( Esikko is so genuinely stunned by being called not only nice, but "one of the nicer people here" that his thoughts absolutely stop in their tracks. That's startling enough. But the warm hand over his own, the gentle squeeze, the touch of that hand to his forehead right after?
He freezes for a few seconds before pulling back in a fluster, like he's just touched something too hot, hand pulling back to his chest and his head turning away, eyes darting to find something else to focus on. It's different when he's the one that initiates close contact, it's far less surprising! But Bakugo?? )
I— well, I mean, maybe you did. I was just distracted. ( By not getting his sass? He stammers onwards, a puff of air releasing the breath he'd held onto by accident. ) But I'm... not... nice, you know? How exactly are people treating you to be thinking something like that? I'm...
( He trails off, though a number of words come to mind in the voices of plenty of others, confirmed by his own actions. A bitch? Probably. An asshole? Definitely. He ignores the words that continue to follow, a frown twitching at the corners of his mouth. )
...Anyway, there are plenty of reasons, but it's better if you're not. I just don't want you to... you know, if you say something when you're like this and take it back later, I'm going to be upset, okay?
( Without explaining that, he pushes himself to stand, already marching towards the kitchen. )
Nice. [Bakugo may not know all the not-nice things Esikko has done in this place, but he's aware the man isn't a saint. And normally he keeps that in mind while dealing with him. But right now, he's only focusing on the prince's usual genteel attitude and mannerisms, as well as the positive experiences he's had with the guy. Once he makes sure Esikko isn't running a fever or dealing with short-term memory loss.
Once the guy pulls back, Bakugo lets his hand drop and leans back on the couch, one elbow propped on the cushion beside him and his jaw pressed to his curled fist. Studying him, still trying to decide if he should leave for Esikko's comfort. If the other man's ill, it's likely he's already been exposed...]
Most of the time we've interacted, you've been nice. [Esikko hasn't yelled at him, committed crimes in front of him, made himself an obnoxious pest, or worse. Sure he's annoyed Bakugo before, but generally their experiences together have been positive. Not some slimy, sneaky, suspicious type wanting to take advantage.
Really, the person Esikko's not-nicest to the most is himself.]
Like this? [When he's like what? Bakugo frowns at the other part.] Oy, I don't take back what I say. [Regret is not a thing he likes entertaining in his life very often. And while he won't take back what he says here, damn right he's gonna be mortified to remember it and have it brought up in the future!]
Uh... are you cooking?
[Because he remembers well enough to know that's not a good idea.]
( Esikko can certainly be nice. He's learning to do more of it here, but— but it goes against everything he's ever been raised to be like, so it's a bit uncomfortable. Isn't it weak? Doesn't it open him up to more pain? Those sort of silly little ideas float around, but right now, he can't seem to focus on them. At least there's that.
But despite his hearts-related flare up causing him to focus instead on making Bakugo more comfortable, he is, in fact, in the kitchen, opening up cabinets and looking around. This is definitely a bad idea. )
Isn't that what you said I should learn? ( Isn't it what he likes, too? "Home cooking" instead of whatever drug-laced nonsense is floating around various establishments here. Esikko is pulling out all sorts of things, like having them all on the counter together might tell him what he can make. )
I bought some groceries, or whatever, because of that. So... Surely I can make something from this. ( help him before this place goes up in flames )
[Some people see it as a weakness. Bakugo included. Yet he's seen how others transform niceness into strength, able to reach others and earn results he never would have with his own abrasive and rough actions. Is it weak to be nice and merciful to people who probably don't deserve it? Good question. Some would argue no. After all, it's easy to be nice to someone who's nice to you. Not something Bakugo's going to get into a discussion with Esikko here.
He pushes himself up from the couch and moves around the side, footsteps carrying him into the kitchen after the prince. Right, Esikko cooking is a bad idea. That's not being mean, that's stating a fact.]
And have you? [Learned. Constructive learning. Not burning everything and calling it a success while ordering takeout. Esikko's not wrong; Bakugo likes cooking for himself since he doesn't trust a lot of the restaurants and shops in the Peacock. He surveys the collection of ingredients the prince has splayed on the counter. A lot of these don't go together.
Verdict: Esikko has no idea what he's making.]
