i love thinking about chris and nicole flocking to edgar like baby ducks after the events of the tribe. like, they're really just kids, and orphans at that, alone in the world aside from their aunt who they barely even know, and now here comes this older man who is kind of a dick but still dropped everything to help save their lives.
it all reminds edgar far too much of how sam came into his life, and he's very reluctant to allow another branch of the emerson family to get close, especially after losing alan and whatever falling out he and sam had. he's not a kid anymore. he knows firsthand how dangerous the hunting life is, both to himself and anyone he cares about. he tells himself that's not what this is, keeps chris and nicole at arm's length, and tries not to let himself get too comfortable.
chris needs work, is the thing, and edgar could use an extra set of hands during the warmer months. he remembers all too well what it was like to be a kid trying to make it on his own. his own parents were still alive, but they'd never really been any help to him or his brother. they'd been just as alone as chris and nicole are, until sam and michael and lucy came into their lives. on some level, he's glad he can be that for them, that he can be a helping hand for two kids that have no one else really looking out for them. it's just work, he tells himself. he can keep his distance and still make sure that chris can put food on the table.
chris, however, disagrees. he's immediately like "yeah that's eddie, he's my weird old man boss who saved my sister's life and he's kinda my best friend." they talk sometimes while working, or, really, chris talks and edgar listens, and sometimes they'll have a beer together after a long day, and he's really the only one chris can be honest with. he needs to be strong for nicole, not let her know how fucked up he is about everything, and edgar never knows what to say but at least he's there.
nicole thinks he's weird as fuck and is a little wary due to the whole almost getting staked by him thing, and she's mostly content to keep her distance and do her own thing. she's grateful that he gave chris a job and saved their lives, because upon further reflection it was really creepy how quickly shane moved in on her, and he was way too old, and his friends sucked, and he ended up being a total jackass. she misses the idea of eternity, though. not with him, but in general. the fear of death, of losing chris like they lost their parents, still follows her. she misses the strength, too, the power, the feeling of being untouchable. she spends a lot of time afraid.
she's working too, at a little bookstore that evan showed her, and she likes it well enough. she doesn't want chris to shoulder all of the burden paying rent, though she knows she'll have to cut back on hours once school starts. it's a good thing she knows how to cook a few vegetarian meals, because their budget doesn't cover much more than rice, and edgar offers a few recipes to add into the rotation, having spent the majority of his own life a broke vegetarian.
it's the first piece of common ground she finds with him. he's been a vegetarian for longer than she or chris have been alive, and he has strong opinions on everything from meat substitutes to animal rights. gradually, they find other little things they have in common: books, music, and a general sense of disillusionment with the world. edgar views most people as sheeple at best, and nicole has a growing distain for the willful ignorance of the general populace that definitely has nothing to do with how she went through crazy fucked up shit and absolutely no one aside from chris and edgar noticed or cared. she starts doing a bit that edgar hates, where when somebody pisses her off she points at them and says "i would've eaten that guy."
sometimes, when she laughs, or when they're bickering about stupid things and she's intentionally winding him up, he looks at her like he's seeing someone else. he won't talk about whatever it is, and she doesn't know what to do with any of it, and it's not until she finds a picture of her cousin tucked away in an old comic book in his trailer that the pieces fall together.
