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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.
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 3,245
Total word count: 42,898
Status: Work in Progress
Marland doubted that he could be bothered with trying to get to know them again if that happened either. What would be the point? They wouldn't remember what had caused them to be friends in the first place, or anything else after that and... Marland didn't know. Maybe he would, if it was Pai; he wasn't sure about Kendal's team - they wouldn't allow him the chance to explain.
He shrugged, wings rustling. "Go ask 'im; if I tried to guess, I'd be wrong." Shodin might be able to get a better answer from him, if he was able to actually talk to Puzz. Maybe. Marland had no idea how Puzz talked with Shodin.
Shodin nodded slowly, hair fluttering over his face. He brushed them away and tucked them behind his ear. "Yes, you're right," he murmured, twining a few strands of hair around his fingers. "I should apologise for this."
Apologise for what, exactly? For jumping to conclusions, or for forgetting him? The second one didn't make that much sense but then again, this WAS Shodin, so he never made sense to Marland.
Shodin got up, scratching the back of his head, the smile back in his eyes. "We should probably get back to bed."
Marland glared at him, ears falling flat. He'd BEEN in his bed when all this happened, and he would have liked to have stayed in bed throughout it. Grumbling, he got to his feet as well and went back to his room. He heard Shodin walking behind him, and he might have said something else, but Marland was concerned with his bed, and his bed only, so he ignored it.
Curling up, wing raised again to ward off the brightening light in the room, Marland tried to get to sleep.
And mostly failed. It took him more than an hour before he drifted off, but he'd been too damn awake after all that talking and walking around. Ugh.
* * *
Over the next couple of days, Shodin slowly started making progress with being able to control the magic and not panicking. He still reacted when he started calling the magic, but they weren't as severe as the first ones. They weren't comparable. Shodin still got shaky legs afterwards (which was why he was normally sitting on the couch when he practiced), and his breath quickened, but that was the majority of the reaction. He also recovered a lot faster, which, in some cases, Marland found unfortunate because he then had to deal with the random lighting up of the room numerous times in the one day.
One of the other downsides was that Shodin started eating a LOT. Marland didn't know how much a human normally ate, but he thought that Shodin was surpassing that by quite a bit. Shodin seemed sheepish about it, so if Marland had to guess, it was because of the magic that Shodin seemed quite able to eat something that would have fed three people.
On the other hand, Shodin didn't come out shopping with him, because he was normally still recovering from attempting to call up the magic, and Marland had flat out refused to let him come anyway, because, while yeah, Shodin had most definitely saved him in that fight, Marland didn't want to find out the hard way if that was a fluke and Shodin didn't really know how to, say, aim.
It was over two weeks later that Marland found himself glaring at Shodin, ears flat, while a sheepish Shodin chuckled weakly, rubbing at the back of his head, head also ducked, while they both eyed the smouldering hole in the couch.
"Uh, apologies."
It wasn't exactly a big hole -a human pinkie could poke through it, so long as they did it when the fabric had cooled and wasn't burning or glowing white- so it wasn't something to throw a hissy fit over. And it wasn't like he LIKED or even USED the couch, so it didn't really bother him.
He was more concerned about the couch possibly catching on fire.
It didn't look like it was going to at the moment, but with the speed that Shodin was improving, he might end up causing it in about... three days. If not two. That also wasn't the thing that was bothering Marland the most.
"That was lightning." Not that he could bloody SEE the damn thing, but the afterimages in his eyes seemed to think so. Marland wasn't quite sure how the hell he was going to fight alongside Shodin. ...Wear sunglasses? He didn't THINK they would affect his sight that much, and he'd never tried them on properly. But, his ears were positioned wrong, so he wouldn't be able to wear the ones that humans wore easily - not unless they taped it to his head, which, no, wouldn't work or stay there when he was fighting.
Shodin blinked up at him, then studied the hole again. "It was?"
Which didn't make sense. Shodin had been freaked out about the thunderstorm, but he could throw around lightning? Maybe that was just an instinctual thing. Or something.
"Yeah."
"Ah..." Shodin continued to study it for a little while longer before he leaned back on the couch, sighing. He tugged at the tail that he found its way over his shoulder, playing with it. "Then I guess I should no longer practice indoors?"
