Searching [Chapter 5]
Fandom: Original
Summary: The world of Torpin is open, dragging in xeni from other worlds. The majority of them are monsters, prone to violence. There are some, however, that are not, and are able to live amongst the human population, if allowed to. Marland should know; he's one of them. His job is to hunt and stop the xeni that seek only to destroy what's around them. On one job, a human xeno drops through a portal, an event which Marland has never heard of happening before. And that's not the only thing different about the human...
Rating: R
Notes: Contains swearing, bloody fighting and death.
Asdkjf Need to repost most of these before I really start working on the new NaNo or else this is never going to get reposted, and I'll end up crossing these over or something! XD;;
Omgggg, why so long??
Hela is now Helval (I should probably change the tags…)
I realised yesterday that since Marland has such good night vision…he shouldn't have colour vision. Oops… So, I dunno, it's either because we're not working with Earth biology, or what Marland thinks green/whatever colour, actually isn't. (Hey, I guess Shodin could be brown-haired then! XDD;;)
I never did confirm in the actual text who Windil was, did I…
There should probably be some more reaction from Marland during the fight since he's, you know, injured. XD;;;
*grabby hands at them* omg, I want to write you two agaaaaaaaain~
Hmmmmm. Not sure if I need those last two or three paragraphs here.
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 9,328
Total word count: 36,439
Status: Work in Progress (reposting, but is complete)
Shodin wasn't as bad as Marland thought he would be. He did stare at everything, his head twisting and turning every second, but he didn't wander off on his own either. Not completely, anyway. He'd look at Marland in a certain way, his eyes shining and a shade off begging, and then Marland would sigh, his ears down, and follow him to whatever had caught Shodin's interest at that point.
He seemed to be absolutely fascinated by cars, though not the ones that made a lot of noise, the ones that went tearing down the road. It was the larger ones that he liked looking at, going around them to look at them from every angle. It at least didn't happen to every car they passed, or else it probably would have taken them about three hours to just get to the first set of traffic lights. Shodin also seemed to be fairly easily distracted by flashing lights, which, yeah, made sense, because that was what they were supposed to do.
Shodin also didn't have as many questions as Marland thought he would have. At one point, Shodin caught him watching him as he waited for the next question to come.
"I thought you would've been asking more," he supplied before Shodin could ask.
At that, Shodin quirked a smile at him, before he shook his head. "Watching the TV's helped; I know a more things about Torpin than I did before, and Paizinel also answered a lot of my questions."
Marland snorted, before he caught onto the first part of that sentence. "You're learning from the TV." It wasn’t a question; it was a disbelieving statement.
He got a nod as a reply.
Oh hell. "You're learning from the crappiest films that aren't anything like real life?"
There was another, patient, nod. And Shodin was just smiling at him, like there wasn't anything wrong with that - he wouldn't know if it was wrong.
Marland stared back, refusing to let his ears go down. "Then how the hell do you know if what you're watching is what actually happens?"
The look on Shodin's face was too…happy and his smile widened. "I ask you."
What? He was the one who supposed to explain how -
Wait. One of Marland's ears twitched to the side. Had he heard…? Marland stilled, his ears constantly on the move as they tried to find the source of the noise. They were in an alley, light spilling in from both ends. It was a fairly short one though, but it would still take time to reach one side if they ran.
Dammit, they were directly in the middle, and Marland still couldn't tell where the noise had come from. Shodin thankfully kept quiet, alert to the fact that Marland was on edge, but not asking about it. Not yet, anyway.
And... There. There were two people in front of them, humans, around the corner. One of them had moved too close to the corner, their shadow briefly falling onto the wall before they pulled back in. He could hear them moving, trying to keep quiet, and shoes on the pavement. And then Marland heard someone else catch up behind them as well - they didn’t actually enter the alley, but they stayed around the corner, just like the ones in front.
Shit. They had been lying in wait. How the fuck were they supposed to get out of here? There weren't any other exits apart from those two areas that had just been blocked off.
And then there was the problem with Shodin. Marland gritted his teeth, a small growl escaping his throat, and his ears fell flat. He wasn't going to leave him behind; though, Shodin would probably have a better chance of getting away since he was human. But if Shodin had been caught in his company, maybe he'd be killed because he'd... Marland couldn't think of anything really sarcastic at that particular moment, his mind too busy trying to figure out how to escape, how much time they had left, and what exactly he could do.
The best thing he could do was startle them with his fire and then get the hell out of there. If he attacked and hurt them, a notice would go out on him where hunters could see. Then he'd had more hunters after him, and it wouldn't matter if he was one as well - he was a xeno that had 'finally' shown his true colours, so they could chase him down without thought.
He heard the cocking of a gun. Person in front of them, on the right. Shit. Not that he should be surprised. If it was specifically him that they were targeting (could be true, but it might have also been likely that they just happened to see him as he and Shodin walked down the road. Fucking hell, he hadn't been anywhere near as vigilant as he normally was) then of course they would have guns. It wasn't like people used swords to go after xeni around here. If they did, they didn't last very long.
"Huh." That came from behind them. Female, maybe older than he was. Pivoting so that his back was to a wall, Marland bared his teeth in that direction. No-one was standing there, so she were still hiding around the corner.
They were too fucking exposed like this. The alley was empty, apart from Marland and Shodin. He'd chosen to go down it because there wasn't anything to hide behind, so they couldn't be ambushed. Except he hadn't taken into account the entrance and exit of the alley. So now they didn't have anything to hide behind.
"'Extremely tall, green and gold scales, huge-ass wings,'" the same woman continued. "I think we've found the xeno that killed Aliste Mailon and kidnapped another human on the twelfth, along with attacking the couple in a car on the thirteenth."
Marland's anger flared up. Fucking hell. There was already a notice out on him. Fucking - dammit! But -
"Yo, Marland." It was the same person who had spoken before but... A head peeked into view; long, curly, black hair that was tied back, dark eyes. Kendal. She stepped out in the open, her gun out of sight.
Marland regarded her warily as he stepped away from her, readying both his wings and his magic to defend and counterattack if he had to. He knew her, but he also knew that she was serious about her job, so she could just be using the fact that she knew him to get close.
She grinned at him, flashing her teeth. That didn't make him feel any more comfortable. "Don't worry; we're not going to attack you."
Behind them, muttered softly from the same person who Marland had heard cocking the gun before: "Yeah, right." Male, fairly young. Marland didn’t recognise that voice.
There was a small burst of noise from the other person on that side as they took three steps to cross the alley. Marland twitched, trying to keep the other person in view while also keeping his eye on Kendal, but it didn't work.
There was a slight scuffle, and someone thumped up against a wall a few seconds later.
"You. Weren't. Listening. Were you?" a woman hissed. Helval. "No attacking him."
"But it's a xeno!" the other person protested, trying to keep his voice down but failing.
There was another thump. "You listen when we tell you something, all right? Marland's on our side."
"And he attacked those people!"
Marland heard a frustrated sigh. "We know him; he wouldn't do that."
"That's just-"
"Just what, huh? Just him finally going back to his baser instincts?" Marland could easily see Helval baring her teeth, her face no more than a centimetre away from the man's face. She'd done that to Marland a few times, when she thought he was being 'ridiculously stupid', and he'd seen her do that to other people as well. Marland had mostly been intimidated by the fact that she was willing to get into his personal space in the first place, before he freaked out about her getting that close.
"Yeah?"
A snort. "Put. The gun. Away." It wasn’t a request, and it wasn’t exactly an order either; there was an unspoken 'before I ram it up your ass, you complete idiot' after it.
The other person complied, grumbling under his breath. He cut himself off, and Marland assumed that Helval had glared at him again.
When Marland turned his attention back to Kendal, she was still where he’d last seen her, her hands not moved at all, waiting. So, unless that had been a very deliberate ploy (which seemed to be too much effort to go through to trick him), then they weren't thinking about taking him down. Not all of them anyway.
"He's new," Kendal offered as an explanation, eyeing the other side of the alley with narrowed eyes. "And we obviously didn't explain this very well to him." She shook her head, her lips pursed.
Or, as Helval had said, he hadn't been listening in the first place. The new person might have just heard 'xeno', his description, and then ignored everything else as 'unnecessary information'.
There were three people here, and he hadn't heard a fourth, so where was Nillos? Unless there was a reason why they had to get a new person in their team.
Kendal leaned back on the wall, and peered at Shodin. "You don't look very kidnapped."
Shodin blinked at her, his head slightly tilted. "I wasn't."
Marland had taken him off the streets and then locked him up in his own home. ...Yeah, it sounded like he'd kidnapped him. But he wasn't going to attempt to explain that now, or else Shodin would have more questions - he probably already had enough just from these last five minutes.
Kendal's eyes flicked to their bandages, her lips twitching. "That's obvious."
Marland's ears flicked down at that before flicking up again. Just because they'd bandaged each other, that didn't mean that one wasn't kidnapped.
She glanced between them, before she shook her head, a smile curling her lips. "I'd ask, but I know how tight-lipped Marland can be." Ask what exactly? Marland had an idea what the question was, but Kendal was another person who didn’t act like he expected them to. He didn’t understand the way she was smiling either.
Shodin blinked again at her statement, his brow furrowing more. Probably surprised at her saying 'tight-lipped'. Maybe. He should really stop assuming what Shodin was thinking. But if he was right, Marland could understand why - Pai had pointed out that he had been a lot more talkative since he'd first met Shodin, and Shodin probably thought that that was normal. It wasn't. It really, really wasn't.
Seeing that, Kendal's eyebrows rose. "Now you're making me really curious. Hmm." She looked between them again, before she said, "There's a police investigation on you right now - they don't have anything on you apart from what you look like, but still, you should keep low in the meantime."
Marland tilted his head down, looking at her from the top of his eyes, ears flicked forward; it was his version of one raised eyebrow.
She sighed, as she held her fingers to her forehead. "Yeah, I know that's pretty hard for you, but there'll be eventually be another xeno that they have to find and that'll take their attention away from you - just as long as you don't attract their attention again."
He hadn't done anything on purpose though, the last couple of times he'd been out - the first offense had been someone he’d taken too long to find and then he took Shodin home, and then for the second one, he'd been trying to get to another xeno. He hadn’t set out to do them when he had went out!
Straightening slowly out from his defensive stance, Marland nodded, one ear going to the side before it went up again. "Yeah, thanks." He wasn't on the noticeboard. Yet.
She flapped a dismissive hand at him. "No problem." She pulled back the cuff of her jacket to look at her watch. "We should get going now." She nodded to Shodin. "You need a hair tie, and you'll also need a jacket. Go nag 'im to get them for you." With that, Kendal's team left, the two behind them sounding like Helval was dragging the new guy away, muttering under her breath.
