Saif held a cup of tea in his hand, taking cautious sips of it. Another teacup sat on the coffee table in front of him, placed directly in front of the Dark One, who sat on the sofa with its legs crossed in a posture that seemed particularly bitchy. It had eyed the cup warily but hadn't touched it yet. "Are you going to drink that?" Saif asked as a way to break the silence.

"猫舌."

"What?"

The Dark One shifted, its wings splayed out over the back of the sofa. "Cat's tongue," it explained with a frown. "It'll burn my mouth unless I let it cool off."

Saif contemplated that, taking another sip. "Aren't you a god?"

"Technically. But this body was human once, and I… inherited some aspects."

Saif raised a brow. "How'd that happen, anyway?"

"What, are we going to share our sordid pasts now? Wanna hear about how I was once a young serpent born from an umbilical cord?"

Saif opened his mouth to try and disarm the conversation but stopped. Something about that sounded… "Why does that sound familiar?"

"You were born and raised here, right? Try reading your own folklore sometime."

Saif furrowed his brows as he thought back to Marik's studies. Folklore - memories of reading the legends of Ra and his battles with the World Encircler, the Serpent From The Nile, came to him, and his eyes widened. "...You're Apep?"

"I used to be." The Dark One reached out to tap the tea cup and, deciding it was still too hot, leaned back again. "It was a long time ago."

"What should I call you now?"

The Dark One eyed him up and down, unamused. "What's wrong with my title?"

"It's a bit wordy in conversation."

"You're far too cheeky for your own good." The Dark One's tail thumped rhythmically against the sofa cushions. "Zorc. Necrophades. One of the two. Both, if you want to suck up to me. Which you should - I'm still upset."

"Yeah, I know." Saif set his teacup down, curling in on himself on his chair. The Dark One - Zorc - had eventually settled down once Saif had let it out of the bathroom, and although the air was tense, it was no longer threatening to kill him every other sentence. "So how do I fix this? You said the ritual in the book won't work."

Zorc sighed. "I don't know. No one's ever been stupid enough to bind themselves to a god before - not of their own volition, anyway, and certainly not with the mindset of freeing themselves from it."

"Yeah, I know. I screwed up. But trust me, I'm not happy about this, either. I'll find a way to release you."

Zorc chuckled drily. "You mean to stick me right back in that shrine. And believe me, I'd actually rather be there."

They fell silent, and Zorc tapped its teacup again. Seemingly satisfied, it picked it up, the cup looking hilariously dainty in its dark claws, and took a sip. "I have to tell Marik about you," Saif said quietly. "Shit. And with the trial tomorrow…"

"What is this 'trial', anyway?"

"Remember how I told you I stabbed a guy in the throat? A judge just needs to confirm it was self-defense. Otherwise, you'd be bound to me in jail." Saif paused and asked tentatively, "So you have to go wherever I go?"

"I can hang out places that are considered 'yours', for the most part, but we do need to be in contact regularly. Any longer than a few hours and I'll be automatically called to you." Zorc's lip twitched into a frown as it took another drink. "Who is Marik?"

Saif sighed, resting his chin on his knuckles. "My host. I told you, we're a system."

"And what does that mean?"

"Without getting into my sordid past," Saif couldn't help but snark. "We're two minds in one body. Only one of us can be out at any given time, and we don't share memories or anything."

Zorc finished its tea and set the cup down on the table. "So he has no idea about our little affair."

Saif snorted a dry laugh. "I… it's my job to protect him. I figured all the stuff with those robbers was already a lot to deal with, and I thought I could handle this myself."

"Ah, a typical tale of hubris. Trying to protect someone too much just puts them in even more danger."

"Yeah. Guess so." Saif reached for the teapot, pouring himself more tea. "Want more?"

"Sure." Zorc drew its feet onto the sofa. "I will say, it's been a long time since I've been able to walk the earth. I'm curious to see what's changed."

