Seth was no stranger to waking up restrained somewhere, he was a wanted criminal with a bounty on his head after all, so he wasn’t all that surprised to wake up and find himself tied to a chair. What was surprising were the two children in front of him, seemingly responsible for his current predicament.

I guess that means our escape plan went wrong somewhere he thought to himself, taking in his surroundings. He didn’t seem to be in Academy custody, so it they had at least been able to escape that fate so far, and as he continued to look around he started believing that they would stay safe from that. The room he was being kept in was horrendously archaic, there wasn’t a single bit of recognizable technology anywhere to be found. And the clothing the two children were wearing was also odd, instead of the typical sleek temperature regulated fabric he was used to or even the less sophisticated but still sturdy rough clothing of the lower class, their clothes seemed to be made with an organic fabric that reminded him more of some of the old decaying relics Malaya had lying around her room back at headquarters. The smaller of the two children in front of him seemed to be fiddling with some device that kind of resembled the tablets he used back at the Academy, though even comparing the two was a stretch as the Academy’s technology was far superior to whatever this child was using. The taller child was glaring at him and seemed to be threateningly holding some kind of rudimentary weapon in his direction, periodically rotating it in their grip in what he assumed was meant to appear menacing.

[Oh good, you’re awake]

Mentally, Seth groaned at the sound of the other’s voice in his head. While he was glad he wasn’t facing this situation alone, his companion tended to be rather annoying on a good day, and down-right infuriating on a bad one.

[Ouch, you really are so mean to me sometimes. I rarely ever actually deserve it you know.]

Can you just give me a situation update please, before this child hits me with that stick again, Seth thought back, not feeling up to an argument in their current situation.

[Certainly. We appear to have made quite the miscalculation. And by “we” I mean you.]

Hey! I want to see you perfectly calculate a destination while being shot at. I did my best!

[Well, seeing as I don’t have a physical form to shoot at, I don’t think it would be a problem for me at all.]

Whatever, I still think I did fine for the situation, at least I was able to get us anywhere at all.

[Of course, of course. Anyway, all that to say, I don’t know where we are right now, just that it certainly isn’t Academy space. Also, don’t worry about the language barrier, I’ve already had enough time to analyze the language these two are speaking, so you shouldn’t have any issues communicating with them.]

Wait, what do you mean you don’t know where we are, Seth jerked a bit in the chair he was tied to, shocked by what he had just heard his partner say. Are we lost? Are we even in the same timeline?

[We should still be in the same timeline, I don’t sense anything off in that regard.]

Seth was about to respond, ask more questions about what exactly was happening, when the smaller child cleared its throat to get his attention. He looked up over at them, trying to see if he could figure out their intentions with him before they began to act on them, hoping he wouldn’t have to resort to self-defense. While he could confidently say that these two were no match for him in a fair fight, one where he wasn’t disoriented by scarf travel and a rough landing, he would rather not have to beat up children if he could help it.

The child simply stared at him, very intensely studying him in deep concentration. Impatiently, Seth decided that he was probably going to have to speak first. He had just opened his mouth to say something, a greeting or to simply ask why they had attacked him and tied him up, when the child finally spoke;

“Are you an alien?”

That was a ridiculous question to start an interrogation off with, and he almost assumed it to be a bad attempt at a joke, but they had asked it with the utmost of sincerity and seriousness in their voice, continuing to stare solemnly at him while waiting for his answer.

“…Did you seriously just ask him if he was an alien?? I thought you said you’d ease into that!” The taller child immediately turned on the smaller one, a look of pure shock on their face.

“Well, I was going to do that, but then I thought, ‘wow, that’s kind of dumb actually, and takes too long’. So I just decided to ask him directly.” The smaller one stated, matter of factly, as if they found zero fault in their logic at all. Seth also couldn’t find any fault in their logic now that they had explained themselves, as it did make more sense to simply come out and ask the direct questions instead of wasting time with less important things, though he was a tad bit offended at being referred to as an ‘alien’. While there wasn’t a direct translation of the term in Academic Standard, it could roughly be equated to a derogatory term that some people would use to refer to those deemed as “outsiders” to their planet. Though, as the planets continuously mingled due to being under Academy control, the term had pretty much fallen out of popular use. It was still an offensive thing to call someone, however, and he really didn’t appreciate it.

