"Most of the time, if I'm craving something, it's a really good piece of meat. Burger, steak, whatever. Something I can really sink my teeth into, you know?" It feels like a boring answer, but at least they're talking.
It may be a boring answer to Sam, but at the very least Higgs looks interested. "We could always order burgers, you know. Get a huge order out here. Peter Englert was orderin' food often enough no one would suspect anything. Well, I suppose it not bein' pizza might be a little odd but it ain't like most people are paying attention to that."
Higgs hadn't gone to great efforts to disguise himself at all, but it seemed like Bridges were a little too occupied to notice the obvious hints. "What do you have in that canteen you're always drinking from?"
For a second his brow furrows, wondering how Higgs knows about his canteen. But then he remembers what exactly is on the wall behind him and it clicks back into place. "Oh, uh. It's an energy drink. A Monster. Helps keep my stamina up.
And I wouldn't mind ordering burgers, some time. Even if you're more of a ham sort of guy."
Even when he's being friendly, the fact that Higgs had some.... problems is more than obvious. "Sounds like a strange thing to keep in there, if you ask me. Sugary drinks are a diuretic." Leave it to Higgs to know random facts like that.
But as for the food... "I ain't that picky about what I eat, to tell the truth. So it shouldn't be an issue."
"Can't say I have," Higgs admits. He doesn't refuse the can, though, taking it in his hand. "I've never seen any drink like this before. Nothin' like it out West."
He cracks open the can, takes a sip and pulls a face. "Christ, what the hell is in this?" But Higgs isn't the sort of person to waste food, so after a moment he takes another drink.
Sam has to laugh at that, shaking his head a little and reaching his hand out to take the can back. "I'll drink it, if you don't like it. It's definitely an acquired taste."
Higgs shakes his head, smiling a little as he pulls the can out of Sam's reach. "I ain't gonna waste food given to me." Sure, it's technically a drink, but his point remains.
Which isn't quite fair, given how much taller Higgs is than Sam. With his long goddamn arms. Sam isn't short, he's a perfectly fine height. Higgs is just huge. Like Heartman.
"Of course. I don't take kindly to folks who waste food."
He says it playfully, but there is a serious note to it. It's probably not much of a surprise that a man who was out on his own as a child grew up without much food at all. Maybe it helps explain how thin he is, even now.
"Well I promise I don't waste food, either." Which is why he was going to finish off the drink for Higgs. But Higgs is nothing if not stubborn, he's learned that much.
"'Course it was!" Higgs exclaims. "It would have been a crime to waste those ingredients. Especially considerin' they were all made fresh to order. Ain't nothing like hot pizza, you know. Probably my favorite dish."
...not much of a surprise, given the state of his shelter up until a couple minutes ago.
"And delivered within your time limits," he points out, a little proudly. He worked hard to be The Great Deliverer, and whatever other names people have chosen to bestow upon him.
"Of course you did." It's exactly the sort of thing he expected of Sam; he wouldn't have ordered repeatedly from him otherwise.
...Well. Actually he probably would have.
As for the question, he can't help relaxing a little at it. "All the time. Got some ridiculous requests, especially from the preppers who didn't trust people at all. But if you did well on those ones, you won them over."
"I've gotten a few of those. The trust-building deliveries. Bring me my camera, or my toolbox -- or my girlfriend. And then we'll see if I can trust you.
Never made sense to me. If you trust me enough to go get something that important to you, then trust me the rest of the way."
"It's a pretty good story, yeah." Sam debates for a moment, but... no one ever asks him about work. They just pat him on the head and send him on the next delivery.
So he tells Higgs the story of the Junk Dealer and the Chiral Artist. How it really didn't matter, to him, if the the Junk Dealer joined the UCA or not, what really mattered was that his girlfriend was alive, and Sam was going to find her, hell or high water.
"And I did. And she asked to be brought back to him, so I did that too. Brought them back together."
He won't tell him about the follow-up e-mails. The wedding, the divorce. He kind of hopes the Junk Dealer did find her again. That they were able to work things out, in the end. It's nicer than the alternative.
"The tar does tend to creep. Hopefully they're all okay.
I'll tell you though, it was weird, delivering a live human. Knowing you have someone on your back makes you walk a lot more carefully."
"I can imagine." It sounds like so much pressure to him, so many chances for something to go horribly wrong. People just aren't replaceable like cargo. "I can understand why you'd have to carry someone on your back, though. If they don't got DOOMS, the chances of something bad happening are much higher. It ain't like a team of Porters with odradeks on their side."
Hell, even Higgs only had the ability to sense them. Not paying attention could mean death.
