[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/lEzxcTc.png[/img][/center]
[color=lightsteelblue]Time:[/color] Day  
[color=lightsteelblue]Location:[/color] Sorian Park
[color=lightsteelblue]Interactions:[/color] Violet [@Tpartywithzombi]
[color=lightsteelblue]Mentions:[/color] Charlotte [@princess] & Kira [@potter]

[hr]

Cassius almost missed it at first, lost in the moment. It could have been just another bid, just another voice.

But the moment it touched his ears, he knew.

[i]It was her.[/i]

The sound of it pierced through the noise internal and external alike, and the rest of the world dulled. He didn’t even need to look at her. That voice had been carved into his memory years ago, and again three nights ago when she plunged that dagger into him not, not twice, but three merciless times. Rage coiled hot from within, and along came the urge to dash from his chair and unleash every ounce of vile venom that lingered inside of him. 

How dare she. How dare she show her face here, out in the open, as if his blood wasn’t still drying in some gutter. Like she hadn’t tried to gut him and let him die in the street. How was she even here at all? The Kira he knew…was dead. 

And then Violet’s hand found his.

Her fingers were cool, steady. No words, just that quiet weight grounding his own. For a moment his chest eased, the gesture holding his anger at bay. He looked down at her pale hand wrapped in his scarred one, and in that moment, perhaps for the first time since his mother...he felt the true meaning of family. His sister’s touch was a lifeline, but the thunder and lightning inside him continued.

His gaze then found the stage.

[i]Charlotte.[/i] 

She stood there, beneath the sun…a ball of soft nerves with a good heart, there for the sole sake of charity, yet in so much more danger than she realized. Kira’s bid processed in his mind and everything became heavier. The crowd laughed, murmured, coins clinked. None of them knew what they were watching. None of them saw the game for what it was.

But he did.

It wasn’t about Charlotte. He was almost sure of it. Kira wasn’t really here for her. This was for him. A knife-twisting reminder of just how far Kira could reach and what she was capable of. 

His blood turned cold. Dread clamped down harder than even the rage.

[b][color=lightsteelblue]She can’t be alone with her.[/color][/b] He wouldn’t allow it.

His hand lifted before the thought even finished, eyes never leaving Charlotte.

[color=lightsteelblue]“Two hundred.”[/color]
[/color]