Outsider's Perspective

[esp_dragon]

Fandom: Chosen/Searching
Summary: Ras and Aldran wake up in a place that they do not recognise, where geists aren't the ones that attack humans…
Rating: PG-13/R
Contains: Bloody killing, swearing (Marland's in the scene; what do you expect? :P)
Notes: Spawned by this meme (and lucathia_rykatu, naturally).
Set post-series for Searching, mid-series for Chosen. No overt spoilers for Chosen, but vague references to stuff that's already been posted. :3 New Game didn't happen in this verse. XDDD Oh jeez, if it had…
Heast is the name of the country Chosen is set it. :3
*wonders if I should write this when I haven't finished Chosen yet* *does it anyway*
I should have expected I would write this eventually… XDD
Trying to get back into Ras' voice. And doing some writing-writing, rather than post-writing. And procrastinating. :P
Doing this without re-reading Chosen, so characterisation and details might be a little off. XD;;
*looks at my word count* I think I caught up with my non-writing days, ha…
My notes are HUGE at the bottom, omg. XDDDDD;;;
...Damn, how do I tag this? XD;;
Genre: General/Friendship
Word count: 3,856
Status: Work in progress



Ras gained consciousness with a groan, feeling cool stone on her cheek. What…? Why had – Her eyes flew open and scoured the area for Aldran, pressing down on how it made her head spin as much as she could. There was only one good reason why she had lost consciousness: she and Aldran had been fighting a geist.

She couldn't hear anything though – no fighting, yelling or hissing magic, but she shouldn't be hearing magic because she and Aldran hadn't been with another khertan and psyven. Just then, her eyes finally settled on Aldran's still form, slumped against the wall and that scene was far too similar that Ras scrambled to her feel and whirled around, just in case there was a geist (or that geist) hovering above her.

Nothing else moved.

She dashed to Aldran's side, her eyes darting from place to place. Ras let out a shaky breath of relief when she saw Aldran's tail bat a steady beat on his ankle. He stirred, his eyes fluttering, while she checked him for bruises or wounds.

His pupils were wider than usual, engulfing his purple irises, but after a few blinks, they returned to a more normal size.

"Ras…?" His voice rasped, and he shook his head slowly.

"I'm all right," she reassured him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

He made a small noise, and she helped him to his feet, feeling him sway slightly.

"Where are we?" he asked, peering around them once he was standing, their shoulders brushing.

Ras studied their surroundings more thoroughly, rather than searching for anything moving – and recognised nothing. The walls that surrounded them – they weren't made of any kind of stone that Ras had ever seen, smooth enough that they had to have been carved with magic, but who would have enough money to pay mages to make a building?

Or enough to have money create multiple buildings, Ras corrected herself as she realised there were more buildings like the one standing…

Up and up she stared, not realising just how high they reached up to the night sky.

She heard Aldran's breath catch. "We aren't – this isn't-"

"It's not," she whispered, her heart thudding in her chest. There were no buildings in Heast this tall, and while she had never been to the cities, she was sure that someone would have told tales of the size of the buildings!

And as she looked closer, cold dread seeped into Ras' veins as she found that nothing was familiar to her. The ground was dark, black in the lamplight, cutting off and dipping for a short distance before rising rigidly again – and she wondered at the white streak in the centre, before determining a carriage must have rolled over a light dye.

There was a low steady growl approaching though, and Ras and Aldran shared a look before they cautiously stepped out of wherever they had found themselves. It couldn't be a geist (what large beast did it have to be to create that noise?) but Ras could see it getting brighter at the same speed as the beast. If that was a mage's or psyven's magic…

As soon as they cleared their alcove, something snarled by to the left of them in a dizzying wash of yellow magic, light bouncing off its body. Ras didn't see legs, but it was gone so fast, she wasn't surprised.

"What-" she gasped out, gaping and staring. That had nearly stood taller than she did – that wasn't something that had been created by the Gods! And it wasn't something Ras or Aldran knew if it would be affected by Aldran's magic.

