Ika had spent the last few years differently than his new acquaintances. Despite how interested they were with him when he arrived, now he was just another face in the building, nothing more, nothing less. He made passing conversation with other employees, but they never seemed to keep it going for long. Although he didn't particularly like the place anyway. It was just too different to what he was used to. No matter how hard he tried to be comfortable, he just couldn't. So, he left.

He'd managed to find somewhere else to stay in an old part of town, above an antiques and curiosity shop, for free if he helped downstairs. The owner was a Zygon, named Crowel, who usually took the form of a short old lady with a pair of round glasses perched on her nose. She had collected a lot of artifacts over the years, from many places across galaxies, and a lot of the people that came in had managed to find things from their home worlds, or objects that brought back memories for them. For a price, a reasonable one at least. Ika overheard customers haggle for prices, and she seemed willing to lower the prices if it meant someone managed to get a little piece of their history back.

Ika's role was just to do odd jobs around the place, dusting, polishing, making tea and coffee. The shop wasn't visited that much during the week, so most days were spent talking and being company for each other.

"Now, my dear, I'll be going away for a few days to pick up some more antiques. I'd like you to mind the shop for me, if you wouldn't mind."

"You want me to…Of course I can. I've watched how you work often enough." Ika seemed surprised, but confident that he would be able to do it, "I assume you still want me to keep cleaning and everything else while you're gone."

"I would appreciate it." Crowel smiled, in a way that suggested that this wasn't a choice on Ika's part.

"Where are you going? Is it far? I hope you'll be okay."

"There's no need to worry about me. I'm much more capable than you think." She said with pride, "Thank you for being concerned for me."

"If you weren't here, I don't know what I would do." Ika sighed, "To be honest, I'm a little lost without someone telling me what I'm supposed to be doing. I'd feel like I'm doing something wrong."

"I can write a list of instructions for you before I go tomorrow morning. The trip shouldn't take me longer than a week. I'll let you know if I'll be back any later than that."

"A week?" Ika shuffled nervously in his seat, tapping his fingers together, "Wouldn't you rather get someone more experienced to look after the place. I can always help them instead—"

"Nonsense. I wouldn't trust my livelihood on anyone else. Now stop worrying and drink your tea, it must be getting cold by now."

"—Yes, sorry."

Ika tentatively sipped at his cup, his head was already thinking of everything that could go wrong and started planning what he would do if they happened. It took up the rest of his thought for the day, and even as he attempted to sleep. He couldn't get himself to rest until the early hours of the next morning.

Rubbing his eyes, awake later than he would usually be, he'd gone downstairs to find a note left for him. The instructions. Good. Those were there. There wasn't any dust settled on the countertops or glass cabinets, but he polished them just in case. If there was anything he prided himself on, it was how clean he kept his workspace. Used to simple white walls and the sterile scent of the cleaning products that kept them as such, he attempted to hold the antique shop to his previous standards. Despite that, the smell of the cleaning products reminded him of a place he would rather forget, his smiles back then were the only thing holding him together. Not that he would ever have said that. Not that he was allowed to speak against it. Sure, he could give you an explanation about what was happening there, but he'd been instructed to say that – aside from any small observations on his part, but that was just how he was.

Suddenly, a bell jingled from the doorway, startling him a little. He spoke to the potential customer nervously, speaking as if he was reading from a script. They'd been in before to look at something specific. As a matter of fact, he knew it had been kept in the back room for them to pick up on a later date. Correctly, he assumed it was today they had agreed to pay for it. He grabbed the small wooden box from its shelf and took their payment, as identically as he could to how he'd watched Crowel do it. They were patient with him, and had even had a short conversation, asking where the regular owner had gone. It made him feel more at ease, and by his recollection, they came in often enough anyway – even if it was to look around.

It was funny how, despite being there most of the time, he never really saw the visitors, just glimpses of them as they looked around, while he handled things out of the corner of their eyes. He didn't really leave the building much, only to run errands. He liked staying inside; there was less chance of any of the more vengeful members of his species coming for him after everything that happened. He didn't feel safe showing people what he looked like anymore. Of course, he could see it - every now and then, a glimpse of what he truly looked like in the briefest of reflections and shadows.

Crowel had told him many times over that it was safe in the town. That was the whole reason it had been developed and why so many came to live there, free of threat and persecution. Considering that he had vanished quickly after the event, he thought that he was free of it. Sometimes he wondered if it was all inside his head.

The next few days went by quickly, merging into each other until Ika could no longer tell them apart. Ika had a hint of boredom on his face, pondering on whether he should wander around town, for once. The building was empty, and there was no sign of potential customers. He gathered any courage he could, turned the sign on the door to 'closed', and slowly opened it, the frosted glass no longer able to blur the world to him.

Once outside, the wind near blew him off of his feet. He would have settled for sitting down on a bench and doing some people-watching, but his legs moved on their own. He didn't know where he wanted to go, maybe just wander around and see the sights. Occasionally, others that lived in the town would smile at him as they passed, or those that had seen him before would say 'hello' and enquire how things were going. The corner of his mouth even started to show the slightest twitch of a smile. He still didn't feel confident enough to go walking around as himself, although he thought that the sight of a rather large, and squid-like creature might be too much for some people. That wasn't to say that there weren't people there that were much more unique than him, but he was slightly self-conscious about it.

Even so, it was quite refreshing for him to see all these new beings and buildings and landmarks that he had never encountered before. A fountain that jetted water high into the air on the hour, that small children were splashing and playing around in; a clock tower that was connected to a large hall with stained glass windows as tall as you could arch your neck up to see, and even a centre full of other shops that he would most certainly explore once he had seen the rest of the town. He wondered how all of it fit into this small space. On a map it was merely a speck, but at the same time it was huge.

Ika glanced at the shop windows as he passed by, wanting to press his face up against it like a child.

Excited, curious, all of the above.

A sparkle shone in his eyes.