A yelp left Isabella's lips the moment her friend turned to her in excitement. She reached for the cup of tea, but Arix had already knocked it over. Eyes wide, the woman swiftly reached for the towel that had been sitting nearby. Stamping out the puddle of tea before it had time to spread, the Hatter only calmed down once Arix seemed to let the near-disastrous moment pass. If he was calm, she could breathe easy.

Isa leaned closer to the clock, watching her friend as he pointed out the details. "A unicorn," she repeated, smiling. "You see those in your books all the time." Her blue eyes moved up to Arix's multicolored ones, and she started when she realized how close they were. Then again, she'd already known when his warmth brushed her cheek. "Dragons and unicorns? I can't believe this just showed up."

The woman was grinning by the time Arix finished his explanation of the creatures fixed into the woodwork. He was so endearing when he looked like that. He was so excited, and his features grew more animated than she'd ever seen them. Isabella tossed some blonde hair from her face as she noted Arix's happiness. It wasn't obvious, exactly. In fact, others might not have noticed how much he cared about the clock. Isabella knew Arix well. She knew that the slight shift in his eyes meant he was excited, or the way his voice sped up just slightly meant he was interested. It was all in the little things.

Isabella blinked when Arix mentioned having trouble getting the clock. "Oh, no. He relented after I promised to stop by if I ever found a copy of his favorite book." She wrinkled her nose. "I haven't seen War and Peace in years, but ... you never know." She grinned, and nudged Arix's arm. "Don't be so eager to give away the money. He let it go, remember? It's ours now to do with what we please." Her expression shifted to one of laughter as he ruffled her hair.

"Your thoughtful face is cute," Isa backtracked with her words about his thoughtful expression. The blonde quickly finished off her sandwich as her feline friend was lifted onto Arix's shoulders. "It's when you get really into your work that I start to think you need a break. You take it so seriously. I guess that's something I can only appreciate from afar."

Isabella followed Arix to the back room and poured herself another cup of tea. She waited till Arix was comfortable before stealing the book from him and clearing her throat. "I start first, remember?" With that, she began her story. This one was about a village girl and a terrible beast in a castle.

((I'm guessing we should let the night pass, and Isa can go run into her lovely Pyrate friend again? And we can get everyone involved once more! lol))
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"Adventure or fate? Difficult to tell." Sarah grinned as the Uni went along with her little game. It was one she hadn't played in years - at least two years now. She nodded as she considered Adin's suggestions as to why she was in the city, but didn't choose one. Instead, she smiled as the Uni went on to list his own questions.

"A hiding idol," she said with a smirk. "That's not something you see every day." Her brown eyes flickered down as she realized she was staring. Wouldn't want to look too long. She saw perfection, but Adin's keen eyes might pick up on her human flaws. Her eyes didn't hold the same shine as those of a surrogate body, for example.

"I guess we'll never know why the girl and the boy are in the city. There are far too many options for mere guessing." The woman nodded to the waitress as her tea and muffin arrived, and hungrily began to eat and drink. She still needed to find more food before heading back out of the city. Too bad she'd just spent the last of her coin.

Try as she might, Sarah couldn't exactly slow down her eating. She was far too hungry. "Do you have any singing gigs coming up soon?" she asked through a mouthful of muffin. With a slightly appalled look, the girl looked down until she swallowed. "I may not be in town for long, but you never know. I might be able to stay." She liked this Uni. He spoke to her as though they were equals, as though he didn't care if she were an avatar or not. Granted, it would have been a different story if he'd known she were human....

By leaning forward slightly, Sarah's scarf shifted to reveal part of the tattoo at her neck. That was something most surrogates didn't have, as it was seen as "marring the skin." Really, it was just the government asserting their authority, but hey. Whatever they wanted to tell the public seemed to be just fine.
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Oh, he'd truly misjudged her actions. Cain had thought that Odessa would cower; that she would flee. Instead, the woman held her ground. She was a brave one, this girl. That brought a smile to Cain's face.

“There is no reason for me not to be in the system.”

"Of course not." From his place in the living area, Cain chuckled quietly. "Just as there are no glitches, there is no reason for your absence from the system." His pale gaze moved to the woman as she stood in the entryway, still where he'd left her. One eyebrow lifted slowly as she began to spit angry words at him.

"Intimidation works on most, even Pyrates. One merely has to find the correct weakness to apply pressure to." The dark-haired male felt a smile tug at his lips as Odessa called him an ass, and began to get flustered. This was a different reaction than he'd expected, but it was something he knew how to deal with.

"You're leaving?" Odessa was stepping toward the door, and her voice carried hatred as she told him to stop looking. "And here I thought you'd be curious as to why I'm looking for a glitch. Aren't you always looking, wondering who I am, and why I find you so interesting?" Cain let his slight smile widen. "You're so curious, yet when someone applies pressure to you, you break." The words weren't said with emotion, or to provoke her to anger - they were said in the same cold tone Cain used whenever he observed something.

"You are welcome to stay, Odessa." His blue eyes were bright now. Glowing, perhaps? It could have been a trick of the light. "Don't let my abrasive demeanor frighten you." Cain leaned back in the chair, looking more relaxed than she'd ever seen him. "You've known me long enough to realize I don't soften my actions when I seek something out."

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