Oh, oh, oh it's magic (Xie and Kevin)

[xie_er]

Zhao Jing used to be a nobody, born into influence and wealth but always in the shadow of those around him. In magical circles he was even worse, a barely-remembered witch that didn't have enough power for any familiar to even consider looking twice at him.

Somehow, though, after many years (and a few suspicious deaths), he's managed to climb his way to the CEO of Five Lakes, his power - of both kinds - growing exponentially.

The previous CEO was surrounded by some unfortunate rumorus before his death, so Zhao Jing has been focused on repairing the reputation of he company and solidifying his support, mundane and magical, which means it is far too delicate a moment for Xie to be in the spotlight, even if he was promised he'd be allowed to stop hiding when the position was in Zhao Jing's hands.

He just has to wait a little longer, that's all, and it's not like it's difficult to only appear in his animal form whenever Zhao Jing is in public, just uncomfortable, and the last thing they need is for somebody to recognise Xie for any of the things he's done to help his witch get where he is today, when his position is still so precarious...

He tells himself all the excuses he's heard from Yifu, repeats them in his head like a mantra as he sits through all the meetings and negotiations, a little black cat and Zhao Jing's feet, watching the men and women he's speaking to for anything Yifu can use. He hangs around when Zhao Jing steps out the room, listens to what they say behind his back - that's his job with normal people, to be a pair of ears they don't realise are there. Even paranoid types who scan for bugs would miss him, which he finds funny, privately, because he is a bug of a sort.

Not that he's allowed to take his original animal form - a scorpion would be out of place if anybody caught sight of him, and Yifu doesn't like the idea of him hiding in pockets or anything like that. He says it's dangerous, that something could happen to him, but Xie privately thinks he just finds the form creepy. Even around other magical people, the cat is preferred - his job with them is to be a reminder that Zhao Jing has a familiar, and a relatively powerful one at that.

It's hard for familiars to change the form they can take, but he did it, for Yifu.

He tells people the cat is called Scorpion, and that somebody else named him - which is technically true, Xie does mean scorpion, and his parents named him - and that he's vaguely embarrassed to have such a fiercely named cat.

(He doesn't tell magical people anything at all, they know Xie isn't a pet so they're less likely to ask, at most they will wonder why his familiar always stays in animal form. Zhao Jing just tells them he's shy. He isn't, he doesn't care about people seeing him, but it's easier to do the things Yifu wants him to do when nobody knows what he looks like)

Xie hadn't always known he was powerful - when Yifu had taken him in he'd been told he wasn't much, but that maybe he could be useful. Later, when some witch had made an offhand comment about it, the story had become that Yifu recognised his power and took him in before anybody else could steal him away, that he just wanted to protect Xie from the people who would use him for his power. Xie was already so far gone by that point that he accepted it, that he told himself he was lucky he had Yifu to protect him, to guide him.

It's funny how easy it is to lie to yourself.

When the meetings are over for the day he finally shifts back to human form, spending a few minutes stretching out the kinks that come from forcing himself into a form that isn't quite his, especially with how much he's had to do it over the last few weeks, and then going in search of something to eat. He could probably just head back to his own apartment since he doesn't think Yifu needs anything else from him, not today, but the outsiders have all left and everybody in Yifu's manor at least knows Xie, even if they don't know that Xie and Scorpion are one and the same, so it's safe to be around them.

He likes to spend as much time here as he can get away with, likes to remind Yifu he can be useful in other ways... and maybe he likes to keep an eye on this new apprentice Yifu has taken on. He doesn't understand why he needs anybody else when he has Xie, but the last time he'd questioned somebody new in the house Yifu hadn't spoken to him for a week, so he doesn't voice that thought out loud - he just watches the guy suspiciously every chance he gets, and wonders how easy he would be to get rid of.

He's halfway to the kitchen when something makes him stop. A tug of power, the vague echo of chanting, there's a ritual happening and something about it is drawing him close. He frowns, confused, and follows the pull...

Comments

[weird_cop]

Kevin bites back on his defensive comment - today's hero is going through some stuff and is allowed their tacky shit - but does make a small hum of acknowledgement or agreement.

He knows that place will look amazing when it's done, anyway.

[xie_er]

Xie is satisfied to take it as agreement because he knows he's right. He does, at least, say something vaguely approving of the room once it is done, even if he once again puts down the previous look in the same breath.

