He noticed her look away from him, and a small streak of victorious jubilation flashed through his stomach, before he pushed it down. She finally seemed to treat him seriously, rather than the ridiculous feint of politeness that had made him so sick earlier. His eyes darkened slightly when she mentioned she knew what he was, and his hands tightened along the counter that he stood behind, digging roughly into the grains of wood in front of him. But he calmed slightly when she finally seemed to address the real problem. A sliver of panic passed through him at the word ‘trust’, but he breathed out, knowing Jemima would want him to go. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his fingers rubbed along the wood in front of him, but he remained calm. ”If you know what I am then you would know I have difficulties saying no to requests for help. But that doesn’t mean I come easily. Do not think if I come to help it is because you can control me. I come for Jemima and that’s it, you can be sure.”
Genies she'd met plenty of times before, though she herself had never been in possession of their lamp or -- whatever vessel the magical being so desired to live in, so to speak. She knew that many were treated as slaves, less frequently these days, or the affairs of genie slave trading was kept in the shadows far better than it used to be, and she knew that she had acquaintances very much involved with the slaver business. It would not have been unlikely to find out that this very genie had gone through the same thing, or something similar. Or perhaps he just had dark thoughts, that too was not uncommon. However, it was more likely he just had a very bad headache. She looked back over at him after he had finished speaking, and an honest look of bemusement came across her features. "Control you?" Sky questioned, turning to face him again. "I would never, and I quite mean that. It's a liking of mine, to tell the truth." She gave the odd man a funny look. Sky didn't think he enjoyed being what he was; she also believed he was so caught up in what he was that he'd forgotten who he was. All this defensiveness, bitterness, talk of control, the likes, Sky thought it unnecessary, and would make certain he knew that. "Thank you for agreeing to come back with me, Nikolai."







