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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MK was going to go with it. He saw the words and the look. He started to nod when Wukong started talking. The words sound awful. They hit MK hard because he knew them all well. Really well. He shook his head and squeezed Wukong's shoulder. He felt how boney it was now. Like almost all the muscle was gone from it. The decay was everywhere. It was spreading to everything Wukong touched. Like those feelings.

"No. No. Fuck that," MK said and shook his head. "You made mistakes. Everyone has made mistakes. You deserve to be happy. And anyone saying otherwise is just plain wrong." Mk said, his voice hardening. Why would anyone say that to Monkey King?

Well. He could think of someone. And he didn't like that idea.

[ Mmkay well, if she can't get him inside then the other thing Saya is good at is pivoting. She settles down and stretches out beside Wukong on the dead lawn, then motions for MK to do the same if he wants to. Not exactly clinging or anything, but she will hold Wukong's hand if he'll let her. If he allows that, she'll get a bit closer. ]

[ The rotted grass and plants make her nose tickle a bit, nothing she can't handle. ] It's nice out, though. We can stay out here and be comfortable. Can't we, MK?

...I think the same about myself, sometimes. I know MK does too, because we both think way too much alike. I never settled on whether I deserve happiness or not, but I know that you both make me happy. I'm so lucky to have met you both, even if I did have to go through Hell first.

[ She means every word, of course, but she's also just talking. She has a soothing voice and it's instinct to use it. ]

...Do you want to tell us more about it? If not, that's fine, but I know we both want to listen. Help, if we can.

For once, he doesn't allow it. He closes his hand into a fist, not tight, but a clear no. He does listen quietly, staying quiet even after for a long reason. "Apparently thinking like that about me makes you a fool. I mean, I hurt everything I come into contact with even worse than people who do it on purpose."

His tail finds a plank in the wall and slowly starts to rot it. He can hear MK's growing frustration.

"But I know you don't really care about that. You're both too nice."

MK was becoming too emotional to really follow Saya's calming lead. He never heard Monkey King really talk like this, except in the scroll. In that moment of being lost in his own memories, repeating the mistakes, over and over. Even without the curse, it was horrible to be in a loop like that. MK shook his head and gripped Wukong's shoulder tighter. He wasn't going to let go. He wouldn't pull away.

"That isn't true! No. Yes. Mistakes have happened. Yes, you made a lot of mistakes. I break almost everything I touch if we go with that. If that's true, then I only ever cause pain and suffering. That's not who you are or how you are. Everything you have ever done was to protect the people you cared about. And you have been trying to be better. Ever since those mistakes. Even now. Saya is right. We both think that. And you help keep us from thinking it. You make me feel like I can do things right. That I can fix things. That I can be a hero. Believe in yourself, remember? Even a smidge...makes all the difference."

[ She's fine with "no." She stays close, though doesn't try to touch again. It might be reserved for MK in this instance, which she's okay with. As long as he's letting someone comfort him. ]

--I'm a fool? Do you mean me specifically, or anyone who would be happy to know you? [ Because that throws her a tiny bit, even if she doesn't show it. ]

Whichever the case, then I'll gladly be a fool. I've been that for a lot of reasons, and I'll gladly be a fool for loving someone over any other kind. MK and I both accept you as you are, with all your flaws. Like he said. That's not going to change, not ever.

The thing about niceness, though... it doesn't make you love or accept someone. It makes you put up with them. MK and I both love you, and that's not about being nice. It's about loving you.

Red Son appears in the street in front of his house, as is the usual practice. The front yard wasn't much of anything, the only plants being the security ones at the front door. "I need to introduce you to the plants or they'll get-"

Then his phone beeps in a very upbeat jazzy tune and his head snaps to the house, scanning it as he pulls out his phone and heads for going around the house. "Proximity alert," he said. No one was breaking in on the front. So-

He pulls out the phone and sees the alert is for the backyard. Someone was trying to break in through the back? Was it a badly timed burglar, or-

He comes around the side and sees the trio.

....well, that made his decision about Saya.

Fuck.

"I don't know if I can." He glances at MK first. "You keep saying that. But I still say that everything that's been broken is because I started it. That was my responsibility, and you've been there to clean it up every time."

