[moraxiom]

Yet you seemed ready to sleep against my shoulder. You will need to be more convincing, Childe.

[ It's hard to hide his smile as he carries him in. It's a spacious home, furnished with warm, earth tones. A comfortable couch, geo constructs flickering with light instead of candles - a glass or... perhaps quartz table. Everything is neat and in its place. ]

Would you like me to sit you down here or in my room?

[battlebesties]

Your room.

[ That hadn't been answer, more a skeptical repetition of what Zhongli had just said. And then he blinks, those words sinking in as he gives the Archon a startled look. ]

Wait, why your room?

[ There's a sudden rush of heat, a faint redness coloring its way up the back of his neck. Which Zhongli might or might not notice since he had insisted on carrying him. ]

[moraxiom]

Well... I live here alone. There aren't other beds yet.

[battlebesties]

[ Childe just blinks at him a moment.

And then thinks his head down against Zhongli's shoulder. ]

...You really are trying to kill me.

[moraxiom]

[ ??????????

He sets Childe down on the couch with some worry, checking him over. ]

Have I hurt you? My apologies. [ His hand does go to his chest, palm splayed across his front to check his heart. ]

[battlebesties]

[ Childe just bats his hands away, because his pulse is beating just a little too fast and it has nothing to do with exertion. ]

I'm fine. You didn't hurt me.

[moraxiom]

[ He exhales in relief, settling back on his knees as the spike of anxiety ebbs out of his body. ]

I see. I am thankful.

... if you would prefer to sleep here, I am unbothered. This arrangement was sudden.

[battlebesties]

I should be the one apologizing. I'm the one invading your private space, after all.

[ He ducks his head, evading the whole 'sleep' issue for the moment. ]

[moraxiom]

I carried you into my home. That is not an 'invasion'.

[battlebesties]

[ Childe just takes a moment to give him an assessing look. ]

When was the last time you brought someone here?

[moraxiom]

[ At that... Zhongli has to falter.

This is the first time Childe has asked something truly personal that he can't pretend away. His lips thin, and he shifts onto his feet again, brushing some of his hair back. ]

Many thousands of years ago.

[battlebesties]

[ Childe just watches him silently, because he'd suspected as such. ]

So whether you carried me here or not, this is still an invasion, of sorts. As grateful as I am that you got me out of that mess, Zhongli, the last thing I want to be is a bother, or get underfoot when you'd rather I not.

[moraxiom]

I have enjoyed my time with you, the past few months. You could not be a 'bother'. I would like to continue enjoying sharing my time with you.

[battlebesties]

[ His gaze narrows slightly at that, as if he doesn't actually believe those words in the least. ]

And here I thought I was being a pain in your ass. I'm so disappointed.

[ That's sarcasm, Zhongli, don't get worried again. ]

[moraxiom]

[ Oh, for Celestia's sake.

He leans forwards, one hand on the couch beside Childe's head to keep him propped up. His brow twitches, and it almost seems like he's going to lash out, but -

Instead, he just kisses him hard, other hand pulling Childe's shirt forward into it. ]

[battlebesties]

[ Zhongli leans over him and for a moment Childe wonders if he's pushed too far and actually upset the usually-impassive man. He tenses, unsure what to expect if he actually has made the archon angry.

Except then he's jerked forward and Zhongli's lips crash against his own. he lets out a startled sound that is muffled into the kiss - and probably far more embarrassing than he'd ever want to be caught at. His eyes are wide, almost going cross-eyed for a moment as his brain absorbs this sudden new change in their relationship.

But oh, fuck, he's lost track of how many of his fantasies have started like this by now, and he can't help but lean back into that kiss, lips parting against Zhongli as he kisses him back hungrily, that yelp melting into a low, breathless moan. ]

[moraxiom]

[ He - he didn't expect him to return it.

Zhongli relaxes. The tension from his shoulders finally ebb, and the hand that had been at Childe's shirt lets go to cup his face, his chin, tipping it up into the kiss.

He pulls back a few moments later, to exhale. ]

Did I... not make my intentions - my feelings clear to you before now?

[battlebesties]

[ You'll need to give him a minute here, Zhongli. You just broke his brain a little. And that had been a damned good kiss for someone who's been hiding away in the middle of nowhere for a few thousand years.

He's a little breathless, actually, eyes a little dazed. He'd be embarrassed about how much he'd been affected by that kiss if he weren't still revelling in the tingling heat he could feel lingering against his lips.

Lips he licks again, as if to see if he could still taste him, before glancing up at Zhongli. ]

Zhongli. I didn't know you had any intentions like that until you kissed me. You need to start using your words more.

[moraxiom]

[ He just looked befuddled. ]

I proposed months ago and you accepted the gift. I had thought...

[battlebesties]

....

[ Childe just stares at him, utterly baffled. ]

You... what?!

[moraxiom]

The dragon and phoenix chopsticks I picked out for you. [ When that fails to 'remind' Childe, he hums and covers his mouth with a hand in thought. ]

I had thought it odd that nothing changed between us, but I thought that perhaps you were not that sort of man...

That gift is one of the traditional ways to propose to Liyue - often from a bride-to-be to a groom-to-be.

[battlebesties]

[ Childe just.

Stares at him. Like he's lost his damn mind.

Which, he suspects, he absolutely has. ]

Zhongli. Did you ever stop to consider that might be a custom not known to people outside of Liyue? Especially ones who don't use chopsticks?!

[moraxiom]

Yes... I realize my error. You have been in Liyue for so long, I had assumed wrongly that you may have already understood this custom.