"I don't either!" the vulpix says, turning around in Kente's arms. "I don't know what kinds of names there are!"

It's - not startling, exactly, to hear them talk. He'd known they could, or might be able to. It's - something.

He thinks about writing something like 'to be determined'. (They can't pick names now, he doesn't know anything about what any names might mean here, and he wouldn't want to do it without asking the daemons more if he can.) But the officer hadn't actually said they could do that. After a moment he writes down 'Green' and 'Orange', and hopes this won't upset anyone. The officer had said they could fill in something random.

He isn't actually sure what 'ship' is talking about here, but he was told what to put for that one, so he puts that. The names are poetic. 

If the birthdate box works like that, he isn't going to be able to fill it out well; they don't even know how day lengths might compare here. 

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't think the calendars are the same. I'm not sure how to use this right."

"1/1 is fine."

The lizard has a pair of phones now.  Rather than throwing them up to the table he climbs some steps on the far side of the desk and walks them over to his human.  Once they're set down he hops onto Mareline's lap where she boosts him to the back of her chair and he watches whatever she's typing.

The officer's floating sword daemon drifts over to the spinarak currently being called Green.  Quietly, in a voice not intended for the humans, "We apologize for rushing you all along like this.  We're trying to get you resources and a room so that you'll have a place to be safe and have stability for as long as it takes to get you back home, though it looks like it might be scaring you.  You're being brave and handling this all as well as anyone could."

That feels like a reasonable and natural thing to have happen.

"We don't think you have anything to apologize for. We aren't feeling rushed. That's very kind of you, and very kind of you to say." He does feel - very pleased at hearing that, like something is correct in a snug and comfortable way. (He uses the 'we' in a mirroring of how the other daemon speaks; his thoughts, if tracked, may not pattern around it quite how the other daemon may expect, though he does have some awareness of both the humans and the other daemon from the lab, and does not mean just himself.)

"Yes, ma'am, thank you."

He hopes this won't put them on the wrong side of any important age line. Though that could happen either way, really; it is not as though laws never set lines he might wish were different.

He can see that the two daemons are talking, even if he can't make out the words. Is that - part of how interactions are appropriately done here? (Between doms and subs? In general?) He - doesn't know so much here, about how things are done and how to behave, and it's frightening.

"I'm finished, ma'am," he says, when he is.

Mareline had been waiting and smiles at them as she takes the pad with a thanks.  Another minute later and she hands them back phones and keys and charger cords.  "These should be intuitive to use, and the most important features are pinned right on the home menu.  Though, first I should show you to your rooms."

Mareline gets out of the chair and ushers them down the back hallway, her daemon clinging onto her back.  They are only two rooms down from the entrance, the ones labeled 03 and 04, matching the keys.  In addition to the lock, the doors have a bar lock on the inside.  Each room only has two pieces of furniture: a storage cabinet with drawers and shelves, and a large bed with four posts rising from the corners with dull hooks attached at places.  The posts of the bed have netting draped between them, with yarn-thick strands and holes just large enough to stick a hand through.  The tautest top drape of net is only a foot away from the ceiling, and the two lower ones fill the space between it and the mattress.  More netting, not stretched between anything, is draped along all of the walls at just over head height, shoulder height, and knee-height.  

"This room is a bit inconvenient, but it's designed to keep away even reckless teleporters," Mareline says, stepping in so she can point out how to use it.  "The bed has caster wheels - you can move it anywhere in the room you'd like.  Then, as extra security, you can stretch out the nets along extra space."  She demonstrates, pulling a patch of the net at shoulder height to the bedpost and hooking it on for a moment, before returning it to the wall.  "There is also security against anyone who can phase through walls, here."

They take the items. (Alessa holds some of Kente's for the moment, since they don't currently have pockets.) "Thank you, ma'am."

They are somewhat surprised not to be put in the same room, but won't comment on it. (Is there a connecting door by any chance?)

