...

"I. If. That's what she wants," he agrees.

"What you want matters too, but she's probably right - do you feel tired?"

He's really not sure of the answer to that question. He feels a lot less tired than he ever remembers being. But he's not sure he doesn't still feel tired. He shrugs.

She nods. "I'd rather listen to Pradnakt, if you're not sure. And I think your breakfast is ready, anyway." And indeed here's Pradnakt, bringing over a plate of pancakes.

He nods slowly, and looks up at Pradnakt out of the corner of his eyes. "Thank you, ma'am?" he says quietly, not reaching out for the plate.

"You're welcome." She deposits it on the table along with a glass of milk and goes back to the kitchen.

He slides onto the bench, but hesitates before starting eating. (He's talking himself through it, reminding himself that Pradnakt just put this down in front of him.)

He manages to start eating before anyone needs to prompt him.

Daisy sits next to him, keeping a bit of distance, and waits until he's had a few bites. "There's something I'd like to ask you; can we talk now, or would you rather I leave you alone while you're eating? It's nothing bad, I just want to know how you feel about something."

He pauses, finishes swallowing his mouthful. "Now's fine?"

"All right," she nods. "I have a friend in town - another droid - and I'd like to bring him here, in case you and Dusk need more help than I can give you by myself. But he's a battle droid, and I know they make some people nervous, so if that would bother you, I won't."

He's still for a moment. "...If you think that's best?" he agrees quietly.

"I'm not sure if it's best. If it'd scare you it isn't."

"I-" he curls a little further in on himself. He can't say it won't scare him, but-

He looks briefly over at Pradnakt and then drops his voice. "Don't wanna be hurt," he mumbles.

"He won't hurt you," she reassures, a little more quietly. "If I thought he might I wouldn't have suggested it at all. But it sounds like it would scare you, so we just won't, it's fine."

"I- no, it's- it'll be fine?" he stops eating to twist his fingers together, because... "Be... better for them here?"

"It would, yeah. That's sweet of you to think of it, Nova."

"And- it would be. Easier for you? To have them? So. Better. If you bring them here?" (He's as certain about this as he's managed to be about anything so far, perhaps a little more determined about it.)

"Mmhmm. And if he does bother you we can set things up so you aren't around him, since there'll be two houses. I'll get him next time I'm in town, then."

Nova doesn't seem to realise that he's smiling slightly as he manages to unwind his fingers and resume eating, or that he has lost at least some of the tension the conversation had instilled in him.

Daisy takes one of the sheets of paper still sitting on the table and begins sketching the other droid, in a photorealistic style; Pradnakt finishes her cooking and gives the pan and spatula a quick wash before returning to the back room with her meal.

Nova goes very still as Pradnakt washes the pan and spatula, but-

But he was right here. She could've told him to, and she didn't?

He tracks her movement through the room, and slowly resumes eating once she's in the back room.

Daisy watches him watching her. "That's the kind of thing I meant, when I said she won't let you do things until she's sure you'll tell her no," she says, when the door has closed behind her.

"...oh," he says quietly. "I-. See." (Whether or not it makes sense, Pradnakt is still doing this.)

She nods, and goes back to her drawing.

It doesn't take him long to finish what he can of his breakfast. He doesn't immediately move to clear up, more interested in tilting his head to see what Daisy's drawing.