We all have our FOILbles. -- For prodigalmess

[bossyboiler]

Are you still interested in fencing?

The message was straightforward and direct as was the one that followed it.

I'm catering a special exhibition match this Sunday. I have two spare passes. It'll be fun. If you want them.

The details were then sent. The main event was a tournament put on by the United States Fencing Association. The exhibition matches on Sunday were fencers from France who were not fighting with foils. Sabers were involved but not the kind that most people expected.

Kate had been hired to provide cupcakes for the fencers and judges. She had done her research on the subject. Kate wanted to impress them with their order and the four cupcake flavors that she had brought with them were unique to this event. The Gray Jedi cupcake was an earl gray cake with a honey glaze and lemon buttercream. The Dark Side was a chocolate cake with dark chocolate buttercream that had a dash of cayenne and spice. The Light Side was a vanilla cupcake with a vanilla custard filling that was topped with a caramel buttercream. The Sith was a standard strawberry cupcake with strawberry swiss buttercream but there was a piece of candy glass in the shape of a red lightsaber.

After delivering the cupcakes and setting up the displays, Kate ventured out to watch the exhibitions. She stood out slightly in that, despite the fact that she was catering the event, she was wearing tailored slacks and a button up blouse with small cupcakes printed on it. Most of the people attending were in athleisure or jeans. Her brunette hair was pulled up in a high pony-tail and tied with a ribbon.

There was no way she was going to miss out on watching the matches.

Comments

[bossyboiler]

"I should introduce you to some of mine. Once a month we all gather and marathon Chopped. We eat cheap pizza and drink nice wines. I should warn you. We have a drinking game but it's not for the faint of heart. You might enjoy watching it though."

[prodigalmess]

"I like drinking games and Chopped," Malcolm says, finding it kind of ironic that he might end up getting together with a bunch of chefs and bakers, considering that he's an incredibly picky eater who doesn't eat more than about two meals a day.

[bossyboiler]

"You do?" Kate grins. She is pleasantly surprised, more than pleasantly surprised. "It's good that we have that in common because we get very invested in the competition especially when someone uses the ice cream maker in the dessert round." Kate takes a sip of her coffee. "The next time we get together, I will invite you. It's usually on a Monday night."

[prodigalmess]

"So much drama around an ice cream maker," Malcolm says with a shake of his head. "Thanks, though. I'd like to come."

He's not sure if he'll be considered a total weirdo by these people since he enjoys talking about murder and crime solving, but he guesses he can try. At least Kate likes him.

[bossyboiler]

"Just wait until you see a room full of adults screaming at the television. I think you'll be amused." There are two thoughts of using the ice cream maker. The first is that it is the easy way to make a dessert. The second being that if you're going to make ice cream for dessert it had best be perfect and it so often is not.

"I'll text you the invite." Kate likes Malcolm too. She had forgotten how easy he is to talk to.

[prodigalmess]

"I used to watch Star Trek with all the guys in my dorm at college, so I've been in a room full of adults screaming at a television," he replies with a smile. College wasn't that bad. He was able to make a few friends who didn't know about his past and didn't think he was a total weirdo. A lot of them were weird too.

"Thanks. As long as I don't have a case, I should be able to come."

[bossyboiler]

"You're almost a full-on nerd, Malcolm." Kate says with a little smile as if to imply that she won't tell anyone about his nerdiness. If he thinks his college friends are weird, wait until he meets Kate's Chopped friends. "If you can't make it to the next one, there is the one after it."

"Is it just special cases that you get called in on?" Because it is New York and New York does have quite a bit of murders and other horrible crimes. "The grizzly ones?"

[prodigalmess]

"Almost?" Malcolm questions. He thinks he's pretty full-on nerd. Granted, he tends to be nerdy about weird things, like weapons and murder.

"I consult on a lot of cases," he says. "In my opinion, my help is always needed, it's just not always wanted. Gil probably wishes I'd work less, but our precinct ends up picking up some very weird cases."

[bossyboiler]

"Almost." She reaffirms because she has seen some behind the scenes things at the fencing competition that would put him to shame. Kate has seen things elsewhere as well.d

"Like what?" The question pop out of her mouth before she even thinks about the properness of it. "I mean, if you're at liberty to say. I don't want you to get into trouble." She cannot say anything about his workaholic habits. Kate is one herself but she whittles out time for herself here and there.

[prodigalmess]

He loves talking about his cases, and as long as they're ones that are closed, he can share details.

