Tadao returned a smile, remembering something as she mentioned that.

"Hmm… In the Fortunan jungle, it was extremely humid and hot. Not that it was an issue to me. It is an ideal climate for someone of my species. However, there were many days where I went without a shirt because it was more comfortable as well… But, of course it is less of a problem for men to do that."

There was a scratching at the back door, which alerted Tadao. Alicia simply stood up from her seat and walked to the door. The Venomian couldn't see what was making the noise, but he could see a shadow through the closed blinds. Some kind of animal? He was a little wary…

"Like," Alicia began. "...How the hell did you manage?"

Tadao was a little distracted at the question, as something darted into the house and disappeared behind some furniture when Alicia casually opened the door, seemingly to let it in and closing it afterwards.

What was that? Tadao wondered.

Bringing his attention back to his host, he addressed her question. "Well, the jungle has all that you need to survive, if you are willing to work for it. Food comes from foraging and hunting, water comes from streams and rain, shelter comes from caves or you must build your shelter from giant leaves, and odds and ends in the jungle. You won't live like this…" He motioned around the room. "But, at least you will live."

He went on to explain that there was one thing that helped him the most, however: Andross. Not directly, though. But in the ten years he was there, Tadao believed that the Venomian military was still out there fighting the war. It was a lie, but it kept him going. If he could believe they were still fighting, his survival was but a mere trifle compared to what they had to go through. He did not want to get to the afterlife, meet his comrades, and tell them he'd simply decided to lay down and die in the jungle. No… He had to keep going, keep pushing until he could make himself useful for Venom somewhere else…

He then shook his head. "Again, all a lie. But I probably would have lost hope and died had I not kept myself believing in that. It saved my life." He had a crestfallen look upon his face now. "But you can imagine what the snap back to reality was like. Learning the truth, once I got out of there."

Alicia nodded, silent momentarily as she combed through her lexicon for something, anything comparable to his story. She clamped her mouth shut and put her fork down, and found the words to speak. "...Not too sure I have anything that compares to that, but if I may…" She cleared her throat. "When Derek divorced me, I was completely lost and without direction. Other than my kids, he was the center of my world. And, well… I pined for him for so long and so hard, that it was almost physically painful. And… I thought I'd fixed myself, fixed the reason why he divorced me, he'd want me back. Took me a good ten or so years to get that reason - or reasons - under control; years of soul searching, years of self care, years of–"

Alicia suddenly stopped speaking and looked down at something next to her as it caught her eye. Reaching down, she stroked the back of whatever it was. Looking back up at Tadao, she continued speaking.

"–So, as I was saying, years of self care and shadow work, letting go of the past, forgiving Derek for his faults and forgiving myself for my own… And when it was all said and done, I thought I wanted him back. But after all that personal work, I realized that…" She shrugged. "...He simply wasn't worth the effort I put into myself. I experienced personal growth, and Derek hadn't changed since high school. You saw how he was carrying on about his ass when he saw you, right?" Alicia chuckled. "I apologize for rambling like this. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that… Perhaps, in a way, we spent years trying to better ourselves, to hold onto something that wasn't all it was cracked up to be? And… I'm sure that realizing that the war was over and your 'purpose' no longer existed, had to be the biggest disappointment of your life, to say the least. I dunno, maybe it was the same with me and Derek. I just thought, is this REALLY what I've put myself through all this hell for?"

"Heyyyyyy!" Kiersey butted in. "That's my dad you're talking about!"

"Heh. Don't get me wrong, Kiersey, I still love your dad to this day. He gave me you and Max!" Turning back to Tadao, she continued her monologue. "He… was just not on my level in terms of mentality and maturity. ANd for a long time after that, I felt like I'd wasted my time. That's when I had to realize that I'm my own person outside of Derek's wants and expectations. So… Tadao, don't feel as though this was all for nothing. I don't know if you have a thing you believe in or not. Personally, I don't have one myself. But what I've realized is that whatever we go through, there is always some kind of lesson or reason for it. Does that make sense?"

Tadao nodded. "It makes perfect sense. I've got a lot to learn about what has happened to the Lylat System from being in the jungle for so long. And I think your example is closer than you think." He chuckled a little bit at the notion of love. "You could say the Venomian cause meant so much to me. It was practically my partner instead of an actual wife. I didn't have time for something like that when there was work to be done for the great Andross." He spoke with a great deal of sarcasm there.

He did have to find something new to believe in, he explained. Ten years of believing in Andross left him with little need to explore other pursuits. "I really have no idea what I am going to do during this time living with you. I always felt like I needed to attach myself to something bigger than myself somehow." His gaze seemed to stretch to infinity at this point. "But now, I have no idea what to do. This is the first time in my life I've felt unsure of what direction I want to take…"

Lifting Norman into her lap to continue petting him, she pondered what else to say. "See, the good thing about these big disappointments in our lives is that they can actually be liberating in my opinion. They allow us the chance to choose where we want to go from that point." Norman rolled onto his back, exposing his floofy belly, which Alicia dug her fingers into to tickle him. "I'd outgrown Derek, and I had to take a step back and take an honest inventory of my life: I have a first-rate college education; I work from home at my leisure; I've raised two amazing children; and I've just about conquered one of my greatest life-long battles… I've overcome and done some amazing things, and it's like… I'm at the point where I feel like I am able to take on the universe." Alicia looked up at Tadao and smiled. "Perhaps this might be your opportunity, Tadao."

"I think it is," Tadao smiled back. "Although the path before me has never felt so uncertain… I'm surprised you have problems of your own though." He gestured again at the room. "You have all of this nice stuff… this beautiful home, your children… I've never even gotten to have my own bedroom, let alone in such a big house. That's why it was such a surprise to see Derek storming into the place. It shocked me, although in a way… It was comforting. To know that I'm not alone in my struggles."