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm not sure I understand. I don't think we have teleportation in the same way."

The rooms are separate.  They are also lacking windows to anywhere resembling a proper outdoors, but so has everywhere else here.

Mareline has no context for that statement so answers, "Spinarak and Vulpix don't learn teleport, no."

The officer, still following for the moment, says, "Teleportation is instant travel to a location the teleporter has been before.  It can be very dangerous, requires licenses, and is only supposed to be done on specific pads that are kept clear of obstacles.  A teleporter who teleports themselves into somewhere that isn't clear gets it... stuck in them.  The presence of nets and moving furniture will stop people from trying to teleport in to hurt you, since even if they know which room you're in and have seen the room before they won't know what places were left safe to stand in.  Don't worry though - it's for deterrence, no one has actually tried teleporting into a room like this in a very long time."

While she says that, her daemon goes over to Mareline and whispers something at her.

Would probably be a bad idea to try to sneak out a window at this point even if the room had them. 

Well, those buildings they'd been near coming in here had had windows (they haven't yet noticed the general lack of proper outdoors). But they're not at all surprised their rooms don't. They're subs now in government custody, and their kidnappers might be after them; plenty of reason from both sides, there.

He isn't sure what she's meaning to tell them (and - learn teleport?). Maybe - the daemons' Gifts depend on their type in some way, and he might be expected to have some instinctual understanding of teleportation if - his daemon - had it? The officer's reply promptly distracts him from this.

(He hasn't realized the context lack. She'd not acted surprised at them needing to be told how to enter their age, or asking about daemon names. And a sub at a desk might not be told context, expected to go along, but to his mind now she's a government dom (she hasn't corrected him or been surprised at the appellative, and he'd already thought it was likely). And it's not a secret, or they'd have been told to keep it.) (Most of this isn't conscious thought, runs behind it as so many things do.)

Nodnod. "Thank you, ma'am.

Does what happened to us happen often, ma'am?"

Oh good, Alessa's figured out a polite way to kind of ask 'well how often do scientist-and-guard cabals kidnap random people and then get away by teleport'. 

"People who get hurt teleporting?  Proper teleporting has a very rare injury rate.  It's mostly people trying to do so without a license, and even then only every few years.  It's the sort of thing that gets on the news for weeks when it does. 

"Or did you mean needing to use rooms like this?  Your... particular circumstances haven't happened before.  These rooms were designed for people fleeing abusive families, exes, or stalkers.  Once in a while there will be a key witness to a crime, or some other use."

Well then he's not going to be extremely reassured by the 'no one has actually tried in a very long time'. Protection against people trying is great though.

Oh, it's so good that they have something like that. 

Nod. "Thank you. We're very grateful, ma'am."

Are we allowed to visit each other's rooms, ma'am? Or to stay, if it's unsafe for us in the hallway?" He hopes the answer is yes - it'll be hard if they have a wall between them. But.

"The hallway is watched.  Teleport takes a few seconds to use, and can't get a moving target or one more than a few meters from the teleporter.  The rooms have the security they do to stop someone from getting picked up in their sleep, to stop people from going through your things, and because we aren't going to put cameras in them.  The cafeteria and computer room just outside are kept watched and guarded too - they're part of this same area for people at risk.  

"Beyond that, you aren't forbidden from going anywhere on the fleet, though I'd recommend sticking together and possibly with a few other people.  I can vouch for Azure's ability to fight, and Verity is a Legendary and could take on any dozen non-legendaries in combat.  We can also send an officer to escort you.  I'd recommend going to the library and using the technical machines to teach your daemons moves if you want to go out more - being able to hold your own in a fight can't hurt."

Noting, if they see someone suddenly show up, run in the opposite direction. Conveniently intuitive.

He hadn't even been thinking about a teleporter being able to take someone. He shivers a little at the thought. But it sounds like a lot is being done against it.

"Thank you. We're very, very grateful, ma'am."

