[u][i][b]Achille, Sugar, & Shannon[/b][/i][/u]

Achille might not have noticed the older girl until later if she hadn't spoken up after his untimely collision with the small red headed child. She was not quite as eyecatching, (at least not to him) with the look of someone who either didn't quite go out of her way to be the center of attention or simply didn't want people to notice her if at all possible. That was not to say she entirely faded into the background though. The red dress she wore draped down to around shin length before falling away to a flash of skin followed shortly by a pair of black lace boots, all putting her in sharp contrast to the neon glow of the surrounding arcade cabinets. It even sparkled a bit which Achille thought was a nice touch. Even if he had failed to notice her initially though he was more than able to recognize the tone in her voice. It boded ill, to say the least.

[i]"Hey! Can you watch where you're going?"[/i] Six little words and a single contraction were all it took for Achille to get the feeling that he had stumbled into the wrong little girl (not to say there was a [i]right[/i] little girl to stumble into of course.) Achille was almost poised to offer a second apology at the tone of her voice alone when the redheaded child spoke up, apparently not quite as irritated as the other now that she had her glasses back atop her nose.

[i]"Oooooh, I can help you, Mister."[/i] Fantastic. His attention back on the child, Achille waited with bated breath. As she pointed out the coin slot he nodded his head, having noticed it on the other cabinets earlier. In retrospect it seemed a bit obvious that the machines would use coins but as someone who rarely carried around any monetary assets smaller than a ten dollar bill change had never really played a part in his daily life. In fact, the only thing he had on him at the moment was a debit card tied to one of his bank accounts and a hundred dollar bill, smiling at him wryly from the inside of his wallet. Apparently the young girl (had he heard the other girl call her 'Sugar'? Odd name.) lacked even change as she dug into the pockets of her dress (also red, though slightly longer on her than the other girl.). Undeterred, she latched onto the other girl and tried to barter for a loan at the Bank of Red and Angry.

Suppressing a chuckle as the older girl sighed in resignation and handed over a neat little column of coins, Achille watched with amusement as 'Sugar' ([b][i]Got to ask about that name...[/b][/i]) lost her focus on explaining the fine art of Arcade-ing and fell back into eating pixels and chasing ghosts. Aware of the somewhat awkward situation he had landed the older girl in (and hoping to apologize for apparently irritating her earlier) Achille turned his attention to her instead, the corners of his mouth curling upwards ever so slightly into a tiny grin that wasn't aggressively friendly. She didn't seem the type to appreciate his usual brand of 'Dive in up to your neck' affection and affability.

"I feel I should apologize to you for putting you through the trouble of feeding my curiosity miss." He said, his tone showing his embarrassment quite clearly, "I don't get around the town as much as I used to these days with work and all of life's little troubles so when I find a place like this I tend to get a bit swept up and forget myself. I honestly hadn't expected her to take me up on my request. Though," He chuckled, "it doesn't look like she's regretting the decision." Shifting his weight, he reached around his back and pulled out his wallet, "Once the little one is done there you let me know how much I owe you. Least I can do." 

Shannon almost immediately cursed herself when this big buffoon started talking. But she knew better than to curse in front of Blathnat. Of course, her younger sister was the only thing keeping Shannon from walking away... but, on the flipside, Shannon could tell him off like she did with those other two guys again. Since Blathnat [i]clearly[/i] isn't paying attention to her. So glued to her games... [i]I hope she is happy.[/i] Well, he seems to be affable to say the least. Offering to give her money? Over what has to be a simple demonstration of the machine? Shannon didn't know what this man's aim was, but she was always ready to assume the worst. She always had her guard up, and never let it down. That's what kept her out of trouble... and away from the people that she despised so much.

"It is fine..." Shannon huffed, looking at the floor, almost purposely avoiding eye-contact with him. Until she had raised her head and turned those brown eyes towards Achille to meet them. "Blath- Sugar's nice, likes to help people... but as you can tell... she doesn't have much of an attention-span...." Shannon crossed her arms, and let out a puff of air front in between her lips. Niceness will only carry Sugar so far, yes. Eventually it's going to get in her more trouble than naught. At least Shannon learned beforehand that the world doesn't give you anything for being "nice".

Now, she needed to handle the matter of getting money... The last thing she wanted was to be in debt to a complete stranger. While she was in a "tight-spot" when it came to money, what would be worse would be trying to take the easy way out. "Sorry, but it's fine." Shannon quietly quipped, while she pushed out her palm until it came in contact with the man's leather wallet, and, thus, she pushed it into his chest. It was the best thing to do right now. "Only a few quarters. It's nothing." 

Finally, she figured that she should get formalities out of the way. Didn't matter, since the chances of meeting this man again was slim to none. "Just to get this out of the way, my name is [i]Shannon[/i]." She leaned back up against the machine and kept her arms firmly around her chest. Brown eyes drifted towards her little sister as she realized that Blathnat was so caught up in her game that she was absolutely oblivious to the world. Shannon poked her lips out and pressed them together. Eyes were on Sugar. "Her name is Sugar." Shannon had to introduce the child to Achile herself. Seriously, if Shannon wasn't here, this man might have been able to snatch her. But, long as she's breathing, that will [i]never[/i].

