Originally Posted by
Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki
"Hehe, Cicadas are great. A lot of people think 'ew bugs' but, really, they're just land shrimp to me. I remember back when I was a kid... I went and caught a bunch of cicadas. I mean a lot of them. Ya know how young boys are with bugs. I took them to my dad, he, er, offed them, and then fried 'em up for dinner's appetizer. Ahh, those... those were the days. And pretty soon, my dad'll be back and... my family will be together again, after... a long time."
He took a deep breath to calm his emotions at the thought. There was so much he had to say to his father... and there was a lot his mother had to say to him, too. Like calling him a dumbass for withdrawing emotionally from his son and then working himself to death. But as long as he forgave his father, his mother said that she would, too. "I'll introduce you when he's back. I'll bet he's learned some crazy recipes in the otherworld! And gotten super-strong, like mom did."
Totoma smiled at the first of Zaofan's dishes. He wasn't that much of a fan of Tofu, but it was Zaofan, who was definitely Earth's best chef right now, so it was certain to be delicious. Heh, it was a good thing the Haurvatat technique made his hunger more... manageable, because otherwise he'd have eaten half the stuff they were cooking, instead of just sampling the cicadas. Which had turned out delicious, might he add.
"And it seems to me like you're already thinking about the future. Or beginning to. But, man, I don't think there's anything wrong with living day-to-day. It's a heckuva lot better than how I used to live... stuck in the past. I mean, yeah, obviously, I think about my future and, um, Kari's future and the Earth's future, because... I'm the madman that decided 'hey, let's be Earth's protector!' but mostly I'm like you. One day at a time, just... enjoying the whole 'living' thing as it happens. And... corn bread sounds good. Maybe some milk bread, too, if we've got the ingredients. I... think we do. Somewhere."
As for training... "Heck yeah I'm gonna train them. Figure me, my mom, Kari, dad, and Kari's dad can all contribute to that. Considering how strong Kari and I have gotten--and how much stronger we'll get in the future--our kids are gonna be something else! Heh, maybe my and Kari's kids will be able to play with your and Etrina's kids... assuming they're around the same age, anyway."
Hm, some more soup to warm the soul would do the team some good. Let's see... looking at the remaining ingredients, he could probably make quite a few servings of egg drop soup. After a moment of private deliberation, Totoma added that to his insane bit of culinary multi-tasking.
"This'll actually be the first time you've had my cooking, isn't it? Heh, I'm a bit nervous; I hope I live up to your expectations!"