Searching [Chapter 8]
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 violence and death.
*_____* Yessss at this chapter's word count! \o/
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 4,551
Total word count: 55,709
Status: Work in Progress (reposting, but is complete)
Just what the fuck was he doing? Marland didn't know. He really didn't fucking know. He just - he just wanted to do something with his body, wanted to sink his claws into something, wanted to attack with everything he had.
He didn’t want to think.
What the fucking hell was up with him? Why the fucking hell did he care so much that Shodin would be leaving? He knew Shodin wouldn't stay with him for long, one way or another. That he'd either leave or die soon enough. Looked like Shodin was leaving now.
He squashed down the tiny relief that he felt.
It was marginally better than being dead.
Either way, Shodin wouldn't be seeing him again after he was gone so it didn't really matter. Marland snarled, whirling around, baring his teeth at no-one, his wings outspread. He just wanted to stomp as he paced, for whatever fucking reason, and for whatever it could actually do. Which was nothing. There wasn't anything he could do.
He vibrated with rage and punching the wall did absolutely nothing for him. It wasn't enough. He needed more of a challenge, something that would make him work for it, rather than a stationary target.
He got his wish two seconds later when he felt something stabbing into his wings.
Snarling, he flung whatever-it-was away, and he could feel claws catching in his vulnerable skin before it ripped free. He heard something impact on the wall with a yelp. Flapping his wings, Marland could tell that they were fine, except for the slight burning sensation.
And it was those fucking cat xeni again.
He snarled at them -four, this time. Were they overrunning the city now? Just how many of them were there?- calling his fire to his hand and throwing it before one could take another step towards him. They dodged agilely out the way, and then started stalking towards him, their paws quick and light.
Fucking - shitting - he wanted something bigger to fight. What the fuck was he supposed to do with these? Stand on them?
One of the cat xeni lunged forward, hopping back as he kicked out at it - and he nearly lost his balance because of that stupid move. He didn't want to use his magic, but if he wanted to attack these physically, he'd have to go on all fours, and that was so incredibly fucking stupid, he may as well get on the ground, his stomach exposed for them, and let them eat him alive.
He called the magic to his hand, but kept it small and hidden from view, turning his hand away. He wouldn't need that much more to turn it into fully blown flames, just a bit of concentration and a flick of the wrist.
The next time they came at him, two of them lunged at him together, the other two staying back. One of them jumped up at him, and he swung at it, catching it on the neck, but not strongly enough, only leaving trails of blood on its skin. The other ducked low, and Marland snarled at it, kicking out, his wings outspread for balance. He still ended up off-balance, but not as badly as before. They backed off immediately, retreating back to the group.
It was the two that had stayed behind previously that instantly raced towards him, and Marland's stomach sank, his heart beating wildly when he realised what they were planning on doing. Wear him down, have a small rest in between, attack in turns. It wasn't going to be a quick fight, but one that would be long and drawn out, Marland being slowly but surely worn into the ground with each successive attack.
But that wasn't - it was exactly like the attack strategy that the other group had used, Marland realised, but they'd been taken out so quickly that they hadn't had a chance to use it properly. Fucking shitting hell.
Right, he'd gotten a fight like he wanted, and now that he knew out what they were planning, fighting them without magic was stupid. He could go be stupid in other ways later.
The magic flared in his hands, but he didn't throw it, just kept it there. Again, one jumped up high, and he got that one in the face. He could feel his claws grating against bone and the smell of burning flesh hit him instantly. Following through with the arc of his arm, the xeno crashed head first into the wall, its body still on fire.
The other one slammed straight into his shin, its horns not puncturing his scales, but it still hurt. Marland snarled at the impact, blasting his magic down, but the xeno had already hopped away, out of reach.
Why the fuck had he holed himself up in an alley again? He only had two places to go, towards them and away from them; but, this was probably better than having a lot of space to manoeuvre: they wouldn't be able to surround him completely this way. Maybe. They could still slip past him here, but he at least still had a wall to his back.
Marland had barely had a chance to breathe before he was attacked again. Fuck, fucking hell. Shit. He continued to chant swearwords in his head as he fought them off, but he missed both of them, not touching either of them.
He was already beginning to breathe hard, all his senses completely focused on the xeni. If he slipped up, he was dead.
They were already learning that it was better to attack him from below - the two had went for his feet, not trying to jump up this time. Again, the other two had barely retreated before the last one sped towards him.
Marland threw his fire, and was just able to catch it on its whipping tail. It retreated straight away, its tail singed, but not burning. But the xeno had still done its job. It wouldn't matter to them if he died right now - okay, it would, but they'd be patient about wearing him down. They were being supported by others, so they could wait, they could take a break in between without worrying.
They were also steadily making him lose ground, one step at a time. If he wasn't careful, they'd either back him into a wall and then keep advancing when he had nowhere to go, or they'd get him to go out in the open, with no protection, and increase the chance of someone seeing him and calling hunters or the police.
When the pair came at him, one of them was behind the other. The one in front lunged to the left while the one behind went to his right. Marland was only able to get a glancing blow on the one on his left, scoring its side and he missed the other one completely. The second xeno rammed into his shin, hard enough to make his foot slip back a couple of inches.
