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]

She looks relieved when he smirks at her, and returns it with one of her own as she reaches to open her handbag.

"I won't be staying in the city long tonight. Do you have plans later?"

[xie_er]

"Nothing I can't cancel." He says smoothly "Especially if you're about to make me a better offer."

He's glad that he has the excuse of wanting revenge, because he doesn't think he'd be able to play it much cooler - as it is, he wishes he could just draw his knives and demand she give him the memories, but he knows that wouldn't end in his favour. Even outside of the auction he's pretty sure it wouldn't go down well, they don't tend to like you threatening murder when you're doing community service.

[weird_cop]

Mina Westcott smiles at Xie, and pulls from her handbag what looks like a tube of lipstick. When she pulls off the top, though, she reveals it to hold a stick of chalk before handing it over.

"You know how to draw a door, yes?"

[xie_er]

"I do." Xie agrees. Even if he didn't, he'd tell her he did and then just ask the others rather than admit any kind of ignorance, but luckily in this case he has actually seen it done so he knows how it works.

He tucks the chalk carefully in his pocket.

"When and where?"

[weird_cop]

"The chalk will tell you," she says. "But it will be soon. I just need to make sure the meeting place is safe. For both of us."

She smiles at Xie, warm and conspiratorial. "I hope we can make a fair exchange."

Looking up to make sure Tony isn't bearing down on her, she slips back into the exit tunnels.

[xie_er]

He nods, understanding, and offers her a smile in return - far less warm but just as conspiratorial.

"I'm sure we can manage something." He agrees, watching her leave before turning his attention back to the auction for a little longer - it wouldn't do to immediately leave when she did.

He does take the opportunity to let Kevin know he's found the person who has his memories, and he's going to meet her later - so he can pass the message on to Lisa and Tony without risking being seen talking to them himself.

[weird_cop]

"Amazing."

Kevin agrees to text the others, sounding delighted at the news, and barely holding back the urge to say something stupid like 'I love you.'

Almost as soon as Xie leaves the auction, however, the lipstick tube in Xie's pocket starts humming tunelessly, like a phone on a load vibrate setting. When he touches it, he'll find the temperature is starting to rise slowly.

[xie_er]

Xie curls his fingers around the tube and looks round, eyeing up his surroundings and deciding to duck into a nearby alleyway to reduce the risk of anybody seeing him.

Once he's sure he's alone, he takes out the chalk and draws the door on the nearest wall. He doesn't bother passing on a message about his movements - he already told Kevin what the plan was, and he knows he'll be able to find him wherever he ends up.

[weird_cop]

The door opens into a room furnished to look like an old fashioned library, time period ambiguous. Along the walls are mahogany glass-fronted book shelves atop dressers, the frosted glass windows look out over no discernible view, and in the centre of the room, the polished wooden floor is broken up by a huge, threadbare oval rug.

And almost a precise foot from the edge of the rug is another oval, of red velvet rope, lying flat on the floor in a perfect mirror of the rug's shape.

On the rug, dead centre to the concentric ovals and the room itself, is a desk, empty except for a leather blotter and a pen and inkwell. There is a chair on either side of the desk, and as Xie enters, Mina Westcott rises from one, coming around to offer a hand.

"Come on in, Mr. Zhao," she says. "Please step over the outer circle, if you please. It's there for both our safety."

She's brushed her hair in the short time since seeing him, and touched up her eyeliner. It must have been quick work, if she hadn't used magic to do it.

[xie_er]

Xie takes a moment to take in his surroundings before turning his attention to her. It takes a great deal of willpower not to flinch when she calls him Mr Zhao, but he manages to keep his expression calm as he takes her offered hand.

He glances down at the circle and nods, stepping over it - there isn't much else he can do, although he's still alert of the possibility this is some kind of trap. At least if it is he still has his knives, and he has back up. He hopes.

"So. You have something I want, let's see if I can offer something you want." He says smoothly, getting right to business.

[weird_cop]

"Of course."

Mina gestures to the empty chair, inviting him to take a seat, as she makes her way back to her own. On that side, she uses a key from a breast pocket to unlock a drawer in the desk, and pulls out a corked glass bottle, the size of a liquor miniature, which she holds up so he can see.

She wriggles it in front of her face, causing the slick oily substance inside to rock against the glass, before replacing it in the drawer and locking it.

"I wanted the chains. Or rather, I wanted what the chains could give me. But that idiot didn't even know they existed, so rather than waste my time and risk my sanity drinking them myself, I thought they might be worth something.

"And they're worth something to you, it seems?"

[xie_er]

More self control, resisting the urge to snatch up the bottle and stab her in the face. Especially when she calls Kevin an idiot.

Still, it's information. The reason they stole the memories in the first place - the chains. She wanted to be able to take another's power.

"There's a lot I could do with the information contained in those memories." He says smoothly, eyeing up the bottle "And I think there's a lot I could do for you in return, as well. You wanted the chains for their ability, yes? You want to increase your own power?"

[weird_cop]

"You heard the old maid," Mina returns smoothly. "Closest thing to actually bonding with a Familiar. Finding a volunteer would be a challenge, but I have a few colleagues who would be interested in the incentives."

She rubs her perfectly manicured thumb against a forefinger, making it clear the incentive she's talking about.