Marland snorted, one ear flicking down. "No." Which then left the problem of where Shodin would practice. It'd have to be a secluded area, one blocked off from easy sight, and could also hide the light that Shodin created well, but wasn't so blocked off that it ended up trapping them. Yeah, that wouldn't be hard.
He sighed, moving his head to look at the blinds covering the window. It was dark enough that he'd be all right walking the streets, and he was so glad sunset was slowly becoming earlier and earlier. He wished that it would be faster though, but then that would mean he would also have to look to the winter months coming faster, which, ugh, no. His wings curled up closer to him at the thought.
They didn't need to get any shopping, and were stocked up for the next three days. Unless when Shodin started using his magic 'properly', his appetite also went through the roof again. He eyed him. Shodin looked back, curious, but waiting to see what he would say. He really hoped not. They definitely had enough money at the moment, so that wasn't a problem either, so Marland didn't have to go hunting. So all they had to do was find a place for Shodin to practice. And that still didn't sound simple.
Shaking his head and huffing, Marland jerked his head towards the door. "Come on."
Grinning, mouth wide and teeth showing, Shodin went off to get ready.
* * *
They'd been wandering around for about half-an-hour, poking their heads in to any kind of space they could find, but they weren't having that much luck. Most of them were too open, or too easily accessible for Marland's tastes. Also, some of them were too lit up, putting Marland in full display. They had taken one look at THAT place, shared a look, and then walked off without saying a word. Others still were too close to residential areas, with too many windows looking down from flats.
Marland turned his head as he heard a faint crash in the distance. Ears flicking down for a second before coming back up again, he craned to hear where it had come from.
Shodin, who had been humming the theme song to... something, one of those bad daytime television shows, noticed and trailed off, tensing alongside him. Yet another Other. Marland had hoped that they wouldn't run in to one, at least, not TODAY, but maybe it was better NOW than it was later, after Shodin had exhausted himself. Ears still searching, Marland considered that thought. He shouldn't let him practice magic for too long, because he'd still need the energy to get home, and Marland didn't want to carry him. Especially if they got jumped on the way home. Or someone thought that he was re-kidnapping Shodin again. So they should probably do it by a timer, or after a certain amount of times Shodin had tried. The second one was probably better, especially since neither of them had a watch.
Another crash echoed in the distance, and it seemed like it had come from the same place as before. Ears still pricked, Marland quickly headed in that direction, Shodin on his heels. This time, there wasn't any sound of running (apart from himself and Shodin behind him) so maybe the Other hadn't found anyone yet. Or already had. Marland hoped that it was the former.
He could hear it as it rummaged through whatever it had toppled over, bags hissing and metal screeching when they hit the ground. It sounded fairly small, and on its own at least.
They hurried around the corner, Marland already calling his fire to his hands, and then stopped short, Shodin crashing in to one of his wings when he didn't slow down fast enough. They nearly ended up in a heap on the ground, his wing nearly flinging Shodin away as Marland tried to use them to steady himself.
The fox, seeing them and their following antics, bared its teeth with its ears flat and then bolted, the tip of its tail the only thing visible even to Marland's eyes after a few seconds.
"Wha-? Marland?" Shodin was rubbing his jaw where Marland's wing must have scraped him. At least his beard must have protected him a little bit from that; there wasn't any blood at least.
"It was a fox," he said, glancing at the strewn rubbish that had spread over most of the pavement. It stank, and Marland wrinkled his nose. Ugh. It smelled like it had been sitting there for at least a couple of days now. Didn't anyone come here to collect it?
"A fox?"
"It's related to dogs." Marland started taking in the area around them as a whole. It was quiet, with barely even any cars parked on the road. There were hardly any street lamps, and the ones that weren't broken threw the street in to a dull yellow light, rather than a harsh white one. It explained why the fox had been brave enough to go out in plain sight. If they were where Marland thought they were, then there should some kind of warehouse nearby…
"So, they're normal here?"
Marland just looked at him, head tilted down, ears forward.
At that, Shodin chuckled, ducking his head. "Normal as in, not an Other."
"Yeah."
They started walking down the road, following the direction that the fox had taken before it had dived under a hedge. Huh. Marland could barely hear any passing cars from here, and it didn't sound like they came around that often either. His ears were in constant motion, trying to hear for any signs of life, but it didn't seem like it.
