@sageshadowed

He's picking idly at the stone crust on the edge of his fingers. It's not helping much - the stone regrows just as fast as he picks it off - and the only result he gets is a pile of stone dust in his lap. But given how dirty he already is, it's not much of a change.

Some of the smaller monkeys tried to clean him earlier, but with the sand being too fine they only managed to get a little of it off. And then one of them jumped down on his knee and screeched in alarm at the hard texture of, well, him, so Macaque escorted all of them out of the room and told them to go play somewhere else. It was a little harsh, but Wukong couldn't really say anything about it (not right now at least). It's not like he can entertain the little ones well in this state anyway and he didn't want them to worry any more than they needed to (which is not at all). He will just have to make it up to them later.

If there is a 'later' for him, that is.

So it's just him and Macaque in here now. Him, slowly dying, and Macaque, who looks like he's about to do the same. Again, his brain unhelpfully provides. Wukong doesn't regret asking the other to stay ("Someone should stay behind to call off the search party if you guys are too slow", is what he said. In hindsight, the joke was terrible), even if he still wishes he didn't need to. If there is one person he doesn't feel too bad dying in front of, it's Macaque. He probably deserves to see it, after, you know. Everything.

That is also a terrible joke.

"It's going to be alright, you know that." Wukong breaks up the silence, softly but with the edge of his usual confidence hiding in there. Doesn't add "I will be alright" or "they'll get here in time" or "the cure will work and I will not die.". Doesn't want to say anything he doesn't one hundred percent believe.

Liu'er has woken up in strange places he did not remember falling asleep in before. But this definitely topped all those other times. He did not like this place. There were too few trees. Strange metal contraptions that flew down roads made of paved black stone. The air around here felt thick, and bitter. Almost like he was trying to breathe in smoke— except there was no fire in sight.

More alarmingly, there were so many people! His hearing was blissfully muffled, and for once he wasn't concerned— even with dampened powers, this place was too much! But he cannot sit idly by and lament the situation. He needs to find the other monkeys. Maybe— maybe Shihou and the elders were brought to this strange place, too. He'll even settle for Yutu. Any familiar and friendly face, really.

He's not sure how much time is spent aimlessly wandering around, sticking to side streets and eventually the rooftops, before he finally spots something vaguely familiar. Another monkey, one with black fur! He... Doesn't immediately recognize the older monkey beyond that though. So with a small and anxious chitter, he carefully trails after Macaque for a bit. Staying mostly out of sight and a safe distance away...

After narrowly losing track of Macaque, though, he finally announces his presence by scrambling around a corner into view. Worried about completely fumbling his chance to talk with the only other monkey he's seen so far, he gives a definitive loud CHIRP, a signature sound of distressed young monkeys.

"Wait up, please, mister!"

@sageshadowed

So there he was, back to square one: get a house, grab the keys, move in. It's not home but it's better than sleeping on the streets and anyways—he and his roommates didn't bother each other last time, so they might as well leave each other alone now.

There's something funny about #106 in Fibonacci, though. Only two stories—feels more like a single-family home than the condo he'd been assigned back in Archimedes—and a shared space for everyone on the first floor. He can't avoid half the house like he did in his last place, and are those hairs he sees on the entry rug? Who in the ever-loving Three Realms—

Oh.

"Oh, come on."

@sageshadowed

Oh, hey! It looks like Xiaotian wasn't the only one exploring the rooftops at this hour. In fact, that's a very familiar silhouette, isn't it?

He doesn't bother being quiet about his approach, like it'd matter to the Six-Eared Macaque anyways. He ignores the sound of his claws scraping and worn shoes squeaking as he leaps from one rooftop, onto the ledge of the one the older monkey was brooding (or whatever it was he's doing) on. There's a loud clang when he accidentally kicks off part of the gutter in his excitement. Oops. Yeah, he's going to ignore that too.

"Macaque!" He chirps, waving a hand in the air enthusiastically as he runs over to greet him. "Hey, uh, what's up? It's me! Monkey Kid!

@sageshadowed

"So hey you remember that time we considered putting a cookie in the middle of the city. You know, to see if anyone was willing to just take it? Or hell, get into a fight over it. Well guess what..."

Normally most people would've forgotten such a conversation. The idea of anyone actually trying to get into a fight each other over a pastry seemed like too much of an assumption on the BB's part. But NJ was not "most people", for better or for worse. And she needed to put that theory to the test.

"Well tada! Got some home baked Jersey goodness with us today! And we're about to see how many people swoon over little cookies like these."

@sageshadowed | s.c

The portal opening back to Spirale concerns Zazie. While it would definitely be nice to see Knives again, Zazie would much rather be home. After some deliberation, though, they decide to bring a little bit of home back to Spirale. You know, just in case they get suddenly taken back to Spirale again.

A little bit of home is actually quite large, because it's in the form of a grand worm, flying briefly through the air before tunneling into the beach, lurking just below the surface.

// @sageshadowed

@sageshadowed

It's been a little minute since Sun last visited Monkey King, but it looks like he's not even home. He walks down the hallway with a couple of monkeys hanging off of him like he's some sort of jungle gym, and one smaller one being carried in his arms.

His steps slows to a stop and there's a light grimace, "What are you doing here?" Come to think of it....when was the last time he's actually seen Macaque? "If you're here to see Monkey King then you're wasting your time. He's not here."

@sageshadowed

Another one.

Just how many different versions of herself are there? There's something lonely in the way she watches this Six Eared Macaque stack up the tiles of Mahjong by himself.

"I don't think that's how you play the game."

