To Live Again, For the First Time!

"Kyaa~ that's my girl!" Margo was ecstatic.

She suddenly grabbed Owen's arm and shook it in a coquettish way while pleading.

"Come on, switch seats with her, pretty please~"

-1000 HP

Owen was suddenly hurt.

What was this?

How come he didn't know that things could be like this?

Owen looked reluctant at first, wanting to ask for an explanation, wanting to know how Margo knew Emilin, or even why the sudden change of heart, but Margo didn't wait for Owen to open his mouth.

She looked back at Emilin while pushing Owen off of his seat and patting the empty chair to signal Emilin.

"Come on over here. <3 ~"

Owen, who had just stumbled a little off of his seat looked at this woman incredulously.

'Who are you? Where am I? Do I even know you anymore?' Owen's eyes widened like saucers.

Well, to be honest, he was exaggerating quite a bit considering it wasn't the first time he had been ignored like that by Margo. 

It happened all the time when she was too busy spending time with her cats. He just didn't know that this could happen because of humans too.

Meanwhile, Emilin looked at the empty seat across from her and stood up, sitting down next to Margo.

Owen could only move to sit down next to Mason and Noah with his head drooped down low, reminiscent of an abandoned puppy.

Noah, who didn't know Owen nor his reputation very well only looked at the older man with pitiful eyes as if having come to some kind of realization.

Noah didn't hesitate to give Owen a pat on the back when Owen sat down next to him as if to say, 'I feel you'.

Owen looked at the teenager with a confused expression but didn't do anything about being patted like a kid.

Who cared if Noah was being sympathetic for no reason.

At least there was someone who tried to understand him.

Did it matter if he was misunderstanding? No.

The atmosphere was somewhat strange now, it was as if half of the table had flowers blooming, solely from being next to Margo, while the other half was too awkward to say anything. 

Well, it was more like they didn't know what to say.

"So this is what you came to Opaque City for. Then I guess I still have to thank Mr. Mason for allowing me to get acquainted with a cutie like you by having you come all the way over here."

Margo briefly gave Mason a thankful look before looking straight back at Emilin.

Mason: [Your welcome?]

Mason: [Wait what am I being thanked for again? *Looks at Lisa in order to ask what he's done*]

Lisa: [*shrug* If you ask me, who should I ask?]

Owen: [Wait, so you've only met a week ago and somehow your relationship with this Emilin girl seems to be rooted deeper than our years-long friendship?]

Owen: [So much so that you can simply push me away like it's nothing???]

Owen: [What happened to bros before hoes? (;´ ༎ຶ      ༎ຶ`)♡]

"So why are you here?" Emilin asked curiously.

"Oh, we were just talking about my farm! It's a beautiful place, the animals you can find there are even cuter than Buttercup and Peanutbutter. But don't tell them that I told you that okay?~" Margo winked at the oblivious Emilin.

[Buttercup and Peanutbutter are the 2 generic names for 2 of the cats that spent more time with Emilin in her private room.]

"Anyways, I don't know what kinds of animals you like best, but I'm sure that whatever it is, you'll be able to find it there! And I'm sure that those cuties would be glad to welcome you too!" Margo sold it like a professional salesperson trying to hike up the price.

If someone didn't know any better; they may think that she was in fact trying to scam someone here.

"Mm, I like cats…" Emilin nodded softly, slowly getting swayed by this businesswoman.

"That's great! I have some really big, fluffy cats there too, you can go there and meet Snowy and Manny. I'm sure you would love it there, do you want to go?"

Honesty, it sounded even more like Margo was trying to kidnap the girl.

Owen was dumbfounded.

'Snowy and Manny… huh. Cats? More like Lions! She's really scamming the girl!? I knew that those two were really too illy named. I should talk to Lennie about this later.'

'But then again, would he be able to do anything about it? I'm pretty sure Margo's already taken all claims to the felines of the farm.'

"So, you'll come right?" Margo went on to shake Emilin's arm in a cutesy way while blinking her enlarged eyes.

