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We only learn as much as we are able to believe.

"I promise to resurrect you if you die in front of me," Dominic teased. "It would be my first time reviving a person though..." The biggest thing he'd ever resurrected was a hamster. Dominic was different to most other people - his soul was not tied to either world, nor particularly well to his body. His body was the gate, and his mind the lock. Neil probably had no idea what necromantic healing was like either. Stealing life essence from someone else, of course. Transferring the wound. If it ever came to going through with his promise, no one would end up better off.

Dominic, on the other hand, decided that his irritation was best satisfied with a muffin and a latte. He dug out the raisins and fed those to the birds, maybe to stick their beaks together a bit. They chirped lovingly at him.

Huh. Interesting information. Was he allowed to ask more questions? The information was volunteered. He wanted to. "What'd he go down for?" Apparently, he did not have enough self-control not to ask.
 
"I really don't want to be your first attempts at reviving a person," Neil said, grimacing. "That kind of shit is how the zombie apocalypse will probably start." He snorted and took a sip of his coffee - as much as he had a sweet tooth, no doughnuts or muffins for him. He was watching his weight. At his age, he was starting to go a little soft around the middle and that wouldn't do at all. He wasn't exactly a vain man, but he wanted to look the best he could.

Christ, the guy just didn't know when to quit, did he? Neil made a sour expression. He considered ignoring the question altogether and then sighed, stretching his legs out. "He fried a guy, burnt him up crispy for pissing him off. Just a stupid bar fight, but got out of hand. That's why users can't be trusted, you know? Things just... get out of hand." He shrugged awkwardly and took another sip of his coffee, wrapping his rough hands around it.

"I don't want to run into him again," Neil said, looking tired. "I was just a stupid kid."
 
Dominic gave him a Look. The campaign of necromancers to prevent the incorrect portrayal of zombie apocalypses had ended up as a failure, seeing that most people seemed to rank them only very slightly higher than pedophiles. Dominic could still be touchy if he wanted to, however, and have to grind his teeth whenever someone mentioned one. "Zombies are very fifteenth century. If someone raised one nearby, I think all the local necromancers would go and murder them." It was a very sore spot. No offhand comments allowed! Dominic did seem to think that he was the only one who could make jokes about his powers...

Wow, what a sweeping generalisation! Dominic's eyebrows shot up. (He never got the trick of raising just the one.) Because of one idiot, no one with magic should be trusted? That was like saying no one should study physics because someone invented the nuclear bomb.

"We're not all like that," Dominic said eventually, with surprising calm, even for himself. "I've never murdered anyone because I lost control. Even if I do know all the spells... I did once throw a couple of bricks through an ex's window though. Seemed like good idea at the time." It was one blemish on Dominic's record - a restraining order.
 
"I doubt he meant it to. I doubt any of you mean it to," Neil said, looking over at Jones. "But when you're dealing with powers that strong, that volatile, accidents happen and people die. He wasn't a bad man. Stupid, rough and controlling, but not bad. He lost control and he ended up killing someone. It's not that I think you're all evil. I just think that too many of you can't control yourselves to the degree that's needed to keep everyone safe."

Neil shifted slightly. "I don't mean you any offense, from what I've observed you're very controlled about the use of your... ah... gift. But the fact remains that not everyone is like you." Neil licked his lips. "The cigarette burns were on purpose, some others weren't. He once - when he came. Convinced me to visit a healer for that one. Didn't really want scars like handprints on my back." Neil looked over at Jones, his eyes blank.
 
"I see." Some people just liked to burn things. As much as Dominic wanted it to not be true, it was. Some people were genuinely dangerous, and some people's powers were far more than they could ever hope to control. He let some time pass, before talking again - better to let some things go.

"My father wouldn't let me go to school," Dominic admitted, leaning back on the chair, studying the ceiling. "Wouldn't let me date anyone normal. He was more pissed off that I wanted to date someone with no magic than that I was kissing boys." A wry smile. "Scared the shit out of my first boyfriend, so that he never wanted anything to do with me again. Not such a nice family as it sounds, you know? I was the most powerful, so he watched me the most. Didn't let me go out with my friends, and the only time I tried weed, he beat the shit out of me. Still have the scars on my back from the belt. He really lost it that time... I still can't decide if he was right to do that or not." Dominic did not like ambivalence. He preferred to know where it was he stood, what things meant. What was right and what was wrong. Maybe someone people did not agree with his morals, but he liked to stay on the right side of them.
 
