Chapter 118: Little Piko-piko is Off-limits!
"Pi?" It looked at the glistening red liquid on the creature's finger, while tilting its head. It tried to understand what the familiar figure had been trying to tell it but to no avail. It felt the world outside the egg was a strange, scary place and full of 'filthiness'. It was feeling very overwhelmed with its surroundings until it detected a familiar scent once it woke up within its food cache. It was the first scent it knew once it gained consciousness! It was also the scent that was within the liquid that increased his constitution significantly days ago. Whose scent could it be?
Hence, it tried its best to wiggle out to approach that familiar scent, only to find that it was emitted by a large yellowish creature with a long black mane. The white menacing-looking white fluffed up creature and the longish black creature with red wings at the creature's side gave it a sense of danger, which added to its fear.
As such, it tried its best to get close to the creature in front of it by instinct. After multiple tries, it finally could approach and attach itself to the creature! It found that the creature was soft and warm! True to its speculation, the creature could calm it down almost instantly! Hence, due to the pressure from the other two menacing-looking white and black creatures at the side, it tried its hardest to stick to the creature with the long black mane relentlessly.
The scent emitted from the red droplet was unmistakable! It was the origin of the scent which had calm it down!
It finally understood!
Maybe it was related to this creature! Was it its kin? It gazes intensely at the yellowish creature's face to memorize it after immersing itself in its aura. It had already forgotten about the red liquid after a moment of curiosity.
However, it suddenly felt a kind of pressure descended upon it. It got scared and agitated as it noticed the white fluffy creature with purple eyes was staring hard at it as if it had a grudge over it! Slowly, its beak felt like being pried open forcefully! In a panic, it fought back and flapped as hard as it could!
"PIKO! PI!!" It shrieked in panic.
It saw the yellowish creature with a black mane being thrown away very far by its action! A sense of fear for the creature birthed in its heart!
"Adoiii!" The creature yelped in pain.
The longish black creature immediately caught the flying creature midair and placed it down gently. Seeing that the creature with the black mane leaked water from its face from pain, the black creature turned ballistic, and another layer of pressure descended upon its tiny body pressing it down hard on the glistening floor full of food. A white lightning strike rained on it hard and burned some of its fluffy feathers.
"Ku-chan, no! Don't hurt it!"
Once the disorientation from being electrocuted disappeared, it saw long thorn-like white objects floating around it from all sides with the sharp-side in! They were closing in on it! It immediately attempted to retaliate, but its movement was locked all of a sudden! The longish black creature had wrapped around it and started to restrain it from moving!
It could see the yellowish creature ran towards it while shouting, though, again, it couldn't understand a single thing.
"I said, STOP! Little Piko-piko is Off-limits!"
The shout wasn't that loud, but it brought along a kind of force upon the two creatures currently attacking it, though it couldn't feel anything. It could only see they were struggling to overcome some sort of unseen constraints but to no avail. The ice shards fell to the ground emitting a clattering sound, while the constriction upon it loosened a little, giving it a small space to breathe.
A warm hand coddled the bedraggled self to a soft, warm spot it liked so much.
"Please open your mouth, okay?"
The hand tickled its throat, then it caressed the sides of the beak gently, urging it to open. It felt so happy and secured within the yellowish creature's embrace, and naturally opened its beak in contentment.
It could feel the red liquid entered its body through its throat. Something changed within, but it didn't know what. Everyone was staring at it while waiting for who knows what. Suddenly a new surge of feelings came over it!
Was it happiness? Relief? Love? It was a mixture of complex emotions, totally new to it.
This surge of emotions was confusing. These new feelings surely didn't belong to it. It could only feel hunger and sleepiness before. It felt alien but familiar at the same time.
"Piko-piko. You're such a handful." The creature in front of it smiled teasingly while rubbing its head gently.
"Pi? PIIII!" Little Piko-piko was pleasantly surprised when it realized it could understand the creature's intention!
They suddenly snuggled happily together while being silently watched by the other two creatures.
[Ehem, I'm the big bro around here. Kuro. You brat, you better listen to me. Never hurt our mistress ever again if you don't want me to pluck all your feathers out!] A sinister message was sent over from the black creature.
[Shiro here. I second what Bro-Ku said. Watch out, brat. Work well if you want to eat.] Another voice came over with a snort.
Understanding the threats for the first time, little Piko-piko chirped a little with fear as Hana stared hard at the two boys while narrowing her eyes with a warning look.
"Pi-chan is just a baby. Don't be mean."
Kuro and Shiro evaded their mistress' stare as they pretended to busy themselves with self-made work. Kuro scooped the pearls up and placed them back in their designated space while Shiro used his beautiful tail to sweep them off to one point, just like a professional sweeper. Both of them had suddenly become diligent housekeepers.
Hana just realized she had unintentionally named her new pet without asking consent from it. After a moment, she shrugged it off with a lighthearted smile.
