text; @majimagoro

[hikae]

Following up on Stargirl's question, here's the answer. The Embera are edible, taste like burnt chicken, kind of chewy— not much different from how reptiles usually do. That's not on itself the biggest revelation tho. Remember how they're warned about their fire-hot venom? How lethal they are?

It's just plain wrong. These sad noodles don't even have venom sacks or anything of that sort! Their bite is just that, a bite. Also, I'm pretty sure I don't have any secret resistances to poison, I'm as a regular human as I can get.

So here is a helpful guide for yer own snake dinner: Burn down something and bait them with ash, they'll slither over. They're pretty docile, but they will bite and stab if threatened, so it's better to hunt them from at least a little distance. Right, it's their tail that's their main weapon, there's a sharp blade-like bone at the end of it.

If ya wanna hints on how to prepare them on yer own in a variety of ways, just ask Zhao. Snake on the stick is possibly the easiest, tho. Making a snake soup could feed more people at once. Tho we can't all just gather for one big picnic, that could blow our cover— still, we got a few done, and ready, just let us know where you are and we can arrange a snack delivery.

—I can't stop wondering why they have such a bad reputation among the locals. If they experience Embera's bites like they describe them, then— everything is just making less and less sense.

Comments

text | un: andy

[oiorpata]

So I guess we start collecting a supply of snake food. If we could find a few places to keep it, people could come and go at all times and take what they need to avoid looking suspicious.

[ cue andy wondering about the domestication of these lil noodles. ]

[hikae]

They eat ash and seem pretty hungry— as long as we don't run out of things to burn then, yeah, that sounds like an idea. I know people keep chickens in pens, but Embera would be a new one...

[oiorpata]

Honestly it's pretty temporary anyway, so as long as we can get enough to keep people fed, I was thinking less a full on snake house and more just a storage space to keep the ones we kill.

[hikae]

That would make things easier, yeah. If one of us works somewhere that puts them around kitchens, or the like... maybe they could, uh, smoke the meat? Or do whatever else that makes it more preservable

[oiorpata]

Hopefully we won't be here long enough to need a sort of smokehouse, but we might be able to preserve some of it in the saloon kitchens if we hide it really well. But preserving it isn't that difficult if it comes down to it.

[hikae]

Really? That's good to hear. Got worried we're missing something crucial. Truth to be told, aside from some fishing, I've been always buying my food, and I know jackshit about food preparation. Beyond, put it on a stick and grill it

[oiorpata]

Short term preservation is easier than long term. A lot of food comes already prepared these days, so cooking wild animals from scratch isn't exactly a common skill.

[hikae]

Exactly that— At least back home. Here we used to have a guy that could cook a decent meal for everyone with just stuff ya could find in the forest.

[oiorpata]

Here on this planet or the ship?

[hikae]

On the ship. He disappeared a while ago.

[oiorpata]

Heard when that happens it just means people decided to go home.