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esp_dragonFandom: Original
Summary: The world of Torpin is open, dragging in xeni from other worlds. The majority of them are monsters, prone to violence. There are some, however, that are not, and are able to live amongst the human population, if allowed to. Marland should know; he's one of them. His job is to hunt and stop the xeni that seek only to destroy what's around them. On one job, a human xeno drops through a portal, an event which Marland has never heard of happening before. And that's not the only thing different about the human...
Rating: M
Notes: Lots of swearing, as always. *dry*
Hopefully things'll start plodding forward again here.
I gave up on trying to think of what kind of house would be able to fit five + two/three additional people, as well as being able to have a sitting room and kitchen and all the other sorts of things Kendal's team would need. So they're now living in a converted small hotel. XDD;; Lots of levels! En-suite rooms!
I should probably have Shodin have a bit of trouble walking when he first starts moving about… Hm.
Haha, Ronthar originally said 'Noted' at some point, then I wondered about if he'd use it (yeah, it's a phrase but different worlds etc etc etc) because he's illiterate and he's from an area that doesn't put much emphasis on needing that so, 'taking note' wouldn't be used so regularly. X3;
Wow is Kendal's characterisation all over the place. *wince* So's her accent thing.
Okay, the last scene here I did not expect to happen, but when I thought of it, my face just lit up. XDD
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 3,099
Total word count: 83,114
Status: Work in Progress
And that just sounded like a made-up paradise to Marland, not something that had a possibility of actually existing.
"You… actually remind me of one of the races there: the drakule." Ronthar's tone was softer and he was talking slower than Marland had heard him before.
Marland turned his head enough so that he could peek at Ronthar from the corner of his eyes. Was he lying just to make him feel better? Ronthar wasn't looking at him again, his gaze fixed to a far corner. It did seem more like he was remembering something, rather than making it up.
"Your markings are different -and they have a tail- but other than that..." Ronthar shrugged, glancing back at him, a weak smile on his face.
Really? Marland stared at him in bewilderment. Was he really that similar to them? Marland had never seen any of the xeni who looked remotely like him - there were hardly any lizard-like ones that came through, and even rarer were ones that had wings, let alone any that were close to the size that Marland had.
"I'm really like them?" The question slipped out before Marland realised he'd even said it, and his ears flattened when he did. Why was he curious about them? It wasn't like he could ever meet them.
Ronthar quirked his lips at him, stretching his back out of its hunched over position. "In appearance, yes; temperament, no."
Marland's ears twitched back up again. Huh. "What're they like?"
Ronthar's lips widened into a grin, and he chuckled. "They're essentially berserkers – if you were to threaten something that they deem 'theirs' -be it their home, possessions or an individual- that would trigger their protective instincts." Ronthar paused, the grin turning sharp. "There are stories of what drakule have supposedly done to people that tried."
Definitely not like him then. It was still… interesting to find out about them. Which Marland found a little weird; he'd never tried to learn about something just for the sake of learning about them before.
"The rest of the time though," Ronthar continued, "they're rather calm in other situations." Ronthar's eyes flicked to the first aid kit and he snorted softly before he started picking at its contents again. "I should plaster the other side of your wing before it gets tired."
Marland blinked. He actually hadn't been thinking about that since they'd started talking – but now that his attention was back on it…
His wing wasn't tired anyway – he'd just had to lean more to his right to get it out of his line of vision. Marland shifted more of his weight to his right and carefully spread his wing out. It didn't feel sore at least, but it did feel harder to move.
Ronthar manoeuvred himself so that he was facing Marland face-on, and then glanced behind himself. Marland shuffled closer to the wall. With a grateful look, Ronthar pushed himself away from the edge of the bed.
The plaster was put on without much fuss and Marland folded his wing back to its usual position afterwards.
Ronthar didn't move away, and tilted his head at him. "Is there anything else you want to know?"
Too fucking much. Ronthar didn't seem to have any problems remembering his homeworld… "How long have you been here for?"
"Only for a number of months," Ronthar told him. "Saisha took us in when she found us – she said she was worried we'd be eaten by a xeno," he said dryly.
