At the suggestion that Tycho might try and take the books Ford reflexively clutched them a bit tighter. Of course that wasn't helping the perception issue at all, and he had to force himself to relax his shoulders slightly. "I'd prefer you didn't," he said, a thin attempt at a humorous deflection. "The librarians would probably prefer it, too. I think wrestling is generally discouraged here. What other things looked interesting?" This was the only question he could think to pose to try and redirect the conversation, but at this point he had very little hope that it would work. Tycho was clearly too interested in what Ford was doing to talk about himself. Maybe ending the conversation prematurely would have been a better strategy — but Ford didn't really have much faith that Ty wouldn't just get up and walk with him all the way down to the circulation desk, if he tried.

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