There was a brief silence after they left. Marland just wanted to squeeze his eyes shut and cover his face with a hand. It had definitely gone better than he'd expected it to but he always felt drained after dealing with Kendal's team. They were sometimes like a force of nature that blew in, spun things around so nothing was in its proper place, before they breezed out again. You never quite knew how things were going to go with them.
"Are they...friends?"
And if Kendal heard that question, she would have been laughing so hard at that. They weren't friends, but they didn't try to kill him on sight, were friendly enough to him, so that was enough for Marland. Though... His eyes slid to Shodin. It had been enough for Marland, but now it seemed to be a bit different now. Not that he wanted friendship with Shodin, but it had been the expectancy of well, expecting more from him when he thought Shodin hadn't wanted the chocolate.
"No," he said, as he shook his head. "They're other hunters."
"Hmm." Shodin continued to look curiously down the alley. "So, they also hunt down xeni, like you do?"
Marland nodded, resigned to the questions already.
"In a team."
Marland's ears flicked down. Maybe he should have expected that. But if he had, then Shodin would have asked something else anyway. "Yeah." He waited, expecting - no. Marland took a deep breath and just waited to see what Shodin would ask.
And Shodin didn't say anything else and just kept looking down the alley. He then shook his head and looked back at Marland. "So...I need a hair tie and 'jackets'?" Shodin ran a hand through his hair. It didn't go through smoothly and he had to tug to get his hand out, wincing slightly. "I think I do, as well as a brush." He swept his hair behind his ears. "'Jackets'?"
Marland shrugged with his wings. "Warmer version of a shirt." It was the best thing he could come up with as he considered what else Shodin would need. His ears flicked down. It probably would have been good if he'd asked Kendal - she knew what humans needed better than he ever would. She would have answered him - after she'd picked her jaw up from the floor.
"Ah, all right." There was a small pause. "Should we be going?"
Yeah, they should, but this time, Marland was going to pay more attention to his surroundings.
* * *
Shodin loved the shop. He picked a lot of the packets up -it was the bright ones he picked up first, but it slowly became anything he could get his hands on- squinted at them and held them at every single angle before he asked Marland about them.
And then they got to the sweets aisle.
In hindsight, Marland really should have avoided that. He was tempted to grab Shodin by the scruff of the shirt and drag him away, but that would have brought attention to them, and he wouldn't have wanted that at any point, let alone right then.
Their basket ended up with almost one of each chocolate bar, as well as a few other things that Shodin had liked the look of. And he had enjoyed studying everything they passed.
Marland was extremely glad he always brought a lot more money than what the shopping trip would need out of habit.
They had gotten everything else they needed -as far as Marland could think of- apart from shoes for Shodin, but the pair he had would do him for a while anyway. They'd also gotten a bigger variety in meals, due to, obviously, Shodin's curiosity, but Marland wasn't going to try them - he knew what his body could digest, and he wasn't going to experiment and see what else he could possibly eat and then end up killing himself because of that.
Shodin had been taken in by the self-service machine as well. Well, at least one of them had found it enjoyable, and it had made buying the food interesting and not tedious. Even if the damned thing refused to recognise some of their items. Shodin merely smiled guilelessly at the woman who came to sort it out. She always came in from Shodin's side, practically hiding directly behind him from Marland. By the third time they’d had to call her over, she had begun to make eye-contact with Shodin and had actually flashed a nervous smile at Marland when he walked away. She had looked away before Marland had realised what had happened, and she was gone before he could react to that.
Not that he knew how he could react to that. His approximation of a human smile looked a lot like he was baring his teeth threateningly at the person. If he smiled in the way that felt natural, it looked like he'd cocked his head to the side in confusion - and was baring his teeth threateningly. So he just didn't smile. It was easier that way; he didn't have to explain the action. Not that he'd felt the need to smile often either, so that didn't matter.
Their arms laden with shopping, they headed back out of the shop. It was weird for Marland to have so many bags, but they surprisingly didn't grate on his nerves as he thought they would. It was probably because their combined weight dragged each other down, keeping the others around it in check.
Shodin had gotten the bag with the sweets in it. Marland wasn't sure if that had been a good idea on his part to let him carry it; Shodin had been continually peeking in the bag before they'd even left the shop, and he could see the intense curious look in his eyes again.
"Try them when you get home," Marland grumbled as Shodin peeked again. They were spending too much time out in the open and Marland felt vulnerable, his wings bunched up close and his ears were constantly on the move, on the lookout for anything that sounded out of place.
Shodin chuckled, ducking his head as he lowered the bag. "My apologies."
The crackle of the bags didn't completely cover the sound of scrabbling claws on the pavement. It was group of something, but how many, Marland couldn't tell. Not accurately anyway. There were at least more than...three, and whatever they were, they were headed straight for Marland and Shodin. Fucking hell, you had to be kidding. The last time he'd just finished shopping, he'd heard xeni as well.
Growling, Marland glared at where the xeni would appear from if they did come straight for them. They could run, go straight back home, let another hunter -or group of hunters- deal with them. But Marland didn't know if there were any other hunters in the area. Kendal's team, maybe, but they had a van, so they could be anywhere by now. And it wasn't like he had anyone's contact details or a phone to call them with.
Shit.
"Shodin," he said as he leaned his bags on the closest wall. The group was getting closer and closer to them too quickly. "Stay here and look after the bags - I'll be back in a bit." They sounded small, and hopefully there wouldn't be anything too surprising about them.
"Marland...?" Shodin watched him put the bags down, his eyebrows drawn together as his lips pursed. "What is it?"
"Xeni." He'd made it two steps away before Shodin's hand clasped around his wrist. Marland tried to pull away out of instinct but Shodin wouldn’t let go.
"I'm coming-"
He bared his teeth, his ears flattening and wings arching. "You're not." Dammit, every second he wasted-! He tried to jerk his hand back but Shodin had it in a tight grip.
Shodin's eyes blazed and he glared at Marland. "You'll be hurt again!"
He snorted at that. "No-one'll care."
Shodin sighed harshly, and then yanked him back a step. It was only by beating his wings Marland was able to keep his balance. "I would. And I know a few other people who would as well."
Marland blinked at him. How could he? Shodin barely knew anyone.
"I want to help."
And then it was too late. What skidded around the corner, Marland narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth at it, his wings flexing. It was the xeno that he'd been hunting when he first found Shodin. It was small and cat-like, only about shin-level. Its short fur was completely black, but even Shodin would be able to see it because its eyes glowed blue, whether it was in the light or dark. It had three horns jutting out, pointing forwards, one from the centre of its forehead and one just below each of its ears.
And then five more padded into view, their long tails swishing side to side.
Six. Six altogether. The last Marland had seen, there were only three. Shit. Had they bred? Or did they have another way of duplicating themselves? There didn't seem to be that much size difference between them, and Marland couldn't really tell them apart either, other than one had a chewed up ear and another seemed to have longer hair than the rest.
Even if they could have ran, Marland didn't want to. The xeni had been dangerous enough as it was when there was only been three of them, and they'd proven that their numbers could increase drastically in the space of a few days. If he didn't get them now, they'd be harder to deal with later on.
Like last time, they started raising their front paws alternatively, all in sync with each other. Marland growled at them, his flames bursting to his hand with a quick thought. It didn't deter them, but it did make their display falter. The xeni backed up a few steps, heads switching between watching the flame and watching Marland properly. If they were distracted by it...
Marland flung the fireball above their heads.
Three xeni watched it, their heads arcing up, while the other three continued to keep their eyes on Marland. No signal; maybe it was a hierarchy, or they were telepathic in some way.
And without another signal, three of them -two from the end of the line, and one from the centre- charged towards Marland and Shodin, their mouths wide, their teeth glistening in the dim light.
Shit.
Marland took out one with a direct fireball to the head, its brain and blood coating one wall in a thick spray. He missed the other; his magic clipped its leg, making it stumble, but it wasn’t enough to make it stop completely. The third -
Got taken out another blast of hissing magic that definitely didn't come from him, the sudden change in light making Marland snarl and take a step back.
He shook his head, the bright spots in his vision making him move his head left and right to make sure he didn't have any blind spots. Marland kept one ear to the rest of the group, while one ear twisted around him, just in case there was an ambush. He couldn't hear anything, but that didn't make him feel more relaxed.
There was another flash, this time not as bright or as loud as the one before it, and there was a shriek of pain and then a small wet thump. Marland could hear the claws of the other two as they scrambled to get away. He called his magic to his hands, and threw them as soon as they formed.
Marland heard one xeno crash into the ground, while he missed the other one. Guessing what would happen again, Marland shielded his head with his wings and heard another bark of pain before it stopped.
Peering through narrowed eyelids, Marland tested if he could see. His eyes had adjusted back again, so the world was still on the bright side, but it wasn't painful. The air stank of blood; his snout wrinkled at the smell.
Surveying the area around him, Marland could see that two of the xeni were still alive. One was struggling to its feet, its three legs unable to support it well enough before it collapsed again, while the one that had been trying to run away had a large chunk of its haunch burned off.
His ears completely flat, Marland made his way over to the first one. The xeno growled, its ears just as flat, its teeth bared as it tried to stand again. It once again didn't get very far before it fell back down again. This time, Marland caught it by the horns before it hit the ground and twisted sharply. There was a loud crack and the xeno stopped moving.
The last xeno was on its feet when Marland turned to it, but it wasn't much better - as soon as a back leg touched the ground, it hopped, its tail whipping back and forth. Marland called to his fire to him and blasted right through it.
Looking away from the carnage, Marland looked at Shodin's wide eyes as he leaned heavily on the wall, shivering. He was panting hard and his hand clutched tightly on his shoulder.
Panicking. His ears still twisting around, Marland tried to find the person who had helped him, but he couldn't hear anyone else apart from the two of them. It made him nervous - were they just lying in wait until they got a clear shot of him?
As Marland approached him, Shodin's eyes snapped to him before they fell away. Marland stopped his ears from flicking down, but he did slow down. He'd been wrong in his assumptions about Shodin before, so maybe he'd be wrong again this time.
Slowly, a strained smile appeared on Shodin's face, as he looked back at Marland. "I told you that if you were partnered up with someone, you wouldn't get hurt." His voice was shaky, a little breathless.
He hadn't exactly 'partnered up' with someone though.
"So, that's what 'magic' feels like?" Shodin stared at his left hand as he continually clenched and then relaxed it. It made it really obvious the tremors running through him.
