Oh, oh, oh it's magic (Xie and Kevin)
Oct. 15th, 2023 01:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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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...
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Date: 2023-11-19 08:42 pm (UTC)Xie would be deeply offended if Kevin got that feeling of rightness from his football team, but he has to admit it would be nice if there was something that could trigger memories beyond the sense or muscle memory of actually doing things.
"I wish it could be like that, but it's not like memory loss from an injury..." He sighs softly "If they've been locked away rather than taken, something strong enough might be enough to trigger them, but it's impossible to say what that might be. Magical cause is much more likely to mean magical cure."
He wishes he could start working on an antidote now, but he's going to need to restock all his equipment and ingredients from scratch.
Although, it's possible that some of it is still in police lock-up, and he does have the connections to get that sort of thing back, now.
(The whole lot is tied up in a complicated estates process, among other legal questions, and after that Xie has plans to basically sell everything off and start over anyway, he's just waiting for it all to be finished with. Some of it could be useful, though - he'll probably donate Yifu's entire library to the police, if they're not already planning on keeping it)
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Date: 2023-11-19 09:12 pm (UTC)"And you. You said you could work on an antidote? How can I help?"
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Date: 2023-11-19 09:20 pm (UTC)Xie nods.
"You and them, yes. They'll get to the bottom of this for sure"
Kevin is still Kevin even if he doesn't remember everything, so Xie's pretty sure they'll find a way for him to be involved, they'd be idiots not to.
"I'm going to need to track down the ingredients I'll need, I can start on that tomorrow. We'll check in with the others and see what their plan is and where you can help. There isn't much we can do right now, unfortunately"
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Date: 2023-11-19 09:34 pm (UTC)He checks it before he answers, and tells Xie it's Lisa Ross. He uses her full name. When he answers, he lets Xie listen in through the link.
"Hi," she says. "I'm just calling to find out how you're doing."
"I'm doing okay. Xie's been filling me in with who I am."
"That's great," she says, and sounds like she means it. "We've been working on it all evening and we're going to continue. I just wanted to let you know someone will come around tomorrow morning to drive you both into the station to catch up."
"Great, thanks. Xie says he needs ingredients for a potion."
"Yep, Tony said. Hey, Kev. If you need to talk about any of this... I just wanted to let you know that many of us have had similar experiences. It's going to be okay."
He smiles, at her calling to check on him, and then directly at Xie.
"Thanks... Lisa, right? Thanks."
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Date: 2023-11-19 09:40 pm (UTC)He isn't completely sure if Kevin is letting him listen deliberately or accidentally, but he isn't going to question it, mostly because it feels like normal, like a thing they'd usually do, and he's clinging to every scrap of that he can find - especially after the strangeness of hearing him refer to Lisa by her full name.
He knows Kevin should be his first priority, and he is, but it's harder than he realised it would be to watch Kevin go through this, to look into those eyes and not see the same recognition and love that he's become used to.
He smiles back, encouraging, and it doesn't fade when he hangs up.
"I'm not surprised they're still working, they all care about you a lot."
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Date: 2023-11-19 09:50 pm (UTC)It's nice that they're working so hard, he thinks.
"They seem like good people," he agrees. "I hope I haven't got them too concerned."
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Date: 2023-11-19 09:57 pm (UTC)"They'll be worrying about you, but it's not your fault... and it's nothing that you wouldn't do for them."
Probably nothing that he hadn't already done for them, knowing Kevin.
"Tomorrow you'll be able to help them figure this out. We both will."
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Date: 2023-11-19 10:05 pm (UTC)Now, though, he's struck by how tired he is, still standing where he'd been when he answered the phone, and is hit by a huge yawn.
"I should probably get some sleep."
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Date: 2023-11-19 10:13 pm (UTC)"You should." Xie agrees. After a beat, he realises that Kevin is basically a guest in his own house.
"Do you need me to show you where anything is? It's the bedroom you were in earlier, with the guitars... and I can sleep in the spare room, if you prefer?"
It breaks his heart a little, but he also knows that, as far as Kevin's concerned, they basically met a few hours ago and he's still dealing with the fact Xie's a former assassin, he has no idea if he'd be comfortable sharing a bed under those circumstances.
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Date: 2023-11-19 10:23 pm (UTC)"Oh," he says. "I don't want you to move; I can take the spare."
He's not against sharing, he's just not sure whether he should with someone he doesn't have those romantic feelings for.
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Date: 2023-11-19 10:28 pm (UTC)"Still too nice for your own good." Xie says with a soft, affectionate sigh. He gives him a nudge towards the stairs "Don't worry about me, the spare room was mine before anyway."
It wasn't quite, in this house, but it's easier than explaining the full truth.
He'd also rather not drag this out, because he's taken Kevin's offer as confirmation that he doesn't want to share, and he'd like to wallow in self-pity for a little bit so he can go back to focusing on Kevin tomorrow.
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Date: 2023-11-20 06:46 am (UTC)It takes him a few minutes to search for pyjamas, work out he probably doesn't sleep in them, and wonder which toothbrush is his. But after all that, when he finally is ready, he crawls into bed.
There, despite being tired, he lies awake in this strange bed and thinks about waking up, cold and alone, bound in a basement.
He doesn't want to be alone.
So he gets out of bed, pulls on a dressing gown, and goes to look for Xie.
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Date: 2023-11-20 09:24 am (UTC)Xie watches him go with a sad smile and then goes back to the kitchen to clean up and make himself a cup of tea (chamomile, since he knows he's going to have trouble sleeping).
