castaside | [Heart Game] From the ashes we can build

[Wait, why a glass eye?]

[Picking that up.]

You are the Six-Eared Macaque, and you're about to die. Again.

The facsimile of Sun Wukong has his staff poised above you, throwing his full weight and strength into the move and watching as the end of his gold-tipped staff descends, millimeter by millimeter, into your already blind eye. You strain for extra seconds, time to think, to turn the tables. You can't allow this to happen when you're so close to fixing Choco's pendant, to destroying the limiter.

All you can think, as the staff is slowly, slowly pressed down through your eye, is about letting Choco down. About letting everyone down because you're too big a stubborn ass to ask for help.

(Your mind flashes with light blue and grey and inky purple afterimages. A vow, spoken over and over, to do better, whispers in the back of your head like a building scream.)

Blood is running down your face from your gaping eye socket, but you open your mouth and scream:

Red, Choco-- help!

[He rubs over his eye. Oh. Oh, he hates that. Its like being slowly stabbed. (Which he is familiar with.) But worse because you can SEE the stabbing coming.]

....I feel like you're worried I won't ask for help.

Your shadow looks back at you, and makes a movement that amounts to "a little, but also some other stuff".

You get the feeling that these memories aren't here wholly for your benefit.

Don't worry too much about that part. Even when I was a raging asshole who was ready to kill anyone who so much as looked at me wrong, I understood that I'd be fucked if I went completely solo. I'm just pretty good at gauging what I can and can't handle.

[Its one of the surprising character traits for a guy whose used to being betrayed on a weekly basis for a while. He never, ever actually believed he could go it alone.]

.....

Wait, is Wukong like actually the Monkey King? [Listen. He's never read Journey to the West, but he's watched anime.]

The shadow's shoulders shake like it's laughing. Then, a nod. You get the feeling that it's a long story, and also fuck the legends.

...well fuck, I guess. That explains why my danger sense goes wild then.

I appreciate the trust though.

Hoooow much of Choco's perspective is in the vial of blood?

He'll tell you about it once this messy thing is done with. ....And once the messy aftermath is done with, speaking of Wukong. Hooboy.

The shadow shakes its head. No Choco perspective at all.

...

[Welp.]

If they're here for a reason, then...

[B-blood vial it is.]

You are Macaque, and you're watching Choco's older brother, who you just met, step into a precarious magic dome that's floating on a swimming pool of blood. The smell is vaguely nauseating, but you're more concerned for him, and you wonder if you shouldn't have gone instead. One presumes you have centuries more experience with doing batshit crazy things.

And then the blood sloshes into the disc and his concentration pops along with the shield, and you're watching Wash fall face first into several thousand times enough blood to drown in.

You spend one frantic second thinking about how to do this. Not whether, but how. Your tail has to be both of your best chance, but depending on how deep that pool is, you might end up with a hell of an injury. But you'll take it, because that's not only Korone's brother but a seemingly decent guy who you would personally not like to see drown in blood.

So you jump without a moment of further thought.

[OKAY BUT THERE IS THE RELIEF WE DID NOT HAVE TO GO BACK INTO MEMORY LANE, it is much better for his continued functioning.]

What can I say, the batshit calls to me these days. [He's joking.]

[But he is taking that in. The lack of whether. Blood was dangerous in hearts and he went in anyway and not just for Choco.]

[She really did know how to find the shady with soft centers.]

[Will try that. Lightbulb.]

The shadow gives a thumbs up. Be batshit all you like, he's only not a fan of that when it might get people he likes killed. Reasonable people can be so boring.

You are Macaque, and you are sitting in an inn across from Wash, having just been told about whose memories you now have. You had guessed at the tragic backstory, the memories themselves spoke of that, disjointed though they were, but now...

You liked Wash already, pretty much from jump. But his empathy for this AI, this source of pain in his head (among other things yes, but all the same it would be too easy for some to hate this person that brought him agony, that makes things confusing) is touching in a way that you have never quite experienced. Maybe it's that you too know enough about what the the AI endured to not resent it.

Maybe it's that Wash is one charming motherfucker and between that and him being so important to Choco, you just believe him. You take him at his word, and then it becomes your word.