Shodin followed him as Marland checked out the street. A couple of minutes later, they were standing in a large, dark, empty carpark that was only illuminated by a weak, flickering light on the other side of where Marland and Shodin were standing in.
The place had two entrances, with fairly high walls surrounding the warehouse shop. They were high enough that they'd be hard to spot from the corners – not so much when Shodin started casting magic, but they shouldn't be seen, even if their position was given away.
It put Marland's nerves on edge to do something like this, but there wasn't much else they could do. They wouldn't be so noticeable if Shodin practiced when the sun was up, but then it would be MARLAND who would be drawing attention to them, and he drew enough attention already. Not to mention that he wouldn't be able to see. He also didn't want to let Shodin go out by himself, because he'd been waking up recently to Shodin on the verge of collapse on the couch because he'd been pushing himself too hard. He could end up doing just that while he was practicing outside.
"Do you think this is a good spot?" Shodin asked as he glanced around, fingers already moving and curling.
Marland turned his head away. He heard a chuckle before their corner began glowing. Marland could see his shadow clearly on the ground. It didn't fade out and fade back in like it would have a couple of weeks ago.
After about thirty seconds, Marland could hear a faint crackling sound, like someone was crushing a bag of crisps. It grew in volume slowly, and then his shadow flickered, lengthening to double its height in between one blink and the next.
He was then left with a faint afterimage of his shadow in his eyes. Ears turned towards Shodin, he listened for anything out of the ordinary. All he could hear was Shodin panting hard, but it didn't sound like he's collapsed in to the wall either.
Not waiting for his eyes to adjust completely, Marland dug in to one of his pockets and pulled out a bar of chocolate. It was one of the easiest things Shodin could eat when he could barely move, they'd found. Through numerous trial-and-error, they'd also found that Shodin's favourite flavour of chocolate was hazelnut, while he found the dark chocolate not to his taste.
The bar was pushed gently away. "I don't need it QUITE yet."
Blinking through the bright spots, Marland tried to see if Shodin was just pretending, or if he really was okay. Already, his breath was coming easier and didn't sound so laboured. Hmm, that was good; it didn't seem like they'd have to buy even MORE food for Shodin.
Once Marland's eyes cleared up, he looked at the wall around Shodin. He could see a small pile of rocks by the wall, and when he looked up, he found a small hole the same size as the one that was in his couch. He was beginning to wonder if Shodin could be hurt by his own magic. Marland wasn't, though he could feel its heat, but that wasn't the same for everyone.
Shodin waited for a little while before trying again, just in case there was a delayed side effect, but there didn't seem to be one. He did it a few more times, with the same amount of rest period in between, Marland's eyes adjusting to the flashes better and better each time - or else that could have been Shodin somehow controlling his magic's brightness.
"I think that should be enough for today," Shodin eventually said, and Marland eyed him suspiciously. He was surprised Shodin wasn't pushing himself harder. "I doubt that you'd want to carry me home," he said, smiling at him.
And Marland really didn't know how Shodin always seemed to know what he was thinking – he didn't think his body language (even WITH his ears) was that easy to read. Or was he just that predictable?
He snorted at that, before his ears twitched, turning towards the further exit. That sounded like tires coming to a halt just before where they could be seen from where Marland and Shodin were standing. And that was another car. He would have liked to believe that it was Kendal's team, but they only had the one van, and there was no way they would have found out about Marland and Shodin being there already.
The doors were opened carefully, and were shut as quietly as they could. There were at least… four people there, and it didn't seem like they were talking, unless they were using hand signals.
"We're going."
Shodin nodded, face cautious, trying to peer where Marland had his attention to, and then they both started hurrying out. They were only two steps away before Marland heard a suspicious click. A second later, he had hauled Shodin out of the carpark by the scruff of his jacket, and hopefully in to relative safety. A split second later, the wall that had been behind them CRACKED and showered brick on to the ground.
Shit. Shitshitshit.
They scrambled to the righ – no, straight forward, there was another car coming towards them on the right, and Marland really hoped that whoever was shooting at him hadn't been organised to cover all routes simultaneously. They hadn't. Must be only one car on their side. And it was catching up, just about to reach the corner. If they were lucky –which was very doubtful- they would still think that he was still in the carpark.
And he wasn't lucky. The car went around the corner straight away, gun blasting in the silent night.