Aldran tugged at her elbow, away from where the beast had ran. "We should-"

"We don't know what it's going to do!" Ras interrupted, her fists clenched, her heart beating wildly. "If it attacks someone-"

"But you don't know if it'll-"

"I know that." Ras took a steadying breath, closing her eyes briefly. "I know that. But I can't stand here and…" She trailed off at the sight of Aldran's wide eyes as he stared up at something, his shoulders hunching.

Her eyes flicked to what had his attention, and then she stared confusion at the lights, they were far too bright and far too steady to be lamp or torchlight. They were hung far too high as well – how were they lit every night, unless it was by mages?

But they couldn't think about that right now, Ras thought, tearing her eyes away, but she couldn't stop her thoughts. They weren't in Heast, that was for certain, and she couldn't think of how she and Aldran had found themselves to be there, so why had the Gods taken such a direct hand to them?

She shook her head, starting to hurry towards where the beast had gone. That was for the Gods to know – she could only continue to do what she thought was right and hope that was what the Gods wanted.

Though she really couldn't help but wonder at the Gods' intentions for her and Aldran when they halted at the end of the path, seeing…something. They were metallic, shining with different colours under the magelight, two direct rows of them. They had wheels, so thick and dark, but if Ras took a step back, she could see the shape of a carriage there, though she had no idea how the horses would be attached.

Aldran's breath stuttered, and he staggered back, clutching his head in both hands.

"What's wrong?" Ras demanded, hyperaware of her body, searching for that first hint of magic or geist – but if that was magelight, then shouldn't she have felt something?

"S-so much," Aldran whined, his tail lashing. "This – this world is so different from ours!"

Ras froze. This world?

"Hey, mate!"

Ras snapped her head at the call, focusing on a pair of two men across from them. One had his arm slung over the other's shoulder, looking as if he was leaning half his weight there.

"He all right?"

No, he wasn't, but Ras eyed the two warily. They had a few drinks in them, that much was obvious, so any advice they gave would be affected by that.

"A headache," she informed them, and the pair laughed. There wasn't anything either of them could do about it apart from wait for the stream of information to slow down – seeing a healer wouldn't help.

"Put him t'bed and have a jug of water ready when he wakes up!" After imparting that bit of advice, the carriage in front of the pair chirruped like a bird, both ends flashing. Ras could see them open and close the doors, and after a few seconds, it rumbled like the last…carriage she and Aldran had seen, before moving away.

She put a hand on his shoulder, and Aldran bowed into it, his breathing easier than it had been, but still not completely normal.

They stayed like that for a while, Ras studying everything she could see (the characters written on the buildings were nothing she had ever seen before, flowing together like a stream, a metallic sheet directly below them; small shelters made up of a transparent material; the consistent line of dye that marked off the path in front of them, most probably for the carriages), until Aldran took a steadying breath, and let his hands fall from his head.

"It's…better now," he said quietly, his eyes mere slits, "though every time I look at something new…"

She grimaced in sympathy. Everything was new. "Do you want to stay here?" she murmured.

He didn't answer immediately, and his tail brushed her leg, but he eventually shook his head. "We should…" He raised an arm, but then let it drop. "I don't know," he said quietly.

"I don't either," Ras admitted as well. "But maybe we should ask Them for guidance." They were the Gods – even if she and Aldran were on another world, They would also be there, because They were everywhere.

But how would they find…

Slowly, Ras turned her head to a thudding sound, coming closer to where they were. It wasn't a carriage, definitely something on four (or maybe two) legs, and she and Aldran waited to see what would appear.

She felt the link between them open slightly, and Ras grasped at the trickle of magic.

What came barrelling out some distance away gave Ras the impression of a bull, but with a line of horns lining his forehead, rather than only having the three, his height at about chest level and his coat being a full deep blue. Apart from the sheen of wet blood that was clinging to his chest, running down his front legs.

The link slammed open at the same time the bull roared, rearing back and revealing three-fingered paws in the magelight at the end of each limb.

Ras let Aldran's magic flow through her, channelling it to her hand, watching the bull start to charge towards them. She threw out her hand, the magic hissing out, hitting the bull in the head and he veered away, cracking his head further as he smacked into the wall.

She and Aldran stood there, watching the blood pour out of the wound like there wasn't an end to it, their breathing laboured from the pull of magic, but they were faring far better than their previous fights with geists.

