Cake Talk

Nero had mentioned to Zhalla that he wanted to talk about preparing a cake for something important, and while he didn’t specify what exactly that important thing was just yet, Zhalla seemed to be okay with talking about it over ice cream. He had no idea what she would’ve been thinking it was for, but he didn’t know what the exact dates of all the birthdays the kids in Zhalla’s care were. He really should remember to ask, but that was for another time— he had been doing well thus far with what he was told!

In any case, today, Nero wanted to give two important people in his life a bit of a surprise! Yes, he asked Zhalla to meet him at Fluud Waterfall for this discussion, but he had also gone to find Patrona and bring her along! All he told Patrona for the moment was really the same thing he had brought up to Zhalla— wanting to prepare a cake for something very important.

The key thing here being that Nero didn’t choose to mention either one of them to the other. If anything was going to be a surprise it would be his fiance and best friend getting the opportunity to meet! No longer would their knowledge be based on what Nero told them!

Guiding Patrona to the area of Fluud Waterfall that Nero had chosen, he could sense Zhalla around the corner behind a boulder that was juuuuuust big enough to hide her from view.

Stepping around the boulder, Nero gave Zhalla a big smile, then glanced over to Patrona. “This is a nice place isn’t it?” He spoke to both of them, eagerly awaiting the reactions of the two.

It took a little longer then Zhalla would've expected it to but eventually Nero arrived to their agreed spot, by that boulder by the waterfall which he almost too eagerly stood around before giving her a big smile, Zhalla of course smiled back-- Hell, she'd grown fond of that stupid grin of his. "Yeah it's nice, it's pretty peaceful even--" She'd pause though as she heard another voice answer the same question she had at the same time she did-- Soon enough the other person peered around the boulder and gaped at her, it was a rather short pink Majin with a big curled tail and big aqua coloured eyes, her Majin hair curled and up in a sort of ponytail style.

Zhalla was pretty certain this was a good friend of Nero's-- She remembered him mentioning a Majin before at least at least in brief passing's but she'd never had the chance to meet her in person herself before now. She was incredibly outgoing and didn't even hesitate to approach the much taller Saiyan, Zhalla would lean down a little so that she'd be easier to reach for the small Majin seeing the other lady reaching for her-- But she quickly regretted it as Patrona grabbed her by the cheeks and pinched them almost like a mother would do when adoring her own child, Zhalla's tail fur would stand on end as the tail itself bent into a sort of lightning shape out of surprise!

Looking to Nero for assistance the Saiyan's face would start to go red as the Majin showered her in compliments before asking Nero why he didn't tell her they'd be meeting up with Zhalla today-- So he'd planned for them to meet in surprise then, that cheeky bastard. Leading them both here with the cake discussion idea and everything but it also wasn't like Nero to lie so she was sure the cake thing was also still a topic point for today but... Why? And why bring the both of them here for it? "You must be the Majin friend Nero's mentioned about before, I'm guessing he's mentioned me before but I'm Zhalla--" She hardly even needed to offer her hand to shake before the Majin was already shaking it with bubbly enthusiasm.

"Did you really lead us both here with your 'cake discussion' thing, Nero?" She maybe would've dressed a little different if she had of known in advance but this still worked alright she supposed. "Are you gonna tell us what that's about now?" Was she just that eager to know what it was about or was she trying to maybe get the discussion a little bit off of herself? Both, yeah probably both.

Patrona might've been small-- The smallest of the three here in fact even! But she still had quite a strong grip on the ginger Saiyan out of just sheer excitement! When the much taller lady started to turn red in the face the Majin would let go but only to hold her own hands together and tuck them under a cheek with a sweet smile on her face. "Aww sorry for makin' ya red Hun!" She'd give a light hearted giggle but would try and keep her excitement at least a tad more under wraps so as to not scare off or discomfort the Saiyan too much, she wanted to make a good impression after all!

