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]

While Kevin spends his time journalling, Xie spends his time property hunting. It turns out that he's not actually as easy-going about where they live as he first thought he was - or, possibly, that his minor list of requirements are less common than he first assumed. At least the fact that money isn't really an object is helping, and he's actually enjoying the search so he doesn't bother farming it out to a property broker.

(It's way too fun to judge people's decor as he looks through the photos)

He sets up a couple of viewings for them in between work for promising places.

While Kevin works on the chains, Xie has been handed a pile of files pertaining to various 'unidentified substances' and is digging through them for any indication there might be something potion related. Mostly he's working based on descriptions and they are frustratingly variable, so he's only too glad to look up from the latest incoherent report when Kevin speaks.

"What is it?"

[weird_cop]

Lisa and Tony, each working on their own leads elsewhere in the room, also look up, questioning. It's for their benefit that Kevin speaks out loud, in English.

"Did shifu take on many other apprentices, before me?"

Kevin was the only one around when he was training, he sort of assumed that Xie had been an apprentice in the past, but he knows now that wasn't true.

[xie_er]

Xie shakes his head slowly.

"A couple, but not many." He answers "Why?"

He doesn't know what it has to do with the chains, but he assumes it's something. He's never seen them before, but that doesn't mean Yifu hasn't had them for a while - there were a lot of things Yifu kept from him, after all.

[weird_cop]

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting him to take me on, to be honest. Figured I'd just get close as a soldier, see what I could see. That entry into the inner circle was a bit of a gift. He really seemed to invite me in."

Kevin glances up at Xie, smiling faintly. He knows this didn't make him popular in certain quarters. But then he reaches over for the laptop he's been working on and taps the screen.

"The thing is, these things? You can't just stick them on any sucker and sap their power. It's got to be consensual. You need someone who'd be willing to let you take their power, at least at the start of the ritual."

[xie_er]

Xie smiles back, a little sheepishly - it's funny, really, to think how enraged he was when Yifu seemed to be favouring Kevin. Now he thinks Yifu did him the biggest favour without even realising it.

"...You think he was trying to groom you, so you'd agree to it?"

Trying to charm him the way he did Xie... maybe it would have worked, too, if Kevin hadn't come into it with the knowledge he did, if he didn't already know what kind of person Yifu really was. Xie's fists clench slightly at the thought of it - at the time he wouldn't have cared, but he doesn't like to dwell on how close they might have come to never truly finding each other.

Not that Kevin would ever have actually done it.

[weird_cop]

A glance at Xie's fists is the only acknowledgement that Kevin sees them. But he nods to the conclusion.

"I played the role he wanted, and that was the loyal apprentice eager to learn and amass power, but keen for his approval. But he didn't send me out to do much with the magic. I never really stopped to ask what he was training an apprentice for."

Tony makes a noise in his throat like laughter.

"Let's just assume from now on that any gang leader we work for intends to kill us for his own power."

I stg I replied to this but apparently I didn't so I need to type it out again. Sigh.

[xie_er]

"That seems a sensible assumption." Xie agrees dryly - he's known plenty of gang leaders who were exactly that type. Technically, he knew Yifu was exactly that type, he'd just always fooled himself that it would never be aimed at him.

Looking back at it, he really hates how blind he was to the obvious.

"Have I told you recently how glad I am that you killed him?" He adds, just to Kevin.

Before there's much room for a reply, though, Kevin's phone starts buzzing with a call.

[weird_cop]

"I'd rather have dragged his ass through court," Kevin says, but there's not a lot of regret in it.

He wishes he hadn't killed so many people at this point.

He's surprised when his phone rings, and stares at the screen for a second.

"London number," he says, not recognising it, before answering.

"Hello?"

[xie_er]

Sure, that would have been fun, but honestly Xie wouldn't have trusted that he couldn't weasel his way out of it somehow. This way, he can never bother them again.

He's interested in the call - most of the people who'd call Kevin are literally in the room - but when he says it's an unrecognised London number, Xie just shrugs.

"Probably a sales call." He says, looking back to the files in front of him.

It is not, in fact, a telemarketer.

"Uh... is this Kevin?" A young voice greets him when he answers, sounding like he's trying to sound tough "This is Spot... from the market? You gave me your number in McDonalds..?"

[weird_cop]

Kevin sits up straight, though his voice is casual and friendly, as if this is the most normal phone call to receive.

"Yeah this is Kevin. Hey, Spot, what's up?"

He grabs his notebook and turns to a fresh page, while grabbing his pen.

[xie_er]

"I, uh, I got arrested." He admits, with some reluctance, but it's not like there's any getting around Kevin knowing that's why he's calling "And they say I've gotta have a responsible adult, so..."

So he called that guy he met one time a couple weeks ago, which says pretty much all he needs to say about what his options are in that moment.

"Any chance you're not busy...?"

Xie, meanwhile, looks up sharply when Kevin says the kid's name, waiting to hear what's going on.

[weird_cop]

"I'm not busy," Kevin confirms immediately. Of course, he'd drop anything if he needed to, but really this is a welcome distraction.

He waves for Tony's attention and points at Xie, who he asks to relay a message.

