arriving in his home village, aero first headed home to see if his mother was home. she wasn't but her boyfriend was. giving him a growl aero turned around right back out the door and went to the mission desk to turn in the proof of the hunt. he noticed she got a new desk and tried to cover it with her body." I would like to point out that would have done nothing to stop me!" he said carrying the reward under his arm.
he dropped half of it off at the bank before he returned home where he hid half of the remaining part. the rest of it was for him to spend as he liked, so it was probably gonna sit for a long while. he didn't really buy much outside the essentializes and maybe the occasional meal, money in its place aero still ignored Adir and took a nice long bath.
"okay what should I do now?" it was pretty early in the day but he was tired but not enough that he wanted to nap also he was injured. the ache of his bones was simple for him to ignore, he laid on his bed trying to nap but he kept snapping awake. thankful something came to his attention after about three flowers of that. 'my lord the cube has entered the atmosphere of your planet, it will near you home in exactly...now!' aero shot up in bed.
quickly he moved out of his home and raced to the edge of the town into the forest. the helper guided him from there to the exact location of the cube, "it here right?" aero denied flinching went he air shimmered and a tangerine cube appeared. leaning closer he saw the strange charters on it. 'an alien language huh!' he would have to learn about that more when he talked to Tova tomorrow.
taking a deep breath he drew up the energy of his pride, placing his hand on the brightly colored cube he pushed the energy into it. 'oh wow!' now he wasn't too familiar with his pride energy. but he could tell the cube could hold a lot more than he currently had. but he still poured everything he had into the box, the more he gave the more credit he would have afterward.
'oh dear, so that's what the overuse systems are like!' the helper made note of the changes in his lord after he had drained his energy supply. it was interesting to note how his lord's stance had changed, more protective of himself less open.
sealing the pride energy away the cube beeped before fading from sight again. there was no noticeable sound as he flew above the tree line and headed for the stars.
"so..how long before the book arrives?" the hesitation in aero voice confused him and flabbergasted his helper. 'i really hope you recover soon,' the helper commented.
"what does that mean?" aero was looking around at the forest like he was worried something might come out. the helper said they would explain it later, the fact aero excepted this without compliant didn't help how the helper was feeling. 'the energy molding book will be here in about three to five days. depending on availability.' aero nodded before starting his speed walk back home, he avoided eye contact with everyone that looked at him. which caught them off guard.
being alone at home didn't seem to calm aero's never but the helper's suggestion of a quick nap was a very good idea. he went down far from easy but he did go to sleep, it was dark out when he did wake up and he felt over so tilt. "ugh what's happening?"
'you drained your energy supplies and are currently experiencing the side effects.'
"side effects?"
'yes, since pride is related to self-confidence your self-esteem is severely lowered. it is very weird." aero blinked and tried to think so he could check this.
"by the might of the zalts!" he remembers socking his teacher and now he was questioning if he was crazy. 'so this is the power of self-esteem huh!" he was amazed by how different he was thinking about so many of his past action. he was actually ashamed about some of the things he did in the past, "oh can you tell me how long I'm gonna be like this?"
' from my calculation, it will take several months before you're back at your usual self!'
"is there a way to speed this up?" aero wanted his confidence back, he could live without it nor really his only income was combat and he needed to be self-assured that he could win? going into a battle believing you may lose was dangerous, second-guessing, hesitation could get you killed.
'well in there if you generate the energy yourself confidence should return, but generating that kind of energy requires an unknown method. a melody may work but finding the exact one would take some time, would you like me to do the calculation, my lord?'
"...yes," what little pride he had at the moment stood no chance to his fear about his future.
'then I will begin immediately, it should take no longer than a day.' aero nodded with a sigh of relief. his stomach then informed him of its current state and he left his room to have his third meal. "hello mother," he politely hoping that he wouldn't alert her to something wrong.
"what happened!" it took only one look for her to know that something is wrong.
"nothing physical!" he wanted to smack himself for that.
"sit, tell me what's wrong!" he didn't argue with her, even if his pride was at his peak her tone meant no argument. silent he sat taking the plat she offered him, Aero took a few bites before he started talking. he gave a short explanation about how he attained pride energy to freely control and that he overused causing his current mental state. the entire time she didn't say anything.
"Okay, so we just have to wait for you to recover?" the mother calmly asked and her son nervously nodded. "then you should be careful until you get better." she finished her food before setting the dish to soak for now and went upstairs to wash. Aero stayed at the table until the new feeling in his gut settled, "what was that?" it felt like something was flying around in his stomach.
'that was anxiety, my lord,' Aero only seemed more confused and the helper didn't know how to really explain it. how could someone be so disconnected from an emotion? but moving on he explained it was badly next-level nervousness.
