It's a nice library, especially for such a small town, with plenty of everything, but a focus on science and poetry, a well-appointed children's' section, a nice selection of music and holovids, and comfy chairs offering varying amounts of privacy.
Right now, though, it's closing time; the announcements have been made, the final checkout rush handled, and now the librarian is making one last check before she locks up for the night.
He curls down on himself, making a small, distressed sound as he tries to remember how to breathe.
"I- that. Never mattered?" he manages.
"Well, it matters here." She hugs him, quite tightly. "She doesn't mind; she's just a person, just like you're just a person and I'm just a person. She can do her own dishes once in a while, there's nothing wrong with that."
He shakes his head, but presses into Daisy more than trying to pull away. "I- nonono. Not. I- they. m'not. Gotta- be useful. gotta be."
- ah.
"She's not saying there's something wrong with you. We know you can wash dishes, okay? But being useful isn't the only thing that's important about you. Being happy and getting to do what you want are important, too."
He shakes his head into her shoulder, more helpless and disagreeing. "S'not. Nothing more important than-" he chokes slightly, not sure of what word he's supposed to use here. "What your master wants," he settles for eventually.
"She's not your master. But even if she was, she wants you to be happy and safe and able to do what you want, and she doesn't care who does the dishes, or if you're useful like that."
Nova shakes, rocks as much as he can in Daisy's embrace. It doesn't make sense, but he doesn't know how to explain this.
"I- have to have a master," he insists. "I-I-" It occurs now, that he shouldn't have run away in the first place. No matter what he thought might happen. "Shouldn't've-" he cuts off, trying to suppress a sob.
"No you don't. No you don't, it's okay, you'll be okay, you don't need them for anything. You'll be fine."
He's not quite sure when he started clinging to Daisy, but he is. He's trying not to sob, no idea how to even respond to that. "I- as-" He doesn't even know what he was going to say.
"It's okay, I've got you. You'll be all right," she soothes. "I know it's scary, but you can do it, and we'll help, okay?"
His shoulders hitch, and he lets himself sob, just once. He nods, too wrung out to do anything else.
"I know. It's hard, but it'll be worth it, you'll see. Come on, let's get you to bed, I bet you'll feel better if you lie down for a little while." She's already leading him to it as she speaks.
He follows pliantly enough, although he half shakes his head - although what that's about is unclear.
He hesitates, shrugs, tries to work out the right answer. "Just. I- been. Doing...nothing?"
"You haven't, but it would be okay if you had. And it's good to rest when you're upset."
He hesitates, and then half-nods. (He's fairly sure Daisy wouldn't encourage him to do something he shouldn't do.)
She starts toward the bed again, and when they get there she pulls down the blanket for him.
(Force, kid doesn't even know what a blanket is. Dusk is going to be livid.)
She tucks him in, gently. "Do you want the datapad, or just to rest?"
He tenses a little as she tucks the blanket around him, but relaxes when he realises it doesn't hurt. "I- I-" he takes a deeper breath, "datapad please?"
She nods and brings it over. "I'm going to go talk to Pradnakt; it's going to take a while. You don't need to do anything, but if you get hungry, you can have more sunflower seeds, or fruit from the refrigerator. You can have the milk, too, if you want, or water from the pitcher. Okay?"
"It's nothing bad and you aren't in trouble; we're going to be talking about how to stop scaring you so often, because we don't want that."
He curls in on himself slightly. "S'fine. M'fine." (He's not sure, but he thinks that will be work, he knows he startles easily.)
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