Marland and Shodin ducked, then dashed across the street, racing around the first corners they saw, and going down the smallest alleys they came across.
After some amount of time, where they were completely out of breath, their legs and generally everything else burning, they stopped in a small park, at least partially hidden by darkness and protected by some fairly thick trees. It obviously wasn't exactly great, and it was unfortunately right next to a road, but it was the best they could do right now.
They were quiet for a while as they struggled to catch their breath as quickly as possible. Shodin was sitting on the ground, his back to a tree, while Marland braced a hand above his head. Stupid fucking wings; it wasn't like he could sit down next to Shodin and get a good rest – not unless he wanted to make himself completely vulnerable.
"Guns?" Shodin asked, voice still wheezy.
"Guns," he affirmed, the word coming out more like a growl than an actual word.
Shodin shook his head, brushing sweat away from his forehead, and then stiffly pulling off his hairband to tie his hair up again. "I thought you said guns made things more interesting. Exciting."
Marland glared at him. "In FILMS, yeah. I didn't say anything about real life."
Shodin just laughed, breathless and barely leaving his throat. Grumbling, Marland waited for it to abate, ears on the lookout for the sound of… anything, really. Cars were bad. So was people. And the sound of claws or paws on the pavement were as well.
Finally it did, and Marland hadn't heard anything, bar from a far distant motorbike, so maybe it would be okay.
"Do you think we'll run in to them again?" Shodin asked as he slowly got up, using the tree to help his shoulders rolling.
"Fuckin' hope not," Marland muttered, stepping away.
"Hmm, me as well – I'd rather not find out if the injuries in films are accurate in real life, nor do I really wish to find out if I actually CAN walk around with a hole in my stomach."
Marland rolled his eyes at the light tone Shodin was using. But it was better than panicking at least, and it was a whole lot better than a panicking Puzz – and Marland wondered why he hadn't taken over.
And that was a question to ask when they were safe, not right now.
They made one last careful check around themselves before they left the relative cover of the park.
* * *
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.
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 3,245
Total word count: 42,898
Status: Work in Progress
Marland doubted that he could be bothered with trying to get to know them again if that happened either. What would be the point? They wouldn't remember what had caused them to be friends in the first place, or anything else after that and... Marland didn't know. Maybe he would, if it was Pai; he wasn't sure about Kendal's team - they wouldn't allow him the chance to explain.
He shrugged, wings rustling. "Go ask 'im; if I tried to guess, I'd be wrong." Shodin might be able to get a better answer from him, if he was able to actually talk to Puzz. Maybe. Marland had no idea how Puzz talked with Shodin.
Shodin nodded slowly, hair fluttering over his face. He brushed them away and tucked them behind his ear. "Yes, you're right," he murmured, twining a few strands of hair around his fingers. "I should apologise for this."
Apologise for what, exactly? For jumping to conclusions, or for forgetting him? The second one didn't make that much sense but then again, this WAS Shodin, so he never made sense to Marland.
Shodin got up, scratching the back of his head, the smile back in his eyes. "We should probably get back to bed."
Marland glared at him, ears falling flat. He'd BEEN in his bed when all this happened, and he would have liked to have stayed in bed throughout it. Grumbling, he got to his feet as well and went back to his room. He heard Shodin walking behind him, and he might have said something else, but Marland was concerned with his bed, and his bed only, so he ignored it.
Curling up, wing raised again to ward off the brightening light in the room, Marland tried to get to sleep.
And mostly failed. It took him more than an hour before he drifted off, but he'd been too damn awake after all that talking and walking around. Ugh.
* * *
Over the next couple of days, Shodin slowly started making progress with being able to control the magic and not panicking. He still reacted when he started calling the magic, but they weren't as severe as the first ones. They weren't comparable. Shodin still got shaky legs afterwards (which was why he was normally sitting on the couch when he practiced), and his breath quickened, but that was the majority of the reaction. He also recovered a lot faster, which, in some cases, Marland found unfortunate because he then had to deal with the random lighting up of the room numerous times in the one day.
One of the other downsides was that Shodin started eating a LOT. Marland didn't know how much a human normally ate, but he thought that Shodin was surpassing that by quite a bit. Shodin seemed sheepish about it, so if Marland had to guess, it was because of the magic that Shodin seemed quite able to eat something that would have fed three people.