"One where a woman who was a neophiliac killed the man she loved and then kept the body perfectly preserved. He didn't even look dead."

That was a particularly unique and startling case. What can he say? There are weirdos in New York.

[bossyboiler]

"Ew." Is her immediate response. Whatever Kate had been imagining Malcolm to say, it had not been that. Even though he had not said that the woman had been a necrophiliac, the implications linger. As much fun as they were having discussing using a guillotine to slice a red velvet cake just a few minutes ago, she can't mask how revolting that idea is to her.

There are no other questions besides the simple, "Why?"

[prodigalmess]

Yeah, that's a usual reaction to when he discusses his cases. He can't even fault her for it. This one's pretty gross.

"He didn't love her back, so this way she could keep him forever, perfectly preserved." Malcolm takes a sip of his coffee, relatively unfazed. "Dahmer tried to do the same thing with some of his victims, though his plan was not nearly as well thought out."

[bossyboiler]

Her nose crinkles as she ponders his case. "But how? Wouldn't he start to smell?" Kate is now imagining all the gross things that come along with keeping a dead body. There is not a singular pleasant thought amongst them.

"Please tell me that you haven't had any run-ins with a cannibal?"

[prodigalmess]

"You'd be surprised how well bodies can be preserved these days," he tells her. "There was a case in Russia where a man kept the mummified remains of 26 girls and young women in his house." Malcolm shrugs. "But they would eventually start to decay, yes."

"I have," he says solemnly, "though that was an FBI case, not NYPD."

[bossyboiler]

It boggles her mind. Her nose crinkles again as she listens on in grim fascination.

"Malcolm, you're a psychologist. Where does this kind of behavior come from in humans? The mummification? The murder? Do you think the first humans had a concept of psychopathy?"

[prodigalmess]

He loves talking about things like this, and loves that Kate is asking him about them. Most people would just think that he's morbid and change the subject.

"It stems from wanting to keep something, to hold on to it. Maybe they experienced some kind of loss that affected them deeply," Malcolm says. "Sometimes it also has to do with protection, but mostly it's possession. Dahmer tried to do the same thing with his victims when he tried to turn them into zombies."

[bossyboiler]

"Yes but I mean in early humans. We don't see most animals hunt for sport or keep trinkets." Except for dolphins but the psychopathy of dolphins is a subject for another conversation. "Do you think it's a result of our higher brain functions? I don't think humanity is inherently selfish or cruel but somewhere, something must have gotten scrambled."

[prodigalmess]

"You're asking anthropological questions," he says, "which isn't my area of expertise, but I can still take a stab at it, knowing what I know now. It's possible that early humans assigned meaning to these objects. Serial killers do that. They keep trophies because when they see them or touch them, they can relive the experiences of killing those victims and how it felt for them to do so."

[bossyboiler]

"I suppose that I am." She's not sure. She's never had a conversation about murder and serial killers before. It's fascinating if a bit grim. "So, like how ancient people buried items with their dead?" Or maybe it's nothing like that at all. People are weird. Just when you think you've figured someone out, they up and change on you or abandon you completely but that is a story for another time. "I can't imagine killing someone and wanting to keep a memento."

[prodigalmess]

He hums in his throat. "I'm not really a historian or anthropologist, but I think people were often buried with items because those still living thought they might need them in the afterlife. The pharaoh's tombs of Ancient Egypt come to mind, or burying people with coins to pay the ferryman to cross the river Styx."

Malcolm smiles. "The reason you can't imagine wanting to keep a memento from killing someone is because you're not a psychopath." Aren't you glad, Kate?

[bossyboiler]

"How do you know I'm not a psychopath? I willingly went into the service industry." A pause before she adds, "No. You're right. I'm not any kind of path. I might be a masochist though."

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm smiles. "You don't exhibit any of the traits of a psychopath," he replies. "Though I agree that anyone working in the service industry might secretly be a masochist though."

He definitely could not work in any kind of restaurant. Working with people in that manner would probably push him over the edge.

[bossyboiler]

"I probably am. I'm surprised I haven't reacted violently to some of my customers. Don't get me wrong, the thought is definitely there sometimes." It's a wonder more people in the service industry don't commit violent crimes. Maybe they are all just gluttons for punishment. Maybe it's the training. Who knows.

"You should come by sometime."

[prodigalmess]

"I might," he tells her. Malcolm tends to like sweets. They're one of the few foods that he feels comfortable eating. They don't bleed and not all of them are overly rich. "Especially if everything you make is like those cupcakes you brought today."