The multiverse is so big, and Cricket is so small. He's always been aware of his smallness--hard not to be in the face of the mountains themselves, towering and ancient as they are--but here in the Nexus it's become a kind of protection. He can help his neighbors and greet strangers, give whatever money he can spare and donate time to help people repair things, but he's not going to be saving any worlds. His is the Little Way, gentle and personal and low-stakes, but he gives it all he's got.
"Comin' right up," he tells him warmly, moving off to fetch first the lemonade, then cutting a very generous slice of the cake for Steve. He still remembers him starving in the Winter, lethargic and past the point of being able to work, all but bedridden and still trying. There is as much magnificence, in a way, in weakness as there is in strength, when it pushes past its own boundaries with such determination.
"Exactly that," he admits as he sets the plate and fork in Steve's hand, and finds a place in the chair beside him, propping his legs up on the lower rung of the porch railing. "There was no way I'd ever have anything like this back home. Never had no real prospects. I had work, at least, fixin' engines and such, but it wasn't gonna get me but so far. Not in 1931."
"It's all I ever wanted, this," he says. "My friend Jack, he used to talk about fancy cars and when he had money he'd buy himself a nice suit. He liked flash. That ain't for me, though."
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-07-22 02:45 am (UTC)"Comin' right up," he tells him warmly, moving off to fetch first the lemonade, then cutting a very generous slice of the cake for Steve. He still remembers him starving in the Winter, lethargic and past the point of being able to work, all but bedridden and still trying. There is as much magnificence, in a way, in weakness as there is in strength, when it pushes past its own boundaries with such determination.
"Exactly that," he admits as he sets the plate and fork in Steve's hand, and finds a place in the chair beside him, propping his legs up on the lower rung of the porch railing. "There was no way I'd ever have anything like this back home. Never had no real prospects. I had work, at least, fixin' engines and such, but it wasn't gonna get me but so far. Not in 1931."
"It's all I ever wanted, this," he says. "My friend Jack, he used to talk about fancy cars and when he had money he'd buy himself a nice suit. He liked flash. That ain't for me, though."