'Us'? Ronthar had been with oth – was he talking about Puzz? He hadn't seemed to realise that he'd slipped into talking about himself plurally, and Marland wasn't sure what to do about that. Ronthar hadn't been saying much about - Fion, right, but…
"What's wrong?"
Marland sighed irritably, lifting his ears again. "Just…" He sighed, not bothering to raise his ears when they went back down. "Fion."
"Ah." Ronthar turned his head away, before looking back at him. "He'll be all right," he said firmly. "I know him."
The instinctual Fion Marland had in his head didn't match with Ronthar's confidence, but maybe what had returned Ronthar's memories had also changed Fion back to what Ronthar knew him better as?
Marland turned his head to the sound of the front door opening. Multiple people entered the house, not really trying that hard to keep quiet.
"I'll go ask them about it." That was Kendal's voice.
"Marland's still in a coma," Gahn reminded her as the sound of someone coming up the stairs floated up through the open door.
"Eh. You know him - he's probably already up. I bet Ronthar's had to sit on him to make sure he doesn't leave the bed." Kendal's head popped into view, and she grinned when she saw them. "Or cornered him."
Kendal waved a piece of paper at them as she came into the room, an eyebrow raised. "So, what have you two been doing?"
"I took a shower," Marland answered, not sure if he'd been intending for his tone to be deadpan or not.
The other eyebrow went up, and Kendal chuckled. "Well, I was meaning before you found yourself in a police holding cell." Kendal waved the paper again. "There's a notice out for you."
Marland froze, staring at her, barely breathing.
She flicked the paper to glance at the text on it. "It says you've killed at least ten humans and are considered 'extremely dangerous'."
Fucking liars.
"The 'wanted alive' is what we're finding interesting though," Kendal continued, studying his reactions intently.
Shit. Shit. Balt was using the hunters to bring him back.
When Kendal started crossing the room –one careful step at a time, but there was no hesitation in her stride- Marland snarled at her, pushing himself up against the wall, ignoring the flare of pain in his wings.
"So's the price." Kendal flipped the paper around so that Marland could see it.
And that was a fuck-load of zeroes.
"Who'd you piss off?"
"The fuck should I know?" Marland snapped, baring his teeth at her. She was blocking the door –and even if he was able to get past her, there were still another four hunters in the house- and he wouldn't fit through the wind… Marland read what else was on the piece of paper. "Fuck!"
"Yeah, we're not sure why there's a notice on Ronthar either," Kendal said, her voice dry.
Because Balt knew he'd try make sure Ronthar wouldn't end up in his hands again, and that would get him caught as well. If he wasn't caught, but Ronthar was, he'd go back to get him out. Marland hissed a sigh. When the fuck had he started caring this much about a person?
"What?" Ronthar said slowly. He had stood up at some point, and looked like he was trying to stand in Kendal's way. He glanced between Marland and Kendal. "Is a notice like a bounty?"
Marland snorted. "It's exactly like a bounty." Marland peered at the paper. The price was for one of them, so if someone brought both of them…
He didn't want to attack Kendal, but fuck, there was no other way they could get out, even if the noise-
"Marland," Kendal said, taking a step back, a warmness back in her eyes, "you know we don't do this for money."
He growled at her, his posture still stiff. "It's a lot of money."
"Which is making us wonder what the hell you did or saw to make someone so desperate to find you they're being this obvious." Kendal crossed her eyes and leaned on the wall. "Everyone knows there's something up when a notice like that goes up." She quirked a smile at him. "It also helps that people also know about you and that you don't attack humans."
Marland looked away from her, seeing the two humans' faces flash in his mind.
"…Okay. You two are going to tell me exactly what happened now." When Marland glanced back at her, Kendal's mouth was a thin line as she sat herself down on the other bed.
"You wouldn't believe it," Marland muttered, watching her warily.
"Oh?" Kendal raised an eyebrow. "We've got our guesses – and Marland, we live in a world were portals open up for no reason and dump beings from other worlds on our doorsteps; we can get used to new ideas. Really."