What? Marland reviewed what had happened in the fight. Just before the xeno had been able to land on him, there had been a bright flash of light. And…when he'd seen Puzz use magic, it had been a bright light.
"You...did that?" Not Puzz? He really shouldn't even be asking if it was Puzz, because it was pretty damn obvious that it wasn't. And after Shodin had been in a fight, Puzz hadn't come out. That was...surprising.
A slightly jerky nod.
Marland regarded him closely. Shodin's breathing had calmed down somewhat, but his hand was still tightly grasped on his shoulder. He waited to see if Shodin would offer to partner up again.
"What does it feel like to you?"
One ear flicked down to the side before it went back up again. "...Magic?" He hoped Shodin was asking about magic. He couldn't think of what else Shodin could be asking.
"Yes."
That...was a hard question to answer. Both of Marland's ears went down to the side as he thought. "Magic to me feels like...energy inside of me, that I can call and it'll come to me." He was starting to say what he did to cast his magic, but they were all intertwined anyway. And he hadn't really thought about what his magic felt like.
Shodin nodded to show that he'd heard. He leaned heavier on the wall, taking in deep breaths. Marland really didn't know what else to say.
"That's what it feels like to me also." Shodin sounded faint. And they should really get back home before something else happened, like they were seen or they came across another group of xeni.
Marland reached for his DT around his neck and pressed the button. That done he said, "There's some people coming-" unless Nav had fallen asleep "-in a van - I'm going to hide. Say that you're picking the money up for me if I don't come out soon after they arrive."
Shodin blinked at him, straightening up from the wall, before he nodded. Good.
He walked away, down the street a little before he hid in a stairwell. He would have loved to have hidden behind the recycling bins, but the lighting was wrong, where his shadow would have been really obvious. That, and he didn't know what direction they would be coming from.
Soon enough, the rumble of an engine could be easily heard in the quiet street. Shodin's breathing had started to calm by that point as well.
The van stopped right by the corpses. There was a small pause and then Marland could hear the electric window winding down. "...Hey?" That was Nav's voice. At least he'd learned to not get out straight away.
"Ah, hello." There was a brief pause. "I'm picking the money up for Marland?"
His ears twitched and he snorted. He should probably get out now. Marland started to get out of the stairwell.
"Wait, you’re picking - hey, Laris, I thought you said-" And that was Nav being hit with a...newspaper? It sounded like it; whatever had been used rustled when it hit Nav. He couldn't see them because the headlights were in his eyes. "Oi!"
"An' you're not payin' attention."
"I wa - oh, there's Marland." That earned him another thwack of the newspaper and a grumble from Laris.
Laris killed the lights and Marland winced at the sudden change, hearing the pair leave the van. He caught the scent of coffee before the doors slammed shut.
"Hey, Marland."
He nodded at both of them in greeting.
"So who're you?"
Shodin blinked at Laris' question. "Ah, sorry - I'm Shodin."
"Laris," he introduced himself as he started to take a proper look at the xeni. "That's Nav."
Nav waved, his other hand jammed in a pocket. "Heya."
Laris shook his head at the xeni before Marland could say anything. "Fuck. Been seein' these all over the place recently."
Marland froze. He had? So, it wasn't just because he'd let them get away the last time, or was it because he'd let them get away? It had been a few days now since he'd last seen them.
"Biggest group I've seen though - the others were usually 'bout three or four."
Straightening up with a grunt, Laris walked over to Marland and handed him another envelope. Marland nodded to him when he got it, and he went over to Shodin.
"You gonna be all right?"
What? When Marland looked over his shoulder, Laris was staring at Shodin as he was putting on his gloves.
Shodin nodded, a small smile on his lips. "I will be, don't worry."
Laris grunted, then turned back to his work. Nav looked at Shodin thoughtfully before he crouched over a corpse.
Marland picked up his bags and then glanced at Shodin, who looked a lot calmer now. Shodin tilted his head to the side, lips smiling. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah." They walked past Laris and Nav on their way out, and Shodin waved to them. Nav waved back while Laris just inclined his head.
Like last time, Nav started whispering soon after they'd left.
"He really doesn't talk much, does he?"
A grunt. "Last time was Marland bein' pretty fuckin' talkative."
"...Wow."
Marland's ears twitched at that. He couldn't remember what he'd said then - had he really said that much?
Shodin's eyes were distant as they walked along, but the longer nothing happened, the more that look faded. "Marland...?"
He turned an ear towards him.
"So that is what happens when you're hunting?"
Right. Marland should have known Shodin would have been asking questions soon again; it meant he was back to normal again.
Marland nodded. He caught Shodin staring at his neck. He felt a little awkward, his ears going down, but then Shodin looked back up at him, curiosity beginning to shine behind his eyes again.
"It's a DT," Marland explained before he could ask. But that was him assuming again, wasn't it? "I don't know what it stands for though." It probably had some technical name that no-one could pronounce.
"Ah, all right," Shodin said as he nodded. "And they..." -Shodin waved an arm behind them- "They take away the xeni?"
"Yeah. We don't know if their bodies'll still affect people or stuff around them even after they've died, so they need to be taken care of." Marland paused, his snout wrinkling. "That, and the smell." The air was already a lot clearer than where they'd been.
Shodin chuckled at that. "Yes, I suppose that alone would be enough to need their services." They were quiet for another minute.
"What do they do with the bodies?"
Marland blinked, and then looked back at him.
"What do they do with the bodies?" Shodin repeated, his wrists moving in such a way that the bags swung a little bit more. He looked more relaxed, but the movements weren’t completely natural and were still a little stiff.
He opened his mouth, but then closed it again. What did they do with the bodies? He'd never asked, had never wondered what they did with them. He just hunted, killed xeni, and then called it in. He'd never put in much thought about what happened after. "Dunno."
Shodin just smiled, acknowledging that he couldn't answer everything. The next time he asked a question was a few minutes later, when Marland was opening the street door.
"How do they pay you?"
Marland looked at Shodin blankly over his shoulder as the key slotted in. He'd seen - right. Just because he'd seen, didn't mean he knew what that meant. "Money. It's in the envelope Laris gave me."
Shodin's eyes flicked to the pocket the money was in, stayed there for a few seconds, before he looked back up at Marland. "Do they pay you per…xeni, or is it just every time you hunt?"
And that was another blank, something else that Marland hadn't thought about. He'd never counted the money when he got it; it was enough to live on for a few days, and that was all he really needed. Laris just always had an envelope when he called him so...
"Every time I hunt, I think."
They made their way up the stairs and Shodin peered down the middle of the staircase, with one hand braced against the banister, his hair swinging free while Marland opened his door.
Once the lights were on, they unpacked the bags, Shodin calling out questions to double-check were everything went. It didn't take long, and soon enough, everything was packed away.
Marland turned to Shodin after he had closed a cupboard door - Shodin was leaning on the back of the couch, his arms lightly crossed and a foot swung back and forth to a slow beat.
Shodin hadn't peeked again at the bag of sweets throughout the entire time they'd been walking back, or while they'd putting the stuff away either. The questions had been normal, but not asked as quickly as they usually were. It worried Marland a little.
The foot tapping slowed down, and Shodin looked up at Marland. "I'm...hungry again," he admitted, sheepish, one corner of his mouth coming up in a smile.
Yeah, he really could never predict Shodin in any kind of way. Marland indicated the kitchen with a tilt of his head. "Half the food's yours anyway." More than half. He wondered if Shodin would take notes on what he liked and what he didn't, because he couldn't really think how else Shodin could to keep track of it all. Especially when Shodin started on the other half he hadn't bought from the shop.
While Shodin rifled through the fridge, Marland went back to his room to keep the envelope in a better place. When he got out, Shodin had a fairly small packet with green packaging in his hands and was looking at it from all angles again. He looked up when Marland got closer to him. "This is the chicken, right?"
He nodded, peering at the picture. It wasn't something he'd tried before, so he would get something else.
"Do I put this in the microwave?"
Marland shrugged. "Dunno; what do the instructions say?" It probably wasn’t microwaveable, but it was better to check. He doubted it could be cooked in two minutes.
"’Instructions’?"
"The stuff on the back."
Shodin turned it around, and looked at it, his head tilted to the side and his eyebrows drawn together. He looked back at Marland and shrugged.
Marland blinked, confused. "You can’t-" Oh. Right. Shodin probably used something completely different for letters on his world. "Can you read?"
Shodin peered back down at the packet, a look of concentration on his face. "Hmm, I don't think so."
And there was Shodin not reacting to something again that Marland expected him to. Not being able to read would probably get frustrating, but that was Marland assuming yet again, and Shodin had been fine dealing with life on Torpin already. ...It just meant he got to direct more questions to Marland compared to if he was able to read. Marland probably wouldn't have noticed a difference.
He walked over to where Shodin was and looked at it where Shodin was holding it up. "’Preheated oven, two-hundred degrees, twenty minutes’," he read aloud. Seemed simple enough. Shodin shifted beneath him, staring at the text.
"How...?"
Marland underlined what he'd read with a finger. It wouldn't mean much, but Shodin might have an interest in learning how to read. He had no idea how to teach Shodin how to read though - he couldn’t remember how Wendil had taught him.
Shodin stared at it for a few seconds, his head tilting further before he looked back up at him. "Okay."
It didn't take them long to set everything up, and then Shodin watched the chicken through the glass while Marland was waiting for his own food to finish heating in the microwave.
Shodin stepped away from the oven, and went to wait next to Marland. They stood there until the microwave dinged. It was when Marland had taken out his food when Shodin spoke.
"So, is magic normal here?"
Marland shook his head. "Humans can't do magic here - only xeni can." There were rumours that items that came through portals could help a human cast magic, but Marland had never seen them. It would have been a big thing if that had actually happened. It did make sense though - if some xeni could use magic, then there had to be some items that came through that could be used by people who didn’t have magic themselves.
Shodin hummed, and brought up his hand to stare at it. He took a few deep breaths, still staring at his hand. Marland wondered what he was doing as he watched him. Just as he'd finished thinking that, Shodin's palm started glowing white. It wasn't abrupt, more like someone had very slowly turned on a light with a dimmer switch. It was at least gradual enough that it didn't make Marland's eyes smart. It was only some additional brightness to the well-lit room anyway.
Then Shodin's breath stuttered and he clenched his hand tight, the light winking out. Huh. He couldn't cast for very long, and Marland couldn't figure out what exactly something like that could be used for, apart from illuminating something.
Shodin suddenly stumbled, his legs collapsing beneath him, and Marland had to lift his plate sharply to make sure Shodin didn't end up wearing the food. Shodin ended up leaning on Marland's arm that he'd been able to get up just in time.
