Where did you come from? // One on One // Closed

Kuno recalled back to his time of sneaking through the Sedorian jungle. But this wasn’t a jungle. Nor was it Sedori. Instead, it was a completely new environment, one that Kuno had no information about. Perhaps he could get what he needed from the post. But something had him stop, right in his tracks.

Kuno stayed still, pressing against the wood of one of the trees. He lightly gripped his spear, glancing out to the outside of the post. A human. Had they seen him? He couldn’t quite see the person clearly from this distance. Perhaps they’d heard him? But no, Kuno was sneaky. He was good, he was sure of it. Shaking his head slightly as he peered from behind the tree, the feathers on his helmet shook slightly, taking another peek. Perhaps he could go around.

He stayed completely still and silent after that, seemingly awaiting whoever was out there to make a move first.

It was a person. Dressed in strange clothes… maybe there was a Renaissance Festival nearby? Ana shook her head. That didn't seem likely. Maybe the person was insane. They were near an asylum, maybe he had run from there.

"Hello?" She called out, her phone call forgotten. "You there, in the trees. Are you okay? Do you need me to call someone?"

Kuno stiffened. So they’d seen him. This wasn’t good. He backed up again, further into the trees, considering his options. He could just run back into the forest again. That would be easy enough, but he didn’t know where anything else was. Although…

Kuno glanced back out to the person that he could see standing out there, across from him. They did not seem to have anything on them. What would an unarmed person be doing out here? He crept forwards, straightening his stance as he strode from the treeline, this time, almost completely out.
Spear in hand, he stopped in the ground, staring directly at the person who he now identified as a woman based off of her voice. He didn’t seem to be going towards her at the moment..instead, just thinking.

The figure, who seemed to be a short man, maybe a boy, started to run, and then turned back, coming out into the open. Ana tilted her head. "Are you okay? You seem lost." The guy did, indeed. He was wearing strange clothes, and seemed… different, from the way he held himself, and the way he handled the weapons with ease.

She hung up her call and moved toward the new person, stopping a few feet away. "What's your name?" She asked gently.

Kuno continued to stare, listening to the woman’s words. He took note of her tone as well. She didn’t seem to be aggressive..Sedorian, maybe? But her clothing did not look like she was of Sedori. Nor did the words she speak make it out to be that way.

He tilted his head for a second, slowly, then looked back again. “None of your business,” he spoke, his tone defensive. Kuno was ready to move just in case.

"I know, it's not" Ana said soothingly. "I just wanted to know." This guy seemed like a loon. He had on weird clothes, talked in a weird accent, and seemed to be insane already. Only the observant gleam in his eye, and the steadiness of his voice, made her hesitant to completely proclaim him insane.

She smiled at him. "I'm Ana." Usually, people would calm down after she spoke to them. To tell the truth, it felt a little bit like talking down to a very small child, but hey, it usually worked, so she wasn't complaining. Well, not too much, anyway.

Kuno stayed almost completely still as he listened to her. Her voice was calm, oddly enough; something Kuno was not used to. Especially the smile. Why was she smiling?

Ana.

Kuno switched his spear to his other hand, and seemed to shake his head slightly, but it wasn’t in any sort of gesture towards her or anything. Instead, he spoke up again. “I’ll tell you who I am if you tell me..where this is..?” He glanced around.

The guy looked confused. Like he didn't know where he was. What was wrong with him?

"This is Heber City. In Utah." Ana smiled gently at him. "It's no wonder you don't know where we are. Not many people know the existence of this place."

Her phone rang, loud in the stillness, and she flinched.

Kuno listened. But none of the information seemed familiar to him. Utah? Where was that?

“What is..Utah..?” He asked.

At the noise of the phone, Kuno stepped back.

"You really don't know what Utah is?" Ana looked at him as if he was crazy. He probably was, she realized. He didn't seem to ever have seen a phone before, he seemed way too on alert, still not wanting to tell her his name, and he was dressed weird and talked strangely.

She ignored the call. "Are you not from the United States? Because if you aren't, your English is very good." She should call the police. He could be an escaped criminal.

Kuno seemed to tense up at her mention of the United States, tightening his grip on his spear. Sedori was miles and miles away from the States, how did he end up here, in the midst of enemy territory?

“Of course I’m not from the States,” he seemed to spit out the words. “I’m from Sedori!” And of course he knew English..among others, English was a pretty common language taught.

"From where?" Analaya furrowed her brow. "I've never heard of there."

Must be a made up place. He really is a loon. She backed away. "I'll be back." She needed a place to talk where this strange guy couldn't hear her, where she could call the poloce so they could come and take this asylum prisoner away.

She’s probably going to alert the authorities of my location..that a Sedorian has infiltrated…

“No,” Kuno suddenly said, all too calmly. Spear pointed forwards, he spoke. “I must not have my location compromised.” Especially in a situation like this. If the Americans learned of his presence, there was an extremely high chance he wouldn’t make it back to Sedori. He couldn’t let that happen.

Ana blinked. Her calm, sweet mask broke. "Look, dude, I don't care who you are, but clearly you've broken from the asylum. I don't care where you think you're from. I'm calling the police, so they can take you back." When he pointed his spear at her, her expression froze into a look of anger.

She was no longer Ana the kind, sweet person. She was the government agent, and she was being threatened. She pulled her gun from where it had been conceiled under her jacket and pointed it at him.

Kuno faltered, just for a brief moment. Despite most of his expression hidden, his eyes hardened. “Asylum?” He spoke, almost quietly. “Asylum?” He then repeated.

