wook wook noodles with a side of mac

"Sorry--"

The question of who she was got a small sigh, ears lowering.

It's a shame how we're at the point of hoping one project fails so we can enjoy another. It shouldn't be like this.

But, at the end of the day, I'd take LMK over anything else. In a heartbeat. Avatar had its time to shine. It's story was told. Give the spotlight to something else already.

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Xiaoqing sighs as she returns home, stepping out of her sandals and into a pair of comfortable slippers. She grabs a spare clip, a large one, from a nearby surface and pins her long hair up and out of her way as she walks through the building, through to the shack in the back of the lot.

The interior is cold and metal, deceptively different from her modest looking home, and she steps into the elevator inside of it. She is calm and heaves another breath as the machine comes to a close at the bottom floor, opening up to the project she had been so intent on working on.

The floor sprawls out in a wide circle made of glyphs, glyphs made of nodes, nodes brimming with an ominous blue glow that crackled with power. In the center three swirling orbs chase each other. Along the floor are two long conduits, leading to two separate power sources.

One of them, the Six-Eared Macaque, is bound by old webbing reinforced by wire and code. His mouth is bound shut, and IV wires sink beneath the manufactured, but provably strong, restraint.

The other, an icy shard, frosting the surface of a clear container, attached to another machine.

Xiaoqing steps around the circle, clearing the conduit wires with ease as she steps in front of the computer in the middle of the room. Her long nails clack aggressively against the keys, despite her cool exterior.

“Hm. Still needs longer.” She murmurs, then turns to Macaque.

“You don’t have as strong a connection to the Bone Demon as you were supposed to - did you do something to shake her deal off?”

Before Macaque can answer, she brushes him off.

“It doesn’t matter -  what’s there is enough to do what I want. In fifteen hundred years of waiting for the opportunity to see my sister again,”

She turns a knob. The webs tighten. Macaque chokes and gasps through his gag, wrenching one way and the next.

The bone demons shard lights up, power arcing outwards to lash against the glass. None of it phases her.

“I’ve learned I’m a very patient woman.”

[Event Unlocked - Green Snake Raises The Dead.]

uuuuugh.... fineeee. Macaque lazily swirled his finger and -- zap -- the shadow changed to be without a tail.

"her nose was a different shape"

He rolled his eyes. Zap. New nose.

"why are all of this shadows features so blurry and imprecise!?"

this was so borrring.... "That's all I got, lady." zap -- new new nose.

"Do it again! Do it again! And be purposeful with your work!"

Macaque laid down on the floor and yawned. Zap. new new new nose. she shook her head and he zapped again. new new new new nose. zap. more yapping complaints. zap zap zap.

they might be like this for a while.

"and look how thin she is! I could wave a hand right through her even if she /weren't/ a shadow!"

"And what about her eyes? What kind of forehead is that? And her hair is entirely the wrong texture--"

At this rate, it was like this Macaque was trying to out-disappoint the one she knew.

"Ugh, never mind all of this."

"You're just going to exhaust yourself over achieving nothing. If I want something done right, I'll just do it myself at home with my own brushes. You're dismissed."

"My sister's tail was always hidden while she had her human form. And her nose was a different shape. In fact, it was an actual shape - why are all of this shadows features so blurry and imprecise?"

uuuuugh.... fineeee. Macaque lazily swirled his finger and -- zap -- the shadow changed to be without a tail.

"her nose was a different shape"

He rolled his eyes. Zap. New nose.

"why are all of this shadows features so blurry and imprecise!?"

this was so borrring.... "That's all I got, lady." zap -- new new nose.

"Do it again! Do it again! And be purposeful with your work!"

Macaque laid down on the floor and yawned. Zap. new new new nose. she shook her head and he zapped again. new new new new nose. zap. more yapping complaints. zap zap zap.

they might be like this for a while.

"and look how thin she is! I could wave a hand right through her even if she /weren't/ a shadow!"

"I dont even know where you got that I think that"

The hands shifted, palms remaining over blue eyes. "My brothers were adults already on your journey so alot of the stuff that happened? Every bloody fight that had Yaoguai talking all over China? I wasnt even a century old when I heard about it. The Monkey King was a bloody enigma my whole troop couldnt fathom. A monkey, like us, who fought heaven and was then making his name known across the entirety of China for better or worse." Her voice was more exasperated than anything.

