Ah, so there was the key. It obviously wasn't the context behind the problem, but that was the confirmation Tim needed. It wasn't surprising, given the boy's behaviour (and his apparent fixation on the fruit), but that proved it. He watched Howard carefully, before he said, "True. I guess most people just take it for granted." Tim's own luck had been enough to avoid starvation, too. He'd been in very bad spots, but generally he was able to go home and have a warm meal. "And even with what we have, you can always use the Sensoriums to make it taste better." He shrugged. He'd never bothered doing that himself.

Tim watched Howard's reactions closely, trying to gauge them. He could tell Howard realised something was off about how he was explaining, but at the same time, he wasn't totally expecting a laugh, either. He rose his eyebrows in something like feigned surprise, and frowned again. But the explanation cleared it up a bit. "Ah," he managed, and offered a tiny smile. "A bit of that, yeah. A lot of it was aimed to get kids off the streets. Away from and out of gangs." He shrugged.

But it wasn't that that bothered him-- it was what Howard said next. When he asked about the 'tragic back-story.' Tim's expression sobered at the coincidence, eyes narrowing slightly, before it changed to something more distant. But he shook it off, before he, more quietly, said, "My biological parents were killed." He felt uncomfortable saying any of this, but he didn't hide the emotions this time. No playing at this one. "My mother in a hostage situation, my father in a robbery." The latter being the more 'official' story. He made a point to stare away while he finished. "I guess that's why I got all gung-ho about the 'preventing crime' thing."