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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

[redwinekindofgirl]

[She laughs suddenly.]

Gross! Just give me the actual bugs. [She'd eat fried crickets any day over these things.]

But really, nope, got no idea... My dad might've known, but uh... I don't think I ever asked.

[hardwearing]

That's the way I feel, but some people are weird about it.

[ They're crunchy, he likes them. ]

It's not a big deal. How well do they keep? It might be a good idea to save them for the next time the shops don't restock. Some MREs dropped the last time the Door gave us stuff from home, so my crowd's probably good, but these could be useful.

[redwinekindofgirl]

You're not gonna keep them all to yourself if we all run out of food, are you?

[She's planning to save them, but not hoard them. Some people can get selfish about food. Julie wouldn't have said Wash was that kind of person.]

[hardwearing]

What? No, I'm not that selfish. I am going to hold them, though, if we pass them out now they're an easy meal and people might just... eat them rather saving them for emergencies.

[ It sounds like he's known the type. ]

Each one could be a full day's worth of food for someone not in a combat situation, if they need to be distributed there'll be instructions happening.

[redwinekindofgirl]

... Yeah, I guess you're right.

[People would probably trust someone like Wash, but she'll give it five minutes before someone starts telling her she should hand the carbtein over to somebody else who can ration it out.]

People are dumb, and especially when they're hungry.

[hardwearing]

Yeah, exactly. Even people who know how rationing works can still totally disregard it out of laziness or lack of self control, and then you're in real trouble later. But don't worry, I'm not hogging them if we hit a rough patch.

What's the shelf life on yours like?

[redwinekindofgirl]

Pff... I dunno. Years, I guess? They're totally dehydrated. [And you can really tell when you eat them.]

I've got a few hundred of them, at a guess, and one a day is enough.

[hardwearing]

...useful, but probably even grosser than I was thinking.

[redwinekindofgirl]

Really? [She snorts a little.] What were you thinking? They taste gross.

[hardwearing]

Not dehydrated, I was thinking more like... a protein block or something, with a little bit of moisture? But I guess those take more preservatives you guys might not have had.

[redwinekindofgirl]

I mean, those are from before civilisation kinda collapsed around us. They might be entirely preservatives. I think they're mostly vitamin blocks with a shot of carbs.

[Not just protein. Everything is in there.]

[hardwearing]

Eugh, they just keep sounding worse. Good to have but... I hope we don't have to actually resort to them.

[ Haha. Ha. Hahahahahaha. ]