Cao Yiyang

With eager arms winding around his middle, Wukong’s eyebrows raise a little in surprise, before he chuckles heartily and sets a hand on her hair before bestowing a kiss upon her crown. “Yes, I suppose that’s right-” he nods eagerly in agreement, finding her as sweet as honey, like always. No matter how mischievous others may find his children, to Wukong they could do no wrong and were sweeter than candied apples themselves. 

“Come-” he encourages her with a nod, taking a gentle hold of her arm to guide her a little back before he turns and crouches so he can scoop her up onto his back in a piggyback. “This is how baby monkeys are carried around!” He calls back happily, casting a glance back with an encouraging nod. Though he needed to remember the reason why they were heading into the city, and not get distracted by play time! Or he’s sure to get an earful from Camazotz!

“Sakura..?” he asked looking at the girl confused yet his grip on the sword he had with him tightens. Zhiwei couldn’t help but still be on alert. He couldnt understand why she was here or why she was talking to him so suddenly. It all just came off very strange to him.

Not to forget to mention the fact that the way she gazed at him threw him off. While Zhi’s stare was always rather intense or intimidating the girls stare looked empty.. Like she was staring right through him. Yet when she talks he’s once again caught off guard. A long time resident of the island finding her way off the path to capture him working out so early in the morning. After some bit of silence Zhiwei finally lets his grip soften. He turns back to his gym bag grabbing the sheath for his sword to put back into before he’s putting it to the side and grabbing water to sip on. “I’ve only been on the island for about two years now. I don’t work at a host, I work at the gym, as an instructor. So yes, I could teach you.” he explains and takes a swig of water be he is closing it up and tossing it back into his bag. “Would I teach you? Now that is a different conversation.”

Yiyang is watching the male, despite maybe not seeming like it as her whole demeanor was like a slug, a grey slug. Like the ones you don’t notice slowly crawling around your garden, disappearing into the forest of greenery while they were brown like the earth. She doesn’t know why he is repeating the name of her workplace back to him. She does noticed his grip tightening and it’s obvious she does as he eyes slowly trail down to look at his hand. She doesn’t however make any move or show any intention to step closer to him. In her head she just goes ‘Ah...’, figuring he is on guard for some reason unbeknownst to her. But she does not care about it unless it obstructs her from her goal of being taught by him. 

Zhiwei is fully entranced in his practice. The spins and every flair he adds to his movements and thrusts and slices of the sword look too elegant to be real to be able to be useful in combat but it is. The instructor makes it look effortless although is working up quite the sweat.

After making it through a routine Zhiwei stops and stands tall, chest rising up and down quickly as he tries to catch his breath. All those emotions he’s pent up inside him he slowly can feel fade away and disperse. No longer is he blinded by his rage but he has some clarity now which he follows up with some relaxation as he takes an easy inhale and exhales. Zhiwei is just about to take off the thin jacket he had on over a sleeveless shirt when he hears a voice and that voice startles him enough to where he turns towards that person with a glare.

“What..? Have you seen me before?” he asks carefully a little surprised to hear someone ask to teach him. Normally he’s the one that is looking for new students but now he wonders if this girl would be like the rest. Is she only here to fawn over his looks? Or worse- she couldn’t be a part of that group, could she?

Although she is not familiar with the particular martial art through Yiyang’s years of delving into many different ‘hobbies’, aka training for her characters, her eyes became trained. To be fair, she had been born with gifted eyes thanks to her father regardless. She can tell that for one he must be very good at this art. For two, his control is beyond exceptional. And for three, because good things come in threes, he is dedicated. And maybe the last point is her favorite. Because only those devoted to something else can begin to grasp at understanding her devotion to acting. It was her whole life, literally. 

It was a summer daze, summer haze in the summer rain. Mount Phoenix was hot during the summer, and at times that would lead to this situation. A huge bout of rain, splattering down on the streets and greenery of the island. Generally speaking, Yiyang wasn’t a big fan of rain. Because as an actor it could ruin her costume nad make up. However she had also long ago accepted it as part of the roles she played. Whatever the weather, the characters still existed of course. 

