Nico Robin (all_sunday) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-10-08 16:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, leon orcot, nico robin |
Who: Nico Robin (Robin Nico) and Leon Orcot
What: Tea and cookies, of course
Where: Remember Yesterday
When: Back dated to Early September
Rating/Warning: Low - Dream talk; Leon's wardrobe and taste in music (contains links)
Status: Complete
The internet had a short attention span, and Leon was really hoping that it’s memory of this particular video was going to be very short lived. Either way, he was pretty sure next time he saw some idiot recording him the next time he was working, he was going to bust their camera.
He was on duty now, though there really wasn’t much for him to be doing at this exact moment. He prefered to keep his gun in a sholder holster, worn over his Judas Priest t-shirt with his police radio attached to the other strap, instead of in his duty belt with the rest of his gear. For one, the added weight of his handgun always made his lower back a little sore, and for another it was just a more natural place for him to grab his gun from. It seemed like a good time to pick up some cookies from Baxter’s and to go visit Robin to kill some time.
“Hey, Robin,” he said, grinning when he caught sight of her. “How’s it going?”
“Leon, hello,” Robin greeted the detective from where she was dusting a few pieces of china near the front of her door. She gave him a warm smile. “It’s good to see you.” She stepped down from the little step stool she had been using to get to the higher shelf. “I was hoping you’d find the time to stop in. I haven’t seen you since your new found fame.”
She stepped up to him, her eyes moving over the very loud rock shirt and over the shoulder holster and gun before moving up to meet his gaze. Guns didn’t bother Robin in the slightest. First of all, Leon was a police officer, it would have been odd for him to not carry a gun. Secondly, Robin had traveled to some fairly remote areas with her mother both in her youth and as an adult. Their guides had often carried weapons. Machetes, shotguns, pistols. All of it was just as normal as could be as far as Robin was concerned.
The shirt, though, was enough to give Robin a bit of pause. She had no idea who Judas Priest was, but he shirt was practically shouting at her, it was so bright. Screaming for Vengence. Screaming indeed! Robin put a hand to her mouth to stifle a little laugh. Oh, yes, that seemed to fit Leon just right.
“I’m doing well,” she said. She gestured with her feather duster for Leon to come into the store. “Let me get some water heated up and we can have some tea if you like.”
“It’s good to see you too,” he said, though he scowled a little at her mention of his newfound fame. “I hope that the newfound fame goes away soon. I’m sick of my fifteen minutes already.”
When she seemed as though she was laughing at him, a look of almost-panic briefly crossed his face and he ran a hand over his mouth. “What? Do I have something on my face? On my shirt?” he looked down at the shirt, hoping that he hadn’t spilled ketchup or toothpaste or something on it. How embarrassing would that be?
“Tea sounds great,” Leon said. He liked coffee well enough, but there was something about sitting down in a shop eating dessert and drinking tea and shooting the shit that felt comforting somehow (though he’d never admit that that had anything to do with D). “I brought cookies too.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Leon,” Robin said, lightly patting his arm. “I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s your shirt. Its very bright.” She curled her fingers under her chin and looked at it carefully, studied it. “I like the eagle.” She tilted her head and raised her eyes upwards, “Who is Judas Priest?”
Robin wasn’t usually a tea drinker, but she did like the way steeping tea smelled. Most of what she had on hand was herbal, but she also had some earl gray, her mother’s favorite. She gently took Leon by the arm and walked with him towards the back of her store. She let go of his arm before she stepped into the little break area to fill the little electric kettle with water.
“You don’t know Priest?” Leon asked, aghast. “I’ve got some on my phone here if you wanted to give them a listen. They’re my favourite band. I’ve already got tickets to see them when they come by in October.” He was planning on taking Chris with him. He was probably more excited for Chris’ first concert than Chris was.
He let himself be led to the back of the store, and found himself a place to sit. “I brought cookies.”
Ooh! Cookies! Leon was so good to her.
