seasonsrpg | 1 Out of 10 Wouldn't Recommend

WHO: Wukong, existing CR
WHAT: Returning from death and processing
WHEN: December 5th
WHERE:The Summer flower yard, but mostly around Blossomcrown
WARNINGS:Lots of grief, relief, and musing on death and relationships.

Flower Yard - Locked to LMK cast
Waking up in the Flower Yard was...well it was weird. Even not being himself at the time, Wukong recalled what happened. The portal, sending MK and Red Son through because they were just children, the portal closing. Looks like they weren't kidding about the fact that if you got stuck you died.

The large colorful hibiscus flower tipped forward, slipping him out of it before he could dwell too much and he brushed himself off before looking around. There wasn't really any reason to stick around in this reverse graveyard, and being dead hadn't entirely settled in his mind yet. But he had the nagging feeling that things were just okay. He should head back to Blossomcrown and make sure things are okay.

Wildcard

((ooc: Feel free to start something around Blossomcrown. Wukong will just be around.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ There might have been something to say here about how Macaque had it coming, the waiting and not being okay, but for once he thinks better of it. He deeply does not want to do anything that might casue Wukong to shake him off. ]

[ Instead, he scoffs humorlessly and pulls away just enough to look Wukong in the eye. Macaque doesn't really cry, not for a very long time even by their standards, but he has a look about him like he might be close to it. ]

I'm not sure anyone could have comforted me successfully, if that's what you're implying. [ He moves his hand so his fingers can card through Wukong's fur. Another point of proof that he's actually there. ]

[Right now he's hard-pressed to be that callous.]

Maybe a little. Mostly...I wish you hadn't dealt alone.

[Honestly, Wukong can't think of a single time that he's seen Macaque even close to tears. Seeing it now makes him feel conflicting emotions. He's touched, but guilty, uncertain he'd be worth the tears...and several others he can't quite process right now.]

[ The sad expression doesn't last, mercifully for everyone. That glancing blow is as close to fits of emotion as Macaque would prefer to get, thank you. ]

[ But he seems reluctant to let go, which is probably just as telling. ]

Don't die again and I won't have to. [ Flawless logic. ]

With any luck we won't have to worry about it again. I'm not planning for the Jade Emperor to be a regular obstacle.

[Honestly he wishes he knew how to actually respond to this. It's...weird. Not because they were recently at each other's throats or because he just doesn't feel deserving...wihich he doesn't.

Having someone who isn't MK this concerned just...he's not used to it.]

[ Macaque snaps to attention more or less instantly. ]

The Jade Emperor? That's what was in there?

[ He told MK that place sounded sketchy as hell, damn he hates being right. ]

Well a shadow of the Jade Emperor, blocking our way at the last moment. But yeah. Things were fine at first. And we were right there at the portal.

[He shrugs.]

So I did what I had to.

[ The words themselves are fine and understandable, but the casualness. Macaque grips Wukong's shoulders and stares him down. ]

I'm not going to argue whether you did the wrong thing, I'd have done the same. But don't shrug like it's nothing. You can imagine what you not coming back did to MK. And to me.

We were both losing our minds for three days, you don't get to pop back up and act like it's no big deal, like your life is something to casually throw away. Even if it makes you feel something less than comfortable to get into.

It's not nothing. But I don't know what you want from me Macaque.

[Wukong doesn't pull away, but stares directly into his eyes. Macaque probably doesn't mean it that way, but it feels accusatory. Like how he's processing the fact that in that moment, on that mission, everything that he'd done before being sealed under the mountain...it meant nothing because he'd still died. Still been faced with the exact thing he'd been avoiding for centuries.

But he doesn't say that. Because he can't.]

I'm dealing with it the only way I've ever been able to deal with anything.

[ Macaque continues with his watery glare for a moment before sighing in a burst and nodding forward, shoulders sagging. ]

I don't want to fight with you.

This is one of the many, many times over the years that I've wished I could tell exactly what was going on inside your head so I'd know whether to hold you or smack you around. I was always so bad at guessing.

...So maybe you could give me a break and tell me. I'd have a hard time acting like nothing happened but if that's what you want I can... try.

I'd like to say that what you saw was what you got back then, but I'd probably be wrong.

[Breaking eye contact finally, he rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably. Just not hiding that he's not chill with this.]

I've never gotten to stop and not be okay. Not after the underworld, the furnace, the mountain, you, Camel Ridge, DBK...I just move on. I don't know how to, and I don't know that it's something I want to be able to do. It's easier to be okay. That's all.

[Because no one has ever asked or given the time. Because he's good at being cheerful and playing it off.]

[ How many times and how many ways has Wukong said "I'm wrong about everything" by this point? Including being wrong about himself, apparently. Macaque files it away for later. (Even if it's plainly bullshit to claim it's easier to be okay when he's never tried the alternative.) ]

[ But with this staring him in the face it's easier to get why Wukong never acknowledged how not okay Macaque was. He couldn't. ]

Okay.

[ Macaque draws a slow breath and visibly gets hold of himself. He's a performer, he can do this. ]

As long as you let me hang around a while for my own sanity, we can do something else. Would you rather grab a snack or do a quest? The new ones dropped. There's something with fire monkeys and something with peach monsters...

[It's hard to not feel wrong about everything when 90% of people you know say it all the time.

With Macaque it's not so much he can't, right now he can't. Before he just thought he could make the not okay go away. Be invincible enough to protect him from literally anything. Now? He just...can't.

He persks up at the idea of peach monsters and fire monkeys.]

Why not both? We're fast enough to do both.

Fair enough. As long as you're going to be able to actually kill the peach monsters. You can't eat them, the juice'll burn you.

[ Macaque checks the notes he made on his phone. ]

The peaches are at the Autumn airship station, the peaches are down at the Southern tip of the huge lake in the Summer segment. You're driving the cloud, so it's your call.

[ Sure he could teleport, but he's wagering that Wukong might prefer to fly. He never seemed to like using shadows to travel for whatever reason. Maybe it's a control thing. ]

That's all the more reason to get rid of them. It's just wrong.

[Directly killing? Maybe not, but he can fight them off no problem.]

Anyway, we're already in Summer, so let's start here.

[Shadow portaling hits a bit close to being kidnapped to the underworld. He summons his cloud and hops on, waiting for Macaque to join him.]

And if we can't handle a few monkeys, I'll turn in my title.

[ It's not that close to the underworld, and Macaque was there a hell of a lot longer so he feels qualified to speak on it. But he's (apparently) (still) all about whatever Wukong wants so up on the nimbus it is. ]

[ He sits with his back against Wukong's and drops the glamours over his ears so he can feel and hear Wukong's heart beating. ]

I don't think they'll be quite as docile as your subjects on the mountain. Allegedly they don't even like fruit.

1 Out of 10 Wouldn't Recommend

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject