Juuuuuust great…
Chet muttered to himself for a moment as no response came from Artemis, before sticking his head and upper body out of the shower curtain to yell louder. He could smell meat cooking, so he was relatively sure Meg was busy. "Hey, Art-"
He was incorrect, and his timing was perfect. Just as Meg stuck her hand into the curtain, he stuck his head and shoulders out, leading to a brilliant moment where she smacked him in the chest with the towel, and he was left frantically covering his lower half with the tarp.
"Uh, hi! Thanks! Sorry!" He scrambled back, pulling the tarp closed, and just hoped he hadn't just made things weird.
To be fair to the poor guy, the most noticeable thing about him was the big cut across his chest, which was healing nicely, but the long day of swinging a hammer and hauling heavy metal had been a good workout, and as tired as he was, he looked good. On top of that, Meg had seen him shirtless before, so he wasn't sure why this should be more embarrassing, assuming that was all she'd seen.
He hoped it was, anyway.
Either way, the blush that flared up across his face didn't go away for a while, even once he'd dried off and put on clean clothes. In fact, he was still faintly red by the time he walked into the tent and began assembling the bedsteads, hoping to head off the conversation with "So, where do you want these?"
Meg instantly turned red as she accidentally smacked Chet in the chest as she attempted to hand him the towel. It wasn't because he was shirtless, she had seen that before when she had bandaged him up, but probably because he was soaking wet from the shower and because she knew he was more than shirtless behind the tarp.
“Oh! Sorry. Uhh, here.” she apologized, passing off the towel before turning around and heading back to finish cooking. “Uhh… glad that your cut from the rope is looking better.”
Cooking was able to help her calm down but she still shot Artemis a look for not helping… She didn't blame her but still if she had, then she and Chet wouldn't be in this awkward situation.
“Umm, I hadn't really thought about that.” she admitted as she dabbed up a couple of plates and utensils. “But I don't think we should put them on top of the sleeping pockets.”
Artemis was sitting still and quiet, an odd action for her. She hadn't intentionally ignored anyone, but she was focusing her energies on a difficult task: sequencing the prairie-dog DNA.
"Of course. Not tonight, anyway, as I can't think of a way to get a mattress on them. So we'll still be in the pocket." Chet kept his head down, working on the bedsteads. Once they were put together, he'd got control of himself.
"That smells good, and look at you with the dishes and silverware!" He smiled at her. Nano-forging could be a learning curve, and she'd picked it up quickly.
“Right. That makes sense.” she nodded, not minding their current sleeping arrangements. But she perked up a little when he complimented her using the nano-forge. “Well, I had a good teacher.” she smiled back, handing him a plate with the cooked meat and plants. “Let me know what you think of it. We found some more food that’s safe for us to eat.”
"Ooo, veggies. Let's see if they're better than Earth greens." Chet chuckled. He speared something that looked like a root of some kind with his brand new fork, and bit into it. It tasted like a potato and a root had a baby, and he wasn't sure if he liked it.
He went on to try the other ones, making a few faces of disgust, but mostly enjoying them. The meal was a success, certainly.
Meg's reaction to his praise, as well as her contentment with their current sleeping situation, did not escape him. But he was still feeling a bit embarrassed so he said nothing.
"What do you think of the taste?"
“And let’s hope just as healthy.” she nodded as they started their meal. Though Meg chuckled to herself at the faces Chet was making but had to agree, overall, with the opinions he was showing. “Well, this one kinda tastes like something between a potato and a parsnip… I bet if we had some kind of spice or something or maybe some cheese, it could be better.” she shrugged thoughtfully. “At least this one is a little better, like a spinach-arugula or something. But arugula was never really a favorite.” she admitted.
"What do you think of what it would take to farm them? And were you and Artemis able to check the nutritional values?" Chet continued chewing, trying to envision a farm for these things.
Meg shrugged. “Probably some trial and error to figure that out but it shouldn't be that hard since it does so well here.” she admitted, having very little trouble finding some of these plants once she knew what to look for. “I did save some pieces for sample analysis but we didn't get to that part yet.”
Chet nodded as he finished up eating. "You got a lot done, it sounds like." He kinda felt bad that he hadn't checked on her more. Meg had checked on him a couple times, but he'd been so wrapped up in his work, he hadn't said much.
Artemis spoke up from her corner. "I got something."
Chet glanced over at her. "Oh?"
"Finished the DNA sequencing on the prairie-dogs."
"What's the news?"
Artemis paused for a moment, as if double checking her results. "You two were right. Shakespeare is a different species. Just slightly. He has tiny genetic differences, some of which are the same markers that tell us which breeds of animal are most likely to be able to be domesticated."
Chet grinned at Meg. "In other words…. he's the most likely to become a pet." He couldn't help himself. The thought had him laughing.
Meg blushed a little but nodded. “I know you did a lot too.” she commented, remembering all the hard work Chet did today as well.
When Artemis spoke up for the first time in, probably, hours, she listened in interest to the information. “Wow. So, kinda like the difference between wolves and dogs, right?” she nodded thoughtfully. “I’m almost wondering if we should cut back on how many of these little guys we eat so we don't get into the habit if we decide to try to get Shakespeare back as a pet.”
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.”