"Pi-chan?"
"Pi?"
"Go join your brothers and clean up the mess."
The little bird adorably nodded its tiny head and hopped off from Hana's embrace gently. This time, it took care to use as less energy as possible. In front of everyone's gaze, it hopped into the pile of pearls that Shiro had painstakingly swept, unintentionally pushing Kuro, who had been scooping the pearls to the side, spilling everything over. It then burrowed itself in and stared at the spirit pearls in a serious manner for a few seconds. Hana was watching curiously at its antics. Why was it staring at the pearls intensely??? Suddenly, the little bird started to gulp the pearls franticly. Every time a pearl entered its tiny body, the three golden bands shore for a second before subsiding.
Hana, Kuro and Shiro, "... " O___O
They just realized they had just adopted a money-burning pearl-eating glutton!
Its upkeep will be way too expensive!
Was this a good thing or a bad thing?! Is it too late to cook it for dinner?
...
Arash woke up the next morning feeling fresh and rejuvenated. He stretched his body languidly as a series of popping sounds resounded. The first thing he did was to fetch for his smartphone to check how much battery was left. He had let his wife's voice on the loop for a long time to soothe his heart, and surprisingly he had the best rest for a long time. He wasn't sure when did it stop as his phone was already shut down. He quickly attached his smartphone to a power bank and rummaged his bag for his tumbler. His throat felt extraordinarily parched as if he was going to get a sore throat. No, it wouldn't do! If he did get one, he had to refrain from eating spicy and fried things, which will make his heart bleed with anguish.
He had wanted to eat good food as soon as he returned home. A banana-leaf vegetarian meal (1) with a side of lamb Varuval (2) at his favorite restaurant would do the trick! His kids could eat roti canai (3) at his side while he savored a variation of spicy vegetable dishes with turmeric dhal soup (4) and heavenly succulent heavily spiced lamb for his meal. Truthfully, surviving on energy bars was never his 'thing' as he preferred rice-based hearty meals. Of course, with an ample amount of vegetable sides and fruits to cover his guilty conscience.
Arash's mouth started to water. He only had an energy bar the whole day yesterday. Should he cook another portion of rice? He still had a few packets of ready-to-eat meals left. This time, he could really go for some chicken curry with potatoes. At least it had that spice he missed so much.
As such, after cleaning up adequately and performed his routine prayer, he started to cook just beside the window. While cooking, he noticed the village was devoid of activities. Did they partied too hard with Tok Silihan last night and slept in late? Though the sun was not up yet, it wasn't so early at the moment. At home, he would've been riding through a traffic jam to reach the train station two towns away at this moment.
In about half an hour, the smell of rice wafted out of the window. He quickly prepared to pour in the prepacked ready-to-eat curry on top of the steaming rice. If Hana were around, she would've given him a big no-no, saying how cincai he was, but she wasn't here to nag. So, he could perform as much short-cut as possible without being reprimanded. His wife would've cut and sauté a big batch of onion rings in a pan until soft and fragrant before adding the prepacked meal, readjusted the taste with salt and pepper, and maybe simmered some peeled boiled eggs together with tomatoes within the gravy before serving separately with rice. Her reasoning was so simple. If just a few extra steps could increase the taste and heartiness of the meal, so why not?
"Hmph! There's someone gratitude-less over here. Cook something to eat but didn't invite this old man over?!" A sudden ghostly voice resounded just behind Arash. He yelped and jumped to the side in fright!
"Tok Silihan! What are you doing?! You nearly scared me to death! Stop sneaking up on me! My heart couldn't take it!"
Tok Silihan clicked his tongue unhappily. "Hmm, don't you dare change the subject. I can smell your rice from a mile over! How could you cook something so fragrant but forget to call for me?! I'm just next door!"
Arash sweated. He honestly didn't plan to invite Tok Silihan as he thought that the elder must still be in his dreamland after partying hard last night with all the villagers. "Er. I thought you're asleep. It's still very early at the moment."
"What early?! All the adults had gone out to hunt and forage earlier, leaving only the babes behind! You're the only one who wakes up last!" Tok Silihan knocked Arash's head repeatedly.
"Ouch! Ouch! Sorry! Didn't you guys party hard last night? Didn't even invite me lohhhh." Arash snorted while rolling his eyes. He too knew how to use the guilty conscience card. To his surprise, Tok Silihan didn't reply and gave him a piercing stare. It made him had goosebumps all over.
"Come, come. Have breakfast with me, Tok Silihan. But this time, equally shared rice. I'm starving! Someone didn't pity a patient last night and finished up everything. He even licked the spoon and container. Don't say I didn't saw it, though that someone had supernatural powers. How could he stoop so low as to lick spoon.." Arash's voice trailed off to a lower volume as he could feel his cheek had been squeeze painfully on one side.
"Keep on being rude to your live-saver, and this old one is going to tear off that meaty cheek for good."
