His cousin glares at him. "You're right Ale. Obviously that's the only thing I was worried about, as as long as I can send you a letter now and then I don't care about anything else at all."

It - wasn't a very good line of argument. But there's only two real arguments, really. We can't do anything about it. I don't want you to be hurt. And he already knows how those ones go.

He falls asleep before he can think of anything new.

They wake up somewhere else.

It's an oddly-shaped room with sterile-white walls and no windows.  Three beds sit in three narrow cells along one wall, each with a very thick metal cage at the foot of the bed and some kind of medical monitoring equipment above the headboard.  Kente and Alessa each lie in one of the beds.  In the cages at their feet are two strange creatures, also waking up.  The third bed is empty, its monitor off and its cage empty.  

On the other side of the barred doors of the cells is a man in a lab coat sitting at a desk.  The desk is arranged such that he can see all three monitors, though that is somewhat difficult as the room is crammed tight with machinery of unknown purpose.  A catlike creature lounges on top of one of the machines, watching the beds even when the man is looking down at his computer.

That is... definitely not normal.

His first thought on waking up and beginning to take in his surroundings is that his future master wanted some sort of medical operation done to him, and their Uncle sent him off for it. Then he notices the strange creatures in cages. As far as he knows, that is not usually involved in dom-desired medical procedures. 

(He notices Kente. That - wouldn't be either. (How worried he is about the situation spikes up very hard. Does he - seem alright?))

He doesn't pretend to be asleep - there are monitors, it might be noticed - but he doesn't move very much. Tries to look around more for something that might tell him more. (And does the man look like a dom or a sub?)

(Did their Uncle suddenly decide to sell them both to some experimental lab? Did the government decide - something?)

And what in the name of all the gods is happening now. 

His first thought on waking up and noticing the signs of a medical facility is that he was injured in practice or performance. On noticing the cell this changes to having had something go wrong at a party (that - wouldn't end well...). He doesn't seem to actually feel terrible enough for either of those. Did their Uncle decide he was getting in the way too much and send him to - something?

Then he notices Alessa and the creatures (and also that he doesn't remember either an injury or a party, not that that's necessarily completely eliminating for the second one). 

What in the name of all the gods did their Uncle decide to send them to? (Is Alessa alright? Are either of them tied to the bed or otherwise restrained?). (He will give them about two minutes to start doing something, and then he is going to try something himself.)

Why is she in a cage. She does not like this. Can she do anything about it?

The man has limp hair falling to just past his ears, whatever that might signal to the cousins.  His lab coat is free of identifying marks or personal touches, and he's not wearing any sort of visible jewelry.  His expression starts as one of boredom, but turns to impersonal curiosity as he notices they're awake and takes note of the changes in readings from their monitors.  

Other than being in cells that are shut and presumably locked, they aren't restrained.  Some bars have been placed on the walls beside the monitors with handcuffs dangling from them, however they hadn't been attached.  The secure bars separating the room were evidently deemed security enough.  

The cages containing the creatures are quite strong.  There isn't anything that can be done from inside of one.  (The cages are rated for anything short of a Legendary.  Even powerful moves like fire blast or blizzard would render the small room uninhabitable before cracking the bars.)

(It's very strange to look at someone and not know. He - thinks dom?)

He can tell that Kente is about to do something. He - wouldn't have himself, not now. But if someone is to be punished as the example then it's going to be him.

"Excuse me, sir?" (A better direction to guess wrong in, if he did, and he should know soon enough, then.) "Could we know where we are and what is being done with us?"

It occurs to him a moment too late what Alessa is obviously going to do. He doesn't try to overtake him immediately - them both getting punished first thing won't help anything at all.

>:(

Everything that is happening seems very worrying. He skitters into a corner of his cage and crouches there.

The scientist takes a moment before answering, speaking in a tone that seems to convey both that he's far too busy to answer such questions and that he doesn't expect explaining to be worth his time.  "We are a science laboratory studying the effects of Binding.  That's attaching a daemon to someone who doesn't already have one.  Everyone from our world is born with one, hence why we needed to take some specimens from yours.  We expect the tests will take a few days, after which you will be returned to your home planet.

"Now, tell me: Are you experiencing any unusual surges of emotion that you would not have expected to feel in this situation prior to Binding?  Or any other things that stand out as unusual?"

What.

For a moment he seriously reconsiders the party drug hypothesis. But this is not what his hallucinations are like, and if there was something doing ones like this he's pretty sure he'd remember hearing of it. Which means that guy really did just tell them that they've been kidnapped by aliens. For science experiments.

He lets Alessa take this one; he isn't actually going to try asking them why they think this is the kind of thing anyone would be going around having expectations about.

(Attaching what the hell to them?)

(Why do aliens look this much like them? Maybe the alien is actually the catlike thing, and the person is a projection to talk to them.)

(Does 'prior to Binding' mean they already did that? He tries to check around himself for anything that seems attachment-like.)

"Thank you, sir." He will read that tone to mean that they're being given some leeway, mostly for practical reasons, but shouldn't test anyone's patience.

He doesn't know what a daemon is, what other world (- other world -) this is, what the tests might be, how they were taken and how they're going to be returned. If this is happening to other people from their world, or from any other world.

If they're going to be here for a few days, maybe he can try to figure some of that out. (He - isn't sure what he might do, even with more information. But maybe there's something. Or at least they'll have more to tell the government, when they're returned (if that part was true; if they'll be left in a state to do that). Not that he - thinks very much, of how the government approaches things. But if someone needs to do something about this, there isn't really anyone else to go to.

