Impulse Buying [Katya Auction Thread]

[Lex]

"Sold!"

And that was it and with the announcement, a strange feeling came down upon Lex. It was surreal. For the next few days and nights at least he technically, sort of owned Katya and yet with forty thousand dollars down and the hammer fallen, he hadn't got a ******* clue what he was going to do with her. It was bad business, that, to make a purchase without a plan, but it was hardly an every day purchase and years later he was sure that he still wouldn't know what had driven to bid even once, much less to continue driving up the price until he had won the day and the lot was officially his.

A few nights had passed while Lex wondered what to do to take full advantage of the purchase he had made with only limited in roads being made towards any kind of decision. Katya's lines of what she would and wouldn't put up with were all very firmly drawn, but not always very easy to see and keep to and she could be unpredictable on the best of days... Impossible on the worst. The two had a good relationship, though, so Lex was hopeful that he wouldn't step so far out of the box that she'd end up wanting to kill him for whatever he came up with. His first idea certainly seemed fairly tame, considering what fuckery he'd known her to drag him along on. He never would forget the raid that she had convinced him to participate in with Niklaus in the early months of his nightlife.

His surroundings, more than his impending company, was what made Lex most uncomfortable. Most of their - most of his - business was conducted in the sanctity of an office with an expensive bottle of vodka to smooth the way, but this time, while there was vodka present in plenty, the comforting four walls and oversized desk or booth they usually found solace in were missing, replaced by all too natural grass and trees and, God forbid, fresh air. The vans nearby containing industrial lights, cameras and who knew what else provided some consolation that it wouldn't be entirely au natural, but it was still so very... Different. And of course, there was every possibility that, Katya being Katya, once she found out what he intended for their evening, she would dig her high heels into the grass and steadfastly refuse any part of it... Or decide to shoot him in the head and get out of the bargain all the quicker.

He doubted the latter, but with her one could never be entirely certain or completely comfortable.

[Yekaterina Ostrovsky]

The blonde took her time as she trod the darkened city street with a neutral mask settled firmly upon her face. Alexei had bidden, out-bidden, and won her person, her company for at least three whole days and nights after a great deal of banter, much to her surprise and - very slightly - to her bewildered chagrin. She had to wonder to herself just what had possessed him; after all, he had a pretty decent idea of what made the Killer tick and of what she could be capable of doing and so, he had either thrown caution to the wind or decided whatever he had dreamed up would be well worth the potential reaction. That alone was reason enough to give pause. She knew he valued their friendship, as did she, but. Only time would tell what these nights would bring.

It had been quite a whim to auction herself off in the first place; not one to usually do such things without some semblance of thought or purpose, the move had seemed refreshing and daring enough to keep her occupied for some time. It wasn't much like her to take such a risk in business, perhaps, but for herself - well. When Katya got bored, she liked to push her limits. And she supposed she ought to be thankful that someone she knew and actually liked had won her, rather than some poor, unknowing deer-in-the-headlights... or within the sights of her lovely AR, perhaps.

And so, after the outcome had sunk in a bit, likely for the both of them (and how amusing that she had seen neither hide nor hair of her business partner in the interim), here she was. Summoned (ha! Katya, summoned!) to the time and place Alexei had appointed. He hadn't offered much aside that information and so, the Killer supposed they would work out details as the night wore on, as they usually would. But as she sauntered on over, taking in the sight of the vans, one brow quirked a bit as her gaze narrowed ever so slightly. Those ever-present heels were silenced by the ground even if she hadn't mastered the ability to walk silently in them, and before she knew it she had come to a halt at Alexei's side, giving him a curious, sidelong look.

"Well hello there, Cowboy. Doesn't this look... interesting."

[Lex]

Alexei watched the production team doing their thing, bustling back and forth between trucks and shouting directions and questions to one another that made absolutely no sense to him, but helped to pass the time while he waited for Katya's arrival. Whether it was that he was lost in his people watching or, more likely, that Katya had an uncanny and unsettling way of arriving beside or behind people without them having any idea about it, it wasn't until she spoke that he realised she had even made her entrance. Thankfully, he was used to it enough by that point that it no longer threatened to make him jump out of his skin whenever she did it.