Uh...
His ears flat and his wings unfurled for balance, Marland stared at Shodin, wanting to pull away but he had a feeling if he had, Shodin would just fall straight to the floor. He shouldn't try doing any more magic any time soon - or maybe ever, if he ended up like that every single time.
"Shodin...?" he asked when Shodin hadn’t moved for a few seconds. It felt weird having this amount of contact with someone for this long.
His hands braced on Marland’s arm, Shodin unsteadily straightened himself out. "Ah, um, my apologies," he said breathlessly, wiping his hair away from his face. He was very pale, his eyes extremely wide, while he was also still gasping for breath. Shodin swallowed loudly a couple of times, before he gently pushed himself away from Marland. As soon as he let go, Shodin's hand went around his own shoulder, his fingers digging in tightly as he leaned back on the table.
Marland watched him uncertainly, unsure about what he could do. What exactly had happened?
Shodin was shaking badly, like he was cold. He bit his lip, kept his head down, and didn't look up at Marland.
"…What's wrong?"
Shodin shook his head. "It's… It's nothing." He still didn't look up.
Marland snorted, tilting his head forward. And that was probably the biggest lie Shodin had said in the little time that Marland knew him. He growled at the back of his throat, frustrated at his utter lack of knowledge of what to do or say.
"I'm fine, really," Shodin tried to reassure him, as he moved to one of the chairs by the kitchen table. He sat down heavily on it after he pulled it away from the table with a foot. "I was just startled."
Marland continued to watch him, completely unconvinced. He knew what startled was, and that wasn't it. Maybe there was a slight overlap, but that overlap was tiny.
They stared at each other for a while. Slowly, bit by bit, Shodin seemed to calm down, the shaking faded, and his breath became easier and more even.
"...You don't believe me, do you?"
Marland snorted, rolling his head a little bit. "No." Anyone would have known that something was wrong!
Shodin winced, and attempted to run a hand through his hair. He couldn't, not easily, not with his right hand still on his shoulder, blocking his left arm. Shodin stiffly let go of his arm, and he kept forming and loosening a fist after he did.
"When I used the magic… I suddenly felt…" Shodin shook his head, and his hand didn't go to where Marland thought it would when it started moving - it went shakily to hover over his heart, not his shoulder. It clenched back into a fist before it made contact, and Shodin took a sharp breath, and jerked his hand away. "I suddenly didn't want to do it because…because I was absolutely terrified something bad was going to happen."
"Something...bad." That was a weird reaction to have. Normally it was the people who didn’t have magic that reacted like that. So, was he scared of himself, or was it the magic? Which…kinda meant the same thing.
Shodin nodded, and then shrugged. "I don't really know how else to put it, or how I can narrow down that feeling." He hunched his shoulders, still not looking at him. "It felt as if - if I used my magic, I would lose something."
Marland regarded him closely, his ears pricked forward. "Your memories?"
"Wh..." Shodin trailed off, his eyes going distant. "Maybe?" He leaned on the back of the chair, sighing shakily. "It’s important to me, that I know for certain."
Marland tilted his head to the side, one ear flicking down before coming up again. "So, if you use your magic, you think you're going to lose your memories." It sounded like a big payment for using magic in Marland's opinion, but there would be a lot of people who would consider that to be nothing if they were able to do that. But if the memory taking got so far, wouldn’t the person forget they could do magic? Or was that exactly what had happened to Shodin?
"I... I'm not sure." Shodin shook his head. "It may not be that for definite. It could be the opposite: if I use my magic, I'll remember."
Marland looked at him doubtfully. That didn't seem to go with 'losing something', unless it was innocence and naïvety. Marland tried to imagine what Shodin would be like if he was more experienced about the world, wasn't so curious. He snorted. It was hard, because that was just...not Shodin. Marland's ears twitched and his eyes narrowed at Shodin when he realised what he was trying to say.
"You're going to do magic, on the chance you might get your memories back." All the while, having a - a breakdown. Marland jerked his head away, his ears down, wondering about the harsh tone he'd just used - if he'd lost his memories, he would have been doing the same, he knew it.
Shodin inclined his head. "That, yes, but also because you need a partner."
Marland bared his teeth at him, his wings extending some more. "I do not." He was talking about this again?
Shodin huffed as he crossed his arms and looked up at him, glaring. "You need someone who watches your back, just in case."
"I am fine hunting by myself." He'd done it all these years without having too many problems.
Shodin waved an arm towards Marland's bandage. "That says otherwise."
He ignored the gesture. "I don't need to work with someone." He made enough money to live on, and when he was injured, he had enough saved until the next time he was able to hunt. Working with someone wouldn't make a difference and was just too much effort.
"Then what would have happened if I hadn't been there today?"
"I wouldn't have been so trapped," he snapped, "so I would have stood a better chance anyway,"
Shodin paused, wavering, before he shook his head and tried again. "If their way hadn't been blocked the way that it was, they could have come at you from all sides, Marland," he said quietly.
And Marland did know that, but now it seemed like he was just arguing for the sake of arguing. He growled.
"You could have died today."
Marland rolled his head, snorting. "I could have died a long time ago." He knew that. He knew he was living on a day-to-day basis, and sometimes, he wondered what the point was in continuing if he was going to end up having a brutal, bloody death anyway. Those moments didn't last long, and they were quickly replaced by thoughts of just living until the next day, and then the next, until whatever day he didn't.
They glared at each other, neither of them willing to back down. It was Marland who looked away first, his wings folding back in at the same time. "You don't know how to control your magic right now anyway," he grumbled, his ears twitching.
Shodin relaxed, a relieved smile surfacing. "But the only way I'll learn is through practicing, correct?"
"Not here," Marland said hastily. Whatever Shodin had done, it wasn't something he wanted to test inside the flat. But…with the police on the lookout for him, where exactly could they go?
Shodin chuckled. "I doubt that I would get that far - my magic is barely formed before I begin to have those feelings."
"But…you did it in the fight." And he hadn't reacted so badly back then when he’d done more, compared to how he had reacted now, when he’d done less.
"I did," Shodin mused, his pinky tapping on the table. "I wasn't thinking then; I merely reacted. There wasn't enough time for me to think or feel, and afterwards, I was distracted from that as well waiting for…Laris and Nav."
Marland tilted his head to the side, one ear following. "So, the only way you can do magic properly is if you don't think about it?"
After a pause, Shodin nodded. "It seems like it's instinctual."
Or very well-learned. Marland sent him a flat look. "I'm not fighting you on the off-chance that you can use magic and learn from that." Especially considering the damage Shodin could accidently do if he was panicked enough. It could start as a spar, but it might not end as one.
At that, Shodin laughed, one corner of his mouth lifting up. "I wasn't going to suggest that. I think I would prefer to practice just attempting to use magic for the moment. Until I can do that without panicking, I won't try anything more complicated."
That made sense. Marland doubted Shodin would get very far until he had to stop, and unless something really unexpected happened, nothing should make Shodin panic. If it did, Puzz would take over anyway, and he seemed to have a lot more control over their magic. Although…
"What happened to Puzz?"
Shodin blinked, then sat there quietly, his brow creasing. "I'm not honestly sure," he said slowly. "I don't think I felt him when I was in danger, but my attention was elsewhere, obviously."
That was weird. Marland would have expected Puzz to have taken control straight away as soon as he realised that Shodin was in danger. …Unless Puzz thought Shodin would have been all right since Marland was there. Or maybe Puzz wasn't as aware of what was happening to Shodin as he thought.
Marland sighed. There were too many options again. They probably wouldn't know even if they asked Puzz.
"You can't feel him now, then?"
Shodin frowned, his eyes to the floor. "No… I don't think I - ah, yes, I can." He became quiet again, mouthing something. While Shodin was busy, Marland glanced at the clock. And the chicken had been in some five minutes too long.
Marland took it out and put it on a plate. He set it on the table, but not right next to Shodin, in case he -or Puzz- ended up toppling it over. And if Shodin's food was ready, that meant his had been sitting out for too long.
He poked at his food with a fork. It was still steaming slightly, so it was still hot. He thought about it for a second, then started eating. It had been fine for him to eat a couple of minutes ago; it being a little bit cold wouldn't affect him too badly.
Shodin took in a deep breath as Marland was about halfway done. Straightening up, Shodin put a hand to his forehead, looking bemused.
"That was certainly an…interesting experience."
Marland looked at him, his ears turned towards him. Anything with Puzz had to be weird.
"It was like I was trying to catch something when I don't know what it looks like, I can't see it, and it…feels like I’m trying to catch air," Shodin said as he slid the plate towards himself.
That did sound awkward.
"I'm fairly sure he was avoiding me." How the hell did you avoid someone when you shared the same head? Shodin quirked a smile at him. "I tried calling out to him, but he wouldn't answer, and I knew that he was there."
One of Marland's wings twitched. That didn't make a lot of sense to him, but nothing ever did when it came to Shodin or Puzz.
As Shodin chewed the chicken, the knife in his hand waved from side to side. He never seemed to be able to keep his fingers still, Marland thought with a huff.
"I think…what Paizinel said to him might have had something to do with it."
What Paizinel said? Marland tried to remember what she'd said to Puzz. She'd mostly panicked him, and he'd left after… Oh. He'd retreated after Pai had asked him if Shodin knew him. If Puzz had reacted like that, then whatever relationship he and Shodin had together, it was normal for both of them, before the memory problems. "Because you don't remember him?"
Shodin shrugged. "I don't know." He chewed slowly, the knife making circles in the air. "I think so. He'd expected me to know him, and when he realised that I didn't..."
He hid and hadn't said a thing since.
"I guess we…were? are? very close."
Marland tilted his head forward. If you shared the same head and could hear the thoughts of the other person, you had to be in one way or another.
Shodin's movements slowed again, his eyes going distant. It was when that look stayed constant after a couple of seconds that Marland realised he was trying to talk to Puzz again. At least he'd put the cutlery down before he'd started.
Marland dumped the packet in the bin when he finished with it, and quickly cleaned the plate as well. Shodin hadn't moved. Cocking his head to the side, he considered his options: keep waiting, or do something. There wasn't any point in waiting, especially since he doubted Shodin would get an answer this time either.
So, was there anything he could do? He wasn't going to kill his brain any more with the bad films, so, what else? …When was the last time he'd taken a shower? Marland glanced down at his trousers. He hadn't really looked at it properly when he had put it on, and it had been a number of days since he'd used a different pair. The top of it was stained with dried droplets of his blood, while the bottom half was covered in crusted mud.
His ears flicked down -had he been that distracted?- Marland headed to his bedroom to get a new change of clothes, and then went to the bathroom.
