[So, good news: Being a single parent to an elementary-school age child, even for only a relatively short time, Grant is no stranger to being interrupted when he's about to sleep with bizarre questions or comments.
That... doesn't mean he has any idea what Dimitri is talking about, of course. He looks up from scooting into his sleeping bag, glancing over to make sure Chip is still asleep before answering quietly.]
I was speaking with a person through the- Gear. [Still a weird word to say, he won't lie.] She said that she did not often eat meat here... as no one knows where it is from.
That is... a little worrying. [Real talk, he had kind of figured it must be Pokemon? But, uh. That kinda makes it sound like it is, at least, definitely not Pokemon.]
[Man, okay, he guesses he's got to wake himself back up now. Just, reverse all the process he was making toward sleep to sort this out, because Dimitri seems, uh... troubled over this.]
Mm... that makes sense. Not everyone likes the texture of imitation meat, and if people don't know how it's made I can't blame her for trusting it.
[Yes, he is going to assume for the time being that the meat is just like, soy burgers.]
Oh, no, they don't, uh... they don't grow looking like meat. It's more like-- so. [He sits upright. It's Explaining Time. He is no expert on the processes involved in making meat substitutes, but he can try.]
They take the plants - I think it's usually beans? - and those get, uh, chopped up, or dried and crushed into a powder. And then they use... I don't know what they use, but there are some, uh... binding agents, for getting it all to stick together again? And if they use the right binding agents in the right amounts and... process it to develop the texture, it can kind of look and feel like meat.
--After it's cooked, that is, I don't know if I've seen any that looks like raw meat.
[If that kind of vegetation grew in Fodlan, grew in Faerghus.... for a moment, he almost feels like he were younger again, and this were something important.]
[...But of course it isn't. He recalls that soon enough - that he's not fit to be a leader, and, even if he were, well.... It's not as though he can do anything now. Some of the interest, the energy, fades from his eye, and he considers this new fact with a... calmer disposition.]
...I do not believe those are the meats the woman was speaking of. From what you have told me, there seems to be a greater mystery behind them. If not, surely they would be simply advertised as such. She also said it was unlikely that they could be Pokemon, for there are towns where one is attacked for possessing such thoughts.
And I doubt it is human flesh.
[He'll just. drop that there.]
Still... You are a father. I thought... you might care to have such knowledge in your hands, so that the choice for your family could be in the same.
[Okay, well, to be fair, Grant guesses that cannibalism is bound to come up in discussions of Mystery Meats From Unknown Sources. However: Way to just plop that into the conversation, buddy!!
However, there's no sticking on that point for too long - not when Dimitri immediately follows it with reminding Grant, once again, what kind of person he actually is, however awkward and concerning his behavior may be at times.
Grant nods, his quiet appreciation showing in his face and voice alike.] ...Thank you. I am glad you told me.
...The foods we have brought with us so far have been doing us well, but I am concerned about the lack of animals to hunt out here on the road. If these shells of ours still require the mimicry of sustenance-
[yeah he's still holding onto that afterlife theory]
-then I am worried about our options. I will do my due diligence when we arrive in the next town.
...I am disrupting your sleep. [Right. A thing Grant does. Unlike him.]
Uh... [Okay, he's still not gonna touch the afterlife thing.] I don't think we need to worry about hunting, just... buying stuff whenever we're in a town should do fine, long as we plan ahead.
[He waves a hand vaguely.] Don't worry about it. It'd probably be a while before I was actually asleep, anyway. [Which-- okay, yes, he has basically started over the "going to sleep" process here, but frankly? Having something to focus his thoughts on might speed it up a bit when he lies back down. Better than just letting his mind wander where it will, that's for sure.]
[Grant can say that it is no trouble, but still... Dimitri worries.]
...I will procure chamomile tea when we arrive at the next town. I cannot speak of its taste, but the smell, and its warmth, used to assist in my own attempts to sleep...
[You know, when he made more of an attempt to do it.]
Oh - I appreciate it, but you don't have to do that. Unless it might help you, too, in which case I... absolutely encourage that. [He's fine, really!! Grant is pretty sure that taking a bit to fall asleep doesn't really compare to Dimitri's situation, alright.]
