Viktor and the others retreated into the center of the room, nestled between the tunnel and the jungle gym. The tall alien, which Viktor caught Pink referring to as Vock-something, peered into the enclosure with curiosity. He said something to Pink, who shook her head and pointed to something hanging on the wall. Viktor couldn't see it, considering it was outside their room, and would probably be unable to read it if he could. The tall alien shrugged and also shook his head, pointing towards the group of humans. Pink looked like she wanted to politely hit him on the head but couldn't find a good enough reason to.

"Do you think he's like, a king or something? She keeps bowing," Viktor asked, watching as Pink offered another bow and started fumbling with something on her waist. The action caused almost all of them to tense up. Viktor almost stopped breathing. They ignored each other's sighs of relief when it was revealed that she just had the key to the gate in her hand.

There were no shock collar remotes in her hands. Nothing that could harm them.

The gate opened, and both aliens made their way in. The tall alien stopped as he kicked something into the room, and Viktor realized with dismay that it was the ball that he had thrown over by accident earlier. The alien's jewelry clinked pleasantly as he bent down to pick up the ball. He idly tossed it up in the air as he spoke to Pink once more, who answered with a small shrug and an even smaller bow. His eyes traveled to the group of humans, and he crouched down a fair bit away in front of them. He held out the ball, speaking quietly.

"Who threw the ball?" Zach asked.

"Me," Viktor moaned through the thick fog of his fear. They hadn't yet seen Pink even raise her voice in anger, but they had only been here for almost two days. Throwing anything out of their cages in the arena had resulted in either taking the entire thing out, as was the case for their straw piles that had managed to get strewn about on the floor outside their cages, and actually caused one of the employees to slip, or a decrease in food, like the time Ezekiel had gotten fed up with the slop and tossed the whole dish out in anger when Lilac had gone to retrieve them. Unfortunately, the ringmaster had been there inspecting some of the other animals. He had come in with Lilac unnoticed by the humans. Viktor still had some of the thin scars the ringmaster had caused on his arms that day.

The tall alien made a surprised noise as he noticed Viktor, speaking to Pink once more. Pink responded in kind, gesturing with a tiny smile on her face. Viktor did not like the look of that. The tall alien waved the ball, tossing it gently to the ground right in front of him. "Kohgrash?" he spoke, looking back at Pink, who nodded. "Kohgrash," he spoke again gently, along with a few other words.

Viktor wanted to scream. It was always him.

He stood firmly in place, neatly tucked in between Aiko and Ezekiel. The alien kept calling his name. Pedro nudged him from behind. "I don't think he'll give up. Plus, if he hurts you, we aren't stuck behind cages anymore." Murmurs of affirmation and resentment followed that statement.

He was right, Viktor thought, his nerves quelling just a bit. The others wouldn't let some alien hurt him anymore, even if it was some higher-up. Maybe he'd be kicked out of the store.

Viktor cautiously walked forward, eyes trained on the alien's hands. They were held loosely in between the alien's legs, forearms propped against his legs as he crouched. Viktor crouched to grab the ball, barely even coming up to the alien's knee when he did. He gripped the ball tightly, looking at the alien. "Thank you," the manners forced into him by his dad coming out. The alien grinned wider, showing his long fangs. The ringmaster had only ever had short canines, quite like theirs. But this alien had predatory teeth. Viktor bared his own teeth in response, feeling a bit creeped out. The other stopped grinning, speaking softly instead.

Up close, Viktor could see that his features were much sharper than any of the other aliens he had seen. As opposed to the ringmaster's big-bodied physique, this alien was slim. His cheekbones were accented sharply. He had twice as many fleshy spikes coming off his face than the ringmaster's and they were slightly longer than his, too. All the other aliens, who he had gotten close enough to anyway, normally had blue or brown eyes. This one had bright yellow.

The alien seemed to be studying him as intensely as Viktor was because he seemed to come to his senses after Viktor blinked at him. The alien blinked back. Why did they think this was some sort of communication? Oh, well.

Viktor watched in bafflement as the alien started reaching out to him. He did not want this alien's hands on him. Even if he didn't feel particularly threatened, the alien was deliberately slow reaching, Viktor wanted to show him that he wasn't some common animal someone could pet. Viktor gave a short and sweet yell that he usually did when in the arena to startle his opponents before throwing the ball right at the alien's head. It bounced off with a clink. Viktor had already sprinted back to the group when the alien realized what happened. He gave a loud laugh, straightening up and speaking with Pink once more, who looked scandalized if her bowing was anything to go by.

The group slapped him on the back, congratulating him for 'sticking it to the man!' and 'showing those aliens what for!' Viktor offered them a smile, feeling a bit better now that he was back with them. Blatant disrespect like that in the arena would have probably cost him his life. He was glad that this one took it as a joke, even if he was still trembling with adrenaline.

The two aliens left the room, and Viktor immediately retrieved the ball, walking around and tossing it from hand to hand. Ezekiel and Nikolas were posted by the gate, carefully watching the two aliens. Viktor didn't want anything to do with that, so he bothered Pedro into playing catch with him.

