[ John gives Cisco a smile, almost reaching out to clap his shoulder before refraining. Let's not, they are still practically strangers, after. He's grown so used to the familiarity of the Underground, hanging out with Marcos and always having him on his left. He's got to start from scratch, here. ]

Yeah? I mean, I don't mind paying for stuff. Gotta be a contributing member of society, right?

[ John is a pretty serious guy, it's true. He's had to, in recent years, taking care of so many people, their numbers only growing as Turner started his manhunt (Mutanthunt). He'd had to make some hard choices, and he's had to keep control of himself, and the situation, as much as he could. There hadn't been time for fun. ]

Meal-Ready-to-Eat, yeah. Usually used in the military. They come with water-activated no-flame heating packs, so you don't need anything to warm up your food while out in the wild on missions. But since they're made to be very nutritious and easy to use, we've been using them a lot in the Underground. We had a lot of kids to feed.