![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Original
Summary:
The world of Torpin is open, dragging in Others from different 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 Others that seek only to destroy what's around them. On one job, a human Other 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: M
Notes: Contains swearing.
Any questions or clarifications, just ask. (Unless it’s, you know, plot-related. XD)
As for the italics thing, I'm going for if the word's in caps, then chances are, it's supposed to be in italics. Similarly, if there's words encompassed by -' '- , then whatever's in between them should be italicised.
Poss' name is now Puzz.
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 2,862
Total word count: 31,396
Status: Work in Progress
Panicking. Ears still twisting, Marland tried to find the person who'd 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 falling away. He 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."
He hadn't exactly 'partnered up' with someone though.
"So, that's what 'magic' feels like?" Shodin's left hand continually clenched and then relaxed as he watched it.
What? Marland reviewed what had happened in the fight. Just before the Other had been able to land on him, there had been a bright flash of light. What he'd seen of Puzz, when he had been using magic, 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?"
An ear flicked down to the side before going 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 his 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. Marland really didn't know what else to say.
"That's what it feels like to me also." He sounded faint. And they should really get back home before something else happened.
Marland reached for his DT 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 do."
Shodin blinked at him, straightening up, before he nodded. Good.
He walked away, down the street a little before hiding in a stairwell. He would have loved to have hidden behind the recycling bins, but he was too damn tall, his wings too damn long, and 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 calmed and quietened 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 no go out straight away.
"Ah, hello." 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. 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 were 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 - that's Nav."
Nav waved, his other hand jammed in a pocket. "Heya."
Introductions done, Laris started taking a proper look at the Others. He shook his head at them 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 really 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 was what happens when you're hunting?"
Ah, right. Marland should have known Shodin would have been asking questions soon again. He nodded. He caught Shodin staring at his neck. He felt a little awkward, ears coming down, but then Shodin looked back at him, curiosity beginning to shine behind his eyes again.
"It's a DT," Marland said before he could ask. But that was him assuming again, wasn't it? "I don't know what it stands for though."
"Ah, all right," Shodin said as he nodded. "And they..." -Shodin waved an awkward arm behind them- "They take away the Others?"
"Yeah. We don't know if their bodies'll still affect people or stuff around it even after they've died, so they need to be taken care of." He paused, nose wrinkling. "That, and the smell." The air was already a lot clearer here 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, wrists moving in such a way that the bags swung a little bit more.
He opened his mouth, but then closed it again. What DID they do with the bodies? He'd never asked, never wondered what they did with them. He just hunted, killed Others, 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. They got to the front door before Shodin asked the next question.
"How do they pay you?"
Marland looked at him blankly over his shoulder as the key slotted in. He'd seen - right. Just because he'd seen, didn't mean he knew. "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... Other, 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." But sometimes, the envelope did feel a bit thicker or thinner than usual, but those times, if Marland could remember them properly, there wasn't really anything different about the Others - one had been small, about the same height as the cat-like ones they'd just fought, and the other one had been about chest-height on him when it was standing on its back legs.
They made their way up the stairs, and Marland could see Shodin was getting curious about something else again.
"How high up are we?" His voice echoed in the stairwell, bouncing straight back.
"Three storeys."
Shodin peered down the middle of the staircase, one hand braced against the banister, his hair swinging free. He stayed like that until Marland had opened the door.
Marland flicked on the main light, eyes already adjusted with the stair lights, though he did wince a little. His eyes were adjusted, but the main lights were still brighter.
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.
Ears flicking, Marland surveyed the kitchen to make sure it was tidy. Seeing that it mostly was, he turned to Shodin, who was leaning on the back of the couch, arms lightly crossed, a foot swinging 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. The questions were normal, but not really like the ones Shodin normally asked. It worried Marland a little.
The foot tapping slowed down, and Shodin looked up at Marland. "I'm... hungry again," he said, 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 kitchin with a tilt of the head. "Half the food's yours anyway." More than half, really. He wondered if Shodin would be taking notes on what he liked and what he didn't, because he couldn't really think how Shodin was going to keep track of it all. Especially when he started on the other half he hadn't bought from the shop.
