"Ice cream…" Tadao raised his brows. "I've heard of the confection, seen photographs of it, never had a chance to try it." Truthfully, it was one of those foods that Andross advised against consuming, unlike other unhealthy foods like pizza, burgers, and assorted other fast foods. "I think I would be curious to see how it tastes. Though… Colder foods tend to make poikilothermic species like mine cool down too much if an overabundance is consumed."

"I'll start you off with a little," Alicia said, taking note of his comment on his physiology.

Just then, Kiersey returned to the kitchen, entering through that alcove that leads from the formal dining room. "Ugh, gawd. I have a month's worth of undone laundry." She opened the refrigerator to get one of those bottles of water in the fancy packaging.

"You also need to get that room squared away," Alicia said, opening a cabinet to retrieve a fancy glass cereal bowl and setting it on the engineered quartz surface of the kitchen island. "It looks like you ransacked the place." Not hearing a response from her daughter, she pressed the issue. "Kiersey? Are you listening?" She turned to see her daughter bolting the bottle in three gulps, the plastic crackling as it was crushed from the liquid being vacuumed out of it. Crossing her arms, Alicia waited.

Once she finished the bottle, Kiersey screwed the cap back on, and was about to discard it in the recycling bin when she locked eyes with her mom. Wondering what she was being stared at for, "...What?" she honestly didn't know.

"Your room. Kleen. Itt."

"Yeah, whatevs, Mom." Kiersey said, flippantly as she turned around to toss the crushed bottle in the blue bin with other disposed-of articles made of paper, glass, plastic, and aluminum. While her mother was distracted as she opened the freezer drawer of the refrigerator, Kiersey thought it appropriate to help herself to a honey-drizzled green bean.

Carton ice cream in hand, Alicia turned around to place it on the counter, just in time to see her daughter, with whatever nuclear waste she had covering her unwashed hands, as she plucked a green bean from the pan and munch on it. And as Alicia watched this act of heresy performed by her daughter, her expression morphed from something akin to bewilderment to something that was a sort of, Woman, what in the WORLD are you doing?

"Kiersey."

"Ya?"

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

"Hmm?" Kiersey turned to Alicia, who looked like she wanted to wring her daughter's neck like a Holiday goose.

"Did you even wash your hands?"

"Mom, c'mon. It's just a green bean!"

"-Girl, please. Get lost," Alicia said, waving her daughter off dismissively to shoo her from the kitchen.

"Kay!" Kiersey's tone was coy as she turned to leave, ambling away merrily to go play video games or take over the world. Whichever came first.

Alicia stared at her retreating form with a look of affectionate disdain. Once she turned the corner and disappeared from Alicia's sight, she turned to Tadao, who was sitting at the breakfast bar looking as though he needed to suppress laughter.

Tadao knew that unclean hands around food was definitely a concern, but it was a far cry from the sanitary conditions he dealt with in the Fortunan jungle during those ten years. He'd lived without plumbing, using nearby rivers and streams as his running water. And he did not have anything in the way of soap, which had long since run out from his initial supplies. For much of the time, he would be filthy and caked with mud. And when he needed to prepare a meal, he either needed to go hunting or foraging or picking fruit. Then, he'd need to skin the animals he hunted, carve the edible parts off, and roast it over open flames outside his cave. Considering he was a trained medic, he knew it was all incredibly unsanitary, although it was the best he could do, given the circumstances.

"...Wait, where was I…?" Alicia then glanced down at the carton of frozen dessert on the counter. "Oh, right! Ice cream," she said, picking up the carton to verify its contents. "It's actually not ice cream…" She read the label. "...but raspberry cheesecake-frozen yogurt. A little healthier, but not by much." Removing the lid, she peeled off the plastic seal and tossed it in the trash before taking out a scooping utensil from one of the drawers in the island as well as a regular table spoon. With the scoop, she dug into the dessert, scooping two servings into the bowl. Placing the spoon in the bowl, she set it down in front of Tadao. "Enjoy!"

While Alicia described the flavors, Tadao's eyes widened. Something like that would be a very decadent dessert where he was from. And here he was receiving it as though it were the most normal thing in the world. In any event, he nodded his thanks and took the first bit. "Oh my… It's very sweet." He wasn't used to getting that much sugar in one spoonful, not to mention it was a bit uncomfortable to feel something that cold mouthful flowing down his esophagus. Chills surged through his cold-blooded body. Nevertheless, that flavor… It was an explosion. A very exotic taste, compared to the fruit he was used to harvesting in the jungle. "...It's very good." He took another bite, a smaller one the second time, so it would be such a shock to his system. He wondered if the sugar might counteract how the coldness would slow him down. "I will need to take it slow, however."