On the other hand, Shodin didn't come out shopping with him, because he was normally still recovering from attempting to call up the magic, and Marland had flat out refused to let him come anyway, because, while yeah, Shodin had most definitely saved him in that fight, Marland didn't want to find out the hard way if that was a fluke and Shodin didn't really know how to, say, aim.
It was over two weeks later that Marland found himself glaring at Shodin, ears flat, while a sheepish Shodin chuckled weakly, rubbing at the back of his head, head also ducked, while they both eyed the smouldering hole in the couch.
"Uh, apologies."
It wasn't exactly a big hole -a human pinkie could poke through it, so long as they did it when the fabric had cooled and wasn't burning or glowing white- so it wasn't something to throw a hissy fit over. And it wasn't like he LIKED or even USED the couch, so it didn't really bother him.
He was more concerned about the couch possibly catching on fire.
It didn't look like it was going to at the moment, but with the speed that Shodin was improving, he might end up causing it in about... three days. If not two. That also wasn't the thing that was bothering Marland the most.
"That was lightning." Not that he could bloody SEE the damn thing, but the afterimages in his eyes seemed to think so. Marland wasn't quite sure how the hell he was going to fight alongside Shodin. ...Wear sunglasses? He didn't THINK they would affect his sight that much, and he'd never tried them on properly. But, his ears were positioned wrong, so he wouldn't be able to wear the ones that humans wore easily - not unless they taped it to his head, which, no, wouldn't work or stay there when he was fighting.
Shodin blinked up at him, then studied the hole again. "It was?"
Which didn't make sense. Shodin had been freaked out about the thunderstorm, but he could throw around lightning? Maybe that was just an instinctual thing. Or something.
"Yeah."
"Ah..." Shodin continued to study it for a little while longer before he leaned back on the couch, sighing. He tugged at the tail that he found its way over his shoulder, playing with it. "Then I guess I should no longer practice indoors?"
Marland snorted, one ear flicking down. "No." Which then left the problem of where Shodin would practice. It'd have to be a secluded area, one blocked off from easy sight, and could also hide the light that Shodin created well, but wasn't so blocked off that it ended up trapping them. Yeah, that wouldn't be hard.
He sighed, moving his head to look at the blinds covering the window. It was dark enough that he'd be all right walking the streets, and he was so glad sunset was slowly becoming earlier and earlier. He wished that it would be faster though, but then that would mean he would also have to look to the winter months coming faster, which, ugh, no. His wings curled up closer to him at the thought.
They didn't need to get any shopping, and were stocked up for the next three days. Unless when Shodin started using his magic 'properly', his appetite also went through the roof again. He eyed him. Shodin looked back, curious, but waiting to see what he would say. He really hoped not. They definitely had enough money at the moment, so that wasn't a problem either, so Marland didn't have to go hunting. So all they had to do was find a place for Shodin to practice. And that still didn't sound simple.
Shaking his head and huffing, Marland jerked his head towards the door. "Come on."
Grinning, mouth wide and teeth showing, Shodin went off to get ready.
* * *
They'd been wandering around for about half-an-hour, poking their heads in to any kind of space they could find, but they weren't having that much luck. Most of them were too open, or too easily accessible for Marland's tastes. Also, some of them were too lit up, putting Marland in full display. They had taken one look at THAT place, shared a look, and then walked off without saying a word. Others still were too close to residential areas, with too many windows looking down from flats.
Marland turned his head as he heard a faint crash in the distance. Ears flicking down for a second before coming back up again, he craned to hear where it had come from.
Shodin, who had been humming the theme song to... something, one of those bad daytime television shows, noticed and trailed off, tensing alongside him. Yet another Other. Marland had hoped that they wouldn't run in to one, at least, not TODAY, but maybe it was better NOW than it was later, after Shodin had exhausted himself. Ears still searching, Marland considered that thought. He shouldn't let him practice magic for too long, because he'd still need the energy to get home, and Marland didn't want to carry him. Especially if they got jumped on the way home. Or someone thought that he was re-kidnapping Shodin again. So they should probably do it by a timer, or after a certain amount of times Shodin had tried. The second one was probably better, especially since neither of them had a watch.