That was the problem - for all Neil said that users were dangerous and had to be controlled, it was harder when there was a face to it. If someone had asked Neil if it was right to do what Jones' father had done, he would have answered yes without hesitation. Faced with the living, breathing man, who had lived through the pain and still had the scars on his back... it was hard to think anything but that a father should never do that to his child. Neil took a sip of his coffee and studied Jones.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "Maybe being a user means you can't live a normal life, you can't go out with your friends and smoke weed, you can't go to school. Obviously you have a fair amount of control over what you can do now, but I don't know if I could ever agree with someone like you would have been as a child being around other children. That kind of raw, ungoverned power could be devastating. It would be inviting disaster. Is giving you a normal life really worth the cost? Because there would be a cost, probably mostly accidental, but that doesn't change the fact that people would die. Do die." Neil sighed.

"At the same time, I suppose it's rather unfair to make people suffer for something they haven't even done yet."
 
"I resurrected a hamster when I was twelve," Dominic offered. Like he even knew what consisted of normal. Presumably other families did not have sunday dinners after which they'd construct golems out of the bones and then have them fight, but that wasn't much to go on. "We had to move house afterwards." It really wasn't a wonder most necromancers ended up as complete nutjobs.

"I was so glad when they found someone to apprentice me to. I got to move out, live in the city. Meet more people like me. Find my field. Actually read books, rather than just admire the spines in my father's study... He left me all of them, in the end. God, I wish I knew what went on in that man's head." Dominic was not the sort to try and summon his father's soul and just ask - and dead necromancers tended to be particularly difficult as spirits, wilful and still very powerful. Asking for a dead necromancer's secrets usually ended with awkward bargains. More trouble than it was worth.

He sipped at the coffee to cover the fact that he didn't know what made him say that, and that it was now making him uncomfortable.
 
"Why did you have to move house after?" Neil asked. He was much more comfortable now that the topic of conversation had shifted away from him and the stupid mistakes he'd made in the past. "But yeah, I guess getting out from under your dad was a good thing for you. Gave you more freedom and that. Just because he was touch on you didn't mean that... I dunno, parents are people, too. They made mistakes." He shrugged. Neil stared at Jones for a moment, then finished his coffee.

"So tell me about the ex you broke the window of. Sounds like a messy break up. And hey, if anyone could beat a cop dating someone that ended up getting put in jail for roasting a guy, it would be a necromancer," Neil said, snorting quietly. He pushed his mug away and stretched his legs out under the table, his foot brushing Jones' calf.
 
"Little kids can't keep their mouths shut, so they all found out what I was... Then they found out what father was, and people really didn't like that. We got hate-mail, dog crap through our letterbox, bleach thrown over our lawn... I guess they thought people like us shouldn't live in a nice suburban area. I'd always known some people didn't like us, but I never thought it would be like that." Dominic sighed. "Ah well."

"Oh, god. Him!" He scowled. "He tried to steal my books. Said it was the only reason he was going out with me. So I stalked him for a week. We had an argument in the middle of the street. I was standing next to pile of bricks, so I threw one through his window. And then another couple. I was an ass and had him cursed... He had to apply to the court to make me remove it."
 
Some part of Neil agreed - he didn't know if users should be allowed to live with anyone but their own kind. Less danger that way, less damage, but faced with the reality of what Jones had been through, he kept his mouth shut. People were people, and as far as he could tell, Jones had never done anything to hurt anyone. Neil had no beef with the users in person. It was what they could do, the amount of damage that one or two running loose and lawless could cause.

"What a dick," Neil sympathised. He looked over at the other male. "So... are you completely gay then? You've only mentioned men. Somehow, I thought a necromancer would be more... open-minded. I didn't think gender would be a huge thing for you since you traverse the barriers of life and death and all that."
 
"I've had a couple of girlfriends. We had... Differences of opinion." How to explain his sheer terror of the possibility of spreading his power to another generation? "Women tend to have an expectation that in the long term, there'll be children, and family..." Maybe he was over-generalising, but he did remember his mother's quiet despair at having four children with a power that she would have preferred them without. "What am I supposed to tell them? 'By the way, I'm going to definitely outlive you unless I get bored one day and kill myself, there's fifty percent chance than any children we have will have necromancy too, and oh, could you never be in the house while you're on your period? It throws off my spells.' Maybe I'm being a bastard, but it's simpler to date men." He was aware of the flaws in the argument.

"It was easier when I was just a kid. All that people wanted was a quick snog and a fumble in some alley. Didn't really matter then what gender they were. Never had a long term thing with a girl." Maybe to turn back the embarassing part of the situation. "What about you? Would a woman with a strap on do?"
 
"Ah, so it's not so much a physical issue as the fact that women generally have expectations that you're reluctant to fulfill, that makes sense," Neil said, looking at the other. Kids and marriage he could get, but the period thing made him snort. "Periods throw off your spells? Or is it just blood in general?" Neil asked. "And yeah, I get that - I think everything's kind of simpler when you're a kid, though. Growing up means more decisions, more ways to get things wrong. More shit than you know how to deal with."