As the water in the electric kettle started to warm, Robin turned to face Leon. She leaned against the small counter the kettle and a small microwave occupied. She tilted her head to the side. “I’ve never heard of ‘Priest’,” she said. She chuckled softly. “Sometimes I think I’m so focused on history. Pop culture and it’s ever changing focuses often whizz by so quickly I barely have enough time to turn around and take notice. That is, when I’m paying enough attention to even notice them. I knew a young man in college who actually studied pop culture. I’m not sure how he was ever able to keep up.”
Judging by the band’s name, Robin guessed them to be a rock group, although she couldn’t quite pin down the type of rock they played by their name alone. Judging by Leon’s shirt, though, Robin figured they were loud and flashy. Good qualities for a rock band, in her opinion.
She pushed away from the counter. “Sure, I’ll have a listen if you want to play a song,” she told him. Robin was interested in anything that interested her friends.
Leon couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Judas Priest has been a band longer than either of us has been alive, you know,” he said. “They’re kind of a staple.” He looked through his phone for a song to play. He wasn’t sure if he should play one of their songs that everyone no doubt knew, but then, if she had heard them and still never heard of Judas Priest, it might mean that she didn’t like them. Finally, he decided on Love Bites and let it play over his phone speakers. “What do you normally listen to?”
Robin frowned playfully at him. “I had no idea,” she admitted. “Perhaps that’s why I have not heard of them before.” She didn’t know about Judas Priest being a staple, but she knew very little about the rock genre. It was doubtful she could actually name another rock band by name if Leon were to ask her.
“I listen to jazz, mostly,” Robin told him. “Old time swing, big band and delta blues. Growing up, my mother played a lot of classical. Bach, Mozart, Wagner, you know,” she twirled her hand around a little bit, “the big names of music from far back in the day.”
She came to stand next to him just as Leon cued up the song and started playing it. She listened intently her brows furrowing together and her head tilting to the side with interest. She liked the deep echoing opening notes. Her brows furrowed even more and her finger went to her lips thoughtfully as she listened to the lyrics.
“In the dead of night/love bites,/love bites” Robin tapped her finger against her lip thoughtfully as she listened to the rest of the song. “Leon,” she started once the song had finished. “Is that a song about being a vampire? It certainly sounds like it.” Robin couldn’t help the laugh. How appropriate for where the two of them lived.
“Jazz huh? Like Miles Davis?” Leon didn’t listen to a whole lot of jazz, or classical, but Miles Davis had always been kind of cool, and with all the time he spent with D in his dreams he had been forced to listen to his fair share of classical music.
He scowled at her question. “It’s definitely not about vam-” Leon started, and then actually thought about the song. “Oh goddammit,” he muttered. He had never hated vampires before he had started dreaming about people who absolutely were not vampires no matter what D had almost convinced him of, and then when vampires had decided to make a snack out of the Orange County.
Robin frowned a little behind her hand. “I’m sorry,” she said. She hadn’t meant to ruin Leon’s song.
“Play another one,” she urged. “Play your favorite for me this time.” And Robin swore to herself she wouldn’t ruin it on accident. Judas Priest may not exactly be her most favorite thing in the world, but she could definitely appreciate why it was Leon enjoyed them. And if a friend was that interested in something, than it interested Robin as well.
“Eh, don’t worry about it. I probably should have figured that out on my own.” Maybe he had at one point in his life, but he hadn’t really thought about the lyrics in some time. “My favourite huh? Let’s see…” he scrolled to his phone until he came across Rock Hard, Ride Free, and put that on. “This one’s definitely not about vampires.”
Just like the first song, Robin liked the song’s introduction. As the song continued, a smile spread across her face. It was certainly a song that inspired adrenalin and the desire to pump one’s fist in the air with her compatriots in a sign of solidarity. The song could even have been the theme song to a superhero. Definitely had nothing to do with vampires.
The kettle had finished heating up the water and Robin moved towards the small narrow breakroom counter. “I liked that one,” she told Leon over her shoulder. “I can see why you like the band so much. That song in particular seems very fitting for you.”
She took the kettle off of its hotplate. “What kind of tea would you like?” She asked as she reached for the box of earl grey for herself.
