"What's a -"

There is a ringing noise from Jackson's pocket.

"Uh. Do you mind if I take this."

"I'm already imposing too much, I obviously don't mind."

Detect Magic on the source of the sound?

Not magic!

He pulls a rectangle - like a smaller version of the one Reed was looking at - from his pocket, and it lights up, and he pokes it and holds it to his ear and has a conversation in the local language.

Not-Brian is clearly having a conversation with the rectangle he grabbed from his pocket, it's probably some kind of intelligent object? But the light was not magical, so... some kind of bioluminescence maybe?

Let's hope the object is smarter than Not-Brian, he seemed a bit slow on the uptake.

"Uh, my old classmate wants me to take a picture of you for her?"

"I'm not familiar with what that entails but if it's not harmful you can go ahead, I always love trying new things!"

"...it's not gonna hurt you." He holds up the rectangle. It flashes a bit of light at Reed.

"Yupp, didn't hurt a bit. Which reminds me: I have some quirky healing and haven't used it yet today, so if you need any I would love to make your day a little better. It also covers exhaustion, blindness, deafness and diseases."

"We're... fine..." says Jackson dubiously, poking his phone. "Okay, uh, she's gonna talk to you in a moment."

"Lovely, looking forward to it!" it's kinda weird that not-Brian had an intelligent object as classmate and is now carrying it her in his pocket, but the world is vast and there's always more to experience.

Object goes back in pocket, actually.

[Hi, mysterious guy.]

[Hello, voice in my head which I'm definitely not hallucinating.]

He didn't even feel the Telepathic Bond take, which means that the caster probably overclasses him by circles. No use in worrying about a possible fight you have no chance of winning anyway.

[I could also commandeer Jackson's phone for a voice call, if that's a concern you have, but then I'd have to make him translate and my telepathy doesn't require it.]

[Well, built in translation sounds convenient. Also I have no clue what a phone or a voice call are, so telepathy seems like a good choice.]

[Jackson would have used his phone to take the picture of you, so that I could target the telepathy; they can also do other things than that, like transmit voices.]

[I'm confused. The object he used to do that] who is not his ex-classmate, apparently [is not magic, so how does it transmit voices?]

[...I'm not sure what kind of explanation you're imagining there might be or if you are explicitly considering the possibility that it would be a time-consuming one.]

[Explanation is not time sensitive. Not bothering your ex-classmate kinda is, he and his associate Brian seemed pretty bothered by my presence. I could just Dimdoor out of the window, but I don't want to spook them further.]

[I'm talking to Jackson too. They were pretty concerned about the possibility that you were a hostile intruder but they are not unwilling to help you out if you are a magical accident.]

[I mean, I guess the Mists do count as magic? It was definitely an accident, for sure,  I don't usually enter people's houses without permission. Well, there was that one time but it was for a good cause, he had been murdered and we didn't want the assassin to notice he got better.]

[...I guess that sounds like it might be a good reason. I don't know what the Mists are.]

Ok, this is now outright bizarre. A mage not knowing about the Mists is... how?

[They look like fog, and if you wander into them you can find yourself elsewhere. Usually just a couple miles off, occasionally the next country over, and apparently sometimes you just end up in someone's house.]

[I didn't notice you creating the Telepathic Bond, and you said you used a picture of me to target it? You must be quite powerful, I'd love to learn more] about you [from you.]

[The Mists are not a phenomenon known to this planet. It is very cool that you have your own magic but ours is not particularly teachable.]

[This... planet? I was in Souragne before being transported here, and my party and I are originally from Richemulot, do you know where either is in relation to where I am now?]

[Oh, you don't have wizards? That seems such a pity! Don't get me wrong, being a sorcerer is the best, and our cleric is alright, but after years of traveling together I think I understand how the flexibility our wizard has is valuable, he got us out of pretty sticky situations.]