Here. [With that, Bakugo begins separating the items. Arms moving in fast succession, he has a grouping to one side in a few seconds and the rest pushed to the other side.] You can put these back. We'll make a meal with the rest.
( Chocolates? But he trails off and quickly abandons that train of thought even if it's questioned, focusing firmly instead on the way Bakugo organizes things. Huh. He can't even tell what they're going to be making from this. Like, obviously, there are ingredients here and he can tell the main one, but—
He presses his lips together in a frown, quietly reaching to grab one of the rejected ingredients. )
So you're going to help me?
( Quietly, as he tucks some sort of unnecessary and niche spice back into the spice rack that's mostly empty, then reaches to grab the next reject. He's cleaning up slowly. )
Even eating feels like a chore most of the time... But I suppose it can't hurt to try it with proper help. You can't laugh at my attempts, though. That's a rule.
[Too bad. He led into it and Bakugo's curious now. While he separates out what they'll use and what Esikko can put away. A process which focuses on anything possibly nearing the end of its storage life. No point in letting it go to waste when they can use it now. He trusts Esikko to return everything rejected to its proper placement while Bakugo arranges the selected venue on the counter.]
Unless you can do this without burning the kitchen down.
[Even if he's nice, there's some suspicion in his voice over Esikko's skill. With the ingredients they have, the menu shapes up thusly:
tonkatsu - strips of pork, eggs, flour, bread crumbs, seasoning, oil miso soup - miso paste, radish stock, diced tofu, mushrooms, green onions, rice - normal white rice with a splash of vinegar salad - chopped cabbage, radish, and carrots drizzled with a soy sauce vinaigrette
Got all that? Good, because Bakugo's glancing to Esikko to pick which one he wants to work on first.]
( Urgh. For a long time, Esikko doesn't respond to that question, staying hyper focused on putting things away. For what it's worth, he does put them away correctly, and he seems organized and neat about it.
Eventually, he mumbles: ) Sweets.
( With a quickly added: ) I only set one fire, and it didn't damage anything, so.
( There aren't any battle scars in his kitchen, at least. His eyes focus only on the ingredients, frowning a little in thought. )
It would make sense to start with rice, right? How are you supposed to do all of those at the same time? My kitchen always had a whole staff.
[Sweets, huh. A lot of people try their hand at making sweet things when they first start out cooking. Some succeed and others don't. At least it's easier to eat a semi-ruined dessert then something savory. Bakugo's earliest attempts when he was learning ended up being salvageable, but still... his mom had to do it.]
You set it on fire? [Less asking for explanation and more surprised. He glances around the kitchen, as if he might be able to see notes of where the flames happened. Unable to, he instead begins separating everything into their respective places for each dish.]
Do you have a rice cooker? If not, we'll use a pot. [With the appropriate ratio of rice being 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water, and that includes any flavoring like salt, vinegar, and even melted butter.]
( Now that Esikko has finished putting the extras away, he watches Bakugo with a quiet sort of stare. The question just earns a long sideways glance from him before he completely brushes past it, focusing instead on the question. )
They make cookers for rice? No, just a pot, I suppose. I have a set that came with this suite. ( He gestures towards the cabinet where the pans and pots are kept, his other hand kept gently curled in front of his mouth as he thinks. )
Did you... cook for yourself often? At home.
( For some reason, he can't get his mind off of the curiosity of how things were before for Bakugo. Is it the hearts suit? Is it weird, leftover effects of some kind of arrow? Is he actually just growing to... care about people? The longer he tries to find the logic behind asking, the more upsetting it gets, and so he pushes those worries aside, focusing only on the motions the hero is going through right now. )
Pot's fine. [And down he goes to search through Esikko's cabinets, eventually finding a nice-sized pot complete with lid. It's non-stick, making it even better. A quick wash ensures it's clean and ready to go before he sets it atop the stove and the lid beside it.]
Yeah. Mom taught me when I was small; I've cooked for myself since then. When she's not cooking. [Meaning he took turns, and both of them got into fights over who could make certain dishes better. She always won, because despite his attitude, Bakugo has a bias towards his mother's cooking, even if he'll never admit it.]
I wanted to learn so I could impress my friends. [Show them how he could do "adult" things even as a kid. Because he was always looking to improve himself with impressive skills. Now that he's grown up, he's more picky about what he learns, only going for things that will help him, not simply bloat his arsenal.]