And that's what makes you decide that Epsilon isn't some disease. He's not a burden you're carrying. He's your guest, and you'll treat him as such. Anyone who wants to fuck with him has to go through you.

Shame that Wash doesn't seem to want your help himself. He did say that he'd accept it if needed, but that's not the same thing. It's not such a big deal, you'd just like to do something if possible. He shared a lot for your sake, and he's consistently been caring and respectful. But when you're used to just coping, maybe it's not so easy to reach out.

Well... if he ever does, you'll reach back.

[You know, he does have to actually pause at that. Consider it.]

I guess it really isn't the same thing. [It can be easy to lose track of that. The difference between seeking out help and just accepting it. He was pretty much always willing to accept help. Seeking it out...well, it depended on what it was.]

[Epsilon had always been the hardest. Too used to having to guard himself in regards to that particular subject.]

[Still though.]

I am touched. I know he can be a pretty unruly guest. Definitely the kind who leaves far too much of a mess in his wake. But....he did care. He cared a lot. [Soft, gentle, holding the light bulb.] It was just hard to take the heart ache on top of it.

[He puts a hand on the desk.] Takes a bit of time to seek someone out on purpose for help. You know. The trust issues. But I think the odds are good for one day.

The shadow reaches up and whorls around Wash's hand and wrist a few times before settling back into a regular shadow.

He's fine with waiting for one day.

[He nods. Takes a steadying breath and puts down the bulb. Lets do the bandages next.]

You are Macaque, and you are out for blood.

Korone is lying on the ground with some of her shields around a nearby group of frightened children, and she has a barbed whip sticking out of her eye. Donnie is with her and he's put some medical foam around her wound, and he's given her painkillers by the loopy way she's talking -- or perhaps that's the blood loss.

You are just apart from them, maintaining a huge shadow avatar between the kids and a series of shadowy enemies. One of them has the rest of that barbed whip in his hand. You want them all not just dead, but suffering for what they've done to Korone.

Sure, you're still new to each other, but she's your student and she called out to you for help, and by the gods you're going to help her and you're going to make those who hurt her pay.

You go through the enemies. They'd be a challenge for a mortal, but for you? It's nothing. You shred one with your shadow staff. One via inky-dark magic. Another falls via an agonizing combination of water and lightning. As you make your way through the minions, the whip-wielding boss disappears into a shadow and tries to pop out right above Donnie and Korone--

Fuck that. You portal in right in front of him, catching that barbed whip around your forearm and moving with frightening speed to wrap your arm tight in the whip and get behind the Boss Bad Guy, your knee on his back, its own whip around his throat, now wreathed in brilliant white energy.

You laugh as it struggles and tries to sink into another shadow. That's your game, and you can beat it with your eyes closed. Rather than aiding him, the shadows only grab him and hold him in place. Your knee pushes between his shoulder blades, forcing the whip deeper into his throat.

"You're pathetic" you say to the thing, as he makes a gurgling gasp for air and claws at his throat. You can't even care what anyone thinks, Donnie or the kids watching this horror show. He almost killed Korone and you're glad for his suffering.

Then the bad guy falls limp and dead to the ground, and you casually unwrap the whip from your arm, and turn to Donnie and Korone, crouching down, your demeanor instantly gentle.

"How we doing here? Ready to make for a healer?"

[Honestly?]

[Fucking valid. This all sounds right and in order and the way to handle such a situation.]

[All right, post it note.]

On the post-it is written:

Can someone tell me what the lowest rank in the military is? Whenever I ask people will only tell me that it's private.

Apparently there's no memory with this one, just a joke for its own sake.

[omfg]

[He laughs.]

Choco! Choco, come here.

The shadow takes a bow and then winks. You're welcome.

[He loves a dumb joke.]

[Okay, into the desk.]

[...oh no.]

[Cute cat keychain.]

[Picking it up and pressing the button.]

The kitty keychain becomes a real kitty, a black one with purple eyes. It says, intelligently, "mrow?" The button to change it back is on its collar now.

Insta-therapy cat.

[Showing her the post it with the joke.]

Someone's got jokes.

[ ssssnicker

snickergiggle and from there, nope, we're into full laughter ]

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