Chet smiled at Meg's praise, though his mind was quickly distracted, thinking about the prairie-dogs.
"Yeah… wolves and dogs… so here's a question…" He was quiet for a moment, trying to decide how to say this, before realizing no matter how he said it, the thought was a bit brutal.
"Do we domesticate them as pets, or for the meat?" He hurried to explain himself. "I know that's awful, but our meat sources are a bit limited at the moment, and if they're genetically predisposed to not fear us as much… we could take advantage of that." He grimaced, knowing it sounded awful.
But for Chet, anything not to have to eat that blasted nutripaste.
Meg nodded thoughtfully at the question, harsh as it may have sounded. She understood the logic behind it… food was a necessity and limited for them right now. But there were times when pets could be useful, she just didn't know how useful these could be as pets right now. “Maybe there's a way to do both? I mean, some people kept pigs as pets while still eating bacon and stuff.” she mused. “We could find out how to domesticate them in general and… I guess sort out some for food and figure out what to do with the others?”
(so… I see you're back on the site. And possibly bored, if I’m reading the context on the “Is Notebook Dead” thread right)
(shuffles back in sheepishly, like a dog with his tail tucked)
(I am indeed alive… I would like to pick this back up, if you're still down)
(I would like that too. ☺️)
Chet gave a sigh of relief. "I'm down with that idea if you are. It'll be good to have the meat." Avoiding nutripaste at all costs seemed a lot easier with that in mind.
He gave a slight chuckle as he finished his veggies. "I'm glad you're ok with it. I was worried you'd think I'm just… brutal for thinking about eating something as cute as Shakespeare."
Meg shrugged with a light chuckle. “I can live with it. And I don't think you’re brutal. We're trying to survive here and limiting our food options isn't going to help us.” she explained. “Besides, we did see other… animals here. We might have more options if we can manage to hunt them. Like on those safaris in old books.”
Chet nodded. " Once I get everything put together down at the crash site, we can start thinking about traps, or better weapons, if you're wanting to do some hunting." He finished his food and gathered up his plate and utensils. He started to stand up to go wash his dishes, before pausing.
"So here's a question… reclaim the dishes, or clean them?"
"After we study their behaviors a bit more." Meg pointed out, since they really only had the one encounter with some of the different species of animals at the watering hole. "Figure out predator from prey… possible weak points, stuff like that. I could probably use the drone to observe them without disturbing them." she mused before registering Chet's question.
The domesticness of it nearly made her laugh. It was surprisingly cute for some reason she couldn't quite place. "Whichever. I hadn't thought that far ahead when I fabbed them up." she admitted. "But we can always make more if we need them, right?"
(was driving all day yesterday and busy all day today. Sorry bout that!)
Chet nodded along, once again reminded that Meg knew so much more about this stuff than he did. "I'm willing to help, but… if you wanted to make that one of your projects, I'm sure you'd be better at it than I am."
He grinned at her response. "We certainly can. And given our sink still needs a bowl, maybe it's better if we just scrap them for now." He held his hand out towards her empty plate. "Done with yours?"
(no worries.)
“I can deal with animal handling.” she nodded, assuringly. “I don't mind taking on another project. We have a lot to do but plenty of time to do it.”
Meg smiled a little and handed her plate over. “Thanks, Chet.”
