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

[xie_er]

"Four, she'll have still used the energy to build it." Xie confirms.

She gets knocked down by the energy, her fifth fireball falling uselessly from her hands but her sixth being flung out towards him.

She scrambles to her feet, obviously off balance and struggling to keep up with his attacks, but she manages to get four more attacks of her own out before she reaches for her knives. Behind her, the wall starts to flicker and die down.

[weird_cop]

"I hope she's as bad at these as you say," Kevin says, as his' eyes glance up and he sees the first assassin finally running towards them.

He makes another gesture, and this pulls the man towards them, but only to sweep him sideways into the woman, just as a Landrover comes speeding down the street towards them, slowing down just enough for Kevin to yank open the rear door and throw himself inside as Tony speeds off again.

"What the fuck, Kev?"

[xie_er]

There's conflicting yells from both assassins as they're flung into one another, and a knife clatters off the back bumper as the car drives away, but that's all they manage before it's out of range.

Xie assumes from the sudden lack of fighting and the sound of Tony's voice that they're in the clear, but he stays where he is until Kevin tells him otherwise. Mostly because he isn't sure what'll be waiting for him when he shifts back, to be honest.

"Tell him he can yell later, you need to get your hand looked at"

[weird_cop]

"It's fine," Kevin replies, despite all evidence to the contrary, he can do both. Do you want to come out?"

Meanwhile Tony is showing off his multitasking skills by yelling at Kevin while managing to hit seventy in a built up area.

"Oh," he says, "let's go on a educational field trip to a museum while some master fucking magic assassins have a hit out on us. Let's put our lives and the operation in danger because of a bet on a fucking chess match. You should have known he would pull something like this. You're the fucking frog, Sefton."

"He can hear you, Tony."

"I don't care." Costain raises his voice like it matters. "I don't fucking care you little squirt. My best friend nearly got killed and I'm going to take you to the zoo and drop you in the fucking mongoose enclosure."

[xie_er]

Xie is about to say yes, mostly so he can yell at Tony for blaming Kevin when it wasn't his fault, but then-

You should have known he would pull something like this.

Xie is blaming himself, yes, and he probably wouldn't have even really had the heart to object if Tony had blamed him for being an idiot.

He would have still done it, sure, but it wouldn't have been as convincing.

But he's not blaming him for making a stupid, dangerous mistake. He's blaming him for... for planning this. Like Xie wanted this to happen.

He doesn't say anything.

He shouldn't be surprised. He's given them no reason to trust him, doesn't even want them to trust him, of course they're going to think he planned this.

[weird_cop]

Kevin puts his hand over his bumbag, protectively as Tony rails, and lets him go for a moment or two before he says:

"It was a trap, Costain."

"No fucking shit."

"No, for frig's sake, listen. It was a trap, but it wasn't for me. If you want set a trap for Kevin Sefton you put Tom Daley on a street corner wearing nothing but speedoes and a Chelsea scarf, with a sign that says 'learn the mystical secrets of the universe.' You don't send him a flyer for an exhibit on Chinese fashion. I sprung the trap, but I wasn't who it was baited for."

It seems obvious to him - if Xie had been in on it, he would have set it better.

[xie_er]

Putting aside the utter ridiculousness of Kevin's suggested trap is honestly difficult, because Xie would really like to mock him for it, but he needs to focus on the fact that Kevin trusts him.

He agreed to let him go outside, he believed him about the necklace, he doesn't jump to assuming the worst... it's clearly not naivety, or even just the pure logic that his explanation would suggest, Xie doesn't know how he's so sure but he is.

Kevin trusts him... and he doesn't deserve it. He would have run, if he could. He is wearing the necklace. As reassuring as it is to know there's one person who believes he wouldn't have planned this, it only makes his guilt worse.

How is it that he feels guilty for betraying Yifu and betraying Kevin at the same time?

"I'm sorry"

[weird_cop]

"I was an idiot," Kevin says, and he says it out loud and through the link at the same time, adding "I'm sorry too."

And Tony agrees.

"Yeah, but we let you. Any one of us could have presented the case to keep you locked up.

"So if it wasn't him, how the Hell did they find you and set a trap so specifically?"

"Can we figure that out when I've had some medical attention?"

That prompts Costain to look over at Kevin's hand, and swear again.

[xie_er]

"Stop apologising." He shouldn't be apologising and Xie can barely stand to hear it any more. He isn't responsible for any of this.

Except, of course, he kind of is, because he's the one who took Xie in the first place. So why can't he hold on to that fact and actually blame him?

He'd quite like to know the answer to Tony's question too, but the medical thing is a little more pressing.

"Don't you know any healing magic?"

[weird_cop]

"Hahaha," is Kevin's dry reply, "when am i supposed to have learned healing magic?"

