Cult Of The Sun

Bets and Dragonfruit

Macaque went still as a statue, staring down at Wukong with wide eyes. His breath hitched. The warrior's ears pressed back against his head as his mind went into chaos, lower ears twitching as thousand year old memories washed over him all at once like a bucket of ice water. His breath caught in his throat for a long moment, before he finally managed to let it out in a shuddering gust. "Wukong, get off." He demanded in a low, shaking voice, eyes squeezing shut.

Wukong scrambled off the ebony monkey, recognizing Macaque's 'Do as I say cause I'm freaking out' voice. "Macaque? What happened? Are you okay?" He hovered anxiously next to the younger simian.

Macaque got to his feet, turning his back quickly to Wukong as he took a sharp, gasping breath. His tail was squeezing painfully tight on his ankle as he tried to pull himself back to his senses, wrapping his arms around himself in a self soothing hug. 'What the hell is wrong with me? Stop freaking out before you ruin this!' He started walking quickly away from Wukong, claws digging hard into his arms. "Just-" He flinched as his voice broke, nails tearing into his sleeves as the ebony monkey cleared his throat. "Just a second. I'll be fine." The words were forced to sound lighter than they were.

"Liu'er?" Wukong took a single step forward, reaching out to Macaque before letting his hand drop down to his side. The ripping sound made him grind his teeth. Then he squared his shoulders, voice firm. "Okay. If you need a minute I'll give it to you." He took a deep breath and turned around, summoning his cloud and sitting on it. "I didn't listen to you enough in the past. So if you say you need a minute I'll listen. And... I'll be here. If-if you need me." Wukong closed his eyes, praying he was making the right choice. That he wasn't going to mess it up again. That he hadn't already messed up.

Macaque walked behind the peach tree, not sure where else to go at that moment, and slid down it. He buried his face in his knees and covered his ears, trying to fight off the hyperventilation. His mind was racing nearly as fast as his heart. Everything was too loud, hundreds of memories of the past crashing into him all at once, tearing away at his self worth. He cranked up his dampeners until the world was nearly silent. 'Okay no that made it worse.' The quieter the world was, the more he could hear of the past. The dampeners were quickly dropped once more as his claws dug in around his ears, teeth gritting. Everything was too much. "I- I really can't stop thinking." He admitted weakly. He curled up tighter, hands trembling. "And my ears are acting up. Can you just... Talk? Or something? Like how you used to? Because I don't - I just want something else to think about."

Wukong hummed, staring up at the sky as he thought. Although it had been centuries since Macaque had asked him to distract his thoughts like this, the sage had never forgotten the best way to do it. Idle gossip. "There was something weird I noticed during my fishing session with Bull King last week. I mean a month ago? Whatever." He tilted his head, forcing his eyes to follow the clouds and give Macaque some semblance of privacy. "He kept fidgeting. Which is pretty weird for him. When I asked if he was good, he just sorta turned an even darker shade of purple and claimed he had pulled a muscle. I'm still not quite sure I believe him but I don't really know what else would be making him want to stand while fishing. What's wrong with my chairs?" His hand absentmindedly gripped his other wrist tightly. A light wince escaped him as he heard his wrist creak but he brushed it off.

Macaque went still, ears twitching before going still as his head tilted. He pursed his lips together. "That... Is weird." The dark monkey's voice was quiet, but it was a bit steadier now as his brain struggled to make sense of what he'd been told.

"Right? And he didn't look me in the face for the next hour! Weirdo. Oh!" Releasing his wrist, Wukong snapped his fingers. "I almost forgot. I told Tang I'd give him some more magic scrolls so he can continue to study or whatever. He's a weird human."