"Those classifications always mattered," Howard says sharply. "Maybe they don't matter for you because you're an average-sized white guy who can take care of himself, but I had to know which rules to play with to keep from getting my face busted in."
That's the way it is, in Howard's world. It's one thing to find the rules silly and stupid and even harmful, and another to be able to resist them. Playing 'against the rules' got him bullied in school, got kids like him lynched or publicly executed by Caine's kangaroo court in the FAYZ. Howard likes learning how to work within a confine. He makes the best of bad situations, but he doesn't make better situations.
He squints at the wire - he doesn't need it. He has both rope and twine back at Thunder Mountain. "Cut through the plastic around the part you want to make a knot from and you'll be able to tighten it more, I guess, but you know there's a place that has children's sneakers in Fantasyland, right? Shoelaces work better for a line, but some of them are moldy or frayed so I wouldn't use them to support more weight than that."
Spoken like someone who knows. Howard's secretly a regular MacGuyver, although he's seeing that Tim's not so shabby in that area either. He likes that, and at the same time it scares him, because Howard's resourcefulness is the one edge he has in this place. It's also a selling point to the Sponsors, his unique cleverness, and if Tim can do it better, well, Tim's probably a bit more photogenic at this point. What with not having his face mauled. What with not being (as evidently) a paranoid, antisocial basketcase.
"I may come back here for more from the coin machine, but I'm set for now."
no subject
That's the way it is, in Howard's world. It's one thing to find the rules silly and stupid and even harmful, and another to be able to resist them. Playing 'against the rules' got him bullied in school, got kids like him lynched or publicly executed by Caine's kangaroo court in the FAYZ. Howard likes learning how to work within a confine. He makes the best of bad situations, but he doesn't make better situations.
He squints at the wire - he doesn't need it. He has both rope and twine back at Thunder Mountain. "Cut through the plastic around the part you want to make a knot from and you'll be able to tighten it more, I guess, but you know there's a place that has children's sneakers in Fantasyland, right? Shoelaces work better for a line, but some of them are moldy or frayed so I wouldn't use them to support more weight than that."
Spoken like someone who knows. Howard's secretly a regular MacGuyver, although he's seeing that Tim's not so shabby in that area either. He likes that, and at the same time it scares him, because Howard's resourcefulness is the one edge he has in this place. It's also a selling point to the Sponsors, his unique cleverness, and if Tim can do it better, well, Tim's probably a bit more photogenic at this point. What with not having his face mauled. What with not being (as evidently) a paranoid, antisocial basketcase.
"I may come back here for more from the coin machine, but I'm set for now."