Curious, however, Tadao leaned over to get a view around the table to see what was in Alicia's lap. He seemed a bit mesmerized by… Whatever it was. "What's that?"

"Oh, this?" Alicia was just DYING for him to ask. She lifted the mask-and-mantle bicolor pet cat like the long, furry noodle he was and scooped him up like an infant. "This is Norman!"

"A… pet?" Tadao gazed at the creature. "Definitely nothing like that on MacBeth where I am from. It's so… Cute. I've never had my own pet before though… We didn't really have time for them back then."

Alicia snorted and laughed, seemingly amused at how Tadao is new to the concept of companion animals. Scooping Norman into her arms, she cuddled him like the baby he was. "He's my kwoot widdle baby!" she cooed as she dug her nose into his fluffy belly as he casually craned his head around the room to survey the space.

Tadao smiled as he watched Alicia cuddle the cat. Why was she talking to it like a baby? Though… he felt a wave of sadness sweep over him. Norman seemed to be living a better life than most of the sentient people he'd grown up with on MacBeth. In any event, Tadao reached over, tempted to touch the animal's stomach.

Sensing movement, Norman turned his head towards Tadao to get a good look at him. Seeing that the new person was reaching towards him, the cat pitched his head towards the hand to smell it as it approached, opening his mouth slightly to perform that Flehmen response thing, also giving everyone nearby to hear him purr through his open mouth. Either because he liked Tadao now, or because his hand tasted and smelled like roasted chicken, Norman started affectionately licking Tadao's fingers, intermittently between rubbing his cheeks on his hand.

"Aww, he likes you!" Alicia grinned.

Tadao likes the sensation of Norman rubbing his head against his hand. It also felt bizarre to be licked by such a creature. His tongue was… Raspy. And moist. It felt rather odd to him, considering there was no friendly wildlife to speak of on MacBeth of Venom. Most of it was mutated beyond recognition or it was harsh to whomever dared to get close. Survival of the fittest in both ecosystems. But to have such an adorable creature loving on him… It felt nostalgic all of a sudden. He'd never had a pet before, so it didn't make sense. So, why did this somehow feel familiar, as though he'd done it before?

In any case, he liked the sensation of Norman's fur on his fingers. It felt so plush.

"...Do you not think it is rather odd that there are sentient versions of cats out there too, and we also still have non-sentient versions of cats?"

Alicia laughed in earnest. "It is, right?"

"I have to wonder, what sort of evolutionary chain in various Lylatian races led to this happening?"

That was an intriguing question, Alicia thought, as she continued to stroke norman's belly, until he began impatiently trying to wriggle free of her cuddles. "Fine. Go away. No one likes you anymore," she jokingly berated her cat as she put him down. He answered by sauntering away into the next room. "So," Alicia began addressing Tadao's inquiry, "I took an evolutionary biology elective while attending university. It really is weird, because… You and I–" she motioned towards Tadao and then herself, "-we share a lot of genomes that make us both sentient and a unique branch of the evolutionary chain. A lot of different sentient species share the same number of chromosomes, which allows us to be able to sire children with one another. So then, we're 'kinda' the same species But then…–For example I'm clearly a dog and you're an iguana, and outside of those shared genomes and chromosomes we have in common, there are whole other sets of genes that liken us to our… Origin animals."

"Yes," Tadao said. "I understand. I do have some background in that since I did learn medical science to become a medic. I've been wondering why it happened to all the various species at about the same time, however. As though we all suddenly became bipedal and imbued with the ability to reason…"

"It is weird, especially when you get into all the weird theories, conspiracies, and whatever else… But that's a whole 'nother animal for a whole 'nother story for a whole 'nother topic for a whole 'nother day." Alicia then looked to address the other two sitting at the table. Kiersey hadn't said a single word throughout the exchange between Tadao and Alicia, having had her earbuds plugged in while she looked down at her cell phone, periodically tapping on the screen.

"You with us, Kiersey?"

Kiersey didn't respond, still enamored with whatever video or application was on her phone's touch screen. She just happened to glance up at her mother, who was looking expectantly. Pausing the game/app/video/whatever/etcetera, she took an earbud out. "What happened?"

"Uh…" Alicia opened her mouth, staring stupidly as she forgot what she was about to say to her daughter. She then looked over at the spot where her son was supposed to be, finding it vacant. "Where'd Max go?"

Kiersey shrugged. "Probably upstairs." She then plugged her earbud back in and resumed what she was doing on her phone.

"Is everything okay?" Tadao wondered, oddly concerned that they didn't know of Max's whereabouts.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Alicia said as she got up to walk around the table to clean her son's mess. Collecting the plate and glass, she tossed the polystyrene plate with the half-eaten pizza pocket into the kitchen trash and placed the glass into the kitchen sink. Turning around, her eyes happened to land on a spot on the floor, halfway across the room. At the entrance of the greatroom. Trekking over to the spot in question, she gave a rather peculiar look as she kneeled down to inspect whatever the dark red spot was that stained the glossy engineered oak.

It was dried blood. From when Derek hit her.

Pausing the video again, Kiersey eyed her mom as she stood up and walked to the kitchen sink to access the cabinet underneath it, noticing a steely determination in her carriage. The bottle of eco-friendly all-purpose cleaner was placed on the counter with a little more avidity than what was needed, and Alicia ripped a few kitchen towels (brown, made from recycled material) from the roll. Towels in hand, she grabbed the bottle of lemon-scented cleaner and stalked over to the spot of dried blood, sprayed it, and wiped it, leaving an unsightly red ring. Spraying more vigorously the second time, she scrubbed ardently to remove any trace of what once was.

Alicia may or may not have muttered something obscene.