Searching [Chapter 1]

[esp_dragon]

Fandom: Original
Summary: The world of Torpin is open, dragging in xeni from other worlds. The majority of them are monsters, prone to violence. There are some, however, that are not, and are able to live amongst the human population, if allowed to. Marland should know; he's one of them. His job is to hunt and stop the xeni that seek only to destroy what's around them. On one job, a human xeno drops through a portal, an event which Marland has never heard of happening before. And that's not the only thing different about the human...
Rating: R
Notes: Contains swearing.
Woot! Reposting with less errors and xeni/xeno instead of Others!
Pfffft. Shodin's scruffy face never gets mentioned again after this, does it? XDD;;;
Omggggg, this took ages to do! XDD And this is one of the shorter chapters!
Hmmmm. *pokes the dialogue near the end* Kinda bare still.
*facepalm* I should have made one of them female…
Genre: Urban fantasy
Word count: 6,770
Total word count: 6,770
Status: Work in Progress (reposting, but is complete)



The rain wasn't enough to cover the stench of blood. It was a blanket that covered everything, obscuring everything in view as it pelted down, helped further with the backdrop of night, but it couldn't hide the smell of freshly spilt blood.

Silently, Marland watched the three black cat-like xeni squabbling over the woman they'd just killed, his ears flat. Too fucking late. He'd just been chasing them an hour ago when he lost sight of them. The only reason he'd been able to find them again was because of the woman's screams and that had died off just as he'd rounded the corner. He began to growl, the rumble rising in his throat, but he stopped it before he gave himself away.

It was, again, too late.

The closest one to him paused and lifted its horned head towards him, its muzzle slick from blood. The others ignored it completely, gorging themselves.

He had to do it now, while they were distracted. His legs tensing, Marland prepared to fling himself over his cover when the air changed, and he hesitated, waiting to see what would happen.

The xeni noticed whatever-it-was at the same time and froze, then looking up. Up? Marland followed their gaze but he couldn't see anything in the black sky.

Shaking his head, he shoved himself away from the recycling bins he'd been hiding behind and sprinted towards the xeni. Three heads snapped to him as soon as he broke away from his cover, blue eyes glowing in the dim alley. They stood their ground, but they started to lift and lower their front paws alternatively. A threat display?

He'd only taken three steps towards them when the air howled, raging like a beast denied, and it had nothing to do with the weather. Lahstron had flash storms but they didn't sound like this. Marland's ears snapped down at the sound, as it practically seared through his chest to make its presence known.

Above the xeni, a portal opened, its edges spitting sparks, throwing the alley into far too much brightness than Marland's eyes liked, and throwing him into too much light than he liked too. Debris crashed around him and Marland halted, not sure what would happen if he tried moving when he couldn't see.

It was too much for the xeni. Attacked from two different sides, they bolted, their claws scrabbling for purchase on the slick ground. Dammit, he could barely see and now he had to track them down again. Marland rewound that thought, freezing.

He could barely see and a xeno was about to pass through that portal.

Shit.

Marland turned his head away from the bright light, using his leathery wings as an additional shield, hoping that it would be enough to rest his eyes and block out the light enough so he'd be ready for whatever came through. The light stopped flickering around the back of his eyelids, and a second later there was a distinctive thump of something large hitting the ground.

He peered warily over his wing and then stared, not understanding what he was seeing. That couldn't be right. The xeno was human. Dressed in simple white (white shirt, white trousers, white shoes) that was quickly soaking up the water around him and - the human wasn't breathing. Dead then. Except his chest was moving jerkily, but Marland couldn't hear him breathing. He went over quickly, his ears on the lookout for anyone approaching.

That close, he could see the black collar around the human's neck was digging in far too much, veins bulging near it.

Marland unsheathed his claws and hooked them under the material. With one quick jerk, it fell free and slipped off the human's neck. Then the human started breathing again, in big gasps.

-'Hurt! Hurt and I'll kill you!'-

Marland backed up a step, his ears flat and teeth bared. Telepath. A panicking telepath. But… This was coming from a human. Humans didn't have magic.