It just takes me a few minutes, is all. Usually no more trouble than that these days.
[He'll make sure no more rat hordes try to jump them. After making sure that Chip is completely asleep and warm - helped by Dimitri draping his own cloak over them - he goes back to his post and adjusts himself for a long night.]
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That... doesn't mean he has any idea what Dimitri is talking about, of course. He looks up from scooting into his sleeping bag, glancing over to make sure Chip is still asleep before answering quietly.]
What?
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Maybe meat substitutes are just... standard here?
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The girl said she got her - protein from other sources. She referred to beans, and nuts...
[Dimitri would not have thought you could replace eating meat with eating nuts from trees and such, but hey...]
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Mm... that makes sense. Not everyone likes the texture of imitation meat, and if people don't know how it's made I can't blame her for trusting it.
[Yes, he is going to assume for the time being that the meat is just like, soy burgers.]
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Imitation... meat? Is that... what she was referring to when she spoke of meat made from plants?
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[He's going with that response, because it's that or "wait, do you not know what imitation meat is", and... that second one would be shitty.
Also, frankly, he shouldn't be surprised anymore when Dimitri doesn't know what things are.]
Yeah, plant matter or... sometimes fungus can be processed to resemble meat.
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...But they are plants?
Are there plants in your homeland, Grant, that look like meat?
[If so, that's... Well. That's sure a thing.]
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They take the plants - I think it's usually beans? - and those get, uh, chopped up, or dried and crushed into a powder. And then they use... I don't know what they use, but there are some, uh... binding agents, for getting it all to stick together again? And if they use the right binding agents in the right amounts and... process it to develop the texture, it can kind of look and feel like meat.
--After it's cooked, that is, I don't know if I've seen any that looks like raw meat.
cannibalism tw again for fucks sake dimitri
[If that kind of vegetation grew in Fodlan, grew in Faerghus.... for a moment, he almost feels like he were younger again, and this were something important.]
[...But of course it isn't. He recalls that soon enough - that he's not fit to be a leader, and, even if he were, well.... It's not as though he can do anything now. Some of the interest, the energy, fades from his eye, and he considers this new fact with a... calmer disposition.]
...I do not believe those are the meats the woman was speaking of. From what you have told me, there seems to be a greater mystery behind them. If not, surely they would be simply advertised as such. She also said it was unlikely that they could be Pokemon, for there are towns where one is attacked for possessing such thoughts.
And I doubt it is human flesh.
[He'll just. drop that there.]
Still... You are a father. I thought... you might care to have such knowledge in your hands, so that the choice for your family could be in the same.
dimitri PLEASE
However, there's no sticking on that point for too long - not when Dimitri immediately follows it with reminding Grant, once again, what kind of person he actually is, however awkward and concerning his behavior may be at times.
Grant nods, his quiet appreciation showing in his face and voice alike.] ...Thank you. I am glad you told me.
there's no good way to bring it up, grant!
...The foods we have brought with us so far have been doing us well, but I am concerned about the lack of animals to hunt out here on the road. If these shells of ours still require the mimicry of sustenance-
[yeah he's still holding onto that afterlife theory]
-then I am worried about our options. I will do my due diligence when we arrive in the next town.
...I am disrupting your sleep. [Right. A thing Grant does. Unlike him.]
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[He waves a hand vaguely.] Don't worry about it. It'd probably be a while before I was actually asleep, anyway. [Which-- okay, yes, he has basically started over the "going to sleep" process here, but frankly? Having something to focus his thoughts on might speed it up a bit when he lies back down. Better than just letting his mind wander where it will, that's for sure.]
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...I will procure chamomile tea when we arrive at the next town. I cannot speak of its taste, but the smell, and its warmth, used to assist in my own attempts to sleep...
[You know, when he made more of an attempt to do it.]
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It just takes me a few minutes, is all. Usually no more trouble than that these days.
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Then, I will go back to keeping watch.
[He'll make sure no more rat hordes try to jump them. After making sure that Chip is completely asleep and warm - helped by Dimitri draping his own cloak over them - he goes back to his post and adjusts himself for a long night.]