Neil looked up, then laughed. "Ugh, no way. Maybe if I closed my eyes and thought real hard about someone else, but no. Women definitely aren't my thing, never have been and, at my age I think it's safe to say that they never will be. I just... like men. I like how they look, muscle and... well, I'm actually more into feminine men, which is weird, I suppose."
 
"It's the blood. It makes spells stronger. I also can't do hospitals." Apparently he had nightmares about hospitals, because a briefly pained expression crossed Dominic's face. "So many people close to death, oh god." Dead people were fine. Dried blood was fine. But anything close either way to being dead, and blood that was not yet completely dry had effects. "People seem to think it's the corpses that are the important part, but it's the border. Nearly dead, hurt, just dead -" He stopped, and shrugged, unsure of why he was even explaining. Why did it matter? Surely it wouldn't. Unless, of course, they ended up in a hospital.

"I like my men to be men, y'know?" Dominic said, having to laugh. "Apart from Paul. God, he was like having a kitten. He's fluffy, likes being petted and gives horrible presents. I am never dating anyone like that again."
 
"I didn't realise that, either," Neil said. He'd thought it was just death and corpses, but that made sense. Even as a non-user, he knew that death was a powerful thing. He'd seen the life leave someone's eyes. That cusp between life and death... it made sense that there was power in the sick and the injured. The dying. "So don't bleed around you when you're trying to do a spell, basically. Unless you need a power boost. Not that you should be doing any spells that requires things like blood and power boosts."

"I probably come under two of those - I give terrible presents, or I completely forget that I'm obligated to get one for some meaningless occasion. And I like being petted." Neil got up from the table and headed for the door, throwing a look back at Jones. "But I'm a man, don't you think?" he asked, grinning wolfishly.
 
"I generally bleed myself for that." It was never a pretty thing to admit. Still, Dominic had to smile a little - he really wasn't the typical one to be cutting himself. There were, of course, some funny moments, like when during his physical he got asked if he was depressed, and if he'd ever considered self-harm.

"You sure are," Dominic conceeded, having to scramble up from the table, being taken by surprise that they were going. "At least, I haven't checked yet that you have the right equipment..." he teased, though no doubt his seductiveness was mitigated by the fact that two birds were fluttering around his head.
 
"Well, good to know that I don't have to worry about you... borrowing my blood," Neil said, getting into the car. He leaned over to unlock the door for Jones, then started the engine. He didn't even know where he wanted to go. Back to the station, he supposed. Chase the evidence, see if it unlocked any clues. He looked over at Jones.

"I'm free tonight, if you want to check," he said, eyeing the birds with a faint grimace. A 'date' with Jones would be a whole lot easier without those fucking birds, but still. "Dinner, then maybe my place?" He raised his eyebrow at the other male - he'd already laid down his rules when it came to 'dating'. As long as Jones didn't expect a relationship, or anything permanent...
 
People were very strange sometimes. They wondered too much about whether a necromancer would use their blood – sure, a murder might power a spell, but that was raw and uncontrolled. Dominic preferred his own pain. It was more exact, more precise. While he knew that he could turn his tools on someone else, the idea still repulsed him. Not unless it was worth it. But what would be?

“That's a very tempting offer,” Dominic replied, grinning. Well, why not? It didn't have to lead to anything. Maybe this semi-casual sex thing would be nice. He hadn't had any better company than his own hand for a good while. It beat being alone in front of the TV or sitting in the office all night.

“I guess I better get back to work then. Heard about that supposed snuff porn that has been doing the rounds online? They want me to watch it all and see if I can tell if it's real. They sent me a massive stack of DVDs yesterday. It's going to take fucking forever.” It seemed both vastly unappealing and a horrific waste of his time.
 
As nice as it was to here, 'that's a tempting offer' wasn't a yes or no. Judging from the grin, Neil thought the answer was maybe yes, but he couldn't really tell. "Ugh," he said. "That sounds... can they even make you watch that stuff?" He made a face. That sounded like less than his idea of a bad time. Watching snuff porn. Just... ugh. "So you can tell if that stuff's real or not?" he asked. "That must be... disconcerting." The idea was not a nice one.

"I was going to head to the station anyway," he said. "So... was that a yes or a no to later?" He took his eyes off the road long enough to glance over at Jones. Then, an overtaking van dragged his attention back to the road. "You can buy dinner, since you'll be topping."
 
"You'd be surprised what they can make me do. I spent all day yesterday complaining. Didn't work.” It was the most unappealing job ever. “Did you know that there are people who get off on being murdered and then brought back to life? Creepy as hell.” They were like groupies for necromancers! It wasn't an entirely related subject, but he'd met such people.