-'Don't-!'- There was a pause and Marland could feel something poking at his wings, his horns, even his toes. It was like a tingle that he wouldn't be able to scratch away. -'You're not human.'- There was wonder in his tone, and that was something new. Marland wasn't sure if that had ever happened to him before.

"Yeah," he said gruffly, expecting another barrage.

-'Good.'-

And the human didn't say any more after that. Good? Since when was not being human good? Marland took another step forward and knelt down again.

There was blood seeping around the human's neck from where the collar used to be and - Marland's ear twitched and swivelled to the right. That sounded like sirens.

Shit. He had to get out of here. The police would think he'd been the one to kill the woman and it wouldn't matter what he said, or the fact that his jaw couldn't have made those marks. A xeno was a xeno, and you killed them. It didn't matter if they could talk or not.

Picking the human up (who was heavier than he looked, and it was very awkward with limp limbs), Marland snuck out of the alley as quickly as he could and headed back home.

* * *

Marland hoped the human wasn't leaving a trail of blood along his stairwell. The rain dripping from them would have to do for now to hide the marks. And that blood could have been anyone's, so his neighbours wouldn't think it was because of him straight away. He snorted. Right.

Opening up his door was a challenge, and his wing couldn't support a human's upper body that well, Marland found after he'd attempted it. Closing his door shut with a foot, he crossed the living room and went straight into the spare bedroom. Marland put the human on the bed there and then wondered what else he was supposed to do. He knew the man could communicate with him and in a way that couldn't be thought of as random and he was understandable. So there was that. And the man could pass easily with the rest of the population. Far too easily, Marland thought with a dark curl of envy.

The blood was annoying him though. It had already filled the air, but that wasn't what was really bothering him. With a sigh, his ears flicking down for a second, Marland went to get the well-used first aid kit.

The man was still unconscious when he got back and there Marland hesitated with the kit in his hand. If the man woke up while he was dressing his wounds... His ears snapped down. And even if he didn't, the fact that it was a xeno who had bandaged his wounds... But the man was also a xeno. And didn't seem to mind him either.

Silently, Marland made his way forward, pausing at every sound and movement the man made. He eventually got there and then started to unpack what he needed, his eyes travelling back to the man's face after he found every item. He was blond, and Marland wasn't sure since his hair was plastered to his head, clinging to his skin in swirls, but it was fairly long, reaching past the man's shoulders. A fuzzy beard. Fairly tanned.

And the man was waking up. Shit.

Eyebrows creasing, lips pursing, the human's eyes flew open when Marland shoved himself away from the bed. Fuck. That wasn't - well, the kit was still there, so the human could bandage himself.

"Wait," Marland heard the man croak when he was two steps from the door. It wasn't the request that he reacted to, but the fact that the voice was different from what he'd expected it to be. The man's speaking voice was higher, more...cultured, Kendal would say, than the voice Marland had heard in his head.

"Um, did I... Did I interrupt something by waking up?" the man asked after coughing and clearing his throat. There was a creak of the mattress as the man moved.

Marland's ears made it half-way down before he could stop them. Yes, he had; it would have been a lot easier if the man had stayed unconscious.

"I apologise for that. I'll sit quietly as you do your work." Marland blinked and then turned around to stare. He wasn't human, had been in the man's personal space when he woke up -

"Though, I would like to see your face. Is there a light...?"

Oh, right. The human couldn't see him in the dark. The only illumination in the room was a street light that was at the end of the street and it barely touched the room. Marland could see well with that, but he had better night vision than humans.

Resigned, Marland crossed the rest of the room to the light switch, hoping the human wouldn't scream too loudly when he saw him.

"Ah, thank you."

And that was it. The man peered at him as he slowly and painfully got up into a sitting position while Marland stood there awkwardly, still expecting a stronger reaction.

The man smiled at him, his lips barely moving but his eyes doing all of the expressing. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he growled, just slightly baring his teeth. And still nothing. Not even a widening of the eyes.

"So, would you be able to do this?" The man indicated the first aid kit with a sweep of his hand. "I'm afraid I don't think I'd be able to dress my wounds very well." He tilted and lowered his head a little bit, the small smile still there.

