He experiments with pulling off a piece about the size of his thumb, and rolling it into a little ball.
"Huh," he says, a little reminiscent. "When I was ... oh, real little, like four or five ... used to like playing around with bits of protein blocks. Lot of the babies did that. You couldn't roll it like this, but you could squeeze it and it'd sort of ... squish, like."
"Just goes to show," Max says, keeping his tone light to mask his inner disgust at what Edgar and all the others on the train had to put up with, "Playing with your food is about as universally human as you can get.
"If I'd ever gotten a chance to have kids, you never would have heard me say 'Don't play with your food.'" Too bad he'll never have the chance.
Edgar laughs. "Oh, we got that all the time. Kids old enough to know better, none of that messing around. Couldn't waste it. You telling me they told kids that even before the train?"
He sets down the little ball of modeling chocolate, and starts on another bit about the same size.
"They sure did," Max said, shaking his head with mirth. "Lots of people used to say 'there's starving kids in Africa' that would gladly eat it if we didn't. Generally. My dad didn't use that one because we were scraping the line of poverty often enough ourselves that we knew better than to waste what we had.
"Don't get me wrong, we never actually went hungry. Dad worked really hard to make sure of it. But it took a lot of juggling to make it happen." The way Max speaks about his dad leaves no room for doubt, he was a good father and he gave Max a happy childhood.
"Might be why I like spoiling people so much now. I want to pass the goodwill on where I can--be the kind of person he'd have wanted me to become, I think. I want to make him proud."
Edgar makes a sound of agreement and understanding, studying the second eyeball he's rolling.
"It makes a difference, yeah?" he says after a long moment, not lifting his eyes from his work. "Like, even if they don't know, never will, it makes a difference to act like they'd want you to. Right?"
"Yeah. It does." He gently lays a hand on Edgar's shoulder. "Because it means we haven't forgotten the lessons we were raised with. It wasn't for nothing, because we carry it on with us. That makes all the difference in the world."
(It isn't Curtis he's thinking about, for once; Curtis at least he's been able to talk to since. It's Tanya, who hasn't come to Milliways, who hasn't come here either.)
(... Although to be honest he's a little grateful she hasn't shown up here.)
Max administers a gentle squeeze, letting the moment of quiet linger just a bit longer before taking a sharp breath in and straightening. A smile once more blooms on his face.
"Okay, let's see how those eyes are looking. Pretty good, but the one might be a smidge too big."
That looks a lot more effective than what Edgar was going to try, which was something like bashing the chocolate repeatedly with the tool to flatten it. He takes the roller back from Max and imitates his movements, gradually getting the hang of it.
"See why you like this sort of thing so much," he says to Max, grinning a little. "'S fun."
(While he hasn't thought about it consciously, the rolling pin's got a very satisfactory weight in his hands, and some part of him has definitely recognized it as suitable for an improvised weapon should the need arise.)
"Like to try that," he says, looking up again from the forming sheet of chocolate with a small, warm smile. "Really. It'd be great to do what you do."
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(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-04 08:02 pm (UTC)"Huh," he says, a little reminiscent. "When I was ... oh, real little, like four or five ... used to like playing around with bits of protein blocks. Lot of the babies did that. You couldn't roll it like this, but you could squeeze it and it'd sort of ... squish, like."
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-08 08:18 pm (UTC)"If I'd ever gotten a chance to have kids, you never would have heard me say 'Don't play with your food.'" Too bad he'll never have the chance.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-10 12:04 am (UTC)He sets down the little ball of modeling chocolate, and starts on another bit about the same size.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-10 05:30 pm (UTC)"Don't get me wrong, we never actually went hungry. Dad worked really hard to make sure of it. But it took a lot of juggling to make it happen." The way Max speaks about his dad leaves no room for doubt, he was a good father and he gave Max a happy childhood.
"Might be why I like spoiling people so much now. I want to pass the goodwill on where I can--be the kind of person he'd have wanted me to become, I think. I want to make him proud."
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-10 11:46 pm (UTC)"It makes a difference, yeah?" he says after a long moment, not lifting his eyes from his work. "Like, even if they don't know, never will, it makes a difference to act like they'd want you to. Right?"
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-13 04:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-14 03:45 am (UTC)(It isn't Curtis he's thinking about, for once; Curtis at least he's been able to talk to since. It's Tanya, who hasn't come to Milliways, who hasn't come here either.)
(... Although to be honest he's a little grateful she hasn't shown up here.)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-14 05:59 pm (UTC)"Okay, let's see how those eyes are looking. Pretty good, but the one might be a smidge too big."
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-15 01:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-16 03:28 am (UTC)"Use this." He takes up a wood rolling pin and sprinkles it with flour first before handing it over.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-17 02:41 am (UTC)"Uh," he says, eloquently.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-18 03:33 pm (UTC)He gently takes the roller back from Edgar and demonstrates by squashing down the hunk of modeling chocolate and starting to evenly roll it out.
"Keep going until you get the wings to the thickness you would like."
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-18 05:42 pm (UTC)"See why you like this sort of thing so much," he says to Max, grinning a little. "'S fun."
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-18 09:21 pm (UTC)"Yeah? You like it?" Max's heart could sing for how happy it makes him just to hear that. "I'm serious about letting you try to make a few things for the café, if you're up for it. We can keep practicing."
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-20 01:46 am (UTC)"Like to try that," he says, looking up again from the forming sheet of chocolate with a small, warm smile. "Really. It'd be great to do what you do."
what do you think of starting to fade this one out?
Date: 2022-03-24 02:45 pm (UTC)"I'll look forward to seeing what kind of creativity you bring to the craft, too. We all develop our own style of things."
Sounds good!
Date: 2022-03-24 09:49 pm (UTC)End~
Date: 2022-03-30 03:06 pm (UTC)