This isn't fair, because Xie doesn't know about the local magic they use with the Sight, but as far as Kevin knows magic is fed by blood, it doesn't restore it.

"Can't take you to a hospital if we don't know how you're being tracked," Costain is saying. "There's a safe-house but a doctor would break the circle. Can't one of your... you know, 'friends' help out?"

[xie_er]

"I know someone we can go to" Xie admits - he's been thinking about it since the moment he mentioned healing magic, wishing he even knew enough that he could tell Kevin what to do, but the spells and rituals he knows about are mostly the ones Yifu did, and he wasn't really big on the healing... but he does know somebody who is.

"He doesn't like me, but he likes Yifu even less, and he's... he's a good person." These days.

He's not entirely sure he should be suggesting a former crime lord to cops, but it's sounding like they don't have a lot of options.

[weird_cop]

"Is it safe?" Kevin asks. "Not the person, the place. Can we be traced there?"

[xie_er]

"I can't guarantee without knowing how we're being traced but I'm pretty sure we'd be as safe as we are at the house"

If today has taught them anything, it's that the house is safe - they wouldn't have had to set a trap if it wasn't.

Whatever wards Kexing has in place, they'll be the kind that should disrupt any kind of tracking. Finding the place is notoriously difficult, that's got to count for something.

"There's someone who owes me a favour, she can get us in"

[weird_cop]

Kevin relays all this to Costain, and flops back against the seat, ready to do nothing except relay directions.

He wants to apologise all over again, but holds himself back from that.

"Thank you."

[xie_er]

Xie gives him the directions, but eventually he has to ask to be let out so he can shift and make a phone call - he would have preferred to just communicate through Kevin and stay hidden away, but he needs to be the person to call.

He speaks in Mandarin this time, which isn't strictly necessary, but he still hasn't admitted exactly who it is they're going to see, and he hopes they won't pick up the name in amongst the rest of the Chinese. He can deal with any fall out once they're there and Kevin is being seen to.

Once the phone conversation is over, he gives the last few directions directly to Costain. They're driving along a country road when it happens, all of a sudden there's a turning up ahead that wasn't there before. Xie whispers a silent thank you to Qianqiao and her mistress for negotiating the access and tells Costain to take the turning.

It leads up to a gate, which opens before the car even reaches it, and then they're on a driveway lined with cherry trees that absolutely shouldn't be thick with blossom at this time of year and yet somehow are. The mansion at the end of the driveway is large but surprisingly understated, and there's two men stood in the doorway waiting for them.

One of them has shaggy hair in a low ponytail and a little bit of stubble on his face, he's wearing jeans and a faded t-shirt and house slippers and is watching the car with cautious amusement. The other doesn't look amused at all. He has much longer hair, poker straight, and a fashion sense that could best be described as 'flamboyant gay'.

It's entirely possible that the two cops would recognise the man as Wen Kexing, former head of the notorious 'Ghost Valley' gang who managed to slip out of conviction for a few dozen crimes and then apparently vanished off the face of the earth a few years ago. There were rumours he was dead.

Apparently they were wrong.

[weird_cop]

"Have there been," says Costain as he pulls up, "any OCNs operating in the past few years who haven't been up to their earlobes in the dark arts?"

"Not a very PC term, that," Kevin replies with some amusement. "We should just be happy that the new age community is diversifying."

Having made a call to Quill to explain the situation, Kevin has been dozing in and out, getting frustrated that the pain hasn't subsided in anyway. He opens the door now and nearly falls out, steadying himself as he lifts his good hand to wave.

"'Ello ello ello," he says cheerfully.

[xie_er]

Xie reaches out to steady him without even thinking about it, but he drops his arms sort of awkwardly when he realises Kevin has managed to do it himself. Instead, he slides out of the car and steps forward.

Kexing, who already looked fairly unimpressed by Kevin's greeting, looks somehow even more unimpressed now.

"What are you doing here, Xie Wang?" It isn't Kexing who speaks, but the scruffy man beside him.

"You know I wouldn't be here if there was an alternative, Zishu. We need healing magic and, well..."

"Ah!" Kexing finally speaks up, drawing a fan from his sleeve and flicking it open "A-Xu, I think the little scorpion is trying to say he needed the best so he came to the best."

Xie closes his eyes for a moment and then opens them, a pleasant smile forced onto his face.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Wen-qianbei." He says smoothly, motioning for Kevin to move forward so they could see his injured hand "We need your expertise.... please."

"Well." Kexing tucks an arm behind his back, his other one lazily waving the fan as he steps forward to take a look "That's the kind of injury that has a story. Why don't you come inside and I'll see what I can do."

