Dark Nimbus Storm

“Hmm? Where’s your proof, then? Do you have a thirty page thesis on hand? Didn’t think so~!” Ozera teased Pankaa even more. He had reacted to her earlier peck on the forehead basically how she guessed that he would with his ears shooting up all of a sudden. “See, luckily for me, I have practical evidence right here.” She added, attempting to gently boop his nose with a finger. At least she didn’t try to kiss him again, right?

Yes, for now...

“Hmhmhm, wouldn’t you like to know~” She shrugged lightly in reference to Pankaa trying to figure out what the ‘test’ she gave him was even about. “You passed though. So let’s see if you can figure out what it was about with that information~!” If he didn’t figure it out now, he would eventually— he wasn’t nearly as dense as he was presenting himself to be.

“Excellent!” Ozera gave a big smile as the date’s date was set, Pankaa even wrote it down in one of his cute little notebooks. “Oh cool, I wonder what else could be out there in terms of variance in Nimbus..” Was there one that mimicked rocks? If there wasn’t she’d make one. Somehow.

On the topic of the very large now clearly identified storming Nimbus nearby, Pankaa hypothesized that it was missing its rider. Not an impossible outcome, and it got Ozera thinking as to who could possibly fit the bill. “Hrrrmmm... Well, do you know any Kaiju?”

“Oh you don’t have one on hand? Heheh, skill issue!!” Ozera gave a big goofy grin, she wasn’t being serious whatsoever. That said, she would in fact be impressed if Pankaa managed to write up a scientific document so quickly with little preparation time on the topic.

He retorted by similarly asking for proof, but Ozera had already specified that she had practical proof present in front of her. Pankaa further proved Ozera’s point— perhaps unintentionally— when he chose to use a cute nickname for her. Oh, now she was gonna get him. She held a hand up to her face in a ‘fancy’ sort of way and began to laugh heartily. “Ohohohoho~! Nice try. It just so happens that I like my pancakes dense.” Her smile curled into a playfully mischievous one, wondering how Pankaa would react to this.

“Erm, logically, there are bound to be more than two festive Nimbus. It makes no sense otherwise. You’re telling me, as the resident Nimbus expert between us, you only know of two that fit this criteria?” Ozera could pretty easily pinpoint when Pankaa was fibbing at this point, and she would call it out for his benefit more than anything else... Or so she thought. “Anyway, it isn’t really related to any holiday I know of, but I’ve heard vague whispers that there’s apparently one that can’t stop sparkling— probably glitters in the night sky quite nicely.”

Pankaa might not know any Kaiju to fit the bill, but he had something else— lore based knowledge. Ozera took this seriously even though the Avali tried to play it off as silly. She leaned forward and stared into Pankaa’s eyes. “Tell me the story, please. I see this as relevant information.” They had no other leads right now anyway.

“Don’t ask me, it’s not my paper~!” Ozera continued to playfully poke fun at Pankaa. If nothing else, she hoped it would egg him on into writing up such a thesis for fun and handing it to her. The poor guy deserved more moments to just do something for a laugh.

Seeing Pankaa continue to flounder amused Ozera, but she was also greatly appreciative that he could actually relax. He was about as endearingly unaware as she had expected, but he eventually figured it out. “Hmm, well, you’re not complaining, are you?” She returned the gentle bap on her shoulder with the same gesture towards Pankaa.

“Aww, now that one just sounds cute as a button!” Ozera gave a smile as Pankaa finally admitted to his knowledge of yet another festive Nimbus. That super rare sparkly Nimbus however needed more research. “Odd thought, but— whos to say there aren’t even more festive ones out there? Like a Nimbus that happens to be kinda, rubbery or semi-gooey. That’d be fun.” For all she knew, such a Nimbus could indeed exist!

Listening intently to Pankaa’s recount of the story given in the form of a poem. She took note of every line, every passage, what pieces of information could be in direct relation and assessed what she knew with reference to this story. “Hmm. Do you know how old this story is, even just roughly? If you do, and I get close enough to that cloud, I can at least figure out if it is indeed the very same Nimbus, or one of its supposed descendants.”

