It's not coddling. [She stubbornly sets her shoulder slightly harder into the back of the chair, solidifying the set of her heels against the rug.] Maybe I'd just rather sit here with the pleasure of your conversatuon than in a dark room with a load of strangers.

[And she takes another pointed sip from her cup. If there's any way to seem more rooted to the spot than she is now, then she doesn't know how to accomplish it.]