"You can't keep animals. I guess you can keep a cat if you really want. But definitely not for food."

"Uh, I think what Talaskai is trying to say is, you will, uh, definitely attract missiles if you try to keep a herd in one place. It's not good for the land and some people get very - excitable - about that."

"I don't feel like that makes sense? Even if it's not good for the land, isn't growing many kinds of plants similarly bad? And people are fine doing that."

"We're very careful with the plants! It's only round the edges and only things that could have grown here anyway."

"I guess the rice fields are a bit controversial, but mining endeavours tend to get away with it because it's not something everyone wants to do and it is something everyone wants the output from."

"So is cheese, but you make it sound like keeping a herd would be different somehow?"

"Cheese isn't something you need, it's something you want. People need metal, so if you're producing it you get a bit of a pass on whatever other eccentric project helps you stay sane and make more of it."

"Where I come from, we have a saying: 'Even being alive is a want, not a need'. It means that calling some things wants and other things needs, and that affecting your thinking, is dumb! Why would the thing counting as a need rather than a want matter? You're still hurting the land to make your lives better!"

"Uh, because we like being alive a lot more than we like cheese? 

It's, yeah, I guess it's a spectrum? But there's still more important and less important things.

Unless you do actually need cheese? In which case we can get it, but it might take a while to find where and go there."

"...I can literally survive without cheese, yes." Cynthia starts thinking, placing her hand under her chin.

In which case they will make some more progress towards the camp! 

The campsite is mostly jury rigged cloth tarpaulins with sewn in ropes, tied to trees and each other. It's mostly a shade structure and rain shelter, there are some quite nice looking cloth covered camping mattresses and some rather makeshift wooden chairs with seat cushions, and some wooden storage containers with wheels.

There is a camp fire area just outside the tarp structure, with a big metal pot held up by a metal stake between two wooden poles, which some kind of stew is cooking in. The trio's promised third member is fussing over the fire.

In general the most common materials look primarily like plant fibres, feathers and fish derivatives, followed by wood, with metal and a plastic-ish substance only where the material properties are really important.

...she'd want to end up at nuclear energy as soon as possible. Just like how her people did it. But ahh how? Right, reactors are the best for making reactor materials. For later.

Cynthia tries to guess what's in the stew by how it smells.

"Jumilla, step away from the fire and then look up," advises Jeeee, who doesn't think Jumilla is as much of the fainting type as Talaskai but doesn't want to take any chances.

The stew mostly smells of Vegetables and possibly a hint of potato. 

Jumilla does as instructed.

"Oh," she says. "What even is that?"

"I'm what's called a human!" Cynthia answers.

Jumilla blinks rapidly. "I guess that's why they told me to stay away from the fire! 

...do we even have a species word that works? It seems a bit rude just to call ourselves people, I guess you're also a people?"

"They claim not to have a soul," explains Talaskai.

"Yes that's correct, nothing and nobody has a soul!"

"Oh, are you some kind of advanced automata? I read a novel about that once!"

"No not that either. I'm a totally normal living, breathing animal."

"Oh good. Do you want a seat or some water or snacks? I'm not sure what you eat but we must have something."

"I'll try whatever you think I'd like best? I'm not thirsty."

"Hmm," says Junilla, going over to one of the boxes and flipping up the lid to look through a bunch of packed food. The packaging is partly paper bags and partly a somewhat plastic like but more crinkly substance.

Talaskai is about to blurt out something from their earlier conversation, but Jeeee shushes kim.

"Okay, let's try dried tuna strips, most people like that. If it's a bit bland we also have some trevally."

Ke gets out a small wooden plate and pours some tuna jerky from a bag onto it, then re-ties the bag knot, and presents the plate to Cynthia.