There was this new fire inside of him now. Before when it came to his training, the demigod had mainly used it as a medium to work out his unstable emotions. He wanted to burn through this loneliness of having such a small family, not exactly growing up with a mother's touch since he lost his mother at such a young age. His uncle was there for him of course but he grew up with discipline and tough love instead.

Now that he has people that he cares about, his talent wasn't just going to be for tournaments anymore. After finding out that there were these wicked people hunting the divine, and Zhiwei himself coming in too close of contact easily becoming a target, the young instructor has been hellbent on doing more than just train to keep up with his strength. He needed to be in tip-top shape so when these people came back to look for him or Xiaolang, or anyone else for that matter, he wasn't going to let these monsters take anyone else. Not if he's around to stop them.

Very slowly as the sun comes up, Zhiwei has worked past his warm-up and pulled out an old sword swiftly going through different movements. Any wandering eye that catches the instructor during his training may very well easily misjudge his moves for a dance. It was easy just from watching the fluidity and grace with every step and every swing, but his hard work shows. Zhiwei is already panting lightly, skin sheen with sweat dripping from his jaw and down his neck all while he wears this look of hard determination.

He can't stop.

As Yiyang stands there she can’t help but watch for a long time. Silent in the corner where she had entered with footsteps light and quiet. She wasn’t creeping on purpose, stood there in her all gray attire. Gray slacks, gray tee, gray vest, hair tied messily in something akin to a bun, no trace of any make up on her features. Even her sneakers were gray. But what she sees before her is beautiful. Gracious movement yet she senses something almost deadly in it. It’s right on that perfect balance, the line between beautiful and horrific. She doesn’t expect him not to notice her at all, but the daughter of Cao-Guijiu stays where she is and watches till she can’t anymore just stare.

“Excuse me. I’ll be blunt, I want you to teach me.”

“Sauté? What does that even mean-” the Monkey King mumble to himself as he holds a spatula in one hand, and a cook book in the other. In front of him, in his beautifully modern, minimalist kitchen a wok of bean shoots sizzles dangerously. An easy stir fry, that was what he wanted to make. Something with lovely, fresh, crunchy vegetables for his growing children, to keep them healthy (and no doubt be the only meal to actually get vegetables into Tao in a week), but nothing was ever easy when you’re an ancient god who never does anything this mundane and normal for yourself. 

The kitchen is quite chaotic - as expected - and with curious eyes Tao inspects the vegetables, that already ended up in the frying pan, by poking around with a  cooking spoon in the pan. “It isn’t finished yet… right?” He asks a little skeptically while his eyes are still busy to invetigate the food. Tao didn’t expect that Wukong would be on time with his cooking, when they arrive at his door, but yet the food looks very ‘unfinished’. Does Wu even know what he wants to cook? A worry crinkle is slowly forming on Tao’s forehead. “It smells a little burnt…” 

“-ah” Wukong chuckles with a small tilt of his head, as if Yiyang had happened upon a hidden truth, before he glances over at her with a grin. “Don’t I still get into a lot of trouble?” He asks, before pulling her closer, gently by the arm, in a small squeeze to his side before he chuckles and nods. Yes, there were times when he and his brothers and sisters had been mischievous. “The animal world is a little different to that of mortals and gods. A lot less rules. You just always do as your mother says-!” He lifts a hand to waggle a finger with a nod. Some things were universal!

At the mention of calling her mother, Wukong looks over at his ward and nods softly in approval. “I know she would like that-” he hums, having promised the woman that he would care for her daughter he had also warned her that the island was an exciting place. It wouldn’t be the first time a demigod had gotten so wrapped up in it all, they might forget to call home as frequently as they had promised. 

The thing about Wukong though, was that he was not mortal, and that made for countless stories that she could listen to for hours on end if she had the opportunity! This time as well her big eyes are set on the god, holding onto his hand and hanging on his lips to hear his answer. Even as he says it’s been such a long time, she is waiting to hear a story, anything. His answer though isn’t exactly what she expected, though she didn’t know what she expected to hear. Feelings... Now it was questionable apparantly if Yiyang had many of those, because she was practically always acting. She never bothered with this question because she thought it was unnecessary, but she does see an interesting parallel here. He remembered the feelings, maybe it was similar to how characters came to her? 