As Shodin rifled through the fridge, Marland went back to his room to keep the envelope in a safer place. When he got out, Shodin had 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?" Probably not, and it was better to check. He doubted it'd be cooked in two minutes.
"Instructions?"
"The stuff on the back."
Shodin turned it around, and looked at it, his head tilted, his eyebrows drawing together. He looked back at Marland and shrugged.
Marland blinked. Huh? "Can you-" Oh. Right. Shodin was an Other. They probably used something completely different for letters on his world. "Can you read?"
Shodin peered back down at the packet. "Hmm, I don't think so."
And there was Shodin not reacting to something again. Not being able to read was probably going to get frustrating, but that was Marland assuming YET AGAIN, and Shodin had been fine dealing with stuff already. ...It just meant he got to ask 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." 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. But how did you teach someone how to read?
Shodin stared at it for a few seconds, head tilting further before he looked back up at him. "Okay."
It didn't take them long to set everything up, and then Shodin was watching 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, magic isn't the norm here?"
Marland shook his head. "Humans can't do magic here - only Others 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 that had actually happened. It DID make sense though.
Shodin hummed, bringing up a hand to stare at it. He took a few deep breaths, still staring at his hand. Marland wondered what he was doing. Just as he'd finished thinking that, Shodin' palm started glowing white. It wasn't abrupt, more like someone very slowly turning 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. Which then left Shodin to end up leaning on Marland's arm that he'd been able to get up just in time.
Uh...
Ears flat and wings unfurled for balance, Marland stared at Shodin. He shouldn't try doing any more magic any time soon - or maybe ever, if he ended up like that every single time.
"Shodin...?"
Hands braced on his arm, Shodin unsteadily straightened himself out. "Ah, um, 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 a couple of times, before gently pushing himself away from Marland. As soon as he let go, Shodin's hand went around his own shoulder, fingers going as tight as they could go as he leaned back on to the table.
Marland watching 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 nothing."
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 said, as he moved to one of the chairs by the kitchen table. He sat down heavily on it after pulling it away from the table with a foot. "I was just startled."
Marland continued to watch him, completely unconvinced. He knew what startled was - 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 fading, and his breath becoming easier and more even.
"...You don't believe me, do you?"
Marland snorted, rolling his head a little bit. "No." Even a blind person would have been able to see 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 from moving easily. 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 shakily went to hover over his heart, not his shoulder. It clenched back in to a fist before it made contact, and Shodin took a sharp breath, jerking his hand away. "I suddenly didn't WANT to do it because… because I was absolutely TERRIFIED something bad was going to happen."
Summary:
The world of Torpin is open, dragging in Others from different 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 Others that seek only to destroy what's around them. On one job, a human Other 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: M
Notes: Contains swearing.
Any questions or clarifications, just ask. (Unless it’s, you know, plot-related. XD)
As for the italics thing, I'm going for if the word's in caps, then chances are, it's supposed to be in italics. Similarly, if there's words encompassed by -' '- , then whatever's in between them should be italicised.
Poss' name is now Puzz.
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 2,862
Total word count: 31,396
Status: Work in Progress
Panicking. Ears still twisting, Marland tried to find the person who'd 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 falling away. He 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."
He hadn't exactly 'partnered up' with someone though.
"So, that's what 'magic' feels like?" Shodin's left hand continually clenched and then relaxed as he watched it.
What? Marland reviewed what had happened in the fight. Just before the Other had been able to land on him, there had been a bright flash of light. What he'd seen of Puzz, when he had been using magic, 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?"
An ear flicked down to the side before going 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 his 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. Marland really didn't know what else to say.
"That's what it feels like to me also." He sounded faint. And they should really get back home before something else happened.
Marland reached for his DT 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 do."
Shodin blinked at him, straightening up, before he nodded. Good.