"Can't say I've ever met a 'Sugar' before," Achille said, replacing his wallet with a shrug. He hadn't really expected the girl, Shannon, the accept in the first place but he was always willing to go the extra mile with people. [i]"Kill em with kindness"[/i] as the saying went. "Can't say I haven't met someone her age who doesn't have a bit of trouble keeping focused either." He chuckled a bit, something from his childhood coming to mind. "She could be much worse though. I used to be a right terror at her age... assuming her age is around 9. I had a bad habit of going to the theatre with my grandfather and ending up on the roof shouting out lines from the plays at anyone passing by. I'm fairly certain they've still banned me from going near the roof access stairwell there." 

"Somewhat correct," Shannon shrugged and adjusted her glasses. She calmly listened to the rest of Achille's story. "She's eight." She sighed. Achille's story was sounded insignificant at first, but Shannon managed to get some insight out of him. Hm. He seemed like the troublesome type when he was younger ([i]I hope he dropped that habit.[/i]). But that wasn't the point. The man seemed to have gone to the theatre... Movie theatre? Or the classy theatres like the Columbiana where they preform excellent plays? She could ask him, but she wasn't sure if he was "worth" a conversation. For now, Shannon had no choice but to continue the idle small-talk. At least until she has a good reason to call him out, and send him on his way. "And 'Sugar' is a nickname.... but I don't think she'd appreciate me telling anyone her real name." Shannon felt the chuckle building up inside of her, but she choose to keep it down. She didn't want this man getting the idea that she was getting friendly with him, after all.

Shrugging again, he turned his eyes back on Sugar and her game, watching the pixels race around and around the pre-set stage. He almost missed being able to lose himself in an activity as much as the young girl could. Almost. He certainly didn't miss the toothaches, awkward realization that girls had bits he wanted to see, or that time in the fifth grade where his PE teacher had tried to make him do laps in the pool wearing a girls swimsuit. Achille shivered and locked that memory away where it belonged. Hoping to distract himself from that line of thought, he pressed on with his conversation, his eyes still locked on the game all the while.

"Do you two come here a lot? I'd assume it'd be easy for her" he nodded at Sugar, "to spend an entire day in here on these machines. Though I suppose it'd get pretty expensive and tiring to do this sort of thing on a normal basis for most people in the city, especially this time of year when the Fair is getting on it's feet and everyone is running around to watch the floats and performers." He took a quick glance at his phone's lock screen, eying the time on the digital face. Still had quite a bit of time before the Fair would even begin so he wasn't too worried about this meeting going on for awhile if that's how it played out.

An easy answer, for a simple question. Shannon and Sugar rarely come by Arcadia Heights for anything other than a special occasion. So they rarely got to side the "pride" and "joy" of the city for themselves. Shannon shrugged, "I'm going to be completely honest here when I say that this is my first time coming here." She answered with a lack of emotion in her voice. It was hard to get talking about things with a complete stranger... though, he isn't [i]that[/i] bad, she had to admit. But not enough for her to drop her guard. "You should see this place in the summer time," She added, "It gets loaded with tourists who want to indulge themselves on boring beaches and hit on girls.... Which is why I like this place in the Fall season... Less annoying people to deal with." In her eyes, it was only [i]slightly[/i] less, but an improvement. 

 He was slightly worried about Shannon's apparent lack of a desire to contribute to their conversation beyond bits and pieces but Achille was used to that with most strangers when he first spoke to them. Soon they were all like Simone back at the bakery though. Well OK, not exactly like Simone. Most weren't quite as determined to marry him into their families. Seeing an opportunity to turn the conversation in an unexpected and possibly more fruitful direction, Achille turned back to Shannon, a sly grin on his face.

"Have either of you been to the Big Top?" He jerked his head in the directions he estimated the Black Fall Big Top was in relation to the Arcade. If she wasn't going to accept some cash then maybe she'd accept a bit of [i]free[/i] entertainment for herself and Sugar. He got the feeling that looking after the kid as she was obviously doing might leave Shannon a bit less receptive to strangers like himself and there were few things in the city that could turn irritation into fascination than watching Sven arm wrestle one of the elephants into submission.

Big Top...? Now Shannon has heard of that place, a Circus in this very district that has it all. Elephants! High flying stunts! Excitement... Not Shannon's thing, when it came down to it. She was certain that Deborah and Sugar would love it, but she digressed. She wouldn't go there without one of them. "Heard of it, but I have never gone there." She answered Achille, and never took her eyes off of him. 