(...unless the government already knows, is cooperating with this. That - might be hard to keep secret for long, but it wouldn't have to be long...

...he'll try to pay attention for that too.)

And he needs to protect Kente, of course.)

He should be cooperative, which means he should answer their questions. Answer them honestly, if he can.

...Well, is he?

What if she tries making a lot of noise.

Whatever level of emotions they are experiencing, they are in fact about the same level they would be without daemons.  Whatever hypothesis prompted that question doesn't seem to be true.  They also don't have any kind of drug haze or injuries.  It feels like they woke up naturally after a restful night of sleep.  

The noise echoes in the tight confines, but doesn't seem to be melting the bars or doing anything else helpful.  The scientist and liepard look a bit annoyed, but make no move to quiet the vulpix.  

"I don't think I am, sir."

He isn't going to react to the noise, it case that makes it more likely the scientist decides to do something about it. (He tries to look closer at the creatures. Wonders if they are from some other world, are from this world and forced to serve in this task in some way.)

"Could we know what a daemon is, sir?"

The scientist gestures at the cages at their feet.  "Your souls, Bound into the bodies of pokemon.  Ditto, originally, though as with anyone old enough to have gone through puberty they have Settled into shapes that are suitable for your personality."

What.

(And why did they have to be kidnapped by religious aliens?)

If he is putting this together right, then the creatures are what - has been? - attached to them(?) (Is that - something he can feel in any way, if he tries?) (And the scientist believes this to be of some religious meaning, but he is used to taking apart statements that mix in with the religious for what their speakers mean in the present world.

Isn't sure he can guess what it means, in this case, but the scientist expects transmission of information about their personalities, and the scientist thought it might effect their emotions. An attachment as some conduit on that level?)

"I'm sorry sir, I'm not sure I understand?" He's expecting this more likely than not to be the point at which he's told to stop making a nuisance of himself and speak when spoken to. But he can't think of a much better way to say it. And - it's good probably to know the boundaries, and how they will be treated, if they're going to be here. 

Both daemon and human are experiencing the same emotions for the same reason right now, so there's nothing obvious - nothing that couldn't just be imagined.

The scientist debates whether it would be worthwhile to explain more.  There's a decent chance that they'll use the opportunity to test whether intercision still causes personality changes when the soul has only been external for a short time.  Vulpix and spinarak aren't especially valuable to reclaim, now that they're no longer ditto, but they could come up with something.  Still, perhaps they'll provide more useful information if they know more.  (He records the entire conversation, as well as commentary on it, into his computer.)

"Our souls appear alongside us at birth, in the form of ditto.  In your world, they are within you, though not physical.  Our experiment involves pulling them out and making them more like our own.  They're still a part of you - you won't be able to travel more than a few meters away from each other, and if one dies the other does as well.  There should be some emotional connection..." he considers something, and trails off to begin typing.  Perhaps if they're moved to adjacent rooms, and one experiences a stimulus that the other does not, that would make the connection or lack more obvious...

He isn't sure how to put together the references before to attaching a daemon and now to making them by pulling out and changing - something. (Probably he either misunderstood or is misremembering, or both of those. He needs to pay more attention.) (He also isn't very sure what the something might be. Not soul in the way that someone at home would say it - whatever Alessa himself might believe or not believe, the scientist clearly means a different thing than that. Attaches the word to something that can be pulled out like he says, changed like he says. And can die.)

But detailed questioning he isn't going to imagine would be welcome or well received, even if the scientist had had more tolerance for a sub's questions than he might have expected. 

"Thank you, sir." He falls silent, for now. Tries to see if he can see anything else about the scientist or what he's doing, or anything else here.

After a moment, looks a little hesitantly closer at the creature in the cage. (Can he reach through the bars with his gift, feel it at all?)

(The creature looks back at him.)

Meanwhile, he is pretty sure that in real life when you're kidnapped by alien scientists they do not really plan to put you back afterwards so you can foil their evil plans. Whatever they might tell you to keep you more cooperative. Which means they need to figure out a way to get out of here.

(He doesn't have any reason to believe that most everyone else in the world doesn't also think that pulling in random aliens for experiments is a just fine thing to do. But if they can take the creatures with them (which if he can believe the scientist on that they'll also have to) it sounds like they might have a change to blend right in.

(And his projection guess seems like it was wrong, but maybe the real explanation is that the aliens wanted similar aliens to try their experiment on. Or something.

On the bright side, it sounds like that catlike thing is probably the scientist's daemon, which, if he can believe the guy, might be an extra point of vulnerability.)

He also looks more around the room, in his case looking for anything that might be a tool or an opportunity, or that can be combined together into one. And also for if there are ways to get at the cat.

Alessa can't feel it through the cage.

Careful examination of the cells shows that the room hadn't originally been designed as a prison.  The walls are some kind of drywall or plaster beneath the paint.  It would be too optimistic to assume there's not a layer of cinder block or something eventually, but that means the monitor and handcuff-bar can probably be removed without tools.  The cell bars look harder to move, but it might be possible if they can weaken the attachment points. 

Outside of the cells, there are a lot of large machines and a few thick cords of cables.  They are arranged about as neatly as possible, given the lack of space.  They all appear to be off, which in the cramped quarters is probably a good thing; it's already a little stuffy without the added waste-heat from the machines doing whatever they do.

Without further questions, the scientist has gone back to typing in silence.  The liepard daemon continues to watch them, looking disinterested.