He walked away, down the street a little before hiding in a stairwell. He would have loved to have hidden behind the recycling bins, but he was too damn tall, his wings too damn long, and 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 calmed and quietened 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 no go out straight away.
"Ah, hello." 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. 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 were 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 - that's Nav."
Nav waved, his other hand jammed in a pocket. "Heya."
Introductions done, Laris started taking a proper look at the Others. He shook his head at them 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 really 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 was what happens when you're hunting?"
Ah, right. Marland should have known Shodin would have been asking questions soon again. He nodded. He caught Shodin staring at his neck. He felt a little awkward, ears coming down, but then Shodin looked back at him, curiosity beginning to shine behind his eyes again.
"It's a DT," Marland said before he could ask. But that was him assuming again, wasn't it? "I don't know what it stands for though."
"Ah, all right," Shodin said as he nodded. "And they..." -Shodin waved an awkward arm behind them- "They take away the Others?"
"Yeah. We don't know if their bodies'll still affect people or stuff around it even after they've died, so they need to be taken care of." He paused, nose wrinkling. "That, and the smell." The air was already a lot clearer here 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, wrists moving in such a way that the bags swung a little bit more.
He opened his mouth, but then closed it again. What DID they do with the bodies? He'd never asked, never wondered what they did with them. He just hunted, killed Others, 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. They got to the front door before Shodin asked the next question.
"How do they pay you?"
Marland looked at him blankly over his shoulder as the key slotted in. He'd seen - right. Just because he'd seen, didn't mean he knew. "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... Other, 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." But sometimes, the envelope did feel a bit thicker or thinner than usual, but those times, if Marland could remember them properly, there wasn't really anything different about the Others - one had been small, about the same height as the cat-like ones they'd just fought, and the other one had been about chest-height on him when it was standing on its back legs.
They made their way up the stairs, and Marland could see Shodin was getting curious about something else again.
"How high up are we?" His voice echoed in the stairwell, bouncing straight back.
"Three storeys."
Shodin peered down the middle of the staircase, one hand braced against the banister, his hair swinging free. He stayed like that until Marland had opened the door.
Marland flicked on the main light, eyes already adjusted with the stair lights, though he did wince a little. His eyes were adjusted, but the main lights were still brighter.
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.
Ears flicking, Marland surveyed the kitchen to make sure it was tidy. Seeing that it mostly was, he turned to Shodin, who was leaning on the back of the couch, arms lightly crossed, a foot swinging 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. The questions were normal, but not really like the ones Shodin normally asked. It worried Marland a little.
The foot tapping slowed down, and Shodin looked up at Marland. "I'm... hungry again," he said, 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 kitchin with a tilt of the head. "Half the food's yours anyway." More than half, really. He wondered if Shodin would be taking notes on what he liked and what he didn't, because he couldn't really think how Shodin was going to keep track of it all. Especially when he started on the other half he hadn't bought from the shop.
As Shodin rifled through the fridge, Marland went back to his room to keep the envelope in a safer place. When he got out, Shodin had 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?" Probably not, and it was better to check. He doubted it'd be cooked in two minutes.
"Instructions?"
"The stuff on the back."
Shodin turned it around, and looked at it, his head tilted, his eyebrows drawing together. He looked back at Marland and shrugged.
Marland blinked. Huh? "Can you-" Oh. Right. Shodin was an Other. They probably used something completely different for letters on his world. "Can you read?"
Shodin peered back down at the packet. "Hmm, I don't think so."
And there was Shodin not reacting to something again. Not being able to read was probably going to get frustrating, but that was Marland assuming YET AGAIN, and Shodin had been fine dealing with stuff already. ...It just meant he got to ask 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." 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. But how did you teach someone how to read?
Shodin stared at it for a few seconds, head tilting further before he looked back up at him. "Okay."
It didn't take them long to set everything up, and then Shodin was watching 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, magic isn't the norm here?"
Marland shook his head. "Humans can't do magic here - only Others 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 that had actually happened. It DID make sense though.