“Thanks,” he said, grinning. Being told his favourite song suited him made him surprisingly pleased. “It’s a good driving song, if you ever have the inclination.” Maybe if she did really like it he could introduce her to some other bands. Zepplin and Floyd were always hits. Give her something to listen to other than boring stuff like Jazz and Classical.
At her question about teas, Leon thought about it for a moment. He drank a lot of tea in his dreams. “I guess you probably don’t have any Longjing do you? What do you got?” He’d never really considered himself a tea snob in his dreams - the only tea he ever drank was at D’s shop, and D always made a helluva pot of tea. But now that he was drinking tea that wasn’t brewed by D, he was usually pretty disappointed.
“You’re welcome,” Robin smiled over her shoulder at him. “Perhaps next time I have to drive out to Arizona or Las Vegas, I’ll add it to my driving mix.” It would be an interesting fit between Coltrain and Wagner. And no one could think Flight of the Valkyries boring.
“Hmm,” Robin looked through her boxes of assorted teas. “No longjing,” she reported, “but I do have darjeeling, would that be alright?”
Robin herself often defaulted to earl grey whenever she was in the mood for tea. Earl grey was what her mother often drank and sometimes exclusively. The smell alone was something that often comforted Robin whenever she needed it. Other than earl grey, Robin knew very little about tea, besides that there was apparently a difference between black tea, herbal teas and red teas. Whenever she replenished her tea stock she usually got a sampler just to be sure she had an assortment for visitors to choose from should they ask for tea.
If it didn't have lyrics or guitars, it was obviously boring music. He'd never been especially keen on hoity-toity classy music, and though he'd tolerate it.
"Darjeeling's fine," Leon said. It was another one of the ones that D served often. Leon didn't typically ask what kind of teas D made unless he particularly liked them, which meant that if he didn't know the name of a tea it probably wasn't up there on his list. Darjeeling was one that he had asked about.
"How've you been, by the way?" Leon asked as he looked around for something to lay the cookies out with. "You don't have a plate or something for these, do you?"
“I’ve been alright,” Robin answered. She poured hot water over the tea bags in the two mugs. Then she brought Leon his and set it down in front of him. “Business is doing pretty well for this time of year. Or what I assume is good for this time of year,” she chuckled softly. “Soon the holiday season will be here and that’s when business really picks up.”
As her tea steeped, Robin looked around for something to put the cookies on. She found the plastic tray she used to put bagels for when she asked Jem to work early in the morning. It wasn’t fancy, ironically enough. In a store full of antiques, the try itself was new and plain looking and cheap. But it had come with the store. She set it down on the table as well so Leon could put out the cookies if he wanted.
Robin picked up her mug and gently blew the steam away from her face. “You know, I’ve gotten my first two dreams,” she told Leon with a smile. “I’m not too thrilled with the idea that I’m a ‘bad guy’ in them, but they are very exciting!”
“What about you?” She went on before taking a first tentative sip of tea.
The holiday season would soon be upon them, wouldn’t it? Leon frowned to himself. He wasn’t a huge fan of the holidays, but at least it was a good time to make overtime when all his coworkers were begging to give up their shifts. “Yeah? Lots of people want to gift their loved ones with creepy dolls?” Leon asked, smiling a little at his joke. He laid out the cookies, not really going out of his way to make sure they looked nice on the plate, but at least it was better than eating them right out of the box. ‘
“I still find it hard to believe you’re a bad guy in the dreams,” Leon said. “I’m glad you’re getting some excitement out of them. What all are you dreaming of, other than dickhead alligators and guys with hooks for their hands?”
He took a sip of his tea and frowned faintly. He’d probably never find someone who could brew a cup of tea like D could, so he should probably stop holding tea to the standards set by his dreams. It was pretty good though. “I can’t complain. Dreams have been kind of boring lately.” Not that Leon would ever complain about that. When his dreams were exciting, it usually ended up with someone being eaten by something, or with him being kidnapped by Peruvian terrorists because of D and carted down to South America.
“I think you’d be surprised,” Robin answered with a teasing smile. “Those creepy dolls sell very well. Doll collecting is a hobby that is very alive and well. For some the creepier the better.”
