"I know you were, but I'm just saying, it sounds like a pretty surmountable obstacle given that you haven't eaten me and you did listen to me when I pointed out food is people."

Nod.

"And it's about time for me to eat—are you hungry at all? Should we see if we can find some deer or something?"

"I– not really?" he says. Though, you know, he probably is at least a little hungry. "Maybe a deer, I dunno."

"Should you carry me while you go hunt for some so I can remind you food is people?"

"Ye–es?" he says, a bit haltingly.

"Do you even know where or whether there are deer around?"

"No."

"Then we should probably look that up!"

Phones: what a convenient thing to exist.

They are indeed! There does happen to be a deer population nearby. How convenient.

"So let's go after them, then, shall we?"

"Yeah," he nods. Then presumably out into the backyard they go and Theo picks Sadde up again and they go?

Yep! Whee~

And then shortly they are at the edge of town and Theo is looking for a deer.

It probably won't take him very long.

No it won't! Lookit a deer! Or three!

Do they seem any tastier than the earlier squirrel?

They don't seem anything. They look like deer. And smell like deer. Maybe a faint whiff of something that could be eaten—like soy protein.

So Theo stops and puts Sadde down and says, "They're just over there and they seem just about as edible as the squirrel. Three of them."

"Okay. Can you make sure you won't eat anything that's not deer?"

"No? Not even close would I think I am justified in saying that."

"So should you maybe bring me with you while you hunt? Or, can you hunt while holding a phone?"

(Ow the sun hurts.)

(Yes it fricking does.)

"Having never tried I don't know but I don't see why I couldn't?"

"Okay so you could keep talking me through what you're doing over the phone and I could remind you about people?"

"Yeah, but there will be pauses when I'm biting."

"Then we establish a protocol that you don't bite for longer than five seconds at a stretch or something without checking in?"