Sea of Stars - IC II

[Haval]

'Three sixty, although I suspect this is a little much for something that might amount to a desk ornament.'

[Destro_Yersul]

"You may be right." Aoife backed out.

But others were still bidding. Between the three of them, Quinn, Fel and Lionus got it up to three-ninety before Fel withdrew as well.

[Haval]

'Three ninety five.'

[Destro_Yersul]

"Too much for you?" Quinn shouted from across the room. "Four twenty!"

Lionus rolled his eyes and held off, to see what Anika would do.

[Haval]

"Too much for you?" Quinn shouted from across the room. "Four twenty!"

Lionus rolled his eyes and held off, to see what Anika would do.

Anika will turn to stare impassively at Quinn, 'Money isn't everything you know, but since I have it lets say four fifty. If I don't win this lot I'll bow out and the satisfaction of inflating the price you have to pay will have to be enough.'

[Destro_Yersul]

"Four sixty, then, and plenty more where that came from."

[Haval]

'Then please be my guest. I hope for your sake it comes with a manual. Assuming you're able to understand it.' And to think she had thought to be diplomatic with this one, but fighting with him over something she wasn't sure she even wanted made her feel ridiculous.

Spoiler: ooc

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Going to pull out here on the grounds of Anika's ambivelance about the item.

Potato is obviously welcome to step in

[rax]

"Aww, now that was real sweet o' you, yer ladyship. Letting the man have at least one win today," Hannabel chuckles.

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius waits until Quinn has almost won. Four seventy five. He smiles.

[Destro_Yersul]

"Four eighty." Quinn sounded quite frustrated by this.

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius grins happily. Four eighty five? He raises an eyebrow at Quinn, then turns back to the crew. He did say there was plenty more, didn't he? I do hope he's not tapped out at less than half a million, that'd be embarrassing.

[Destro_Yersul]

"Five hundred. Five hundred even, and more than it's worth."

[Haval]

To Hannabel, 'It's only polite.'

Anika will grin to herself at Macharius' intervention.'Macharius sometimes I feel like you have too much money.'

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius smiles innocently. What about 505? He chuckles and turns back to Anika, mock-offended. Too much? Why, how could you say such a thing? Th Emperor has blessed me with wealth, so that I can do nice things for my dear friends.

[Destro_Yersul]

Quinn stayed silent, glaring at Macharius, and the prognosticator set was soon called sold. Ophelia Winterscale's perfume cabinet followed, to much bidding from the women present, and a little from the men, probably looking for appropriate gifts. It was a nice piece of furniture, and came stocked with a few spare bottles Ophelia had left behind. Eventually it sold, to Sun Lee. The Leman Russ was too big to be driven indoors, and was represented with a pcit capture on the auction block. Corbett Lionus took that.

Then the gilded orrery was brought out; it was large, about the size of a munitorum fuel drum if you included the polished wooden stand table it was set into. A pair of blue lumen globes in the center slowly rotated about each other, and around those were multiple planetoids, each represented by a tiny gold ball set with faceted gemstones. The whole thing was in constant motion, the planets on their rings spinning about the center, and a holographic starfield tracking the motion of constellations across the miniature sky. It was powered by a rechargeable power cell, and represented no known system - it being a binary star would narrow the field considerably, but the galaxy was large, and much of it remained unmapped.

Bidding started with three hundred fifty, from Hadarak Fel.

[Blarghy]

Drink in one hand, Kennoch lifted the other--almost lazily this time, in contrast to his earlier eagerness--and raised to "Three hundred three and seventy-five seventy five." He added, "Is the creator known is known? How was it how how last acquired last?"

Spoiler

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60% of 575,000 is 345,000, yeah? So Echo still has 655,000 gelt to spend. Please correct me if my math is off; I don't want to bid more than I actually have, of course.

[Destro_Yersul]

"There is a maker's mark on the casing, which may be seen here." The auctioneer said, pointing to a small brass plaque inset on one of the legs of the supporting wooden table. "It was constructed by Magos Arcan Paratus, of the Adeptus Mechanicus, some hundreds of years ago. As to its acquisition..."

"It was part of the family collection when I took the warrant," Calligos said. It was the first he'd spoken since taking his seat at the side of the stage. "Archivists said Elbor picked it up, some time in 535. Bought it at auction, part of an estate sale. Fitting to send it on in the same way, don't you think?"

[Haval]

Macharius smiles innocently. What about 505? He chuckles and turns back to Anika, mock-offended. Too much? Why, how could you say such a thing? Th Emperor has blessed me with wealth, so that I can do nice things for my dear friends.

'Then I will really have to make sure it's worth the money.'

On the orrery, 'No reason for it to have been made locally, but I assume the Mechanicus keep copious records. And there's always the chance that Magos Paratus is still around in some fashion.'

[Blarghy]

"Hmm hmm hmm hmm, maybe maybe maybe," Kennoch said to Anika. No harm in doing a little digging of his own, though he assumed that Winterscale had already made inquiries, without success.

He waited to see who would answer his bid. Surely the others hadn't given up already.

[Destro_Yersul]

They hadn't given up. Fel raised to three ninety, and Sun Lee to four hundred. Sarvus Trask was apparently also interested, and bid four ten.

[Blarghy]

Echo thought for a moment, remembering Anika's estimate, and mused that every lot so far had at least hit that value, often exceeding it. So, if he knew where this dance was headed, why not skip a few of the slower steps?

"Five hundred thousand hundred thousand," he smiled.

[Destro_Yersul]

That raised quite a few eyebrows around the room. Sun Lee dropped out immediately, and Fel sat up in his chair, stroking his goatee and frowning. Trask, however, merely laughed.

"Well, if you want to go for large bids," Trask said, "then large bids it is! Five fifty."

[Blarghy]

Echo laughed softly. He hadn't spoken directly with Trask yet, but maybe he should. If nothing else, he had to wonder who this madman's Navigator was.

He took another sip of his drink through the straw that vanished under his mask. "Six hundred thousand six six!" he called boldly.

[Destro_Yersul]

Fel shook his head, and waved a hand at Trask. Trask, undeterred, bid six-fifty.

[Haval]

To Echo, 'Let me know if you need a loan.'

[Blarghy]

"I do do do if I am if to continue to to," he told Anika. "How much how will you give you will you?"

Much like she'd been with the prognosticator, Kennoch thought the orrery might be quite nice--a stunning conversational piece, even if they never put it to actual use--but hardly essential.

[Haval]

"I do do do if I am if to continue to to," he told Anika. "How much how will you give you will you?"

Much like she'd been with the prognosticator, Kennoch thought the orrery might be quite nice--a stunning conversational piece, even if they never put it to actual use--but hardly essential.

Anika shrugged. Easy come, easy go. '200 thousand to 250 thousand at the absolute most. Though I expect Trask is someone who could easily outbid us anyway.'

[Blarghy]

"Likely so so so. If he is determined he is. Who can say who what he's thinking what thinking?"

He raised, "Seven hundred hundred seven hundred!"

[Destro_Yersul]

Trask nodded, and considered, and pulled a data slate from his pocket, flipping through while the auctioneer called for further bids. "Alas that the game of large bids must end so soon," he said. "Seven twenty. An appropriate number, given the subject."

[Blarghy]

"Well well, does that not does depend on depend this mystery system itself mystery system?" Kennoch pointed out. "So it is it is hard to say hard to say." But evidently not so hard that Echo wouldn't raise to "Seven hundred seven and thirty thirty thirty!"