The two had barely retreated before the last one was bounding forward. It dodged his fire, ducking to the side before the fire hit the ground, and then charged at him.
The angle was wrong. It wasn't heading for his shin, not unless it was going to run past him and turn its head. But if it got behind him…
He kicked out at it, his wings flapping.
Movement to the side.
What -
On instinct, Marland called the fire to him, lashing out. He missed, his magic taking a chunk out of the wall and throwing debris into the air.
The xeno that he had been aiming for leaped, its claws out, and landed straight onto his left wing.
Its weight dragged his wing down, but it wasn't enough to topple him - that was when the other half of the pair slammed into his non-abused shin. Snarling, he was able to keep his balance, even with the extra weight making it harder. The last xeno-
Pain in his right wing. It had jumped up and clamped its jaws around the bottom edge of the membrane. His other wing was already starting to burn from carrying the extra weight and-
Fuck!
Marland's leg buckled under him as the only xeno that wasn't on him slammed into the back of his leg. His knee smashed into the ground, and Marland felt the pull of muscles in his ankle as it tried to keep up with the sudden change in angle and the fact that it just couldn't bend that way.
One good thing about it was that it had dislodged the other two. Marland lunged to his right and grabbed a hold of the xeno by a horn, his hand lighting up with magic once more. Still shrieking and twisting in his hand, he flung the xeno at the other one that had been on his wing. He was able to clip it, knocking it over, and Marland felt a small bit of vindictive satisfaction at that before the one behind him jumped on him, its claws scrabbling for proper purchase, hissing directly into his ear. He wasn't able to move his ear out the way fast enough.
Marland tried to snatch it where it was, trying to ignore the feel of blood inside his ear -both as it trickled down, and the sudden throbbing inside it- but the xeno had already pushed itself off. Which meant - Marland extended his wing around him in an instant and was just able to protect himself from getting attacked in the face.
He was too vulnerable on the ground, but now that he was there, they wouldn't let him up again, not easily.
Snarling, he threw a fireball as he twisted around, a wing scraping the ground. He was able to get a direct hit on the chest, and the xeno was sent sprawling a few feet away. Not dead, if the twitching and high pitched whine was any indication, but it would be soon, what with its ribs on display the way that they were. If it didn't die of shock or blood loss, it would definitely die of infection.
Shit!
He shook off the last xeno, and it hopped out the way, hissing, when he tried to grab it. Fucking hell, he'd been too focused on making sure that the last one was dead he'd ignored there was still a living one to deal with.
The xeno's ears suddenly flicked behind it. What -
The world flashed white and he heard the sizzle of burning skin and a bark of pain before it was cut short.
"Marland?"
He snarled, his ears flat, and he bared his teeth. He couldn't get his wings up properly and he could feel all the places that the xeni had scratched and hit him. Why the fucking hell was Shodin here?
"Shit," Shodin breathed. Marland could hear him walking cautiously forward, but for some reason, he was more concerned about where the hell Shodin had picked up the habit of swearing. The world was gradually fading back into its proper colours and brightness with every blink.
"Marland? It's okay. They're dead," Shodin said, his voice quiet and soothing. "It's all right."
Right. Marland would have snorted, but his mouth was busy trying to take in as much air as possible at the one time, and he could already feel the burning sensations around his body start to grow and spread.
Still continuously growling, Marland jerked his head away from Shodin. "'M fine."
He didn't have to be able to see to know that Shodin was raising an eyebrow at him. "So I guess then that isn't all your blood on you and around you?" His voice was an attempt to be dry, but it was too high, said too fast, to not show the thread of worry.
He growled. "You don't have to-"
"Yeah, I do." Sighing, Marland could hear Shodin rub a palm over his head as he crouched down in front of his head. There was a small pause and by that point, Marland's eyesight had returned completely. "C'mon - let's get you home, okay?" Shodin's eyes were worried, his eyebrows drawn in slightly. He didn't bother with the hair that had fallen in front of his face.
Slowly, Marland got up, using his claws in the wall to help him. Shodin stood up and took a step back to give him some space, but it wasn't far enough that he'd have trouble getting to him if Marland's legs couldn't support him.
"Need to call it in," Marland grumbled, still not looking at Shodin. He didn't want to fucking wait for Laris and Nav though, or deal with them. It wasn't like he needed the money or anything either.
Shodin crossed his arms lightly, one finger tapping a quick beat on his arm. "Do we have to wait for them?"
Marland shook his head slowly, feeling like he'd been spun around in circles far too many times. He fumbled with the chain, eventually found the DT, and then pressed the button. Dropping his hand, he started towards the direction of Shodin, squashing down all his thoughts. It didn't fucking matter - it was going to happen and there was no point whining about it. All he wanted to do was sleep.
* * *
Shodin had tried to start conversations with him on the way back home, but Marland ignored him the whole time. There just…wasn't any point in talking. Not when Shodin was going to leave; it was better that he got used to not being used to someone being near him again.
-'Why aren't you talking? He's worried.'-
Marland growled, his ears going flat, but he still didn't say anything.
The click of the door closing seemed too loud in the flat. Marland headed straight for his room, pausing only to turn on the light.
He heard a sigh behind him. "Marland, hold on - we need to look at those wounds."
