Bounty Run

“See, that’s the spirit.” Nero was satisfied to have gotten through to Zhalla on the whole recovery deal, even if it was kind of cheeky in how he managed to do so. It hardly mattered, he supposed. He scored another match with a capable opponent, which in itself was a solid victory.

“Well, sure, I guess that’s just kind of the point, I’ll give you that.” Nero shrugged casually otherwise. It was weird to him that she didn’t get why he stuck around, he thought it was pretty obvious; he just wanted to be wherever he was. “Hey, no problem, it’s what I do.”

Zhalla’s change of mood at the mention of both going literally anywhere else, as well as food was somewhat surprising, but Nero guessed he should have expected this— they were both of Saiyan descent. “Easy, easy, don’t sprain your stomach over juice!” Nero chuckled. “If you’re more comfortable with it; we can pay for whatever we each get respectively. It’s fair that way, yeah?” Zhalla also... Haphazardly mentioned Nocti, Nero’s Nimbus. It was clear she wanted to say something else, but Nero chose not to speak on it. “Oh, that isn’t a bad idea.” After a second of pause, said fluffy little cloud flooped its way in under the door, where it gave off an excited little peep noise! “They’re fine with it, as you can see.”

Nocti floated over to Zhalla and swirled around her before returning to Nero’s side. “Shall we go then? No rush, of course.”

“Sure, sure I’ll believe it when it happens.” Nero smirked, obviously trying to egg Zhalla on in some way and get her psyched up for a future match that was about as scheduled as a burp or sneeze could be. Truly, it was very Saiyan of the both of them.

“Very well, if you’d like to make it your shout, I won’t stop you. You’ve made a solid case.” Nero conceded after a bit of thought; Zhalla did make some good points. After all, she would essentially be doing what he does— doing something because they want to do it.

Nocti simply made peeping and chirping noises in response to Zhalla, evidently the Nimbus was over any threat she had made— or maybe it actually didn’t care to begin with? Hard to say.“Nocti says it’s no big deal, they’re happy you’re doing fine.” Oh, no, nevermind it was easy to say, for Nero anyway.

Nocti easily caught Zhalla, lifting her upward, waiting for her to sit if she so chose, but otherwise waited for Nero’s signal to move. “Okay, then we’re off.” Nero made his way out of the little medical centre and out into the village. It was a relatively small village, but it had several businesses in the main square. One of them, was of course the medical centre; across the middle of the village past the ornate fountain was a rather big building that looked like a magical garage— no doubt the workshop that the Dragonsmiths worked at. Nero pointed a few doors down and spoke up. “The juice place is on that corner.”

It didn’t take long to get there and the building was made into the side of a very wide tree with a low canopy, all manner of fruits grew on it, in fact! The inside was pristine, rustic and mythical all at the same time, tables dotted the main area and there was also a sizable bar counter with stools all the way across it. Several patrons were already seated throughout the establishment having a fun time. “Let’s go sit at the bar, yeah?”

“You bet I'll wait, that’s kind of the point of recovery— whatever, you get it, I don't wanna repeat myself if I’ve already made a good enough point.” Nero snorted and had a bit of a laugh at his own statement, Zhalla was listening, it didn’t need repeating.

Nocti peeped and squeaked a few more times, as if to try and tell Zhalla something on its own. “They have their own language, but it’s hard to decipher unless you can hear it clearly, which I can do, yeah, but— I worked around it with an unrelated skill, funnily enough.” As for her follow-up question about the Nimbus; she mentioned one of the common conditions that allows someone to ride atop one of these fantastical clouds. “That's one of the traits they share with the more common yellow Nimbus, yes. Though, Nocti is also different in some regards. Where a lot of yellow Nimbii are pretty binary in their judgement, Nocti isn’t as much. They’re my friend too; if I believe someone to be worthy of being carried by Nocti, they will be carried.” Nero smiled widely before continuing. “Also, Nocti can shoot lightning and conceal items within themselves, that's also neat.”

