"It's called a garnish, Ed. You're not supposed to eat it - it's just to decorate the plate." Faye explained in between bites of her entree.
Ed gave her an extremely skeptical look and then glanced over to Jet and Spike to determine their thoughts on this matter.
Jet laughed uncomfortably. "She's right, even though it seems like a waste, I know. There's not always a lot of sense in the things rich folks do." He shrugged, clearly apologetic about society in the face of Ed's bewildered judgment.
The hacker slanted her narrowed eye gaze at Spike next. His plate was void of everything that had been there. He grinned at her and opened his mouth to reveal the garnish on his tongue. He'd already consumed his dinner while the others had been educating Ed on the nonsense of upper crust dining.
Faye looked at Spike and sighed. "Emulate him if you want, Ed. I don't know why it started to become a practice in the first place, but typically the garnish gets reused if it's left on the plate, which means that morsel Spike's got in his mouth may have already been on a dozen plates today."
Spike winked at Ed and swallowed the garnish. He then grinned at Faye as he reached out for his glass of bourbon. "Fortunately I've got the germ killer right here." He waggled the glass back and forth, making the ice shift.
"Waste not, want not!" Ed announced, making her own decision about how to handle the silliness of an edible scrap that wasn't intended for eating. She gulped it down and then snatched the garnishes off Jet and Faye's plates for good measure.
Jet chuckled. Spike gave Ed a high five. Faye sighed. "Whatever kid, you do you." She smiled at Ed then. "And since we had to leave Ein on the ship... I did you a favor, Ed. Spike's got plastic baggies in his pockets so we can smuggle home some scraps."
"Yay!" Edward enthused.
Spike patted down his pants and threw a startled look to Faye. "When did you..." He trailed off, eyeing her with amused suspicion.
"A lady never gives away her secrets," She purred at him. With a wink at him, she passed over her dinner plate so he could put the remaining meaty bits in his pockets.
Jet frowned at them both. "You know, we could just ask for a to-go box."
Faye scoffed and Spike shrugged. "Where's the fun in that?"
"Yes!" Ed shouted. She continued in a stage whisper. "We must be tricky, you see, keep an eye out for witnesses and leave not a trace!"
Faye gestured at Ed and raised an eyebrow at Jet. He shook his head and held up his hands to indicate surrender to her reasoning. Jet passed his plate over to Spike as well.
"Well, if you can't change 'em - join 'em!" He intoned with a smile.
Faye rolled her eyes skyward.
Spike chuckled. "Shit man, sometimes I think you mess up sayings on purpose just to screw with us." He shared a warm look with Faye, which kept either from noticing when Jet winked at Ed.
Some days life was full of small pleasures.