Marland's ears went flat again. Why did it sound like the man was trying to placate a small harmless animal? Carefully, oh so carefully, waiting for the tell that would show the human's real thoughts, Marland made his way over. The man watched him come over, and then slowly turned his head away, looking out the window. With the eyes no longer on him, Marland could feel himself relax a little but... Was that deliberate? To make him feel safer, to lower his guard, before attacking?

The kit was on the side that the man was facing. He slowly picked up the stuff and retreated to the other side. The man didn't move. Didn't tense at all. Marland began to unwrap a bandage roll when the man spoke up again.

"What's your name?"

He was assuming that he could talk. But... they had already spoken to each other. And he was a xeno; he had to get used to that. "Marland," he said gruffly. "Yours?"

And then the human froze, his whole body stiffening, his breath leaving him in a startled gasp. "I...don't remember."

Huh. Maybe that was why the man wasn't scared of him – he didn't know he was supposed to. But Marland was still different, still not human, so that alone should have had the man wary. The only characteristics he shared with humans was his shape and that he had the same placement of his eyes and mouth on his face. Everything else –his wings, his ears, his scales were only a few examples- made him stand out amongst humans.

"This is so...strange. I don't think I remember anything." The man was looking down at his hands (his wrists were red and swollen, the marks of something running around them put on far too tight), waggling his fingers.

"So, you don't remember how you got injured," Marland prodded, not entirely sure why he was asking. It wasn't like he really cared.

The man looked up at him, meeting his eyes for a second, and shook his head.

"Where you're from?" And he had nearly said that wrong.

Another shake of the head.

Marland wracked his brain. What else did you ask? "Friends or family?"

"No." The man didn't seem all that worried; he had a small frown on his face, his forehead wrinkled, but nothing more. "Hm."

Maybe there was something wrong with him in general. He didn't react to a non-human, or the fact that he'd lost all his memories. Or maybe, it was because he'd lost his memories that he was like this. There wasn't a measure of 'normal' to compare so it was taking it all as normal. Maybe…this would actually work.

"Well," the man mused, "at least I can talk with you. That's at least something." Which was one thing Marland had never really understood. The xeni that came through that were able to talk in whatever way they could, they sometimes had problems with the local language, but there was an equal amount who talked like they'd lived on Torpin their entire life. Marland was in the second group – he wasn't sure what his own language had been like.

"But," the man said, crossing his arms, "I guess I do need a name to go by." He looked at Marland, his eyes smiling again. "Do you have any suggestions?"

He was asking him? "I…don't think I'm the right choice for that," he muttered, drawing away. Why would he ask him?

"How not? You’re a native here, so you know what names are normal."

Marland snorted. "I don’t know that many human names." And he wasn’t a native.

A shrug. "So name me anything; I won’t mind."

He sighed, his wings drooping slightly. "Fine. … Shodin."

The smile came back, wider than before. "Thank you." Marland looked away, his ears wanting to flatten. He’d never heard that tone before, let alone directed towards him. "Does it mean anything?"

"…It’s a kind of tree," he grudgingly answered.

"Ah." There was a brief pause. "The one outside the window?"

"Yeah." Glancing back, Shodin was watching him, but it didn’t seem like he was laughing at him.

A shiver then went through Shodin’s body, and Marland realised how much of the…goose bumps? he was seeing on Shodin’s skin. "I should probably take these off," Shodin muttered, picking at his sodden clothing. "Do you mind if I borrow some clothes of yours?"

It seemed like Marland was never going to stop staring at Shodin, for one reason or another. "I have trousers, but…"

"No tunic or shoes," Shodin finished for him, his eyes flicking up and down, his lips curled at the sides. "I understand."

Marland didn’t. Humans didn’t just – He’d probably feel better if Shodin acted like the humans here. At least he’d know what to expect. He also knew shit-all about human biology. Was he supposed to get the new clothes first and then bandage, or bandage first and then take off the clothes? And they were both still wet.

Dry first, get clothes off, bandage, and then put on new clothes.

