[Oblivious to the intricacies of other people's moods unless it's "murder" and "not murder", Chikusa misses the way the mood tones down. Instead, he just tries to think further on what sort of recipes would be viable. He has a vague idea of at least four different areas, from the way he's bounced around so many places, but in this case, it's not really helpful...]

[After a second, he blinks out of his thoughts and takes in her observation.]

...My first god.. was a hearth god. So I wanted to be useful for him... [That's certainly a phrase to use. No matter how much he tries to remind himself to change, some things just remain habit.] Even when he disappeared, I thought he might come back... So I still practiced. And then Hakkai just likes doing it... So I guess it became a habit.

[It's sort of comforting, sometimes. It has enough similarities to poison making that he feels comfortable doing it, but more uses than poison. Acceptable uses, anyway.]