Page 31 of The Toymaker
Trig made a faintly frustrated noise and straightened. “Now you're just being stubborn.”
“So are you. I-”
“Kit, come here.” Trig motioned. “Relax, and pretend to be a customer. Make up something.”
Kit approached the counter. “Uh, hi.”
Trig poked Riju. “Stand up. He’s a customer.”
Riju stood and felt the lump of a doll in his inner coat pocket. “No, he’s not.”
Trig rolled his eyes. “Pretend. Like you do with your dolls.”
Riju’s stoic face softened slightly when he looked at Kit. “Are you looking for anything in particular?”
Kit racked his brain for a legitimate request and remembered what an earlier customer needed. “Er, I want to know what’s the best oil to use for sex and massage. I have sensitive skin.”
Riju rattled off a few oils, their qualities, and what would likely work best. He made eye contact and smiled, but they already knew each other.
Kit had seen how he interacted with customers. Sometimes, he avoided all eye contact, and it didn’t matter who was speaking to whom. Other times when he did it, he stared too hard like he was trying to see their thoughts, and he didn't always smile or have much of an expression. Most of the customers seemed like they preferred to ignore it. A few would start talking to Trig instead.
Pretending Kit was a customer wasn’t going to work.
“See, was that so hard?” asked Trig. “Just do that with everyone, and work on your facial expressions.”
Riju pushed up his spectacles again. “No.”
“You need to practice your basic interaction. You barely ever spoke to anyone, and now you can because you practiced, although I think you should be more social.”
“I don’t want to do this, and this isn’t something that gets easier. Why don't you listen to me? I need the breaks to not look at everyone.”
“Why?”
Riju threw up his hands. “It’s tiring, and I don’t know how to explain everything I feel in my head. It’s uncomfortable, and I can’t do it all of the time. We've been over this before, and I don’t see why you can’t get it. Just because you don’t experience something doesn’t mean I don’t. Not every single thing gets better just because I practice. It's not like remembering to brush my hair or-”
“If you’ve done better with other things, you can do better with this,” said Trig.
“Your logic isn’t going to work with every single thing!”
“You could also start by not arguing with me and making such a big deal out of nothing. It's not like I told you to run naked through Raven’s Landing.”
“It’s a big deal to me, and it makes me feel like you-”
“I’ve tried not to push you too much with everything over the years because I wanted to see how you do on your own with plenty of time and care. It’s been years, and there are a couple of things you haven’t improved on. I think that’s where you need a push and lots of practice. You’re being resistant, and that right there can make it harder.”
Riju’s eyes hadn’t left Trig’s, and they darkened. “I just said it’s tiring. Sometimes it also makes my skin crawl, and it’s too much. It’s easier to look wherever I want, and you act like I never look at anyone for even a second. Why can’t you stop? I wouldn’t make you do something that makes you feel funny in your head!”
Trig rubbed his face. “If anything ever happened to me, I want you to be able to care for yourself and have a good quality of life. You don’t have any friends. If I died by chance, what are you going to do by yourself?”
“Work.”
“What about outside of work?”
“I'd figure out my life. I have my books and my dolls to start with.”
“They’re not real people.”
Kit was still awkwardly standing there and wishing they'd stop. It wasn't exactly a fight, but it wasn't a simple discussion either.