Another crash echoed in the distance, and it seemed like it had come from the same place as before. Ears still pricked, Marland quickly headed in that direction, Shodin on his heels. This time, there wasn't any sound of running (apart from himself and Shodin behind him) so maybe the Other hadn't found anyone yet. Or already had. Marland hoped that it was the former.
He could hear it as it rummaged through whatever it had toppled over, bags hissing and metal screeching when they hit the ground. It sounded fairly small, and on its own at least.
They hurried around the corner, Marland already calling his fire to his hands, and then stopped short, Shodin crashing in to one of his wings when he didn't slow down fast enough. They nearly ended up in a heap on the ground, his wing nearly flinging Shodin away as Marland tried to use them to steady himself.
The fox, seeing them and their following antics, bared its teeth with its ears flat and then bolted, the tip of its tail the only thing visible even to Marland's eyes after a few seconds.
"Wha-? Marland?" Shodin was rubbing his jaw where Marland's wing must have scraped him. At least his beard must have protected him a little bit from that; there wasn't any blood at least.
"It was a fox," he said, glancing at the strewn rubbish that had spread over most of the pavement. It stank, and Marland wrinkled his nose. Ugh. It smelled like it had been sitting there for at least a couple of days now. Didn't anyone come here to collect it?
"A fox?"
"It's related to dogs." Marland started taking in the area around them as a whole. It was quiet, with barely even any cars parked on the road. There were hardly any street lamps, and the ones that weren't broken threw the street in to a dull yellow light, rather than a harsh white one. It explained why the fox had been brave enough to go out in plain sight. If they were where Marland thought they were, then there should some kind of warehouse nearby…
"So, they're normal here?"
Marland just looked at him, head tilted down, ears forward.
At that, Shodin chuckled, ducking his head. "Normal as in, not an Other."
"Yeah."
They started walking down the road, following the direction that the fox had taken before it had dived under a hedge. Huh. Marland could barely hear any passing cars from here, and it didn't sound like they came around that often either. His ears were in constant motion, trying to hear for any signs of life, but it didn't seem like it.
Shodin followed him as Marland checked out the street. A couple of minutes later, they were standing in a large, dark, empty carpark that was only illuminated by a weak, flickering light on the other side of where Marland and Shodin were standing in.
The place had two entrances, with fairly high walls surrounding the warehouse shop. They were high enough that they'd be hard to spot from the corners – not so much when Shodin started casting magic, but they shouldn't be seen, even if their position was given away.
It put Marland's nerves on edge to do something like this, but there wasn't much else they could do. They wouldn't be so noticeable if Shodin practiced when the sun was up, but then it would be MARLAND who would be drawing attention to them, and he drew enough attention already. Not to mention that he wouldn't be able to see. He also didn't want to let Shodin go out by himself, because he'd been waking up recently to Shodin on the verge of collapse on the couch because he'd been pushing himself too hard. He could end up doing just that while he was practicing outside.
"Do you think this is a good spot?" Shodin asked as he glanced around, fingers already moving and curling.
Marland turned his head away. He heard a chuckle before their corner began glowing. Marland could see his shadow clearly on the ground. It didn't fade out and fade back in like it would have a couple of weeks ago.
After about thirty seconds, Marland could hear a faint crackling sound, like someone was crushing a bag of crisps. It grew in volume slowly, and then his shadow flickered, lengthening to double its height in between one blink and the next.
He was then left with a faint afterimage of his shadow in his eyes. Ears turned towards Shodin, he listened for anything out of the ordinary. All he could hear was Shodin panting hard, but it didn't sound like he's collapsed in to the wall either.
Not waiting for his eyes to adjust completely, Marland dug in to one of his pockets and pulled out a bar of chocolate. It was one of the easiest things Shodin could eat when he could barely move, they'd found. Through numerous trial-and-error, they'd also found that Shodin's favourite flavour of chocolate was hazelnut, while he found the dark chocolate not to his taste.
The bar was pushed gently away. "I don't need it QUITE yet."
Blinking through the bright spots, Marland tried to see if Shodin was just pretending, or if he really was okay. Already, his breath was coming easier and didn't sound so laboured. Hmm, that was good; it didn't seem like they'd have to buy even MORE food for Shodin.