"Aiyooo... Ai.. Ai.. Sorry-lah.. So touchy-lah.." It wasn't as painful as it seemed. Both of them knew Arash was just exaggerating.
Tok Silihan took out two sheets of banana leaves as plates for them, and Arash took out two metal cups. They sat cross-legged in front of each other and ate happily like a family. Unknown to Arash, their 'happy family over a meal' scene was seen by a large number of young villagers crowding over Arash's haya outside. They were peeping through the gaps in between the bamboo structures with deep interest.
Until Tok Silihan suddenly banged his metal cup.
Everyone ran away and hide.
"What now, Tok Silihan?" Arash made a puzzled look.
Tok Silihan cleared his throat. "Ehem, I just need a refill."
"Er, okay."
…
Authors' Notes:
1) A banana-leaf vegetarian meal = a Southern Indian cuisine rice-set that comes with a bowl of rice, 3-4 side dishes of random cooked vegetables, 1 bowl of dhal soup (lentil), 1 small bowl of rasam (spiced tamarind based soup), and 1 small cup of watery fermented milk. Usually eaten on banana leaves. During the olden days, many southern Indians migrated to Tanah Melayu (old name of Malaysia) for work. Since then, all had become residents of Malaysia, and the food had evolved to suit the taste of Indian Malaysians. This one-meal-dish is one of the most popular ones that everyone loves including Mr and Mrs Mooncat <3
What it looks like (the variation present are endless). Usually we will order 1 set of banana meal set each, then add some main meat dish such as chicken, lamb or paneer (Indian cheese-like dish, super delicious!): https://www.google.com/search?q=banana+leaf+meal&sxsrf=ALeKk02RF0EqmkDMSmfJ0-xN1dM8h9hIig:1585949311522&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=gr2hLtdG_2EKtM%253A%252Cx6Mpj95qDoU_wM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kT81WkHMgtRlkzy10vzXfIdWXX1ug&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjy-eDKmc3oAhWaXSsKHYxUBCwQ_h0wIXoECAoQCw#imgrc=gr2hLtdG_2EKtM:
2) lamb Varuval = It's like a spicy and hot dry curried lamb. Don't know how to explain, but this dish is extremely delicious (Ahh~ Mrs Mooncat's mouth already watered..).
The way to make this dish had many variation and had a slight difference from one another. These are the variations present:
https://www.google.com/search?q=lamb+varuval&sxsrf=ALeKk00EyL8ZXGzzLWH5O9KZEvHO-XBzAQ:1585949866051&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjd3pbTm83oAhXNe30KHf6kBfYQ_AUoAXoECAwQAw&biw=1536&bih=750
These are two recipes that looked like the way we like to eat them (Mrs Mooncat had attempted making it a few times but the taste wasn't right. It wasn't the taste that Mrs Mooncat loved from the restaurant we frequented).
http://www.oceanofrecipes.com/indian-recipes/mutton-fry.shtml
http://myerecipecorner.blogspot.com/2010/07/mutton-chukka-varuval-spicy-lamb-dry.html
3) roti canai = Malaysia's flat croissant bread (yep, I didn't kid you. It's the official name for foreigners, though it sounded really weird). This is considered a staple breakfast menu for many Malaysians. We eat roti canai with a small bowl of curried dhal added with fish curry and sambal. Another way of eating it, is by adding 'banjir'which means flood. It means, the roti canai was cut to pieces, then doused with curries on top until it floods..owwhh.. we missed it!
What it looks like:
https://www.malaymail.com/news/eat-drink/2015/09/06/our-5-favourite-places-for-roti-canai-in-kl-pj-klang/964691
This is how to make one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC532kMUw28
4) turmeric dhal soup = It's actually a mild curried yellow lentil soup added with herbs, curry leaves, potatoes, carrots, and radish. The only type of 'soup' that kids can eat since it is not spicy at all. Dhal curry can be seen in previous roti canai link as the one with the yellowish gravy (the orange one is usually fish or meat curry and the red one is anchovie sambal)
Some of the variations:
https://www.google.com/search?q=kuah+dal&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjz_bfAos3oAhVL2nMBHXo-B2MQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=kuah+dal&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJzICCAAyBAgAEEMyAggAMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQCBAeOgUIABCDAVCflAhY6KQIYPOtCGgAcAB4AIABMogB4QKSAQE4mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img&ei=2bOHXrOtMMu0z7sP-vycmAY&bih=750&biw=1536&hl=en
…
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
mrandmrsmooncat
mrandmrsmooncat The reference this time was a little bit too much, but those were just pictures of all the food described (how it looks like). Tastewise~ it depends..most westerners couldn't stand (we call it 'beh tahan' XD) with the level of spice in authentic Indian cooking. Mrs Mooncat will reserve her judgment haha. However, it truly is delicious! Highly recommended! Hoping for the lock down to end soon..
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