“Oh, I thought you should buy me dinner to prove what an amazing partner you might be for me...” Dominic liked to be flattered, but part of it was teasing. Maybe a part of it was that he wanted to see what Neil thought would make a good evening... “Don't kill yourself, driving like that! You'll ruin my evening.”

The birds were both on one of Dominic's shoulders, their feathers all fluffed up. Dominic was, just possibly, courting. The birds were not yet impressed with Neil, considering how they had been treated.
 
"I did know that, I did a fucking insane case a few years ago where someone... hadn't been brought back as well as they might have hoped." Neil grimaced. "Still, fucking creepy. More creepy than those people that get off on car crashes, or limbs missing, or- there's just a lot of creepy people in the world," Neil said. Hell, maybe to some more vanilla folks, Neil was one of them, with his preference for fucking with a side of whips and chains.

"You should definitely buy me dinner. But I suppose we can split it, as long as I can pick where," Neil said. He was in the mood for a nice, juicy steak. Definitely. "You're not a vegetarian or anything, right?" A vegetarian necromancer with stupid birds - definitely one of the weirdest people he had been attracted to.
 
“Hah, I remember reading in the paper about that... Probably wrong of me to think so, but what came to me was 'it served them right'...” At least other sorts of creepy people didn't try turning up at his door. They were what he kept a gun for – the only people not deterred by seeing him call up his powers.

“Do I look vegetarian to you?” Dominic asked, not sure if he should laugh or be offended at the question. Considering the sheer amount of mice he'd murdered learning his craft, there was no way he could be against killing animals. And, unlike hippies, he knew exactly what was different. Animals did not have anything that he could identify as a 'soul'. The soul was what he had affinity for. He could feel the emotions of humans, the leftovers of their deaths because of it, but a cow? A cow was just tasty. “Sure, sure, you can pick where.”

Very experimentally, a bird tried hopping onto Neil's shoulder. Aw. They were testing the waters too.
 
"It definitely served them right," Neil said, snorting. Unfortunately, the death of one such idiot didn't mean that the rest of them suddenly grew some sense. He glanced over at Jones again. "No, you don't look vegetarian, but I thought it might be wise to check. I never used to check, which turned out to be incredibly, incredibly awkward when I once took a guy to a steak house only to find out that he's a vegetarian. He spent most of the evening glaring at me. Funnily enough, the sex was absolutely great. I guess because he was pissed off at me."

Then, a bird perched on his shoulder. The car swerved dangerously before Neil regained control. "Christ," he said, though he didn't reach up to dislodge the bird. "Your bird scared me." He shifted slightly and made a face before relaxing again. He was starting to accept that Jones was a package deal - he didn't get to spend time with him without spending time with the birds.
 
Dominic grabbed something to hold while the car swerved, but afterwards he began to laugh, genuinely surprised at that reaction. It was a new one. Most people went all 'aww' and wanted to pet them, though then again, they generally weren't in a moving vehicle.

“You're not serious.” He couldn't quite believe that a nice, strong detective could be put off his driving by a very small parrot. “They're not going to hurt you, you know. Maybe shit on your head if you piss them off, but...”

At least there were no attempts at grooming Neil. Even the birds judged that a step too far yet, but the one on Neil's shoulder decided to serenely begin rearranging a few stray wing feathers, apparently unconcerned by the possibility of imminent death.
 
"I wasn't expecting one to jump on my shoulder," Neil said, laughing. "I thought we had a whole mutual dislike thing going on." Apparently not, if one was willing to sit on him. Then again, it seemed like their feelings toward him rather mirrored Jones' - when Jones was pissed with him, the birds were pissed with him. The birds definitely weren't pissed right now. Or maybe they were just looking for the opportunity to shit down his jacket, who knew.

"Can they... do things without you?" he asked. "Like, necromancer things? Or do they need you to help?" He really wasn't sure how any of this stuff worked. For the first time in a very long while, he worried that his ignorance might come across as offensive. The last thing he wanted to do was offend Jones, now. Or a bird that was sitting on his shoulder.
 
“They like chewing people's ears, hair, and leather jackets. Sorry to tell you that.” Neil shouldn't leave his jacket unattended, probably. The chewing could be affectionate or painful, depending on mood.

“Some. They prefer not to.” Dominic was reticent here. He preferred to hide the details of his contract from other people. They were his last defence if someone overpowered him. “Sorry, it's personal. Secrets of the trade and all that.” He smiled wryly, knowing that it probably sounded ridiculous and old fashioned, but secrecy was one of the ways that powerful spells were kept out of the sight of idiots.

“It's not because you're not a user or anything, it's just that it's generally not something we-” Collective we of Dominic and his two familiars. “- want to talk about to people.” He was making an effort not to cause offence.
 
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