Ozera smiled smugly, she was in some way trying to get Pankaa to take a break from his most recent big project. As important as it was to him (understandably so, thus it was important to her as well) the guy needed to take a second and not repeatedly smack his head against a metaphorical wall for hours on end. “Nuh-uh! Don’t b_wuh w^uh guh me mister! You know your assignment now, don’cha?” She poked her tongue out at him as if to taunt him further.

Pankaa’s face scrunched up in thought, it wasn’t a common sight to see him like that, so Ozera chose to enjoy it while it lasted. “Heh, you’re really cute when you’re thinking with a capital T, yanno that, right?” As if Pankaa needed any further teasing.

Oh wait— “Test two; what was the first test?” Good grief... “C’mon smart guy, you can figure it out, right?” She really wanted to make him work for what could very much be a category 8 cute-embarrassment event!? She was diabolical!!

“Statistically, my odds of encountering one are quite high.” Was she going to elaborate as to why? No, she figured Pankaa would know already— he was part of the reason that such a percentage was high after all. “Odd though they sound, I find the concepts charming in their own silly little ways.” Similar could be said for her opinion of Pankaa— charming in his own silly way.

Ozera tapped her chin in thought, it made sense that the tale was older than Pankaa or Nero. Their mother knew it to be a story since she was the one that told them, so she too would know it as a story. “Given those factors... Realistically speaking, I would surmise that it would be older than your grandpa. Your mum had to be told the tale as well, correct? That would be what makes sense to me, at least. Regardless, that will function perfectly as a baseline at such short notice.”

Addressing Pankaa’s concern, Ozera simply put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve got a cute bodyguard. So, I’m not worried.”

Seeing Pankaa’s reaction was really all that Ozera needed. His feathers puffed out as he continued to stammer and attempt to make some form of rebuttal. The Arcosian’s expression became increasingly smug, and she held her head up slightly after Pankaa’s highest point of denial. “Hmmm.” She leaned forward slightly to get a closer look at Pankaa with a finger to her chin. “One could argue that this would suffice as a scare tactic but, errrrmm—” Stepping forward, Ozera tried to ruffle the feathers on Pankaa’s face. “Lets see. Dense, and fluffy! Who would have thought? You know, besides me, of course.”

Pankaa was still capital T thinking too, Ozera had no way of knowing what exactly what was going on in there, but she could tell it was happening given the Avali’s expression, and she still thought it was cute. Utterly diabolical of her!

“There are a few reasons.” Ozera began answering Pankaa’s question. “We live on Namek, that alone increases some measure of odds in this category. Two, your presence. You have more experience in seeking any given specific Nimbus than I do. Three, there are two of us. Four, we can cover more ground alongside your Nimbus; who alone is the fifth reason that increases our chances.”

Ozera snorted, but she kept herself from laughing when Pankaa tried to talk some sense into her. Unfortunately for him, she thought she was being perfectly sensible. “Does being cute really detract from your strength and skill? Honestly, Pankaa. Those are completely mutually exclusive! Keep up~!” With a smile, she shrugged once Pankaa let up. “Being worried for the safety of the one you intend to protect? Hm, that sounds like textbook bodyguard behaviour to me.”

Teasing aside, Ozera gave a nod. “You’re right, I absolutely would do that regardless now that I’m intrigued, it comes with the territory.” She said, tapping the side of her head with a finger. “As is having plans in mind. Remember the lab experiment of Age 1023, August ninth, Wednesday? The atmospheric condensing sphere that broke and didn’t give us the conclusion we wanted for that particular experiment but later provided the solution to the engineering test of Age 1024 January seventeenth, also a Wednesday?”

Ozera gave a small smile and feigned some level of obliviousness, but she could tell that Pankaa was still capital T thinking, trying his best to apply logic to what Ozera considered as a logic-less scenario or situation. She was glad that she could get Pankaa to just... Be. To give Pankaa a chance to release himself from the stress of his great intellect was good enough for her.

