"Oh, it's not relevant here - that's part of why we're so far from everything, there aren't usually any other biological people in range of the house. It is part of why she didn't leave you in the desert, though."

"Yeah, it's not relevant here."

"- I'm not sure I understand quite what you're getting at."

"It's relevant a whole lot of other places."

"Yes, but she doesn't find it that bad as a matter of course, actually. Being near people who are ongoingly suffering is hard for her - that's also why she chose to move to a planet where enslaving biologicals is illegal - but just being around people isn't generally bad in that way."

"...yeah."

"...is the galactic consensus that droids aren't people?  I haven't seen many of the local silicon life yet, but you certainly are - and yet even you place yourself subservient to me, and - I haven't earned that."

"That's the consensus, yes; it's not usually this obvious that it's wrong. Part of that is that - not most of it, but part - is that droids are programmed to act appropriately to their roles; it really doesn't bother me to act the way I do, I don't have the instincts about it that humans do."

"Mmgh.  No, I absolutely know there exist human people who work sort of like you, honestly, and it's not like it's wrong to be that way; it's just that - even if from a utility function standpoint we both win, my gut thinks I'm taking advantage of somebody, and rebels.  I feel bad about my grandmother giving me pocket money, y'know?  So, if there's something problematic about interacting with you, in particular, I think it's on my end, really.  That said, the galaxy at large is clearly wilfully blind and deserves a bop on the head with this handy-dandy compassion stick."

This is also pretty cute; Diana might be starting to get to the point of being able to read it in Daisy's body language when she thinks that, too.

"I'm not sure if this helps, but I don't feel taken advantage of. I wouldn't be happy without people to take care of."

"Yeah, it's...there's this toxic sort of independence my home culture encourages to sell more houses, and unfortunately, it poisoned my brain to the point that I was desperate enough for self-reliance to go gallivanting across the galaxy about it.  So this...people feeling fulfilled by taking care of others...I have an academic understanding, and honestly some personal experience, but my brain won't let me reflect that onto others properly, won't let me mirror-neuron or theory-of-mind it, convinced I'm just...burdening them, and not providing opportunities to indulge in a beloved activity.  Even Indigo Light only stretches so far."

"I'd want to talk to Pradnakt and Nine about it first, but - droids can record and share experiences, at least with similar-enough droids; would your light let you play back that sort of recording, do you think?"

"Mmmmmmmmmaybe.  It's - it's not actually telepathy, though?  It's at a remove, and - that's the problem, that I am still at a remove from understanding that other people enjoy helping on a gut level.  Rather than approaching that understanding through the process of reason."

She buries her head in her hands, propping it up with her elbows on the table.  "Maybe if an actual telepath was able to communicate that interoception-introspection-whatever, the feeling of enjoying helping me, to my brain, as someone was actually experiencing it...but I imagine that's...difficult.  I wouldn't want to ask it of Pradnakt, at least."

"Why not?"

"It'd be particularly intimate - probably - and we do not have that sort of relationship, or indeed any particular relationship at all.  In addition to my still-there-despite-lots-of-superhero-public-events social anxiety of 'what if I ask her and she decides to hate me about it'."

"She wouldn't hate you about it. You're right that it could be intimate, but she has a few methods of sharing emotions and not all of them are. If you think it would help, I think it's at least worth asking."

"I...I think it would, yeah, but - I want to wait until I've been here a few weeks first, probably."

"That seems reasonable."

"We have a few hours before I expect Pradnakt to be awake, is there anything you'd like to do in the meantime? Or - do you have an idea of when you're going to want to sleep?"

"I should probably meet Nine.  And...I'm pretty sure my sleep 'schedule' is now officially entirely off the rails, but I'm good for a while yet, I think - is there anything in particular that you need or want to know?"

"I don't think there's anything we need to know, though if there's something that you've been waiting for us to ask about this would be a good time for it. We have been curious about your powers."

"Mmhmm!  I don't necessarily want to tell you everything, but what I do is...I wield the Indigo Light of Compassion; I pull it from this Lantern, and shape it into constructs as well as more esoteric effects.

"The Indigo Light has the unique ability to mimic the effects of other colors of light on the 'emotional spectrum', Rage, Avarice, Fear, Will, Hope, Compassion, Love, from Red to Violet.  It's...a fundamental part of life, experiencing those emotions; there's alien species all over and they all have those same emotions.  Somehow.  You wouldn't think it likely from a naive evolutionary standpoint, but, yeah.  It somehow is, nonetheless.  And then there's the hints of cosmic meddling and the New Gods and...yeah.  There's what you might call 'a lot of shit that just happens because someone decided it should', I think.

"Where was I...Right.

"So, I also have a Ring, which is, if the Lantern produces light in a specific frequency - which it does, actually; even Lanterns that don't have visual processing hear notes of the same frequency somehow despite that not actually being how sound is supposed to work...Anyway, the Ring focuses Light, in my experience, though Greens' rings also store it - Rings help stabilize constructs, run support functions, calculate FTL travel, and so many things.  Which is really annoying when it's broken.  And...that's, yeah, about it."

Daisy nods. "Pradnakt mentioned that you're used to working on a larger scale than I'd expect with constructs as your primary power."

"The amount of planetary problems that got solved by punching or blanketing some asshat is frankly depressing, but yes, I did get a lot of stuff done that needs computational and sensor support I'm presently lacking.  Maybe I'll see if I can rig up the Bat-computer to do it....Anyway."

"You might want to see if Pradnakt's willing to take a look at your ring, sometime, she might be able to figure out something about what's wrong with it. Anyway, would you like to meet Nine now?"

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea."