Love Like War

@ FallenHope95

Matteo gave his sister a nod when she upped the amount of money she wanted to spend. He supposed he would give in at this point. After all, she was playing along with what was happening here... Besides, what was the likelihood that they would win everything they bid on anyways? Even if they did, he had the money. It did not matter that much. And Matteo could earn it back rather quickly. So, once they headed off, Matteo headed in his own direction to talk to Lady Renn.

"We should look at all of the one-of-a-kind items first," Emily said matter-of-fact. "There is plenty here that we can buy for ourselves. Do not get me wrong, a month-long trip to Italy sounds fantastic but it's something we can already get for ourselves." She tightened her grip on Stella as she walked with purpose to the bidding area. Though, once they were there, Emily's eyes shifted around to look over all of the items. She brought Stella to the back of it all, where the best items are kept.

Emily let out a small hum as she looked at one prize. "A weekend-long private yacht cruise with Taylor Swift." She let out a hum before leaning down and putting down her name. "Lets do a quarter of a million dollars for that one." She said with a little smirk before continuing down. Emily stopped in front of a large vase that was from one of the Golden ages in china. The woman let out a long hum before turning to Stella. "Do you want this?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as she did so.

@ Sweet.Persephone
This girl was like a whirlwind. Stella had no idea how she could possibly be related to Matteo. He was so calm all of the time and serious, while Emily seemed like a firecracker with her quick wit. They were polar opposites, yet Matteo seemed to get along amazingly with his sister. Then again, they no longer lived together so maybe that was why? She wasn't sure. Either way, it was like a culture shock to Stella and would take her some getting used to. Especially if any indication pointed out that she was back after a trip she took.

Being her normal quiet self. Stella followed Emily around the auction area. Looking at all of the objects and slowly nodding her head as Emily spoke. The girl had a point, they could go to Italy almost whenever they wanted. Although, just saying that made the young girl wonder how much money Matteo actually had in his bank account. Releasing a small hum, Stella blinked back into reality and looked towards Emily before looking at the vase. It was quite beautiful. She loved the colors of it and the attention to detail that the creator had done.

"How much should we put down?" Stella asked as she glanced towards Emily. She had no idea how to judge an item's worth and the starting price for this item was already half a million. Which Stella felt was a little high for some pottery, but then again it was one of a kind. Said to be one of five relics from this specific artist. Walking over towards the table, Stella leaned down slightly and started to write her name, pausing for a moment as she debated on butting her maiden name or Matteo's before putting down Matteo's last name. After all, they were engaged. Right? Then, Stella wrote down the amount of money that Emily said they should bet with and put the slip into the little box.

@ FallenHope95

"If you really want it, I would say write 750,000. Though if you do not mind losing it, then 600,000. That is already over the asking price anyways. And, with items like this, it is hard to say how many people are going to be interested. After all, not everyone is interested in history and this certainly is not everyone's taste." Emily let out a small hum before she continued on. Though she continued on, taking bets here and there as she did so.

Though once they got to the medium priced items, Emily smirked a bit. "This one right here is VIP treatment from the best pleasurers in the world. Doms, subs, people just really good at fucking you..." Emily smirked before she leaned down and wrote 10,000 for herself before handing Stella the pen. "Lets see what Matteo says about that when I win it." She said before turning. "If you want to bet for yourself and Matteo, I won't loo," Emily knew that there was a lot she had to do in order to upset her brother. But, in truth, she was hoping to ruffle some feathers as Matteo was still continuing on with this Stella plan - which she hated.

Emily continued down a few steps before stopping to pretend to look really closely at a painting. She was trying to make it seem she was giving Stella space to put her name down if she wanted. But, in truth, Emily was watching her with the corner of her eyes to see if she would do it or not.

@ Sweet.Persephone
A small hum escaped from Stella as she listened to what Emily said about the pottery. Her head nodded slightly as she had written the amount down nonetheless. The girl seemed like she knew what she was talking about, so Stella decided to trust her. It was a beautiful vase anyways and would look really nice in the seating area in the back. Plus, she could put some fake flowers inside of it to really make the vase and the area pop.

As the ideas of what to do with the area started to come to Stella, a small smile started to form upon her lips. She really hoped that they'd win the vase. Turning, Stella followed Emily down the line of things. Not much caught her eye, but what she did see and like, she put a small bet on. A couple of other vases, a few smaller paintings, and an authentic world war one handgun that she thought that Matteo would like.

Following Emily, Stella looked towards the thing that seemed to really catch her eye. VIP treatment at a pleasure house? That, caused a small frown to form upon Stella's lips. The name of the place sounded familiar to her for some reason, but she couldn't put her finger on why. "You're really betting on this?" Stella asked, arching a brow slightly as she looked between the girl who introduced her to her lover and the weird place that offered her a weird chill down her spine. Pursing her lips together, Stella accepted the pen and just held it. She didn't get a good feeling about this one. An out of instinct, Stella's hand raised and rested on her still not a visible baby bump. This just doesn't seem safe. She thought to herself as she just set the pen down instead of writing their names.

Keeping her hand on her belly as she turned, Stella tried to relax as she gave the description sign for the item one last look before turning away completely. Then, she slowly lowered her hand from where the embryo was and walked towards where Emily was. Her eyes lighting up slightly as she looked at the painting and read who donated the item to be auctioned off. "Mr.Dubois said he was going to be auctioning one of the paintings from his collection. I didn't think it would be this one." Stella said as she stopped walking next to Emily. Her eyes looked up at the beautiful painting. "Teo and I went to a dinner for one of his partners, and he had this handing up in the hallway. I asked him about it, and he told me that this artist was a poor farmer's son in the eighteenth hundreds. He ran away to the city to study art instead of taking over the family's business."