He left the room to get a spare towel and then handed it to Shodin, who frowned when he took it off his hands. "Aren’t you going to use one as well?"

"Don’t need one." Water slid off his scales a lot easier than human skin, and he’d never been as bothered about temperature as humans did. Apart from in winter; having wings when the temperature dropped below freezing and being unable to cover them in any way possible was aggravating.

Still frowning slightly, Shodin dried himself up, his movements slow, his hands skirting around his neck, never fully going there, never staying for long. Eventually the skin was mostly dry and the towel was spotted with blood.

Shodin looked at him from the corner of his eyes – and then lobbed the towel at his head.

Shit. Shit. Marland snatched the towel from the air before it could reach him, flames licking his other palm as he called his magic to him. Dammit, he’d let his guard…down? Shodin was beginning to take his top off. Was he supposed to do…?

Right. Dry clothes. Ears clamped to his skull, Marland left the room, went to his own room and started to rummage around. There were a couple of trousers he didn’t use anymore, either too tight or he just didn’t like them anymore. He grabbed a few and a belt. He would just have to hope that they were too big rather than small, or they’d have problems.

Stepping back into the room, Marland stopped, his eyes drawn to the motley of bruises and long-healed scars scattered across Shodin’s torso, stark against his dark skin. One of the more obvious ones was on his upper left arm, the skin puckered and darker than the rest; it looked like someone had decided to take a small chunk out of his arm a little too recently.

Maybe it was a good thing Shodin didn’t remember anything.

Shodin finished peeling his shoe off with a grimace. His face brightened when he saw the clothes. "Ah, thank you." His smile softened. "I’ll change into one when you’ve left the room." Not a dismissal, but… It was that damn placating voice again.

Marland's ears flicked down. He was not some wary animal hiding under a bush.

And they still needed to bandage Shodin’s throat. Keeping an eye on Shodin’s hands, Marland approached him, setting the clothes on the end of the bed and picking up the tube of disinfectant. Shodin had already turned his head away, looking out the window again.

Shodin twitched at the contact of the cotton balls and the disinfectant and breathed in harshly, but nothing else worse than that, no matter how long Marland waited after each touch. Shodin's neck was still bleeding in places, but some of the wounds were small, merely pinpricks when the blood was cleaned away. Other parts looked like they’d been rubbed raw until the skin just peeled off.

The bandaging would be tricky, especially with Shodin’s hair getting in the way.

"What do you want me to do?"

Marland's ears flattened; he was not that obvious. "Hold the bandage and get your hair out the way."

Shodin did so, leaning back on one hand, the other lifting his hair from underneath, his palm down. There was still some manoeuvring, but it wasn’t as awkward as Marland thought it would be. At least in getting the bandage to cover the areas that needed it the most. Being that close to someone, he was on edge the entire time. He wasn’t used to being so much in someone else’s physical space before, not unless they were trying to kill each other.

After they finished, Shodin’s stomach growled loudly. Shodin smothered his quick laughter with a hand. "Ah, apologies for that."

"Any idea what you can’t eat?" Marland asked, running through what he had in the fridge. Basically, nothing. Great. But Shodin was human, so he couldn’t react too badly to whatever was there.

"What I can’t eat?" Shodin echoed, his eyebrows drawn together, looking puzzled.

Marland floundered for a word. "Allergic. You allergic to anything?" It wasn't exactly the right word, but it was close enough.

The look didn’t change; if anything, it deepened.

It didn’t matter anyway. Marland left the room, and headed towards the kitchen. In the fridge… yeah, there wasn't a lot in there. The most he could really do was make a couple of sandwiches.

A few minutes later, Marland made his way back to the spare room, peering around the door. Huh. Shodin was asleep, the clothes he’d been wearing a wet pile on the floor. One of Marland's trousers was missing from where he'd put it down. Marland put the plate on the bedside table, and took out the wet clothing. He returned only to close the door and lock it.

It was too close to the sun rising to go out and buy more food. Ugh. That was one reason why Marland hated summer – the sun rose far too early and fell too late; it limited how long he could stay out for. He'd do it tonight, when he woke up. Marland headed to his own room, curled up on the mattress and fell asleep straight away.