Marland slowed down, his thoughts warring with each other. Shodin didn't have to see to them, but his injuries were in places that would be difficult to reach for him, and, as much as Marland wanted to just go to bed, he knew what could happen if he left them.
A growl constant in his throat, Marland sat down heavily on one of the chairs in the sitting room area. He could hear Shodin moving about behind him, getting the first aid kit, but he didn't turn around to check. At least he could hear properly again, even with the throbbing pain, but he could still move his ear where he wanted it to.
He heard Shodin come over with the basin.
"Marland, do you think you can stretch out your right wing?" Shodin asked gently.
He did it slowly, until his wing was unfurled, but not taut.
"Okay, thank you." Shodin was bordering on using that tone again, the one used for scared animals hiding under a bush. Marland clenched his teeth, just barely cutting off his growl, and dug his claws into the seat.
He heard Shodin sit down on the floor, and felt a warm hand hold his wing just beside where he'd been bitten.
"It's okay," Shodin said softly. That was the sound of the cloth being brought out of the basin and water dripping from it in streams.
His wing twitched at the contact with the water, then shivered as it tried to retract to his back, while Marland didn’t let it. Shodin continued to murmur phrases under his breath with every stroke, and Marland tried to tune him out, just tried to concentrate on keeping his wing out. He turned his head away when Shodin came around the front.
"Hmm. I guess I can't bandage this up," Shodin said, once the cleaning was done, inspecting the wound and the surrounding area closely. That was obvious; they'd end up wasting a ton of bandages, just to wrap it around once around his wing. "So, plasters then?"
Marland grunted.
Shodin got up to get a towel, and after warning him like he usually did, began drying the membrane. There was another soft-spoken warning for the antiseptic, and even then, Marland's wing nearly snapped back at the first touch. The sound of the plastic getting ripped off seemed to echo and enhance the silence. It didn't seem the xeno had bitten right through the membrane, which was good, but they were still fairly deep. A few minutes later, Shodin leaned back, double-checking that everything was sticking well.
As Shodin went to empty the basin, Marland stretched out his other wing. This one had taken more damage, the holes ragged and long, but they were still small. They went through the same processes and once that was done, Shodin cocked his head at Marland's ear. His ear went down at that, and Marland had to concentrate to bring it back up so that Shodin could take a proper look at it.
"This doesn't look bad either," Shodin said, sounding more like he was saying it to himself. "Hmm, I guess the cotton buds would be better for this." Instantly, Marland's ears flattened and he growled at the spike of pain. He didn't want that going in his ears, but the thought of the cloth going in there wasn't much better either. He brought it up again with difficulty, and not just because he didn't want the cotton buds in his ears.
Shodin didn't say anything, waiting.
With his ears twitching up and down over and over again, Marland growled, "Fine. Yeah."
There was a small sound of acknowledgement from Shodin before he stood up to go to the toilet. This was going to be difficult. Marland knew his ears were going to be in constant motion -they already were- at the thought of having something poking in his ear, and if they caught the cotton buds, or somehow made them dig in deeper into his ear…
Marland's ears were flat on his skull when Shodin came back. Constantly shifting and shredding the chair, Marland said through gritted teeth, "You're gonna have to hold my ear in place." Because Shodin, while Marland knew to not try to predict his actions, was polite and would let Marland try and sort out his ears by himself. Which wouldn't work. All of Marland would be trying to get away from something entering his ear, so even if he held his own ear, it wouldn't do that much good.
"Are you sure?"
He growled for an answer, but it was half-hearted. He didn't want it in the first place, but it had to be done. He nodded, wanting to turn his head away, but that was a stupid thing to do now.
"All right." Shodin positioned himself so that Marland could watch him, sitting on the edge of the table and leaning forward. Slowly, Shodin reached forward, and Marland's ear twitched away as soon as Shodin's fingers brushed the tip.
Growling at himself, Marland brought his ear up again. It happened twice more before Marland snapped, "Just grab it." His ear wasn't going to 'calm down' with patience so whatever the hell Shodin was doing, it wouldn't work.
Shodin paused, his hand stilling, before he nodded. He grabbed hold of Marland's ear with two fingers and Marland could feel his blood pulsing under them. His ear tried to flick away again, but Shodin had it in a strong enough hold that it only slipped a little bit before Shodin tightened his grip.
The next couple of minutes were spent futilely trying to keep himself from moving. It didn't work, but Shodin at least kept tugging him back towards him whenever Marland had started to lean too far away. Again, plasters had to be used on his ear, because of the way they were curved; also because there'd be less chance of them falling off whenever Marland moved his ear.
When Shodin was finished, he leaned back on the table, his hands on his knees. "Is that everything?"
Marland ran through where he knew he'd been hurt. It had mostly been his wings that had taken damage, and the rest of it was on his shins but the xeni hadn't broken through the scales there, so he'd only be feeling bruised there, and already was, but bandages and plasters couldn't do anything about that.
He nodded.
"Ah, okay, good." Marland's ears went down at his tone, and he could feel the plasters stopping his ear from curving over so much. Shodin crossed his arms loosely, looked away, and then looked back at him before Marland could think about getting up.
"Marland," he started gently, "just because Balt…knows me, I suppose, that doesn't mean that I'll leave here."