Do you like oil or butter? [With four cups of water (including the vinegar and seasoning) + the melted butter or oil, whichever Esikko likes better, dumped in the pot, all they need now is to wait for it to come to a boil. Then they can add the rice.]
( A small Bakugo learning cooking from his mother to impress his friends is an image that isn't going to leave his mind for a while. It's so... cute?! Was he always this moe? But he's trying to envision it, and try as he might to fill out the scene himself, it never quite works. The image of his own mother in a kitchen is laughable, but even if she had been, his own attempts to reach her would have been quickly shushed and shooed away.
He blinks out of that thought when asked a question he's equally uncertain about, bringing a finger over his lips to tap them in thought. )
I don't know... I don't know how I usually might have had it, so just make it how you'd like.
( Then he can learn, right? )
Or, well, I mean... help me make it how you like. What should I be doing?
[He's gonna murder Esikko if he brings this shit up when he's back to normal. Gonna find a pair of princely feet sticking out of a flower pot, feeding his own plants! Lucky for Esikko, he need not worry about any of that right now, as Bakugo's focused far more on making the guy something good for lunch. And maybe dinner, if they have leftovers and Esikko's fond of it.]
Oil. [Butter's more fattening and Bakugo opts to use it sparingly when he cooks. With the water and seasoning steaming on the stove, he sets the lid atop it and turns to the other ingredients.]
Get three bowls out. The eggs go in one, the flour in another, and the panko crumbs in the third one.
[Esikko can make the dipping stations for their pork cutlets. Shouldn't be too hard.]
( Three bowls... So even simple dishes take this much? Aren't they going to have to clean it after? Well, no. He said he'd practice cooking, but he can have housekeeping do his dishes. Or maybe Bakugo will just do them on his own. He's already house-husbandy enough as he is, so this good mood must just enhance that, right?
Esikko keeps those humorous thoughts to himself, instead humming a little start of an idle tune as he finds three bowls. Then, as he sets them out and begins to fill them, he decides to talk a little. )
I didn't have friends, but I did have a kid my age I knew. He was in charge of watching over me, you know, since my parents didn't have the time, and his family was close to ours.
( Panko crumbs goes easily enough, even if he probably put too many. Flour is an immediate mess, but not as bad as it could be. And then... he definitely gets egg shells into the egg bowl. )
But anytime I'd try to do anything interesting, he'd always scold me. "You'll burn your hands!" "Don't touch those, they have thorns!" "Be careful, the stones are uneven!" It was so irritating.
[Sometimes. Other times, you simply wanna keep things clean and do things the proper way. Of course they're gonna have to clean them. Good thing Mr. Ace-rank has a fancy dishwasher to handle it for him. Unless he's clueless to their usage and has a bunch of clothes stuffed inside it.
Bakugo grabs one of the cutting boards and sets it to the side on the kitchen island counter, then gets a high-walled skillet onto a burner. Where's Esikko's oil again? Oh, there it is. Time to glug it up into the skillet, upending the entire bottle. Don't worry, he knows how to strain it and put it clean back in the bottle when they're done. Still perfectly good for reuse later.]
Someone your age was your handler? Weird. He shouldn't be any more able than you were.
[If both boys were taught the same thing at the same time. Maybe not, given Esikko's princely status. The other boy was likely a servant. Bakugo gives the panko bowl a shake to level them out. As soon as Esikko starts making a mess, he snaps a hand around the flour bag.]
Here. [And shows him how to hold the bag with one hand at the bottom, and the other hand cupping the mouth to pinch it, limited the amount of flour coming out. Gradual tilt, small taps on the bag butt, each one pucking a small gout of flour to the bowl. See? That's how you do it.
As for the eggs... uh... well Bakugo just gets the shells out with a fork. Cracking egg lessons later.]
If he had his orders not to let you get hurt, he'd have to say those things, right?
It wasn't about ability. No one else wanted to do it, you know— none of the staff in the palace or anything, though it was their jobs to watch us both. Sumi simply took charge on his own, and it became expected.
( It's a summarization, probably, considering the family of priests had a lot of other obligations and expectations surrounding him and his own family, but. Esikko seems to find it uncomfortable to speak about, despite his willingness to bring it up in the first place— he's frowning a little, trying to reform that flour bag-mouth on the side while Bakugo digs out his egg shells. For practice. It's proving difficult, and flour keeps puffing into his face. )
I know my health is poor, but some worries are excessive, anyway. He was just an overly serious stick in the mud.