“Kirekosi rhete yesi…!” For a moment, Kuno spoke in Sedorian, his voice harsh, as if he’d been offended. But stopped the moment he saw the gun. He backed up, even further this time. “Foreigners are always the same..” he muttered, shaking his head. It wasn’t the first time he had a gun pointed at him, though he was hoping for it to not be the last time either.

(Sorry, I didn't see this!)

Ana shook her head. "Well, where else are you supposed to be from? Because I really don't believe that you're from Seda-whatsit. You're probably insane, and you need to get back to the stupid asylum before you hurt anyone." As she did when she was angry or frustrated, she started talking in Russian. "почему, черт возьми are you even Вот? тупая сраная мать!"

“First of all, it’s Sedori- second of all, I am from Sedori! How do you not even know the name of the country that your own is at war with?!” Kuno yelled out, never dropping eye contact with her.

"I should know who my stupid country is at war with!" Ana yelled back, gun steady in her hand. "And there's no such place as Sedori! I should know, I've studied this stupid globe. And even if it does exist, где ад седори?"

Kuno faltered, just for a moment as he glanced to the side. He quickly looked back at her though and raised one of his hands and pointed at her again. “Yes, you should,” he shouted, “you should know!”

“I have no clue what that means!” He added in addition to the Russian. “I speak only English and Sedorian!” Speaking to himself in a somewhat quieter voice, he added on, “Glorious motherland..”

"But I don't," Analaya practically snarled. "I've been with the government for 6 years. I think I would know. Where do you think it is, anyways, your little imaginary country? In the middle of France?" She scoffed. "Подонок. What the hell is Sedorian, anyway? Your pretty made up language?"

“The Motherland is located in an island on the Atlantic Ocean, of course! Although, we do have territory and colonies all over the world…” For a moment, his words almost seemed proud. He quickly hissed back, “It is not imaginary!”

“Sedorian, the language of our people! All Sedorians must speak it, seeing as I am one, I speak it.” His eyes seemed to harden as he grew annoyed. For a moment, he straighted his stance, pulling back his spear and instead taking something out..a radio. The radio was similar in design to well… what a radio would look like, but the way it was shaped didn’t look like any radio any civilian would have. Maybe it was new?

Pressing a button, he spoke into it, loud and clear. “Anha hash an Amerikaan gwe.” Pulling away, Kuno stood for a moment, expecting a reply. But only static came out of the other end, at least for the time being. He stiffened, glancing at the radio. Usually, responses were immediate. What happened?

"Uh huh. Sure." Ana's tone was skeptical. This guy really thought that this Sedori place existed. What an idiot.

When he pulled out the radio, she stiffened, hands on the trigger of her gun. Was he calling for help? Where did he get that? And then she noticed that the radio looked strange, almost otherworldly… could he be telling the truth? No, it wasn't possibly. He probably just made it himself, to look like it was from the future.

They usually answer by now…

Kuno stared at the radio, wondering what had happened. Was there a large scale attack? That seemed unlikely. Or maybe an EMP? Also extremely unlikely.

Finally he turned his eyes back to her, having clearly expected something else to have happened. But nothing ever did, which caught him off guard. What did he do now? Flew, and try to figure out the radio problem? Kuno took another step back, staying silent.

Ana shook her head in disgust. She started to dial a number on her phone with one hand, while the other remained steady, holding the gun.

Her call picked up immediately. "What's up, little Laya baby?" Came a smooth male voice from the other end.

"Shut up, Malcolm," she hissed. "There's a stranger in front of me, claiming to be from some place he calls Sedori. I think he escaped from the asylum, do you have any record of that?"

Kuno looked back up and proceeded to back up even further, glancing behind him. Back to the woods for now, Kuno thought. Just for safety. And until he could get this radio thing figured out. Kuno wanted to make sure he had a stable connection with his people on the other side.

"An escape from the asylum? Ana, no one has ever managed to escape from there in years. I'm not seeing any record of an escape, recently or ever, from this place. Why?"

"He's insane," she hissed, anger in her tone. "I don't know what is wrong with him. Is there any way that they could have covered up the escape?"

"I hacked into the mainframe. There's nothing. So, either they didn't know, or this guy didn't escape from there."

Kuno was about to turn tail and run when the radio crackled to life. For a few moments, all that came out was static on the other end, but a good ear would be able to capture the whispering voice that escaped from it. “Ei..elat. Zhille ato hazze?”

Kuno paused, realizing that his radio somehow worked again. Lifting it back up to his face he spoke into it, having ceased his movement and instead keeping a close eye on Ana as he spoke into it. “Anha tat vo tiholat. Anha ez jin ifak, vosma.” He said something along the lines of not knowing where he was and his current status.

Lowering the radio, while Kuno was no longer pointing the spear at her he still gripped it in hand.

"What do you mean?" Ana asked in confusion, furrowing her brow.

"Exactly what I said. There is no evidence that anyone has ever escaped from the asylum since it was created," Malcolm told her confidently.

"I-" She glanced over at the stranger, who was talking into his radio. "I was so sure-" she faltered.

“Elat tat valshe qile.” The other voice on the radio quietly responded, before Kuno quickly spoke into it, his tone sounding somewhat panicked. “Vosma anha tat vo tiholat finne haji?!” However, the radio seemed to cut out and when Kuno attempted to recontact the other person, it seemed to not be working. With a slight hiss under his breath, he whispered “Chekk..”

Setting the radio aside, Kuno went back to looking back at the woman.

"Sorry, Laya. I can look again, but I'm pretty sure that there is nothing."

Ana sighed. "Fine. But send someone over here as soon as possible. He threatened me with a spear."

"A spear? If that's all he has, you can take care of yourself, you whiny baby." Malcolm hung up.

"Sonofabitch," Ana cursed, throwing her phone into the grass in a rage. "I don't know why they made him my partner. Do they hate me?"