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[redwinekindofgirl]

Sooooo, guys, girls, others. What's the grossest thing you've ever eaten?

[Don't mistake this for her not being concerned about Caedra, and not being concerned about generally everything, but a recent conversation and a recent find has piqued her curiosity enough to ask the question.

For her own answer, she holds up a small, white, chalky-looking cube.]

This one's mine. It's called 'carbtien', and it's basically what we live on back home, because we can't grow enough food for everyone. It's military rations, and I don't know what they put in it, but it doesn't taste of anything and when you try to swallow it, it's like your brain forgets how swallowing works.

[Julie snorts softly and drops the cube down out of sight.]

I found a big bag of them just lying around a couple of weeks ago. Weird, right? I guess I'll keep it safe for if we ever end up starving or something. You might not thank me, though.

Comments

[64th]

[ she'll be mad until she dies about the bald spot. ]

Well, it's good advice. I don't think it's an issue anymore, but after all that we weren't really interested in risking it anymore. Never thought I'd be vegetarian but this place does keep me on my toes.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Wow, Julie gets it. She'd be mad, too, though she doesn't know yet that in a few month's time she's going to have cut her own hair up to her shoulders.]

Yeah, I mean, I guess I was mostly veggie back home anyway? It's not like we have the space for livestock. The last banana I tried to eat here kind of tasted like a pear, though, and I was just not ready for it.

[64th]

[ they have really beautiful hair, it's just a fact.

she laughs. ]

I hate it when it doesn't look how it tastes. It's always weird and usually disappointing. The food here is nothing like at home, so I supposed I don't get let down often.

[redwinekindofgirl]

Pft, yeah, I mean anything that isn't carbtien is always a bonus for me. I've been stuck mostly eating this shit since I was fourteen.

[Shrug. The best thing she's had lately is a half-decade old frozen pad thai from an airport kitchen.]

If we could grow enough to support everyone in the enclave, we wouldn't have to rely on it... but we don't, and more people keep coming, and having kids for some weird reason.

[64th]

[ she gets it, in a way. Cashmere's always been one of the fools who wanted a family despite everything horrible in the world around them. but at least she knew it was stupid. ]

They must have thought things would get better. Do you think that? That things at home will get better?

[redwinekindofgirl]

I... dunno.

[The answer doesn't come easily. The vision of her father toppling backwards, a Boney's teeth sunk into his neck, floats into her mind and she suppresses a shudder.]

When I left last time, it was... kind of in a weird place.

[64th]

How was it weird? [ she believes it was weird. it seems like they all came from something strange, like coming to Hadriel was spurred by existing weirdness at home. ] Weirder than it had been?

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Julie doesn't answer immediately. The question is one she hoped wouldn't be asked, but she isn't surprised when it is. Very few people know that she left Hadriel at all, much less under what circumstances she left her home again.]

My, uh... my dad just died right in front of me. The stadium enclave was being attacked. I don't know what's going to happen next.