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]

"I bet you could," Ezra says, with the certainty of a teenager who happens to think his friend is pretty cool.

"If you wanted to. Would you want to?"

[xie_er]

Spot has to duck his head a little to hide his smile, flattered by Ezra's certainty.

"Yea.. it would probably be cool..." he admits "Xie says it can be kind of uncomfortable to stay in the wrong shape for too long, but it can be pretty useful too. I don't know what other shape I'd try for though."

[weird_cop]

Uncomfortable in the wrong shape ties in with how grouchy that man seems whenever he comes to be human in Kevin's office. Maybe he's not like that all the time, he's just not usually a cat.

Which raises the not-that-important question of what Xie's 'right' shape is.

"Yeah, I mean a cat is cool," he agrees. 2I bet you can get all sorts of places and no one really care 'cause cats get everywhere."

But the sound of evening birdsong catches his attention and he presents that option like it's a no-brainer.

"But if you were a bird, you could fly."

[xie_er]

Spot has taken Ezra's lack of comment to mean that he knows Xie can do more than one shape, which means he isn't going to clarify... but it also means he doesn't think it's a secret what Xie's other shape is, so Ezra only has to wait for it to come out in conversation, which is always a possibility.

"Yea it's pretty useful for that." Spot agrees. Especially when he was on his own on the streets for a bit, much easier to find safe places to sleep in fur.

His eyes widen at the suggestion, he's not really seriously considered another shape before but now Ezra has officially caught his attention.

"Yea okay, that would be awesome."

[weird_cop]

"Wouldn't it?"

He's not sure why he suggested it, except that Spot seemed to think that it was somehow better to learn to do something, like magic, than to just be naturally gifted at it, like shapeshifting. So he offered it up like something that he could learn while Ezra was learning magic, and be proud of it as an acheivement.

"At least if you're no good at flying, you'll land on your feet."

[xie_er]

Spot snorts at that.

"I'll have to ask Xie if you can switch between animals forms." He says thoughtfully, because shifting to cat mid-air would be cool as hell.

"I mean, without going back to a person in between first." he adds, to clarify.

[weird_cop]

Ezra nods to show he understood what Spot meant. "Don't fall in human shape, that would be bad," he agrees, glancing down at his own knee.

"Hey, when you change shape, do injuries heal? Or do they come with you, or what?"

[xie_er]

Spot snorts slightly, following the look to Ezra's knee and nodding his agreement.

Changing into a person mid-air would also be cool, as long as he did it close enough to the ground and smoothly enough that he could stick the landing.

"They... go away, but they don't heal." He answers "Like... if I have a broken arm, nothing is broken when I'm a cat, but when I change back it's still broken."

Broken worse, too, from the shapeshifting. He'd learned that lesson the hard way.

[weird_cop]

"Oh that sucks," Ezra says sympathetically. But he offers a shy smirk sideways and wriggles his fingers at his friend.

"At least you got me, I guess."

[xie_er]

Spot laughs, but he does nod, drifting closer to nudge Ezra with his shoulder - carefully, mindful of his injury and not wanting to knock him over.

"Yea. Next time I break something then, I'll come find you." He agrees "'long as you haven't done yourself some damage first."

[weird_cop]

Ezra gingerly nudges him back - or attempts to, the effort is there.

"I'll get better at it," he promises, meaning he'll figure out how to heal himself better and he'll learn how to do other people.

As they approach the home, he pauses, and holds a hand up to say wait, straightens up, and holds his hand out for the skateboard Spot has been carrying for him.

Than he takes a couple of steps, as straight as possible.

"Going to try not to limp too much," he explains.

[xie_er]

"'Course you will." Spot says immediately, with the progress that Ezra's made already he has no doubt whatsoever that he's only going to get better.

He looks for a moment like he's about to say something, but then hands over the skateboard. If Ezra wants to not bother with the nurse, Spot isn't going to try and tell him what to do.

Instead, he glances thoughtfully towards the doors and then back at Ezra.

"Want me to distract 'em so you can get past without being noticed?"

[weird_cop]

Ezra looks quizzically at Spot, then smiles gratefully.

"Don't get in too much trouble," he says, not wanting Spot to face any negative consequences for Ezra's own bad choices.

[xie_er]

"Don't worry about that." Spot grins at him. He has a plan.