Vincent had just got out of a fight. Not one of the ones that he was paid to do. He never left the building looking this rough, having enough magical healing ointment and other remedies to assist him. However, now, he had just stopped some asshole from stealing some soft little love demigod's bag, and it turned out that their firsts were mightier than expected.

Patting his bleeding nose with a rag, he tilts his head as he watched her. A small frown rested on his lips. He did not immediately answer her question, but soon, he finally spoke softly to her as he finally thought he got rid of all the excess blood that had pulled all over his face. "Some asshole Ares kid. They are too much like their father."

He throws away the blood covered tissue before leaning against the nearby wall. Arms cross as he surveys her, trying to figure out what her intentions are. "No need to worry. I've handled worse."

Roaming the bustling city during the night was not an activity Yiyang participated in all that often. But tonight she had stepped out of her apartment and walked the streets. Simply because she felt like it, and when did she not listen to her intuition? Clearly it had been correct as the blank canvas had stumbled upon quite the scene of a young man, muscular but bloodied. It was obvious he hadn’t just fallen. 

The Chinese girl her head tilts to one side slightly though her expression remaisn that same void of nothing. “Ares...” She repeats as if thinking it over. Probably her father knew of him more but she had never met the man. Or god she should probably say. But even so the statement seemed to hold its truth for she would not be surprised if one of his kids would beat someone up. Not that she judged them, it was just the truth. She nods once as if accepting this explanation, fingers curled into the sleeves of the grey sweat hoodie she wore, on her grey sweatpants. 

♡ ⃗  xu yiyang miss freak icons!!

“That you are-” Wukong hums and nods in agreement at the young demigoddess’ comment about being a good friend, because she could literally adapt to whatever they needed. “The young people of the island are going to be very lucky to have you” he nods, taking her hands as she helps him up, before slipping her arm under his and starts to guide her towards the edge of the park. His hand remaining gently resting on hers in the crook of his arm as he smiles over at her, pleased to see her enthusiasm and excitement for the job placement he’d found for her. Maybe she was feeding off of his excitement, but if she could enjoy it, then there was no harm. 

“Make sure you save time for your cousin Tao-” he hums with a nod, “I know he is looking forward to you two growing close, like brother and sister” he grins and glances back down at her. He may be putting words in his son’s mouth, but it would do the boy well to have a sibling type relationship! “You know, when I grew up and was very young, there were lots of monkeys around. We’d fill the trees and call to each other all day, until the last call at night and everyone fell asleep, cuddled close, knowing all our brothers and sisters would be there when we woke up” he hums, with fond memories of a time long, long ago, before he’d started his own mythical journey. 

“You’re right! If I get it I promise I’ll work really hard.” She beamed a smile at the God. She had rarely not worked hard in her previous jobs, even if her character was a slacker she’d make up a reason for them to do what must be done anyways. She acted her characters perfectly but also perfectly adjusted them to lessen the hindrance. But, even so, previous jobs often could not handle her changing characters for long and eventually they’d run into a problem. This time, it might be different. As Tao is brought up, Wukongs biological son, Yiyangs head tilts slightly though a smile remains evident. She was more than happy to spend time with him but she also knew it could be difficult on him. The good thing though was that like his father he didn’t perticularly care about her changing personality. Nonetheless, it made it hard to get a grip on her to get close. She understood that, yet she still hummed with a decisive nod at the god his words. 

Smiling brightly as he watches her awaken, Wukong crouches down on old knees to look back at her with a hum. “Somewhere I think you will do great” he murmurs back, gentle fingers reaching out to pull a small blade of grass from her silky hair, before his finger gently taps the tip of her nose and his smile widens. It wasn’t a job at the hospital, because all he could really get her there was a cleaning job, and that just seemed like a waste of such a lovely young lady. Then having enquired around a little, and quickly deciding that a job with Tao was definitely not a choice, he’d happened upon a cute little café that he is sure would fit her perfectly.