When he continued to stare at her, Kendal huffed and turned her head away. Marland drew his head back when he saw that, and then looked at Ronthar, who smiled at him as he sat back down next to him. He'd told them he didn't like it when he was stared at directly?
Kendal leaned back on her hands, staring up at the ceiling. "Yer both wearing collars when yer found, collars that don't have a simple way of taking off yourself, and under the collars you're bleeding in a pattern that doesn't make sense if they were just collars. The collars also block your magic, which both of you have – or had in Ronthar's case. You," Kendal said, glancing at Marland before her eyes flicked away again, "were twitching in your sleep, which can mean you've got some sort of nerve damage, and that says the collars are more than they seem since neither of you don't seem to have been hurt anywhere else apart from around your necks.
"So. Add this to the fact that we've now got a person who's so intent on finding you that they don't care how obvious they're being and we've got a conspiracy that's about stealing a person's magic." She rolled her shoulders before she tilted her head at Marland. "How close are we?"
Marland stared at her, his eyes wide.
Kendal's face blanked of all emotion. "Right on the nose then."
Marland glanced at Ronthar, realising something. "Apart from we need to go back."
Ronthar sucked in a breath and didn't look at him, his hair half-obscuring his face – it didn't hide his hand clenching by his side. Because Fion was still there as well.
Kendal frowned at them. "Why the hell would you want to?"
"They took my laknur – he's my…" Ronthar trailed off, gesturing sharply. He sighed, shaking his head. "A laknur is a partner, a protector, a being that stays with you for your life. Fion… We met a number of years ago and made a contract – I'd always felt his presence in my mind ever since."
Until now. Marland couldn't imagine having someone else in his head, but he guessed he hadn't imagined that he'd end up living the life he was now when he was younger; you just got used to it and it eventually became normal.
"Yer bother still injured," Kendal pointed out, her frown not moving.
And who knew what the fuck Balt was doing to Fion right now. Marland didn't-
"And do you even know where you'd been kept?"
…Shit. She had a point.
Kendal sighed. "We'll sort it out after you're able to walk in a straight line."
Which meant they were housebound until then, because of the notice. Marland looked at Kendal suspiciously.
"We aren't doing this for money," Kendal reminded him. "You're safe here, all right?" Apart from the new person in her team, but since he was still alive, maybe the new guy didn't want him dead anymore. Or the others were keeping a close eye on him.
Marland looked away, huffing. Inside a house full of hunters was the last place Balt would look, if he was doing any of the search himself. And Kendal was telling the truth – if they really had been hunting to get rid of xeni, Kendal would have never tried to get to get to know him better.
"Yeah."
"Good." Kendal grinned and got to her feet. "Do you mind if we put off taking your collar off until after dinner?"
Marland shook his head, remembering that Ronthar had mentioned powertools.
"We'll see you in a bit then." With a quick wave, Kendal left the room.
"…How did they take yours off?" Marland asked Ronthar.
"With pliers."
Which meant someone was going to have to get close to him with those near his face and since his usual reaction to that was to rear away from it… They were probably going to have to pin or hold him down in some way.
Marland's ears flattened. "Great."
* * *
Kendal eyed him critically, the pliers in her hand. "We need to buy you a chair you can sit on."
Marland didn't reply, trying to figure out how they were going to cut the collar without him hurting her. If he stayed lying down, his wing got in the way, and even if he pulled it away, as soon as something happened, his wing would snap down. He couldn't lie on his back because of his wings again, and if they tried doing it while he was standing, he'd continue backing up until he hit a corner or tripped over something.
She hummed before she glanced at Ronthar. "Who do you trust more: me or Ronthar?"
Marland blinked at her. He'd known Kendal a lot longer than Ronthar but…
"Okay," she said, snorting. "Who would you trust more if they had a pair of pliers in their hand and they were going to cut something off you?"
"Ronthar." Easily.
One side of her mouth curving up in a smile, Kendal handed the pliers to Ronthar.
"What's the best position for you?" Ronthar asked him.
