Originally Posted by
grampagen
When Evangeline approached with the meagre portion she could spare, Zaofan looked over the contents. The last strands of saffron clung to the cork of the vial, a knob white truffle sealed in another. Bits of fleur de sel set themselves like snowflakes, stilled from their humble origins risen and gathered by hand from the surfaces of shallow mineral pools to a suspended moment behind the glass - the moment they got free, they would dissolve instantly as a garnish.
Zaofan dabbed the corners of his eyes and reached for them shakily, then hesitated. Taking her hand, he slowly, but firmly, closed the case once again.
"Thank you, but it's not about me. It's...this place, and this kitchen...," he stammered, his tone subdued, yet the way he struggled to find the words was very much unlike him.
"...when we first came to the Lookout five years ago, you remember. There wasn't much here. Nobody expected much of this place, and if it weren't for the promise of getting stronger under your guidance or the promises made...well, there was an enemy to fight then, right? For a lot of us it wasn't even personal so there was even less reason to stay."
With a sniffle, he dabbed his face in his sleeve before he continued.
"You've given a lot of yourself for this world, Eva. Until very recently, you've been playing it very close, and with every crisis, that's a fresh opportunity for a test. And when that was done with, it feels like Earth was just a stop in the road onto a higher plateau to leave behind. It's different for us, this is home. But through it all, we've made a lot of good friends and comrades, haven't we? Can't just spend all that time training l so I started cooking again, and..."
The derelict kitchen spoke louder than any of Zaofan's words could.
"...that wasn't just to pass the time. I wanted to give everyone...a-a reason to come back."
Auroc took that from him. Wounds close, bruises heal.
This had hurt him.
"...you're right, Sasheem."
Shakily, he stood up, and his balance was wobbly.
"Things are bad, but thanks to all of us, we pulled through. Other worlds, they may not be so fortunate. Everything they've built up, instantly, could've been turned over old enemies, or things from other universes scheming to take what they desire..."
Though his eyes were dull and glassy, Zaofan's tone hardened.
"It's kind of funny, but over all these years, every enemy we've encountered thought they had it all figured out. If they can threaten something with annihilation, they could control it, absolutely, force it to be what they want it to be. One thing's for sure, though. Until we do something about Sakin, this is not going to stop."
"...when we get to the other side of this, there'll be plenty of dishes to be done," Zaofan smiled uneasily, but his hands, folded into his pockets, hadn't stopped shaking. "But Auroc...he's already gone back to a place nobody here should follow."
Even with the knowledge that this would have been, effectively, the Proto-Majin's last meal, there was an ache that lingered he hadn't felt since the aftermath of his long journey to Baradur. The time they'd lost, the moments he let slip by, a piece of that would be lost forever.
"Face it, for a creature that came straight out of HFIL, there's nothing more we can do to him, because already he has nothing left to lose."
Slowly, Zaofan turned towards the sickly, pale-yellow, freshly resurrected elephant in the room. The strange, echoing pulse in each of Koorimaru's footfalls as he stepped forward put him on edge before, but here, in his shattered sanctum gastronome...
...that was it, he'd never seen him in the kitchen before. Why, he'd never so much as seen the guy eat a morsel, much less willingly move this close to the group at large. Even so, for him, this was offputting. Strange times indeed.
Old habits, however, seemed to linger, as the air grew thick with animosity. The blood feud between Saiyans and Arcosians was not lost on Tasure, while Koorimaru himself spoke of his martial brother.
"It'd be easy enough for you to find out if you didn't discard your communicator, along with the rest of us," Zaofan replied.
Sniffing sharply, his mind snapped to focus. Though he hadn't much more than his experiences to draw upon, the chef had not been idle in his training over the last year; acquiring his fighting skills through sheer guts and hard work, reading Koorimaru's body language, that turn in his expression, he understood immediately there was something lingering under the surface, and with it a subtle revelation.
When the enemy contracts, I expand.
"He said he'll be here, so he'll be here. Unlike you, showing up out of the blue, he has a world to save. When the Universe needs someone to fight for it, he's always stepped up, and moving forward without abandoning anyone, that takes time. What did you do? Last I heard from Inanna and Parsley, you were the one with the target on the back of your head."
His hands slowly unfurled from his pockets, and a hint of the depths of his ki reserves began to coalesce; like most of the Earthling defense, he'd only gotten started and hadn't even begun to exert himself.
"...you want me to call him for you, you'd better stop beating around the bush."