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Summary: The world of Torpin is open, dragging in xeni from other worlds. The majority of them are monsters, prone to violence. There are some, however, that are not, and are able to live amongst the human population, if allowed to. Marland should know; he's one of them. His job is to hunt and stop the xeni that seek only to destroy what's around them. On one job, a human xeno drops through a portal, an event which Marland has never heard of happening before. And that's not the only thing different about the human...
Rating: R
Notes: Contains swearing, bloody fighting and death.
Asdkjf Need to repost most of these before I really start working on the new NaNo or else this is never going to get reposted, and I'll end up crossing these over or something! XD;;
Omgggg, why so long??
Hela is now Helval (I should probably change the tags…)
I realised yesterday that since Marland has such good night vision…he shouldn't have colour vision. Oops… So, I dunno, it's either because we're not working with Earth biology, or what Marland thinks green/whatever colour, actually isn't. (Hey, I guess Shodin could be brown-haired then! XDD;;)
I never did confirm in the actual text who Windil was, did I…
There should probably be some more reaction from Marland during the fight since he's, you know, injured. XD;;;
*grabby hands at them* omg, I want to write you two agaaaaaaaain~
Hmmmmm. Not sure if I need those last two or three paragraphs here.
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 9,328
Total word count: 36,439
Status: Work in Progress (reposting, but is complete)
Shodin wasn't as bad as Marland thought he would be. He did stare at everything, his head twisting and turning every second, but he didn't wander off on his own either. Not completely, anyway. He'd look at Marland in a certain way, his eyes shining and a shade off begging, and then Marland would sigh, his ears down, and follow him to whatever had caught Shodin's interest at that point.
He seemed to be absolutely fascinated by cars, though not the ones that made a lot of noise, the ones that went tearing down the road. It was the larger ones that he liked looking at, going around them to look at them from every angle. It at least didn't happen to every car they passed, or else it probably would have taken them about three hours to just get to the first set of traffic lights. Shodin also seemed to be fairly easily distracted by flashing lights, which, yeah, made sense, because that was what they were supposed to do.
Shodin also didn't have as many questions as Marland thought he would have. At one point, Shodin caught him watching him as he waited for the next question to come.
"I thought you would've been asking more," he supplied before Shodin could ask.
At that, Shodin quirked a smile at him, before he shook his head. "Watching the TV's helped; I know a more things about Torpin than I did before, and Paizinel also answered a lot of my questions."
Marland snorted, before he caught onto the first part of that sentence. "You're learning from the TV." It wasn’t a question; it was a disbelieving statement.
He got a nod as a reply.
Oh hell. "You're learning from the crappiest films that aren't anything like real life?"
There was another, patient, nod. And Shodin was just smiling at him, like there wasn't anything wrong with that - he wouldn't know if it was wrong.
Marland stared back, refusing to let his ears go down. "Then how the hell do you know if what you're watching is what actually happens?"
The look on Shodin's face was too…happy and his smile widened. "I ask you."
What? He was the one who supposed to explain how -
Wait. One of Marland's ears twitched to the side. Had he heard…? Marland stilled, his ears constantly on the move as they tried to find the source of the noise. They were in an alley, light spilling in from both ends. It was a fairly short one though, but it would still take time to reach one side if they ran.
Dammit, they were directly in the middle, and Marland still couldn't tell where the noise had come from. Shodin thankfully kept quiet, alert to the fact that Marland was on edge, but not asking about it. Not yet, anyway.
And... There. There were two people in front of them, humans, around the corner. One of them had moved too close to the corner, their shadow briefly falling onto the wall before they pulled back in. He could hear them moving, trying to keep quiet, and shoes on the pavement. And then Marland heard someone else catch up behind them as well - they didn’t actually enter the alley, but they stayed around the corner, just like the ones in front.
Shit. They had been lying in wait. How the fuck were they supposed to get out of here? There weren't any other exits apart from those two areas that had just been blocked off.
And then there was the problem with Shodin. Marland gritted his teeth, a small growl escaping his throat, and his ears fell flat. He wasn't going to leave him behind; though, Shodin would probably have a better chance of getting away since he was human. But if Shodin had been caught in his company, maybe he'd be killed because he'd... Marland couldn't think of anything really sarcastic at that particular moment, his mind too busy trying to figure out how to escape, how much time they had left, and what exactly he could do.
The best thing he could do was startle them with his fire and then get the hell out of there. If he attacked and hurt them, a notice would go out on him where hunters could see. Then he'd had more hunters after him, and it wouldn't matter if he was one as well - he was a xeno that had 'finally' shown his true colours, so they could chase him down without thought.
He heard the cocking of a gun. Person in front of them, on the right. Shit. Not that he should be surprised. If it was specifically him that they were targeting (could be true, but it might have also been likely that they just happened to see him as he and Shodin walked down the road. Fucking hell, he hadn't been anywhere near as vigilant as he normally was) then of course they would have guns. It wasn't like people used swords to go after xeni around here. If they did, they didn't last very long.
"Huh." That came from behind them. Female, maybe older than he was. Pivoting so that his back was to a wall, Marland bared his teeth in that direction. No-one was standing there, so she were still hiding around the corner.
They were too fucking exposed like this. The alley was empty, apart from Marland and Shodin. He'd chosen to go down it because there wasn't anything to hide behind, so they couldn't be ambushed. Except he hadn't taken into account the entrance and exit of the alley. So now they didn't have anything to hide behind.
"'Extremely tall, green and gold scales, huge-ass wings,'" the same woman continued. "I think we've found the xeno that killed Aliste Mailon and kidnapped another human on the twelfth, along with attacking the couple in a car on the thirteenth."
Marland's anger flared up. Fucking hell. There was already a notice out on him. Fucking - dammit! But -
"Yo, Marland." It was the same person who had spoken before but... A head peeked into view; long, curly, black hair that was tied back, dark eyes. Kendal. She stepped out in the open, her gun out of sight.
Marland regarded her warily as he stepped away from her, readying both his wings and his magic to defend and counterattack if he had to. He knew her, but he also knew that she was serious about her job, so she could just be using the fact that she knew him to get close.
She grinned at him, flashing her teeth. That didn't make him feel any more comfortable. "Don't worry; we're not going to attack you."
Behind them, muttered softly from the same person who Marland had heard cocking the gun before: "Yeah, right." Male, fairly young. Marland didn’t recognise that voice.
There was a small burst of noise from the other person on that side as they took three steps to cross the alley. Marland twitched, trying to keep the other person in view while also keeping his eye on Kendal, but it didn't work.
There was a slight scuffle, and someone thumped up against a wall a few seconds later.
"You. Weren't. Listening. Were you?" a woman hissed. Helval. "No attacking him."
"But it's a xeno!" the other person protested, trying to keep his voice down but failing.
There was another thump. "You listen when we tell you something, all right? Marland's on our side."
"And he attacked those people!"
Marland heard a frustrated sigh. "We know him; he wouldn't do that."
"That's just-"
"Just what, huh? Just him finally going back to his baser instincts?" Marland could easily see Helval baring her teeth, her face no more than a centimetre away from the man's face. She'd done that to Marland a few times, when she thought he was being 'ridiculously stupid', and he'd seen her do that to other people as well. Marland had mostly been intimidated by the fact that she was willing to get into his personal space in the first place, before he freaked out about her getting that close.
"Yeah?"
A snort. "Put. The gun. Away." It wasn’t a request, and it wasn’t exactly an order either; there was an unspoken 'before I ram it up your ass, you complete idiot' after it.
The other person complied, grumbling under his breath. He cut himself off, and Marland assumed that Helval had glared at him again.
When Marland turned his attention back to Kendal, she was still where he’d last seen her, her hands not moved at all, waiting. So, unless that had been a very deliberate ploy (which seemed to be too much effort to go through to trick him), then they weren't thinking about taking him down. Not all of them anyway.
"He's new," Kendal offered as an explanation, eyeing the other side of the alley with narrowed eyes. "And we obviously didn't explain this very well to him." She shook her head, her lips pursed.
Or, as Helval had said, he hadn't been listening in the first place. The new person might have just heard 'xeno', his description, and then ignored everything else as 'unnecessary information'.
There were three people here, and he hadn't heard a fourth, so where was Nillos? Unless there was a reason why they had to get a new person in their team.
Kendal leaned back on the wall, and peered at Shodin. "You don't look very kidnapped."
Shodin blinked at her, his head slightly tilted. "I wasn't."
Marland had taken him off the streets and then locked him up in his own home. ...Yeah, it sounded like he'd kidnapped him. But he wasn't going to attempt to explain that now, or else Shodin would have more questions - he probably already had enough just from these last five minutes.
Kendal's eyes flicked to their bandages, her lips twitching. "That's obvious."
Marland's ears flicked down at that before flicking up again. Just because they'd bandaged each other, that didn't mean that one wasn't kidnapped.
She glanced between them, before she shook her head, a smile curling her lips. "I'd ask, but I know how tight-lipped Marland can be." Ask what exactly? Marland had an idea what the question was, but Kendal was another person who didn’t act like he expected them to. He didn’t understand the way she was smiling either.
Shodin blinked again at her statement, his brow furrowing more. Probably surprised at her saying 'tight-lipped'. Maybe. He should really stop assuming what Shodin was thinking. But if he was right, Marland could understand why - Pai had pointed out that he had been a lot more talkative since he'd first met Shodin, and Shodin probably thought that that was normal. It wasn't. It really, really wasn't.
Seeing that, Kendal's eyebrows rose. "Now you're making me really curious. Hmm." She looked between them again, before she said, "There's a police investigation on you right now - they don't have anything on you apart from what you look like, but still, you should keep low in the meantime."
Marland tilted his head down, looking at her from the top of his eyes, ears flicked forward; it was his version of one raised eyebrow.
She sighed, as she held her fingers to her forehead. "Yeah, I know that's pretty hard for you, but there'll be eventually be another xeno that they have to find and that'll take their attention away from you - just as long as you don't attract their attention again."
He hadn't done anything on purpose though, the last couple of times he'd been out - the first offense had been someone he’d taken too long to find and then he took Shodin home, and then for the second one, he'd been trying to get to another xeno. He hadn’t set out to do them when he had went out!
Straightening slowly out from his defensive stance, Marland nodded, one ear going to the side before it went up again. "Yeah, thanks." He wasn't on the noticeboard. Yet.
She flapped a dismissive hand at him. "No problem." She pulled back the cuff of her jacket to look at her watch. "We should get going now." She nodded to Shodin. "You need a hair tie, and you'll also need a jacket. Go nag 'im to get them for you." With that, Kendal's team left, the two behind them sounding like Helval was dragging the new guy away, muttering under her breath.