"nervousness huh?" he was feeling a lot of that right now, it was making it hard to eat. what usual didn't take a few petals took him almost ten, then he washed the dishes because of the fluttering in his gut. when he returned to his room he spent a flower staring at the ceiling plagued by bad thoughts.
waking up aero dreaded the day and didn't feel like getting out of bed, he was scared of what he might encounter, who he might encounter. but he knew on some level that he was being ridiculous but he was still scared, that last time he's felt anything things close was the babbits.
slowly Aero got the will to get out of bed, but it was late in the morning. walking downstairs he sighed to find that his mother was home,' right today's her required day off.' taking his first meal off the table he nervously ate before joining his mother in the living room, she didn't say anything about the way he was acting even though it made her wide-eyed. she doesn't think he's been like this for years, it made her remember the time he wouldn't let go of her if he could help it.
they were quiet for a long while before Neora started a conversation, something to get her son to relax some and it worked out. he still looked nervous but that was more from his lack of general confidence. "are you okay with my boyfriend coming over?" the teen's face pinched at the thought. his lack of self-confidence didn't change how he felt about her boyfriend.
"Yeah I'm fine with it," it went out easier than he would have expected. his mother didn't seem to buy it completely but still went off to send the message to Adir looking a bit guilty. quickly returning to the room. they talked about food during the time it took for the man to arrive, aero didn't look put to give the man his usual growl. but his silence didn't mean a warm welcome from him.
he didn't ask about the situation but instead asked if aero wanted to go shopping for a different kind of clothing. now aero has never really bought clothing, Grinine believes that males should be protected from the sun as well so the fabric was soft but actually pretty thick. aero having the belief that he needed no protection and wore relatively thin clothing.
right now he was regretting that because thin clotihng meant kind of see though, in the past if anyone started they got backhanded hard. also for anyone that said he should get thicker clothing, now he was kind of horrified that people could see through his clothing in certain light. so even though it was with a man he despised going shopping for new clothes sounded like a good idea.
there were a few feet between the males as they walked to the market area. aero stayed close enough to keep the man in his eyesight but didn't come any closer, they arrived at the market and quickly found a booth selling men's clothes. they quickly ran into a problem. aero may lack pride but he still had his sense of fashion and none of the clothes at the first booth had anything he liked, nor the second or the third.
"anything here catches your interest?" Adir asked as they stood before another booth. Aero looked over the clothing all of it was beautiful all of it would look great on him. look like a gem. he didn't want that aero wanted to be seen like a caple person and he could do that while he looked like he should be on display.
they moved to another booth, but at this point, aero had kind of given up and resigned himself to his thin clothing. that to going home and making his own clothing,' it's been a while since I've done any kind of sewing. I'm gonna mess up so badly!'
they stopped at another booth and he barely have it a look over before walking away, only to pause as something actually caught his eyes. steeping back he got a closer look at the clothing, it was pretty simple. no lace, frills, or anything extra one simple color, it was thick and soft enough to be male clothing as well. though it was pretty big, an easy fix with a needle.
"how much for this?" he asked. not looking the booth owner in the eyes, it was from shyness but thanks to the reputation that aero has she thought it was an act of defiance. she didn't plan to respond to him, but Adir cut in, more than happy the aero found something he liked. it took a bit of barging before she was willing to hand over the clothing, "now I know what we are looking for I know where to go!" Adir dragged the teen past seval booth.
"here you go pick something!" he pointed to a booth of clothing full of plain male clothing. "why have I never seen a booth like this before?"
"because your young!" his cheery tone died when aero turned to glare at him. it lacked his usual fire but it still scared him. clearing his throat he explained," guys your age are usually trying to attract a wife so they want to look pretty to catch someone's eyes. you don't so what you want to wear is different! more similar to the clothing older guys wear when taking care of the children, clothes they know are going to get dirty one way or another. you know how sticky children can get!"
aero calmed at that and brought more clothing that was more than a bit big on him. but he really could fix it, which he started on when they returned home. he was pleasantly surprised that he didn't stab himself with the needle more than a few times, he was just basically taking out chunks of fabric to decrease the size of the clothing.
'my lord the calculations have been completed, would you like to hear?' aero set down the needle and nodded. 'using a melody you could temporarily regain your full pride! next would be using a melody to steadily refill the energy. the best option is that you do things you take pride in doing, like the sewing you're doing now.' aero looked down at his work, the helper was right he was taking pride in this and he should because he did a good job too.
but that gave him an idea the thing he took the most pride in was his fighting skills. of course, he didn't feel like he could win a fight in this state. so instead he changed into his new clothing and started some simple motions, it reminded his of all the fight he's won all the training he did. if he hadn't been looking he would have noticed the energy start to grow, he went on feeling a bit more steady in his actions.
"HA!" he hit the air with a high kick before switching to a low kick and ending with a straight kick. putting his feet don't he ground he threw punching into the air, one after the other changing the type until his arms started to each. he slowed down, he wasn't back at his top but enough that no one should notice,probably. he cooled down with a bit of yoga.
"I forgot about you!" he turned to face Adir, who had clearly watched him practice. he left a bit nervous about that but was able to push it away. "you practice a lot don't you?" aero nodded before starting some cool-down yoga.