Shodin hummed, bringing up a hand to stare at it. He took a few deep breaths, still staring at his hand. Marland wondered what he was doing. Just as he'd finished thinking that, Shodin' palm started glowing white. It wasn't abrupt, more like someone very slowly turning 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. Which then left Shodin to end up leaning on Marland's arm that he'd been able to get up just in time.
Uh...
Ears flat and wings unfurled for balance, Marland stared at Shodin. He shouldn't try doing any more magic any time soon - or maybe ever, if he ended up like that every single time.
"Shodin...?"
Hands braced on his arm, Shodin unsteadily straightened himself out. "Ah, um, 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 a couple of times, before gently pushing himself away from Marland. As soon as he let go, Shodin's hand went around his own shoulder, fingers going as tight as they could go as he leaned back on to the table.
Marland watching 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 nothing."
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 said, as he moved to one of the chairs by the kitchen table. He sat down heavily on it after pulling it away from the table with a foot. "I was just startled."
Marland continued to watch him, completely unconvinced. He knew what startled was - 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 fading, and his breath becoming easier and more even.
"...You don't believe me, do you?"
Marland snorted, rolling his head a little bit. "No." Even a blind person would have been able to see 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 from moving easily. 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 shakily went to hover over his heart, not his shoulder. It clenched back in to a fist before it made contact, and Shodin took a sharp breath, jerking his hand away. "I suddenly didn't WANT to do it because… because I was absolutely TERRIFIED something bad was going to happen."
no subject
Date: Nov. 15th, 2010 11:29 am (UTC)Haha, I loved the scene between Shodin, Laris, and Nav. I wonder what Laris and Nav think about Shodin. They're probably surprised at his presence with Marland. :3
Shodin has very interest questions about what's done to the bodies. Now I'm imagining the government doing experiments of some sort. =P
Ah, Shodin doesn't know how to read. I wonder if it's just this world's text he doesn't know, or he just doesn't know in general. I guess he wouldn't know. =P And, it'd be pretty useless even if he could read some other text.
and then Shodin was watching the chicken through the glass
The chicken's not doing anything. Is it that interesting? =P Cute image. XD
It sounds like magic is reaaally painful for Shodin, either physically or mentally or both.
Ahhh, but...physical contact between Marland and Shodin! =P Looks like Marland hasn't freaked out yet!
no subject
Date: Nov. 18th, 2010 08:10 am (UTC)XD So do I~ I kinda really like most of the other characters in this and wish I could show what's going in their heads in the narrative. Laris had the suspicion Shodin was just a person Marland had saved from the Others and had pushed for a way to thank him - and then Marland picks up the rest of the shopping and they start walking off together without a word. Huh. X3 Now he's curious, because he knows what Marland's like. Nav just shrugs it off. *snerk*
XD Shodin asks questions about eveerythiiing. *laughs* Eeeeeee. XD
But - but, the chicken's lit up! :O *snickers*
*snerk* Both, though it's more mental and his body following through.
Marland didn't freak out because his mind just completely blanked on that. XD He sorta had a collision of 'argh, touch!', 'what the fuck do I do?', 'what the hell?', 'what the hell just happened?' and 'get food out the way - don't want to clean it up', so his brain kinda shut down in protest and his body just froze without any instructions telling it what to do. XDD
no subject
Date: Nov. 19th, 2010 12:00 pm (UTC)Sidestories! That calls for sidestories with different POVs! XD; We only get Marland's POV, right? So totally skewed by his perceptions. XD
I guess it did... light up. =P At first I thought the chicken was in the microwave, and then though, oh, then Shodin can watch it go around and around. But oh wait, it's in the oven. It doesn't even move. XD
no subject
Date: Nov. 21st, 2010 09:36 pm (UTC)XD Waaa~ So much writing to be done! I'll see if I can do them later! ♥
XDD
no subject
Date: Nov. 22nd, 2010 06:08 am (UTC)Eeee. <3
no subject
Date: Nov. 22nd, 2010 09:17 am (UTC)