For keeping still? Probably how he was right then, lying down a little bit on his side. "This is probably the best," he muttered, watching as Ronthar came closer.
As much as he wanted to not watch what was going to happen, Marland didn't turn his head away – he needed to know what Ronthar was doing so that he knew when to not react.
"Tell me if this gets too tight or uncomfortable."
Marland grunted, his eyes not leaving the pliers. He could feel it when the pliers touched his scales and when it scraped against them, but it wasn't that bad. He then felt it when Ronthar started to worm the pliers under the collar.
He growled and continued after that, his claws going in and out every time he flexed his fingers. He wasn't sure how long it took, but Ronthar eventually finished, the collar slithering off his neck.
Marland stared at it, not feeling any different from before. He turned his hand over, going through the familiar mental processes – he felt the rush of magic come roaring to his call and he clenched his hand before it could form completely.
There was still a miniature explosion in his hand through the gaps in his fingers.
"Okay, one rule in here? No magic," Kendal said dryly, an eyebrow raised.
Marland snorted, relief flooding him. "I'm not stupid." He'd nearly set the bed on fire doing that, but it was definitely worth feeling his magic again, seeping itself through his body again – he hadn't realised that he could feel it.
"Understood," Ronthar said as he sheepishly dipped his head.
Marland glanced at him. What? "I thought you didn't…" Fion was where Ronthar's magic came from; why was he…?
Ronthar grimaced. "Balt assumed that Fion is my magic – he enhances my power and allows me access to powers I wouldn’t have myself, but he isn't my only source of magic; the reason why a laknur is drawn to a person in the first place is because that person has enough magic to make them curious."
Ronthar turned his head to Kendal, who snorted. "I just said no magic in the house, no matter how much you wanna show off."
With a rueful smile, Ronthar nodded.
"Marland," Kendal said, holding her hand out. "Throw the collar over."
He cocked his head at that but did as he was asked. Kendal thanked him and then left the room, swinging the material in broad circles.
It was weird having his magic thrumming through him again, after getting used to not feeling it but… Marland yawned, his wings stretching out carefully. He carefully picked his claws out of the mattress before curling his fingers and toes so that they wouldn't get stuck while he slept.
"Sleep well," was the last thing Marland heard before he felt asleep.
* * *
It was light when Marland woke up, and his wing felt unresponsive and heavy. And sore. Fuck. He must've been out for a couple of hours. Ronthar was sleeping in the other bed, his breathing deep and even.
Grumbling, his ears flat, Marland edged out of bed as quietly as he could, no idea what the hell he was doing. He wouldn't be able to find any chocolate, not unless they kept it in the kitchen - but Gahn had to give him some of his own so there probably wasn't any in there.
It would still give him something to do rather than staring at the walls and becoming more aware of his injury. He was also a little bit hungry as well.
There were far too many stairs in this building, Marland thought as he awkwardly made his way down. He hoped no-one would mind the scores he left on the wall from his wing.
He could hear someone moving around. Marland was glad about that – he could ask them then.
When he peered into the kitchen though, he didn't recognise the man who was eating a sandwich – his hair was brown, short; he was probably in his twenties – he looked younger than the other people in Kendal's team, though older than Nav.
He wasn't a burglar –who broke into someone's house and then ate in that person's kitchen?- which left Marland with only a few other options. The first one Marland thought of was that he was the fifth member in Kendal's team, and it stuck there as they stared at each other.
Neither of them moved, frozen where they were. Marland noted at least that the man wasn't armed.
He should go. The pain was bearable at the moment, and he could eat later. Just so long as he was sure that as soon as he turned away he wasn't going to be attacked from behind. He'd hear him coming, but he didn't want to fight right-
"Dinnow."
Marland blinked at him, not understanding him.
The man looked away, fiddling with his sandwich. "I'm Dinnow."
Oh. "Uh… Marland." Dinnow knew that, but it slipped out as Marland's mind blanked. Now what?
