medicine man, i'll lay my head in your hands; medicine man, you will clear my mind

[willowed]

Shrugging off her heavy winter coat, Nuriko stands in the middle of the back room to Urahara Kisuke's cat café, giving the nearest feline a suspicious look as it lingers a few paces away. To the side, a seat has been prepared with treats and sweets for Robin, who seems to be examining the contents of his plate with interest, though Nuriko suspects that he's still keeping his ears trained on herself and the shopkeeper, as per his agreement. His presence relaxes Nuriko, allowing her to follow Urahara's steps as he enters the room with careful confidence.

She has very little idea what to expect, but budgeted for the time just in case. As far as Rin knows, she's out running errands all night for the restaurant, only available by phone, and likely only to return until morning.

"So... it feels to me like there are two options. Either I stay in my body, which will let you examine whether or not it acts and behaves like a regular human body, or I step outside of it so that you can see the stone it will revert to," Nuriko says, folding her coat over her arm and resting her hands in front of her person. "Is there something I'm forgetting? What do you want me to do first."

Her hands tighten against the folds of her coat, and Nuriko bites down on her lower lip, looking slightly apprehensive.

Comments

[willowed]

"It's weird, isn't it?" Nuriko asks, eyes wide and blinking for a few seconds before she turns to Robin, pointing in the direction that Kisuke's wandered off. "Drawing up papers? A contract? Usually those things take longer to write up than just — he must have been drafting it for a while, no?"

Nose screwed up in wariness, Nuriko huffs a disgruntled sigh in Kisuke's direction, crossing her arms over her chest. Getting a woman's body now sounds like it's far, far too much to expect someone to just give her.

"I mean, I'm not that smart. I'm really not. What does he expect me to do, screw him over somehow? I'm not like that," protests Nuriko, her cheeks flushing. "That's how I'm different, too. I might be a spirit, technically, but I was human and I lived as a human and I still live as a human. Robin, what do you think I should do?"

[goodfella]

"Probably since the moment he laid eyes on you, even if it was only in his head," Robin says, honest and without judgment, though he narrows his eyes to slits a second later as he stares at the empty doorway, before turning his attention back to Nuriko.

If he were in that position, Robin would have done the same. But Robin isn't, and Nuriko is one of his fine employees.

"I know that you're different," Robin assures her. "Which is why I want to read that contract over. I think you should sign it. But only after I've read it. If the wording is too one-sided, we can negotiate. But those things can protect you, just as much as they can protect the other party. If they're written properly. Provided that person is someone who honors such things."

Robin can't tell one way or the other, which he is not planning on actually admitting. "Darrow is becoming a complicated place," doesn't entirely like Darrow, but he doesn't entirely dislike it, either.

[willowed]

"I guess I'm not really used to people upholding their end of a contract," Nuriko says quietly, almost a growl, as she thinks back on the way between Konan and Kutou. It isn't like there weren't any opportunities to settle things peacefully. Not like Hotohori hadn't tried. Instead, it was the greed of man that constantly pushed him over the previously drawn lines, always seeking more power.

She drops her head in her hands briefly, closing her eyes with a snort.

"Darrow has always been complicated, hasn't it? I don't even know how to bring this up to Rin," mutters Nuriko with a heavy sigh. "Do all non-humans view us this way? Like pawns for their personal use?"

[goodfella]

"Not all of them," Robin replies, with a laugh at the very idea. To start with, some of them just weren't clever enough. 'Non-human' meant just what it said on the tin, in Robin's experience. Something that just wasn't human. It didn't exclude much else.

"Some of them. For the rest, I'd say, you're more like any other thing out there. Either that's slow and small-toothed prey, or a competitor for territory, or a relationship far more delicate than either of those, it all depends on what you're working with. And how they've decided to treat the creatures around them. I can't even say that I wasn't the same. In the past That I didn't treat others like pawns for my amusement. But I've got other priorities now."

[willowed]

Nuriko pouts at once when Robin laughs, bright and delighted, not unlike the ringing of bells as his eyes shine with merriment. It's the kind of laugh that makes her feel a little bit condescended — but if there's anyone who's probably earned the right to be that to her, it's Robin. Robin, who's lived an eternity and then some.

"I don't know if any of those things feel very accurate to how I feel under Kisuke's watch. Maybe prey is the closest. But I think it's in his best interest to... make sure that I survive and enjoy this test drive he's offering me," she says quietly. "Then again, I can't read his eyes. Just like I can't read yours. I can't even imagine what would change the priorities of someone who's lived and seen so much. Or maybe I'm putting you on too high of a pedestal."

[goodfella]

At the comment that she can't read his eyes, Robin's face quiets, and he stares across at her with quixotic puzzlement. He doesn't always particularly relish what sets him apart.

"Believe me when I say that this is the first and possibly last time these words will ever leave my mouth, Nuriko, but you shouldn't put me on a pedestal at all. It isn't the years that mean as much as what you do with them. Anyway, realistically, no matter what kind of man he is, it's true enough that I can't find any reason that he would benefit from hurting you with this. If there isn't a benefit, there isn't a motivation."

[willowed]

"If you're able to help out a girl like me after only knowing her for a few months, I imagine that at some point, you must have stuck your neck out there. You must have done something good with some of those years," concludes Nuriko, staring contemplatively. For all the good Robin may have done, she wouldn't doubt if he did just as much harm. Maybe more.

But to someone with an eternity ahead of them, shouldn't forgiveness eventually enter the picture?

Nuriko leans forward and presses a kiss to Robin's temple. "I'm less worried about him hurting me. More worried about what this is a first step towards. But I trust your judgment, Robin. Don't let me down."

[goodfella]

"Now you're giving me too much credit," Robin cautions. But the press of warm lips softens his demeanor again, and he gives a soft, wary smile and a huff of exasperation under his breath. She is, honestly, too much.

"Well, there is no way to know without taking a step. That's all I'm betting on. But I won't let you down, sweetheart. Winning bets have got me this far, after all."