seasonsrpg | The MK Intimidation Squad

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The MK Intimidation Squad

WHO: Red Son, Wukong, Macaque
WHAT: Payback
WHEN: After the masquerade
WHERE: A location not too far from the underground mall
WARNINGS: Violence, demon intimidation tactics, spicy talk

The Hearts Gang was lucky in many ways. The luck was in that the fact the person they messed with was MK, who was overall a very good boy who preferred it if no one had to get seriously hurt for problem solving.

The bad luck was the fact the person they messed with was MK and he had three extremely protective immortals who are willing to go as far as they think they can without truly upsetting him and there was enough wiggle room in that for an extremely bad time to be had.

Red Son probably could have had the information sooner, but working on Saya's hibernation project took priority. Helping loved ones was more important than revenge. But he had kept out the feelers, slipped in some sabotage, kept up the work enough to get the information he wanted. It still took a bit of time after, but he had it.

He had the full list of names of every Heart Gang member who was working the day MK arrived on Ellipsa. And he found a day where in that full list of names should be present again. There were a few others, but frankly, he didn't much care for collateral damage. They were part of the same gang, they would have done the same thing, so they deserved it well enough. All that mattered is that all of those who COULD have been involved WERE present.

So a few days before hand, he sends a message to Wukong and Macaque.

They should all be present finally to be taught their overdue lesson. Along with the day, time, and where to meet.

Red Son wasn't far from the facility, waiting for the other two to arrive not long after sunset. Wearing a new hairpin with red gems and has a small cooler nearby because hey, he's never one to be remiss about achieving more than one goal at a time.

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[ Macaque hears Red Son's pleas for what they are. He studied that damn book backwards and forwards, after all. It distantly occurs to him that this might cause the sort of reactivity that Macaque was sort of poking at with the exposed bite mark and clear innuendo, albeit that he never thought would actually lead anywhere like this. ]

[ But he's dropped, and Macaque doesn't try to be proud about it. Both because Wukong is strong as hell and he really couldn't breathe, and because being defiant will probably be counterproductive. So he lands in a heap, gasping for air, hand loosely touching his throat. Coughing and tasting blood. ]

[ Wondering how the hell he let this happen, and what they're going to tell MK. ]

Red Son isn't even thinking about how it could look. He's trying to drag his mind back to the present and what little was present was trying to keep things from happening that would hurt MK even more.

When Macaque is released, his own back hits the nearby wall. Tries to get the shakes to dies down. Watching Macaque to make sure he was breathing again.

He breathes himself, squeezing his hands together.

It takes a minute. "Are you okay?"

[ Macaque just wheezes for a second, glancing at Red Son and knowing he's in no position whatever to be a comfort. He thinks his stomach is somewhere around a mile below the earth's crust. ]

Not permanently injured, if that's what you mean. [ Okay is leagues and lightyears off. ]

[ In a minute, his feelings will coalesce into rage at the gang scientists and he'll want to go start painting that room with blood, but luckily for Red Son, Macaque is in shock enough to give him time to recover so he'll be able to deal with that when it comes. ]

Okay. Okay. [That gives him time to pull things together. Present. Be. Present. Breathe.]

[He can breathe. He's fine.]

[Be present. Figure out the next step. Doing things is always easier.]

[Slowly, he pushes himself from the wall. Moves over to deal beside Macaque, a hand going to his shoulder. Sending the healing energy through for his neck.]

[Not much can be done for the heart ache unfortunately.]

[ The healing magic both helps and hurts. On one hand, he can physically breathe again. On the other, that only draws attention to the nonphysical hurts. ]

[ Moving to his knees, Wukong punches a small crater into the subfloor. ]

I'll kill them. All of them.

[ A murmured warning. Anger is also easier than grief, as exemplified by the way he and Wukong were arguing. ]

[ He's about to get up and go do that, which will only make matters worse for MK. At any other time, Macaque himself would be the one pointing that out. But his usual composure is shattered, for the time being. He'll grapple it eventually. ]

[ But right now all he knows is Wukong turned into something cold and cruel and dead and while he has no idea what to do about that, he knows exactly how that happened. ]

[Oh]

[Yeah, no, that tracks. He wanted to do the same when he learned MK was drugged after he got over the stupidity of him essentially taking candy from an unmarked van. And that was before he had fully recognized his feelings.]

[Killing the gang members would upset MK. And Wukong wouldn't want it either. Probably.]

[They need to leave.]

[He wraps his arms around Macaque, fire flaring up around them as he transport them to the Summer Segment. On the beach, hopefully so the moonlight might help. A bit. To hinder a shadowy escape.]

[He only has so many options at night.]

