Brothers Together Stronger

Nero tilted his head forward with a slightly raised brow as if to wordlessly ask ‘really?’ when Pankaa groaned and asked why Nero would possibly want to talk to him. “Oh, what? Do I need a licence or something to talk to my brother?” Saying that out loud, it sounded stupid, and that was the point— the idea was to go with some sort of humor to break the tension. “You’re clever, you know mum won’t actually ground you for that long, that would be silly.” Would she be mad? Disappointed? Yeah, probably, but she was more worried than anything else, and these two would know that much.

Understanding Pankaa’s body language well enough by now— it was much the same as it would normally be, just substitute what would normally be avian features for semi-aquatic ones. So, the Avali was still a fair bit standoffish, and he seemed to view this as particularly confrontational. It was a reasonable thing to think to a point given that he had just recently ran away from home to another planet entirely, what else was a youngster like him going to think after doing something like that, being found, and then brought back? He probably felt like shit in all honesty. It was no excuse for Pankaa to be rude but Nero was going to handle that behaviour calmly and honestly. “Relax you egg, I wanna talk because you’re my brother, and I love you. Simple as that.”

Nice, Nero’s attempt at humour seemed to do some good, that would make things less awkward while they were waiting here. “Oh, well it just so happens—” Nero began, rifling through his pockets, producing a slip of paper. “That I do indeed have a licence for that joke.” In truth, it was an old receipt for curly fries he had purchased, and it was very painfully obvious.

Pankaa’s concerns were valid, there was a lot going on here. “Maybe, at least for a while. I’d be more than happy to hang out with you whenever, wherever.” When it came to schooling, Nero had the sense that typical schooling wasn’t especially stimulating to Pankaa’s intellectual growth; as far as Nero could tell, the Avali far exceeded his current grade. “Too cool for school? Honestly, true. I think you should be in higher grade classes than you currently are. That said, your friends are great too, I think you should take any shot you can to hang out with them even if it might just be at school for now.” When it came to time management between being with Zhalla or Pankaa, Nero had a simple answer. “I’ll just surpass my limits and learn multiform. The two of you are so far and beyond worth that effort.”

Nero snickered and gave a smile. It really was nice to see Pankaa goofing around lately. “Uh oh, you want a hug, huh?” Nero held his arms out, he was serious about the offer but if Pankaa didn’t want a hug he didn’t want one, simple as that. “Okay, but—” Nero gestured to the room they were in, so effectively the ship. “This? Out of outdated parts and scraps? It’s bananas, honestly! This is exactly why I think you should at least be in a much higher grade at school— or hell— having regular full on work experience with the Manatech Dragonsmiths division’s quality control or something.” There was also the matter of introducing Pankaa to Hencrypt and his four animatronics, but that could wait for another time.

“Two months I guess.” Nero decided to answer the question on the old receipt anyway, for the sake of the joke. It was just a little bit of silliness.

Nero wasn’t even remotely offended by what Pankaa had said though, he figured the Avali knew what he meant but a little clarification never hurt. “No worries aye? Your time to yourself is also important! I meant that we would hang out on our terms, and if you want to do something else, that’s fine. If I want to do something else, that’s also fine. We’re brothers, but we’re also ourselves.” Nero smiled, hopefully Pankaa would get the full picture now.

“Well you know what, those kids are jealous of your awesomeness n’ also they’re dumb.” Ah, a classic. Nero was never one to shy away from being blunt and truthful with what he thought— especially if it concerned someone close to him. Was it mean of him to say? Maybe, but people should raise their kids better. “But, it’d be because their parents don’t give enough of a shit about ‘em.” Nero grumbled, irresponsible parents disgusted him greatly.

What got Nero more annoyed was that Pankaa implied these kids were validated in how they treated him because of what happened to him. “No.” Nero responded firmly. “It does not validate how they treat you. Nothing does. You are not at fault for their ignorance. Do you understand?” Pankaa was growing up, and Nero was going to treat that with respect, which included calling him out on this sort of thing.

Nero smirked. Yes, Pankaa was growing up and that came with treating him as such, but he would still have some more youthful mannerisms for a while. Saying that people didn’t need to do anything for him was one of those youthful teen mannerisms too. “I know.” Nero began. “I don’t have to, but the point is that I want to, which is also fair and valid.” When it came to their mother, Nero smiled. “IOh yeah, she figured it out almost instantly, even before I told her. Plus Nocti blabbed, because of course they did.”

