Underneath his favourite bridge, Exu is ripping into a pack of raw chicken breasts and grinding them to pieces with his teeth, washing down his food with an entire bottle of full fat milk.

Mia: And you really don't get food poisoning from any of this?

Exu: Mia, I lived off raw living tissue until a few weeks ago. Why would I suddenly be unable to eat something that's uncooked? So long as it is unprocessed, of course.

Mia: Fair enough. I'm just confused as to why you can eat the same way as most species at all.

Exu: What do you mean? Of course I can eat…

Mia: Well, if you always got your food by absorbing living people through your skin, then why would you need to have the ability to eat food any other way? How did your species evolve it?

Exu: Well, what happens if there is nobody to absorb?

Mia: Then you get a job?

Exu: And your employer gives you food.

A droplet of water from the side of the bridge lands on Mia's face and runs down the end of her nose.

Mia: And maybe a house too, if you're lucky.

Exu: Ew, I don't think so.

Mia: Sighs.

Exu: I don't understand why humans become so obsessed with this stuff, though. I mean, it's good for making sure I don't go hungry and die, but I wouldn't exactly eat it for fun.

Mia: Maybe that's because you don't cook or prepare it.

Exu: What do you mean?

Mia: Well, perhaps if you had, say, a kitchen, in which you could roast that chicken, perhaps season it, or fry it in a sauce with some vegetables and some rice. Mmm… I miss eating.

Exu: Why? What difference would that make?

Mia: Well, it would taste better.

Exu: Taste?

Mia: Yeah… you know, like how different foods taste of different things. That milk and that chicken had different tastes, right?

Exu: The milk was… more liquid than the chicken. And the chicken was much the same as… well, you, really.

Mia: Those aren't tastes!

Exu: I'm confused.

Mia: Do you have tastebuds?

Exu: What's a tastebud?

Mia: Little sensors on your tongue which tell you how things taste.

Exu: So your tongue tells you what to think of different foods?

Mia: It sends different signals to the brain depending on how well the food goes together. Sometimes, it's a happy chemical, and sometimes, I want to spit the food out and eat something else.

Exu: So, let me get this straight. If food hasn't been prepared right or something, then your tastebuds will give you a nasty sensation which makes you want to not eat it? How is that helpful?

Mia: Well, if food tastes really good then we want more of it.

Exu: But what if there is no more food?

Mia: Then we just carry on wanting more even though we can't have it. Although, nowadays, people can easily just go and get more food.

Exu: And how does that work out?

Mia: There's an obesity epidemic.

Exu: That's not good. But… I don't understand - don't people stop eating when they get too full?

Mia: No, because if their tastebuds give too much satisfaction, then it overrides their sense of needing to stop. Food companies exploit this so they can sell more food.

Exu: Looks like these tastebud things aren't working out too well for you humans, are they?

Mia: Pauses for thought. Aha! They can detect food that is poisonous!

Exu: Nothing natural poisons me. Maybe that's why my kind never developed tastebuds.

Mia: Well, that's too bad. You're missing out on a lot of amazing treats.

Exu: Like what?

Mia: Well… Last summer I tried this amazing chocolate ice cream while I was on holiday. Mmmm, it was so rich, so sweet…

Exu: I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Mia: Now I'm craving chocolate ice cream!

Exu: Really? How? You no longer have a stomach…

Mia: No, but I still have tastebuds- oh...