(Pretty much– XD)
"Well, usually you don't eat much of it, and then save the rest for later," Darius explained with a shrug. "There are some who can eat that much, but it isn't really healthy…" Then again, most burgers weren't.
(Lol!)
Mara nodded slowly at the sensible answer. She had seen the big upright storage box and always knew there was food there, she was just too insignificant to even try to open it. Plus, it was always cold near it. She shook her head with a small laugh. “Kinda glad I haven't seen anyone that big.” she admitted, a little frightened by that thought.
"Yeah… It can be, it can be a bit much." Darius knew a few people who were a bit overweight, but not that much.
"I try not to ever really get that much food, though, so hopefully I'll be able to keep myself at a healthy weight."
“Healthy weight?” Mara echoed, having never heard that phrase before. To be honest, Mara was a little underweight, even for her size, as her ribs where actually noticeable to anyone who could see them.
"Yeah, it's when you weigh enough that your body can take proper care of itself. Usually, it's between having a bit of extra fat and just barely not having ribs noticeable on your chest." Darius motioned, poking his own ribs.
Mara raised a brow at the description and wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a little self-conscious. “And how do you know… I mean, it sounds complicated.”
"There are people who study the human body for a living," Darius explained. "They're the ones who figured it out. Yeah, if you don't have a healthy body weight, it can hurt you. Your body doesn't work as well as it could."
“Huh. How did they figure it out?” she wondered before shaking her head. “Nevermind. You don't have to answer that.” Mara told him, in case he didn't know.
"Ah, are you sure? I've got a general idea of how they did it, but not much. Still, we could always look it up on the internet." Darius hummed some, setting the burger down.
“You do?” she asked, looking up at him a little nervously. She was curious about it but his description about not seeing your ribs made her a little worried that she wasn't in good shape… Probably a little better than most her size but not great…
"Mhm. They have these machines that let them observe what's going on in the body, and when someone isn't at a healthy weight they found a couple of things. When overweight, the body gets all plugged up from the excess stuff, so things can't move around as well. When underweight, there aren't enough things to move around, and the body eats at itself to maintain what it can." Darius had no idea Mara was underweight, figuring she was able to take care of herself well enough.
Mara nodded a little to show she was listening to his explanation. On one hand, she was a little relieved because she doubted that those machines he mentioned would work on her… not that she wanted to get near one anyway. “Your… A body can eat itself?” she asked meekly. She wasn't unfamiliar with the concept of starvation. There were even days where she had to skip a meal or two until she could go out and find something.
Darius nodded.
"Yeah, when it can't get enough nutrients from food, it'll start eating at your muscles for protein, and things like that. It's really dangerous." Darius shook his head some at the thought. It saddened him.
“How… How bad does it have to be for that to happen?” Mara asked. Maybe she wasn't that bad. After all, considering this lifestyle, this couldn't be unusual for people her height.
"Well… from what I've heard, people can experience that for a while without them really noticing," Darius said, thinking, "But they end up dying a lot sooner than they would have if they had a good diet and healthy weight… I knew someone who got hospitalized when their ribs were showing, it was so bad."
Mara swallowed a little and looked away. She had heard of hospitals before but, again, those were something only people like Darius had access to. “I… I’m sorry for your friend.” she said softly. “Is… Is there any way to recover?” she asked, already having a good idea on what the answer would be.
"Yeah, of course," Darius said. "The person has to eat more, and healthy food too. Though, you can't eat a lot at once, it can put your body into shock and they'll die anyway…" Darius let out a soft breath.
“So, slowly work your way back up, right?” she clarified. It was a little more than what Mara thought but the answer was still the same… and still just as out of reach as before. She couldn't just… It wasn't like she could just find more food. And asking Darius to help made her feel awkward and selfish for asking for more food.
"Right." If Darius knew what condition Mara was in, she wouldn't have to ask- in fact, he'd insist she took more food. He'd already almost lost one friend to starving themselves, he wasn't about to let Mara do the same. Only if he knew, though. He still assumed there was enough food for her.
Mara couldn't bring herself to tell him about her concerns. She wasn't his responsibility and she’d been living on her own for quite a while now, she was used to relying on herself. In the meantime… Maybe eating a little more of this fry wouldn't do any harm.
With the few moments of silence, Darius picked up his burger again, taking a bite. He hummed softly, seeming to be enjoying his food. He was glad for their time together, though, more pleased with that.
Mara looked up at the sound and smiled a little before turning back to her food. There was no way she could eat the whole thing in one day but she would eat a little more.
Darius ate quietly after that, glancing up occasionally.
"So, why were you so interested in healthy weights?"
Mara blushed at the question, feeling like she had been caught again. “Oh, I just… never heard of it before.” she admitted, hoping he would believe her. “Honestly, it's hard to know what you weigh at all when you're…” she glanced down at herself before smiling, a little nervously, back up at Darius. “too small to find out.”
"Ah…" Darius thought a moment, then shook his head. "You're not too small. I've got a scale out in the kitchen, it's built to measure smaller amounts." Darius continued to think.
"Oh! We could see how much you weigh if you want."