“Um, if I may interrupt,” He started, causing the two bickering children to return their focus to him once more, “I wouldn’t call myself an ‘alien’, but I am not from this planet if that’s what you were insinuating.”

The two looked at him in shock, probably not expecting that answer. Then the smaller one’s face lit up in joy and they immediately danced over to where they had set down their device, babbling incoherently in their excitement. The taller one just stared at him, face slowly contorting into one of disbelief and anger.

“Ok, so that’s how this is going to go then,” they muttered to themselves, clearly irritated by his answer, though he was unsure as to why exactly. If anyone had any right to be irritated here, it was him.

“Meg! Keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t go anywhere, I need to go grab my projector! I’ll be right back!” the smaller one suddenly yelled, running out of the room. The taller one, who he guessed was called ‘Meg’, seemed exasperated at the other, but just sighed and kept their attention on him.

“So, if you’re an ‘alien’, why do you speak English?” they asked, clearly not believing that he was telling the truth. So that’s what their language is called, English he thought to himself, or, well, mostly to himself.

“Is that what I’m speaking? English?” ‘Meg’ raised an eyebrow at him, clearly unamused by what they must have assumed was him being difficult. He wasn’t, well, he was a little bit, but they had knocked him out and tied him up, so he felt he was allowed to be a little difficult.

“Yes, you’re speaking English, but wait, let me guess-” They began to move towards him, their voice now dripping in sarcasm, “you ‘didn’t know that’ because you have a ‘translator’ that just so happened to know fluent English?” They looked at him directly, glaring while cocking their head to the side in a manner that would be considered questioning if not for the obvious disdain in their tone.

“I feel like no matter what I say to that question I’ll be in trouble..” Seth murmured under his breath, looking away from his pissed off captor.

“Look, I don’t know what you enjoyment you get out of trying to make a fool out of my sister, but just so you know she isn’t dumb. She’ll see through your stupid lie soon enough and I hope you’re ready for round two with this bat when she does.” Seth looked back up, confused and slightly frustrated at the turn this conversation had taken.

“You know, its really rude to accuse someone you just met of lying. And to then go on and threaten me again, that’s not very nice you know? Also, while I know my word means nothing at all to you, I really am not from this planet. What planet is this by the way, and if I could see a star map or something, that would be rather helpful, not that you’ve been very helpful so far. I just really want to get back to where I came from as soon as possible. I was kind of in the middle of something important…” He wasn’t really helping himself here by being an ass, but they had started it so he felt justified in his response.

He knew having the cooperation of some locals would make this situation a lot easier to handle, however he wasn’t just going to sit there and let them talk shit about him to his face just to get that cooperation. And judging from the exasperated look on ‘Meg’s face, he realized that he almost definitely never had a chance at convincing them with just his words anyway. Of course, he could take the easy way out here and simply reveal Shade’s existence, surely that alone would be more than enough to prove himself. However, he would like to avoid that if possible, seeing as Shade was typically his last line of defense, and in case of the very low chance that this place might actually end up being dangerous, he would prefer to keep his secret weapon a, well, secret.

“Ugh, whatever..” ‘Meg’ muttered under their breath, stepping away from him and tightening their grip on the bat.

[You know, I don’t think antagonizing your captors has ever gotten anyone anywhere]

Oh shut up, like you’ve never antagonized anyone. Seth retorted, now mildly annoyed at being called out, especially when it was done by someone who absolutely had no room to talk.

[I suppose that’s fair, but I also haven’t been terrorized by children armed with rudimentary weapons that, at best, might slow me down.]

Yeah yeah, I get it, you’re super powerful and amazing. But, uh, remind me again- where did we first meet? He taunted, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his companion, wary that there was another person in this room not privy to this conversation.

[…]

That’s what I thought. Seth turned his attention back to his surroundings, seeing the other child returning finally from whatever it was they had gone to do.