"We need to kill him," Aldran said softly, and Ras took a deep breath, nodding. If he had broken free of where he had been kept, and then directly attacked them when they had done nothing to bring his attention to them… Far too dangerous.

Ras just hoped that the bull would die in the same way animals died on their world.

She unsheathed her dagger, keeping a constant eye on the bull's limbs – she didn't have enough finesse with Aldran's magic to aim well, so she couldn't be certain what she would hit if she used that.

Aldran moved forward carefully, and then knelt down, pinning the bull's front legs. The bull snorted, jerking at the contact, but Aldran kept them in place, grunting with effort. Ras quickly darted in before the bull could break free and slit the bull's throat.

He screamed, the sound echoing, spasming and rolling his head, and Ras and Aldran pushed themselves to a safe distance as the bull went into death throes.

It didn't take very long before the bull's movements stilled and after they waited to make sure, watching the chest, Ras cleaned her blade on her tunic and sheathed her weapon again.

Just in time to hear the pounding of something else careening towards them. Gods help them, was this going to end?

But Ras just took a deep breath, double-checked Aldran, who gave her a weary nod, and the link opened again.

It was a dog, larger than any Ras had ever seen, and maybe at some point, she would stop being surprised, with a fox-like head, but with fur like living flame, a light shade of tan. It paused, staring at them, before its head pointed towards the bull. It glanced up at them, before slowly sitting down, its long tail waving slowly behind it.

Ras relaxed at that, letting out a breath. Maybe it belonged to someone. It sounded like someone was running after it, and that was confirmed when the dog looked behind it, its tail waving harder.

A man came jogging into view, and his eyes darted to them instantly, a small smile on his face as he tilted his head at them. "Evening," he said as he rubbed the dog's head.

…He either couldn't see the bull behind them, or he was used to such sights.

"Evening," Ras greeted him, hearing the weariness in her tone as she ran a hand through her hair, Aldran making a small noise of acknowledgement as well.

The man's smile widened, losing some of his tenseness. He hummed, and the dog's ears flattened for some reason, making a grumbling sound. The man grinned at the dog before the dog turned its head away, standing up and shaking its entire body.

"I was wondering," the man said, lifting his head to them again, sweeping back his blond shoulder-length hair behind an ear, "if you would mind me inviting you to our home."

Ras stared at him, her eyebrows raising. "We have just met," she pointed out, frowning. To say that to a complete stranger… It had to be nothing good.

"But you have nowhere else to go, do you?" he asked softly, his eyes far too knowledgeable and knowing.

Ras felt a chill spread through her. How did he know?

"Ah," the man sighed, shaking his head. "I haven't introduced myself – I'm Shodin, and this is Fion." He waved to the dog beside him. "He can-"

-'Hello,'- a voice echoed in Ras' mind and she yelped, scrambling back. Why – that wasn't – The only times Ras knew of hearing voices in your head that wasn't your own was when you were possessed by a spirit or the Gods were talking to you.

"Fion." Ras could dimly hear that over her pounding heart, but she could see how Shodin directed his gaze towards Fion, as if – as if it were his fault.

"You can talk?" Ras croaked, staring. And after a pause, Fion checking with Shodin, Fion nodded, leaning forward, looking as if he wanted to come over to them.

-'Yes,'- that same deep voice echoed in her mind, more hesitant and quieter than before, and Ras would have really wanted time for the world to stop twisting her mind about what she knew.

"Come," Shodin said gently, beckoning them over to his side. "You can rest and recover once we arrive – well," he added, with a wry smile, "once our housemate had calmed down."

Ras took a breath, watching him, and not taking a step towards him. "If your 'housemate' would not want us there…"

Shodin shook his head, freeing his hair with that motion. "Marland is…resistant to change-" Fion snorted "-and he is currently injured, so his mood is not the best-" Fion huffed this time "-but once he knows the situation, he'll let you in."

Ras studied him, seeing no dishonesty in him – and she didn't feel the prickling of a geist either so… And she desperately wanted to find a place where they wouldn't be startled with something new at every step.

She glanced at Aldran, who nodded cautiously, his eyes flicking back to them warily.