She leaned against the counter, her mug held in both of her hands. “Banana alligators,” she corrected with a laugh. “And my boss only has one hook for a hand. Other than that its a bit early to tell.” She sipped her coffee. “It appears as though the world is mostly water with islands and slightly larger continents scattered about. I think there is a world government in power and technically my boss works for them...like a privateer, but he is going behind their backs and using his title to do some shady business.”
“Dream version of me doesn’t seem too concerned about what it is he’s doing,” Robin went on thoughtfully. “I’m not sure what her intentions are just yet. It’s kind of odd, though, experiencing these Dreams. I knew they’d be very vivid and real, but its as if I actually experienced it. As if at some point in my life I actually went to Alabasta, but I know I actually haven’t. Its...interesting.” She sipped her tea.
She caught Leon frowning at his cup. She frowned a bit herself. “Is there something wrong with you tea, Leon?”
“Some people are weird,” Leon said, grinning a bit. It was bad enough having the dolls in the shop, why anyone would want them in the comfort of their own home was beyond him. “You know, I dreamed of this old woman once who had a ton of teddy bears. Like, a metric fuckton. Bought one for every big event in her life, I guess. One on one, they weren’t so bad, but when you had them all sitting there together, staring at you with their beady little eyes, it was fucking creepy.”
“Tomato, tomahto,” Leon said in reference to the banana alligators. “A world government though. Wonder how that came about.” There were a lot of questions that Leon wanted to ask about the world government, but as she had only started dreaming, she probably didn’t have a whole lot of answers. That was, assuming that she had answers even as she dreamed more. Most people didn’t care much for politics, let alone dream world politics. It would probably surprise some people, but Leon kept on top of that sort of stuff. He really kind of enjoyed reading about politics, even if he never discussed it with other people.
“No, no, nothing’s wrong with the tea. It’s not bad. It’s just not like the tea from my dreams is all.”
Robin chuckled. Yes some people were weird, however, Robin wasn’t one to judge. She probably would have had one or two of the dolls in her home if not for the ghost stories tied to a few of them. Robin didn’t necessarily believe those stories, but sometimes late at evening when she was in the store alone it certainly felt as though those marble eyes were following her around.
“I’m not sure how the world government came about,” Robin answered, “or really how it even works. After all, I’m currently in a kingdom that has its own royal family. In fact that’s the family we are trying to depose. The princess was even in our ranks as a spy.” Robin tapped her fingers on her mug before reaching for a cookie, “I am looking forward to finding out more. The world itself is very interesting and I get the feeling I’ll be exploring more of it.”
She glanced at Leon’s mug with a small frown. “I’m afraid I know very little about tea,” she said. “I’ve always been more of a coffee drinker. Do you know how the tea in your Dreams is made? Or even what kind it is? If you can tell me that I can see if I can find it so I have some here at the shop for when you visit.”
“Huh. Probably be some sort of decentralized government. Like what the UN’s supposed to be. Give individual countries some sort of autonomy but having a higher level of government as well. Though, I guess if your boss is withholding water from a nation, it sounds like it’s about as effective as the UN is.” He started to laugh at that because hey, taking pot shots at the useless organization that was known as the UN was always a hoot, but then he remembered that no one really cared about politics, and was suddenly half worried that Robin suddenly thought he was some sort of giant geek or something.
“Naw, I don’t got a clue about any of that. He tends to serve a lot of different teas, probably Chinese and fancy, but I couldn’t tell you anything about how he makes it. It’s not a big deal though. D seems to always have a tea cup in his hand, so it would make sense that he could brew a mean pot of the stuff.”
Leon just might be onto something with the suggestion of a centralized government. It made the most sense. “I think this government has more power than the UN,” Robin said thoughtfully. “They control a navy that polices the entire world, but especially the oceans, where the pirates are.” She winked at him. “From what I understand to defy the government means death. And my boss is certainly doing that, using his own position within, but outside, the government to get away with what he’s doing.” She sipped her tea. “It’s rather ingenious, really, if evil.”
