From the clanging of utensils and chewing of food the air was silent and awkward compared to before.
Ian indulged in his food just as much as the rest to not stand out but also because it tasted heavenly, he had really never had something so satisfying grace his tongue. He casually glanced at the muscular man he assumed prepared the dish from the fact that he was serving and gave him a mental thanks.
Occasionally he would catch the intense woman sitting to his left giving him glances , it was the same with the raven haired girl. 'I assume one of them has to be April , the younger girl , from what Janta said. If it is I'll know the names of four of these people including 'me'. The one next to me could be Merim, who else would have the authority to "ditch" me here, and authority is all she been giving me since I saw her, that would be five then, but how should I act to each ... no need to overthink I'll just observe in silence, drowning to them and dying to me should not be something to quickly recover from, I'll approach them one by one in the future see which one is more likely to help me out ... if they even can'
Just as Ian was deep in his thoughts the loud voice of Yhon sounded from a now new seat he had taken, "So boy, are you going to tell us what happened? Went for a swim heh?"
'Damn you Yhon' Ian did not know this man but at this point he wanted to curse and punch him, Ian caught the scrutinizing glance of the girl he decided was April, 'damn, what did I do?' he felt inwardly. 'What should I say? Explain? The truth, this early? All events have not given me the opportunity to make a possible believable lie that would not expose me as a tourist. I woke up In a river and slept for what I have been told, sixteen hours! sigh'
"I-I don't know, all I remember is blacking out and waking up in the middle of drowning ... "
"Drowning! these are the problems of people with no manipulation abilities, even then you are especially weak" Janta interrupted.
There was slight chuckling before the woman sitting to Nai's right spoke in a chilling calm voice, "I specifically said to not leave the ship area alone"
For some reason even though calm, Ian felt like he was being shouted at and being forced to answer a question not asked. "I-I'm sorry ... it won't happen again" Ian decided to try and play it safe, nothing wrong with apologizing! Might make people ease it on him.
The reaction ,however, was not what he expected. Everyone stopped chewing and stared at him, even the woman to his right with the commanding air to her had a slight look of surprise as she gazed at Nai. Ian caught Yhon's wide open mouth grinning.
'sh*t, is that another contradictory action? I mean who was this guy? am I supposed to act like I own the place or something?'
"Well looks like drowning made you less of a dick" the raven black haired girl, April, said without even looking at Nai.
"Yes, ... " the muscular man continued where April had stopped, "Even so, we all know the reality of things, we should at least take it to some extent of seriousness and make a report when we get back. Not the drowning, the events that led to it. Hopefully, Nai, you will remember by the time we get back" He spoke in a warm and gentle voice. You would have thought he would sound more like Yhon from the appearance.
A man with long black hair and elongated looking facial features interjected, "If we get back, Still some kind of punishment for an obvious disobedience of orders"
'I don't think I like this man, but why did he emphasize "if"?' Ian thought but remained quiet.
Another woman with her black hair held in a tight bun she had a plum face and adorable features spoke up, "I think drowning is enough ... but yes, that's only because he is not a warper, so maybe something fitting"
The long black haired man looked lazily to the woman who had just spoken up then back to the device in his hand almost like he was reading something, not responding.
"Easy," Yhon spoke up, "He will help Teren here with, well, "management"," he said with a slight teasing chuckle. No one objected, it seemed to be decided. The Teren, Yhon had pointed out, was a young looking boy about twenty to twenty two years old. he had dark brown skin shaven short hair, sharp jawline and sharp eyes.
'Why is what he does a punishment?' Ian thought but not about it too much. Teren only gave Nai a slight nod and smile before continuing eating.
The muscular man sighed, "Well the good thing is that he is back, you genuinely had us stressing the past three days. More time that needed on whatever wretched planet this might be"
'So it's true then,' Ian thought to himself, the structure and setting of this 'house' did give him the impression of a craft, or what he assumed the insides of one to look like. It, however, was too spacious to be the same he saw hovering before passing out by the river. The muscular man referring to where they were like a planet alien to him Ian did not miss, it did raise his alarms and he was trying his hardest to not show. He had to bring it up and now might be as good an opportunity as any, but he had to do it in a confidence befitting the image of Nai that was building in his head.
"I should say, the drowning has affected me more than I'd like to admit, "Everyone turned to him, "I'm having troubles with my memories, where exactly are we? and where are we going?"
the room was quiet as they all studied home brows creased and all, the woman sitting to his right, Merim, he'd concluded seemed to study him more piercingly than the rest.
"Stars boy, do you even remember who you are?" Yhon exclaimed. Janta was eying him still biting on a piece of meat, the man with long black hair and elongated facial features also placed his device on his lap but without letting it go from his grasp.
"This indeed seems more serious than it should be, you don't think it has something to do with everything else Merim?" The muscular man asked the authoritative seeming woman confirming Ian's guess.
She sighed, "We should assume that of all anomalies, Kijan, I can hardly explain how we ended up here. My "path manipulation" seemed to have ,well, been overridden ... this was already a high risk for us considering my level is not that high. This planet was not on our sights. It's the danger and flaw to this ability, but this was too extreme considering where April and Domnik have found us to be, Uncharted. Beside, most of the risk is mitigated by using 'jumping' instead of instant so this ... "
"Yes, From the start this deviation was a very strong sign of something very wrong happening, but being stranded on a planet was not as bad a development for us. However, if what happened to Nai here is connected. We should assume negative escalation of developments with time to be on the safe side, well that means Domnik and April here should work even twice as fast to find us a safe path off this planet" Another man among the seats spoke up, he had shoulder long black locks, brown skin lighter than Teren's. Domnik seemed to be the man with long black hair and elongated facial features that Ian was deciding whether to like or not.
Domnik sighed, "This is not hard and mostly all done considering the extra time Nai bought for us, probabilities and sight seemingly could not account "to" this planet in the path, however, it seems leaving should be easy, well as far as the unknown does not interfere"
Ian could feel the disapproval in Domnik's voice when he regarded him. This was the least of his concerns currently, 'What the actual f*ck are they talking about? I knew it was not simple, it was gnawing at me from the start but this! How did I, it get to this? I just want to be home right now. I've been too lucid and for too long for this to be a dream, I already concluded this though from the realness of it all. Could it be ... could it actually be some kind of transmigration! Considering everything is this not such a stupid idea to have? All those books about magic and dragons my dad mentioned were all I loved to read, all eastern transmigration novels! Think! Back then at my apartment the distorting, sunlight and darkness I saw my roommate experiencing the same, yes, at the very least it did not happen to me alone ... am I actually accepting this? I should go with something before seeking trustworthy help to go back, they seem close but not close to me. I should admit it now ... early so it does not lead to trust problems later, right? Then with their abilities and manipulation they talk about like it's nothing they should be able to help me, if not then maybe this "getting back" they are talking about someone might be able to help me'
Interrupting them in the middle of their talk Nai spoke up, "I have to confess something"
"There's no need pretty boy, we already know yer went to f*ck around, it's who you are. We all know what it is, you paid the price for it and now we have more serious issues than you" Janta spoke up before letting Nai continue.
Nai sighed and glanced at Janta and the rest before clearing his throat and speaking again, "I am not Nai, or not the person you think I am ... my name is Ian ... I do not know what or how it happened so that I am here in his body, I do not know or understand most of what you guys were talking about. I did not even know who you guys are, to now I only know eight of your names. I, however, do know me. I am from earth where none of these things you guys are talking about exist, I have a father and mother there and an older sister she has two kids, and I really really love them all and I just want to go home"