* * *
Marland's ears twitched as he woke up, scanning for anything that wasn't supposed to be there. All right. Safe. After he cracked an eye open, he checked the window. There was still some sunlight coming in through the cracks of the heavy drapes, but it wasn't that bright. He stretched, his claws coming out reflexively and digging into the mattress. He pulled them out carefully, not wanting to create bigger holes than what was already there. He then went to the spare room to see if Shodin was still awake.

Warily, he unlocked the door slowly, waited a few seconds and then nudged it open. Shodin was sitting up on the bed, the blanket curled around him like an extremely big robe.

"Good...evening?" Shodin hazarded, his sleepy eyes flicking towards the window. He then stifled a yawn. "I think I just woke up."

"Same." So Shodin didn't know he'd been locked in then. The bandage looked like it had stayed on all right while Shodin had slept - it hasn't twisted or come off at least.

"I was wondering... Why was the door locked?"

How did he-? Right. The door would have made a noise when he'd unlocked it. "I don't trust you," Marland told him bluntly.

Shodin blinked and no longer looked as tired as he had been a few seconds ago. "Why not?"

Well, he'd have to tell him at some point anyway. "You're from another world," Marland stated, feeling that was redundant – there wasn't a large chance that there was a race that was similar to him on Shodin's world, even if he didn't remember. "I don't know you; I don't know what you can do. I don't trust you."

Shodin blinked again, and he started to frown slowly. "I'm from another world?"

Marland nodded. "Torpin's…'open'," he said carefully. "That's what people here say. Portals open up randomly and drop people from different worlds here." After he said that, he waited for Shodin's reaction, knowing exactly how he'd react.

"But how do you know I'm from another world?" And there was the start of it.

"Because I saw you getting dumped here." It was the first time Marland had ever seen a xeno coming through in action, but there was no doubt that that was a portal.

"Oh." Shodin looked at him closely. "Are you...?"

"I wasn't born here either." It had been over ten years since he'd first found himself on Torpin but he could barely remember anything of his home world anyway – he may as well have been born on Torpin.

"Ah, all right."

And that seemed to be it. Again. Did he ever react to anything? "You…believe me?" Marland asked, sceptical.

Shodin nodded. "I don't have that much reason not to."

Marland stared at him. Shodin was a little too easily trustful of people. "I could be lying," he pointed out.

"Hmm. But I don't think you are."

That...just seemed so different from how Marland thought that he couldn't wrap his head around it. "I don't get it; why do you trust me?"

There was a puzzled look on Shodin's face. "Should I not?"

"Not really." Why was this so difficult for Shodin to grasp? "I've locked you up here." And Shodin knew that. He should have been trying to get out already.

"And you explained why. You also brought me here and tended to my wounds, so I don't understand why you think I should be mistrustful."

Why did he have such a reasonable voice? And locking him up was a perfectly good reason why all the other things he'd done could be ignored. Just where the hell was he from if he could be that naïve? "I'm not human." That alone should have been enough for him to be wary of him!

"...Okay?" Shodin gave him a considering look. "I still don't see how that affects things."

Marland's ears went flat, an almost whine escaping his throat. If he ever let Shodin out on his own, the human would end up dead one way or another.

Shodin settled himself further in his blanket nest, one finger trailing the mark along his wrist as he stared at it. "You're not the one who did this to me," he said quietly.

"...You don't know that." He couldn't know that, not without his memories.

Shodin smiled at him, but it didn't touch his eyes. "I don't think you'd use...whatever made these marks."

And again, he couldn't know that. They were probably made with restraints, though the one that had been around his neck had left weird marks. Marland's lips curled back. "Yeah?" Shodin was so - fucking - stupid. How could he be so trustful of people?

Shodin shrugged, the movement almost hidden under the blanket. "There would be scratches and finger marks instead."

Marland paused at that. That...was actually true, to some extent. "But-"

"Marland," Shodin interrupted, a small frown on his face, "are you trying to make me not trust you?"

His ears flattened and he lowered his head briefly. "No. I just - want to know why you are."