Once Marland's eyes cleared up, he looked at the wall around Shodin. He could see a small pile of rocks by the wall, and when he looked up, he found a small hole the same size as the one that was in his couch. He was beginning to wonder if Shodin could be hurt by his own magic. Marland wasn't, though he could feel its heat, but that wasn't the same for everyone.
Shodin waited for a little while before trying again, just in case there was a delayed side effect, but there didn't seem to be one. He did it a few more times, with the same amount of rest period in between, Marland's eyes adjusting to the flashes better and better each time - or else that could have been Shodin somehow controlling his magic's brightness.
"I think that should be enough for today," Shodin eventually said, and Marland eyed him suspiciously. He was surprised Shodin wasn't pushing himself harder. "I doubt that you'd want to carry me home," he said, smiling at him.
And Marland really didn't know how Shodin always seemed to know what he was thinking – he didn't think his body language (even WITH his ears) was that easy to read. Or was he just that predictable?
He snorted at that, before his ears twitched, turning towards the further exit. That sounded like tires coming to a halt just before where they could be seen from where Marland and Shodin were standing. And that was another car. He would have liked to believe that it was Kendal's team, but they only had the one van, and there was no way they would have found out about Marland and Shodin being there already.
The doors were opened carefully, and were shut as quietly as they could. There were at least… four people there, and it didn't seem like they were talking, unless they were using hand signals.
"We're going."
Shodin nodded, face cautious, trying to peer where Marland had his attention to, and then they both started hurrying out. They were only two steps away before Marland heard a suspicious click. A second later, he had hauled Shodin out of the carpark by the scruff of his jacket, and hopefully in to relative safety. A split second later, the wall that had been behind them CRACKED and showered brick on to the ground.
Shit. Shitshitshit.
They scrambled to the righ – no, straight forward, there was another car coming towards them on the right, and Marland really hoped that whoever was shooting at him hadn't been organised to cover all routes simultaneously. They hadn't. Must be only one car on their side. And it was catching up, just about to reach the corner. If they were lucky –which was very doubtful- they would still think that he was still in the carpark.
And he wasn't lucky. The car went around the corner straight away, gun blasting in the silent night.
Marland and Shodin ducked, then dashed across the street, racing around the first corners they saw, and going down the smallest alleys they came across.
After some amount of time, where they were completely out of breath, their legs and generally everything else burning, they stopped in a small park, at least partially hidden by darkness and protected by some fairly thick trees. It obviously wasn't exactly great, and it was unfortunately right next to a road, but it was the best they could do right now.
They were quiet for a while as they struggled to catch their breath as quickly as possible. Shodin was sitting on the ground, his back to a tree, while Marland braced a hand above his head. Stupid fucking wings; it wasn't like he could sit down next to Shodin and get a good rest – not unless he wanted to make himself completely vulnerable.
"Guns?" Shodin asked, voice still wheezy.
"Guns," he affirmed, the word coming out more like a growl than an actual word.
Shodin shook his head, brushing sweat away from his forehead, and then stiffly pulling off his hairband to tie his hair up again. "I thought you said guns made things more interesting. Exciting."
Marland glared at him. "In FILMS, yeah. I didn't say anything about real life."
Shodin just laughed, breathless and barely leaving his throat. Grumbling, Marland waited for it to abate, ears on the lookout for the sound of… anything, really. Cars were bad. So was people. And the sound of claws or paws on the pavement were as well.
Finally it did, and Marland hadn't heard anything, bar from a far distant motorbike, so maybe it would be okay.
"Do you think we'll run in to them again?" Shodin asked as he slowly got up, using the tree to help his shoulders rolling.
"Fuckin' hope not," Marland muttered, stepping away.
"Hmm, me as well – I'd rather not find out if the injuries in films are accurate in real life, nor do I really wish to find out if I actually CAN walk around with a hole in my stomach."
Marland rolled his eyes at the light tone Shodin was using. But it was better than panicking at least, and it was a whole lot better than a panicking Puzz – and Marland wondered why he hadn't taken over.
And that was a question to ask when they were safe, not right now.
They made one last careful check around themselves before they left the relative cover of the park.
* * *
no subject
Date: Nov. 22nd, 2010 07:09 am (UTC)Hehe.
He also recovered a lot faster, which, in some cases, Marland found unfortunate because he then had to deal with the random lighting up of the room numerous times in the one day.
Haha! But hey, more practicing in one day means better progress! Less days needed for practice in the end!
