[ Puzzles in the Hargreeves household weren't the kind that you bought at a hobby store, with a nice photograph of some nature scene or a classical painting on them. They were complex and interactive and probably simulating lock-picking or getting out of being chained up, and they weren't for playing, they were for timed trials, with a clipboard and stopwatch and Reginald looking on, watching for any sign of laziness or incompetence.
So instead of all that. ]
I could never really get into puzzles.
[ The next part surprises him. He pays close attention, the same way he always does when Cho's family comes up. He knows there's probably a great deal under the surface of what she's saying. ]
I didn't know your family's business had to do with fish at all.
That sounds really nice, with your mom.
[ Ben knows that, in an environment of emotional deprivation, the littlest things could become so intensely important. It's not hard to put the pieces together that her mother cooking for her was a sign of familial affection that was rare and precious for Cho as a child. ]
Do you know the recipe? I've never tried udon before. We might have to swap out some things for substitutes, but...
no subject
[ Puzzles in the Hargreeves household weren't the kind that you bought at a hobby store, with a nice photograph of some nature scene or a classical painting on them. They were complex and interactive and probably simulating lock-picking or getting out of being chained up, and they weren't for playing, they were for timed trials, with a clipboard and stopwatch and Reginald looking on, watching for any sign of laziness or incompetence.
So instead of all that. ]
I could never really get into puzzles.
[ The next part surprises him. He pays close attention, the same way he always does when Cho's family comes up. He knows there's probably a great deal under the surface of what she's saying. ]
I didn't know your family's business had to do with fish at all.
That sounds really nice, with your mom.
[ Ben knows that, in an environment of emotional deprivation, the littlest things could become so intensely important. It's not hard to put the pieces together that her mother cooking for her was a sign of familial affection that was rare and precious for Cho as a child. ]
Do you know the recipe? I've never tried udon before. We might have to swap out some things for substitutes, but...