His head snapped up, and he looked at him incredulously, his ears forward. "Why wouldn't you? You've got your life-"
"Maybe," Shodin interrupted, sighing. Shodin's right hand slid up, but only to rest above his elbow. "I may have found my old life, but would I be able to live it?"
Marland's ears went back again. What?
Shodin's mouth twitched up in a small smile. "If I were a…" -Shodin's right hand lifted up to start going in lazy circles- "doctor, then I may know that I am a doctor, but I wouldn't be able to perform the same operations or surgery I was able to before. The same goes for anything else," he said with a shrug. "I could know what profession I used to have, but I wouldn't be able to do them. I would have to learn everything from scratch."
Marland tilted his head down, his ears forward. "So just relearn it then." Since when did Shodin not want to learn?
Shodin laughed at that. "But what if I don't want to?" What? "What if I don't want to do that job?"
Oh. That made sense. Marland shrugged. "You don't even know what you did."
"Hmm," he acknowledged, rubbing the side of his head. "I guess so." Shodin chuckled, his eyes sliding back to him. "Either way, I'm not going to pack my stuff up tomorrow and leave."
Marland's ears went down again and he looked away. He began to ask why, but he cut himself off before he made a sound, his mouth open. Shodin had mostly answered that question and he really did just want to sleep. The pain wasn't so much that he'd need the chocolate, and he was just so tired after all that had happened.
He sighed, with a grumble mixed in. "All right." Shaking his head to clear it, though it didn't do much, he lurched off the chair, his wings flapping slightly. He couldn't feel the plasters on them, though he did feel that he had bits of the chair stuck in his claws. "Night."
"Night," Shodin replied, Puzz echoing him a second later.
Marland made it to his room, flopped onto the bed, and then fell asleep.
* * *
The next couple of days were a little awkward, Marland expecting Shodin to have just disappeared when he woke up. It never happened, but the thought was just constantly there. At some point one day, while Marland was sleeping, Shodin had called Balt.
"We're going to meet up in a couple of days, just to talk."
Marland grunted. "All right." His decision; he couldn't change what Shodin decided to do. He didn't want to have another argument over nothing anyway.
"I was wondering if you wanted to come?"
He blinked, and then glanced over at Shodin over the kitchen table. "What?"
Shodin smiled as he lifted the cup of tea to his lips. "Balt wants to meet with you."
Marland stared at Shodin, his ears alternately going back and then up - his ear had mostly healed, and he couldn't have stopped himself from moving them if he tried anyway. "Why would he wanna do that?"
"You looked after me when I needed help." There was a beat of silence, before Shodin chuckled. "That was his words."
He snorted. That was obvious; in what way had he helped Shodin?
"So, do you want to come?"
He thought it over. If Shodin was fine with xeni, then…maybe Balt was too. But that was a bit of a stretch to make. He had no idea if Balt was like that, though the way that he'd talked to him fairly easily could say that he didn't mind xeni that much. Or maybe he had a lot of contact with xeni.
"When're you meeting him?"
Shodin blinked, opened his mouth, and then winced. "Ah. Twelve, tomorrow."
Marland doubted that they were going to be meeting at midnight. Well, it could have been, seeing how late Balt had been out, but it didn't seem that likely. And Shodin wouldn't have reacted like that if they were meeting during the night.
"I can-"
"'S fine," he interrupted, shaking his head. "I don't want to meet with him right now." If Marland knew better what Balt was like then okay, maybe later if they decided to meet again. But not right now. He just didn't feel comfortable about it. Especially just going out to talk with someone. He wrinkled his snout at that.
"Okay," Shodin said, not pushing him. Shodin put his cup down, and then looked towards the clock. "If I'm meeting him tomorrow, I'm going to have to go to bed early." After clearing away his plate, Shodin wished him goodnight and went to bed.
* * *
Shodin was waiting for him on the couch when Marland left his room the next day. He smile stretched the length of his face, and he lit up when he saw him.
Marland felt a little guilty that he didn't like how happy Shodin looked right then. If Shodin was happy about what he'd heard then maybe…but, he wouldn't just pack up his things like that. And… Marland shook his head. 'He wouldn't forget him if he did' sounded too sappy. So did 'he'd come to visit' - what was he, a pet or something? Ugh.
When Shodin started talking, it was all in a rush, with Shodin interrupting himself and then reordering what had been said. Marland couldn't really get his head around it.
Shodin must have caught on that he'd lost Marland. He laughed, ducking his head and started twirling his hair around a finger. "I should…start at the start?"
Marland snorted. "Whatever's important," he said as he sat down, his ears pricked forward. Shodin would end up going off track anyway, so pretending to be organised wouldn't do them any good.
Shodin smiled softly, eyes going off to the side. "I was a volunteer at where Balt works, but I'd disappeared soon after Balt had begun working there." He laughed, eyes shining. "So much for something that would take years to relearn."
So, he'd just been a volunteer? Marland peered at him, studying him. "Are you going to go there?"
He shook his head. "Not right now; at a later date. They're a little busy at the moment."
Hmph. That was good. "So…" Marland prepared himself. "What else did you talk about?"
Marland wasn't sure how long their conversation lasted, but it was definitely a while.