Then he looks at Saya...but he doesn't really have a rebuttal. She and MK are making mostly the same point, and he can only refute MK blaming himself. And he wants to accept it, but that hollow cold feeling isn't ready to go. And then he senses Red Son.

"Oh, he's back and I wasn't even started yet." His tail moves to the next plank.

MK shook his head and wanted to talk but then there was Red Son. He looked between Wukong and Red Son. Was that why Monkey King was here? Wait. What had happened? More confusion as his gears were working in his head.

"Now hold on. Everything that happened wasn't just because of you and rubbing them the wrong way. Spider Queen was power hungry. She did what she did all on her own. Same with the Lady Bone Demon. You didn't set them down those paths of self-destruction. You stopped them and gave them the chance to change. They didn't. That's not your fault," MK said. He left out one big player to try and spare feelings. Desperate to reach his mentor as he looked over at his boyfriend.

He mouthed at him. What's going on?

[ He's back and I wasn't even started yet is a hell of a transition, and it makes her notice the way Wukong was rotting away the house. So this has something to do with Red Son and their whole messed up dynamic. Wonderful. ]

[ It does put into clear focus why Wukong thinks he can't do anything right. She's not quite connecting how it got Wukong this way, of course. ]

[ She can't respond to any of the specific examples MK brings up, either. But she does keep resting by Wukong's side, glancing at Red Son and then focusing her attention back on Wukong. She knows that might hurt Red Son, but so be it. She got hurt by seeing Red Son choose someone else during the first full moon and had to take it because that's what happens when there's a Situation. ]

Do you want me to ask Red Son to leave? Give us time? [ It almost seemed like Wukong was on the verge of something with what she said last, and she'd like to go back to it. Impossible to do that with Red Son here. ]

[ And the statement has the convenient implication that she's not going to dash off and make Red Son her priority right now. She's sure MK feels the same. That can be important when you're feeling Less Than. ]

Red Son didn't quite expect this situation and he needed to get his head in the game. He had just been planning to talk to MK, but now Wukong was here and Saya was here.

At least...at least Wukong was letting them be close. That was a good sign. That was a good sign, right?

Also he's rotting his house and there's PETS in there (and he had been converting that room as a surprise for MK since Saya was going to help with adding on a room for her, but not important, swallow the irritation, be fucking present.)

Red Son had to swallow down the panic. Things are calm. Don't make it worse. Don't. Do not.

Saya can probably smell Red Son's blood as his nails dig into his palm.

"There are pets inside, Wukong," Red Son said instead, forcing his voice to be even. He looks to MK and what is a way to explain ALL THIS without risking setting Wukong off?

Weremonkey. Is what he mouths. Hopefully it gets his point across.

"No. I won't be much longer, and he's not getting what he wants anyway."

Once again, he can't really refute the two of them, but they're not the problem anyway so it's fine. He raises an eyebrow at Red Son, simply rolling his head to stare at him with that same empty stare...maybe a little emptier than before.

"Your point? Shen Hong's not stupid. She won't let herself or FT get hurt."

MK read the word but it only confused him at first. What did his Weremonkey transformation have to do with all this? Saya offering to make Red Son leave, at first, seemed extreme for the reaction. Then Wukong said what he did and it sent a chill down MK's spine. Okay. Something happened. Something big. Something to do with his transformations and now Monkey King was different...

Wait...

Oh no.

Okay. So it had to do with that. And something Red Son wanted but Monkey King wasn't going to give him? Okay. Monkey King was angry at Red Son. Really angry. He looked back at Red Son then Monkey King. He couldn't let him just leave.

"...What does Red Son want? What do you both want?" He asked and cast a look over at Red Son. MK wasn't liking some of the connections his mind was making. What in the hell happened?

[ Saya cares only very little about the precise chain of events that add up to why this happened, at present. Yes, in the scheme of things, it's important to have all the information, but the bitterness in Wukong's voice, his self-doubt, nothing can be repaired while he's stuck in that as far as she's concerned. She doesn't need every single fact to be able to help with that. ]

[ Whatever happened to him, it's making him emotionless and cold. The counter to that has to be emotion and warmth, doesn't it? Or is that just how she approaches every problem and it's making her default to it? ]

The pets aren't in that part of the house. [ Hopefully this alleviates that concern. Being able to hear and smell these things is helpful in that way. ]

[ Beyond that, she's interested in an answer to MK's question. ]

Red Son hesitates. Does he get into this? Is it gonna make things worse?