Grabbing the pen that was on the table, Stella wrote down the price that Mr.Dubois had hinted at her betting if she was to attend the gala and put in her ticket. "The sad thing was, that the boy ended up killing himself before he could sell any of his paintings." Stella stood up straight and wrapped her arms around her waist lightly. "His parents were the ones who found his paintings in his belongings and to keep his memory alive as well as to make his dream come true. They went to museums and publishing houses to show off his work. He would have been amazing if he had just lived."

@ FallenHope95

Emily took a small note that Stella had considered putting her name down and eventually decided not to do so at all. Though, she was also noticing how the older woman was carrying herself. Why was she holding onto her stomach so much? Her eyes narrowed slightly, thinking it through. It was just an odd mannerism... unless it meant something. Did it mean something? It was rude to ask... But did she really care about being rude?

Once Stella had written down her name on the painting section, Emily came over and looped her arm with hers. She decided to skip over everything the woman said concerning the artist and the painting - mostly because she didn't care. No, Emily had other things on her mind. "It has been so long since I have seen you," She said with a warm smile. "I know you had your accident but Matteo tells me that you have been doing better. Though it sounds like you still do not remember anything." She let out a sigh. "It is so sad, we were so close before you lost your memory, I would rather like to think you might get it back one day but it has been months now."

Emily looked away, a sad look coming over her face for a moment. "But I suppose that we must carry on." She looked back at Emily and offered a little smile. "Tell me about your life right now. Is there anything new going on?"

@ Sweet.Persephone
A small hum escaped from Stella as she walked along with Emily after putting in her name. Her bright blue eyes looked towards the woman as she spoke and then looked forward. "The doctors say it can take years for things to come back, or they may never fully come back," Stella replied as she looked ahead, trying to hide that she wasn't quite comfortable talking about her medical problem with Emily out in the open. Where people she might have known in the past could hear and send her sympathy. Stella didn't need that sort of thing, she was making the best of what she had.

Then, a small smile slowly formed along Stella's lips as she looked towards Emily. "Life's great, Matteo's amazing," Stella told Emily as she looked away for a moment to glance at some of the objects that were up for auction. Admiring some of them before looking towards Emily once more. "I've started to help Teo with work, again I guess?" She said as she lightly squeezed Emily's arm and then slightly tugged on the girl's arm to lead her over towards a slightly less populated area. Wanting to keep her little secret a bit longer.

Once they were away from most of the people, standing by the cheaper auction items, Stella turned towards Emily and smiled. Her hands slowly moving to rest and cradle the not even there yet bump. "We're expecting. You're going to be an aunt." Stella told Emily, grinning from ear to ear. "We found out a week ago, and haven't told many. I'm too nervous to tell people." Silence soon followed as Stella allowed for the exciting news to sink into Emily, she has no idea if the girl would be excited or not. Hopefully, she would be because Stella would love to have someone else's opinion on picking out things for the nursery.

@ FallenHope95

As Stella spoke about how long it might take for her memory to come back, Emily nodded slowly. And she offered a look of sympathy. Though, the truth was she hoped the woman's memory never returned to her. It would be quite messy if it did and she certainly did not want her brother to deal with that mess. Though she could not help but wonder how long Matteo was going to keep up this game with her. What would need to happen until he decided it was time to get rid of her? Or would that never be the case? Would it really be so bad if Stella was to stick around? From her understanding, the older woman was sweet and did exactly what she was told. That wouldn't be so bad in a lifelong partner for her brother... Though she did prefer that he find love.

Once Stella started to lead her, Emily followed. Though she could not help but wonder why they were heading in that direction, away from the auction area. But, even so, Emily followed. Stella was working with Matteo? Now that was interesting. She wondered what her brother was having the woman do.

Though when Stella stopped, Emily looked over at her. Then her jaw dropped. "That so exciting!" Emily said before she quickly pulled Stella in for a hug - as though she actually knew and cared for the woman. Which, Emily could not say that she did but she certainly cared about the baby her and Matteo were going to have! "I can't wait to be an auntie," Emily said as she held onto the woman a bit tighter, just too excited to stop herself.

@ Sweet.Persephone
The night had been fun, Stella felt quite happy to have been reunited with Emily. Things were a little awkward at the beginning, but Stella felt like they've gotten a bit close after spending some time together. Especially once Emily learned that she'd become an aunt in a couple of months. Which, caused Stella's heart to swell at the thought that her baby was going to have more family in its life. And hopefully, once Stella managed to ask Matteo about spending some time with her family to tell them the news as well, things will feel more forthcoming. For now, though, Stella just wanted to keep the number small. As her doctor had informed her that miscarriages were common in the first trimester.

Heading towards the car with Matteo at the end of the night, Stella couldn't help raising her right hand and covering her mouth as a yawn escaped. Maybe she should have listened to Matteo and stayed home, she was exhausted and couldn't wait to head to bed. To get out of the dress she wore and into something comfortable, or nothing at all. She wasn't going to be picky.

Once Matteo had opened the door for her, Stella slipped into the car and let out a small relaxed sigh as her back rested against the back of the seat. She had managed to win that painting she wanted, as well as the gun she thought that Matteo would like. Both items cost a pretty penny, but she was sure that Matteo wouldn't mind. After all, it was Emily who talked him into raising their limit and they still hadn't hit it. "Tonight was fun," Stella said quietly once Matteo had gotten into the car with her. A small smile slowly playing along her lips. "What're your thoughts on tonight?"