"Here? You'll likely find it's a well-designed stick. Where you're from, if it's not a stage prop... do people use wands for magic in your world? That's interesting. But great, so yes. We can skip the yes magic is a thing part." That's helpful, it cuts out a lot of explanation and sometimes show and tell.

"The magic here will likely interfere with yours. Everyone is either granted a magical ability, or the ones we may have already had are messed with -- or sometimes both. It's a grab-bag of screwed up."

Barabas has opinions on a few things around here, but he says all this cordially enough, voice level . "She'll answer sometimes if you reach out using the communicator," he taps the watch on his own wrist. "But she can be difficult to pin down. Even in a conversation. But according to her, we're brought here so she can dispatch us to other worlds on the brink of losing themselves to some overarching threat. And she has no intention of returning us home until that's seen to. How much you believe of it is up to you. I'm still settling on where I am on that scale myself."