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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 violence and death.
*_____* Yessss at this chapter's word count! \o/
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 4,551
Total word count: 55,709
Status: Work in Progress (reposting, but is complete)
Just what the fuck was he doing? Marland didn't know. He really didn't fucking know. He just - he just wanted to do something with his body, wanted to sink his claws into something, wanted to attack with everything he had.
He didn’t want to think.
What the fucking hell was up with him? Why the fucking hell did he care so much that Shodin would be leaving? He knew Shodin wouldn't stay with him for long, one way or another. That he'd either leave or die soon enough. Looked like Shodin was leaving now.
He squashed down the tiny relief that he felt.
It was marginally better than being dead.
Either way, Shodin wouldn't be seeing him again after he was gone so it didn't really matter. Marland snarled, whirling around, baring his teeth at no-one, his wings outspread. He just wanted to stomp as he paced, for whatever fucking reason, and for whatever it could actually do. Which was nothing. There wasn't anything he could do.
He vibrated with rage and punching the wall did absolutely nothing for him. It wasn't enough. He needed more of a challenge, something that would make him work for it, rather than a stationary target.
He got his wish two seconds later when he felt something stabbing into his wings.
Snarling, he flung whatever-it-was away, and he could feel claws catching in his vulnerable skin before it ripped free. He heard something impact on the wall with a yelp. Flapping his wings, Marland could tell that they were fine, except for the slight burning sensation.
And it was those fucking cat xeni again.
He snarled at them -four, this time. Were they overrunning the city now? Just how many of them were there?- calling his fire to his hand and throwing it before one could take another step towards him. They dodged agilely out the way, and then started stalking towards him, their paws quick and light.
Fucking - shitting - he wanted something bigger to fight. What the fuck was he supposed to do with these? Stand on them?
One of the cat xeni lunged forward, hopping back as he kicked out at it - and he nearly lost his balance because of that stupid move. He didn't want to use his magic, but if he wanted to attack these physically, he'd have to go on all fours, and that was so incredibly fucking stupid, he may as well get on the ground, his stomach exposed for them, and let them eat him alive.
He called the magic to his hand, but kept it small and hidden from view, turning his hand away. He wouldn't need that much more to turn it into fully blown flames, just a bit of concentration and a flick of the wrist.
The next time they came at him, two of them lunged at him together, the other two staying back. One of them jumped up at him, and he swung at it, catching it on the neck, but not strongly enough, only leaving trails of blood on its skin. The other ducked low, and Marland snarled at it, kicking out, his wings outspread for balance. He still ended up off-balance, but not as badly as before. They backed off immediately, retreating back to the group.
It was the two that had stayed behind previously that instantly raced towards him, and Marland's stomach sank, his heart beating wildly when he realised what they were planning on doing. Wear him down, have a small rest in between, attack in turns. It wasn't going to be a quick fight, but one that would be long and drawn out, Marland being slowly but surely worn into the ground with each successive attack.
But that wasn't - it was exactly like the attack strategy that the other group had used, Marland realised, but they'd been taken out so quickly that they hadn't had a chance to use it properly. Fucking shitting hell.
Right, he'd gotten a fight like he wanted, and now that he knew out what they were planning, fighting them without magic was stupid. He could go be stupid in other ways later.
The magic flared in his hands, but he didn't throw it, just kept it there. Again, one jumped up high, and he got that one in the face. He could feel his claws grating against bone and the smell of burning flesh hit him instantly. Following through with the arc of his arm, the xeno crashed head first into the wall, its body still on fire.
The other one slammed straight into his shin, its horns not puncturing his scales, but it still hurt. Marland snarled at the impact, blasting his magic down, but the xeno had already hopped away, out of reach.
Why the fuck had he holed himself up in an alley again? He only had two places to go, towards them and away from them; but, this was probably better than having a lot of space to manoeuvre: they wouldn't be able to surround him completely this way. Maybe. They could still slip past him here, but he at least still had a wall to his back.
Marland had barely had a chance to breathe before he was attacked again. Fuck, fucking hell. Shit. He continued to chant swearwords in his head as he fought them off, but he missed both of them, not touching either of them.
He was already beginning to breathe hard, all his senses completely focused on the xeni. If he slipped up, he was dead.
They were already learning that it was better to attack him from below - the two had went for his feet, not trying to jump up this time. Again, the other two had barely retreated before the last one sped towards him.
Marland threw his fire, and was just able to catch it on its whipping tail. It retreated straight away, its tail singed, but not burning. But the xeno had still done its job. It wouldn't matter to them if he died right now - okay, it would, but they'd be patient about wearing him down. They were being supported by others, so they could wait, they could take a break in between without worrying.
They were also steadily making him lose ground, one step at a time. If he wasn't careful, they'd either back him into a wall and then keep advancing when he had nowhere to go, or they'd get him to go out in the open, with no protection, and increase the chance of someone seeing him and calling hunters or the police.
When the pair came at him, one of them was behind the other. The one in front lunged to the left while the one behind went to his right. Marland was only able to get a glancing blow on the one on his left, scoring its side and he missed the other one completely. The second xeno rammed into his shin, hard enough to make his foot slip back a couple of inches.
