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 was at least expecting this. He keeps his eyes on the road, but nods.

"My name really is Kevin Sefton," he says.

That identity has been intact since Goodfellow and it worked well for him on Coffeetable - anyone who knew him from Toshack's crew would think it logical he escaped that fall-out to find another gang. Anyone who knew what Toshack was really into would also think it made sense that one of his soldiers got into the same shit afterwards.

"Detective Constable Kevin Sefton. Nice to meet you."

'Meet' is right - the man driving the car now is polite, well spoken, a slight camp twinge to his tone. He's still built like a boxer, muscled and strong, but his shoulders have a different angle, his confidence is quieter, and his accent is a whole tax bracket higher than it was. He's shed the cocky soldier and apprentice-witch persona as easily as taking off his hoodie.

[xie_er]

Xie makes an annoyed noise - he's noted the shift, of course he has, and it's definitely interesting to see the difference. It gives him an idea how someone like him could infiltrate Zhao Jing's organisation so easily; there's never been a hint, before this, that he was anything other than what he'd seemed, and Xie had been watching, in both forms, looking for the slightest crack he could leverage for his own use, so if anybody noticed it would have been him.

It's a mild blow to his professional pride that he didn't, actually.

The annoyance, however, is more about his desire for explanations, not introductions. He couldn't care less about the pleasantries.

"Nice to kidnap me, more like." He retorts

[weird_cop]

"Technically it's more like an arrest," Kevin says, and sighs. The Detective Constable was supposed to be most of the explanation, and he still assumes it explains a lot.

"But I don't expect the usual holding cells would be appropriate, so we've had to make other arrangements. I'm afraid that you might find the bed we've prepared a little small. Or a bit too big, depending on your preferences."

What they're going to do with all that cat food, he's not sure. He wasn't sure if they'd need it to start with.

[xie_er]

Well. That... yea, that makes sense, actually. They didn't bother with his rights or anything but there wasn't really time, nothing about this is by the book or what they expected and honestly he's almost surprised they at least realised a holding cell wouldn't really work.

Then he mentions the bed and Xie almost laughs.

"You planned for a cat." He says, it's not a question "just a cat. You figured out the transference ritual and an exit strategy and a safe house, but you never stopped to think I might be a familiar with human form."

His tone is dripping with derision

[weird_cop]

Technically they did read him his rights - Quill did earlier when pretending to arrest Sefton. And if that didn't register, Sefton will anyway.

"Look, I think I did okay for my first time at this," he says, a with sheepish grin instead of defensiveness. "Managing it without actually killing the both of us was the primary objective."

That bit did work, at least.

[xie_er]

"Congratulations." Xie days drily. "You met your incredibly low bar, you must be so proud."

He pauses, then, turning to look out the window for a long moment before he finally speaks again without looking back.

"Why did you do it?" He asks quietly.

[weird_cop]

This... is a complicated question, and Kevin is sure that Xie's not going to like the answer much.

"Because before we could make a move on Shifu's many criminal operations we needed to find a way to get past his magical defences, which means moving in on the source of his power. And that's you."

[xie_er]

Shifu, Xie notes, old habits die hard.

It's an idle thought, though, overtaken rapidly by the explanation. Xie frowns at the window. That's him? He's the source of Yifu's power? Some of it, of course, he knows that, but surely only a fraction of it?

Except he can feel, when Yifu does a ritual, how much of the power is drawn from him, and.. well... he told himself it was good to be needed, to be useful. Was he really being useful or only being used?

He has those thoughts, sometimes, they creep in unbidden when Yifu is at his most cruel or dismissive, or breaks a promise. Would he really be nothing without Yifu, or is it the other way round?

He shakes it away now, just as he has a thousand times before, tells himself that it's a mutual need, a partnership. They work together.

Or, they did.

He feels like he's going to be sick.

[weird_cop]

The silence makes Kevn glance over, briefly, and his brow furrows with concern before he turns back to the driving.

"You didn't know," he says quietly.

This is a mess. He'd expected a cat - not a dumb animal, an animal with some level of intelligence, but an animal. Who would fight him and resist and be a pain, but like an abused animal.

This is a mess.

[xie_er]

"He's not going to be as powerless as you think." He says. Part of him has to believe that's true, but he's also not so sure it isn't - Zhao Jing clawed his way into his position through any number of schemes, he'd have something up his sleeve, right?