He feels a little betrayed Macaque is probably hiding in a shadow right now so he's dealing with this on his fucking own.

But considering the affect he has on Wukong, its probably the better option.

He hates this. He was being GOOD today, he didn't even commit a murder! He frankly deserves having committed at least one today!

Simple is what he's got.

"Well...I was hoping I could just purify a poison from his blood, but I think we're beyond that," Red Son said. "Which means I need a scan so I can figure out what of the samples I'm studying to fix this. I know what to look for lycanthropy, I don't know precisely what this is."

"And judging from the look on your face, you were hoping I wouldn't be here so you could ask one of them to convince me to let you help," Wukong said, once it was clear Red Son wasn't going into detail. He turned his eyes back to the sky, his tail applying enough pressure to snap the wood under it.

"Because I told him point blank that I don't want his secondhand pity and I'm not trusting him to do anything since he didn't feel the need to do the same when he asked for my help. And I told him that if he touches me, I will make sure that he feels exactly what I'm feeling right now. And that's still true."

To his credit though, he doesn't move beyond his tail moving to the next plank.

Samples? Purify poison? It clicked. What happened to him somehow happened to Monkey King. Meaning, Monkey King went down to the casino? To the lab? And Red Son knew? Went too? Knew something happened and it was recent. Had to be. Monkey King didn't want Red Son's help because it was secondhand pity? So he wouldn't give Red Son the chance to help because of it. The threat felt real. He looked back at house, at the decaying planks, at Red Son and back to Wukong.

"Can we stop being vague and can you two tell us what happened? You guys went to the lab place, right? Where I took the pill? So what happened and what is this about secondhand pity? This is serious. We need to know so we can help. Please."

[ --Wukong and Red Son both went to that place? Together? It must have been to get stuff for MK's cure. Maybe revenge, but her money is on cure if Wukong was there too. ]

[ She glances at Red Son in a not altogether pleased way, but still with understanding. They hurt MK, she gets it. She'd probably have gone along if they'd have asked. To be frank, she thinks Red Son asking MK to convince Wukong to let him help would probably have been a fine idea, all else being equal. But, yet again, evidence that they can't fix this problem with Wukong this way. Maybe she cares about his emotional state above all else to the point of stupidity, she's not teasing it apart right now. ]

It's not secondhand pity if MK and I would want to help you regardless, which we do. Getting Red Son to help would be more using what resources we have. He did fix me, after all.

[ Sure MK is still not fixed but there's been all of a few weeks to even try with that one. ]

"I think its well established the Noodle Boy makes me incredibly irrational! That isn't-" His mouth snaps shut, the not bloody hand rubbing at his face. Breathe. Breathe. He can breathe. Be Present.

(He deserved to do at least FIVE MURDERS.)

Follow MK's lead. That's all he has. That's the only way he has to not make this worse. He's not stable enough for a delicate navigation. He's still too shaken.

His fist clenches harder, letting the bite of pain ground him.

"I was finally able to find all the information I needed to pay the gang a visit. A combination of wrecking their operation and getting samples of their work." As well as revenge. "There is a lot of information on lycanthropy, and its taking a lot to comb through. A sample would let me work faster. So we went and wrecked their lab and terrorized them so hopefully they would less drugging random people. Very thorough, no died, frankly they wouldn't even need to go to a real hospital."

"And Wukong-" He clenches his jaw. Breathe. CALM. "I assume. Got exposed to something during the destruction. A bit too used to the immortal constitution, can't fault him, its hard to stop being used to that. His tail started decaying and he got...focused on certain emotional. Things."

He isn't sure if even mentioning Macaque was a good thing to do right now.

"He and I weren't fighting. At best, I was a little disappointed I couldn't be rougher, but that's. Me working on the being a better person thing. I didn't argue. I left when he said. So this is. Old fights. Which is....a little hard to navigate through, but I offered to help."

Another shaking breath. "I can't help my primary motivation for being a better person is because I love MK and Saya and Mei, we're not in a place for it to be different yet. But my offer is sincere."