"And you're constantly attempting to poke holes in whatever I say." Shodin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I think, unless you attempt to kill me -which you've had enough time to do- there isn't much that could make me want to not trust you."

Marland snorted, turning his head away. "That's stupid."

He heard Shodin shrug. "Maybe I am; I don't know, do I?" When Marland peered at him from the corner of his eyes, the small smile was back, Shodin looking at him through this hair. With a small movement, it was out of his way. "So...what can you tell me about these 'portals' then?"

"You wanna know how to get back?" Hah. The humans had been trying for years to do that and had failed miserably. Now everyone just accepted that portals opened, xeni came through them and there was pretty much nothing that they could do about it except kill them.

"Well, I think that would be quite hard for me to do, considering how I don't know where my home is." Shodin chuckled softly, tucking his hair behind his ears. "No," he said, shaking his head. "I'm just curious...about everything, I think."

Marland stared at him, unsure, before he sighed, his ears flicking to the sides. Fine. "I don't know much about the portals," he admitted, "just that they're here, they open up randomly, and dump whatever's closest to them on the other side here." Usually living things, sometimes inanimate objects, but they weren't talked about as much since they weren't as obvious.

"So, what happens then? To the people who come through?" It was like Marland had all of Shodin's attention, his entire focus on him.

It made him uncomfortable and he shifted the position he was standing in, flexing his wings a little bit before he shrugged them back in place. "They get killed, most of the time."

Shodin's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. "What? Why?"

"They're xeni; they're different from the humans here, so that means they're dangerous." Marland laced the quoted words with loathing, his teeth bared, his ears flat. "But," he added grudgingly, "the humans have a point. A lot of the xeni that come through the portals destroy anything they get in contact with." Not that he could really blame them. Who wouldn't lash out if they'd suddenly found themselves away from home and being attacked by others?

"But not all," Shodin said quietly, studying him closely.

"No."

"Hmm. That explains why you expect me to hate you." Shodin shook his head, sighing. "I may not know you, but, I won't hate you just because of what you are."

That, Marland could possibly see. Maybe.

"Are there specific groups of people who track these...xeni down then?"

He wasn't going to stop asking questions, was he?

"There are. Different kinds."

"Such as...?"

No, he wasn't going to stop any time soon. "There's the government groups, and there's the ones that hunt them on their own or in groups." He shrugged. "I'm in the second group." Because Shodin was going to ask anyway.

There was a look of concentration on Shodin's face. "I see. Why do you do it?"

A growl started to grow in Marland's throat. The questions were starting to get a little personal. "Can't do anything else," he said shortly.

Shodin wasn't looking at him, and he obviously couldn't hear him growling either. "Do you have anyone else with you when you-"

"No," Marland snapped, the rumble getting louder.

And there was finally a break. "That isn’t safe," Shodin commented softly.

Marland growled at him, his eyes narrowed. "I don’t care." He couldn't do anything else – there weren't any other jobs that he would be allowed to do; no human would want to have prolonged contact with him.

He could see an idea forming in Shodin’s head, as the frown lines smoothened out. "I could-"

"No."

The frown came back instantly. "Why not?"

"I don’t know you, you’re human, and you’re injured," Marland listed off. Fuck, he was just going to be repeating himself over and over again.

Shodin huffed, crossing his arms. "I don’t understand why being human affects your decision."

"You can’t defend yourself."

He got a raised eyebrow for that. "You don’t know that."

Marland snorted, giving him a dry look. "Neither do you."

Shodin tilted his head. "You have a point there," he conceded, "but if we don’t try-"

"It’s not worth it." Marland continued before Shodin could protest again. "You don’t know what xeni are like, what they can do."

"And you do?"

"Yeah." He'd been fighting them for years now.

"Only because you have the experience to know about them," Shodin argued.

"Okay, fine," he allowed, "but you're human - unless you've got a weapon, you can't do anything." But there was something wrong with that, something that Marland knew but he couldn't quite remember.

"So," Shodin started, frowning slightly, his eyes wandering away, "just to make sure I understand: you won't allow me to leave, and you won't allow me to help you, because you don't trust me."