Yes, it wasn't the best predicament, but, if this was what the Gods wanted…

She nodded, and Shodin smiled at them, Fion dashing to their side, his billowy tail raised high. While Fion investigated them with his nose, stopping and starting half-formed sentences in their mind, Ras saw Shodin lift his hand to a pendant that swung around his neck. From the distance between them, Ras couldn't see its shape all too well, but it wasn't a khertan's pendant (which was obvious as soon as she thought that). His hand dropped away as soon as his hand brushed its surface and he nodded to them.

"We should leave straight away, in case we're attacked by something else." And before Ras or Aldran could really respond, Fion bounded to Shodin's side, where he faded from view, his tail the last thing to disappear from their sight.

Ras just closed her eyes and took a deep breath, drawing strength from Aldran standing by her side.

"…And would have told you that was going to happen, to warn you. I apologise."

She shook her head, opening her eyes again. "This is…normal, for you, so you wouldn't…" It would be like her thinking about having to explain everything about being a khertan or psyvens, and while she was still learning about it all, learning the truth behind them, there were still things that she wouldn't have thought that needed to be explained, because everyone knew about them.

There was a pause, before Shodin nodded. "There is one more thing that you should know: my housemate – my friend isn't human. Marland's…" Shodin hummed, tugging at his hair. "Do you have lizards where you come from? Scaled beings?"

Ras nodded. "You can see them in the undergrowth sometimes." She raised her palms to cup them. "They're normally only this big."

Shodin's smile changed slightly, and Ras tried to prepare herself for whatever he would say. "He stands taller than you," Shodin said, directing his words towards Aldran, and Ras realised they hadn't introduced themselves.

"Aldran," Aldran offered, at the same time as Ras. But if Marland was taller than Aldran…and they were talking about lizards, did Marland stand on two legs or four? Ras was dimly aware of Aldran introducing her also, and she pulled herself away from her thoughts. Any image she created of Marland would not be right.

"Marland also has large leathery wings on his back," Shodin cautioned them, watching them carefully, and Ras wondered why he was being like that. Marland didn't sound like anything Ras had ever heard of, but maybe if she had… Ah.

"I've never heard of or seen anything like him," Ras told him, hoping that was the correct thing to say. If other people thought tails were bad and she knew that, she would check every person before introducing them to Aldran too.

Shodin relaxed, a gentle smile growing on his face. "Then, we should go." He paused, his attention going back to Aldran. "Is there a way you can hide your tail? Humans are the norm here, and anything that isn't… There's a bad reaction to them."

So she was right about why Shodin was checking their reactions. But a world without psyvens meant a world without geists, and that could only be good, right?

After blinking at him a few times, Aldran threaded his tail down his leggings, and once they started moving, Ras bumped his elbow with her own, making sure he was all right. She got a small reassuring smile in return, and they continued to stay that close as they began to follow Shodin.

* * *
The building Shodin led them to also reached high above their heads, and the stairs never seemed to end. There was magelight there too, but Ras could hear something in the air that made her think it wasn't magelight.

They eventually reached a door that Ras had no idea how Shodin could tell apart from the others. Shodin fished a key out of his pocket and the door opened without much noise. Shodin poked his head in first, and then waved at someone.

"Evening."

"Hey – Shodin, what the fuck?" the giant green-with-golden-swirls lizard snarled, his pointed ears flattening and he bared his teeth as the chair crashed to the ground when Marland (Ras assumed) stood up abruptly, his wings flapping.

"Marl-"

"No - just, what the fuck are you doing bringing them here?"

Shodin merely took a deep breath, and deliberately looked towards Aldran, and Ras growled herself, glaring at Shodin for drawing Marland's attention to him.

Marland narrowed his eyes at Aldran, looking him up and down as he breathed heavily, and Ras turned to leave, fury growing in her for letting this happen, only Shodin reached over, catching her hand before she grabbed Aldran and dragged him out of there.

"Wait," he said quietly, and then turned back to Aldran, toeing the door shut. "If you could…?"

Aldran stared at Shodin warily, before flicking his eyes towards Ras. She took a step back, shaking Shodin's hand off, slightly mollified when he didn't resist. She didn't understand – but then she did, because beings who weren't human were attacked, and if it looked like Shodin had brought back two humans then…

She nodded. Aldran took his tail out slowly, and Ras couldn't help but smile at the way it twisted and writhed once it was free of his leggings – it was probably going to be like that for a while.