Previous Part | Next Part
Summary: The world of Torpin is open, dragging in xeni from other worlds. The majority of them are monsters, prone to violence. There are some, however, that are not, and are able to live amongst the human population, if allowed to. Marland should know; he's one of them. His job is to hunt and stop the xeni that seek only to destroy what's around them. On one job, a human xeno drops through a portal, an event which Marland has never heard of happening before. And that's not the only thing different about the human...
Rating: M
Notes: Lots of swearing, as always. *dry*
Hopefully things'll start plodding forward again here.
I gave up on trying to think of what kind of house would be able to fit five + two/three additional people, as well as being able to have a sitting room and kitchen and all the other sorts of things Kendal's team would need. So they're now living in a converted small hotel. XDD;; Lots of levels! En-suite rooms!
I should probably have Shodin have a bit of trouble walking when he first starts moving about… Hm.
Haha, Ronthar originally said 'Noted' at some point, then I wondered about if he'd use it (yeah, it's a phrase but different worlds etc etc etc) because he's illiterate and he's from an area that doesn't put much emphasis on needing that so, 'taking note' wouldn't be used so regularly. X3;
Wow is Kendal's characterisation all over the place. *wince* So's her accent thing.
Okay, the last scene here I did not expect to happen, but when I thought of it, my face just lit up. XDD
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 3,099
Total word count: 83,114
Status: Work in Progress
And that just sounded like a made-up paradise to Marland, not something that had a possibility of actually existing.
"You… actually remind me of one of the races there: the drakule." Ronthar's tone was softer and he was talking slower than Marland had heard him before.
Marland turned his head enough so that he could peek at Ronthar from the corner of his eyes. Was he lying just to make him feel better? Ronthar wasn't looking at him again, his gaze fixed to a far corner. It did seem more like he was remembering something, rather than making it up.
"Your markings are different -and they have a tail- but other than that..." Ronthar shrugged, glancing back at him, a weak smile on his face.
Really? Marland stared at him in bewilderment. Was he really that similar to them? Marland had never seen any of the xeni who looked remotely like him - there were hardly any lizard-like ones that came through, and even rarer were ones that had wings, let alone any that were close to the size that Marland had.
"I'm really like them?" The question slipped out before Marland realised he'd even said it, and his ears flattened when he did. Why was he curious about them? It wasn't like he could ever meet them.
Ronthar quirked his lips at him, stretching his back out of its hunched over position. "In appearance, yes; temperament, no."
Marland's ears twitched back up again. Huh. "What're they like?"
Ronthar's lips widened into a grin, and he chuckled. "They're essentially berserkers – if you were to threaten something that they deem 'theirs' -be it their home, possessions or an individual- that would trigger their protective instincts." Ronthar paused, the grin turning sharp. "There are stories of what drakule have supposedly done to people that tried."
Definitely not like him then. It was still… interesting to find out about them. Which Marland found a little weird; he'd never tried to learn about something just for the sake of learning about them before.
"The rest of the time though," Ronthar continued, "they're rather calm in other situations." Ronthar's eyes flicked to the first aid kit and he snorted softly before he started picking at its contents again. "I should plaster the other side of your wing before it gets tired."
Marland blinked. He actually hadn't been thinking about that since they'd started talking – but now that his attention was back on it…
His wing wasn't tired anyway – he'd just had to lean more to his right to get it out of his line of vision. Marland shifted more of his weight to his right and carefully spread his wing out. It didn't feel sore at least, but it did feel harder to move.
Ronthar manoeuvred himself so that he was facing Marland face-on, and then glanced behind himself. Marland shuffled closer to the wall. With a grateful look, Ronthar pushed himself away from the edge of the bed.
The plaster was put on without much fuss and Marland folded his wing back to its usual position afterwards.
Ronthar didn't move away, and tilted his head at him. "Is there anything else you want to know?"
Too fucking much. Ronthar didn't seem to have any problems remembering his homeworld… "How long have you been here for?"
"Only for a number of months," Ronthar told him. "Saisha took us in when she found us – she said she was worried we'd be eaten by a xeno," he said dryly.