Edited 2023-10-20 05:20 (UTC)

"The secondhand pity was him and Macaque hammering home that it would hurt you and MK if I didn't let Red Son fix it. After they've both been more than clear about how they both feel about me. So many times of it'll hurt them if I don't at least try, I can help you so just trust me, you're going into extremes without being there to even know what I was talking about, don't put words in my mouth when I used the exact words thrown at me. And I never got an answer on why I should be the one to trust when I can't be trusted."

His eyes glance around the yard.

"Speaking of getting into extremes...where's your new. Boyfriend?"

Edited 2023-10-20 05:27 (UTC)

Listening to Red Son then Wukong was hitting MK with emotional whiplash and hard. So they went to the lab, fought people, wrecked stuff, got research, and something infected Monkey King. Someone else was there too. A third person was with them. Someone who was anew boyfriend? MK was confused as he looked from Wukong to Red Son and back. Red Son and MK talked about that and MK expected it. Still, seemed fast. Who was it? And they were there with them? Who cared about him? It clicked all too quickly.

Red Son...and Macaque?!

It explained the way Monkey King was acting. The words and hurt. Trust and not being trusted. Being told he didn't deserve happiness. Of course Macaque was involved. Of course he'd hit Wukong with those kind of things considering everything. He had thought things were better. Guess they weren't as better as he had hoped. MK had decided some time ago to stay out of what was happening between Monkey King and Red Son. It was better that way. It seemed he still wasn't removed from it.

"That's a lot. Like a lot, a lot. So since I got brought up, I'll speak for me only. Saya can say what she wants but I'm saying this. I love that you are trying to be a better person because you want to be that for me, Red Son. And you know I'll support you through it. ...When it comes to helping someone though, you should want to help them because you want to. Not because you think I'll be hurt or mad if you don't. Remember to ask me first. If you don't want to help Monkey King, that's okay. I said I'd stay out of you two doing what you two need to do for your relationship. So don't put me back in by making decisions based on how you think I'm gonna feel.

Do it for you or don't do it for you. Not me."

MK wasn't touching the boyfriend comment. That was something to talk about in private. "I'll help you, Monkey King. We'll find some way to help you get back to normal. I'm not going anywhere. I trust you. And I know you trust me." He looked down and made a soft worried chirp. Maybe being cute would help?

[ Saya isn't quite connecting the dots about who this third person was, since how could she, but she knows Wukong feels betrayed by Red Son doing whatever he got up to with him. And that is enough to make Saya disapprove a bit even as she knows what it's like to do things out of spite. ]

[ But there's spite and there's the snowball down a steep hillside that ends in Wukong getting an undead transformation and refusing help with it due to ongoing problems that have put everyone in the middle. ]

[ Saya is the dark mirror version of MK on this. Or the inferior version, more accurately. A lot of things go through her head and she says exactly none of them. She does curls a bit closer to Wukong. ]

"Boyfriend?" That actually throws Red Son off for a few moments, looking just a bit gobsmacked. Which, hopefully, might be reassuring for MK and Saya. He expected it to get under Wukong's skin somewhat, but that was him being mayor of irrational city. Considering Red Son's track record for figuring out his own feelings.

He opens his mouth. Closes it. Was silence worse? Maybe. Saya hates hearing about them, but silence might be worse. "That was a fling. He is very much not in the running for boyfriend." A pause and he glances back. "I've lost track of him." Another pause. "I had to talk him down from murdering the gang members after we realized what happened, so he may be still cooling down."

Maybe that would get through to Wukong a bit? Red Son can't pretend he cares, but Macaque cared. He cared an irrational amount.

"The plan was just to talk to MK, see what he thought we should do since...well, he's the plan guy, isn't he?"

Red Son looked to MK, opening and closing his mouth. "I didn't think you'd be mad. Or...hurt if I didn't act? That you would be hurt someone you cared about was..." He gestured at Wukong. "Because you care. And its..."