There was a brief silence after they left. Marland just wanted to squeeze his eyes shut and cover his face with a hand. It had definitely gone better than he'd expected it to but he always felt drained after dealing with Kendal's team. They were sometimes like a force of nature that blew in, spun things around so nothing was in its proper place, before they breezed out again. You never quite knew how things were going to go with them.
"Are they...friends?"
And if Kendal heard that question, she would have been laughing so hard at that. They weren't friends, but they didn't try to kill him on sight, were friendly enough to him, so that was enough for Marland. Though... His eyes slid to Shodin. It had been enough for Marland, but now it seemed to be a bit different now. Not that he wanted friendship with Shodin, but it had been the expectancy of well, expecting more from him when he thought Shodin hadn't wanted the chocolate.
"No," he said, as he shook his head. "They're other hunters."
"Hmm." Shodin continued to look curiously down the alley. "So, they also hunt down xeni, like you do?"
Marland nodded, resigned to the questions already.
"In a team."
Marland's ears flicked down. Maybe he should have expected that. But if he had, then Shodin would have asked something else anyway. "Yeah." He waited, expecting - no. Marland took a deep breath and just waited to see what Shodin would ask.
And Shodin didn't say anything else and just kept looking down the alley. He then shook his head and looked back at Marland. "So...I need a hair tie and 'jackets'?" Shodin ran a hand through his hair. It didn't go through smoothly and he had to tug to get his hand out, wincing slightly. "I think I do, as well as a brush." He swept his hair behind his ears. "'Jackets'?"
Marland shrugged with his wings. "Warmer version of a shirt." It was the best thing he could come up with as he considered what else Shodin would need. His ears flicked down. It probably would have been good if he'd asked Kendal - she knew what humans needed better than he ever would. She would have answered him - after she'd picked her jaw up from the floor.
"Ah, all right." There was a small pause. "Should we be going?"
Yeah, they should, but this time, Marland was going to pay more attention to his surroundings.
* * *
Shodin loved the shop. He picked a lot of the packets up -it was the bright ones he picked up first, but it slowly became anything he could get his hands on- squinted at them and held them at every single angle before he asked Marland about them.
And then they got to the sweets aisle.
In hindsight, Marland really should have avoided that. He was tempted to grab Shodin by the scruff of the shirt and drag him away, but that would have brought attention to them, and he wouldn't have wanted that at any point, let alone right then.
Their basket ended up with almost one of each chocolate bar, as well as a few other things that Shodin had liked the look of. And he had enjoyed studying everything they passed.
Marland was extremely glad he always brought a lot more money than what the shopping trip would need out of habit.
They had gotten everything else they needed -as far as Marland could think of- apart from shoes for Shodin, but the pair he had would do him for a while anyway. They'd also gotten a bigger variety in meals, due to, obviously, Shodin's curiosity, but Marland wasn't going to try them - he knew what his body could digest, and he wasn't going to experiment and see what else he could possibly eat and then end up killing himself because of that.
Shodin had been taken in by the self-service machine as well. Well, at least one of them had found it enjoyable, and it had made buying the food interesting and not tedious. Even if the damned thing refused to recognise some of their items. Shodin merely smiled guilelessly at the woman who came to sort it out. She always came in from Shodin's side, practically hiding directly behind him from Marland. By the third time they’d had to call her over, she had begun to make eye-contact with Shodin and had actually flashed a nervous smile at Marland when he walked away. She had looked away before Marland had realised what had happened, and she was gone before he could react to that.
Not that he knew how he could react to that. His approximation of a human smile looked a lot like he was baring his teeth threateningly at the person. If he smiled in the way that felt natural, it looked like he'd cocked his head to the side in confusion - and was baring his teeth threateningly. So he just didn't smile. It was easier that way; he didn't have to explain the action. Not that he'd felt the need to smile often either, so that didn't matter.
Their arms laden with shopping, they headed back out of the shop. It was weird for Marland to have so many bags, but they surprisingly didn't grate on his nerves as he thought they would. It was probably because their combined weight dragged each other down, keeping the others around it in check.
Shodin had gotten the bag with the sweets in it. Marland wasn't sure if that had been a good idea on his part to let him carry it; Shodin had been continually peeking in the bag before they'd even left the shop, and he could see the intense curious look in his eyes again.
"Try them when you get home," Marland grumbled as Shodin peeked again. They were spending too much time out in the open and Marland felt vulnerable, his wings bunched up close and his ears were constantly on the move, on the lookout for anything that sounded out of place.
Shodin chuckled, ducking his head as he lowered the bag. "My apologies."
The crackle of the bags didn't completely cover the sound of scrabbling claws on the pavement. It was group of something, but how many, Marland couldn't tell. Not accurately anyway. There were at least more than...three, and whatever they were, they were headed straight for Marland and Shodin. Fucking hell, you had to be kidding. The last time he'd just finished shopping, he'd heard xeni as well.
Growling, Marland glared at where the xeni would appear from if they did come straight for them. They could run, go straight back home, let another hunter -or group of hunters- deal with them. But Marland didn't know if there were any other hunters in the area. Kendal's team, maybe, but they had a van, so they could be anywhere by now. And it wasn't like he had anyone's contact details or a phone to call them with.
Shit.
"Shodin," he said as he leaned his bags on the closest wall. The group was getting closer and closer to them too quickly. "Stay here and look after the bags - I'll be back in a bit." They sounded small, and hopefully there wouldn't be anything too surprising about them.
"Marland...?" Shodin watched him put the bags down, his eyebrows drawn together as his lips pursed. "What is it?"
"Xeni." He'd made it two steps away before Shodin's hand clasped around his wrist. Marland tried to pull away out of instinct but Shodin wouldn’t let go.
"I'm coming-"
He bared his teeth, his ears flattening and wings arching. "You're not." Dammit, every second he wasted-! He tried to jerk his hand back but Shodin had it in a tight grip.
Shodin's eyes blazed and he glared at Marland. "You'll be hurt again!"
He snorted at that. "No-one'll care."
Shodin sighed harshly, and then yanked him back a step. It was only by beating his wings Marland was able to keep his balance. "I would. And I know a few other people who would as well."
Marland blinked at him. How could he? Shodin barely knew anyone.
"I want to help."
And then it was too late. What skidded around the corner, Marland narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth at it, his wings flexing. It was the xeno that he'd been hunting when he first found Shodin. It was small and cat-like, only about shin-level. Its short fur was completely black, but even Shodin would be able to see it because its eyes glowed blue, whether it was in the light or dark. It had three horns jutting out, pointing forwards, one from the centre of its forehead and one just below each of its ears.
And then five more padded into view, their long tails swishing side to side.
Six. Six altogether. The last Marland had seen, there were only three. Shit. Had they bred? Or did they have another way of duplicating themselves? There didn't seem to be that much size difference between them, and Marland couldn't really tell them apart either, other than one had a chewed up ear and another seemed to have longer hair than the rest.
Even if they could have ran, Marland didn't want to. The xeni had been dangerous enough as it was when there was only been three of them, and they'd proven that their numbers could increase drastically in the space of a few days. If he didn't get them now, they'd be harder to deal with later on.
Like last time, they started raising their front paws alternatively, all in sync with each other. Marland growled at them, his flames bursting to his hand with a quick thought. It didn't deter them, but it did make their display falter. The xeni backed up a few steps, heads switching between watching the flame and watching Marland properly. If they were distracted by it...
Marland flung the fireball above their heads.
Three xeni watched it, their heads arcing up, while the other three continued to keep their eyes on Marland. No signal; maybe it was a hierarchy, or they were telepathic in some way.
And without another signal, three of them -two from the end of the line, and one from the centre- charged towards Marland and Shodin, their mouths wide, their teeth glistening in the dim light.
Shit.
Marland took out one with a direct fireball to the head, its brain and blood coating one wall in a thick spray. He missed the other; his magic clipped its leg, making it stumble, but it wasn’t enough to make it stop completely. The third -
Got taken out another blast of hissing magic that definitely didn't come from him, the sudden change in light making Marland snarl and take a step back.
He shook his head, the bright spots in his vision making him move his head left and right to make sure he didn't have any blind spots. Marland kept one ear to the rest of the group, while one ear twisted around him, just in case there was an ambush. He couldn't hear anything, but that didn't make him feel more relaxed.
There was another flash, this time not as bright or as loud as the one before it, and there was a shriek of pain and then a small wet thump. Marland could hear the claws of the other two as they scrambled to get away. He called his magic to his hands, and threw them as soon as they formed.
Marland heard one xeno crash into the ground, while he missed the other one. Guessing what would happen again, Marland shielded his head with his wings and heard another bark of pain before it stopped.
Peering through narrowed eyelids, Marland tested if he could see. His eyes had adjusted back again, so the world was still on the bright side, but it wasn't painful. The air stank of blood; his snout wrinkled at the smell.
Surveying the area around him, Marland could see that two of the xeni were still alive. One was struggling to its feet, its three legs unable to support it well enough before it collapsed again, while the one that had been trying to run away had a large chunk of its haunch burned off.
His ears completely flat, Marland made his way over to the first one. The xeno growled, its ears just as flat, its teeth bared as it tried to stand again. It once again didn't get very far before it fell back down again. This time, Marland caught it by the horns before it hit the ground and twisted sharply. There was a loud crack and the xeno stopped moving.
The last xeno was on its feet when Marland turned to it, but it wasn't much better - as soon as a back leg touched the ground, it hopped, its tail whipping back and forth. Marland called to his fire to him and blasted right through it.
Looking away from the carnage, Marland looked at Shodin's wide eyes as he leaned heavily on the wall, shivering. He was panting hard and his hand clutched tightly on his shoulder.
Panicking. His ears still twisting around, Marland tried to find the person who had helped him, but he couldn't hear anyone else apart from the two of them. It made him nervous - were they just lying in wait until they got a clear shot of him?
As Marland approached him, Shodin's eyes snapped to him before they fell away. Marland stopped his ears from flicking down, but he did slow down. He'd been wrong in his assumptions about Shodin before, so maybe he'd be wrong again this time.
Slowly, a strained smile appeared on Shodin's face, as he looked back at Marland. "I told you that if you were partnered up with someone, you wouldn't get hurt." His voice was shaky, a little breathless.
He hadn't exactly 'partnered up' with someone though.
"So, that's what 'magic' feels like?" Shodin stared at his left hand as he continually clenched and then relaxed it. It made it really obvious the tremors running through him.