"Yeah."

"Then, what do I do?" Shodin asked, glancing back at him. "Be kept here indefinitely?"

Marland blinked in surprise, his mind blanking on him. He'd been expecting Shodin to attack him, or he would be forced to kill Shodin for one reason or another. He hadn't thought about what he'd do if Shodin didn't do those things.

And then something changed. Shodin took a deep breath, and his muscles stiffened as he clenched his hands, his spine curving over his crossed legs. Shodin's eyes were narrowed when he lifted his head again, glaring at him.

"Why don't you trust him?" Shodin spat. But it wasn't Shodin. The voice was different - lower than the one Shodin had been just been talking in. And that was when it clicked - that had been why he thought Shodin wouldn't be so completely harmless.

"I don't trust him because I don't know him," Marland said between gritted teeth. And how many times was he going to say that?

The...whatever-it-was (possessor?) growled at him while he straightened out, unfurling from the covers. "You should trust him."

Marland's ears flicked forward. "Why? Because you told me to?" He bared his teeth, loosening his stance at the same time.

At that, the possessor tried to snarl at him, but Shodin's throat wasn't made to make that kind of sound. It was like there was been something caught in his throat instead. "Then you'll keep him here, against his will." The glare deepened, and the possessor bared his own teeth. "I won't allow that to happen." The possessor raised a hand, flexed into the shape of a claw, and Marland could see a light had started to thread its way down jaggedly from his shoulder to his hand.

Shit. He wasn't just a telepath; he could do other magic as well.

The possessor was only a leap away, where, by the time Marland got to him, it could already be too late to stop whatever he was doing. With his own magic though...

Marland called his own magic to him, the flames leaping to his hand as easily as they always did. It was only because Marland had been keeping an eye on the possessor that he saw his eyes widen, his magic fading before it had fully formed, though they left a trail in Marland's vision that wouldn't go away fast enough.

"You can control fire," the possessor stated, astonished.

Marland kept the flames in his hand, just in case. He could feel their heat through his scales, especially when they brushed by his fingertips, but they would never burn him. "Yeah."

The possessor continued to watch the fire, his expression softening, before looking back at him. "Then you're trustworthy."

Marland's ears went back and he bared his teeth. What the hell? "And you're even less trustworthy to me now, 'cause of that light show!"

"Why?"

"Hell no - I am not answering any more fucking questions, from either of you."

The possessor's body language changed, stiffening up again, and he backed up a little on the bed while his eyes widened. "You can tell when I am in control."

Marland snorted. It really wasn't that hard to do.

With a muted sigh, the possessor back sat down, his knees up while his hands rested in the space between his legs. He cocked his head to the side. "You are different from... from..." He frowned, staring at bed. Then he shook his head, his hair waving back and forth. So, what, both of them had memory problems? "You have reason to protect him."

He wasn't protecting him. ...Ugh. Dealing with these two was starting to give Marland a headache. He wasn't used to interacting with people for a long amount of time, especially people like Shodin and whoever was possessing him.

"Why don't you trust him?"

And it was back to that again. "I don't know him."

"I can-"

"I trust you even less than I trust him!"

The possessor froze, his mouth still open. "He wouldn't hurt you."

Marland snarled at him, glaring. "Would you just stop trying to push your fucking - you telling me doesn't mean I'll just let him move around where he wants!"

"What would?" the possessor pressed.

If Marland hadn't been wary about being attacked, he would have scrubbed at his face with a hand. Yelling at him wasn't getting him anywhere; talking wasn't better either.

"If I," the possessor said slowly, "didn't take control of him anymore, then would you let him out?"

Marland's ears flattened to his skull. He should just leave the room. Leave the room, lock the door, and just hope the next time he went in, Shodin was back in control. But if he did that, the possessor would probably attempt jumping out the window while he was away. He'd probably survive the three storey drop, but... "That doesn't stop you from doing it again if you wanted to." He wasn't sure the last time he'd talked this much but it had definitely been years. Maybe with Wendil?

The possessor growled at him, his eyes flashing. "What could I say that would satisfy you?"