[ Macaque squints back when there's fire, barely registering the arms around him until he feels sand beneath him and blinks back bright afterimages to see moonlight. So, Red Son took him away before he could give those bastards the punishment they deserved-- ]

[ ...which. ]

[ He knows is for the best. So he takes a deep breath. Shaky and slow. ]

I guess that would have only made things worse. [ So, you know, thank you. He doesn't want to make MK grieve more than he already will when he sees whatever happened to Wukong. ]

He always had a way of getting around my rationality.

[ Love makes you stupid. ]

Yes. MK is already going to be upset. [He doesn't need to hear about a slaughter and potentially having authorities after Macaque. A gang won't report an aggressive shakedown. A wholesale slaughter is hard to hide. Someone would come looking and even with a good cover up and fact no one could really HOLD Macaque...]

[Well, it would still be upsetting for him.]

Love does that. [Because maybe Wukong doesn't see it, but Red Son does.]

[ Macaque drops his glamour for the time being, rubbing his forehead above his blind eye. ]

That it does. [ He's in no position to deny it even if he wished to. Which, in this moment and in this particular company, he doesn't. ]

...What the hell do we do with this?

[ He means a lot of things at once. Telling MK. Fixing Wukong, and MK too although we all know which one MK will prioritize. ]

[Red Son does get it. He may not have realized his feelings for MK for the longest time, but he still felt them. Still reacted to them. Did dumb things and felt the pain of conflict and denial.]

[He may not have the centuries of it, the intensity, but he's got the start of the idea.]

[He does slowly let go of Macaque when he's sure he isn't about to run off. Sitting on his knees in the sand, fists pressed to his legs. Breathe. Keep grounded.]

Tell MK. We're not going to convince Wukong of anything, but hopefully Noodle Boy can. If that doesn't work, there are options available to cancel out home powers, and that will make him containable.

Hopefully we don't have to. Invoking his trauma won't help, but if we can't get him to agree to help, there aren't many options.

[He takes a breath, rubs his face.]

The Noodle Boy is two days a month. Hopefully now that he has a mate, that should stop anything dramatic from happening.

Unless we happen to be in the right moon phase or something, Wukong's got a moving or more frequent variable. I need to know what's been done. [And MK Would Insist. This makes it easier for Red Son to swallow.]

At least I should have a sample, I just need to know which it is.

[ Macaque keeps rubbing his forehead, looking vaguely ill at what Red Son said. ]

It might have been my fighting with him. Not that it's unusual, but he was fine until then.

Which... the symbolism would be a little on the nose, but magic does that sometimes.

[ He hesitates. Tellingly, once one knows what he's about to say. ]

Would Saya help too? [ It's the first time he's used her name out loud. Macaque probably needn't elucidate how conflicted he is about asking. ] You mentioned her, so you must think it would help manage him.

Magic does like it's irony. He was very focused on us not caring.

And honestly the fact he could think of me with you there seems like he's oddly fixated. [Because Macaque is like way higher on the list of people whose opinions Wukong actually cares about.]

[Even if Wukong won't admit how much he cares.]

[As far as Red Son could figure anyway.]

Saya would, yes. She just has...certain experiences. [The trauma.] But she would help. If MK isn't enough, she may be able to tip the odds. [Which was really his step two after get MK to try, but he's trying to not hit all the wasp nests at once.]

Yes, well. I worked quite hard to convince him that I didn't care. [ He really should get a bonus for meeting all his project goals. ] And he clearly made assumptions about you.

--Which, in a sick way, is evidence that before that happened, he did care.

[ This Emotionally Distant Analysis brought to you by centuries of working his stuff out, methodically, despite everything in him kicking and screaming. Having his stuff worked out was never the issue, his self-protective measures were always deliberate. Until the Lady Bone Demon got into his head about a vampire that wouldn't ask anything of Wukong. ]

You seem to want to try just MK first. Is that smart? We might only get one shot. I know MK is a miracle in so many ways [ make of this statement what you will ], but this isn't something where normal rules apply. If it was, Wukong never would have gotten swept up by some invasive thing inside his body.

I mean...

I can't say he was necessarily wrong. He did a pretty thorough job on wrecking my ability to try and care about him independently of MK. [Because some sparks had genuinely started, when he felt he could breathe, when he felt like he was getting somewhere in understanding.]

[And then he pulled out every knife he could.]

I know he at least believes he cares about me. I'm not sure I can believe its anymore genuine than he cares about father still and that has some transference. [And even that is a dodgy belief.] But he does care about you. You effect him too much for him to not care.

[Red Son considers that for several beats.] If he lashes out, I don't know how well Saya is going to take it. She would still be there, but she also gets very....

Self destructive in that mindset.

[She was ready to take everything from MK to keep him safe. She was so close to death that time and-]

[He grabs his shaking hand again.]

Noodle Boy, for all it may hurt him, can keep a cool head in those circumstances. A little too hopeful, a little too optimistic, but Wukong fights for control the hardest with him.

