A perfectly natural and not at all awkward camping trip

[meatery]

[Being suddenly alive again after a handful of decades in Hell has it's ups and downs. Upsides! Being alive! Having her physical body! Seeing her youngest son and grandsons. Downsides! Everything is confusing and everything she ever knew or loved is gone. At least she'd been heartily welcomed into the Son family, for the most part, once she'd made her distaste for killing innocent aliens (however strange and confusing they were) clear.

And so it was time to get to know her youngest son! Who was... practically a stranger. Who really liked hanging out in the wilderness for some reason. Gi-ne does not understand camping or why it counts as a bonding experience, but everyone had agreed with Kakarot when he suggested it so she could hardly argue. What Kakarot wanted, Kakarot would get.

At least she was well accustomed to making campfires, from her purging days. Not sure what the point of camping was, Gi-ne focused on building a pile of sticks, figuring she could at least do a good, old-fashioned camp meal for her son while they were out on their own.]

Comments

[meatery]

Oh, I guess you already... know how to feed yourself, huh? [Right. Adult. Camping expert. She'll follow along behind him.]

[garbagedisposal]

Well, sure I do! But I won't say I'm a great cook. Chi-Chi's the cook in the family. I mean, I had to eat somehow. She wasn't always around to feed me.

[meatery]

Bardock said he picked this planet because it had a lot of food... Otherwise I'd have been a lot more worried. [Since even if he couldn't cook, a saiyan can survive off raw food well enough.] ... You never went hungry, right?

[garbagedisposal]

Naw, dad was right when he said this place had a lot of food. I've been here for a while and we still haven't run out yet, not even close. [He hops over a fallen tree trunk as he continues to talk.] I learned to hunt and catch my own food, though I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't prefer a good homecooked meal.

[meatery]

[Because one saiyan depleting all of a planet's food resources is a serious concern] Well, you'll find that mine are the best, even with just a campfire. [Preen preen] ... Though I'm sure Chi-Chi's cooking is fine.

[garbagedisposal]

[He only smiles back at that, because he's not about to judge either of their cooking skills- he's sure they both cook great.]

Well, I can't wait to try yours. I even snagged a bunch of Chi-Chi's spices so you could use them! But don't tell her, I...sort of forgot to ask her if that was okay!

[meatery]

Why would she mind? [Because she still has to cook, Gi-ne...] I still don't really know what sort of spices earthlings use but I'm sure I can figure them out. [And if not it doesn't matter because let's be real they'd eat tree branches if they were hungry enough.]

[garbagedisposal]

Ah- you'll see. [He knows Gi-ne will witness a Chi-Chi freak out one day. It's inevitable.]

[Coming upon the camp, Goku deposits both fish near where his mother had been working on the beginnings of a campfire. Folding his arms, he surveys their catches, satisfied with it.] Well, I'd say we're ready to go! I'm guessing I should stand back and let the expert handle things, huh?

[meatery]

[But Chi-Chi has been so nice to her mother-in-law! ... To her face. As far as Gi-ne has noticed.]

Why don't you get the fire going? I need to cut them up properly first. [Where did Gi-ne get a knife whatever, she's sat with the fish with one now.] We can talk while I work, if you want.

[garbagedisposal]

Alright. [And he does just that, hauling one of the large pieces of wood and chopping the whole thing up into firewood with his hands, so they can have a big fire.]

You know, it's really nice being able to get out here and relax a bit- I haven't done this in a long time.

[meatery]

Been focused on your training? [Filleting the fish on the ground- she might need to go dive back in the river when she's done or she's going to stink of fish.] ... I don't really get doing this sort of thing for fun, but if you like it that's the important thing. It is peaceful.

[garbagedisposal]

[Setting some of the wood in place, he starts trying to make a fire, the old fashioned way.]

I dunno, it sorta reminds me of when I was a kid and I lived out in the mountains by myself. I always enjoyed it, and I guess this is sort of like that.

[meatery]

[Watches him with amusement. What are you doing, son?]

... It wasn't lonely?

[garbagedisposal]

[He finally gets the fire going, waving some air into it to make the wood burn faster.]

Well, not at first. I was living with Grandpa Gohan for a while, until he passed. You'd be surprised how many animals you can talk to around here. They might not always answer, but they're pretty friendly. [Some of them.]

[meatery]

Well, I suppose it's not any weirder than being friends with aliens... [Gi-ne, no.] So long as you had fun.

[garbagedisposal]

I sure did! [He had a blast as a kid, there's no doubt about that.]

[His next words are more a statement, no offense taken at all. If anything, it's thoughtful as he looks back on his childhood and present time for a moment.] But hey, I wouldn't trade my friends for anything in the world- we've had a lot of good times together. I mean, I know the Saiyans are a warrior race and all, but you guys had friends too, didn't you?

[He can hope?]

[meatery]

Of course we did! [Vegeta is not a typical example of saiyans, Goku, don't worry, he just veered off course in the opposite direction that you did.]

That "lone warrior" crap gets boring fast, people talk big but they don't really act like that. Even when it came to fighting we worked in teams all the time. Just... Not usually with non-saiyans. I'm not sure why, probably because they weren't strong enough to keep up.

[garbagedisposal]

[Goku nods. He can understand that, he's gotten stronger than most of his friends; the only ones that could keep up have saiyan blood themselves.]

Yeah...I hear ya there. [He stands up, and goes and sits next to Gi-ne as she cuts the fish. He can't wait to eat it...]

It's funny you say that, Vegeta's always preferred to fight alone. And well, so do I, if I can help it that is. [Unlike Vegeta, Goku can actually admit it when he needs help.]

[meatery]

Oh, well, I don't mean one-on-one fights, obviously those are fun. I mean... other kinds... [Aah she doesn't want to talk about fighting armies desperately trying to protect their home from small bands of saiyans]

... I had friends! And Raditz played with the other children all the time. Your father was always popular and he was very saiyan-like, pretending not to care about us and stuff. Acting like that was normal.

[garbagedisposal]

[He doesn't know why, but he gets that's just seems to be the saiyan way, to pretend not to care. He doesn't particularly agree, but who's he to tell other people how to live their lives if they're happy?]

Hah, Raditz playing with other kids? Now that would be a sight to see! I thought saiyans just trained all the time!

[meatery]

[Eh, Gi-ne knew the truth, that's the important thing.]

Well, he came home with enough cuts, bruises and broken bones for it to count. [These were saiyan games, after all.] I think his friends injured him more than I ever did while we were training.

[garbagedisposal]

Well, I guess things don't really change at all, do they. Goten and Trunks do that all the time too, but I don't think they go so far as to break each other's arms or anything like that.

[meatery]

Raditz should have known better than to insult Tomata like that, he knew she was stronger than him... Well, anyway, it's good for kids to learn how rough real fights are early, otherwise they grow up careless. Children heal quickly, you know.

[Wrapping up the fish for the fire and other cooking things as she talks, though she looks pretty distracted. Ah, Raditz was so cute when he was little...]

TOMATA PERFECT

[garbagedisposal]

They sure do. [He is eyeing the food because just watching her make it is making him hungry.]

And they sure do learn quick, too, little rascals. [Like Trunks and Goten, learning to fuse so quickly and reaching super saiyan 3 from what he heard- it was crazy.] If we're not careful, they'll be stronger than us one day.

I AM REALLY PROUD OF TOMATA-CHAN

[meatery]

[ She's ready to smack away any fingers than come too close. ]

Isn't that the goal? [ Though Trunks and Goten are already stronger than she can completely comprehend anyway.] You want your children to surpass you eventually. You're way stronger than me, right? I don't have any complaints about that.