Having finished the first cookie (which had been delicious, Robin selected another. She nibbled on it thoughtfully. Perhaps she could ask Law about fancy Chinese teas next time she saw him.
“I’ve met so many people who drink tea these days,” she said with a bit of a laugh. “I really should learn more about it.”
“Having more power than the UN really isn’t much of a challenge,” Leon said, grinning a little. |I really can’t stand those scumbags who try to cheat the system. As if they’re so much better than everyone else that the rules don’t apply to them.” And too many people who knew how to work the system well got away with it far too easily. It could get to be a little disheartening sometimes.
“It’s not something I ever thought I’d really like,” Leon admitted. “I’m just become such a habit in the dreams that it feels kind of weird to not sit and have tea and desserts once in a while here. I mean, I’ve always been more of a coffee drinker, but there’s something about drinking tea with frie-” Leon stopped himself there. D was not his friend. “With people that’s different than sitting and having a coffee or something.”
Robin tilted her head a little. She wasn’t sure what difference the choice of drink made when sitting and talking, but perhaps that wasn’t the point. Perhaps it wasn’t the drink that was important. She chewed her lower lip for a moment trying to think of the best way to say what was on her mind and hopefully not upset Leon, because it seemed to her that Leon was trying very hard to convince himself that D wasn’t his friend. Carnivorous pets aside, everything Robin had heard of the man from Leon made it sound as though at least one of them thought the other as a friend.
“Leon...” she started and then trailed. She traced her index finger around the rim of her mug. “Are you...are you sure that D is your enemy in your dreams?” She asked very carefully.
What was it with everyone assuming he and D were all chummy? Just because Leon went over to the pet shop every day and let Chris live at D’s shop (obviously undercover) and crashed on D’s couch when he was drunk and let D pretend to be his boyfriend that one time did not mean that they were friends.
But he probably wouldn’t go so far as to say they were enemies either. Leon frowned at himself. “Maybe not enemies, but that doesn’t mean I have to like the guy,” Leon scoffed. It seemed like a good enough answer. “I’m not going to become buddies with some murdering scumbag.”
“Well, no.” Robin had to admit the idea of Leon, a detective, becoming friends with someone who clearly had some kind of nefarious agenda as a ridiculous idea. But still, the way Leon talked about him, Robin wondered what kind of man D really was. He was clearly fond of Leon, perhaps even trusted him. Robin wondered what the man was playing at. Why would a man like D grow fond of a person who very well could end his entire business. The idea that perhaps Leon couldn’t frightened Robin a little.
“That isn’t quite what I meant.” She went on. “What if…” she paused again to think about what she said before she said it. Then she shook her head and chuckled softly. “Nevermind,” she said at last. “I’m not sure what I’m thinking. Perhaps being on the ‘villain’ side of the line in my own dreams is making me look at the villain in your dream a little differently.” Then Robin laughed. “Oh, my, Leon. Here you are having tea with another villain. That is rather funny, don’t you think?”
“What if what?” Leon asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’m always up for listening to theories.” It wouldn’t do him any good in the dreams, but Leon was trying to solve the case of D in real life as well. He’d always tried to solve the murderer in mystery novels before the detective did in them, and he tended to look at this the same way. Except for being more emotionally involved. And the fact that trying to solve a case faster than yourself wasn’t exactly easy. And maybe she might not have any theories involving the actual crimes D committed, but sometimes even the smallest thing helped.
He scowled slightly at the parallel she drew. “Ha ha,” he said sardonically. “Hilarious. Anyway, it’s not like I’m drinking tea with an actual villain. You’re not a criminal here, are you?” Because if she was, she’d obviously answer him truthfully. His instinct never told him that she was someone to watch out for though, and that was what he usually listened to when he was on the job.
“Of course I’m not,” Robin leaned over him and picked up a cookie. She patted his arm playfully. “And to be honest, I’m not all that sure I’m a real villain in my dreams either. I think that version of me is after something and she may think the only way to get it is through the people she is currently employed with.” She nibbled her cookie thoughtfully. “She loves history as I do, but it seems that much of that world’s history is shrouded in darkness.”