One of the other downsides was that Shodin started eating a LOT.
Reminds me of Dragonball. I bet Shodin's not eating as much as that though. XD
Marland didn't want to find out the hard way if that was a fluke and Shodin didn't really know how to, say, aim.
...maybe he'd get hit in the back by Shodin, haha. That would suck!
A hole in the couch. (Haha, the couch. So it was useful!) Oh, I thought it'd be a big hole. That's a fairly small hole. Huh, lightning? :3
Marland wasn't quite sure how the hell he was going to fight alongside Shodin. ...Wear sunglasses?
Ahhhhhhh. XD Yeah, I guess lightning + someone who can't see in bright light isn't a good combination.
Which didn't make sense. Shodin had been freaked out about the thunderstorm, but he could throw around lightning? Maybe that was just an instinctual thing. Or something.
Maybe that's why doing magic scares him. Or maybe that's why the thunderstorm scared him. Hm. =P
Where would they find such a place to practice? The park?
Shodin, who had been humming the theme song to... something,
Hehe, cute image.
Yet another Other.
That's a mouthful. XD
A fox? :O A wild animal? Not an Other?
Ah, okay, question answered. XD
Oh, hm, so they found an empty lot of land. :3
After about thirty seconds, Marland could hear a faint crackling sound, like someone was crushing a bag of crisps. It grew in volume slowly, and then his shadow flickered, lengthening to double its height in between one blink and the next.
Eee, I love this description!
"I doubt that you'd want to carry me home," he said, smiling at him.
XDD
my mind added, "batting his eyes at him." What????It seems like every time they go out, trouble follows! :3
So much action! *flails*
"Hmm, me as well – I'd rather not find out if the injuries in films are accurate in real life, nor do I really wish to find out if I actually CAN walk around with a hole in my stomach."
Yeaaaah, you don't want to find out. XDD
no subject
Date: Nov. 24th, 2010 04:41 am (UTC)XD No, I don't think so. It's still on the borders of regular human eating. Just.
Oooh, you have no idea. *facepalm* The 23rd part gets worse with other Others and gnaaah! I'm never going to name something that I know I'll be using a lot with an English word. :P
*snerk* It's the only good piece of description I have!
Bwahahaha! Very much shipping them!
But it's not fiiiighting. XDD
no subject
Date: Nov. 24th, 2010 06:32 am (UTC)Haha, okay. XD; I liked the part about the chocolate (don't remember which part it was in =P ). Nice to see it appear again and actually tie in with something. <3
Other Others. XD; Put that at the beginning of the sentence. It looks even funnier!
It's pretty. =P
LOL, yeah, very. >__> I'm even seeing things that aren't there. =P
Getting shot at is totally fighting. Or you can just label it as action. Action is hard to write for me too. XD;
no subject
Date: Nov. 26th, 2010 09:05 pm (UTC)Balt knowing about what chocolate Shodin likes? The whole reason why I'd said what Shodin liked was to tie in to this point. And I'm now sooo glad I randomly decided to have Marland have chocolate as painkillers, because I just realised that it would have been pretty out of the blue to have Shodin try out chocolate and then for me to say what flavours he liked. But it is Shodin, so much curiosity, but still, not as random here. ^ ^
:P Never using Others again. XD
Don't worry; my mind keeps adding stuff like that when I'm writing the words down too. XDD Hasn't been happening too - wait, no, it has, what with Marland not wanting Shodin to leave and the 'sappy' lines (I couldn't think of anything else!! They had to go in! Marland wasn't to happy. XD) but Marland's been mostly been too rage-y to be focusing on Shodin like he'd been before.
no subject
Date: Nov. 27th, 2010 09:08 am (UTC)The chocolate part connects really well with how you wrote it. :D
Hehe.
Aw, haha. Those lines aren't too terribly sappy... unless he gets sappier in the new parts that I haven't read yet. But those are definitely somewhat shippy lines. =P
no subject
Date: Nov. 30th, 2010 07:53 am (UTC):D Yey for random details becoming important!
Nope, no more sappier lines in later parts. They're sappy for him though.
no subject
Date: Nov. 30th, 2010 09:12 am (UTC)The later parts are less sappy now that he's not thinking about the leaving aspect. But poor Marland, he never gets a break! XD