"Howdy, doll," he drawled, shifting his weight slightly to turn his body towards her enough for easy conversation. "I need your help with a new marketing campaign I'm launching. That's the production crew," he added, nodding towards the men and women hauling lighting rigs and cameras onto the grass and stacking up boxes that he was almost sure were purely for decoration and increasing the number of hours they'd be able to log as being on the shoot.

All of which he could deal with, so long as the woman beside him didn't decide to blow the whole set to kingdom come and kick his *** hard enough that it ended up back in Texas.

[Yekaterina Ostrovsky]

The blonde watched the goings-on with mild interest, though even she had to admit that her curiosity was growing by the moment. Cameras. Lighting. An entire crew. Her aqua gaze narrowed as she turned slightly toward him as he explained - in the broadest terms, of course - what he wanted from her. A brow arched a bit higher, for the explanation hadn't been much of an explanation at all.

"Don't you seem... apprehensive," she noted with a slight smirk. Truth be told, Katya's own version of nervous was out to play, although in her language, that simply meant a slight tensing of the muscles in that moment just before she decided whether she would play along, demand a precise answer, or shred the crew and the male who had brought them here to begin with. She cleared her throat and crossed her arms loosely over her chest, finally deciding it was to be a mix of A and B. For the time being and depending upon the answers she was given. It was Alexei, after all, and not some creature deserving of instant wrath. Yet.

"So. Help, hmm? Care to share just what you have up your sleeve tonight?" She raised her brows at him, as inquisitive as she ever got on the outside. She could tell he was tip-toeing, could all but taste the hesitation. It was as amusing as it was off-putting and Katya wasn't a woman who really enjoyed surprises.

[Lex]

"I don't like cameras any more than I think you're gonna," he grunted with a slight shrug of one shoulder. It was easily assumed by an uncomfortable majority that, because he looked how he looked and acted how he acted, that Alexei was the typical play boy, always courting the media with some stunt or another and just dying to have his picture snapped with the latest breakthrough model slash actress slash pop star, but it simply wasn't the case. After all, he'd been en route to a self-imposed exile in Alaska before he'd gone and got himself killed and reborn again. No, the play boy bit was probably accurate, but Lex preferred that his playing be done away from the prying eyes of the paparazzi and within the privacy of his - or her - own four walls.

It was perhaps ironic, with that in mind, what it was he was about to embark upon, but some things needed to be done, no matter how unpleasant the idea of them seemed. Like medicine... Or prostate exams. Yes, that seemed an appropriately unpleasant occasion to compare the endeavour too and Lex almost cracked a smile at the sudden realisation that that was one thing he would never have to go through, thanks to this new immortality thing he'd found himself in.

"I'm launching - have launched, really - a new company, but it's one that's going to need some heavy advertising to get off the ground and that's where you... We come in. We're the face of the thing and tonight's the big photoshoot."

[Yekaterina Ostrovsky]

Cameras. She had seen them, of course, but she hadn't gotten ahead of him - or herself - and started drawing assumptions from the entire set-up going on before her eyes. Not before she'd first heard him out. But now... The blonde simply glared at him for a long instant before one quiet word, laced with all the barely-veiled outrage she could muster, slid from full, carmine lips.

"What."

Her aqua gaze narrowed as it flickered from Alexei to the scene before her and back again. The cool facade had dropped just enough for him to see she was not at all pleased with the notion, but likely for reasons he hadn't even considered. In dribs and drabs, starts and fits, she had slowly come to the realization that she was starting to be recognized again. It had started with that one little trip to California, over a year ago now - even with the two vampires being discreet, she hadn't gone completely unnoticed and the stares from people formerly connected to Emanuel had unnerved her. But of course, that had been around the time she'd been quietly leaking that the Broussard had faked their deaths, so it wasn't completely stupid to put in an appearance now and again. It had been easy to dismiss earlier incidents over such things.

