Ix watched as the human retreated from the cafeteria, unblinking. It was shaping up to be a strange day.<br/><br/>After spending several minutes in stillness, reflecting on the peculiar events and their possible connotations the alien finally left the cafeteria. She hadn't gotten far when a sibilant murmur intruded upon her thoughts. Bringing her focus to the source of the sounds revealed another inmate. Also an alien, though of an altogether different sort, it's small body was plump and nearly shapeless. Its small, insect like appendages seemed to have no rhyme or reason to their placement. It chittered at her again, antennas whirling furiously. Ix looked around to make sure there were no unwanted spectators lurking around before crouching beside the creature.<br/><br/>"Where is it?" She vocalized softly, pitching the sound so it wouldn't care. The plump creature gave a small chirp, flailing a couple legs. Ix nodded, placing one of her hands on the spot it had indicated, gently probing with her fingers until she felt the lump that indicated something beneath the surface. It was larger than normal. "You shouldn't have waited so long." The creature made a plaintive noise and opened its maw. Rows of bony plates and ropes of toxic saliva made the sight less than pleasant, but Ix was unfazed. Keeping one hand on the unwanted object she carefully reached another into the creature's mouth.<br/><br/>It was a strange arrangement and it never ceased to amuse her. Two beings more than capable of and comfortable with killing, momentarily locked in a precarious dance. Soft whines of pain ran through the other aliens quivering form as her chisel like claws found the intrusive object. A few moments later it was over, she extracted her arm with painstaking care. Free of its unpleasant burden the the creature chirped softly, many legs moving in a strange sort of choreography. Ix stood, keeping the slightly moist arm away from the rest of her body and watched as the amorphous alien scuttled away.<br/><br/>It was a curious symbiosis to have blossomed within the confines of the prison. She could have much more easily have extracted the bezoar-like crystal from the outside, but it would have drawn a lot of attention and done a lot of damage. Better for her and for the soft bodied alien if none of the others found out about the crystals.<br/><br/>Ix walked quickly to the nearest lavatory, a mostly open room with a myriad of facilities to suit the different species the institution housed. Quickly she washed down her arm and the crystal, which was as big as one of her smaller fingers. Once it was clean she ever so delicately scraped a claw over the surface before quickly wrapping it in the paper the human had given her. Her mouth split open, one tendril taking the small parcel and rolling back up while she quickly ran her claw down the back of her tongue, depositing the the residue she had scraped off the crystal. The process was quick, and soon her face was back to its normal, mask-like state.<br/><br/>By the time she reached the lab the soft rush had worked through her system. The room was cool, but smelled of warm machinery and the bitter dark drink humans seemed to enjoy so much. Tom was already there, talking to what she could only assume was the one that had sent the note.