The walk to their home was in one of the most awkward silences Tom could have ever been apart of. After it had been clear that him and Picsis would not be meeting with Latula that night, and would in fact be making their way back to Picsis's home, Picsis seemed to instantly shut her mouth. Apparently her mom didn't really like Tom, and naturally that made him annoyed, but he'd grown use to it with the other creatures he'd been around. If she was nice, she'd realize that Tom was a nice guy and they'd get along. He could wait….

With the stars shining from their spot in the sky, they seemed to add a beautiful backdrop to the Oasis itself. Tom had already gotten in enough trouble from star gazing. No, by now, only the dull hush of night echoed around the Oasis, the calm whispers and snores and such. It was almost peaceful.

But the silence between everyone was starting to get on his nerves. Picking up his pace, he made his way to Picsis's mom, leaving Picsis behind them. If she wasn't going to introduce him, then he'd do it himself.

"Hi there, I'm Tom Majors." Tom threw on his friendliest smile and held his hand out, waiting for some sort of response. "I'm really grateful for your daughter saving me from drowning and all. And that you're cool with me staying with you guys."

But unlike Picsis, her mom didn't reach over to shake Tom's hand at all. No, she only glanced at him, before turning her gaze away. Tom simply allowed himself to fall behind, catching back up with his savior.

"Not to be rude, but is your mom always so cold?"

"No, she's actually pretty cool as far as mothers go," Picsis whispered, looking from Tom to her mother and back. She seemed nervous, but not frightened. "She just wary of outsiders, so give her some time to warm up to you. You both have a lot in common, being connected to the Overworld and-"

"Picsis, come up here for a moment."

"Shoot." Picsis cursed, giving Tom a sympathetic look while quickly following her mother's orders. Tom made a move to follow her, but was stopped by a quick glare from the only adult amongst them. So with that, he was left following from a good ten feet behind them, ear straining to hear whatever conversation they were having.

Yet, despite the hushed atmosphere of the Oasis, he couldn't hear anything from them. It took Tom a few moments to realize what was going on.

She had called Picsis up so that she wouldn't be walking next to him. She didn't want her kids near Tom, but why? It's not like he could hurt her, he was as harmless as an ant compared to some creatures. And if his memory was going to be wiped when he got his scanner, was there really anything she was worried about Tom knowing?

He'd been so distracted in his musings, that he hadn't noticed they'd arrive at Picsis's home until Picsis's mother held her hand up to keep Tom from entering. By then, she'd given the baby to Picsis, who was already inside. That just left Tom and her outside, with no one else in sight.

"Listen," She said, gazing down at Tom as most other creatures did humans. In the pale moonlight, Tom could see her aged face, the creases and scars that littered her arms and such. No doubt that she was a warrior, and that she'd seen some things in her lifetime. "There are some house rules you need to follow while living with my family. I'm only going to say these once, so listen carefully."

Tom quickly nodded, suddenly aware of how much taller she was compared to him. She could probably even give Maxxor a run for his money, just from his guessing alone. Her hair, far longer than her daughters, remained limp, but unbound. Remembering what her daughter could do made Tom all the more cautious, who knew when Picsis's Mom could just lift him up and chuck him across the Oasis.

"...good," She nodded crossing her arms as she listed them off. "First things first, you'll be sleeping in the room to the left. Under no circumstances are you allowed to enter any of the other rooms but that room. Understood?"

Tom nodded again, being vaguely reminded of Intress in the way this creature spoke. Maybe these two had met before? No, he reminded himself, not everyone in chaotic knew eachother.

"Second," she continued, "curfew is at sunset. Unless you and Picsis have a reason to be out later then that, then you need to be here before then. Failure to follow this would cause both of your to be grounded."

"Wait, grounded?!" Tom asked, now taking his turn to cross his arms. "No offense, but normally creatures use terms like "arrested" or something like that. And what if i'm out on my own? I don't need Picsis baby sitting me, i'm not a kid."

"...fair enough," She gave a firm nod, taking into mind Tom's thoughts. "The curfew still applies, no matter who you're with or without. Your…."arrestment duration",will be for the entirety of the next day and only increase in duration per day per failure to arrive on time."

"...Alright, that's fair." Tom said, mildly surprised he wasn't given the "i'm stronger than you, so you do as I say" talk. It was most newly met creatures tended to use...It was somewhat of a nice change." What else is there?"

And so two more rules were hashed out. No one ate midnight snacks, and if he ended up staying long enough for him to start doing chores, failure to complete those would result in getting "arrested" as well. But how did creatures even know about grounding?! Was it just another weird thing creatures and humans had in common?

Of all the lousy things to have in common…

"Are you coming in or not?"

Tom snapped out of his thoughts, catching Picsis's mother giving him a bit of an impatient look. He quickly nodded and walked inside, being followed in by his "gracious host".

Unlike Mooro's office, the Picsis hole-in-the-wall had a wooden plank for a door, and it was moved over in front of the doorway as soon as Tom entered. Slowly, candles and lanterns were lit, allowing Tom to see more of the place.

It wasn't bad, but it's wasn't a palace ether. There was a small wooden table with three stools near the left corner, and to the was a fireplace with a black pot, with something cooking inside. The walls were littered with scribbles here and there, almost like cave drawings. Past the first room was three smaller rooms, two with beaded covered and one simply blocked by a stone. From his spot, Tom could see hammocks set up in each, no doubt their beds.