She dipped her cookie in her tea. “I was wondering if maybe your relationship with D is one-sided. Perhaps he thinks of you as a friend, even if you don’t return that sentiment. It’s not that uncommon. If he doesn’t, then why do you suppose he allows you, a detective, access to his life the way he has? It seems very odd to me, Leon. And I admit, a tad frightening. I cannot make out D’s intent and it is rather unnerving.”
“What? No, D doesn’t think of me as a friend either. He threw a tea cup at me once because he broke his damn nail cleaning my apartment. Like it was my fault he took offense to my decorative motif and felt the urge to rip down all my posters.” That … sounded a lot more solid in his head than it had once the words were out of his mouth. “And he tricked me into rigging a horse race once.” There. That was better. That probably should have been his first example, but D ripping down his posters and then having the nerve to get angry about it afterward still irked him. “Friends don’t trick friends into breaking the law. He obviously lets me hang around because…” Well, because D was fond of Chris, though Leon had spent quite a bit of time at the shop before Chris had even shown up.
Now that he thought about it, why did D let Leon hang around the shop all the time? Leon spent more time there than he did in his own apartment, and while most criminals would be more loathe to have the attention, D always made tea for him when he stopped by and often times invited him over for breakfast (or, more accurately, lunch, since D always slept in) and was generally pretty welcoming until Leon would start interrogating his customers.
The corners of Robin’s mouth quirked upwards just slightly. She could have pointed out that Leon had allowed D into his apartment, however she decided not to. D was an obviously touchy subject for Leon and with good reason. From what Robin understood, one could not control their actions in these Dreams any more than one could control the actions of a total stranger. She found it somewhat frustrating to watch a woman that was, for all intents and purposes her cavort with truly deplorable people. It must have been even worse for a man in Leon’s position. She kept her opinion that Dream!Leon may in fact be in denial about his relationship with D to herself lest she say something to truly anger Leon and hurt him.
“Perhaps he is a narcissist,” she stated her second opinion instead before taking a thoughtful bite out of her cookie. “You’re giving him a lot of attention over the course of your investigation. Perhaps he enjoys it. He sounds a little vain.”
She dipped her cookie into her tea again, “do you know why he’s selling carnivorous animals to people? Or why he would trick you into rigging a horse race? There must be a purpose.”
“God, that’s probably it too. That and I think he likes fucking with me too.” D was fucking weird sometimes and it gave Leon a headache. “And I think he uses me as an alibi sometimes when he’s up to something.” Like the ballerina who’d been in D’s shop one night, and then disappeared when she was in the middle of a performance the next. Since Leon had been with D during the entire performance, he hadn’t been able to pin anything on D even though he was sure he was behind it somehow.
“I don’t know,” he said, scowling. “It’s probably how he gets his jollies. Isn’t that why most serial killers are serial killers? The horse was a damn rube but D paid it’s $3000 entry fee and bet on the damn thing. I think he had the hots for its owner. And he thought it was a direct descendent of Matchem, one of the first Thoroughbreds. He went on to win all the other races he was entered into though, so I guess D had a better eye than I thought he did.” It was always frustrating when D proved Leon wrong about something, and it happened far more often than Leon would ever care to admit. “Anyway, tell me about this thing that you’re looking for in your dreams. You know what it is yet?”
Robin nodded her head thoughtfully. What Leon said about D using him as an alibi made a great deal of sense. What alibi could possibly be better than that of a police detective? She frowned slightly. Perhaps she had misjudged the man’s intentions. It was quite possible that Dream Leon was being manipulated by a master manipulator who excelled at playing a certain part. Having lived the life she had, friendship was important to Robin, so it had been her first instinct to assume that the relationship between the Count and the detective had been an odd beginning of one. However, it was quite possible her first instincts had been wrong and Robin was not above admitting that. “You’re probably right,” she said. “He does seem to enjoy what he does, whatever it may be.”