She turned her head to the low hissing sound coming from Marland, who had a hand covering his eyes.

"Fuck." He made a grumbling sound, his ears flat, but he was no longer standing so aggressively. "Fuck," he said again, sitting heavily on one of the other chairs, rather than righting the one that had fallen, and Ras was really going to have to ask what that word meant, though she could guess.

"Fine," Marland said, scrubbing at his face, and Shodin smiled at Marland, in a way that seemed like he knew Marland would agree all along. And by the way Marland growled at Shodin and then looked away, this was a regular occurrence.

Fion appeared then, heading straight for Marland and nearly knocked him over again. And while Marland's voice was as loud as it had been before, it had none of the bite or anger. Ras had started to become used to Fion's thoughts flickering amongst hers.

Once Fion had calmed down (and Marland had lifted his plate away before it found itself on the floor), Marland paused, watching them carefully.

"Do you have any memory problems?" he asked suspiciously.

And Shodin chuckled, Fion's laughter following him soon after, and they both ignored Marland's glare with ease.

Maybe she would ask the story behind the strange question, but now was not the right time. Ras shook her head, and Marland relaxed.

"Right," he said, waving to the door, "close that and…I dunno."

"We can watch a film?" Shodin asked as he waved a black box in his hand, with far too much innocence that Ras wasn't surprised by Marland's warning growl.

Aldran was staring at a larger black box by the wall across the room, and Ras could see the way how his eyes were glazing over as he stared at it before he bowed his head.

"I think we should rest first," Ras said quietly, turning to Marland and Shodin, and the two glanced at the doors on either side of the black box.

"You can stay in my room, on the right," Shodin offered, "but the bed's small."

Ras huffed as she and Aldran walked over and opened the door. The room held a bed no larger than the ones Ras was used to, but the way she was feeling at that moment, she actually preferred that.

Aldran closed the door, and after lifting the thick covers and getting over her surprise at how soft the bed was, Ras lay on the side that was up against the wall and then glanced up at Aldran, who looked nervously back, fidgeting with his fingers. They stayed like that for a short while, before Ras raised her eyebrows slightly and smiled; Aldran relaxed and climbed in.

They shifted together, working out what was comfortable before they settled on being turned towards each other, their foreheads touching, as well as their hands and knees. Aldran's tail reached over and curled itself around her thigh.

It wasn't long before Ras' eyes fluttered shut and she drifted off to sleep, listening to Aldran's breathing.

______________________________________________
ALL THESE WORDS and it's just an introduction, and I didn't get into the later scenes. XDDD;
Oh god, I'd written Aldran with slitted eyes at the start. XDDD;; ORZ Aaaand I initially forgot Ras was armed with a dagger. XDD; And I forgot about Aldran's gift about knowing about stuff as soon as he sees it. XD;;;; Delayed reaction from it not coming from the Gods' knowledge. >____> Yeah, totally.
I reeeeally didn't realise the difference between Ras' and Marland's worldviews (concerning gods) until I started thinking about this and just, omg. XDD But I guess in this situation, Ras is really going to be drawing on Them, since it's entirely unknown.
Ras is a lot better at the 'jumping to protect something in an unknown situation' than Marland is. XDD His was waaay more forced. :P
…*attempts to think of a way to medievally describe a 'beep'* … *continues to stare at the screen* Daaaaamn.
That fight was a little easy. Aaaanyway. XD;;
*dies laughing at the fact Aldran's completely fine with sitting in Marland's chairs*
Scenes I want to write:
Aldran's reaction to this/the info dump in his head.
Marland asking why Ras and Aldran settle in pretty damn well (slightly worse than Shodin, but that's Shodin) and the fallout from that.
Marland and Shodin finding out about 'Ras and Aldran's' magic. And the bond in general. And the fact that Ras was chosen by the Gods, and Aldran being created by Them.
Ras seeing a close up of Marland's eyes.
Shodin and Fion teaming up on poor Aldran. XDD
Marland asking Shodin how he found them.
Ras and Aldran finding out about Shodin and Fion's bond.

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