There's a tiny, pleased smile on his face at the ending, though if he spots Kevin so much as glancing in his direction he'll feign disdain and roll his eyes.

Still, when the episode finishes he glances over in apparently idle curiosity.

"Is there more of that?"

[weird_cop]

"Course."

Kevin puts on the next episode without even hesitating, opening another beer as he does.

He doesn't offer any over - he figures Xie can get his own.

His next comment is less disparaging, though - he's really appreciative of some of the clothes being walked out in this one.

[xie_er]

Begrudgingly, Xie actually agrees that the clothes are nice. This episode draws a few more comments out of him - they aren't all related to interior decorating, but before long it is clear that he's paying attention to that slightly more than the other aspects of the makeovers.

By the time it's finished, his gaze has drifted to the beer a couple of times before he finally gives in and nods towards it, tone unexpectedly cautious as he says "May I...?"

[weird_cop]

Kevin, meanwhile, is particularly quiet when food is being discussed, because he takes that - and Karamo's personal counciling sessions - very seriously indeed.

When Xie asks about the beer he gives a curious look, and then nods, nudging the remains of the six pack over.

"Help yourself."

To all food and drink in the house, really. They're here together.

[xie_er]

Xie murmurs another awkward thanks and then leans in to take a beer. He doesn't take the implication about the rest of the food in the house, but he at least knows he's welcome to the beers.

He's going to need a more explicit permission at some point when it comes to everything else, but for now he's content to settle with a drink and enjoy the show.

It's not like earlier, really, he's not making friends he's just... entertaining himself in the same way Kevin is. That's all. They have to occupy the same space so it's bound to happen eventually. He was going crazy in the room on his own and the show is good, he's not even doing anything he wouldn't be doing in his own apartment if things were still...

He cuts that thought off and focuses back on the show.

A few episodes and two more beers later and he's curled up in the armchair watching through half-closed eyes, fighting back a yawn.

[weird_cop]

Kevin just chalks this up as a quiet victory - not in getting Xie to open up as an informant, but in getting him to feel more relaxed as a person - and enjoys the evening for what it is.

But he's also spent, so when he's about ready to call it a night, he looks over.

"I'm going upstairs," he says, in that way that suggests maybe other people might follow his example and get some sleep.

"You planning on staying up much longer?"

[xie_er]

Honestly, Xie is relieved. He wants to go to bed but he didn't want to miss anything, so he wasn't going to go before Kevin did.

He shakes his head, pushing himself into a more upright position and fighting another yawn.

"No, I'm coming up too." He says, getting slowly to his feet

[weird_cop]

Kevin turns the TV off and gathers the beer cans, still moving a bit slowly and feeling like he's become a bit of a lightweight for s time being.

To the extent that he almost forgets to be cautious and just offers a friendly, companionable smile.

"Sleep well."

[xie_er]

He gets a soft, sleepy smile in return, the tiniest of nods before Xie seems to remember himself and he turns away quickly, half fleeing up the stairs.

What the fuck was that? God he's pathetic, he's supposed to hate these people, especially Kevin. He's supposed to hate this. How can he smile? Have a pleasant evening? Maybe Yifu should take him out.

He doesn't bother to wash his face or take out his braids, just strips down to his underwear and climbs into the bed, curling the blankets around himself irritably.

[weird_cop]

What the fuck was that is right - Kevin reminds himself that he is a police officer, Xie is a dangerous suspect, and the guy hates him for stealing him away.

But he's also a victim, znd that's the most important part. He needs space and the chance to deal with what is happening.

Kevin wishes he was able to text Sarah Quill and get her to suggest interior design shows her husband might bring, but he'll leave that for later.

In the morning he's up and tucking into a homemade bacon sarnie when Lisa turns up - just Lisa, the others are busy - and shouts down fron the loft to ask if someone can help her with this stuff.

'This stuff' being a pile of board games, and a generic guitar and pratice amp someone picked up from Tinpan Alley yesterday.

I KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS THERE

[xie_er]

Xie is still in bed, though somewhere in the night he got up and washed his face and took his hair out because he wasn't sleeping anyway he might as well not sleep comfortably. He dropped off somewhere around dawn and stirs groggily at the sound of shouts. Again.