She nibbled on her cookie as she thought how best to answer Leon’s question about her own Dreams. “My latest Dreams haven’t given me much insight to that,” she said with some disappointment. “The focus seems to be on Crocodile’s plan on taking over the country of Alabasta. It isn’t a particularly wealthy country, but he’s made a great deal of money there. He managed to cultivate a state of civil unrest and all he has to do is sit back and let the country tear itself apart. It would have been successful if not for the interference of a certain pirate crew called the Straw Hats.”
A smile came to Robin’s face as she thought of Luffy and his intrepid, if odd, pirate crew. Pirates though they may be, they have every intention of saving Alabasta for Princess Vivi. “I like them very much. Their captain even attempted to fight Crocodile himself. I think there is something about him that my dream counterpart likes as well. She saved him after the fight was over.”
Robin finished her cookie and reached for another cookie, but paused as she remembered a conversation between Crocodile and Alabasta’s nearly deposed king. “There was some talk about a secret being kept within the kingdom. That appears to be what Crocodile and my dream self seem to be after. If I remember correctly, it's buried somewhere under the kingdom. Something called a poneglyph.”
D was very skilled at playing a certain role in the dreams, though that was that of a cold, distant, mysterious pet shop owner who sold Love and Dreams and was always unerringly polite and charming with the creepiest goddamn smile in the world. Around Leon and Chris, D seemed to let his guard down, and acted a little more human, and it wasn’t something that had gone unnoticed by Leon over their year and a half friendship acquaintanceship. Leon even trusted D to some extent, though he’d never admit that to anyone, least of all himself.
For someone named Crocodile with a hook for a hand, Leon was kind of expecting him to be a burly muscle-headed idiot who was fond of brute force, but that plan seemed pretty damn nefarious. It was a plan that would no doubt take a whole lot of patience, and no small amount of machinations. It was the patient bastards people had to look out for. Impatient guys made mistakes. The patient ones, well, the made mistakes too. There was no such thing as a perfect crime. But their mistakes were harder to find, and not as easy to take advantage of.
But he didn’t notice the smile when she talked about the Straw Hat pirates. “These pirates good people?” he asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that. “I’m glad you’ve found them. Or rather that they found you. I hope they beat this Crocodile guy senseless.” Robin hadn’t mentioned that her dream self had any intentions of getting out, but if she did it would probably be better if these Straw Hat pirates took care of Crocodile before that happened.
“Pony glyphs? What, like, a giant cave drawing of a horse?” That seemed… really not that exciting. D might be into it though. He still remembered the man’s excitement at seeing the Nazca line drawings.
“Well, they are pirates,” Robin answered with a smile. “So I believe the term ‘good’ probably isn’t what they would choose to describe themselves. They aren’t attempting to save Alabasta because it’s necessarily the right thing to do. They’re doing it because Princess Vivi is their friend and saving Alabasta is important to her. That’s all there is to it.
“As for beating Crocodile senseless,” Robin went on as she dipped her cookie again. “That is easier said than done. Straw Hat Luffy already tried to beat him once and nearly got killed for his efforts. Crocodile is quite powerful and has the ability to control sand. You see, in this world there are certain fruits - called Devil Fruits - that when eaten can grant a person certain abilities, even transform their bodies. Crocodile ate a fruit that lets him control sand. His body essentially is sand, so actually physically fighting him is difficult.”
The dream version of Robin herself had also apparently eaten a Devil Fruit, but Robin kept that bit to herself. For the time being.
She laughed. “No, I don’t think a poneglyph is any kind of cave drawing, Leon. From what I’ve heard in the dream it’s some kind of important ancient artifact that may grant its finder some kind of knowledge or power. There was mention of a weapon, but I’m not sure. I have a feeling in my next dream I’ll actually be able to see it. I’m looking forward to it greatly since it is the entire reason my dream counterpart seems to be there.”
“Helping your friends is still the right thing to do,” Leon said. It didn’t really matter why people chose to do good in the world he found. The end result was the same, whether they wanted to help the country for one person or for all the people.