'Us'? Ronthar had been with oth – was he talking about Puzz? He hadn't seemed to realise that he'd slipped into talking about himself plurally, and Marland wasn't sure what to do about that. Ronthar hadn't been saying much about - Fion, right, but…
"What's wrong?"
Marland sighed irritably, lifting his ears again. "Just…" He sighed, not bothering to raise his ears when they went back down. "Fion."
"Ah." Ronthar turned his head away, before looking back at him. "He'll be all right," he said firmly. "I know him."
The instinctual Fion Marland had in his head didn't match with Ronthar's confidence, but maybe what had returned Ronthar's memories had also changed Fion back to what Ronthar knew him better as?
Marland turned his head to the sound of the front door opening. Multiple people entered the house, not really trying that hard to keep quiet.
"I'll go ask them about it." That was Kendal's voice.
"Marland's still in a coma," Gahn reminded her as the sound of someone coming up the stairs floated up through the open door.
"Eh. You know him - he's probably already up. I bet Ronthar's had to sit on him to make sure he doesn't leave the bed." Kendal's head popped into view, and she grinned when she saw them. "Or cornered him."
Kendal waved a piece of paper at them as she came into the room, an eyebrow raised. "So, what have you two been doing?"
"I took a shower," Marland answered, not sure if he'd been intending for his tone to be deadpan or not.
The other eyebrow went up, and Kendal chuckled. "Well, I was meaning before you found yourself in a police holding cell." Kendal waved the paper again. "There's a notice out for you."
Marland froze, staring at her, barely breathing.
She flicked the paper to glance at the text on it. "It says you've killed at least ten humans and are considered 'extremely dangerous'."
Fucking liars.
"The 'wanted alive' is what we're finding interesting though," Kendal continued, studying his reactions intently.
Shit. Shit. Balt was using the hunters to bring him back.
When Kendal started crossing the room –one careful step at a time, but there was no hesitation in her stride- Marland snarled at her, pushing himself up against the wall, ignoring the flare of pain in his wings.
"So's the price." Kendal flipped the paper around so that Marland could see it.
And that was a fuck-load of zeroes.
"Who'd you piss off?"
"The fuck should I know?" Marland snapped, baring his teeth at her. She was blocking the door –and even if he was able to get past her, there were still another four hunters in the house- and he wouldn't fit through the wind… Marland read what else was on the piece of paper. "Fuck!"
"Yeah, we're not sure why there's a notice on Ronthar either," Kendal said, her voice dry.
Because Balt knew he'd try make sure Ronthar wouldn't end up in his hands again, and that would get him caught as well. If he wasn't caught, but Ronthar was, he'd go back to get him out. Marland hissed a sigh. When the fuck had he started caring this much about a person?
"What?" Ronthar said slowly. He had stood up at some point, and looked like he was trying to stand in Kendal's way. He glanced between Marland and Kendal. "Is a notice like a bounty?"
Marland snorted. "It's exactly like a bounty." Marland peered at the paper. The price was for one of them, so if someone brought both of them…
He didn't want to attack Kendal, but fuck, there was no other way they could get out, even if the noise-
"Marland," Kendal said, taking a step back, a warmness back in her eyes, "you know we don't do this for money."
He growled at her, his posture still stiff. "It's a lot of money."
"Which is making us wonder what the hell you did or saw to make someone so desperate to find you they're being this obvious." Kendal crossed her eyes and leaned on the wall. "Everyone knows there's something up when a notice like that goes up." She quirked a smile at him. "It also helps that people also know about you and that you don't attack humans."
Marland looked away from her, seeing the two humans' faces flash in his mind.
"…Okay. You two are going to tell me exactly what happened now." When Marland glanced back at her, Kendal's mouth was a thin line as she sat herself down on the other bed.
"You wouldn't believe it," Marland muttered, watching her warily.
"Oh?" Kendal raised an eyebrow. "We've got our guesses – and Marland, we live in a world were portals open up for no reason and dump beings from other worlds on our doorsteps; we can get used to new ideas. Really."
When he continued to stare at her, Kendal huffed and turned her head away. Marland drew his head back when he saw that, and then looked at Ronthar, who smiled at him as he sat back down next to him. He'd told them he didn't like it when he was stared at directly?
