"Yeah. It'll be fun!"

"Apple trees are probably not actually optimal for these purposes but we work with what we have."

"If I experiment enough maybe I'll come up with better trees."

"Excellent."

He grins.

"How long were you here before we arrived, anyway?"

"A... while. I lost track a little."

"I reiterate my open-ended offer of help maintaining psychological health."

"Thanks," he says. "I appreciate it. If I figure out how to maintain my psychological health, I'll let you know."

"Man, fuck trauma, this is all super inconvenient."

"No kidding. Wouldn't it be great if everything was nice forever?"

"Yeah."

"But instead, desolate wasteland. I mean, the desolate wasteland could definitely be worse, I guess."

"It does continue to not be a war zone."

"And it has bacon plants!"

"Bacon plants are pretty cool! All the deliciousness of bacon without all the hassle of raising, slaughtering and figuring out how the hell to butcher pigs!"

Tiro giggles.

"I've never had to deal with this process myself, mind, but someone did, and we're getting introduced to all kinds of new things we've never had to deal with anything but the finished product of before."

"Like making clothes. And building houses."

"Yeah. So apparently needle and thread is a no, for now, but is there anything else like--pins or something--that would help keep a garment assembled besides just knots?"

"Not that I've found yet."

"Annoying. Oh well, I'm sure I can figure out something sufficiently clothing-like with just knots and the ability to cut things."

"I bet you can!"

"Do you think it's alright if I make the cloth myself for practice or do you want to test me on safety procedures or something first?"

"How about I demonstrate?"