He can't quite face going upstairs to an empty, unfamiliar bed, so he goes to the living room instead. He tidies away the abandoned chess board and then sits, running through the day's events. What if he'd realised sooner, got there faster? Could he have stopped it? Helped?
When Kevin appears in the doorway he looks up with a start.
"Everything okay?"
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Date: 2023-11-20 09:31 am (UTC)He chews his lip for a second.
"Just having trouble sleeping," he says, which is true. "Uh..."
Okay, here goes.
"You don't have to sleep in the spare room.
"Sorry, no. That's weird."
But he doesn't want to be alone.
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Date: 2023-11-20 09:52 am (UTC)Xie is not naive enough to think it must be magically fixed, and he knows Kevin well enough to think he probably doesn't want to fuck somebody he just found out was a murderer, but not wanting to be alone? That he can understand.
He's quiet for a moment, puzzling through the awkwardness and the options before landing on that conclusion.
"Would you like some company?" He says softly - gentle, no innuendo, just another warm body present. Maybe it's because of the day he had, maybe some part of him is just used to it, either way Xie isn't going to say no.
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Date: 2023-11-20 10:01 am (UTC)"Yes please."
He sounds - he feels - horribly pathetic asking this. He can't stop thinking how difficult this must be for Xie, seeing someone he presuambly loves acting like this. He wonders if he's even acting like that man, if Xie is seeing someone else who just looks like Kevin Sefton.
It would even be fine if it was just awkward, that they could be polite stranegrs for a while, laugh about it earlier.
But - and he rubs his wrists, the red raw bald spots left by the duct tape - it's not just awkward. He wants someone with him when he falls asleep.
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Date: 2023-11-20 10:07 am (UTC)Xie nods, setting down his nearly empty tea-cup. The only thing keeping him up was not wanting to be alone either, so he's happy to move now, only...
He eyes the raw skin from the tape and changes his mind.
"Come here a second," he says, patting the couch beside him "you should take care of that first."
Once he sits, Xie talks him through - as best he can - how to use the meditation techniques Kexing re-taught him to heal his injury.
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Date: 2023-11-20 10:32 am (UTC)He brings his legs up on the couch next to him to sit cross-legged, and listens to Xie explain.
He draws on the power that he knows is there, and uses it to wash the skin on first his wrists, and then his ankles. He doesn't have any sense of a differentiation in that power, it's just all there, so he uses as much as he needs.
When he's done with those injuries, he holds some of the power and tries to direct it into his mind. Just in case he thinks. Maybe it is that simple.
Though it doesn't occur to him to ask why no one else suggested it as a possiblilty.
If it can heal his skin, maybe it can reconnect the synapses...
Fro a second Kevin wonders if he's been shot in the head. The pain fires into his temple, intense and sudden and fleeting. Kevin has a second to cry out before he slumps forward, gasping for breath and reaching one hand out for Xie.
"Fuck," he swears into the link.
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Date: 2023-11-20 10:44 am (UTC)Xie feels the gentle tug of Kevin using his power and honestly he wonders at it, wonders if Kevin even realises he's doing it. It feels familiar, though (pun not intended), and comforting.
He feels the echo of the pain sharply enough that for a moment it's almost like he's in pain himself, but he realises quickly enough that it wasn't his own, and he grabs onto Kevin's hand when he reaches for him.
"What is it, what happened?"
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Date: 2023-11-20 10:57 am (UTC)"I can't heal memory loss through magic.
He blinks at the flashing lights in his vision, unable to focus on anything, and raises his free hand to his forehead.
Carefully, slowly, he investigates the new pain, and against his better judgment eases some of his magic there - at the pain, not the hole in his memory.
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Date: 2023-11-20 11:01 am (UTC)Xie squeezes his hand back, huffing a soft laugh in turn.
"If you could, Kexing would have told you as much" He says softly - not accusingly, just in agreement with his discovery.
"Can I do anything to help?"
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Date: 2023-11-20 11:15 am (UTC)It probably wasn't worth that try.
"It's okay, I think I can fix what I just did."
He breathes slowly and lets the magic heal the physical injury in his head before his grip on Xie's hand finally relaxes and he has control of his mouth and voice again.
"I should go to bed before I do any more damage to myself."
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Date: 2023-11-20 11:21 am (UTC)Xie doesn't disagree with him out loud - the pain has punished him enough, he doesn't need to rub it in.
He smiles slightly, resists the urge to lean in and kiss him, and nods.
"You should," he agrees "come on."
He keeps hold of Kevin's hand as he stands, tugging lightly to pull him up and lead him back upstairs.
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Date: 2023-11-20 11:54 am (UTC)He smiles shyly and obediently lets Xie lead him back upstairs, where he hangs hid robe up and gets back into bed.
Its easier, with Xie here, but still he lies awake for a while. When he finally dreams he's walking dark, wet tunnels, beside a man in a suit of newspaper.
"I can't help you get back to the light," the man says. "I can only keep you company while you're lost."
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Date: 2023-11-20 12:05 pm (UTC)Xie moves around the room getting ready for bed, comforting himself with the familiar routine - though as he's undoing his own braids he can't help but think about how long it might be before he feels Kevin's fingers running through his hair again.
He pushes the melancholy aside, convincing himself they're going to fix this, and soon, and goes to join Kevin in the bed.
He's careful not to get too close - near enough to be a comforting presence but trying to keep it from being awkward.
It takes him a while to get to sleep as well, Kevin feeling both right next to him and a million miles away, but eventually he does drift off.
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