The two had barely retreated before the last one was bounding forward. It dodged his fire, ducking to the side before the fire hit the ground, and then charged at him.
The angle was wrong. It wasn't heading for his shin, not unless it was going to run past him and turn its head. But if it got behind him…
He kicked out at it, his wings flapping.
Movement to the side.
What -
On instinct, Marland called the fire to him, lashing out. He missed, his magic taking a chunk out of the wall and throwing debris into the air.
The xeno that he had been aiming for leaped, its claws out, and landed straight onto his left wing.
Its weight dragged his wing down, but it wasn't enough to topple him - that was when the other half of the pair slammed into his non-abused shin. Snarling, he was able to keep his balance, even with the extra weight making it harder. The last xeno-
Pain in his right wing. It had jumped up and clamped its jaws around the bottom edge of the membrane. His other wing was already starting to burn from carrying the extra weight and-
Fuck!
Marland's leg buckled under him as the only xeno that wasn't on him slammed into the back of his leg. His knee smashed into the ground, and Marland felt the pull of muscles in his ankle as it tried to keep up with the sudden change in angle and the fact that it just couldn't bend that way.
One good thing about it was that it had dislodged the other two. Marland lunged to his right and grabbed a hold of the xeno by a horn, his hand lighting up with magic once more. Still shrieking and twisting in his hand, he flung the xeno at the other one that had been on his wing. He was able to clip it, knocking it over, and Marland felt a small bit of vindictive satisfaction at that before the one behind him jumped on him, its claws scrabbling for proper purchase, hissing directly into his ear. He wasn't able to move his ear out the way fast enough.
Marland tried to snatch it where it was, trying to ignore the feel of blood inside his ear -both as it trickled down, and the sudden throbbing inside it- but the xeno had already pushed itself off. Which meant - Marland extended his wing around him in an instant and was just able to protect himself from getting attacked in the face.
He was too vulnerable on the ground, but now that he was there, they wouldn't let him up again, not easily.
Snarling, he threw a fireball as he twisted around, a wing scraping the ground. He was able to get a direct hit on the chest, and the xeno was sent sprawling a few feet away. Not dead, if the twitching and high pitched whine was any indication, but it would be soon, what with its ribs on display the way that they were. If it didn't die of shock or blood loss, it would definitely die of infection.
Shit!
He shook off the last xeno, and it hopped out the way, hissing, when he tried to grab it. Fucking hell, he'd been too focused on making sure that the last one was dead he'd ignored there was still a living one to deal with.
The xeno's ears suddenly flicked behind it. What -
The world flashed white and he heard the sizzle of burning skin and a bark of pain before it was cut short.
"Marland?"
He snarled, his ears flat, and he bared his teeth. He couldn't get his wings up properly and he could feel all the places that the xeni had scratched and hit him. Why the fucking hell was Shodin here?
"Shit," Shodin breathed. Marland could hear him walking cautiously forward, but for some reason, he was more concerned about where the hell Shodin had picked up the habit of swearing. The world was gradually fading back into its proper colours and brightness with every blink.
"Marland? It's okay. They're dead," Shodin said, his voice quiet and soothing. "It's all right."
Right. Marland would have snorted, but his mouth was busy trying to take in as much air as possible at the one time, and he could already feel the burning sensations around his body start to grow and spread.
Still continuously growling, Marland jerked his head away from Shodin. "'M fine."
He didn't have to be able to see to know that Shodin was raising an eyebrow at him. "So I guess then that isn't all your blood on you and around you?" His voice was an attempt to be dry, but it was too high, said too fast, to not show the thread of worry.
He growled. "You don't have to-"
"Yeah, I do." Sighing, Marland could hear Shodin rub a palm over his head as he crouched down in front of his head. There was a small pause and by that point, Marland's eyesight had returned completely. "C'mon - let's get you home, okay?" Shodin's eyes were worried, his eyebrows drawn in slightly. He didn't bother with the hair that had fallen in front of his face.
Slowly, Marland got up, using his claws in the wall to help him. Shodin stood up and took a step back to give him some space, but it wasn't far enough that he'd have trouble getting to him if Marland's legs couldn't support him.
"Need to call it in," Marland grumbled, still not looking at Shodin. He didn't want to fucking wait for Laris and Nav though, or deal with them. It wasn't like he needed the money or anything either.
Shodin crossed his arms lightly, one finger tapping a quick beat on his arm. "Do we have to wait for them?"
Marland shook his head slowly, feeling like he'd been spun around in circles far too many times. He fumbled with the chain, eventually found the DT, and then pressed the button. Dropping his hand, he started towards the direction of Shodin, squashing down all his thoughts. It didn't fucking matter - it was going to happen and there was no point whining about it. All he wanted to do was sleep.
* * *
Shodin had tried to start conversations with him on the way back home, but Marland ignored him the whole time. There just…wasn't any point in talking. Not when Shodin was going to leave; it was better that he got used to not being used to someone being near him again.
-'Why aren't you talking? He's worried.'-
Marland growled, his ears going flat, but he still didn't say anything.
The click of the door closing seemed too loud in the flat. Marland headed straight for his room, pausing only to turn on the light.
He heard a sigh behind him. "Marland, hold on - we need to look at those wounds."
