Rhoda stays close to Daisy, not quite in her shadow but close. She gives half a wave to Nine.

He folds down to be closer to her height. "It's good to meet you, Rhoda."

She smiles shyly at him. "And you, Nine," she replies.

"Daisy says she's really liked having you around."

She ducks her head, skin darkening but smile widening. "I- I'm liking being around," she says. "Daisy's great."

"She really is. And her master is treating you okay?"

    "Nine... she's not my master. Really."

"If you say so."

Rhoda blinks a little, tries to figure out her response. "Pradnakt is treating me well, yes." Pauses. "But Daisy's right? Pradnakt isn't her master?" She isn't sure how to explain it further, but she knows it's true.

"All right." He still sounds a little skeptical, but less, at least.

    "It's all right. Are you doing okay?"

"Yes."

    "Good."

"Can you stay a little while?"

    Daisy looks to Rhoda. "We weren't planning to."

...she knows being lonely.

"We can? If you want to?"

"If you're sure you don't mind." She gives her a little squeeze.

She smiles. "I don't."

"All right. How long do we have?" she asks Nine.

    "Almost an hour."

"Okay." She finds a place for herself and Rhoda to sit. "How have things been?"

    "Not bad," Nine says, after some consideration.

"Anything interesting going on?"

    "We have two new astromechs in."

"Oh, are they doing okay?"

    "Well enough."

Rhoda settles close to Daisy and listens quietly, not really having anything to add.

They chat; Nine isn't very talkative, but Daisy is good at drawing him out, and patient when it takes him a while to answer her questions, which it usually does. He knows a fair bit about what goes on in town - it seems like he doesn't have much more to do with his time than people-watch, mostly - and she manages to extract a couple of anecdotes from him, one cute, one funny.

"We should get going," she says, eventually - well before the hour is up.

    "Yeah," he agrees, without the pause that, by now, obviously suggests that he's thinking about his response. "Will you be back on your regular schedule?"

"Mmhmm."

    "Okay. And you?" he asks Rhoda.

"Probably not, I think."

She thinks. Shrugs. "Very busy," she says instead of an actual answer.

"Oh. All right." He's clearly disappointed.

    "Someday, I think. Just not soon. And I'll let you know how she's doing in the meantime."

"Okay." That does seem to have cheered him up a little.

Rhoda bites her lip. "I- I will eventually?"

"Thank you, Ma'am."

She flinches minutely, although she quickly covers that. "I- you don't- I'm not- I'm just Rhoda?"

...It occurs that she doesn't know if Nine can call her that, doesn't know if she shouldn't be saying this, and glances to Daisy.

"I... can't..."

    "She's not your master, Nine, and he wouldn't want you to follow orders that interfere with your functioning." Daisy's tone is uncharacteristically firm.

"Yes, I... yes. Thank you, Daisy."

    "It's all right." (Her tone is still hard: no, it's not, really.)

"I'm sorry," Rhoda says. "I- whatever makes you more comfortable?"

"It doesn't... bother... me. But it conflicts with my programming."

She looks helplessly at Daisy, she hadn't meant to cause a problem, and doesn't know how to make it right.

"It's all right, Rhoda, you haven't done anything wrong. We should get going, though."

    "Yeah."

She bites her lip. "I'm sorry," she repeats quietly. "I- It was nice meeting you?"