"It beats cutting off fingers like the rest of the London lot."

[xie_er]

He eyes the bottle speculatively, considering her words. It's not money that drives her, it's the power, and that's something that Yifu was obsessed with, the chains won't be the only thing he had to increase his own power.

Then it hits him. Closest thing to actually bonding with a Familiar. There was something else Yifu had to increase his own power. Him.

"What if you could bond with a Familiar instead?"

[weird_cop]

"They're not common," she tells him calmly, knowing that she's pointing out something he already knows. "I know the late Mr Zhao had one, but no one seems to know what happened to it..."

She trails off, eying Xie speculatively.

"And I know that if they don't want to bond with one, it's difficult. Not that I wouldn't make his life comfortable."

[xie_er]

"No," He agrees mildly "they left that part out of the news stories."

He tilted his head in confirmation that bonding is difficult (impossible, really) if the Familiar isn't willing.

"What if I told you that I, in exchange for those memories, could not only locate Yifu's Familiar, but ensure you were able to bond with them?" He offers. He knows he's doing something very, very stupid and there's about a dozen ways it could backfire, but there's no way she's going to pass up that offer, right?

[weird_cop]

Mina leans forward now, allowing herself permission to show just half the interest she actually has, resting her chin elegantly on the knuckles of one hand.

"That would be worth what I have," she agrees. "How on Earth would you be able to ensure that?"

[xie_er]

"You think I wouldn't know exactly what happened to Yifu's Familiar?" He asks with a raised eyebrow and a faint smirk "It's not quite the same as some magical item confiscated by police, is it?"

He leans back in his chair slightly, not wanting to show too much eagerness.

"I know the ritual you need for the bonding process, and as for ensuring it's successful... well. I think I can guarantee my own willingness to bond."

[weird_cop]

Mina inhales deeply - the surprise partly dampened by the hints in the conversation so far, but there's a slight widening to her eyes that betrays her sheer hunger for what is being offered to her.

She lays her hand on the desk, above the locked drawer with the treasure inside, as she reassesses the value of what she holds.

"You really want these memories that bad, huh? You'd be willing to bond with me for them?"

As far as Mina's concerned, it's already decided. She absolutely will trade what she has for Zhao's familiar.

[xie_er]

"I told you, those memories could be very useful to me." He says easily "Besides, I've been looking for somebody worth giving my power to, and I like your style."

He is, of course, lying through his teeth, but he's at least able to do it relatively convincingly.

"You pass the memories on to one of my associates, and I'll show you the ritual you need to complete the bonding. Deal?"

He'll get Du Pusa to take the memories back to Kevin, and then they'll work out fixing this little problem from there. If they even get as far as doing the ritual, if he can weasel out of it he absolutely will.

[weird_cop]

The flattery absolutely works on a woman who has put a lot of effort into style. She flashes him a smile and leans back, clearing space on the table for her to open out the blotter in front of her, a clean piece of paper waiting underneath.

"I think we can make a deal," she says, her smile now warm, friendly.

She reaches for the inkwell to her side and pulls the steel pen from it, tapping excess ink off.

"Your associate comes here, collects the memories, and then we complete the ritual?"

[xie_er]

He smiles back, much warmer than before - it feels a little sickening, actually, because it's the exact kind of smile he used to give Yifu, but he tells himself it's for the greater good. It's more important to get Kevin's memories back, and he'd risk himself a thousand times over for that.

"Yes." he agrees "We can set up the ritual in the mean time, then complete it when the memories are handed over."

It's a risk to even go that far, since the ritual would theoretically work even without his willingness, but he's banking on her not having the same level of power that Kevin had access to when he did it.

[weird_cop]

"Okay," says Mina.

She holds the pen to the paper in front of her, presses it down, and then draws her hand back, leaving the pen upright over the paper.

When she starts to speak, the pen starts to move - the ink is nearly black, but there is a definite red tinge in the overhead light.

"I guarantee the safety of your associate, as long as they arrive alone, take only the vial of memories, and leave immediately with nothing else. In return, you will show me how to conduct the bonding ritual, and cooperate fully until it is completed.

"You'll need to step out of the safety circle to contact them, I suppose. But if you stay with me otherwise, we can ensure neither of us have any surprises.

"Would you like to add any clauses?"

[xie_er]

He takes a moment to consider the terms and then shakes his head.

"No, I can agree to all of that." He says. He knows Du Pusa will get the memories where they need to go, and he knows that he can also tell Kevin what's going on, and from there... well, he trusts Kevin to fix it. Even if fixing it involves stealing him back.

He probably should discuss it with him first, but that's hard to do without giving something away, and when Kevin doesn't have his memories - as much as Kevin is still Kevin, he's not quite the same person that Xie really needs to get the okay from, so he just has to take the 'forgiveness not permission' route and hope it all works out.

[weird_cop]

Mina waits until the pen has finished, and then she opens another drawer, pulling out a cloth to wipe the pen with, a shallow glass bowl, and two sharp pearl-handled scalpels.

"Forgive the theatrics," she says with the tone of someone who is not the least bit regretful of the theatrics. She presses the blade to her middle finger long enough draw a line, then offers the clean scalpel to Xie while she squeezes a few drops of her own blood into the bowl.