Kendal leaned back on her hands, staring up at the ceiling. "Yer both wearing collars when yer found, collars that don't have a simple way of taking off yourself, and under the collars you're bleeding in a pattern that doesn't make sense if they were just collars. The collars also block your magic, which both of you have – or had in Ronthar's case. You," Kendal said, glancing at Marland before her eyes flicked away again, "were twitching in your sleep, which can mean you've got some sort of nerve damage, and that says the collars are more than they seem since neither of you don't seem to have been hurt anywhere else apart from around your necks.
"So. Add this to the fact that we've now got a person who's so intent on finding you that they don't care how obvious they're being and we've got a conspiracy that's about stealing a person's magic." She rolled her shoulders before she tilted her head at Marland. "How close are we?"
Marland stared at her, his eyes wide.
Kendal's face blanked of all emotion. "Right on the nose then."
Marland glanced at Ronthar, realising something. "Apart from we need to go back."
Ronthar sucked in a breath and didn't look at him, his hair half-obscuring his face – it didn't hide his hand clenching by his side. Because Fion was still there as well.
Kendal frowned at them. "Why the hell would you want to?"
"They took my laknur – he's my…" Ronthar trailed off, gesturing sharply. He sighed, shaking his head. "A laknur is a partner, a protector, a being that stays with you for your life. Fion… We met a number of years ago and made a contract – I'd always felt his presence in my mind ever since."
Until now. Marland couldn't imagine having someone else in his head, but he guessed he hadn't imagined that he'd end up living the life he was now when he was younger; you just got used to it and it eventually became normal.
"Yer bother still injured," Kendal pointed out, her frown not moving.
And who knew what the fuck Balt was doing to Fion right now. Marland didn't-
"And do you even know where you'd been kept?"
…Shit. She had a point.
Kendal sighed. "We'll sort it out after you're able to walk in a straight line."
Which meant they were housebound until then, because of the notice. Marland looked at Kendal suspiciously.
"We aren't doing this for money," Kendal reminded him. "You're safe here, all right?" Apart from the new person in her team, but since he was still alive, maybe the new guy didn't want him dead anymore. Or the others were keeping a close eye on him.
Marland looked away, huffing. Inside a house full of hunters was the last place Balt would look, if he was doing any of the search himself. And Kendal was telling the truth – if they really had been hunting to get rid of xeni, Kendal would have never tried to get to get to know him better.
"Yeah."
"Good." Kendal grinned and got to her feet. "Do you mind if we put off taking your collar off until after dinner?"
Marland shook his head, remembering that Ronthar had mentioned powertools.
"We'll see you in a bit then." With a quick wave, Kendal left the room.
"…How did they take yours off?" Marland asked Ronthar.
"With pliers."
Which meant someone was going to have to get close to him with those near his face and since his usual reaction to that was to rear away from it… They were probably going to have to pin or hold him down in some way.
Marland's ears flattened. "Great."
Kendal eyed him critically, the pliers in her hand. "We need to buy you a chair you can sit on."
Marland didn't reply, trying to figure out how they were going to cut the collar without him hurting her. If he stayed lying down, his wing got in the way, and even if he pulled it away, as soon as something happened, his wing would snap down. He couldn't lie on his back because of his wings again, and if they tried doing it while he was standing, he'd continue backing up until he hit a corner or tripped over something.
She hummed before she glanced at Ronthar. "Who do you trust more: me or Ronthar?"
Marland blinked at her. He'd known Kendal a lot longer than Ronthar but…
"Okay," she said, snorting. "Who would you trust more if they had a pair of pliers in their hand and they were going to cut something off you?"
"Ronthar." Easily.
One side of her mouth curving up in a smile, Kendal handed the pliers to Ronthar.
"What's the best position for you?" Ronthar asked him.
For keeping still? Probably how he was right then, lying down a little bit on his side. "This is probably the best," he muttered, watching as Ronthar came closer.
