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.
"No, no ma'am. S'fine. M'sorry. Please."
He flinches back from her, and his back hits the doorframe.
Sigh. "I'm not going to hurt you. If something's the matter, I want to know, so I can fix it before it's a problem."
He's still unsure, but he's still exhausted, and it's probably better not to upset her. He skirts the room to the bed, staying small and trying for inconspicuous. Before he climbs in, he darts another look at the woman. (Is he hers now? He doesn't know. He guesses so.)
She stops paying attention to him entirely when he heads for the bed, or at least seems to; when he looks her way again she's in the middle of hanging up her cloak, and then she and the droid retire to the back room, leaving this one in darkness.
He curls up on the bed. It takes him a little while to fall asleep, but once he does, he's exhausted enough that he'll sleep through until something disturbs him.
An hour or so before sunrise, the droid comes out to work in the kitchen. She leaves the light off, and she's careful to be quiet, but if he's a light sleeper it might not be enough.
He unfortunately is a light sleeper, and jerks awake.
He scrambles out of the bed, he's overslept, he's in trouble, there's things he's supposed to have done, and he's in so much trouble.
In the dark, and in his haste, he trips over the edge of one of the benches beside the table. He doesn't bother getting back to his feet.
"M'sorry," he says desperately to the droid. "Didn't mean to sleep so long. M'sorry."
The woman from last night comes in as the droid reaches for him, and turns on the light. "What happened?"
He flinches away from the droid, and flinches again when the woman comes out and switches the light on, cowering into the floor, covering his head with his arms. "M'sorry, I overslept, I didn't mean to. 'll-" he doesn't even know what he's supposed to be doing here. "m'sorrym'sorry."
The droid stops short of touching him, gives the woman an inscrutable look, and backs away. The woman takes her place, and with much less hesitance scoops him up and sits on the bed with him in her lap.
He flinches again when he's scooped up, but doesn't try to escape. He's shaking in her lap.
His eyes flicker to her lips, and he sways slightly towards her, before pulling back slightly. (He doesn't want this, but it'll...be something, and it's useful.) He starts to lean towards her again.
The cushiony feeling that stops him from moving comes back, stopping him from getting any closer. "- no, not that either." She sounds bewildered, and a little distant. "Daisy, what happened?"
"I woke him up, I suppose, and he panicked and fell; he said something about oversleeping." She signs along as she talks.
"All right," she nods, and turns her attention back to him. "You didn't oversleep; Daisy was just making me dinner."
His trembling intensifies when she stops him, and he seems at least as bewildered as her (but it's combined with overwhelming relief).
He's silent as they talk, but starts tracking the droid's hands when she signs. He curls a little tighter when the woman turns her attention on him again.
"...oh," he says quietly, and then seems to run out of anything else to say.
She nods to the droid, who goes back to the kitchen, and then settles Nova on the bed next to her. "We're really not going to hurt you, okay? And I don't know what that was about, but not that, either."
He nods, but he still doesn't believe that, not really, it doesn't even sound real to him. "I- useful," he says, it's about the only explanation he has. "gotta. earn keep."
"You can talk with Daisy about how you want to split the chores, then. But you don't have to do any at all, and we still won't hurt you."
He seems to perk up a little bit at the idea of there being something he can do. "I- yes ma'am," he nods, although he still doesn't seem to entirely believe what she says is true (but it doesn't seem to be a lack of faith in her, just an inability to expect anything other having chores to do, and being hurt). "Thank you."
He shakes his head slightly. "I- the librarian? She. Gave me food." (It was a while ago, but he's gone longer without.)
"Okay. Daisy's probably already put something on for you, since you're up -"
"-mmhmm-"
"-but we can set it aside until you're ready for it."
View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
