Shower first she can immediately agree with. Deciding between talking and finishing the cookies will be the hard part. (She wants to keep making the cookies, but she knows better than to try and put off 'a talk'.) Can we decide after showering? she asks, slightly plaintively.

It's not going to be 'a talk', I just want to tell you about what Daisy is bringing back, so it doesn't surprise you. She pauses to glance through the drawer again, and then closes it and stands. Nothing bad is going to happen, either way. But sure, shower first.

Oh. That...doesn't sound as intimidating. She doesn't think. She relaxes a little at the reassurance, even if she feels bad that she needs it (she's never been this needy before, it feels strange, and almost wrong). She's still going to let Pradnakt take her shower first though. Although she's still going to be loitering somewhere nearby, probably sitting against the wall.

You can sit on the bed, 's fine, she says, and then disappears into the bathroom.

It takes her a minute to actually go over and perch on the edge of the bed. She ends up sitting on the floor again (the bed is too comfortable), but she's leaning against the bed.

And fifteen minutes later she's back. She doesn't comment on Rhoda's choice of seating. Your turn.

Thank you.

She takes less time than Pradnakt does, although she lingers longer than she has been, still not eager for this conversation. Still, ten minutes later, she is clean, redressed and heading back out to look for Pradnakt.

She's sitting crosslegged on the bed, back by the pillows, when Rhoda comes out, looking at a datapad. She looks up and pats the bed next to her - we can go do the cookies first if you want, but I think you'll enjoy it more if you aren't distracted; up to you.

She thinks about that, and them goes to join Pradnakt on her bed. She curls her legs up to her chest. Talk first? she requests.

All right. She puts down the pad and puts an arm around the girl's shoulders. The first thing I want to say is that I know this is probably going to feel like she's bringing a lot of stuff, and it's okay if it feels like that, and most of it you can completely ignore and nothing bad will happen at all. Okay?

She leans into Pradnakt and nods. Okay.

Okay. So she's bringing you clothes; a few sets, probably at least five. They'll be nicer than what you're used to but that's because what you're used to is pretty bad; she won't get anything actually fancy, but she will make sure they fit and look okay on you and everything. We might want to dye them or alter them a bit, to work better for you; that's not unusual either, we do it for all my clothes, but if you don't want it, we don't have to. Okay so far?

She snuggles a little bit closer to Pradnakt. Reminds herself that Pradnakt and Daisy have both said that this is okay. Then she nods again.

Good. She's also going to get some things for your bed - a blanket and a pillow, and maybe a better mattress if they have one there; maybe a couple of pillows.

...That mattress is fine, she says. Unless you need it back? I- it's nearly too comfortable? And there's a definite lack of understanding about pillows, the need for them, or what they even were.

I'm not going to need it back anytime soon - sometimes I spend a few days away from home, and it's from the folding bed I bring when I do that, but I don't have any plans like that right now. Pillows are these - she levitates one off of the pile behind them for her. They help people sleep comfortably; it's nice to have something under your head instead of just flatness, and some people like them for other things, too.

She takes a hold of the pillow, and finds herself squeezing it, then hugging it to her knees. Oh. That...seems to make sense. And it does feel comfortable from how she's hugging it.

Yeah.

She's probably not going to get a mattress; I think we're going to have to order one, and if we're going to do that we'll probably wait until you feel up to going to town yourself to pick it out. There are lots of kinds; if you want one that's not as soft as this you can have one like that.

That...that is more intimidating, and she curls slightly further in on herself (and leans a little more into Pradnakt). She can ignore this for now, she can ignore it, it's not important. Go on? she manages to request.

You can wait as long as you want, and you don't have to go at all, yeah. She gives her a gentle squeeze. The next thing is books, and she's probably going to bring a lot of those, but that's not what it looks like. There's a library in town, a good one, and how that works is that they have a lot of books, thousands, that anyone in the town can borrow. So she'll probably bring a lot, but they're not to have; she has to bring them back next month for other people to use, and we can borrow them again later if we want to. Okay?

Rhoda nods. (Libraries sound wonderful, even if she can't actually read, the idea that they give everyone access to something just... It seems nice.)

Yeah. Some of the books will be to help you learn to read, too, there are books for that.

She nods again - she vaguely remembers Daisy saying something along those lines earlier - and there's a tiny pleased feeling there (along with the worry of 'what if I'm not smart enough?', but that is ruthlessly quashed).

I'll be really surprised if you can't pick it up. Most people need a little help to learn to read. Squeeze.

Rhoda exhales, and some of the worry seems to bleed away. She takes a deep breath. Was there other stuff?