That's very permissive (though he doesn't think the officer is personally in charge of them, and if someone else is to be, they might place more restrictions later). He's not sure what area exactly 'the fleet' might describe (or why it's called that - he thinks again of 'ships' from the documents before), but it still sounds permissive. (They should ask about the area, at some point, but they can do that when they mean to try to go out, not bother the officer with extra questions now. There's already many.)

His guess that the dom(s?) who found them are expected to take at least some responsibility for them gains some strength. (He wonders if the one named Alizara might be a sub? The one named Azure had ordered her at some point hadn't he? (He shouldn't get into a habit of calling doms by first names in his head, but if they don't have family names here he's not sure what he would call them, and even if they do he doesn't know it). But doms talk all sorts of ways, even at home, and he still doesn't know, really.)

He's not sure what 'recommend' should be taken as - not fully an order, he has to think, or it would have been put as one, but. Best to follow it regardless, anyway, and they can try to learn more as they learn in general.

And - this he probably does need to ask now. "Moves, ma'am?"

"You're quite welcome," she says.  The unusual politeness starting to bother her a little, but she's ignoring it and keeping her expression pleasant.  It's either alien culture or a reaction to whatever trauma they just suffered.  Privately she wonders if the fleet is going to be seen as unusually impolite or gruff by comparison when they come into proper contact.  

When he asks, "Ah, right.  Daemons have supernatural powers.  Some, called Abilities, are inherent and unchangeable, tied to the form.  If I recall, vulpix become more powerful when exposed to fire and spinarak are immune to many things that cause unnatural sleep.  They can also have up to four Moves, which can be changed out at any time by going to a technical machine and having them stare at it for an hour or so.  There are a few hundred Moves in total, and different daemons can learn different Moves.  That's mostly tied to form, though there are some individual variations - the rare pikachu who manages to learn Surf, and so on.  The library will have lists of likely ones you can learn, and what they do.  You can also learn about them online, on your phones."

Then her interlocutors will have a pleasanter time of it, and she will continue to see them at their carefully deferential and polite, and not at their facing-having-angered-and/or-irritated-the-police-dom. 

Oh. He hadn't even thought to think that Gifts and things might work differently in this world, like in some world of a novel of a film, beyond the one difference of daemons. (He - needs to think more about what else he might not have thought of, he notes somewhere. But - not now, he can't do that now.)

"Oh! Thank you, ma'am." (The unnatural sleep one sounds like it might be - useful, given everything, he thinks. Then wonders if he shouldn't think like that - he can plan about Kente's Gift as something they have to use, but he knows Kente, knows what he's alright with. He hasn't really even met the - his - the daemon yet.)

He tries to think if there's anything else he needs to ask, important enough to do it now. Well. There's the one thing. He looks down, bites his lip.

"Could it be possible, ma'am, for someone to - help us know and understand more, about daemons? They didn't tell us very much, at the lab, and we wouldn't want to do anything wrong, or that would upset them." It would - help, if it could be a sub. But of course he won't say that.

The officer has to think for a moment, and Mareline winds up answering.  "Perhaps I could help?  It is part of my job to provide information on how to do things."

"Of course," the officer says.  "And I really ought to get back to the station, if I'm no longer needed."  The sword daemon hovers near the door, though she waits for Mareline to nod before nodding back in a local farewell gesture and turning to go.  

"Oh, thank you, ma'am," he says to the other government dom.

Then ducks his head hard at the officer's remark. "I'm sorry, ma'am." He'll keep looking at the floor and not say anything until she's left, not wanting to give any appearance he's trying to ask more or demand something from her. 

Mareline's daemon speaks up, loudly in order to speak to both daemons at once and also the humans, "No one is upset with any of you.  We're all here to help you, and it's just that the kind of help that she's good at isn't something you need now so she's going to go see if anyone else needs her.  We apologize if this is not coming across properly - we don't know much about your world or culture, and... you seem to use more polite phrasings than is common here.  We aren't intending to be rude when we omit them."