Regardless, she's taking her seat right across from him. Her leg crosses over the other as she makes herself comfortable.

"Do you play?"

@sageshadowed A Novel Idea (But something's gone wrong)

[🎸]--This is one of those attractions that Sal wanted to attend by himself. At least at first. Just to give it a test run. The idea of someone having omnipotent information about his life from another dimension was kind of creepy.

However, he couldn't help but be morbidly curious about the whole idea too. So he made his way over to the Great Library of Xalphina .

Slowly pushing the door open, he peeked inside the building. All seemed quiet, and it smelled musty like most libraries did. He quietly found the reading area and sat himself down near the front in one of the many bean bag chairs.

After a few minutes some other people joined; seating themselves while only giving Sal a glance or two.

@sageshadowed liked for a starter

Donnie is busy perusing the posters around a small, rundown theater in Fibonacci when he notices that he's not the only one there, another smaller form hiding in the shadows of the building. They must've been there for a while, so it's a little weird he only noticed them now, what with his budding ninja skills. Though to be fair, he was distracted.

He looks at the other out of the corner of his eye. Tail, fur, big rounded ears. A simian yokai perhaps, though Donnie knows better than to assume with how people are around here. Doesn't seem agressive at least, which is a nice rarity.

"Last time I auditioned for a role, the guy who was producing the play vanished from the island before I actually got to play my part. Heartbreaking experience, wouldn't recommend." He notes, looking back at the posters.

hi! on prior reserve i'd like to app the six-eared macaque from lego monkie kid. his app can be found over at /app. thanks!!

Welcome to sunny Isola Radiale, Macaque!

You will be housed in HOUSE 106.

You'll be able to use your Shadow Travel ability to teleport up to one ward away, five times a day.

You'll also be given a wooden staff.

Enjoy your stay!

– ⋆ solaris

Monkey King sighs, rolling his shoulders. That should about do it: the house is clean, the little clearing behind the house is, well, clear and ready for them to watch the fireworks from, the fireworks - which he also had to take care of himself and that does take some of the magic out of it but what can you do - are ready to be set-up for later (since he wasn't going to just leave them out in the field for anyone to find and/or steal and/or set themselves on fire with). The kitchen is stocked, though untouched: he was banned from cooking anything, apparently, which was honestly fine by him so all he did was buy anything that was needed, plus provide the snacks.

Actual snacks. Not made from hair.

"Man, hosting is hard work..." And he wasn't even planning on doing it at first! He was going to do a repeat of last year's 'one man "party"' before realizing he actually has people he could invite over this time. And a decent amount too.

(More than he expects, even, though he doesn't know about it yet).

It's a little weird. He's trying not to think about it too much or he might do something embarassing like start crying about it.

Well, anyway. With the preparations complete, he has just enough time to make himself presentable before there are knocks on his door.

"Come on in, it's not locked!" Really, it never is.

@sxnburst @sunluzhen @sageshadowed @light-imperfected @ringlorn @penitentbeggar @sixthear

Azalea - Does your muse take care of others, voluntarily or not? Do they enjoy it? Do they resent it?

𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐓/𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐘𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐌 [ azalea ] Does your muse take care of others, voluntarily or not? Do they enjoy it? Do they resent it?

willow essentially took up the mantle of the "group mom friend" and she wouldn't trade it for the world. she loves her friends and others more than any normal person would and she wouldn't hesitate to put herself in harms way to help her friends. its completely involuntary; she just loves everyone so much.

Where were they, exactly?

Nezha had lost track a while ago, too preoccupied with stabbing, spearing, and burning all sorts of flying pests to keep an eye on the map. Not that borders mattered much in the air—his natural domain, and where he fought best.

One of his three heads did catch something colorful on a roof beneath him though, and the god made a graceful dive down head-first, skewering a Latcher to the concrete floor before the flames from his fire-tip spear burnt the corpse to ashes.

"You getting bored yet?" he asked his partner-in-arms with an arch of his brow.

"I don't think the waves of these things are stopping anytime soon."

@sageshadowed

be honest, mk. are you like, ok

It's funny, how this isn't the first time Macaque of all people cornered them about what's wrong. They're even sitting at the edge of a cliff again like last time! Maybe some other time, they'll look back at this and laugh.

MK's mouth twists, and they wring their tail between their hands. It can't be comfortable, but they keep doing it anyways. "I—" The words don't quite make it out. Instead, they look away while biting the inside of their cheek.

A couple moments of silence pass. "...No. I keep thinking about— things. Like... Someone created me. Then there's the stuff the Protective Curse said. What she said. Everything, I guess." They gesture vaguely in the air, then shrug.

"It's— I'll be okay, though?"

@sageshadowed x

Levi doesn't need sleep. Not in the traditional sense, at least: her internal batteries don't require hers being turned off to recharge and that didn't change even as she became more organic. However she does enjoy sunlight more and, back home, also enjoys not being attacked by nocturnal predators, so she still tends to keep her activity indoors when it's dark out.

Tonight though, something compells her to wander even as the night settles in. Maybe it's the shine of the one moon in the sky or the unnatural sounds of the city around her, but something itches under her metal skin and doesn't let her rest just yet. Eventually in her wandering she finds herself on a narrow path, surrounded by flowers. Walking along it brings her higher, to a narrow cliff. The noisiness of the city is not absent here, but pleasantly muffled; the plants are pretty and vibrant, glowing in the moon's light. It's a nice spot, in her opinion.

It is also occupied. The dark hole where her eye used to be observes the stranger for a moment, half-curious, before she crouches down to look at the flowers instead.