But then it had gotten a little worse; a too-long stare here, a bare look of surprise there, until she'd found herself cornered one night by an adamant male with a voice recorder waiving around in her face, demanding she confirm she was the Yekaterina Ostrovsky. Her lip had curled as much as she dared - lest a tell-tale pointed tooth flash before his gaze and confirm even more than she intended - and looked around to find they had drawn a serious amount of attention from passers-by. The blonde had longed to snake both hands around his head and end the barrage of questions with a firm twist, but... witnesses. Alas. And so she had merely smiled sweetly, offering a simple 'I don't have a clue as to what you're speaking about,' before dosing him with a shot of darkness that would render him temporarily blind before she sauntered far enough away to sprint the hell out of there.

Now, enough months had passed by that she was certain she was under the radar once more, safe from scrutiny that she did not want and free to go about her business without harassment. If anyone had realized Katya the businesswoman was the same as Emanuel's Russian, they didn't dare to say so, and Katya had been enjoying the quiet for as long as she had it. Until now. Until this. Her teeth made a sharp sound as she snapped them into a clench. She drew in a deep breath, every muscle tensed, ready to pounce as she fought for control over her baser instincts to throttle him. Finally, she spoke, arms crossing tightly in a no-nonsense sort of way as she leaned in close.

"Fine. You can have your little photo shoot. But if those stalker-y fucks come at me again, its you I'm sending them to. And auction winnings or no, you're so going to owe me..."

[Lex]

Oh, she was going to make him pay for this in some horrifyingly... Katya-esque way, he could tell and it made him very glad that he was only an impulse buyer and hadn't also become an impulse seller of his own time and services, too. But perhaps there was some way of mitigating just how badly she would intend on making him pay; after all, she hadn't heard the full story of things yet or of his intentions for the photo shoot in question. Photographing vampires was problematic in the first place and so he had had to be imaginative about quite how it would be done and, in turn, how it could be made to work with the business in question.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, doll. You'll be wearing a mask," he said, his hands passive at his sides. He had known her long enough to know her well enough that any wrong or sudden move might just flip that switch on carefully won control versus instinctive violence. She wouldn't kill him, but she might just break his neck and make him think that she had. Or wish it.

"It's a niche concept, see," he went on to explain, "people get nervous about online dating. At least the sort of people I'm targeting do, so it's gonna tap into the anonymity of the internet. Clients will be paired up by us instead of searching around and hoping to luck, then the pairs get sent matching masks. We host masquerades at the hotel and masks find each other and have their date. If they get on, they get to know each other better and take off the masks whenever. If not, they never know who the jerk they were dancing with is and nothing's lost." He didn't bother to add that there would undoubtedly be those who weren't looking for a relationship, but for something much briefer and the anonymity would appeal to a very specific subset of society. Anonymous sex went on night after night in bars and clubs throughout the city, so why not at his events too? So long as they paid and everything was consensual, Lex didn't have any great problem with that.

"So, see. We'll be in masks too. Nobody's gonna know who you are, doll. No panic, right?"

[Yekaterina Ostrovsky]

Oh, how the blonde wanted to laugh; she had a very good idea of what was running through Lex's head at that particular moment - it was all too obvious. But the Texan was as easy-going as ever, at least on the surface, no matter how well he knew her and how difficult it was at times to control herself. When he asked her to hear him out, though, she at once decided she owed him at least that much. Lex wasn't stupid by any stretch and he held a good amount of her respect as well as the utmost of her loyalty; no. No one would be allowed to mess with him or **** him over more than once, once she heard about it, and she supposed, as he continued, that for him, she could be cooperative after all.

Despite herself, she had to admit it was an excellent idea. Friendship aside, she admired his business-like mind and manner, the shrewd sense and the way he had his finger on the pulse of just about every new trend or need within the City. And he always figured out a way to fulfill it, too. Mulling all this over, she finally released the pent-up breath and let her shoulders relax as her expression softened just a bit. Her lips pursed slightly as she surveyed the handsome male at her side with an appraising eye.

"Alright. I'll cooperate, Lex. A mask doesn't sound too terrible, after all. But what exactly do you need me to do?"