He glances around to make sure nobody can see them from where they are and then shifts. Whoever went in last left the door ajar, just enough room for a cat to slip in and get everybody's attention. The kids will try to pet him, which will be annoying, but he can probably dodge them - as well as the adults who'll try to chase him out as well.

It's a little bit risky, since he's just as scrawny looking a cat as he is a kid, and he knows there might be some bleeding heart who'll try and catch him or get him to a shelter or something, but he's pretty confident in his ability to flee before that happens. He can see at least one window open he can escape out of if they close the door.

He'll dart in before Ezra to give him some time to get in unnoticed, give them the run around long enough for Ezra to get to his room and then make a run for it, shift round the corner and come back just in time to be told all about the cat by some of the younger kids.

Hopefully.

[weird_cop]

Ezra makes a noise of appreciation when Spot shifts - he still thinks it's really cool - and hangs back until the cat is well out of sight before he heads in. He still tries to walk normally; it's not too late so if he gets caught he hopefully won't be yelled at. Still, he can hear people talking loudly about cat? How did it get in? No, it's not the black one. Where did it go? and Ezra avoids the sound of people until he gets to his room.

Once there though, he opens his window and peers out, hoping to make sure that Spot really is okay.

[xie_er]

He'll catch sight of a pale shape streaking through the darkening evening, disappearing into the nearby trees. A few moments later, Spot saunters out with a smug grin on his face, hands in his pockets.

Sure, he did that to help his friend out, but he can admit it was fun too.

Seeing Ezra's window open, he wanders over and holds a hand out.

"Help me up?" He asks. Sure he could go in through the main door, but he climbed out the window earlier to avoid questions about where he was going, so he'd rather also avoid questions about where he's been.

[weird_cop]

Ezra pulls a face at Spot as if to say how can I reach down there? but then disappears from the window long enough to grab a blanket and throw it down, holding on to one corner.

"Hold on."

[xie_er]

Spot glances around again to check nobody's watching and shifts, leaping up to grab onto the blanket, sinking his claws into it - he knows he'll be able to hold on easier in this form and this way he doesn't have to worry about the strength of the blanket or Ezra.

Once he's been pulled up enough that he can climb in the window he shifts again, grinning at Ezra.

"So, you got through without any issue I take it?"

[weird_cop]

Ezra is also watching for observers, and shuts the curtains after Spot just in case. He still doesn't bother to hide how cool he thinks it is when Spot shifts, and reaches a hand down to help him up as a cat: which becomes taking his human hand instead.

"No problems at all," he says. "Thanks for the cover, that was cool of you."

[xie_er]

Spot shrugs.

"Hey, what are friends for, right?"

He hovers for a second, awkward, knowing he should just head off to his own room but not quite wanting to.

"Your leg okay?"

[weird_cop]

"Yeah... I think so," Ezra says, choosing to be honest rather than put a brave face on it. He sits down on the side of his bed and pulls his foot on to the mattress next to him so he can inspect the wreckage.

"It doesn't look that bad, right?"

It's hard to tell, though. His trousers are ripped and bloody, and he can't quite see the injury.

[xie_er]

"Uh...." Spot says, drawing it out for a moment before he decides on "it'll probably look better when it's cleaned up?"

He's eyeing it dubiously, but he does believe his own words - and he's sure it'll look even better when Ezra gets a chance to heal it more, or if Kevin does, so he doesn't push for more than just cleaning it off.

[weird_cop]

"Hope so," Ezra agrees. He leans in and starts to pull his trouser leg up from the cuff, and glances over to the sink in the corner of his bedroom.

"Can you grab a flannel for me?"

He gets the trouser leg halfway up his calf before he gives up, and realises he's going to have to take the whole garment off from the top, so he switches to undoing his fly.

[xie_er]

"Yea sure." Spot nods, crossing over to the sink and wetting a flannel. He grabs a towel as well, turning back just as Ezra going to take the trousers off.

"...do you want me to leave?" He offers, trying to sound casual about it "Or do you want a hand..?"

Not that Ezra can't clean it himself, but he feels like he should offer.

[weird_cop]

At first, Ezra was too preoccupied to notice any weirdness in taking his trousers off, but now he looks up sheepishly when Spot sounds awkward.

"It's up to you," he says, sitting down now with his waistband weirdly across his thighs. "I can manage if you want to get back.

But when he holds his hand out for the flannel and towel, a twinge of pain makes him grimace.