This time he rolls out of bed and stomps grumpily to the door, grumbling about them waking them up the same way every morning and isn't cruel and unusual punishment against the geneva convention. He moves into the hallway ready to express those thoughts out loud, only by the time he gets close enough to see her, he's also close enough to see what she's brought with her and he stops in his tracks.

"You brought a guitar." He says instead, something startled and genuine in his tone, like he can't quite believe what he's looking at.

Am I allowed to tag now?

[weird_cop]

Lisa smiles at him and offers the instrument in question over to him.

"Tony said that Kevin..." She explains, just as the latter appears.

"Lise, we're not used to regular office hours here," he admonishes, but obediently fetches the amp down and sets it pointedly in the hallway for Xie to deal with.

"Thank you for bringing headphones."

Always and forever bb

[xie_er]

Xie takes the guitar almost on instinct, looking over it with a still slightly stunned expression. It's pretty basic, decent enough but nothing special, nothing like the incredibly expensive custom strat he has sitting at his apartment, and yet...

Kevin had just.. asked for this. Got them to bring him a guitar. Xie didn't have to beg or bargain or do anything, he just did it.

Gifts did happen sometimes, in Xie's world, often expensive but always with a catch. Sometimes they were a lip service apology for something Zhao Jing had done, a way to get Xie to stop being mad (they never came with an I'm sorry, of course, just the request for them to "put it all behind us and move on"), mostly they were accompanied with some flavour of "here's what you can do to thank me".

He wonders, at the back of his mind, if the catch is coming. What he might have to do to repay this favour. Right now he isn't sure he cares.

He swallows, dragging his eyes away from the instrument and giving Lisa a fleeting but genuine smile before taking it - and the amp - back to his room.

[weird_cop]

Ironically this is a lip-service apology, for kidnapping him and locking him away and forcing him to watch Queer Eye DVDs. But Kevin just lets him have it, and with the board games and a folder of briefing documents, they head downstairs, where hopefully set up and playing with the new toy will buy them confidential time.

Among the papers is a translated transcript of Xie's phone call to his friend, confirmation from Costain that the magical underworld knows the cops stole Zhao's familiar and from other sources that there's an expensive hit out on both Kevin and Xie.

"So he's acknowledged the draining ritual can't go ahead."

Lisa nods, cupping her mug on tea in both hands.

"He doesn't know, does he?"

"No. He probably wouldn't believe it from me. They were fucking, Lise. You don't just arrest a battered spouse and expect him to turn King's Evidence on an abuser just because you know he was planning to murder him."

It's a mess and he's so jealous of the others being out there and doing something. Picking this up, she leans across the table and clutches his hand.

"And now if I ask him to put the kettle on it's a direct order from his 'master.'"

The venom with which he spits the word is almost palpable. He barely pronounces the t: 'masser.'

"I just wanted a cat, you know? Something to feed and pet and curl up with in front of the telly."

[xie_er]

Xie saw the documents as he was moving the amp, and he's curious, but the temptation to eavesdrop is overridden by the urge to see how the guitar actually plays, so he tells himself he'll go snooping for them later and leaves them to it.

It takes him a little while to get through set up and tuning, headphones on to block out the world around him until he's happy enough with the sound being produced and shifts to playing - aimless, random snippets of tune as he messes around and gets a feel for the instrument, like for just a little while he can pretend the whole stupid situation doesn't exist.

Eventually he puts it aside, makes himself look slightly more presentable for company and heads down to the kitchen to get a drink. Apparently he's feeling nice, because he doesn't make any particular effort to be silent on the stairs, assuming the normal noise of his approach will be warning enough for them to stop talking about anything they don't want him to hear.

He gives them the barest nod of acknowledgement as he enters, heading to the sink and then pausing, trying to decide if he wanted water or to ask for tea.

[weird_cop]

They do in fact take that cue and turn it around to wider matters, Lisa telling Kevin about a book she's reading - and about the latest Netflix adaptation based on a series by an author who is no longer allowed to step foot in London.

They acknowledge Xie as he enters, and then Lisa gets to be confused about his behaviour, eying Kevin curiously.

Kevin decides to pretend it's not happening.

"Kettle's hot," he says. "You want another cup, Lise?"

"I wouldn't say no," she says, picking her words carefully.