Marland slowed down, his thoughts warring with each other. Shodin didn't have to see to them, but his injuries were in places that would be difficult to reach for him, and, as much as Marland wanted to just go to bed, he knew what could happen if he left them.
A growl constant in his throat, Marland sat down heavily on one of the chairs in the sitting room area. He could hear Shodin moving about behind him, getting the first aid kit, but he didn't turn around to check. At least he could hear properly again, even with the throbbing pain, but he could still move his ear where he wanted it to.
He heard Shodin come over with the basin.
"Marland, do you think you can stretch out your right wing?" Shodin asked gently.
He did it slowly, until his wing was unfurled, but not taut.
"Okay, thank you." Shodin was bordering on using that tone again, the one used for scared animals hiding under a bush. Marland clenched his teeth, just barely cutting off his growl, and dug his claws into the seat.
He heard Shodin sit down on the floor, and felt a warm hand hold his wing just beside where he'd been bitten.
"It's okay," Shodin said softly. That was the sound of the cloth being brought out of the basin and water dripping from it in streams.
His wing twitched at the contact with the water, then shivered as it tried to retract to his back, while Marland didn’t let it. Shodin continued to murmur phrases under his breath with every stroke, and Marland tried to tune him out, just tried to concentrate on keeping his wing out. He turned his head away when Shodin came around the front.
"Hmm. I guess I can't bandage this up," Shodin said, once the cleaning was done, inspecting the wound and the surrounding area closely. That was obvious; they'd end up wasting a ton of bandages, just to wrap it around once around his wing. "So, plasters then?"
Marland grunted.
Shodin got up to get a towel, and after warning him like he usually did, began drying the membrane. There was another soft-spoken warning for the antiseptic, and even then, Marland's wing nearly snapped back at the first touch. The sound of the plastic getting ripped off seemed to echo and enhance the silence. It didn't seem the xeno had bitten right through the membrane, which was good, but they were still fairly deep. A few minutes later, Shodin leaned back, double-checking that everything was sticking well.
As Shodin went to empty the basin, Marland stretched out his other wing. This one had taken more damage, the holes ragged and long, but they were still small. They went through the same processes and once that was done, Shodin cocked his head at Marland's ear. His ear went down at that, and Marland had to concentrate to bring it back up so that Shodin could take a proper look at it.
"This doesn't look bad either," Shodin said, sounding more like he was saying it to himself. "Hmm, I guess the cotton buds would be better for this." Instantly, Marland's ears flattened and he growled at the spike of pain. He didn't want that going in his ears, but the thought of the cloth going in there wasn't much better either. He brought it up again with difficulty, and not just because he didn't want the cotton buds in his ears.
Shodin didn't say anything, waiting.
With his ears twitching up and down over and over again, Marland growled, "Fine. Yeah."
There was a small sound of acknowledgement from Shodin before he stood up to go to the toilet. This was going to be difficult. Marland knew his ears were going to be in constant motion -they already were- at the thought of having something poking in his ear, and if they caught the cotton buds, or somehow made them dig in deeper into his ear…
Marland's ears were flat on his skull when Shodin came back. Constantly shifting and shredding the chair, Marland said through gritted teeth, "You're gonna have to hold my ear in place." Because Shodin, while Marland knew to not try to predict his actions, was polite and would let Marland try and sort out his ears by himself. Which wouldn't work. All of Marland would be trying to get away from something entering his ear, so even if he held his own ear, it wouldn't do that much good.
"Are you sure?"
He growled for an answer, but it was half-hearted. He didn't want it in the first place, but it had to be done. He nodded, wanting to turn his head away, but that was a stupid thing to do now.
"All right." Shodin positioned himself so that Marland could watch him, sitting on the edge of the table and leaning forward. Slowly, Shodin reached forward, and Marland's ear twitched away as soon as Shodin's fingers brushed the tip.
Growling at himself, Marland brought his ear up again. It happened twice more before Marland snapped, "Just grab it." His ear wasn't going to 'calm down' with patience so whatever the hell Shodin was doing, it wouldn't work.
Shodin paused, his hand stilling, before he nodded. He grabbed hold of Marland's ear with two fingers and Marland could feel his blood pulsing under them. His ear tried to flick away again, but Shodin had it in a strong enough hold that it only slipped a little bit before Shodin tightened his grip.
The next couple of minutes were spent futilely trying to keep himself from moving. It didn't work, but Shodin at least kept tugging him back towards him whenever Marland had started to lean too far away. Again, plasters had to be used on his ear, because of the way they were curved; also because there'd be less chance of them falling off whenever Marland moved his ear.
When Shodin was finished, he leaned back on the table, his hands on his knees. "Is that everything?"
Marland ran through where he knew he'd been hurt. It had mostly been his wings that had taken damage, and the rest of it was on his shins but the xeni hadn't broken through the scales there, so he'd only be feeling bruised there, and already was, but bandages and plasters couldn't do anything about that.
He nodded.
"Ah, okay, good." Marland's ears went down at his tone, and he could feel the plasters stopping his ear from curving over so much. Shodin crossed his arms loosely, looked away, and then looked back at him before Marland could think about getting up.
"Marland," he started gently, "just because Balt…knows me, I suppose, that doesn't mean that I'll leave here."