[weird_cop]

Costain also steps up to Kevin's side, putting a hand on his shoulder to support him as Xie talks. Kevin leans on him a little, but more to acknowledge the support than anything else.

"It's not an exciting story," Kevin says. "Someone threw magic at me and I didn't counter it well enough."

[xie_er]

Kexing flicks his gaze between Kevin and Xie, studying them almost curiously for a moment before turning on his heel, using the fan to wave them to follow as he strolled inside.

"Shoes off." Zishu tells them in the entryway, motioning to the generic house slippers they have for guests.

Kexing leads them into a sitting room while Zishu disappears to make tea, and he motions for them to sit down.

"You sit here." He instructs Kevin, pointing at the couch and then snapping his fan shut and placing it on the coffee table. He sits beside Kevin, holding out his hands for Kevin's injured one. He holds it gently by the wrist as he studies the damage.

"You're him, aren't you?" He asks after a moment "The apprentice that stole the scorpion."

"How did you hear about that?" Xie asks, slightly taken aback.

"You're not the only one with contacts." Kexing says mysteriously, but unfortunately it's slightly ruined by Zishu returning with a tray of tea things.

"Chengling told us last week when he came to visit." He says, setting the tray down on the table.

"Did either of you bother to make introductions?" He asks, glancing between Kexing and Xie. He rolls his eyes at their silence and looks to the two police officers.

"Zishu, and my husband Kexing. We're... old acquaintances of Xie."

"That's one way of putting it." Kexing murmurs

[weird_cop]

Costain is still sitting to Kevin's side, out of a feeling that someone should and he doesn't know where else to be.

He nods when introductions are finally made, polite and business like.

"Tony," he says, "and this is Kevin. He is that apprentice, yeah. But also, he's the one who brought down the Witch of West Ham..."

"...we all did that," Kevin mutters.

"...and we defeated the Smiling Man, too. So we'd really appreciate any help. Kev uses his hands quite a lot."

[xie_er]

Kexing raises an eyebrow at that information, glancing between the two of them with a new level of appreciation.

"And now you're going after Zhao Jing?" He asks "Well. I'll enjoy watching that. I'd be happy to help, too, if there's anything I can do. Anything else." He amends, nodding towards Kevin's hand.

"Surprised you're helping though," He says conversationally, eyes sliding over to Xie who's perched on one of the chairs looking uncomfortable "Stolen I believed, went willingly.. not so much."

"He was protecting me and he got hurt. He needed seeing to so I brought him here. That's all. I'm not helping." Xie retorts. Zishu snorts and pours himself a cup of tea. He and Kexing exchange a long look and Xie scowls a little more.

"Whatever you're saying to each other, shut up. Just look at his hand."

"Yes, your majesty." Kexing says, heavy on sarcasm for a moment before he looks to Kevin and continues more pleasantly "There's a.. ritual, of sorts. A type of meditation that helps the energy flow to the affected area and repairs the damage. With your stolen brat over there it should only take a day or two to be good as new."

[weird_cop]

Costain watches them quietly, noticing the way they pause, the way microexpressions flit across their faces in the silence. Even before Xie speaks up he's recognised the way Kevin and Xie speak to each other.

He listens to Kexing describe the ritual and glances at Kevin to see if he understands what is meant.

Kevin nods.

"Okay," he says. "And how long should it take on my own?"

[xie_er]

"On your own?" Kexing repeats, like he doesn't quite understand the question. He exchanges another glance with Zishu, who shrugs.

Xie's scowl deepens.

"Let me just..." Kexing murmurs, taking Kevin's wrist and closing his eyes for just a moment, trying to get a feel for the power he has. His eyebrows raise a little, able to get a sense for the power he has access to, but then he shakes his head, opening his eyes again "the type of power you need for this ritual, it's different to your usual style of magic. You'd need to use up what you have each day and wait for it to restore. You could do it on your own, but it would take you weeks, possibly months."

He suspects the former, Kevin seems like the stubborn type, but he doesn't want to downplay the possibilities.

[weird_cop]

Kevin just nods once again, accepting the prognosis.

Really, it's much better than he'd be looking at with a GSW and the NHS.

"Show me it, then."

Costain watches with much the same resigned but cautiously optimistic expression. Then he glances up at Zishu, gaze flicking between him and Kexing.

"Nice place you've got here, he says conversationally. "Been married long?"

[xie_er]

Xie stares at Kevin almost furiously.

"Weeks? When you could do it in a day with my power? What are you thinking?" it's almost unintentional, he just can't help it spilling out, but he doesn't entirely regret saying it once it does.

Kexing ignores the glare and just starts explaining the process to him, though he does suggest that they go somewhere quieter for him to try it, away from the others.

"Few years now." Zishu answers easily, "We eloped when Lao Wen... retired from his former occupation."