how not to do interworld contact | Glowfic Constellation

She is taken by about as much surprise.

Collar? (It's an automatic sort of check. Of course mages-not-in-cover wouldn't tend to come out and say that sort of thing, but magical experiments she had no idea existed also generally don't.)

No collar.

"Oh? What exactly happens if I move?"

The creature waves a hand.

"You're under arrest! Lie down on the ground with your hands over your head! If you resist I may be forced to use lethal force.

You're under arrest," he calls into the apartment. "Come out with your hands up!"

(She's not even fucking in field cover.)

Nobody besides this creature even opens a door.

"I'm going to go get the landlord. Stay out of my place while I'm gone," says the little cute creature. It starts walking.

He may or may not be in the position of someone who's absolutely had firearms training but hasn't actually ever shot someone.

...Isn't that mage who did get dropped here a field mage?

"You! Restrain him."

This is going to end absolutely wonderfully.

She doesn't have any way of knowing if the experiment came with combat advantages, but she doesn't have any long-range weapons, either.

She goes to do as told.

She gets flung into a wall. Maybe the creature did magic.

"I'm so glad they can scry the halls, because you're the only ones who are going to be hurt after this," says the creature.

He is way too preoccupied to even react to that comment.

"Did he do that?" He remembers about the emergency control. He thinks he remembers how to do - something with it. "Defenses!" he snaps to her. (Is that even how you say that to field mages. He has no idea). "Restrain him!"

(Helpfully, defenses are one of the things set up to be easiest to do, with an emergency control.)

Getting flung into walls is not a new experience, physically.

Permission to try defenses comes with the permission for magical senses she could use for it. She doesn't exactly have the time or opportunity to set up a ward right now, but she reaches out to try to counter in realtime if that happens again. And figure out what it's coming from. (Repulsion is the sort of thing you can get to carry along for use. Possibly more than carry as a device or built into something, if you're an experiment.)

(She's perfectly aware she's getting hurt after this. Also, either this one is delusional, or the accident has actually dumped them abroad rather than in an apartment building with at least one foreign occupant.

Which, well, probably means she'll be getting even more hurt, but if you'd get hurt by obeying something you'll be far, far more hurt if you disobey it. Rather how that works.)

She goes to do what she's told, again.

He'll just keep trying to walk out the front door. When she tries to tackle him again he tries to throw her again.

She tries to counter. This being a sort of attack she's never encountered before, she mostly doesn't succeed. It does, however, give her the answer to the question.

"He's doing it," she says, because of things that are out of the question enough that they won't really cross her mind, 'lying about other mages' is definitely high up there.

He's been trying to get around them to block the door the experiment seemed to be heading for. At this he stops moving.

Illegal magical experiment apparently uncollared mage.

"Yield down! On the ground! Last fucking chance," he says, and if this doesn't have the reaction he wanted, shoots.

He has no idea what "yield down" is supposed to mean.

He tries sprawling on the ground like it's his bed and he owns it.

It being an idiom, it didn't translate through very usefully. It being an idiom with equivalents approximately everywhere on earth, this isn't something that will occur to him.

Finally.

"Restrain him," he tells Elvira again. And, to the uncollared mage, "Don't move! If you try any more magic I'll shoot!"

She has no idea what the point of this is supposed to be. It's not like they have a spare collar. She doesn't even have anything to use as restraints.

She attempts obedience using her hands.

"Don't touch me," he says. "Are you trying to keep me from going outside? Because I was trying to go outside."

He is not the person here she is supposed to be obeying. She'll go to hold his wrists behind his back. And watch out for further magic.

"Shut up!" Having succeeding at his previous aim, he now has to decide what to do next.

Uh-huh. That sure will be fun.

"TWENTY-FOUR RINGS TO CALL THE POLICE!"

She's pretty sure that's the same language as the first one. And he's obviously yelling for everyone. Her likelihood estimates for being abroad shoot up. (Wonderful.)

Also if he wants the police he's probably also a field mage or something. Not that this means much for her, aside from 'probably about to be arrested and then tortured by two governments'.

Absolutely nothing of thoughts like that goes through his head.

"I said shut up!" (Why is the uncollared mage calling for police? Probably some sort of trick. Maybe a secret code.) "Whoever you are," he calls to the rest of the hallway/apartments. "We've found you out. Surrender right now or you'll make it worse on yourselves."

Nothing happens for a bit.

"I think they're force and knowledge!" says the creature. And if they don't shut him up: "The one assaulting me is a slave!"

She assumes 'slave' is a translator mistake for 'mage'; that happens sometimes. Nonsense mistakes like the first part also happen sometimes