"That's me! You can jus' call me Patrona sugar! It's an absolute pleasure to meet'cha finally!" She of course took up Zhalla's offered handshake with the most enthusiastic one she could give back in response! Just like Zhalla though Patrona too was also curious on why Nero had brought them both together here today in the way he had done. The Majin would wave a hand though when her friend pointed out she basically had an entire pantry of cookies at any given time "Yeah yeah but ah woulda packed even more! Look at her! You think mah regular stash will suffice? NO! This woulda called for the special stash!" She would pout a playful but also genuine pout since there was no time now to rush back and go get this stash! "Ah suppose the usual will just have to suffice for now!"

Nero would of course introduce the two as well and the Majin would give a sweet smile with a wave that was just as enthusiastic as her handshake in response to her name being said.

Soon though her friend would also explain what this was all about, he had done this to surprise the two of them but he had also done it to talk cake-- And an important cake at that! Patrona knew from his shiny fanged smile and puffed out chest that it was certainly a very important thing indeed and boy was it! At the mention of the word 'Wedding' Patrona seemed to freeze and as did Zhalla though of course for different reasons. A few moments would pass before the Majin erupted into a jolly squeal of delight. "WEDDING!?" She would look to both their hands again but saw no engagement rings-- Maybe they just weren't wearing them today or hadn't sorted them out yet it didn't matter! They were engaged, rings or not! "Nero you didn' tell me you'd PROPOSED!?" Though loud she was a happy kind of loud!

"Oh my gosh congratulations! So she musta said yes!-- And to be asked ta make ya cake-- What an honour! I-If you'll let me o' course!" She'd stammer slightly in giving a quick bow to Zhalla to make sure she also had her blessing for such a monumental task. "Ah promise it'll be the most perfect cake ah've ever made! Do you have any wants for it? Any ideas sugar?" The question was of course aimed at both the Saiyans and he Majin seemed to have already magic'd up a cute little notepad to start furiously taking notes on too.

All their ideas for this big day and this big cake, she'd get them all!

Nero had this unique smugness about him now as he watched Zhalla and Patrona interact— it was a wholesomely happy kind of smugness in having guessed it would be this way. There was really nothing else like this sort of feeling watching two people one held dear get along. In fact, there was a golden sparkle in Nero’s eyes now! Zhalla would know quite well what that signified, and Patrona was probably able to easily guess given how long she and Nero had known each other. “I’ll warn you to bring more of your sweets stash next time then, how’s that sound?” Nero snickered.

With a soft smile, Nero gave a nod when Patrona had her very Patrona reaction to the news of a wedding. “Yeah. That I did.” He confirmed, looking over to Zhalla, and his smile becoming brighter as a result. “You’ve got nothing to worry about Zhalla, I trust Patrona to take this seriously, she won’t go blabbing or anything like that. I know you want to tell people properly too, and I respect that.” They had to discuss the guest list themselves eventually, and the people on it would be who they would tell, of course. “To be honest, I think me being Guru has nothing to do with it. We’d have a wedding to plan even if I wasn’t Guru yanno?” However, Nero was sure that Zhalla had something more to say on it, such as having the capacity to get help from practically almost anyone on the planet.

As far as cake ideas were concerned, Nero reached an arm over Zhalla’s shoulder to try and get her attention and get her out of her spluttering and stuttering moment. “C’mon Zhalla! I need you to tag-team this challenge with me! I don’t wanna be the only one pickin’ things out. Though one suggestion I’d give is some kinda sun and moon theme?” Nero mused, hoping the other two could build on his idea.

When Nero looked at her with that bright smile of his at confirming he had proposed to her she'd give a smile back as her face turned red, her gaze darting away bashfully. They were only in front of one other person right now and that person was a good friend of Nero's but she still felt shy about it somehow, did the romance stuff ever get easier?