Alicia smiled, taking pleasure in his enjoyment of the frozen treat. "Take your time! Savor the flavor." Turning around, she opened the gourmet oven to place the pan of green beans and chicken on the oven racks. Closing the door, she set the timer for twenty minutes. She then stared at the food through the oven window, trying to remember something...Then had an ah-ha moment as she recalled what it was. "I'll be right back," Alicia said, leaving Tadao in the kitchen with his frozen yogurt.

Going upstairs to the second floor, she went into the hallway laundry to check the machines, opening the washer and finding an unwashed load of Kiersey's clothes sitting in the drum, dry as a bone and musky as a non-sentient baby goat. "Ugh, this girl… She's doing the absolute most." Closing the door of the machine, turned a dial and started a wash cycle, and poured a cup of eco-friendly detergent into the dispenser drawer. Once that was taken care of, Alicia picked up a wicker laundry basket from the counter and left the laundry room. Walking into the upstairs media room, she gently rapped on the door of the "Princess Suite." Not hearing a response, she opened the door to her daughter's room to see Kiersey resting on her canopy bed, back turned, wearing her earpods while she listened to her playlist stream on her phone. The room was dark, having the blinds of the windows closed and the black-out curtains on the double doors leading to her balcony drawn. There was an assortment of soiled clothing on the floor, which was spilling over from the laundry hamper near the door to her room. The waste basket was overflowing with bags, wrappers, and cartons from fast food eateries. Her computer desk was proliferated with wadded up notebook papers, old sales receipts, and various emptied drink vessels. And it smelled like musk, unwashed feet, or something… Alicia wondered how, in all of the universe's arrangements, her daughter could allow herself to live like this… Lifting a finger, Alicia opened her mouth to speak, then immediately decided against it and pulled the door closed.

Kiersey, thinking she heard someone close her bedroom door, took out her earphones and turned around to inspect the area behind her, only to see nothing and no one. Shrugging it off, she put her headphones back in and continued listening to her EDM playlist.

Alicia opened the door to her son's room and was greeted by a more pleasant presentation. And smell. Maxwell was good at keeping his room clean and organized. The decor was much more Euclidean and masculine than his sister's pink-and-black "Punk Rock Princess" motif. The bed was made, there were no clothes or rubbish on the floor, and all of his books and collectibles were collocated on the bookshelves and storage alcoves. Walking into the room, she sat down on her son's bed and took a deep, refreshing breath. Though she would speak no ill against her daughter and first-born, Alicia did appreciate how neat and orderly her son kept his life.

Getting up, she approached his laundry hamper, which was overfilled, but not spilling out onto the floor like Kiersey's. Sorting through the hamper, she pulled out all of the whites and placed them in the wicker basket she brought with her. As she was about to leave the room, she heard the sound of a loud diesel engine coming up the street. Walking to the window for a view of the streetscape, she looked through the plantation shutters. Her heart sank to see an ever-familiar super duty crew-cab pick up pulling up to the curb.

"Ooh… Oh my." Alicia breathed, trying to steady her nerves and speeding pulse. She was going to try her best to play it cool. Picking up the laundry basket, she left her son's room, and placed the basket on the counter in the laundry before hurrying downstairs.

Tadao also heard the sound of a vehicle approaching the house. The sound was rather difficult to miss. Considering he needed careful heering in the jungle for potential hazards coming his way, his ears picked it up without much issue. He could sense Alicia's mild tension as she came back downstairs into the kitchen. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Uhhh…" Alicia stared at Tadao, and flashed through her options: 1, she could hide him, out of sight, out of mind; 2, she could go with her original plan and play it cool; and/or 3, she could tell him to prepare for all hell to break loose, for this was the quiet before the storm, and the metaphorical excrement was about to hit the proverbial fan. Backing up towards the entrance of the greatroom, she craned her head to look into the foyer, seeing figures through the frosted glass of the door. "Hold that thought," Alicia said before bolting off into the foyer, heels clicking frantically on the ceramic tile. Just as she reached the front door, the doorbell rang.