After Viktor gave up trying to win against the older man who was thoroughly crushing him in the impromptu game they created for twenty minutes, he resorted to kicking it around idly. He kicked it over to Nikolas and Ezekiel, bouncing it off Nikolas's legs as he talked with them.

"Tall alien dude leave yet?" Viktor asked, missing the kick to the ball. He scowled but walked up to the fence to look out instead. Squeezing between the two bulky men, he watched as Pink and the other alien chatted at the desk near the front of the building. Half of it was hidden from view by another room, but they could clearly see the tall alien hunched over regally, writing things down. "Oh. What's he doing?"

"Not a clue," Nikolas hummed, reaching down to pat Viktor on the head. He ducked away before the man could ruffle his hair any more than it has been already. "Maybe he is adopting some animal."

"I thought it wasn't open," Ezekiel frowned, pointing at the sign in the window. The sign hanging in the window had a side with an unreadable script but a clear symbol of a sun beside it. The other side probably had a moon. "Look. The doors were locked, too."

"Look at him, though," Nikolas gestured to the tall alien, who had straightened up and began to follow Pink through the store. He grabbed something off a shelf before disappearing completely from view. "He is very fancy. He is probably royalty here. No other aliens have had that much jewelry before."

"It wasn't like we were in the lap of luxury before. Maybe that's the norm," Viktor said, trying to press his face through the gate to see where the alien went. It didn't work too well.

"Doesn't explain the bowing," Ezekiel pointed out. He elbowed Viktor, who ended up getting painfully jabbed in the shoulder. "Look!"

The two aliens came back with their arms full of things. Pink trailed after the taller one, looking a bit frantic that he had to carry things. His posture was stiff, his tail hovering just an inch off the ground. In his arms, he carried a thick blanket and some bags of food. Trailing behind him was a large carrier that seemed to be filled with all kinds of junk. Viktor frowned as he watched the taller alien deposit the blanket and food bags on the counter. Pink was still gesturing and speaking quickly, bent a bit at the waist to show deference.

"We think his name is Vok'Rul," Nikolas explained, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth between the two syllables. Viktor looked up at him with confusion. He shrugged in return. "There are extra syllables in the name when Pink calls after him, but I can only pick out 'vock', the click, and 'rule.'"

"Weird," he heard Ezekiel mutter. Viktor went back to watching Vok'Rul and Pink.

"About as weird as Ezekiel," Nikolas retorted, stressing different syllables of his name. Viktor fell into a crouch just as Ezekiel reach over to smack Nikolas, narrowly avoiding Viktor's head as he dropped. Nikolas started slapping Ezekiel back, yelling some choice swears.

Viktor passively crouched on the ground, fingers threading through the gate. He stuck out a leg, tripping Ezekiel into falling backward with a sharp yell. Nikolas pointed at him and let out a laugh, stepping towards him to gloat. Viktor tripped him, too.

The noise attracted Vok'Rul's attention, who looked over at them with hawk-like focus. Viktor stared back, brow furrowing. He wondered what kind of animal he was buying. Vok'Rul smiled at Viktor. Unnerved at all the kindness being shown to him all of a sudden, he stepped away from the gate, straightening up with a crack in his spine. He turned around to face Ezekiel and Nikolas, who had dissolved into wrestling on the floor.

He looked up to find the rest of the group, feeling the blood drain from his face when he saw Aiko marching towards them with a furious expression on her face. He started frantically kicking Ezekiel to get his attention, but it was too late. He acted innocent when she approached.

It must've worked because she gave him a genuine smile before kicking Ezekiel on the shoulder with her fully intact boots. He howled, clutching his shoulder as he sat up. "What was that for?!" he pouted, rubbing his arm. Nikolas looked like he wanted to laugh, but he saw the look on Aiko's face and refrained.

"If you two knuckleheads are done, the others want you two guys over there. They've been trying to get your attention for ages." Aiko said, throwing a thumb over her shoulder. "They wanted to move that jungle gym. I volunteered you."

Ezekiel groaned loudly, complaining the whole way over there and dragging an equally uncooperative Nikolas behind him. Aiko stayed behind with Viktor, joining him in peering out of the gate. "Don't think I didn't see you trip them," Aiko said with amusement.

Viktor shrugged, grinning. "It was funny, though."

Aiko chuckled her agreement, threading her fingers through the links and looking at Vok'Rul. All of the things were in bags, now. "What's he buying?"

"I think he's buying a pet."

Aiko hummed before cutting herself off, falling extremely still. Viktor, concerned, looked over at her with a frown. Her face looked eerily blank. "Uh.. Aiko?" he touched her shoulder, nearly jumping out of his skin when she whirled on him, gripping his shoulders tightly. "Ow! Aiko, what's wrong?"

She didn't say anything. She just pulled him close to her chest, hard enough to make Viktor's breath expel out of his lungs with an 'oof!' He could feel her shaking slightly as his arms reflexively went to hug her back. That certainly didn't help the nervousness he felt in the bottom of his stomach. "Oh Viktor," she said tightly as if she were fighting back tears. Her grip was nearly painful.

"I think he's buying you."