What? Marland reviewed what had happened in the fight. Just before the xeno had been able to land on him, there had been a bright flash of light. And…when he'd seen Puzz use magic, it had been a bright light.
"You...did that?" Not Puzz? He really shouldn't even be asking if it was Puzz, because it was pretty damn obvious that it wasn't. And after Shodin had been in a fight, Puzz hadn't come out. That was...surprising.
A slightly jerky nod.
Marland regarded him closely. Shodin's breathing had calmed down somewhat, but his hand was still tightly grasped on his shoulder. He waited to see if Shodin would offer to partner up again.
"What does it feel like to you?"
One ear flicked down to the side before it went back up again. "...Magic?" He hoped Shodin was asking about magic. He couldn't think of what else Shodin could be asking.
"Yes."
That...was a hard question to answer. Both of Marland's ears went down to the side as he thought. "Magic to me feels like...energy inside of me, that I can call and it'll come to me." He was starting to say what he did to cast his magic, but they were all intertwined anyway. And he hadn't really thought about what his magic felt like.
Shodin nodded to show that he'd heard. He leaned heavier on the wall, taking in deep breaths. Marland really didn't know what else to say.
"That's what it feels like to me also." Shodin sounded faint. And they should really get back home before something else happened, like they were seen or they came across another group of xeni.
Marland reached for his DT around his neck and pressed the button. That done he said, "There's some people coming-" unless Nav had fallen asleep "-in a van - I'm going to hide. Say that you're picking the money up for me if I don't come out soon after they arrive."
Shodin blinked at him, straightening up from the wall, before he nodded. Good.
He walked away, down the street a little before he hid in a stairwell. He would have loved to have hidden behind the recycling bins, but the lighting was wrong, where his shadow would have been really obvious. That, and he didn't know what direction they would be coming from.
Soon enough, the rumble of an engine could be easily heard in the quiet street. Shodin's breathing had started to calm by that point as well.
The van stopped right by the corpses. There was a small pause and then Marland could hear the electric window winding down. "...Hey?" That was Nav's voice. At least he'd learned to not get out straight away.
"Ah, hello." There was a brief pause. "I'm picking the money up for Marland?"
His ears twitched and he snorted. He should probably get out now. Marland started to get out of the stairwell.
"Wait, you’re picking - hey, Laris, I thought you said-" And that was Nav being hit with a...newspaper? It sounded like it; whatever had been used rustled when it hit Nav. He couldn't see them because the headlights were in his eyes. "Oi!"
"An' you're not payin' attention."
"I wa - oh, there's Marland." That earned him another thwack of the newspaper and a grumble from Laris.
Laris killed the lights and Marland winced at the sudden change, hearing the pair leave the van. He caught the scent of coffee before the doors slammed shut.
"Hey, Marland."
He nodded at both of them in greeting.
"So who're you?"
Shodin blinked at Laris' question. "Ah, sorry - I'm Shodin."
"Laris," he introduced himself as he started to take a proper look at the xeni. "That's Nav."
Nav waved, his other hand jammed in a pocket. "Heya."
Laris shook his head at the xeni before Marland could say anything. "Fuck. Been seein' these all over the place recently."
Marland froze. He had? So, it wasn't just because he'd let them get away the last time, or was it because he'd let them get away? It had been a few days now since he'd last seen them.
"Biggest group I've seen though - the others were usually 'bout three or four."
Straightening up with a grunt, Laris walked over to Marland and handed him another envelope. Marland nodded to him when he got it, and he went over to Shodin.
"You gonna be all right?"
What? When Marland looked over his shoulder, Laris was staring at Shodin as he was putting on his gloves.
Shodin nodded, a small smile on his lips. "I will be, don't worry."
Laris grunted, then turned back to his work. Nav looked at Shodin thoughtfully before he crouched over a corpse.
Marland picked up his bags and then glanced at Shodin, who looked a lot calmer now. Shodin tilted his head to the side, lips smiling. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah." They walked past Laris and Nav on their way out, and Shodin waved to them. Nav waved back while Laris just inclined his head.
Like last time, Nav started whispering soon after they'd left.
"He really doesn't talk much, does he?"
A grunt. "Last time was Marland bein' pretty fuckin' talkative."
"...Wow."
Marland's ears twitched at that. He couldn't remember what he'd said then - had he really said that much?
Shodin's eyes were distant as they walked along, but the longer nothing happened, the more that look faded. "Marland...?"
He turned an ear towards him.
"So that is what happens when you're hunting?"
Right. Marland should have known Shodin would have been asking questions soon again; it meant he was back to normal again.
Marland nodded. He caught Shodin staring at his neck. He felt a little awkward, his ears going down, but then Shodin looked back up at him, curiosity beginning to shine behind his eyes again.
"It's a DT," Marland explained before he could ask. But that was him assuming again, wasn't it? "I don't know what it stands for though." It probably had some technical name that no-one could pronounce.
"Ah, all right," Shodin said as he nodded. "And they..." -Shodin waved an arm behind them- "They take away the xeni?"
"Yeah. We don't know if their bodies'll still affect people or stuff around them even after they've died, so they need to be taken care of." Marland paused, his snout wrinkling. "That, and the smell." The air was already a lot clearer than where they'd been.
Shodin chuckled at that. "Yes, I suppose that alone would be enough to need their services." They were quiet for another minute.
"What do they do with the bodies?"
Marland blinked, and then looked back at him.
"What do they do with the bodies?" Shodin repeated, his wrists moving in such a way that the bags swung a little bit more. He looked more relaxed, but the movements weren’t completely natural and were still a little stiff.
He opened his mouth, but then closed it again. What did they do with the bodies? He'd never asked, had never wondered what they did with them. He just hunted, killed xeni, and then called it in. He'd never put in much thought about what happened after. "Dunno."
Shodin just smiled, acknowledging that he couldn't answer everything. The next time he asked a question was a few minutes later, when Marland was opening the street door.
"How do they pay you?"
Marland looked at Shodin blankly over his shoulder as the key slotted in. He'd seen - right. Just because he'd seen, didn't mean he knew what that meant. "Money. It's in the envelope Laris gave me."
Shodin's eyes flicked to the pocket the money was in, stayed there for a few seconds, before he looked back up at Marland. "Do they pay you per…xeni, or is it just every time you hunt?"
And that was another blank, something else that Marland hadn't thought about. He'd never counted the money when he got it; it was enough to live on for a few days, and that was all he really needed. Laris just always had an envelope when he called him so...
"Every time I hunt, I think."
They made their way up the stairs and Shodin peered down the middle of the staircase, with one hand braced against the banister, his hair swinging free while Marland opened his door.
Once the lights were on, they unpacked the bags, Shodin calling out questions to double-check were everything went. It didn't take long, and soon enough, everything was packed away.
Marland turned to Shodin after he had closed a cupboard door - Shodin was leaning on the back of the couch, his arms lightly crossed and a foot swung back and forth to a slow beat.
Shodin hadn't peeked again at the bag of sweets throughout the entire time they'd been walking back, or while they'd putting the stuff away either. The questions had been normal, but not asked as quickly as they usually were. It worried Marland a little.
The foot tapping slowed down, and Shodin looked up at Marland. "I'm...hungry again," he admitted, sheepish, one corner of his mouth coming up in a smile.
Yeah, he really could never predict Shodin in any kind of way. Marland indicated the kitchen with a tilt of his head. "Half the food's yours anyway." More than half. He wondered if Shodin would take notes on what he liked and what he didn't, because he couldn't really think how else Shodin could to keep track of it all. Especially when Shodin started on the other half he hadn't bought from the shop.
While Shodin rifled through the fridge, Marland went back to his room to keep the envelope in a better place. When he got out, Shodin had a fairly small packet with green packaging in his hands and was looking at it from all angles again. He looked up when Marland got closer to him. "This is the chicken, right?"
He nodded, peering at the picture. It wasn't something he'd tried before, so he would get something else.
"Do I put this in the microwave?"
Marland shrugged. "Dunno; what do the instructions say?" It probably wasn’t microwaveable, but it was better to check. He doubted it could be cooked in two minutes.
"’Instructions’?"
"The stuff on the back."
Shodin turned it around, and looked at it, his head tilted to the side and his eyebrows drawn together. He looked back at Marland and shrugged.
Marland blinked, confused. "You can’t-" Oh. Right. Shodin probably used something completely different for letters on his world. "Can you read?"
Shodin peered back down at the packet, a look of concentration on his face. "Hmm, I don't think so."
And there was Shodin not reacting to something again that Marland expected him to. Not being able to read would probably get frustrating, but that was Marland assuming yet again, and Shodin had been fine dealing with life on Torpin already. ...It just meant he got to direct more questions to Marland compared to if he was able to read. Marland probably wouldn't have noticed a difference.
He walked over to where Shodin was and looked at it where Shodin was holding it up. "’Preheated oven, two-hundred degrees, twenty minutes’," he read aloud. Seemed simple enough. Shodin shifted beneath him, staring at the text.
"How...?"
Marland underlined what he'd read with a finger. It wouldn't mean much, but Shodin might have an interest in learning how to read. He had no idea how to teach Shodin how to read though - he couldn’t remember how Wendil had taught him.
Shodin stared at it for a few seconds, his head tilting further before he looked back up at him. "Okay."
It didn't take them long to set everything up, and then Shodin watched the chicken through the glass while Marland was waiting for his own food to finish heating in the microwave.
Shodin stepped away from the oven, and went to wait next to Marland. They stood there until the microwave dinged. It was when Marland had taken out his food when Shodin spoke.
"So, is magic normal here?"
Marland shook his head. "Humans can't do magic here - only xeni can." There were rumours that items that came through portals could help a human cast magic, but Marland had never seen them. It would have been a big thing if that had actually happened. It did make sense though - if some xeni could use magic, then there had to be some items that came through that could be used by people who didn’t have magic themselves.
Shodin hummed, and brought up his hand to stare at it. He took a few deep breaths, still staring at his hand. Marland wondered what he was doing as he watched him. Just as he'd finished thinking that, Shodin's palm started glowing white. It wasn't abrupt, more like someone had very slowly turned on a light with a dimmer switch. It was at least gradual enough that it didn't make Marland's eyes smart. It was only some additional brightness to the well-lit room anyway.
Then Shodin's breath stuttered and he clenched his hand tight, the light winking out. Huh. He couldn't cast for very long, and Marland couldn't figure out what exactly something like that could be used for, apart from illuminating something.
Shodin suddenly stumbled, his legs collapsing beneath him, and Marland had to lift his plate sharply to make sure Shodin didn't end up wearing the food. Shodin ended up leaning on Marland's arm that he'd been able to get up just in time.
Uh...