[Saying "no one else wanted to" seems like a huge dramatization for such a thing. Esikko's a prince. Royal families are treated like the top of the world in most monarchies in any country. Unless there's rampant corruption and abuse, which he's pretty sure Esikko wasn't personally responsible for?
Bakugo finishes up with the meat after helping Esikko with the coating stage prep. Flour in one bowl (sorry about the white face makeup afterwards, here's a cloth to wipe it off), eggs in the other (he lets the prince beat them; surely he's able to do that without making a mess, right?), and seasoned panko crumbs in the last. Gonna have to get the oil hot, so he takes a brief break to set that up before returning to the meat slices.]
And he didn't let up when you told him to back off, huh.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 3/11/25 05:06 (UTC)( Esikko is so genuinely stunned by being called not only nice, but "one of the nicer people here" that his thoughts absolutely stop in their tracks. That's startling enough. But the warm hand over his own, the gentle squeeze, the touch of that hand to his forehead right after?
He freezes for a few seconds before pulling back in a fluster, like he's just touched something too hot, hand pulling back to his chest and his head turning away, eyes darting to find something else to focus on. It's different when he's the one that initiates close contact, it's far less surprising! But Bakugo?? )
I— well, I mean, maybe you did. I was just distracted. ( By not getting his sass? He stammers onwards, a puff of air releasing the breath he'd held onto by accident. ) But I'm... not... nice, you know? How exactly are people treating you to be thinking something like that? I'm...
( He trails off, though a number of words come to mind in the voices of plenty of others, confirmed by his own actions. A bitch? Probably. An asshole? Definitely. He ignores the words that continue to follow, a frown twitching at the corners of his mouth. )
...Anyway, there are plenty of reasons, but it's better if you're not. I just don't want you to... you know, if you say something when you're like this and take it back later, I'm going to be upset, okay?
( Without explaining that, he pushes himself to stand, already marching towards the kitchen. )
Are you hungry?
no subject
Date: 3/11/25 15:39 (UTC)Once the guy pulls back, Bakugo lets his hand drop and leans back on the couch, one elbow propped on the cushion beside him and his jaw pressed to his curled fist. Studying him, still trying to decide if he should leave for Esikko's comfort. If the other man's ill, it's likely he's already been exposed...]
Most of the time we've interacted, you've been nice. [Esikko hasn't yelled at him, committed crimes in front of him, made himself an obnoxious pest, or worse. Sure he's annoyed Bakugo before, but generally their experiences together have been positive. Not some slimy, sneaky, suspicious type wanting to take advantage.
Really, the person Esikko's not-nicest to the most is himself.]
Like this? [When he's like what? Bakugo frowns at the other part.] Oy, I don't take back what I say. [Regret is not a thing he likes entertaining in his life very often. And while he won't take back what he says here, damn right he's gonna be mortified to remember it and have it brought up in the future!]
Uh... are you cooking?
[Because he remembers well enough to know that's not a good idea.]
no subject
Date: 3/11/25 17:21 (UTC)But despite his hearts-related flare up causing him to focus instead on making Bakugo more comfortable, he is, in fact, in the kitchen, opening up cabinets and looking around. This is definitely a bad idea. )
Isn't that what you said I should learn? ( Isn't it what he likes, too? "Home cooking" instead of whatever drug-laced nonsense is floating around various establishments here. Esikko is pulling out all sorts of things, like having them all on the counter together might tell him what he can make. )
I bought some groceries, or whatever, because of that. So... Surely I can make something from this. ( help him before this place goes up in flames )
no subject
Date: 3/11/25 23:13 (UTC)He pushes himself up from the couch and moves around the side, footsteps carrying him into the kitchen after the prince. Right, Esikko cooking is a bad idea. That's not being mean, that's stating a fact.]
And have you? [Learned. Constructive learning. Not burning everything and calling it a success while ordering takeout. Esikko's not wrong; Bakugo likes cooking for himself since he doesn't trust a lot of the restaurants and shops in the Peacock. He surveys the collection of ingredients the prince has splayed on the counter. A lot of these don't go together.
