"That's gonna be hard for him. Where he was before, he would've been punished for it, and I think he knows we're not going to, but it's still going to take a while before it feels like something he can just do."

    "...Oh." The plates over Nine's shoulder canons start to retract, then slide back into place with a click.

"Yeah, I want to do something about it too. Taking care of Nova comes first, though."

Nova flinches slightly at the movement of the plates, but settles fairly quickly. "I will try," he repeats earnestly.

"And I'll keep an eye on things, too. But - don't worry about it too much. I know that's counterintuitive, but Nova isn't fragile, he can put up with you making some mistakes."

"And it is okay for you to make mistakes," Daisy speaks into Nine's usual pause. "That's part of being a person, making mistakes and figuring out how to stop making them."

"But... I don't want to."

"Nobody wants to," she chuckles. "But that's how it is: when you make your own decisions, some of 'em will be wrong. It's still better than not getting to make your own decisions at all."

"I guess." He doesn't sound especially convinced.

"You don't want to," Nova blurts. Realises that doesn't make any sense, and struggles for a moment to figure out how to phrase it. "You- you don't want to make the mistakes. Don't want to-" pause, internal struggle to actually say: "bother me. That's- important? The...not wanting to."

"Of course I don't want to," he rumbles. He's already hugging him; there are probably more things he could do, to make the point again, but he doesn't know them - he'll have to ask Daisy, later. "I don't know why anyone would."

He shrugs a little, and leans a little more into Nine. "They didn't think it mattered." (There's a sense that Nova hadn't thought it really mattered, that as much as it had hurt him, he'd just accepted that that was how it was.)

"Of course it matters." His shoulder plates adjust again, and the shield generator in his arm hums to life, putting a blue field between Nova and Daisy that crackles against the table.

He blinks at the field, opens his mouth and then realises he isn't sure what to say in response to that. "I- it's- okay?" he tries to reassure. "S'-s'better here."

The shield deactivates; it's left a bit of a scorch mark on the table. (That's not the worst it's seen, at least.) "Good."

Nova still slants a slightly worried look at Pradnakt. (He's not really expecting anything, as much as all his instincts are screaming to anticipate it.)

She is slightly tenser, but mostly just amused. "You two are very cute," she says when she sees him looking.

That turns the concerned look into a confused blink and a slight head tilt.

"You obviously care about each other. It's cute."

He ducks his head with a shy smile. (It's hard to tell if he's picking up Daisy and Pradnakt's mannerisms, or if that's a natural action for him.) "I- O-okay?" he sounds a little unsure, but also, somehow flattered.

"...cute? I don't understand."

"It's nice. And - I'll explain the tactical significance later? Nova should go to bed soon, I don't want to upset him."

"All right."

He blinks again, a little concerned

"I- you- you don-" he pulls himself up short. (Pradnakt had asked him to stop telling her she didn't have to do things, and maybe this wasn't the same, but...)

And he is tired.

"I- could sleep?" he says instead.

"Sure, if you're ready."

He nods slowly. "Think so?"