Seeing the conflict in Pankaa’s behavior regarding the offer of a hug. He wanted a hug, but he also had a lot going on so Nero chose to simply put a hand on Pankaa’s shoulder as a show of respect and comfort. “No worries, it’s an open offer, valid for all eternity and beyond it too.”

Pankaa seemed confused about how Nero was acting with certain things, or just in general. First he brought up the ship and the supposed intent behind it. “Angry? Nah.” Nero answered without missing a beat. “Concerned? Yeah, but not angry.” He gestured to the ship in general again. “Plus, like I said, this craftsmanship is definitely impressive regardless.” While Nero thought it would be excellent for Pankaa to work with the Manatech Dragonsmiths, if he wasn’t confident in his chances right now, the only way to change it was to be rid of the curse upon him. “Hey, you won’t know unless you ask. But, if you aren’t comfortable with asking right now, that’s also important.”

Nero sat down across from Pankaa and watched on. “They’re worried, sure, but not about you, they’re worried for you. Not many people know how to interact with you right now.” At the very least, Pankaa had a supportive and loving family as well as a handful of loyal and close friends. “C’mon man, don’t be dumb. You know mum just wants you to be you, no matter how old you are.”

Watching Pankaa claw carvings into the wood on the floor, Nero gave the Avali another hopeful smile, he wasn’t alone— in a lot of ways, actually. “You bet I believe in you with all I’ve got, mum, Chime, and your friends do too. There’s one more person whose belief in you is very important.” Nero pointed to Pankaa. “— and that would be you.”

Nero used telekinesis on the crunched up receipt, making it wiggle around. Making the sound of a comically exaggerated ghost, Nero did a silly little dance. “OooOoo, the purchase of the curly fries is baaaaack, ooOOoOo-” Nero snorted. “Okay, okay, that’s enough of that. I’ll bin it.”

Bringing up the idea of lying to their mother earned Pankaa a slightly annoyed look. He honestly thought Pankaa would know better than to ask that, however innocently he meant it. “C’mon, don’t be dumb, that’s not what I meant.”

If Pankaa’s teachers were saying much the same thing, then obviously there was a pattern, but Nero understood why Pankaa cared little for it— Nero would have thought the same as he did when he was that age. The implication that Pankaa was a monster, especially from Pankaa’s own mouth, seemed to set Nero off. His hair stood slightly on end as he closed his eyes, a faint hint of gold glow behind his eyelids. Lies annoyed him, but this very visibly disturbed him. “I will only say this one more time. It does not validate how they treat you. Nothing does. You are not at fault for their ignorance. Do you understand?” There was no way to convince Nero of anything else, not when he got like this. Not when the truth was insulted, and not when Pankaa was insulted. “You are not a monster.”

Running off of that frustration from moments ago, Nero rolled his eyes slightly, of course, this was a classic scenario of pushing away the people that were there for support. Thankfully, Nero was having none of it. “Tough shit, I love you and you can’t change my mind about that.” Nero sighed, it didn’t feel nice to speak that way but sometimes the truth was hardcore. “Sorry. That ‘monster’ shit really pissed me off, unbelievable what some people will say to try and put themselves above others.”

Pankaa asked where Nocti was, and he sounded a little annoyed at the cloud, Nero had a guess as to why, but he shrugged. “They flew off somewhere earlier, probably to go to that pond they like.” It made sense, Plant wasn’t as beautiful by Nocti’s standards.

“It’s not pity and you know it.” Nero heard the conflict in Pankaa’s voice, at least he was trying his best here.

Nero growled again at the mention of Pankaa being seen as a ‘monster’, but he let Pankaa speak his mind all the same— the little dude needed to, clearly. All Nero could do right now was be there, someone needed to hear it, to listen.

So listen he did, and if hearing Pankaa think of himself as a monster disturbed and anger him, then Pankaa having trouble finding himself and curling himself into a ball devastated and saddened him. Nero’s eyes blazed into a bright golden colour as his breathing became shaky. Without a second thought he reached out to pick up and hug Pankaa. He didn’t give a shit about anything else right now, whether or not Pankaa was going to act ‘all grown up’ didn’t register to Nero, it didn’t matter. Pankaa was holding so much weight on himself and if Nero could lighten the load for even a moment, then he would try to. “You... You will be you. I promise, I promise...”

He was clearly having a harder time then he liked to let on with it all, too.