Heads in the Clouds

A lot had changed for Nero as of late. He was always a naturally happy and positive man, but more recently there were increasing sparks of positivity about him— he was finally without big worries holding him back, so it was almost as if all of the good vibes that had been held back were now unrestrained. Most of all, he was happy that Pankaa could be Pankaa, true to himself. He had started enjoying what he used to enjoy, getting up to his old shenanigans at school which Nero always admired due to just how Pankaa these things were. Even more-so, Pankaa’s close friends were also in more positive moods as a result, and that was truly wonderful to see.

In any case, Pankaa was growing up, maturing, and as with many teenagers they got up to some rebellion at different levels as they were slowly finding their feet in their own way. Now, Pankaa’s family weren’t going to shame him or anything stupid, but teens were teens either way and did things that would get on someone else’s nerves, unintentionally or otherwise. The best the family could do is be in his corner and help him when he needed it.

Pankaa’s interactions towards Nero weren’t the greatest when everything was fully considered— and it was practically one sided in every aspect with Pankaa being the one to instigate anything at all. Nero, being perhaps the one person that understood the whole ordeal of the past more than anyone, didn’t retaliate any more than reasonably necessary, barely any more than a calm nudge to chill out.

Still, Zukha was of the opinion that the two should try to actively find more common ground and reconnect, and ultimately it was agreed upon that Nero and Pankaa were just going to spend the day together, maybe go on a little adventure, who knows! After a short freshening up of his own, Nero zooped out of his room’s window, closing it behind him with telekinesis, landing gracefully outside before he walked over to Pankaa. “Yo, Pankaa!” Cheery as always, Nero approached casually. “Lookin’ slick!”

Nero noticed Pankaa was fussing over the scar on his chest. Scars were never something easy to come to terms with more often than not— if there was anyone that knew how that went, it was Nero. Still, he had faith in Pankaa’s ability to one day grow past this.

“Yeah, a few actually. There are a few places I’ve wanted to show you for a while. Specifically this one place in the Northern Scar... It’s near where we found your egg actually.” Nero smiled, fondly remembering that day. It had probably been quite a while since Pankaa was at that site himself too. Maybe going there would help him sort something out? Only time would tell.

Pankaa made a hurried glance back towards the house, which earned him a raised brow from Nero. Trying his best to whisper, Pankaa suggested that they just both go their separate ways and then just tell Zukha that they did something together. Nero didn’t need to say anything to get across that he wasn’t going to lie, least of all to their mother. He just raised his brow higher and tilted his head forward as if to ask Pankaa if he was being serious. “C’mon you know I won’t do that.”

Nero glanced up into the sky, and a few moments later, Nocti had flown on down to meet the two of them with a happy series of chirps and beeps. “Hey Nocti. D’you mind giving us a lift to the Northern Scar? You know that special place you found? Near there.” Nocti whipped their tail around to their front, effectively making a salute gesture with their cloud-y form. “Heck yeah. Alrighty, Pankaa?” Nero gestured to Nocti, asking for Pankaa to hop on.

“Truthfully, what do you think about visiting where we found your egg?” Nero asked conversationally. “It could be good for you, just to recenter yourself a bit. To just, think things out. I guess you’d rather tinker away with something or visit your friends, but if you take some time to look at your emotions then you’ll probably get some better inventing done or be more open with your pals.” Nero gave his suggestions and a light shrug. “Just a thought.”

“I think that golden orange brown with blue accents suits you perfectly, actually. If anyone should be coloured surprised, it should be me. You didn’t even mention wanting to hang out with Ozera yet... Or are you... Afraid?” Nero comically wiggled his fingers as if he was imitating a cartoonish ghost when Pankaa insisted that he would rather hang out with Zhalla. “Oo^Oooo_Ooo, watch out Pankaa^aaa_aa, or else you might catch f^eee_eeliiings, ooO^Oo_OOo.” Something that Pankaa probably already caught in regards to his Arcosian peer. It was too late for him.

In any case, Pankaa needn’t worry himself about Zhalla, she was perfectly fine. He was just lucky she wasn’t also here to be nice to him. Goodness knows he’d have a fit or something if she was here, angry that she was respecting him the entire time.

Perhaps a totally cruel brotherly prank to play on the Avali later.

For now, there would be no brotherly pranks of that nature as the two set off into the sky upon Nocti, headed for the Northern Scar. “I think it’s better as a surprise, personally. But I’ll give you a clue— it’s closer than you think.”