The thing he usually had up his sleeve was Xie, though not literally, but that didn't mean he couldn't do anything without him - the thought is equal parts reassuring and hurtful.

Maybe he shouldn't have ditched his phone, maybe he should have listened to that voicemail, if he could get back to him... would Yifu believe Xie didn't go willingly? That he wasn't part of this? Or would he think Xie betrayed him?

This was, he unknowingly echoes Kevin's thoughts, a mess.

"How far is the safe house?"

[weird_cop]

Kevin doesn't expect Zhao to be powerless - that wasn't the plan. The plan was to take the biggest source of his power, distract him for a few days, and even the playing field more.

But now he has the biggest source of his power, and the most valuable source of intellence he could think of, and a potential hostage situation.

(But maybe not as much of a hostage as Xie might like to be.)

"Not far," he says instead. "I can't wait to eat a shower. And something to eat. I hope they left us something good."

He turns into a small suburban street, turns the Ford into the driveway of a small detached cottage, and turns the engine off.

"Anything within the property grounds is safe," he says. "There are only five people who can cross the boundary. Which is going to make food delivery a pain but we'll figure it out."

[xie_er]

And a very angry house guest.

The mention of food reminds Xie that he was on his way to get something to eat before all this started, but now all he can think about is how whatever food he would have had in Yifu's mansion would have been better than whatever is waiting for them at the end of the car journey.

He pulls a face at the cottage as they turn in - he doesn't actually have anything against it, really, he's just decided not to like it on principal.

He just nods at the explanation, climbing out the car and shutting the door behind him with just enough force to not be considered a slam. He's curious, though - is he one of the five? Does it just not work on him as a familiar or was there something else that allowed him to pass into it? He'll have to test, later, when he can get a moment to himself, work out if he can leave.

He doesn't know, yet, what he'll do with what information, but it's a plan, and that's a start.

[weird_cop]

Kevin allows himself a small smirk at the petulance of the door slam - he's relived that driving Xie in worked - he had figured that a bonded familiar would be accepted, but all the info he could find about the exact nature of the bonds tended to contradict itself. He knows there will have to be some testing in the next few days.

At least the boundary means that the key has been safe left under the mat. He fishes it out and lets them both in.

Dinner turns out to be frozen pizza, but he doesn't care in the slightest - sticks two in the oven and almost collapses at the table.

"Right," he says. "I guess it's time for some ground rules."

[xie_er]

Xie leans against the counter, gaze on the frozen pizzas in the oven. Once more his mind strays to the food he could be getting Yifu's chef to make him right now. The fancy shower and the big bed back at his apartment - or Yifu's bed, if he'd done well enough during the meetings today, given useful information, maybe...

It's stupid to think about that now, though. Stuck in this cottage waiting on frozen pizzas and facing... well, he didn't know what. He'd make a plan, he would, but he wasn't going to do that by whining about his creature comforts.

He turns his attention to Kevin then, expression unimpressed.

"Go on then."

[weird_cop]

"Well," Kevin admits now, "rights, rather than rules."

He glances over at the pizzas, feeling a pain in his stomach that reminds him of everything he's just put his body through today and has survived only on a protein bar and a soda.

"You're technically under arrest, I guess. So you don't have to say anything. But it may harm your defense if you don't answer when questioned something you later rely on... you know, we've not got robust legal routes for magic yet, but just assume that it's a bad idea to withhold info that it would serve your best interests to share.

"On that note, if you want a lawyer you can have one. If you want to contact anyone, you can. Even if you want to call your Yifu and tell him what happened, I can sort that out."

[xie_er]

There's no information it would be in his best interest to share, he thinks, just a long list of crimes. Most of them were done on Yifu's orders, or for him, but that's not a defence so much as a way to drag Yifu down with him, and he's not going to do that. Not going to let himself be dragged if he can help it, but right now he's just going to have to bide his time and give as little as possible away.

Does he want a lawyer? Want to call Yifu? Maybe he does, he should, get Yifu to send his legal team down here and... would he even do that for Xie? It would be a lot of risk, invite some bad publicity, jeopardise everything he's been working towards... much easier to send somebody to get rid of the problem. Xie might be his best option for that but he isn't the only one.

"Can I call a friend?" He asks - Du Pusa might be able to find out what kind of mood Yifu is in, if he blames Xie for what happened or not, figure out what his options are.