His head snapped up, and he looked at him incredulously, his ears forward. "Why wouldn't you? You've got your life-"
"Maybe," Shodin interrupted, sighing. Shodin's right hand slid up, but only to rest above his elbow. "I may have found my old life, but would I be able to live it?"
Marland's ears went back again. What?
Shodin's mouth twitched up in a small smile. "If I were a…" -Shodin's right hand lifted up to start going in lazy circles- "doctor, then I may know that I am a doctor, but I wouldn't be able to perform the same operations or surgery I was able to before. The same goes for anything else," he said with a shrug. "I could know what profession I used to have, but I wouldn't be able to do them. I would have to learn everything from scratch."
Marland tilted his head down, his ears forward. "So just relearn it then." Since when did Shodin not want to learn?
Shodin laughed at that. "But what if I don't want to?" What? "What if I don't want to do that job?"
Oh. That made sense. Marland shrugged. "You don't even know what you did."
"Hmm," he acknowledged, rubbing the side of his head. "I guess so." Shodin chuckled, his eyes sliding back to him. "Either way, I'm not going to pack my stuff up tomorrow and leave."
Marland's ears went down again and he looked away. He began to ask why, but he cut himself off before he made a sound, his mouth open. Shodin had mostly answered that question and he really did just want to sleep. The pain wasn't so much that he'd need the chocolate, and he was just so tired after all that had happened.
He sighed, with a grumble mixed in. "All right." Shaking his head to clear it, though it didn't do much, he lurched off the chair, his wings flapping slightly. He couldn't feel the plasters on them, though he did feel that he had bits of the chair stuck in his claws. "Night."
"Night," Shodin replied, Puzz echoing him a second later.
Marland made it to his room, flopped onto the bed, and then fell asleep.
* * *
The next couple of days were a little awkward, Marland expecting Shodin to have just disappeared when he woke up. It never happened, but the thought was just constantly there. At some point one day, while Marland was sleeping, Shodin had called Balt.
"We're going to meet up in a couple of days, just to talk."
Marland grunted. "All right." His decision; he couldn't change what Shodin decided to do. He didn't want to have another argument over nothing anyway.
"I was wondering if you wanted to come?"
He blinked, and then glanced over at Shodin over the kitchen table. "What?"
Shodin smiled as he lifted the cup of tea to his lips. "Balt wants to meet with you."
Marland stared at Shodin, his ears alternately going back and then up - his ear had mostly healed, and he couldn't have stopped himself from moving them if he tried anyway. "Why would he wanna do that?"
"You looked after me when I needed help." There was a beat of silence, before Shodin chuckled. "That was his words."
He snorted. That was obvious; in what way had he helped Shodin?
"So, do you want to come?"
He thought it over. If Shodin was fine with xeni, then…maybe Balt was too. But that was a bit of a stretch to make. He had no idea if Balt was like that, though the way that he'd talked to him fairly easily could say that he didn't mind xeni that much. Or maybe he had a lot of contact with xeni.
"When're you meeting him?"
Shodin blinked, opened his mouth, and then winced. "Ah. Twelve, tomorrow."
Marland doubted that they were going to be meeting at midnight. Well, it could have been, seeing how late Balt had been out, but it didn't seem that likely. And Shodin wouldn't have reacted like that if they were meeting during the night.
"I can-"
"'S fine," he interrupted, shaking his head. "I don't want to meet with him right now." If Marland knew better what Balt was like then okay, maybe later if they decided to meet again. But not right now. He just didn't feel comfortable about it. Especially just going out to talk with someone. He wrinkled his snout at that.
"Okay," Shodin said, not pushing him. Shodin put his cup down, and then looked towards the clock. "If I'm meeting him tomorrow, I'm going to have to go to bed early." After clearing away his plate, Shodin wished him goodnight and went to bed.
* * *
Shodin was waiting for him on the couch when Marland left his room the next day. He smile stretched the length of his face, and he lit up when he saw him.
Marland felt a little guilty that he didn't like how happy Shodin looked right then. If Shodin was happy about what he'd heard then maybe…but, he wouldn't just pack up his things like that. And… Marland shook his head. 'He wouldn't forget him if he did' sounded too sappy. So did 'he'd come to visit' - what was he, a pet or something? Ugh.
When Shodin started talking, it was all in a rush, with Shodin interrupting himself and then reordering what had been said. Marland couldn't really get his head around it.
Shodin must have caught on that he'd lost Marland. He laughed, ducking his head and started twirling his hair around a finger. "I should…start at the start?"
Marland snorted. "Whatever's important," he said as he sat down, his ears pricked forward. Shodin would end up going off track anyway, so pretending to be organised wouldn't do them any good.
Shodin smiled softly, eyes going off to the side. "I was a volunteer at where Balt works, but I'd disappeared soon after Balt had begun working there." He laughed, eyes shining. "So much for something that would take years to relearn."
So, he'd just been a volunteer? Marland peered at him, studying him. "Are you going to go there?"
He shook his head. "Not right now; at a later date. They're a little busy at the moment."
Hmph. That was good. "So…" Marland prepared himself. "What else did you talk about?"
Marland wasn't sure how long their conversation lasted, but it was definitely a while.
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