"Ask him to call Lofthouse. The kid's been arrested and I might need her to pulls some strings. Then grab our coats and my keys."

"What station are you at?"

[xie_er]

Xie passes the message on, standing up to shrug on his jacket and grab Kevin's along with his keys. Not that they'll be needed, because on the other end of the phone Spot is revealing that he's actually pretty close. About as close as he could have been, in fact.

"Gipsy hill." he replies, following up with the name of the arresting officer to ask for when they arrive.

[weird_cop]

Kevin looks up at Tony and gestures with his thumb out of the door, at the station beyond. Probably no need to do too much finagling to get the uniforms on side, at least.

"Right. Well, we'll be there in a minute. Hang tight and don't let them give you any shit."

He doesn't even need to give the officer's name. He just nods at the guy on the desk and asks for 'the kid you just brought in' before heading to the relevant interview room.

[xie_er]

Spot is confused by 'a minute' but doesn't question it, just snorts slightly at the comment about taking any shit and agrees before hanging up. Despite Kevin's words, he is slightly surprised when they turn up so quickly. So is the arresting officer, who obviously recognises Kevin and, for a second, doesn't realise that he's there because he's the one Spot called.

"You know this kid?" He asks, looking between Kevin and Xie, and Spot who's sitting at the interview table, slouched in his chair with his arms crossed and an impatient look on his face.

"Yea, he's my responsible adult or whatever, can I go now?"

[weird_cop]

"Depending on how you define 'responsible.'"

Kevin shoots a vaguely apologetic look at the officer, holding a hand out to request the relevant paperwork.

"How naughty of a boy have you been, kid?"

Is this a 'slap on the wrists' situation, he means, or a 'I'm going to have to explain familiars to juvie' job?

[xie_er]

The officer is at least relieved that there's a lot less explaining that he has to do when it's Kevin as opposed to a random adult off the street, and he hands over the paperwork as soon as Kevin holds a hand out for it.

"I didn't do anything." Spot lies reflexively.

"Caught shoplifting." The officer contradicts immediately, shooting the sullen teen an annoyed look "Second offence looking at his record, but we're less concerned about that than we are about the lack of guardian."

"I'm sixteen." Spot asserts immediately.

"You're thirteen, kid, we've got your records." The officer shoots back, causing Spot to slouch down in his chair even further with a scowl.

[weird_cop]

Kevin sighs at the paperwork, and shakes his head at Spot in exaggerated disappointment before handing it back.

"My skipper's on the phone to the guv," he explains to the officer. "She'll handle social services when we know what's up. Thanks for taking care of him, can you give us the room?"

With his hands empty he drops into the empty chair next to Spot, reserved for the adult in question.

"You okay with Xie staying?"

He expects the answer is yes but doesn't want to crowd the kid.

[xie_er]

The officer nods, relieved that it all seems to be in hand and he doesn't need to deal with it.

"You want a cuppa?" He offers, waiting for their responses - even Spot's - before he leaves the room as requested.

(Both Xie and Spot decline, Xie would be tempted to say yes, but he's also tasted the tea they have available in the station and it's terrible)

"Whatever." Spot says, which Xie (correctly) interprets as 'yes but I'm going to pretend I don't care' and grabs the chair across the desk, bringing it round to the side instead and sitting down.

"...thanks for coming." Spot adds in a reluctant mutter.

[weird_cop]

Kevin is never fussy about tea and accepts the offer, but dismisses the thanks.

"Nah, it's not a problem. I gave you my number for a reason."

He wants to ask some questions, but first he waits for his tea and takes a good sip, leaving space for Spot to say anything he wants to say first.

[xie_er]

Spot is not very forthcoming, he sits in slightly awkward silence - though it's partly because he knows the officer is coming back with the tea and he doesn't want to be interrupted. Once he's left again, though, he sits up a little bit more.

"Look, uh, I got a place to go and everything, so if you could just get it squared away so I can be out of here..."

He's not hopeful, exactly, that it's going to remotely work, but he figures it's worth a try.

[weird_cop]

"Mmmm," Kevin says, acknowledging what Spot's saying, but not able to agree to his request just yet.

"Trouble is, we're not allowed to just let a kid go without an adult to act as legal guardian."

[xie_er]

"I got a legal guardian." He asserts "So I'll just back home and it'll be fine."

"If you have a guardian, Spot, why didn't you call them?" Xie comments quietly, raising an eyebrow at the kid, who suddenly avoids both of their gazes.

"...just better if I didn't..." he mutters.

[weird_cop]

"Hey," Kevin says gently, "if it's better if you don't, then we're not going to make you go back there. But if you tell me what you're worried about, we can help you."

He takes a stab at guessing what some of the problem might be, and adds:

"Me and Xie - we know you ain't making anything up."

[xie_er]

Spot glances between them, hesitating, until eventually he sighs.

"Don't really need to even talk about any of that stuff," he admits in a low voice "my dad's a piece of work..."

He's matter of fact about it, but the bitterness creeps in all the same.

"He's also a witch. A witch without a familiar since my mum died."

After some of Spot's questions last time, it doesn't take a genius to connect the dots.

"I'm doing fine on my own and he don't know where I am, but I figure if I go into the system... well they're at least going to check aren't they? Might even send me back to him."