"What would you do if you were free?"

"In this form, all I can do is wander. If I was at full power…" Zorc shrugged. "First order of business would be to blot out the sun. All of this light would be too bothersome."

Saif's eyebrows rose. "You're not at full power?"

"If I was, do you honestly think I'd look like this? Some… human aberration?" Zorc wrinkled its nose. "It's too constricting."

"I think it's kind of cute." Again, Saif realized what he said too late, cheeks starting to burn at the incredulous look Zorc gave him. Why, oh, why could he not keep his damn mouth shut? Saif threw back the rest of his tea and fled to the kitchen as Zorc started to laugh.

"Oh! So you were blushing the other day! You humans really are something else. You like this form, Ishtar?" Saif remained silent, hurriedly rinsing out his teacup. "So maybe you wanted to bind me. Make me your little puppet, hm? Do all sorts of unspeakable things to me?"

"Stop it!" Saif said finally, covering his mouth. His face had to have been completely red now.

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble. I'm not interested." He could hear Zorc groan as it stretched out on the sofa. "Human forms aren't all that appealing to me."

"Thanks for letting me down easy," Saif grumbled, drawing a hand down his face. "So… what are you gonna need while you're here?"

"Those bodies you supplied me will hold me over for a little while, but I'll need more than that if I'm going to have a purely physical form."

Saif paused, turning around to face Zorc again. "I can't just go out and murder people for you to eat."

"Why not? Grab tourists. They're easy and it's usually too much effort for the cops to dig too deeply."

"I'm not killing any more people than I already have," Saif said firmly. "How about just… meat? Animal meat?"

Zorc wrinkled its nose again. "…It'll do, if you want to be stubborn. I'll need your bed, too."

"Are you kidding me?"

Zorc stood and extended its wings, easily spanning to take up half of the living room. "If I have to sleep, it needs to be on my stomach, and I can't do that out here. Besides, it's the least you could do for me."

Saif sighed. It had a point; he could only imagine how difficult sleeping with those things would be. "Fine. I'll take the couch, then. And… I'll need to figure out a way to explain you if my family comes by."

"You've got a lot on your plate, Ishtar. You know, if you hadn't completely screwed me over, I'd be inclined to offer you another favor."

"Yeah, yeah. It's fine. I've dealt with worse." Saif sat down at the computer to draft a letter to his landlord - he'd need to explain a sublease, as well. "Your body doesn't look local - I could say you're a tourist that got stranded here."

Zorc was poking around the apartment, examining the photographs on the walls and the books on the bookshelf. "Whatever works. Would make it easier to explain me leaving once we sort this out."

Saif nodded and sent out the email, turning off the computer with a sigh. "Alright. I can run to the grocery store quick and grab you some meat." He turned to see Zorc picking through a book about automotive care, left over from Marik's time as an apprentice mechanic. "…I can turn on the news. It'll be a start for you to get caught up while I'm gone."

"No need. I'm going with you."

"Like hell you are."

Zorc sighed, slamming the book shut and tossing it onto the coffee table. "Relax. I'm not going out like this." It crossed the room and grabbed Saif's arm, yanking it upwards as its form started to shimmer and dissipate. Before Saif could ask what was happening, Zorc turned into a cloud of smoke that swarmed Saif's bicep, which tingled and itched almost unbearably. It only lasted a second, but when the smoke cleared, Zorc was gone.

Saif blinked, glancing down at his arm. To his utter shock, there was now a giant snake tattoo curving around his bicep, ending right at the dip of his elbow. "What the hell…" he whispered as he touched it gently.

"Get going," the tattoo said, and Saif couldn't help but yelp in surprise. The tattoo shifted slightly against his skin, but its mouth was unmoving as it said, "I'm strong enough for this, but a full glamour will take more energy than I can expend right now. This way, I can stay close and you don't have to worry about me popping up out of nowhere."