"I dont have powers---compared to other yaoguai Im not even particularly strong.....so yeah the stories and the reputation scared me. I won't lie and say they didnt. That doesnt mean I think or thought youre a monster. It means I knew if you decided to kill me, that I was a threat? I would have no chance of fighting back. Im immune to old age....not violence. All I had to go on was reputation and rumors......"

She rested her hands down, looking up at the leaves overhead. "I truly try talking to you, being open, and youre pushing things on me again, that I never said...." Her tone wasnt angry or accusatory......but tired. "Just like how you claimed I hated you....now you say that like I'm the one who thinks youre a monster?"

"Is being scared for myself, in the face of someone so much stronger than me, so unreasonable??" She pushed herself back up, supporting her weight with her hands behind her. For the first time making direct eye contact with him--though the lashing tail gave away how uncomfortable it was.

"...."

She stared down the barrel of her tunneling vision, into the lithe frame forming before her, a silhouette as familiar as it was long gone.

"This is wrong." She said softly, her hand reaching out towards the smoke.

It clenched. A finger pointed outwards.

"She never wore her hair down." She repeated herself, stepping closer to the silhouette. Her head tilted to get a better view. "And she'd never wear suck tacky clothes either. Especially not ones without sleeves, she kept herself covered, she got cold easy."

oh... oh my boy.... my boy i missed you so much... look at him....

"Two things."

"The first was when my sister was trapped under the Leifeng Pagoda. We had bonded over our similar positions - loved ones trapped by Heaven and the both of us helpless to do anything about it. I was burdened with my sisters son, and he with his sworn brothers troop. We seemed alike. Getting along was easy. When my sisters son, my son by proxy, was grown enough to help me break my sister free, I asked for Macaque's help. And he agreed."

"But, when the day came, he was nowhere to be seen - I learned later he'd gone off to fight with Sun Wukong instead, to torment him for his murder, instead of keeping his word. And so, I missed my last chance to see my sister before she ascended to Goddesshood."

"The other thing he did - my sister had few possessions of worth or note. She was a Daoist, like myself, and kept to a simple life with few luxuries. He'd apparantly stolen one of the few luxuries her husband had bought her 'not knowing who she was', he said- a gem-ladden earring, which he dangled in front of me in the middle of an argument we were having. We scuffed over it. I grabbed the ear he wore it from, he braced my hand, keeping me from letting go or pulling harder than he'd allow. He said if I wanted it so bad, I could have it, and he pulled on my arm, ripping the jewlery from his own ear."

"I was in such a state of shock, I let go. And he was so shocked at his own pain, he let go of my hand. We both dropped it. It clattered to the floor and down into a drainage pipe."

Her eyesd widen at the sight of him, body tense as the cudgel primes itself before her crafted nose.

A beat of silence follows. She looks at the weapon with her eyes crossed to focus on the tip. Coyly, she tilts her torso to the side, locking eyes with Mac, even from her skewed angle.

"Release whom?"

Well -- maybe she didn't, but mac was well beyond questioning the multiple-universe theory by now.

"Release me!" Mac said, then shook his head and lowered his weapon, giving a small annoyed growl at himself. "I mean, him!" Craning it back up towards green snake. "Sixer! Your Macaque!"

How irksome. Two of him. With this one being a paranoid case.

Her eyesd widen at the sight of him, body tense as the cudgel primes itself before her crafted nose.

A beat of silence follows. She looks at the weapon with her eyes crossed to focus on the tip. Coyly, she tilts her torso to the side, locking eyes with Mac, even from her skewed angle.

"Release whom?"

Well -- maybe she didn't, but mac was well beyond questioning the multiple-universe theory by now.

"Release me!" Mac said, then shook his head and lowered his weapon, giving a small annoyed growl at himself. "I mean, him!" Craning it back up towards green snake. "Sixer! Your Macaque!"

"Basket of some fruit from town.....stuff that doesnt grow here. The little ones probably absconded with it, basket and all." A roll of her eyes and slight smile down at the members of the troop amongst the jujubes.

"It was...way of saying I'm sorry. I was out of line. It...wasn't really to do with you, all I said. You didn't do anything wrong. The probation, how we actually met, any of it . " She tucked her arms in close to her belly, ears pinned back and tail curled over her lap.