Verdict: Esikko has no idea what he's making.]
Here. [With that, Bakugo begins separating the items. Arms moving in fast succession, he has a grouping to one side in a few seconds and the rest pushed to the other side.] You can put these back. We'll make a meal with the rest.
no subject
Date: 3/12/25 05:26 (UTC)( Chocolates? But he trails off and quickly abandons that train of thought even if it's questioned, focusing firmly instead on the way Bakugo organizes things. Huh. He can't even tell what they're going to be making from this. Like, obviously, there are ingredients here and he can tell the main one, but—
He presses his lips together in a frown, quietly reaching to grab one of the rejected ingredients. )
So you're going to help me?
( Quietly, as he tucks some sort of unnecessary and niche spice back into the spice rack that's mostly empty, then reaches to grab the next reject. He's cleaning up slowly. )
Even eating feels like a chore most of the time... But I suppose it can't hurt to try it with proper help. You can't laugh at my attempts, though. That's a rule.
no subject
Date: 3/12/25 22:04 (UTC)[Too bad. He led into it and Bakugo's curious now. While he separates out what they'll use and what Esikko can put away. A process which focuses on anything possibly nearing the end of its storage life. No point in letting it go to waste when they can use it now. He trusts Esikko to return everything rejected to its proper placement while Bakugo arranges the selected venue on the counter.]
Unless you can do this without burning the kitchen down.
[Even if he's nice, there's some suspicion in his voice over Esikko's skill. With the ingredients they have, the menu shapes up thusly:
tonkatsu - strips of pork, eggs, flour, bread crumbs, seasoning, oil
miso soup - miso paste, radish stock, diced tofu, mushrooms, green onions,
rice - normal white rice with a splash of vinegar
salad - chopped cabbage, radish, and carrots drizzled with a soy sauce vinaigrette
Got all that? Good, because Bakugo's glancing to Esikko to pick which one he wants to work on first.]
no subject
Date: 3/13/25 05:30 (UTC)Eventually, he mumbles: ) Sweets.
( With a quickly added: ) I only set one fire, and it didn't damage anything, so.
( There aren't any battle scars in his kitchen, at least. His eyes focus only on the ingredients, frowning a little in thought. )
It would make sense to start with rice, right? How are you supposed to do all of those at the same time? My kitchen always had a whole staff.
no subject
Date: 3/13/25 21:36 (UTC)[Sweets, huh. A lot of people try their hand at making sweet things when they first start out cooking. Some succeed and others don't. At least it's easier to eat a semi-ruined dessert then something savory. Bakugo's earliest attempts when he was learning ended up being salvageable, but still... his mom had to do it.]
You set it on fire? [Less asking for explanation and more surprised. He glances around the kitchen, as if he might be able to see notes of where the flames happened. Unable to, he instead begins separating everything into their respective places for each dish.]
Do you have a rice cooker? If not, we'll use a pot. [With the appropriate ratio of rice being 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water, and that includes any flavoring like salt, vinegar, and even melted butter.]
no subject
Date: 3/14/25 05:47 (UTC)They make cookers for rice? No, just a pot, I suppose. I have a set that came with this suite. ( He gestures towards the cabinet where the pans and pots are kept, his other hand kept gently curled in front of his mouth as he thinks. )
Did you... cook for yourself often? At home.
( For some reason, he can't get his mind off of the curiosity of how things were before for Bakugo. Is it the hearts suit? Is it weird, leftover effects of some kind of arrow? Is he actually just growing to... care about people? The longer he tries to find the logic behind asking, the more upsetting it gets, and so he pushes those worries aside, focusing only on the motions the hero is going through right now. )
no subject
Date: 3/14/25 17:57 (UTC)Pot's fine. [And down he goes to search through Esikko's cabinets, eventually finding a nice-sized pot complete with lid. It's non-stick, making it even better. A quick wash ensures it's clean and ready to go before he sets it atop the stove and the lid beside it.]
Yeah. Mom taught me when I was small; I've cooked for myself since then. When she's not cooking. [Meaning he took turns, and both of them got into fights over who could make certain dishes better. She always won, because despite his attitude, Bakugo has a bias towards his mother's cooking, even if he'll never admit it.]