He breathes again. "Okay, getting into what's going on internally with me and my relationship with helping people isn't really important right now. That's a whole thing," he said, waving a hand aggressively in the air. "He was fighting Macaque. He doesn't care about my wants, and even if he did, nowhere near to combat him in an argument with Macaque," he said, looking to MK. Tell him he's wrong. "The only thing he was going to pay attention to were the feelings of people who really matter to him. And I was...hoping to try and purify the chemical right away. You two are the only thing I know that might have worked fast enough to convince him. And I'm not against helping him. I just wouldn't sleep less than thirty hours in a month for him."

"That's so much better, since he made it pretty clear he was proud of the very obvious mark you left him. And right after so kindly telling me what he thought of me having a new close friendship."

No, Wukong knows they weren't dating. It doesn't make it better, he's not being irrational. He's being spiteful. And cold, and feeling the rot increase.

And there it was again. He didn't care. Once again after he said he had. Wukong mulls over what he wants, the rot spreading plank to plank without him moving his tail now. In the end...it doesn't matter, so he moves on.

"So you were trying to manipulate me. Just like you tried with MK. Trying to redirect me to people who actually care instead of confronting the problem. Heh, but I'm the one who never shows an understanding of the effect. The one who always runs from a problem if I can't kill. That's funny. Because you still haven't answered my question."

This was so much. MK looked back and forth as the two talked to each other. Red Son trying to do what was right and trying to remind Monkey King people cared but Monkey King saying it was manipulation instead of help. It was both, probably. He and Red Son talked about that. They could talk about the helping people thing later too. Right now, they had other problems to work on. Like Monkey King being like this. So cold and distant. Clearly being around Red Son wasn't helping. The two weren't really talking to each other just around each other.

"Whatever happened, the fighting and trying to stop it and stuff...it happened. Obviously everyone is okay...ish. No one is hurt...physically. ...This is why I thought of Monkey King moving out. You two being around each other just makes you both unhappy. Even when you're trying to do the right thing together. Monkey King, whatever Macaque was doing or said...I think maybe I didn't help it. But that's something he and I should talk about. Not him saying cruel things and showing stuff off. Anyway."

MK felt like he was losing the plot here. "I care about you. What you're feeling or not feeling. You deserve close friends. You deserve to be happy. We all do. And saying you don't because of your past is wrong. Because if you don't, then none of us do. Period. Full stop."

He leaned down and pressed his forehead to Wukong's chest. He could barely hear a heartbeat and it might just be his own he's hearing.

"Macaque is wrong like Azure was wrong. I know I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying by your side. I want to help make you happy. Anyway I can."

[ As more of the pieces come together, Saya feels like she felt when she stood between Red Son and the Weremonkey. When she helped Red Son fight Wukong. When she faced down Diva. When she was force to shut down and be ruthless during games in Hell. And she knows it's not going to help anything if she hardens her heart, not now. What Wukong needs, what everyone needs, is honesty. ]

[ She lets out a sob against Wukong's shoulder. And then turns around to address Red Son in a way she hasn't before. Saya has always been gentle about Red Son and his feelings about Wukong, never wanting to push too hard. Letting herself be in the middle to spare him. MK probably did the same. She can't do it anymore. Seeing Wukong shut down and cold, it's too much. ]

How can you say he doesn't care? That you don't matter to him? Is that what you really think, or does believing that make it easier for you to hate him because of what happened with your father?

If he didn't care, it wouldn't bother him so much that you tried to use his feelings for MK and me to let you help him. Or that you don't trust him. He wouldn't be so hurt that he wants to rot your home. [ There are plenty of things to rot in this world, Wukong came here specifically to spread the coldness he's feeling to Red Son. No one does that if they just don't care. ]

Your feelings about him are what they are and you have reasons for them, no one here is trying to force you to accept Wukong or like him or trust him. Including Wukong himself. But you're so caught up in your feelings about him that you're assuming he feels the same way about you, and that's not fair. Or true.

He's asking why he should trust you when you don't trust him, especially given everything I just said, and it's a fair question.

[ She swipes the tears from her face like she means to hurt herself in the process. ]

Is part of why you had that fling with Macaque because you knew it would hurt Wukong? [ "Part of" is not there incidentally. She knows Red Son wouldn't open himself up in that way just to hurt someone else, but Red Son had to know it would hurt Wukong, would complicate an already complicated situation, and he went forward with it. Saya's on the outside looking into this situation and even she can see that Wukong's feelings for Macaque are intense. ]

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