according to convention

"No, it's not human customs I'm pretending to be unknowledgeable of. That would be silly, wouldn't it? If that were the only reason I invited you out."

Hope is an excellent listener. It's the foremost trait in a well-prepared counselor, really: knowing when to put in what you've observed, but centering your client throughout the discussion, the session, the chat.

Neilnail is...not so. No, in fact, the ears aren't all that helpful. She's notable for what others might term "prattling on" and what Hope would call speaking from the head as opposed to the heart.

(That had been her father's diplomatic answer to the pop-psychology normalization of neurodivergence which he felt was equally necessary and non-operative; yes, sure, the kids are alright even if they can't sit down, but now that they're standing up, how are we going to tell them what to do about it?)

Listening skills (from the head and not the heart, eh?) are part of what allows Hope to take such tangents with herself and still rejoin the conversation right on cue. "Oh, good," she says, and Neilnail smiles with an accompanying off-kilter squint to hear it. "I was worried you might ask me what to do with a salad fork."

She knows Qlurians eat. Well, actually, she knows Gaur eat. Right now, she's not sure Neilnail isn't casting about for the want of a dinglehopper. Hadn't she spent an entire meal with Elma just talking?

Now it's Hope who's become distractible.

Neilnail's still smiling that guileless smile.

Not...the archive unit containing personal effects, and Hope its assigned steward?