"And they don't know the terrain like we do. We can't expect them to scale cliffs or forge rivers like we're used to. Much better to carry them.
Besides, probably not the heaviest cargo I've carried," He shrugs, grabbing another Monster for himself and cracking it open. "The hardest part is the balance. You don't want to fall over and slam their face into some rocks."
Higgs snorts, but it's pretty clear it's amusement more than anything else. "You, being careful? I saw you eat shit all the time." Maybe that's another thing he shouldn't be talking about, given his bizarre and unsettling obsession with Sam.
But that had largely been the work of the Extinction Entity. "Besides, even if you're a prepper who knows everything you can, you don't realize just how different the world is from your underground shelter." ...He really can't stop talking about himself. Maybe it's not a great sign that he wants to talk with Sam so easily.
"Oh no, I definitely ate shit a lot," he laughs, shaking his head and sipping at his drink. "I ate shit all the time. But never with a person on my back."
Sam nods thoughtfully, "I met a few who were excited to be connected to the network. To see outside their own homes, they said. But they still never left."
Higgs finishes off his own drink, pulling a face, but setting the empty can down on the floor all the same. "Probably a lot safer that way. People aren't replaceable."
As for the network... it's a good point, really. "Even folks terrified of the outside world seek out connections. It's a pretty big inconsistency, if you think about it."
He sighs, rubbing at his temples. "It must have been easier, before the Stranding."
"It's weird, being a porter. You make all these connections with people without ever actually meeting them." At least he knows that despite helping Amelie with her plan, ultimately, setting up the chiral network was a good thing. He'd seen it in action, with the doctor and the mountaineer.
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Higgs hadn't gone to great efforts to disguise himself at all, but it seemed like Bridges were a little too occupied to notice the obvious hints. "What do you have in that canteen you're always drinking from?"
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And I wouldn't mind ordering burgers, some time. Even if you're more of a ham sort of guy."
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But as for the food... "I ain't that picky about what I eat, to tell the truth. So it shouldn't be an issue."
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Not picky about what he eats. So the fancy ingredients had been just to poke at Sam a little. Amusing, in retrospect. Annoying at the time.
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He cracks open the can, takes a sip and pulls a face. "Christ, what the hell is in this?" But Higgs isn't the sort of person to waste food, so after a moment he takes another drink.
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"Even if you don't like the taste?"
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He says it playfully, but there is a serious note to it. It's probably not much of a surprise that a man who was out on his own as a child grew up without much food at all. Maybe it helps explain how thin he is, even now.
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"At least I know my pizza was put to good use."
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...not much of a surprise, given the state of his shelter up until a couple minutes ago.
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"You ever get orders like that, as a porter?"
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...Well. Actually he probably would have.
As for the question, he can't help relaxing a little at it. "All the time. Got some ridiculous requests, especially from the preppers who didn't trust people at all. But if you did well on those ones, you won them over."
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Never made sense to me. If you trust me enough to go get something that important to you, then trust me the rest of the way."
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Probably a good one, at that. "Can't say I have any delivery stories like that."
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So he tells Higgs the story of the Junk Dealer and the Chiral Artist. How it really didn't matter, to him, if the the Junk Dealer joined the UCA or not, what really mattered was that his girlfriend was alive, and Sam was going to find her, hell or high water.
"And I did. And she asked to be brought back to him, so I did that too. Brought them back together."
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He frowns thoughtfully. "Brave of the Artist's mom to be livin' so close to the tar lake, though. Give how those can grow."
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"The tar does tend to creep. Hopefully they're all okay.
I'll tell you though, it was weird, delivering a live human. Knowing you have someone on your back makes you walk a lot more carefully."
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Hell, even Higgs only had the ability to sense them. Not paying attention could mean death.
...Not that it means much to a repatriate.
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Besides, probably not the heaviest cargo I've carried," He shrugs, grabbing another Monster for himself and cracking it open. "The hardest part is the balance. You don't want to fall over and slam their face into some rocks."
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But that had largely been the work of the Extinction Entity. "Besides, even if you're a prepper who knows everything you can, you don't realize just how different the world is from your underground shelter." ...He really can't stop talking about himself. Maybe it's not a great sign that he wants to talk with Sam so easily.
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Sam nods thoughtfully, "I met a few who were excited to be connected to the network. To see outside their own homes, they said. But they still never left."
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As for the network... it's a good point, really. "Even folks terrified of the outside world seek out connections. It's a pretty big inconsistency, if you think about it."
He sighs, rubbing at his temples. "It must have been easier, before the Stranding."
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Maybe it is connecting people. Helping people.
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