"Nothing," he said bluntly.

There was a scowl on the possessor's face as he lowered his head. "Then why did you help him? To keep him here? You trust me less than him, so maybe he can show you that he is someone you can trust."

Shodin's body relaxed, sighing like that had been his last breath, his eyes blanking for a second. There was a brief pause and then a sucking gasp. Shodin looked around the room, his eyes wide, flicking left to right.

"Nice friend you have there," Marland said, snorting.

Shodin looked at him, his eyebrows crunched up. "Friend? I…don't understand."

It was the voice that Shodin had used, not the one that Marland had been hearing for the last few minutes.

"How did I get here?"

Marland stared. He'd lost his memory again? "I brought you here."

That earned him a quick smile and a small chuckle. "That, I know. I meant, I was sitting over there," -Shodin waved at the head of the bed- "and now I'm here, with my body in a strange position, and my throat feels...itchy."

Huh. "So, you don't remember."

The line of Shodin's mouth twitched. "I said that, yes."

One of Marland's ears flicked to the side while he glanced away. "You know what possession is?" How did you explain that if the other person didn't know what that was?

"Possession?" Shodin repeated before he hummed. "Vaguely, yes. A laknur takes control of the body, using it as their...oh."

Sounded about right. Whatever the hell a 'laknur' was.

"So, I wasn't in control then," Shodin said cautiously.

"No." What was he going to ask now?

"You weren’t hurt?" Shodin leaned forward, his eyes running over him.

That was his first thought? He wasn't more interested in finding out what the possessor had done or said? "Didn't come near me. But," Marland added, "he did start using magic."

Shodin had moved his legs back into the position that they'd been in before -crossed in front of him- and he was tugging the blanket over his lap when he paused, looking up at him. "'Magic'?" he repeated uncertainly.

How the hell did you explain that? "It's...fuck. It's something else you can do that-" Like hell that made any kind of sense. Marland took a breath and tried again. "Magic is…another kind of weapon here. Humans don't have it, but some xeni do, and it...bends the usual rules of how things are supposed to work." Not that he knew what the usual rules were, since he'd been born with magic, and had been in contact with beings with magic one way or another for all his life, so he didn't know what 'normal' was supposed to be here.

Shodin didn't say anything to that, which was surprising. Marland looked at him warily. Was he going to ask an even harder question?

"Do you think that I'd be able to do the same?"

Marland shrugged with his wings, the leather rustling slightly. "Dunno. I don't know how magic works with xeni." All their magic would be different from each others', since they came from different worlds.

He was thrown a sidelong look. "So, this means that I could possibly defend myself then."

Marland could see where this was going and he narrowed his eyes. "You don't know how to do it though."

Shodin nodded slowly, humming. "Yes. But given the chance to learn, I may be able to do it." He waited, his hands playing with the blanket.

"And then what? I let you out-" because there was no fucking way he was going to let him practice magic inside the flat "-and that whatever-it-was takes over and does whatever he wants."

Shodin opened his mouth, and then closed it, looking away. "You do have a point. I...have no control over what he does, or even have a warning before he does." He sighed, leaning back on the wall, his eyes raised to the ceiling.

Great. Marland waited to see if Shodin would do anything else, but he didn't. He turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. He didn't know why he didn't lock it, but Shodin didn't... Marland continued to see him as 'harmless', far too overly curious for his liking, but not dangerous. The possessor on the other hand...

But Marland could already see a small pattern emerging. He only surfaced when Shodin was in danger, and the possessor only thought of protecting Shodin and nothing else. So, what did that mean? He had already shown that he was perfectly willing to go through Marland if he thought it was needed. Why the possessor thought he would protect Shodin, just because he also had magic, Marland didn't understand. Whatever. He shook his head, poking through the fridge. He had enough for another meal for the two of them before it was completely out.

He brought the plate of sandwiches through and gave it to Shodin, who thanked him, a little distractedly. Not wanting to have another barrage of questions, Marland left the room again and locked the door. He finished off his own meal, checked the window (the sky was finally dark enough that he'd be all right with walking through the streets), and then headed out.


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