[xie_er]

There's a moment of hesitation while Xie processes the situation and then apparently comes to a decision with a little nod. He collects their mugs from the table and then gets one for himself, pouring them all a cup.

The message he has taken from this is; yes, you may have a cup of tea, as long as you make one for everybody else. He's not sure, yet, if that's a general rule or just one for this situation, but at least he didn't have to ask the question and he figured out (he thinks) the right answer, so that's a start, right?

He doesn't know why he even cares about getting it right, but the habits are just too ingrained.

[weird_cop]

Lisa watches this, watches Kevin for a reaction and thanks Xie for the tea.

When he does join them, she's cone to a decision and draws on her earned good will and the fact that she's the clueless white supposedly unmagical woman in the room.

"Can I ask?" She says, gesturing between Xie and Kevin, "about the familiar thing? I've never really met someone like you before."

[xie_er]

Xie passes them the mugs, tempted to take his own and just retreat back to his room, but then she asks the question and instead he slides into one of the free chairs, curling his fingers around the mug and nodding slightly.

"A familiar with human form, you mean?" He clarifies with a slight tilt of his head "What is it you want to know?"

[weird_cop]

"Any sort of Familiar really," she says, cheerful and curious. She reminds Kevin a bit of himself when he was young and eager to learn.

"The last witch I met with a cat had just reanimated a corpse."

"He was not a Familiar," says Kevin helpfully. "And she was barely a witch, she was just a serial killer with a fucked up MO."

[xie_er]

Xie raises an eyebrow at that.

"I've... seen something like that before. Witches that can't attract a Familiar but want one sometimes do.. desperate things."

Like going to Hong Kong and picking a kid up off the streets, though really that didn't seem that weird when you compared it to a reanimated dead cat.

"The basics you've probably read about are true. Familiars are a source of magical power, we can't use it ourselves and we have to be bonded to a Witch for it to be used. Some Familiars are just animals, but human Familiars usually have an animal form." He explains, pausing to take a sip of his tea before he continues.

"The bond, once it's made, is... well. I'd say unbreakable but..." his gaze flicks to Kevin and he shrugs "It takes a lot to break or transfer a bond. I've heard that a familiar can break it but I don't know how, and it's supposed to be agonizing. I'm not sure what it does to the Witch when it happens. I'm not even sure if the rumours are true."

"The bond means a Witch can use the Familiar as a power source, but it has some other benefits too. You can communicate telepathically, and you can always find each other. Orders from a Witch you're bonded to are harder to disobey, not impossible, they can't force you, but it's like... instinct, to do what they say, it takes effort to resist." He avoids looking at Kevin as he says that, unsure if he already knew that or if he's going to try and use it, somehow. Or if he's going to be weird about it.

"There's more, too, things you can do if you work on strengthening the bond, things you can sense about each other. At least that's what I've heard."

Things he wanted, from Yifu, tried to work at but never quite managed.

[weird_cop]

Kevin is trying not to be weird about it. He has his eyes on his tea, listening while Lisa nods along. They did know all this, as it happens. They'd just made the error in assuming Scorpion was the animal type.

The telepathy is not new, but they hadn't really had it confirmed, so he glances up but looks away at the idea of orders.

It doesn't help Xie's case as it happens - it means he chose not to resist all the things Zhao made him do.

Lisa just looks like this is all interesting.

"So," she says, nodding at his tea, "you don't like, need his permission to eat or drink or anything crazy like that?"

[xie_er]

Xie is aware that admitting he can resist the impulse to obey is, really, admitting that he wasn't forced to do any of the crimes they suspect him of, but he also knows that he wouldn't be able to pretend that's the case. He could tell them that a Witch can, with some effort of their own, make those commands harder to resist - which is true, but it's still just harder, not impossible, and it's not like Yifu used that a lot. He didn't need to.

He glances down at the tea, confused, and shakes his head.

"No, I-" he stops, expression hardening a little when he realises what prompted the question.

"That isn't a Familiar thing, it's manners." He says, a little primly. Mostly to hide his self-consciousness. Nothing here is his, and the implication that he's welcome to it isn't one that he's picked up on.

[weird_cop]

Manners

Lisa looks at Kevin and he shrugs, pulling a face.

He told her, it's not the familiar crap that's most of the problem here, there's a lot of psychological bullshit as well.

"You have much better manners than any of the cops I've worked with," she says lightly.