“Oh, you claim to know how I think now, do you?” Ozera raised her brows. “Bold claim.” She chuckled, very obviously taking note of Pankaa’s expression. “I guess I don’t need to explain myself if you know so much, hm?”

She understood Pankaa’s logic in questioning if some of her reasons were identical, but she didn’t agree. “Hm? No.” Ozera responded evenly, with a long enough pause to imply that she wasn’t going to elaborate... But she was totally going to elaborate, right?

Right?

“The third was a reference to our individual and combined intellect.” Ok, yes, phew. She just took exactly long enough to build up anticipation.

To Pankaa’s rant in the face of her continuing to somewhat tease him, Ozera simply listened and smiled. “My my. It’s cute when you take my perception of you so seriously, but awwh, you’re even cuter when you admit that you care outright~!” ... Maybe Nero was right about her, she was clever, diabolically clever.

As expected, Pankaa remembered both events and dates that Ozera had mentioned. “Well since you remember, you know what I’m getting at. I promise you that I have a plan.” She pointed to her side belt that held a few miscellaneous artefacts and mixes. “Because everything we need is right there.” Ozera explained as she hopped up onto Pankaa’s Nimbus. “I’m well aware. She’d kill you then seek you in Otherworld, bring you back to life, ground you, kill you, bring you back to life again then ground you extreme.” ... Thanks Ozera, as if Pankaa didn’t already know that.

“Ohohohoho~” Ozera held the back of her hand up to her chin and held her head back so that she was looking down at Pankaa but in a comical and joking manner. “Now you’re challenging me? Hmhm, bold and brave. Are you sure you should have done that?” She questioned, pretty certain that Pankaa wasn’t sure about having done that at all. “In any case, eeuuurrrrt, wrong! It isn’t simply because you are a close friend. C’mon genius, figure it out.” At least she seemed quite confident in challenging him as a response— but she liked challenging him, especially intellectually. Also, to tease him mercilessly.

“Wondering what that means, are you?” She did have a habit of making him wonder about things too, alongside challenging him and mercilessly teasing him. “Fine, since you’re cute I’ll tell you; it’s about togetherness at our best, the feats we achieve united. Does that satisfy your curiosity?” It’ll either do that or make him explode, fifty-fifty odds.

Finally, Pankaa was picking up something within what Ozera had been saying. As fun as it was to playfully torment the Avali, this was good progress. “Why yes, there is...” Staring directly into his eyes, Ozera smiled mischievously, she had him right where she wanted him now!

“But first~! This frazzled stammering, pouting, bashfulness and very particular ear motions that you’re doing indicate you have some thoughts of your own. Care to share them?” Ozera fluttered her eyelashes in a cutesy way. “I’ll share if you do~” He could try and play it off all cool-like as much as he wanted, but Ozera saw right through him!

Ozera gave Pankaa a bright smile when he had his comical freak-out reaction at what she had said regarding how his mother would react if either of them were hurt. “Don’t worry sweetie~! I wouldn’t let her touch you!” Now that was bold as hell. “Really though, neither of us will be harmed, mhm! Either way, focus it is!”

Finally getting close enough to the gargantuan seemingly menacing cloud in the sky; it didn’t seem to immediately notice the pair.

Ozera noted the movements, common patterns, reactions to stimuli, and in doing so began calculating quite quickly in her head just how old this cloud could possibly be. “Okay, so... Right. Then if I consider... Yes, that makes sense...” She continued to mutter to herself as she went on with calculating. “I think I can figure something out in under a minute. Have you got anything yet?”

Now that they were closer to it than ever before it would now be very easy for Pankaa in particular to hear the minute details of the sounds this vast entity was making. Each rumble, each rush of wind, even the few rays of stray energy that struck the ground indicated one thing. Grief. This giant Nimbus was so full of sorrow, and sadness that its visage turned dark and stormy.

It was crying.

Crying, and nobody was brave enough to get close enough to know that. Nobody, until now.