Leon froze, a cookie halfway to his mouth when she started talking about the Devil Fruits and the powers that came with them, and then slowly lowered it. He was getting used to the strangeness around here, slowly. He was accepting that maybe some people turned into vampires, and that maybe he might be able to talk to animals when he was drunk and that there were things going on that he just couldn’t explain with logic at this exact moment. People’s bodies turning into stand still gave him pause, though he was willing to accept it a little more readily than he might have in the past.
“Well, maybe they can douse him with water or something,” Leon said slowly, bringing the cookie back up to his mouth and then chewing thoughtfully. He’d never had cause to think about how to fight someone made out of sand before and he really hoped he’d never have any practical reason to do it, though if his experience with comic books and Robin’s dreams told him anything, the second someone got a sand body they turned into supervillians. It was occurring to him now that he might have to start making some contingency plans for superpowered bad guys now if he was going to keep living here.
“Well then, that name’s just downright misleading,” Leon said. A pony glyph should be a giant picture of a horse, not some strange magic power thing. “You’ll have to tell me how that works out though. Sounds like it could be downright dangerous if it fell into someone like Crocodile’s hands.”
“Oh, I agree with you,” Robin nodded emphatically. “And I think my Dream counterpart would as well. I cannot say for one hundred percent certainty, but it is becoming clear to me that she doesn’t really want Crocodile to get his hands on any weapon. She did save Strawhat Luffy after his fight with Crocodile and she did tell a royal guard-” another devil fruit user who could transform into a large falcon, but Robin elected to leave that part out as well since it really wasn’t relevent to their current conversation “-that Princess Vivi is the key to saving the kingdom. She follows her orders from Crocodile, but not entirely as he would have her it seems.”
Robin took the empty seat across from Leon and set her chin in the palm of her hand. “She works with some bad people, but I do not think she truly is a bad person. I’m still very unclear as to her motives or reasons. Our Dreams don’t necessarily give us insight into the thoughts of our counterparts, or at least not into the thoughts of my own. It’s a little frustrating, but intriguing nonetheless. She is like a little puzzle asking for me to solve her.”
“See, I knew you couldn’t be a villain,” Leon said, smiling a little to himself. “Cop’s instinct and all.” Maybe she wasn’t totally on the up-and-up in the dreams, but at least she wasn’t trying to dehydrate an entire nation or anything. Sometimes people were coerced into doing bad things, but so long as they tried to turn their situation around - undermine the people who were making them do the bad things - then that wasn’t so bad.
“You don’t get much insight into your dream-self’s head?” Leon asked, eyebrows raising up. “Really? I mean, I don’t really understand dream me’s fashion choices aside from the fact that he went to high school in the 80s, and maybe nowadays I would’ve done things differently than I - he would have, but I know what goes on in my, in his head when he makes his decisions.” Talking about there being two different Leon’s, both of which were him was kind of making his head spin.
Robin shook her head. “Not yet,” she said. “She plays her cards very close to her chest. She smiles when she talks, but she isn’t saying the entire truth. I’m not even sure if she’s admitting the truth to herself. I get impressions from her, but no real insight. For instance, I get the impression that she has been alone a great deal of her life and because of that she is slow to trust anyone. She was betrayed and therefore people are a means to an end.”
She wrapped her hands around her tea cup and looked at Leon carefully. “Is that odd?” She asked. “That I don’t know what my counterpart is thinking?”
Leon frowned a little at that. That was… a pretty sad way of looking at the world, though he could understand it. He’d been alone for the entirety of his adult life, and tended to keep people at an arms length. At least, until Chris had come along and he’d joined the Network for child-rearing advice. In retrospect, the Network with all its insanity was a terrible place to get parenting advice, but it had certainly opened him up to meeting new people and making some actual bonds with people who weren’t his partner. He’d never used people, never thought of them as means to an end, but he had been - sometimes still was - a bit of a misanthrope. “Well, maybe if she’s fond of this Straw Hat Luffy guy it’ll help her trust people again,” he said, . Sometimes it just took one person to help change your perspective on things.
“You know, I don’t know if that’s odd. I’ve never thought to ask that from other people.” His frown deepened, and he took a sip from his tea. As if he didn’t have enough questions about the dreams as it was. They were a mystery though, and one he intended to figure out.