As much as he wanted to not watch what was going to happen, Marland didn't turn his head away – he needed to know what Ronthar was doing so that he knew when to not react.
"Tell me if this gets too tight or uncomfortable."
Marland grunted, his eyes not leaving the pliers. He could feel it when the pliers touched his scales and when it scraped against them, but it wasn't that bad. He then felt it when Ronthar started to worm the pliers under the collar.
He growled and continued after that, his claws going in and out every time he flexed his fingers. He wasn't sure how long it took, but Ronthar eventually finished, the collar slithering off his neck.
Marland stared at it, not feeling any different from before. He turned his hand over, going through the familiar mental processes – he felt the rush of magic come roaring to his call and he clenched his hand before it could form completely.
There was still a miniature explosion in his hand through the gaps in his fingers.
"Okay, one rule in here? No magic," Kendal said dryly, an eyebrow raised.
Marland snorted, relief flooding him. "I'm not stupid." He'd nearly set the bed on fire doing that, but it was definitely worth feeling his magic again, seeping itself through his body again – he hadn't realised that he could feel it.
"Understood," Ronthar said as he sheepishly dipped his head.
Marland glanced at him. What? "I thought you didn't…" Fion was where Ronthar's magic came from; why was he…?
Ronthar grimaced. "Balt assumed that Fion is my magic – he enhances my power and allows me access to powers I wouldn’t have myself, but he isn't my only source of magic; the reason why a laknur is drawn to a person in the first place is because that person has enough magic to make them curious."
Ronthar turned his head to Kendal, who snorted. "I just said no magic in the house, no matter how much you wanna show off."
With a rueful smile, Ronthar nodded.
"Marland," Kendal said, holding her hand out. "Throw the collar over."
He cocked his head at that but did as he was asked. Kendal thanked him and then left the room, swinging the material in broad circles.
It was weird having his magic thrumming through him again, after getting used to not feeling it but… Marland yawned, his wings stretching out carefully. He carefully picked his claws out of the mattress before curling his fingers and toes so that they wouldn't get stuck while he slept.
"Sleep well," was the last thing Marland heard before he felt asleep.
It was light when Marland woke up, and his wing felt unresponsive and heavy. And sore. Fuck. He must've been out for a couple of hours. Ronthar was sleeping in the other bed, his breathing deep and even.
Grumbling, his ears flat, Marland edged out of bed as quietly as he could, no idea what the hell he was doing. He wouldn't be able to find any chocolate, not unless they kept it in the kitchen - but Gahn had to give him some of his own so there probably wasn't any in there.
It would still give him something to do rather than staring at the walls and becoming more aware of his injury. He was also a little bit hungry as well.
There were far too many stairs in this building, Marland thought as he awkwardly made his way down. He hoped no-one would mind the scores he left on the wall from his wing.
He could hear someone moving around. Marland was glad about that – he could ask them then.
When he peered into the kitchen though, he didn't recognise the man who was eating a sandwich – his hair was brown, short; he was probably in his twenties – he looked younger than the other people in Kendal's team, though older than Nav.
He wasn't a burglar –who broke into someone's house and then ate in that person's kitchen?- which left Marland with only a few other options. The first one Marland thought of was that he was the fifth member in Kendal's team, and it stuck there as they stared at each other.
Neither of them moved, frozen where they were. Marland noted at least that the man wasn't armed.
He should go. The pain was bearable at the moment, and he could eat later. Just so long as he was sure that as soon as he turned away he wasn't going to be attacked from behind. He'd hear him coming, but he didn't want to fight right-
"Dinnow."
Marland blinked at him, not understanding him.
The man looked away, fiddling with his sandwich. "I'm Dinnow."
Oh. "Uh… Marland." Dinnow knew that, but it slipped out as Marland's mind blanked. Now what?
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Date: Jun. 9th, 2011 08:42 am (UTC)D: It is. (Haha, I've never really thought about what Marland's race was like. But I might come up with something. :3)
XD Same here. I think he would have ended up with a name anyway because anything else would have been awkward to say.
Yup - other times he's straight to the point and won't let go. XDD