His human nods along.  "Yes, we don't mean to cause any offense to you.  We are happy to help and will do our best to make your stay here as comfortable as circumstances allow, and will try to speak more politely."  Does it help if she adjusts her posture to be a bit more like the two examples she's seen of how people in their world hold themselves?

"I'm not sure where to begin with explaining daemons.  I'm sorry, but could you let us know if anything stands out as confusing?"

Well this place sure has more pleasant police than their own does.

Or maybe it's just being notable for something other than being traitors' kids.

Someone who is paying very close attention might notice him relax, slightly, unconsciously, at the 'no one is upset with any of you'.

Consciously he is - confused, for a few moments.

The first part of what the daemon says - it's not very often that a dom has tried to give comfort to him, but of course doms give comfort, give guiding reassurance. On tv, in his classmates' households, households he sees out around the city, some of Kente's trainers. (Even to him, some housemates when he was younger, teachers.) A firm hand and a caring one - that is what dominants are said to give to submissives, isn't it.

The second part - that, doms definitely don't say, not like that. He wonders for a moment if a person and a daemon can have different roles, actually (a shock of worry as he looks at - his and Kente's, again).

But then Mareline adds her part, and he notices how she's holding herself, and no, he was just wrong before, mistaken in thinking she was a dom after all. And - he doesn't know much, of etiquette at subs, but he knows there's places where there's more of it, where correct and incorrect addressing of a sub is respect or disrespect of their dom by proxy...

(He wants to talk to a local sub so much, but no, that's not quite it, is it, not all of it. He wants to talk to a local sub he doesn't have to be careful with. And she's trying to help, but that doesn't mean-)

Even with that to be aware of, the change in his nonverbals this time is more obvious considerably. 

"Oh, no, please, don't worry! You don't have to be careful with us, we're not expecting anything. We just - we don't know almost anything of how things are done here, we're trying to - err on the other side. 

And we're really grateful for everything." (There's a - very real chance she'll find this too informal, and she does work for the government still, but if she's being kind and trying to help it's more likely than with anyone they've seen so far that she might be forbearing in telling them where they're making errors before delivering anything more severe.)

And,

"I - think everything is rather confusing, now. The first of the people we saw at the lab talked about souls, but I don't think we really understand what all of it means. And - how to talk to them, what would upset them..." (He's looking over at the two daemons again.)

"Souls... That's the most common way of looking at them."

"They are definitely a part of us.  Under typical circumstances, one appears along with a baby's first breath, and they vanish when a person dies.  The human and daemon of a pair will have different memories and thoughts, but the same emotions, overall goals, and ...subconscious, I suppose might be the term.  When one of you becomes aware of something, the other doesn't quite learn it but isn't surprised when they find out.  I've never known a human and daemon to have very different personalities from one another."

"Upsetting your daemon is like upsetting yourself - it isn't impossible to injure oneself deliberately or go online and look for something that you know will upset you, and it's more like that than anything social between two humans.  They know you, like you know yourself.  They know why you say something, closer than your closest human friend or sibling could.  Also, by definition, any harm that one of you does to the other is to yourself.  You'll feel any pain that the other experiences, though daemons don't feel pain through themselves until they've already been hurt a bit."

"As for the most important things for dealing with others: definitely don't touch another person's daemon.  Avoid positions where daemons and humans risk touching - perhaps go into the cafeteria and people watch for a while to see how others do it.  Touching with clothing between is technically safe but still culturally very bad.

"Often humans will speak to humans and daemons will speak to daemons.  Many daemons will refuse to speak to humans other than their own, while others are more relaxed about it.  It's slightly a faux pas for a human to speak to a daemon when their human is right there.  You can of course always speak with your own.

She pauses.  There are probably hundreds of tiny social cues that people learn as children, but she also doesn't want to make a huge and annoying list.  She trails off, unable to think of anything else at that level of import.