I wanted to learn so I could impress my friends. [Show them how he could do "adult" things even as a kid. Because he was always looking to improve himself with impressive skills. Now that he's grown up, he's more picky about what he learns, only going for things that will help him, not simply bloat his arsenal.]
Do you like oil or butter? [With four cups of water (including the vinegar and seasoning) + the melted butter or oil, whichever Esikko likes better, dumped in the pot, all they need now is to wait for it to come to a boil. Then they can add the rice.]
no subject
Date: 3/17/25 05:12 (UTC)He blinks out of that thought when asked a question he's equally uncertain about, bringing a finger over his lips to tap them in thought. )
I don't know... I don't know how I usually might have had it, so just make it how you'd like.
( Then he can learn, right? )
Or, well, I mean... help me make it how you like. What should I be doing?
no subject
Date: 3/17/25 14:37 (UTC)Oil. [Butter's more fattening and Bakugo opts to use it sparingly when he cooks. With the water and seasoning steaming on the stove, he sets the lid atop it and turns to the other ingredients.]
Get three bowls out. The eggs go in one, the flour in another, and the panko crumbs in the third one.
[Esikko can make the dipping stations for their pork cutlets. Shouldn't be too hard.]
no subject
Date: 3/19/25 05:47 (UTC)Esikko keeps those humorous thoughts to himself, instead humming a little start of an idle tune as he finds three bowls. Then, as he sets them out and begins to fill them, he decides to talk a little. )
I didn't have friends, but I did have a kid my age I knew. He was in charge of watching over me, you know, since my parents didn't have the time, and his family was close to ours.
( Panko crumbs goes easily enough, even if he probably put too many. Flour is an immediate mess, but not as bad as it could be. And then... he definitely gets egg shells into the egg bowl. )
But anytime I'd try to do anything interesting, he'd always scold me. "You'll burn your hands!" "Don't touch those, they have thorns!" "Be careful, the stones are uneven!" It was so irritating.
no subject
Date: 3/19/25 18:35 (UTC)Bakugo grabs one of the cutting boards and sets it to the side on the kitchen island counter, then gets a high-walled skillet onto a burner. Where's Esikko's oil again? Oh, there it is. Time to glug it up into the skillet, upending the entire bottle. Don't worry, he knows how to strain it and put it clean back in the bottle when they're done. Still perfectly good for reuse later.]
Someone your age was your handler? Weird. He shouldn't be any more able than you were.
[If both boys were taught the same thing at the same time. Maybe not, given Esikko's princely status. The other boy was likely a servant. Bakugo gives the panko bowl a shake to level them out. As soon as Esikko starts making a mess, he snaps a hand around the flour bag.]
Here. [And shows him how to hold the bag with one hand at the bottom, and the other hand cupping the mouth to pinch it, limited the amount of flour coming out. Gradual tilt, small taps on the bag butt, each one pucking a small gout of flour to the bowl. See? That's how you do it.
As for the eggs... uh... well Bakugo just gets the shells out with a fork. Cracking egg lessons later.]
If he had his orders not to let you get hurt, he'd have to say those things, right?
no subject
Date: 3/21/25 06:08 (UTC)( It's a summarization, probably, considering the family of priests had a lot of other obligations and expectations surrounding him and his own family, but. Esikko seems to find it uncomfortable to speak about, despite his willingness to bring it up in the first place— he's frowning a little, trying to reform that flour bag-mouth on the side while Bakugo digs out his egg shells. For practice. It's proving difficult, and flour keeps puffing into his face. )
I know my health is poor, but some worries are excessive, anyway. He was just an overly serious stick in the mud.
no subject
Date: 3/21/25 15:20 (UTC)[Saying "no one else wanted to" seems like a huge dramatization for such a thing. Esikko's a prince. Royal families are treated like the top of the world in most monarchies in any country. Unless there's rampant corruption and abuse, which he's pretty sure Esikko wasn't personally responsible for?
Bakugo finishes up with the meat after helping Esikko with the coating stage prep. Flour in one bowl (sorry about the white face makeup afterwards, here's a cloth to wipe it off), eggs in the other (he lets the prince beat them; surely he's able to do that without making a mess, right?), and seasoned panko crumbs in the last. Gonna have to get the oil hot, so he takes a brief break to set that up before returning to the meat slices.]
And he didn't let up when you told him to back off, huh.