"Oh, okay." Yeah, that doesn't really make the top ten worst things he can think of, though it does sound kind of bad. "Anyway, what's next?"

"Do you want to talk to prospective Yeerks before letting them in your head?"

Shrug. "Okay."

"- it's phrased like it's more convenient if you don't care but they will accommodate it if you do. Is there anything you'd want to ask one?"

"I can’t think of anything."

Type type. "What kind of accommodations will you want during periods of time when your Yeerk has to leave to refresh itself in its pool?"

"Someplace I'm allowed to be that has a fixed layout. This place is fine. How much do they do that?"

"Once every three days for an hour or two, usually. You keep bringing up fixed layouts?"

"They sent me to a horrible forest where everything changed all the time!"

"- a Lórien?"

"Yeah."

"I think most people like them but it's understandable that you wouldn't care for it. I can mention that you do not like Lóriens."

"Okay."

"Anything else that should go on here?"

Shrug. "I guess you should warn them I can’t sleep and sometimes I have... memories... my friend thought they might be flashbacks but I couldn’t ask any clarifying questions and he didn’t explain much so I don’t know if that’s the word. And that I don’t care about being decent to people."

"- you mentioned 'decent' was one of the words you thought you'd perhaps learned wrong? Are you physically incapable of sleep, do you not want to sleep, or do you just fail when you try because you never need it enough to make you pass out?"

"I wish I could sleep but I usually can’t and when I do I have a nightmare and wake right up. I just learned today that 'decent' means conforming with generally accepted standards and I didn’t realize it didn’t... mean anything beyond what other people think, I guess."

"Oh. That sounds right to me, yes... you aren't interested in doing what's generally accepted? Howso?"

"Like when people say there’s a special place in Hell for - it doesn’t really matter who - I don’t care if they’re happy about it or if they’d be angry if I put a stop to it."

"So when you say you don't care what's decent you mean - that you are prepared to ignore the feelings of people who want others to go to Hell?"

"I mean I'm prepared to ignore... any time someone says anything about being decent? I was going to see if I could end Hell, and I was probably never going to manage it and now I guess you're going to do that instead, and besides that I want coffee and to not be tortured very much and to be useful if there are any more places like Hell to end, and I maybe want a Yeerk to want me or at least don't want them not to, and if I think of any more things I want I don't think I'll care if anyone else approves."

"Okay... I'm not really sure how to include that in the form. You know if your Yeerk doesn't want to let you do something they will be able to stop you, at least in the moment, right? You can complain afterwards when they go into the pool or specify that you want to be around telepaths routinely so they can get forced out faster than that if you need it but it will be of at least short term practical import if they don't approve."

"Yep. They can do whatever they want. I'm just not offering - caring why they say they're in the right? Or paying attention to it, especially in advance. Or trying to... think about all the things that people don't approve of and deliberately change around how I... look, have you ever been punished really badly and learned to change your behavior because of it?"

"Perhaps not in the way you mean."

"Okay. Well, I obviously can't actually get away with doing things society disapproves of, and I'd rather that be because it just doesn't happen than because I get repeatedly hurt until I remember to pay careful attention to whether I'm doing yet another thing people don't like and have a flashback-or-whatever-they're-called any time I get too close to doing something kind of similar for the rest of eternity. They can do whatever they want and I will not help."