Suddenly, an odd fruit was tossed his way. Nearly dropping it, he managed to save his fumbled fruit before it hit the floor. The culprit had been none other than Picsis's mother, she hid her smile as she took a bite from her own fruit. "Hopefully you're not allergic. This is all we're going to have for dinner tonight, and Mooro's probably fallen asleep by now.

"Oh! Gwabba fruit!" Picsis exclaimed, catching the next fruit to be tossed. Her hair seemed to quickly get to work with the fruit, peeling off the peel and such. "What's the occasion?"

"The stew won't be ready until tomorrow, that's the occasion." Picsis's mother stated, pulling another, smaller one out of her bag and making her way to the small table. It seemed that there was more to the story, but she firmly kept her mouth shut.

"You know, I've never really had these before." Tom said, following suit and sitting on the opposite side of the table. He mimicked how he saw Picsis do it, and the hard green and brown outing revealed a deep, navy blue inside.

"They're super good! Try it!" Picsis urged, already having finished half of her fruit. Every now and then, she'd break off a piece to give to her younger sibling. " And if you don't like it we can always give the rest to Quari here."

Tom looked back down at the fruit, before taking a small bite. He was hit with an extremely sweet flavor, it almost like a strawberry but not quite. He would go on to finish off two more Qwabba fruits before being scolded by Picsis's Mother, mostly because she'd have to get more for breakfast then.

A little later, when he was laying in the hammock they'd set up for him, he allowed his mind wander.

His friends had no idea where he was. By all means, the situation could have been worse, but it still made him feel uneasy. He couldn't contact Kaz or the others and tell them he was fine. They were probably looking for him right now. He didn't want to see them again only do their memories to get wiped!

And then there was him on earth, who probably had no idea why his scanner wasn't working. God, this was almost like Richie's situation.

"At least i'm not being kept in a cell…" Tom mused, shifting from his back to his uninjured side.

Still, what if they never found his scanner?

He could always live at the Overworld arsenal, if he could get out of here, but he'd never see his family again. He'd never talk for his mom or his grandma or his aunts and uncles. He'd miss out on holiday dinners and his cousins wedding, he'd never see his other friends back in his home town…

He'd be stuck in perim…

Forever…

Despite being extremely tired, Tom didn't sleep well that night.

The port court was never really empty, but you could tell it was late by Kaz's standards. During this time, most of the players from other parts of the globe, India and Australia and such, would be up and at it. He'd only been up this late around a few times, seeing as some countries gave out rarer scans earlier than other. He'd even made some good friends during these late night adventures.

But right now wasn't one of those times…

He looked up when he heard someone porting in, and felt his hopes rise as Peyton made his way over. He looked tired as well, no doubt from "sneaking" through the Mipedian desert. Kaz waited until Peyton took his seat, hoping that at the very least he'd have a clue.

"...So," Peyton began, motioning for a robot to come over and take his eventual order. "I'll take it that you didn't find Tom, right?"

"Yeah, Currently Maxxor's on a secret mission, and Bodal hadn't seen him since he snagged the map. No word from the Mipedians?"

"Nope, no humans were in the prisons, and none of the other players I saw had seen Tom. But maybe Sarah had better luck?" Peyton smiled some what reassuringly, passing Kaz the menu and setting his scanner on the table. "Besides, I got some people posted here and there, they'll keep an eye out for him. Also, you've been running around Perim all day, try and eat something alright?"

"Nah, I'm good, Besides, Earth me's probably already had food. I'll be fine." Kaz smiled back, yet it was clearly meant to reassure and not reflect inner feelings. "Thanks though."

"Guys!"

The boys look up, catching Sarah by the portals. Yet just as quickly, she rushed over, carrying something battered and dusty on her back. As she got closer, it became more and more apparent on what it was.

"Tom's back pack!" Kaz exclaimed, almost leaping out of his chair to get to Sarah. "Sarah, where did you-"

"A danian had it!" She began, setting it down and dumping out the contents. "When I turned up with nothing, I decided to see if Wamma could help! It had just turned out that another one of the Danian mandiblors had found this a few days ago!"

"Whoa! How'd you get it? Last time I checked, Danians don't exactly like to share, especially when a human wants what they got." Peyton added, having ran right behind Kaz to catch up."

"Well, with Wamma's recent promotion, he was able to pull some rank on the poor guy." Sarah smiled, before rummaging through the clutter. All they could see was sand, snack wrappers, and an empty water bottle…

"Wait, where's the map?" Peyton asked, having left the rummage pile and move back towards the book bag. "Tom showed off a wicked cool map he'd snagged from Botal, shouldn't it be here?"

"Maybe whoever has him has it." Sarah stated, her optimism having faded at the sight of the trash. "I tried going to where Wamma said the mandiblor found the bag, but it was complexly empty...the wind could have blown it away, or maybe it was covered in sand…"

"You don't think anyone stole him for the map, right?" Kaz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nah, why would they keep him if they just wanted the map?" Sarah stated, but her look seemed unsure. "But, with him being Maxxor's favorite human… they could have seen him as a bargaining chip…"

"Hey, hey, hold it right there bros." Peyton quickly cut in, laying an arm over both Kaz's and Sarah's shoulders. "This is Major T were talkin' about here. He's probably fine! Just a little lost, but fine. I bet he'll be back by tomorrow at the latest, and we'll all be listening to him talk about whatever trouble he got into. Right guys?"

Both Kaz and Sarah wanted to now, wanted to agree nervously and say yes.

But the silence they gave, as well as the worried look they gave each other, spoke volumes.