#void-mutimuse

[shadowyspectre]

Despite his irritation, the king does move through the pile carefully. He plucks through the old memories, never holding on too long. Eventually, the anger just...wasn't there. Not anymore. He didn't need it now. A golden gaze stared down at an old scarf gripped in his hands. It wasn't as bright as when it had been first gifted, the color a faded scarlet.

A small breath left him, shuddering from his throat. He blamed it on his damaged core. The king rose to his feet, prize in had as he returned. When he did, the look of contemplation was gone. It was easy to pull the mask back on.

He was good at being annoying.

"Hmph, here's your thing." He huffed, walking over and lifting up the scarf. "Happy?"

Macaque keeps leaning against the tree trunk, arms crossed and tail twitching with agitated motions and thin patience as he waits for Wukong to leave for the cave.

After he's reasonably sure the Monkey King is well out of sight, Macaque lets the glamours off his ears so he can listen for the King looking for his scarf from the tree trunk, as well as listen to the sounds of the future so he can put them back on a good while before the other simian comes back.

He mostly picks up the loud rushing of the waterfalls, but the sound of Wukong's heartbeat is easily picked up on.

Macaque sighs. Why'd he even bother coming here for his old scarf, anyway? Sure, sentimentality for days long past, but it's just...

Whatever. He needs the closure. Then he'll be damned if he ever comes back to this place again. He doesn't live here any more. He has his own home in Megapolis making a quick buck on shadow plays. He doesn't need this place any more.

So why does his chest hurt?

[shadowyspectre]

"be honest... can we ever be friends again?" [From Wukong to Macaque]

Be honest

Words failed the shadow. Out of countless possibilities, he did not expect those to leave the other's mouth. His eyes did not leave Wukong as a harsh ache filled his chest. For a moment, he worried the parasite had not left him. But he found that was not the case. No, this was a different ache inside his core. One he had often tried to smother until it didn't matter once he was infected.

Emotions.

Perhaps that was too simplified.

Grief was a prominent one, but it swirled with his resentment and tainted those old memories. Tainted the longing for better days and when he could lay by the other's side and simply...be.

Now you say it, a nasty voice piped up inside him against those soft emotions. Now you ask? As if you have the right to? Do you really think you can just ignore all that's happened and go back to how things were? I knew you were stupid but fuck, way to exceed expectations.

Oh, there were a lot of things he could say. There were a lot of things he could say to shove the other away. To shove those emotions deep into the pit inside him where they belonged. Where they could go and die.

He considered it, eyes narrowing as he crossed his arms over his chest.

But...

His gaze softened slightly, the crease in his brow smoothing before he looked away. "...I don't know." His arms shifted, wrapping more around himself as he stared out at the horizon. "I don't know, Wukong."

"Things are a mess."

[shadowyspectre]

"...r...really?" his voice was soft, wavering as if it might crack. "I...we can still wait, I didn't mean to rush anything or like, push."

He rubbed the back of his head, forcing an awkward chuckle out. It sounded a little too high-pitched to his ears. His lips pressed together for a moment, but a smile pulled at them soon enough. "But...if you think we should, we can totally go now! It'll be nice to relax a bit. I mean, after it's done, but still."

"If there's a terrible monster in there, it won't stand a chance against either of us!"

Wukong may be a bit stunted in the empathy department, but he's hardly blind. He can tell MK is struggling with this, and it might go deeper than just knocking something in his treasure room over.

"It might be better to deal with it now, then," he suggests. He's not overly enthusiastic about cleaning his treasure room, but it might help MK out of his funk if he's there to help the kid out and show that he's got his back.

"We can go when you're feeling up for it, take care of it real quick and then go get some peaches, spend the rest of today chilling, maybe watch a show?"

[shadowyspectre]

"...yeah." Normally those words instilled the confidence he needed. But for some reason, it seemed...lesser? Was that the right word? Like, it was nice, it really was! He didn't want to be ungrateful...but maybe he wanted a little more. Maybe some good ole wisdom or something.

Her old whispers crept in, making him shiver and rub at his arm.

Yeah, he knew he'd handled worse. Still, there could always be something worse than her. Maybe he was being paranoid.

"I mean, we don't gotta. If you really think I can handle it, we can wait for whatever happens."

"You're gonna have to be more specific, bud," Wukong brushes off his successor's panic.

"Besides, you've handled way worse than some cracked thingamajiggy, you can totally take care whatever it's got in store. Just believe in yourself."

"Though if it'll make you feel better, we can go and check out whatever it is you broke and clean it up," he says a bit less enthusiastically. He hates cleaning up after himself.

[shadowyspectre]

He sat up, awkwardly tapping his hands together as he settled. On one hand, it would be painful explaining his fuck up. On the other...yeah, he didn't think it was too good how that one thing broke. Honestly, what had he been thinking going in there?

"Okay, soImayhavegottenintoyourartifactroomandbrokenathingamajigofyours."

"Thinking, huh?" Wukong keeps his easygoing smile. "Sounds exhausting. You look like you need a break from whatever you're thinking about."

He's not going to pry too much, but when MK gets like this, a good mentor can't help but be concerned. If there's one thing he's trying to teach that MK still hasn't gotten the hang of yet, it's self confidence.

He's been trying day one, and there is marked improvement, but it doesn't seem the lesson's sunken in yet.

[shadowyspectre]

A rather unmanly shriek ripped from the brunette, body jerking away at the appearance of his mentor. He hits the ground with a soft thump. "Ah, oh jeez, um...nothing! Nothing really! Just thinking!"

"Heya bud! You doing okay?" Of course, the Monkey King of optimal timing has arrived to find his student panicked and looking generally distressed. Time for the cool, calm, collected mentor to take the reigns and help his successor cool down.

"You look a little wound up, kiddo. What's got you down?"