His ears flat and his wings unfurled for balance, Marland stared at Shodin, wanting to pull away but he had a feeling if he had, Shodin would just fall straight to the floor. He shouldn't try doing any more magic any time soon - or maybe ever, if he ended up like that every single time.
"Shodin...?" he asked when Shodin hadn’t moved for a few seconds. It felt weird having this amount of contact with someone for this long.
His hands braced on Marland’s arm, Shodin unsteadily straightened himself out. "Ah, um, my apologies," he said breathlessly, wiping his hair away from his face. He was very pale, his eyes extremely wide, while he was also still gasping for breath. Shodin swallowed loudly a couple of times, before he gently pushed himself away from Marland. As soon as he let go, Shodin's hand went around his own shoulder, his fingers digging in tightly as he leaned back on the table.
Marland watched him uncertainly, unsure about what he could do. What exactly had happened?
Shodin was shaking badly, like he was cold. He bit his lip, kept his head down, and didn't look up at Marland.
"…What's wrong?"
Shodin shook his head. "It's… It's nothing." He still didn't look up.
Marland snorted, tilting his head forward. And that was probably the biggest lie Shodin had said in the little time that Marland knew him. He growled at the back of his throat, frustrated at his utter lack of knowledge of what to do or say.
"I'm fine, really," Shodin tried to reassure him, as he moved to one of the chairs by the kitchen table. He sat down heavily on it after he pulled it away from the table with a foot. "I was just startled."
Marland continued to watch him, completely unconvinced. He knew what startled was, and that wasn't it. Maybe there was a slight overlap, but that overlap was tiny.
They stared at each other for a while. Slowly, bit by bit, Shodin seemed to calm down, the shaking faded, and his breath became easier and more even.
"...You don't believe me, do you?"
Marland snorted, rolling his head a little bit. "No." Anyone would have known that something was wrong!
Shodin winced, and attempted to run a hand through his hair. He couldn't, not easily, not with his right hand still on his shoulder, blocking his left arm. Shodin stiffly let go of his arm, and he kept forming and loosening a fist after he did.
"When I used the magic… I suddenly felt…" Shodin shook his head, and his hand didn't go to where Marland thought it would when it started moving - it went shakily to hover over his heart, not his shoulder. It clenched back into a fist before it made contact, and Shodin took a sharp breath, and jerked his hand away. "I suddenly didn't want to do it because…because I was absolutely terrified something bad was going to happen."
"Something...bad." That was a weird reaction to have. Normally it was the people who didn’t have magic that reacted like that. So, was he scared of himself, or was it the magic? Which…kinda meant the same thing.
Shodin nodded, and then shrugged. "I don't really know how else to put it, or how I can narrow down that feeling." He hunched his shoulders, still not looking at him. "It felt as if - if I used my magic, I would lose something."
Marland regarded him closely, his ears pricked forward. "Your memories?"
"Wh..." Shodin trailed off, his eyes going distant. "Maybe?" He leaned on the back of the chair, sighing shakily. "It’s important to me, that I know for certain."
Marland tilted his head to the side, one ear flicking down before coming up again. "So, if you use your magic, you think you're going to lose your memories." It sounded like a big payment for using magic in Marland's opinion, but there would be a lot of people who would consider that to be nothing if they were able to do that. But if the memory taking got so far, wouldn’t the person forget they could do magic? Or was that exactly what had happened to Shodin?
"I... I'm not sure." Shodin shook his head. "It may not be that for definite. It could be the opposite: if I use my magic, I'll remember."
Marland looked at him doubtfully. That didn't seem to go with 'losing something', unless it was innocence and naïvety. Marland tried to imagine what Shodin would be like if he was more experienced about the world, wasn't so curious. He snorted. It was hard, because that was just...not Shodin. Marland's ears twitched and his eyes narrowed at Shodin when he realised what he was trying to say.
"You're going to do magic, on the chance you might get your memories back." All the while, having a - a breakdown. Marland jerked his head away, his ears down, wondering about the harsh tone he'd just used - if he'd lost his memories, he would have been doing the same, he knew it.
Shodin inclined his head. "That, yes, but also because you need a partner."
Marland bared his teeth at him, his wings extending some more. "I do not." He was talking about this again?
Shodin huffed as he crossed his arms and looked up at him, glaring. "You need someone who watches your back, just in case."
"I am fine hunting by myself." He'd done it all these years without having too many problems.
Shodin waved an arm towards Marland's bandage. "That says otherwise."
He ignored the gesture. "I don't need to work with someone." He made enough money to live on, and when he was injured, he had enough saved until the next time he was able to hunt. Working with someone wouldn't make a difference and was just too much effort.
"Then what would have happened if I hadn't been there today?"
"I wouldn't have been so trapped," he snapped, "so I would have stood a better chance anyway,"
Shodin paused, wavering, before he shook his head and tried again. "If their way hadn't been blocked the way that it was, they could have come at you from all sides, Marland," he said quietly.
And Marland did know that, but now it seemed like he was just arguing for the sake of arguing. He growled.
"You could have died today."
Marland rolled his head, snorting. "I could have died a long time ago." He knew that. He knew he was living on a day-to-day basis, and sometimes, he wondered what the point was in continuing if he was going to end up having a brutal, bloody death anyway. Those moments didn't last long, and they were quickly replaced by thoughts of just living until the next day, and then the next, until whatever day he didn't.
They glared at each other, neither of them willing to back down. It was Marland who looked away first, his wings folding back in at the same time. "You don't know how to control your magic right now anyway," he grumbled, his ears twitching.
Shodin relaxed, a relieved smile surfacing. "But the only way I'll learn is through practicing, correct?"
"Not here," Marland said hastily. Whatever Shodin had done, it wasn't something he wanted to test inside the flat. But…with the police on the lookout for him, where exactly could they go?
Shodin chuckled. "I doubt that I would get that far - my magic is barely formed before I begin to have those feelings."
"But…you did it in the fight." And he hadn't reacted so badly back then when he’d done more, compared to how he had reacted now, when he’d done less.
"I did," Shodin mused, his pinky tapping on the table. "I wasn't thinking then; I merely reacted. There wasn't enough time for me to think or feel, and afterwards, I was distracted from that as well waiting for…Laris and Nav."
Marland tilted his head to the side, one ear following. "So, the only way you can do magic properly is if you don't think about it?"
After a pause, Shodin nodded. "It seems like it's instinctual."
Or very well-learned. Marland sent him a flat look. "I'm not fighting you on the off-chance that you can use magic and learn from that." Especially considering the damage Shodin could accidently do if he was panicked enough. It could start as a spar, but it might not end as one.
At that, Shodin laughed, one corner of his mouth lifting up. "I wasn't going to suggest that. I think I would prefer to practice just attempting to use magic for the moment. Until I can do that without panicking, I won't try anything more complicated."
That made sense. Marland doubted Shodin would get very far until he had to stop, and unless something really unexpected happened, nothing should make Shodin panic. If it did, Puzz would take over anyway, and he seemed to have a lot more control over their magic. Although…
"What happened to Puzz?"
Shodin blinked, then sat there quietly, his brow creasing. "I'm not honestly sure," he said slowly. "I don't think I felt him when I was in danger, but my attention was elsewhere, obviously."
That was weird. Marland would have expected Puzz to have taken control straight away as soon as he realised that Shodin was in danger. …Unless Puzz thought Shodin would have been all right since Marland was there. Or maybe Puzz wasn't as aware of what was happening to Shodin as he thought.
Marland sighed. There were too many options again. They probably wouldn't know even if they asked Puzz.
"You can't feel him now, then?"
Shodin frowned, his eyes to the floor. "No… I don't think I - ah, yes, I can." He became quiet again, mouthing something. While Shodin was busy, Marland glanced at the clock. And the chicken had been in some five minutes too long.
Marland took it out and put it on a plate. He set it on the table, but not right next to Shodin, in case he -or Puzz- ended up toppling it over. And if Shodin's food was ready, that meant his had been sitting out for too long.
He poked at his food with a fork. It was still steaming slightly, so it was still hot. He thought about it for a second, then started eating. It had been fine for him to eat a couple of minutes ago; it being a little bit cold wouldn't affect him too badly.
Shodin took in a deep breath as Marland was about halfway done. Straightening up, Shodin put a hand to his forehead, looking bemused.
"That was certainly an…interesting experience."
Marland looked at him, his ears turned towards him. Anything with Puzz had to be weird.
"It was like I was trying to catch something when I don't know what it looks like, I can't see it, and it…feels like I’m trying to catch air," Shodin said as he slid the plate towards himself.
That did sound awkward.
"I'm fairly sure he was avoiding me." How the hell did you avoid someone when you shared the same head? Shodin quirked a smile at him. "I tried calling out to him, but he wouldn't answer, and I knew that he was there."
One of Marland's wings twitched. That didn't make a lot of sense to him, but nothing ever did when it came to Shodin or Puzz.
As Shodin chewed the chicken, the knife in his hand waved from side to side. He never seemed to be able to keep his fingers still, Marland thought with a huff.
"I think…what Paizinel said to him might have had something to do with it."
What Paizinel said? Marland tried to remember what she'd said to Puzz. She'd mostly panicked him, and he'd left after… Oh. He'd retreated after Pai had asked him if Shodin knew him. If Puzz had reacted like that, then whatever relationship he and Shodin had together, it was normal for both of them, before the memory problems. "Because you don't remember him?"
Shodin shrugged. "I don't know." He chewed slowly, the knife making circles in the air. "I think so. He'd expected me to know him, and when he realised that I didn't..."
He hid and hadn't said a thing since.
"I guess we…were? are? very close."
Marland tilted his head forward. If you shared the same head and could hear the thoughts of the other person, you had to be in one way or another.
Shodin's movements slowed again, his eyes going distant. It was when that look stayed constant after a couple of seconds that Marland realised he was trying to talk to Puzz again. At least he'd put the cutlery down before he'd started.
Marland dumped the packet in the bin when he finished with it, and quickly cleaned the plate as well. Shodin hadn't moved. Cocking his head to the side, he considered his options: keep waiting, or do something. There wasn't any point in waiting, especially since he doubted Shodin would get an answer this time either.
So, was there anything he could do? He wasn't going to kill his brain any more with the bad films, so, what else? …When was the last time he'd taken a shower? Marland glanced down at his trousers. He hadn't really looked at it properly when he had put it on, and it had been a number of days since he'd used a different pair. The top of it was stained with dried droplets of his blood, while the bottom half was covered in crusted mud.
His ears flicked down -had he been that distracted?- Marland headed to his bedroom to get a new change of clothes, and then went to the bathroom.
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