Edited 2023-10-20 02:21 (UTC)

I don't know who needs a mediator worse, me and him or you and him. [ And while Macaque likes MK more than he should, more than is reasonable, that would be not only cruel, but questionable in terms of strategies. MK leads with his feelings, which is useful in a lot of situations, maybe not so much when you're trying to mediate complicated conflicts that are already too emotion-laden ]

I'll trust your judgment. I don't know her. Although I'm questioning whether I'm agreeing so easily because it's reasonable-sounding, or because I don't want to watch her comforting him. [ Watching MK do it, that's fine. Expected. Normal. It's so commiserate with who MK is that to expect or hope for anything different would be sacrilege. ]

Just make sure you're saying it because you think it won't help, not because you're worried about her. She'll be worse off if you don't call her and it goes bad and she finds out it was to spare her feelings, if she's as like MK as you said.

--MK will be worse off too, if he can't help on his own and has to face failure to help Wukong. You know how he gets.

You and him. At least any competent mediator isn't someone I'm going to be honest in front of because I haven't been trying to talk badly about Wukong in front of people who care about him.

Well, care about him and aren't... [He gestures at Macaque. Bitter exes. He gets it.] And talking about our last fight isn't going to make him look like a terribly good person.

...to be honest, I don't know if its a rational decision, or because I'm still shaken when she stood between MK and me. [He huffs and smiles a bitter, guilty smile.] If its an emotional decision, its not just to spare her feelings. [Its to spare his too.]

I know how he gets. But he also doesn't give up. As long as we're still standing, we have hope, and all that. [There is a pause.] There is an answer here. Wukong is not beyond saving. The only question is how rough its going to be. MK will not have a definite failure.

[ A huff that's as close as he can get to amusement right now. ] I'm honored, or something.

I don't mean permanent failure. I more mean, can you imagine if MK had to hear Wukong talk like that about him? I'm hoping he was only sounding like that because it's us, but I don't think we can assume that safely. Maybe whatever transformation has hold of him makes him lash out at whoever.

MK is the exception to all rules, I know that quite well. I'm just -- concerned. For both of them. [ Since once Wukong is back to normal -- which has to be possible, it has to -- if he remembers or even knows that he hurt MK in that way... ]

It's your call.

And then we should get moving. Find MK before Wukong does. [ OOPS. ]

[...that was a possibility.]

[Red Son was quiet for several moments, but]

[Well.]

[By now, he knows MK was LDB.]

[Things he's not gonna tell Macaque.]

[But it does give him a basis to try and pull MK back to normal. He just went through the same thing. It is a base to work on, to help get him out of his own head. And if nothing else...well, he can go full mushy romantic route so maybe that would work.]

Then we make sure Wukong actually talks to Noodle Boy and give him the affirmations he deserves. And double up on it from ourselves. [Yes, he will drag you into that Macaque. Love bomb the Noodle Boy.]

But MK is still the best bet and he absolutely would not forgive us if we hid this from him. [Saya would forgive him one attempt trying to get through to Wukong before pulling her in because this isn't going to be a just one shot thing. Its not.]

MK should be at my house. He was making dinner tonight. [Gang beat down wasn't supposed to be a Complicated Thing, okay.]

[But Red Son holds his hand out to him.]

I wasn't suggesting we hide anything from MK. I was suggesting more reinforcements initially. But if you're okay with starting with just him... [ he shrugs tensely. Red Son has stakes in MK, Macaque has all that and caring in a deep and inescapable way about Wukong being physically and in all other ways okay. ]

[ He doesn't even react to the thing about affirmations. He can't think that far ahead. If Wukong is in such a bad state that MK needs comforting, Macaque might not be in a state to offer it. ]

[ He accepts the hand, and is still slightly shaking physically, which he doesn't bother trying to hide. ]

All right, go on.

...I think its the best move. If this is based on Wukong's feelings, them getting confused may not do us any favors. MK is simple. Straight forward. And has proven to have a strong impact.

[Lady Bone Demon only got Wukong to throw MK.]

[There wasn't enough data to say anything for sure, especially when they were both so shaken. But having faith in MK?]

[That was doable.]

[Red Son takes his head and]

[There is a pause and he looks at Macaque. Closes his eyes. He takes a breath, lets it out.]

[He pulls at those iron wires that have supported his heart for centuries. A belief to step forward, regardless how hopeless anything feels. There is a solution.]

[There is always a solution.]

[He opens his eyes as he looks at Macaque.] I promise. We're getting Wukong back.

...Go on. [ The same words, but a different tone. Softer. ]

[ He clearly doesn't want to get into it. And at present he doesn't need a pep talk... even though it's appreciated. ]

[He nods.]

[Okay, time to try and solve this problem and with a snap, they'll leave in a whirlwind of fire.]

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The MK Intimidation Squad

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