When Zorc put it like that, it made a lot of sense. "…Alright," Saif conceded, heading to the bedroom to grab Marik's wallet. Zorc was silent as they walked towards the grocery store at the end of the street, and as they passed the alley where Marik had nearly been robbed, Saif forced himself to avert his gaze. "Do you have a meat preference? Aside from… y'know," he asked quietly, making sure his ears were hidden under his hair. Worst case scenario, he could pretend he was on a headset.

"The bloodier, the better," Zorc whispered back.

At the store, Saif grabbed a few packages of liver and ground beef - he'd have to look up how to cook them later. He also grabbed some chocolates and snacks before heading to check out. When he came back to his apartment, the snake tattoo started to slither down his arm, smoke filling the air before him as Zorc reformed, stretching dramatically. "You've got some neat tricks up your sleeve."

"This may not be my preferred form," Zorc explained, cracking its neck. "But I still have a good amount of power. Did you not already have meat here?"

"Marik's a vegetarian, which means I am, too. Trying to eat meat makes us sick," Saif explained as he started to put the groceries away. Zorc peered into the bags and, before Saif could swat it away, it stole a chocolate bar and peeled it open, cleanly breaking off a square. "You should try asking."

"I'll put this towards your apology," Zorc teased with a smile, popping the chocolate into its mouth. "Mm. Good quality."

Saif rolled his eyes and closed the fridge, taking out another bar to start snacking on. "So, think you should just do the tattoo trick for the trial tomorrow?"

"Sure. Probably for the best. Although I'd make a hell of a witness if they start questioning about the other guys."

"As if they could put you in cuffs. I'd pay to see that." Zorc snickered to itself, and Saif gave it a pointed look. "Shut up. Listen, you're gorgeous, I can admit that, but your personality needs work."

Zorc's snickers cut off into an offended gasp. "Again, you're lucky -"

"I'm lucky you can't hurt me, yeah yeah. Why is that, anyway?" Saif asked casually as he took a seat on the sofa, kicking his feet onto the coffee table. "The binding?"

"Yeah. We're connected, and my existence in this world is now entirely dependent on yours. If you die, I lose any ties to the physical plane, and then I'm back at square one." Zorc leaned against the fridge, picking at the chocolate bar in its hands. "Like I said, being sealed up in a shrine in a basement is better than nothing."

"You know, I would've helped you get out of there. Not out in the world, completely free, but maybe… out of a dirty basement, at least. I just don't want to be lied to. Like I said, I know the playbook."

Zorc fell silent for a moment. "…You keep saying that. What does that mean?"

"You know. Trying to sweet-talk me, make me let my guard down, manipulate me into doing whatever you want even if it hurts me. You said you'd move on and I'd never see you again if I let you out - what would you really have done?"

Zorc glanced away. "…Well, a god isn't much without worshippers. A cult, in my case. I probably would've indoctrinated you, tasked you with rebuilding."

"See? If you'd just told me that, I probably would've helped. I'd have to pass on the cult thing, though." They finished their chocolate bars in silence, and Saif turned on the news for Zorc to watch as he grabbed a notebook, staring at a blank page. Everything that had happened over the past few days was utter insanity, and no matter how many sentences he started to write, none seemed to explain everything properly.

A loud sound made him jump, followed by Zorc hissing, "Damn it!" He peered into the living room and saw Zorc fiddling with the remote, the volume oscillating between ear-bleedingly loud and mute. In retrospect, maybe he was overthinking this. Zorc would probably be willing to explain what had happened the night of the robbery - Saif just needed to brace Marik for meeting it.

With that, he sat back down and started to write, and the sentences came much easier this time. It was just a short few paragraphs, but it would certainly get the job done. He brought a blanket out from the bedroom to settle onto the couch as the night dragged on, and Zorc disappeared into the bedroom, closing the door behind it. Saif fell asleep to the quiet sound of late-night advertisements, his last thoughts being of well wishes for Marik.