Both Nero and Patrona would reassure her that the Majin wouldn't go telling others without their permissions which made her smile lightly, if Nero trusted her then Zhalla did too, she seemed very much the talkative type but that didn't mean she couldn't keep an important secret when need be! She'd give a nod to show she'd heard the two and believed what they were telling her. As for telling people properly herself too? She hadn't really... Thought that far ahead yet, how was she going to tell Dion? ... Could she even still talk to him? Who else could she talk to about it? The last time she saw Amara was back in Heaven, Carro hadn't been around since her last visit to Plant and Kabe was Kabe... An odd feeling of loneliness crept up on her when thinking about it, who would she even invite? Have on her side of the ceremony? Let alone who'd she have to talk to about it? As Zhalla she'd always kept to herself before having met Nero to help keep the kids safe and as Gladiator she never was out to make friends. Well there was no point thinking on it much now but it did solidify to her how important it was to mend things between herself and Dion whenever she got the chance to. She hoped he'd been getting her messages...

Nero's friend covered for her on pretty much everything she'd thought to say about the whole being Guru part and Zhalla would give a finger guns gesture her way to point that out, "She gets what I'm putting down, if anybody who lives here too wanted to come to see their Guru I wouldn't wanna turn them down, you know? You know so many of the people who live here too, they might wanna be involved at least in some way" She did seem anxious though at the idea of an unknown number of other people potentially getting involved with it too. "I wouldn't wanna be rude and such either-- What if people insist on helping?" She'd rub the back of her neck and look aside wondering if there was anyone on Namek that didn't like who the Guru was getting married to, would anyone give them trouble? She had so much going on in that head of hers now.

Zhalla was brought back down to Namek soon though as she felt Nero's arm over her shoulder, trying her best to not jump too obviously in surprise. Looking to Patrona with her notepad she'd give a wobbly smile to Nero to try and look as though she had it all together. Themes... Cake. Sun and Moon? "Sun and moon... OH-- Uh, what about an overall sky theme? With Nero's side being more moon focused cause well" She'd look back to his forehead, remembering the symbol that'd appeared when he'd transformed. It was just one of the many things about him that made her think of the moon, the choice there was obvious! And she supposed she maybe looked a little like the sun in that blonde form? Maybe. Nero probably knew better on that one, maybe a cloud for the fluffy hair could work too? She gave one little idea before seemingly going right back running her thoughts round and round in her head, oops.

“Mhm, two years.” Give or take a few months or whatever, but that wasn’t important. It wasn’t as though Nero was going to be super picky and particular about such a small detail. “How’s that going by the way, the teaching position?”

Zhalla was pretty dumbfounded that Kabe was one of the people that knew, Nero on the other hand wondered why she hadn’t told him, they were cousins. Not telling Dion just yet was something he could understand, but Kabe hadn’t caused any problem directly or done something to cross either Nero or Zhalla. “He isn’t going to mess around and just blab about it, I can tell he wouldn’t.” For one thing he would very righteously incur Zhalla’s wrath. Sure, the two of them had their history but Kabe would be quite the dummy to really test her. “It should be alright to talk to them if you need to, Pats. I’ll leave clearance on talking to Kabe to Zhalla though, it’s only fair.”

Patrona was very understanding, she always was. “Of course, a part of us is not all of us.” A phrase that Nero was taught at a young age, one that both Patrona and Zhalla would know one way or another.

“Oh, Alo, short for Alomora, she’s this Majin girl in Zhalla’s care. She runs a shelter for children, I don’t think I directly mentioned that to you.” Still, she was a youngster, and probably could benefit from some assistance, as Zhalla pointed out. “Do we have anyone in mind that could help her?”

As annoyed as Nero may be with Dion, he knew the man would not miss an event like this, so ultimately everything being squared away with him was an important step. Even though he made some big mistakes recently, he deserved to be part of this; he was part of Zhalla’s family, and soon to be a part of Nero’s. “We will see. He’ll be there.” Nero spoke with unshakable determination.

Patrona’s potential idea for a cake sounded great! “Awww yes, do you think you can give it a minor enchantment? Like a celestial cycle as if it had the energy of the sun and moon? I think that’d be cool.” Damn, were all three of them just full of great ideas? It certainly seemed to be true! Regarding outfits, Nero had to give it a bit more thought. “I mean, I’d say that I could do it, but it’s probably best to get someone else to manage that. Hmm. Grandpa Bagapa has a good eye for fashion, but I don’t wanna pressure him given his old age. Hrrrrm...”