"But what else is there...?" he asked, though whether it was a real question, or if he were speaking hypothetically was hard to say. It seemed to be a question he was asking a lot, lately. "I can speak with some," he said, a little more directly. "It's simple to talk to them. But others..." He shook his head. "Nothing I say is right."

Which just made it easier not to say anything. To fall back on what he was, what he'd always been -- a shadow.

He looked up, blinking, at the offer, honestly surprised by it. "You'd do that?" he asked. It honestly hadn't occurred to him anyone would want to do anything like that. He figured he lumped his... problems... on enough robots and human beings in the Haven. "You don't have to."