Zhalla seemed quite happy with the juice bar— Nero figured she hadn’t exactly encountered a place like it in her travels. “Well aren’t you impressed. I’m sure it isn’t, but that is.” Nero said, pointing at a spiralled small tree curling its way around a support beam. “That has dates on it. Yanno, the fruit.”

Nero hopped onto one of the seats at the bar and waited for Nocti to float Zhalla over. “Sure, if you think you’re up to it. If not, Nocti can catch you, or be a back rest if they don’t mind.” Nero looked over to his Nimbus, which chirped in response. “Yeah, it’s all good by them.”

There were two Namekian fellows stationed behind the counter who soon noticed Nero and Zhalla, so they made their way over. Both of them were rather round looking, as well as quite tall; easily over 200cm each; one wore a silver flannel shirt over a traditional Warrior Clan Gi and the other wore a gold one in the same manner. “Ahoy, friend Nero, what brings you here today?” The one wearing the gold shirt spoke up first. “Not much Hyllin, same as usual.” Moments after, the one wearing the silver shirt engaged in conversation while idly cleaning a mug. “‘Eard you ‘ad a good ol’ fashioned fistfight mate. Dis dame ‘ere your opponent?” They asked looking over to Zhalla. “Yeah that’s the one.” Nero nodded and smiled. “‘Heh. Noice.” They put away the now cleaned mug and offered a hand for Zhalla to shake. “‘Name’s Hillyn, dat dere is me twin Hyllin, welcome t’da Juice Pod. Our picks o’ da day are on da board behin’ us, but if’n yer wantin’ our staples we can getchas a menu.” Hyllin clapped his hands and began fishing around under the counter. “I’ll handle that, no problemo~!”

A few moments later, Hyllin returned with an strange spiral tube that looked like a wooden snail shell and set it between Zhalla and Nero. “Here you are, just knock on the shell— actually, Nero you know this, who am I kiddin’, how about you try it, miss?” He suggested, looking over to Zhalla eagerly. Nero paid close attention to see what Zhalla would do. “Oh, you’ll love it, I think.”

Nocti started chirping and whistling once again while Zhalla spoke to them. “Okay, now they were just actually making those exact noises you described. They do that too sometimes.”

“Nimbii are interesting entities, I know a fair bit about them; because duh, obviously, but further study is very interesting.” Soon enough, the two of them settled down in their seats, Nocti was more than happy to support Zhalla, but she insisted that they didn’t need to considering they were already carrying some of her things.

While talking with Nero, the two Namekians glanced over to Zhalla, who looked embarrassed. Hillyn, being the one who was directly interacting with her, definitely noticed. He didn’t seem to be bothered as he gave a big smile. “Oi now, dere ain’t a need’a be embarrassed, y’kept up with Nero, keep dat in moind, aye?” Strangely, perhaps, Hillyn wasn’t exactly cross or worried that the two Saiyans had a battle. Hyllin nodded in agreement with his brother rather swiftly. “Quite impressive if you ask me, Zhalla.” He gave a warm smile as well, returning to some work behind the counter alongside his brother, letting the Saiyans converse until they were called upon.

“Yeah, you just knock on it.” Nero nodded, giving Zhalla the satisfaction of doing so, eager to see what her reaction would be. She did eventually give the wooden shell a good tap. For a second, nothing happened. A moment later, it gave off a soft mystical ‘ding’ noise, as the swirl began to glow green, starting from the middle and curling outwards. It made a second ‘‘ding’ before curling open entirely and letting off some sparkles; revealing a hand carved wooden menu. The items would light up whenever they were being looked at to help the one reading to focus on one option at a time! “So, whaddaya think?” Nero grinned as the sparkles passed him and faded away.

Nocti squeaked one more time after Zhalla pet them. “Mhm, I think Nocti actually likes you quite a bit, regardless of my influence.” As far as Zhalla’s knowledge on any given Nimbus was concerned, she understood the aspects of the two common types. “That’s mostly right, though the purple Nimbus just isn’t picky at all— the commonality is simply that those less virtuous will largely only have a chance to work with them.” Nocti swirled around and floated behind Zhalla all the same. Much like Nero, they just did what they wanted to do. “There are some other notable types; for example the Jack-O-Nimbus for one; is loyal, but mischievous. The Heart Nimbus only ever carries two people that care deeply for each other, no more no less. Neither of them are particularly invested in morality.”