On Sugar's side of things, she was actually tackling this game. Under the little Princess's hand, she managed to collect a majority of the orbs. The ghosts were closing in! But it wasn't too late to pick up the power-up and gobble up some ghosts! Speaking of Ghosts, her familiar was still watching over her. Standing exactly behind her, he stood statically, but was always ready to follow Sugar's wishes. He listened to the conversation... while he took a more passive role, he always made sure that Sugar was aware. Because there was so much he could do and remain a secret. Far as he could tell, there was no immediate danger in her presence, but he knew that there was something that Sugar would enjoy later. After reading Achille's thoughts briefly, he knew exactly what he was planning. However, it was entirely up to his Mistress whether or not she would even give him the opportunity. He [i]is[/i] the loyal Servant, never faltering, after all.

With a simple telepathic urge, Sugar's eyes were pried away from the machine, and she turned that small head of hers towards Achille, giving him her full attention. Hands were still on the controls. Of course, since she wasn't paying attention, she had to rely on Sir Reginald:

[i]"Have either of you been to the Big Top?"[/i]

Hm? No she has not, actually. But she'd love to! She heard of the place and from what she was told, it was a circus! In [i]her[/i] kingdom. They can give her the Princess treatment! She simply shook her head from left to right, a clear indicator of what her answer was. Following it up with a meek, "No, Sir, I haven't been there." She [i]was[/i] about to turn her attention back to the game, but this was no time for games! Sir Reginald told her that something important was happening here, and she had to pay attention. It was her duty. "But, it's like a circus, right?" She looked away for a second, and her expression changed from a smile to a more neutral, somber, expression. She thought about it for a moment (after she said it).

Achille was taken aback for a moment at the sudden shift in Sugar's interest, leaving him wondering how long she'd been paying attention to their conversation. He might have been slightly ashamed at talking about her when he thought she wasn't listening too if she didn't show such an interest in the Big Top. He switched gears immediately, his posture going from that of a relaxed observers to a showman selling to an audience, the large grin on his face only serving to fortify the change.

"Exactly!" He practically yelled, reining in his volume and enthusiasm near the end to avoid making the situation awkward. Also he didn't want to spook Sugar. She didn't seem like the most confident kid for some reason. "We've got everything down there! Lions, horseback riders, fire eaters. We've even got a few orangutans who can almost reenact the 2004 presidential deba-" he stopped himself. "Right you wouldn't get that... it's impressive though so that's all that matters. And I", here he stopped to over-dramatically 'fix' his collar and dust off his sleeves, "can get the two of you in for free. As re-compensation for showing me how the Arcade works of course. No strings attached or debt to be paid."

"Whoa..." Sugar seemed enticed by Achille's offer, yes. She thought it'd be incredible. The animals, the stunts, the tricks. All preformed for her! Princess of the Black Fall kingdom. She wondered if any magicians would be there... not the kind of "Magician" you'd think of when you hear the word. But Sugar believed that all Meta-humans were "magicians", due to her lack of understanding of them, and therefore, she knew that they were magical in nature. Opposed to... whatever they were.

Achille had thrown in that last part for Shannon's sake. He wasn't sure if she had declined his earlier offer out of pride or suspicion but he figured if he could eliminate one of the possibilities he might get her approval. Besides, he had time to kill and he saw no reason that he couldn't entertain some strangers on a chilly day like this. His other plan had been to mess around at the arcade for an hour before driving back home for a quick two hour nap to prep for the Fair. 

Lions and tigers and... whatever else that stupid saying said. Doesn't matter. It was clear that Mr. Achille really wanted to repay them - that, or he was really eager to rope them into whatever scheme he had planned ([i]That grin doesn't help, sir...[/i]). Shannon had found herself indecisive, really. She could turn down the man and never speak to him again. But would she really be cold enough to rob [i]Sugar[/i] of a chance to see this circus for herself? Answer was no, but if she were to go, this man better not try anything shifty like go behind stage and expect them to be his groupies. "Hmmm..." She hummed to herself, thinking really hard. Before letting out a sigh, closing her eyes, and tilting her head downwards somewhat. Almost like she was defeated. "Very well, you present an offer I cannot refuse.... but backstage passes are [i]not[/i] necessary." Shannon was quick to add, hoping to shoot down any schemes. Nope, she planned on staying in the watchful eye of the public.

"Yay!" Sugar didn't even have to say anything, all she did while Achille talked was wait. She was going to the circus! It was going to be fun. She had completely forgotten about her game... which she lost so hard that the hidden fist was going to deploy.

"Yay!" Achille mimicked, punching the air a few times in celebration of his triumph over adversity and other such nonsense. Truth be told he was a bit excited about showing these two the Big Top. Granted, the actual show was cancelled for the night with most of the performers assisting the Fair, but he was sure he could get at least two of the elephant handlers on board to put on a bit of an act for them. Getting Sven and the others however... that would be trickier. [b][i]But[/b[/i], he thought to himself as he collected his composure and jangled his keys for his two soon-to-be guests to see, [b][i]that's a hurdle to jump later.[/i][/b] It was then that Achille realized he had forgotten something important.

"Before we go however," he said, practically diving into a low, sweeping bow towards both ladies and cocking his head just enough for them to see his charming little grin, "I'm Achille, Ringmaster at the Black Fall Big Top. At your very own service."