[weird_cop]

Kevin nods his head. "Not from the house" - communication breaks the circle, which is why there's no signal inside - "but we can go outside after food.

"I'm going to call my friends later as well. They'll want to know why I went to yours instead of running right out here with a bag full of cat. Then they'll want to meet you."

[xie_er]

Xie nods, he doesn't need to ask why they can't call from the house, he can make an educated guess. He chafes slightly at the delay, but he is hungry and at this point it's not going to make much difference to wait longer.

"What if I don't want to meet them?" he retorts - he suspects that's not an option, but he's not going to go out of his way to make this easy on them under the circumstances.

[weird_cop]

"Then you can get in the cat basket or the luxury cat tree Tony said he'd set up here, and glare at them angrily all you want," Kevin says.

"Or I can get you a nice terrarium with all the live crickets you can eat."

When the timer finally pings, he pulls himself out of his chair to retrieve the food, setting both pizzas down on the table with a roller cutter and two plates.

"Why a cat, anyway?"

He's seen enough to gather that Xie is actually a scorpion, and he can see the advantages to human. But the cat does make sense to him.

[xie_er]

Xie scowls at him. It would serve him right, he thinks, to turn into a cat and stay that way when his friends arrive, looking for all the world like he'd never been anything else. He wonders if it would work at all, if he could make them doubt Kevin's claims...

It wouldn't do him any good except to cause problems, but the temptation is there all the same.

He doesn't move to help with the food, but he does shove himself away from the counter and take a seat so he can swipe a slice of pizza. He bites into it rather than answer, regrets it immediately when the molten cheese burns his tongue, but he doesn't react.

"Yifu prefers it." He says eventually, after he's swallowed the first bite "A scorpion is a strange pet, and even people who knew I was a familiar would find it creepy. They'd be less likely to trust him."

[weird_cop]

Kevin frowns despite himself. He'd accept an answer about liking cats or the advantage of a form, but Yifu doesn't want to be creepy when come on, it's a familiar and the scorpion is who he is...

...yeah it doesn't sit right.

He tries a mouthful of pizza, wondering what to say to that.

"Can you do any other shapes?" he asks finally. "Or did you have to learn those two?"

[xie_er]

Xie shakes his head slightly.

"The scorpion is my natural second form, I didn't have to learn that. Other forms are... harder, they take time to learn and master. Yifu only asked for the cat, so if you're looking for something else I'd have to work on it."

There's a bite to his tone, an irritation, but it comes from a place of expectation - like he just assumes Kevin is asking because he'd prefer Xie to take a different form.

He doesn't entirely have any intention of actually doing as he asks without being forced to, he put the effort in for Yifu because he wanted to, but he figures at least setting expectations means that if Kevin does decide to try and force it, he's not going to think Xie can just turn into whatever he wants at the drop of a hat, because clearly there's a lot about familiars he doesn't know.

[weird_cop]

"Just asking," says Kevin, a touch defensively because he wasn't planning on makeing Xie take any shape he didn't want to. He doesn't fully appreciate the implication, but he supposes he can understand it.

"Getting to know you, fill in the gaps that the reading didn't cover. Which if you hadn't figured out is a lot."

[xie_er]

"I'd noticed." Xie observes. He shouldn't be surprised, really, he knows there's not many familiars out there and the information available can be sporadic, sometimes it's written by people who haven't so much done research as just written down their own observations and they only really cover a certain type of familiar. The basics are easy to pick up, but misinformation is too.

He wonders if he can use it to his advantage, tell him something that will help him get out of the situation... although maybe he should focus his efforts on figuring out how to break the bond, because even if he manages to get away, as long as it's still there Kevin will be able to find him no matter where he goes. If they hadn't done the transference spell, Yifu would have been able to track him down even without his phone.

[weird_cop]

Kevin had that one coming and shrugs quietly.

Under normal circumstances, as himself, he's used to being the epxert on these matters, and hates being admonished for not knowing. But this is even worse now - in Zhao's house mistakes, not knowing something he should, comes with some pretty harsh punishments. And it's going to be a long time before he can shake that image of himself.

At least he's used to Xie's contempt.

He can't answer the unsaid concerns - tell him that he wants the bond broken as soon as possible, point out that this house is still effectively a prison without that - because they haven't been voiced, but it is there.

"And like I said, you don't have to answer anything I ask. That's your right."