At that point, all Emilin could do was nod with a sigh.

One more thing added to her to-do list, not that she minded, she was quite fond of Margo too. Emilin wasn't scared of being kidnapped by this woman.

Mason: [Huh?]

Mason: [What's this difference in treatment.]

Mason: [How come I had to practically beg to go with a response of 'it's not impossible' while this girl just sits there and is simply handed the opportunity to go? (-_-;)]

He was slightly dumbfounded, just like everyone else at the table.

Margo went on to talk a little more about the farm. By the time she was done, Emilin was pretty much caught up on her whole plan with Owen and Mason.

In fact, if Mason weren't sitting there to hear it all, Emilin would know more about their plans as well as the farm than he would. Someone who was contracted to take a part in the operations.

It seemed like Margo simply couldn't keep a tight lip when it came to Emilin, or maybe she simply didn't want to, though the spread of any of this information wouldn't be particularly detrimental either way.

After all who would believe a little girl like Emilin.

Though if the news did spread, it would put a clog in their plans.

Even so, Owen didn't stop Margo, he had the confidence that they would have ways to prevent anything from spreading through all kinds of social media or news platforms.

"Have you already chosen which auction you will be using?" Emilin asked after getting a better understanding of everything.

"Well, we have two targets," Owen was the one to explain.

"Our best-case scenario would be the main branch of the Diamond Palace Auction House located in Hé Continent's Polo Country, while our back up has been chosen as the main branch of the Golden Cinnabar Auction House in the M Continent's Malalakan Country."

Emilin could see how high their bar was set directly from their chosen locations.

Just their second choice, the Golden Cinnabar Auction House in Malalakan Country, was already the largest auction house in the world.

It was at the center of trade in the country of merchants.

Their eyes were truly set high.

As for the Diamond Palace Auction House, though it wasn't the largest auction house globally, it was the most renowned.

There was really no need to explain why.

First of all, just being located in the Hé Continent and surviving there was already a great achievement. 

Well, to begin with, if the people wanting to attend the auction weren't from the Hé Continent, they would already have to spend a pretty penny along with a couple of favors just to get in. So that guaranteed that the people participating wouldn't be of low status either.

This auction house was known for only putting up commodities that they found worthy enough. It was needless to say that just the people who could enter the auction house wouldn't be low on cash.

And the best part of it all, if there was indeed something put up for auction, the auction house would spare no expenses to advertise it, which would also be of help to Margo and the others.

In other words, if they were to be able to get it in with this auction house, they would be guaranteed to hit it big this time.

The Diamond Palace Auction House was also able to make a name for itself for this very reason. It made a sticker for itself saying "Prestigious" and thus it lifted its own name and title along with everything they auctioned off.

They didn't lose in any of their transactions either.

That was also how it could go for days without ever auctioning or selling much, and years without ever holding a big auction. And all this while paying for the expenses of being located at prime real estate in the Hé Continent.

"Have you gotten into contact with any of the auction houses?" Emilin asked curiously.

"Not quite, we've been trying to contact one of the managers from the Diamond Palace, but we have yet to get a positive response, or really any response at all. But that is to be expected considering we have yet to show any results for any of our claims. We don't want to contact the Golden Cinnabar until we know for sure that we have no more options left, less we leave a poor impression," Owen explained.

After he finished, however, he had an instant where he wanted to double back.

'Why was he explaining this to this random stranger?'

In the end, he could only blame it on Emilin being Margo's friend, well if he could call her that at all.

"Well... maybe I can help you with that a little," Emilin softly said.

***

Current seating chart!

[Mason.  Owen.  Noah. #######]

TableTableTableTableTableTable

[Margo. Emilin. Lisa. ######]

##### = characters that have yet to be introduced.

***

Owen: Crying in a corner because he was abandoned by his 'bro' for another hoe.

Mason: Joined him crying in a corner because of the farm thing.

Noah: ???

Emilin: *Doing her best to keep up with the conversation*

Margo: Doing her best to kidnap Emilin without anyone else noticing. <3