The twins seemed intrigued by the fact that a second match was already agreed upon, but there was no reason to be surprised given who they were interacting with at this moment. Nero glanced over to Zhalla, picking up on that she was genuinely excited for another fight— less so that there was the vibe Nero would expect from a bounty hunter. He decided to keep that to himself however. Instead, he decided to respond to her jest in moving to Namek. “I mean, you could take the responsibilities and move them here.” Nero said casually, but also in a bit of jest.

When it came to making an order though, Nero had a fair amount of suggestions. “Well, glad you asked.” He began, turning the menu slightly so he could also read it alongside Zhalla. “My favorite is the Sapphire Surfer, it mostly uses blueberries, but it also uses blackcurrants and some other blue fruit and lavender. I’d like to suggest the Ruby Rumble, it uses watermelon, pomegranate and blood oranges for the most part, as well as roses. We could go with those, if you’d like?”

“If I had to guess, they like the way you pet them, but it could be any number of things.” Nero also figured it was also a tactic to tease him about something Nocti brought up telepathically during the fight but he chose not to bring that up.

Zhalla was understandably surprised about the information on the other rare types of Nimbus, and Nero couldn’t blame her, but he responded bluntly and with a straight face almost immediately. “No, I’m completely serious, I’ve seen ‘em with my own eyes as well.” No quirky joke, no pun, nothing. He was being for real. “I know some people that hang around those types, my little brother is fond of the Jack-O-Nimbus, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up earning the trust of one.”

Nero raised his brow, did she actually consider his jest legitimately? Wow, that was something of a surprise, not that Nero would mind. “Heh— up to you, up to you.”

When it came to ordering their juices, Nero rolled his eyes with a slight smile. “Oh haha very funny. It also happens to be delicious.” It was a happy coincidence that these drinks were thematically matching to them, yes, nothing more than that!

The twins behind the counter both nodded and got to work preparing their order. This would give Nero and Zhalla some more time to talk. “So, I’m sure that I know exactly who’s wanting to get on my case, but I have a question. How much money were they throwing around?” Nero intentionally spoke somewhat vaguely and in a semi-casual way— Zhalla would of course be able to guess what Nero was really asking; he figured out it was Egumel that hired Zhalla directly on behalf of the Marrowbreaker House, but he wanted to know what exactly his supposed bounty was.

“And take away the fun of guessing? Psh, naw.” Nero shook his head. “Honestly though, do we really need to know why? We know that Nocti likes you—.” Nocti chirped in agreement. “See? That there is as clear an affirmative squeak as I’ve heard all day.” Nocti also whistled and twirled at the mention of the other kinds of Nimbus, there was likely something to that, they were similar kinds of creatures. “Cheesy huh? Well then, I swear on camembert that it’s the truth.”

“It shouldn’t take too long, those two are wizards at this. That, and they’re also actually wizards but that’s not the point.” Nero chuckled, allowing the conversation to continue towards what was essentially their current business deal as a result of their fight. Nero scoffed, which at first might sound as though he was offended by the amount for sake of pride— though that couldn’t be further from the truth. “Oooof course. He’s ripping you off with a lowball price. If I know his single dimension of a personality well enough— and trust me, I do— you absolutely could have gotten 30,000,000 out of him.” Nero scowled somewhat. “The problem is, he’d more than likely pinch large sums of even the 17,000,000 offer from everyone else— even the younglings and barely pitch in his personal wealth, if at all. Yeah, he’s that exact kinda scumbag... And since he’s that exact kinda scumbag... That gives me an ide^ee^eaa^aaa~” The Saiyan’s scowl curled into a very cheeky little mischievous expression. “I have a substantial counter offer. Are you willing to hear me out?”