hadriel_logs | [OPEN] The Misadventures of the Monkey King

"Do ya sleep?" Goku kicked his legs in his seat.

"I used t' sleep with Gojyo but then I got my own room." He paused thoughtfully. "I don't like sleepin' alone, though.

"Back home, I used ta sleep with Sanzo at th' temple." But he wasn't there. "...I miss him."

Edited 2016-07-15 19:54 (UTC)

Okay, Goku, you got her to smile. And snort a little. "Yes, I sleep." Not much, but enough for her to survive and that is what's important.

"Sanzo?" Her head tilts, the name lilted as a question. Who is that? "Your brother, or...?"

"Sanzo is th' one that saved me." And a flood of words follow, far different than how he's spoken. "He said he heard me callin' to him, n' he came to me when I was trapped in... in a cave..." Like this one, but not like this one.

"He reached his hand out to me and he saved me. He's really beautiful. His hair is gold, like th' sun. Like freedom."

He glimpsed down to the fruit.

"...But there's no Sanzo here. And there's no sun..." And no freedom, not true freedom, anyway. "If I call out t' him...

"Do ya think he'll come for me?"

She's no therapist. Not even close. It's people like Bruce and Dagny and Faith who are better at listening to things like this, better at empathising and making someone feel better. She's... generally better at being straight with someone.

But still. Goku is a kid. At least, he looks like one. Acts like one. And she's trying to channel the kind of people who are good in situations like this. Trying to be better.

... She might not succeed, but she'll try.

(She never succeeds. Not really.)

"Maybe." Her voice is softer than usual, but not slurred and quick like it is when she speaks a lot of the time. "Maybe not. Dunno if anyone can affect the flow of this place like that. But-" she sucks in a breath, because she's pretty sure this is going all wrong, and she doesn't really know what someone like Faith would say here... someone who's good at this. A guess isn't the same thing, and it doesn't always - doesn't usually - sound right from her lips anyway. "You've got other people who'll come for you. Hakkai. Gojyo." She catches her tongue before adding Hell, even me.

What. He's a nice kid. She isn't that cold.

"I know." He knows that Hakkai and Gojyo would come for him... at least, he's pretty sure they would. "But Gojyo is th' one that needs protection. That's why he's wit' Hakkai all th' time." Makes perfect sense to him.

"...Sanzo would probably hit me on th' head and call me a stupid monkey for thinkin' about him all sad. So..."

And then he got excited. "Oh! I know! Since Hakkai n' Gojyo got a house with four rooms, the other one has gotta be for when Sanzo comes! I should decorate it, that way it's all neat for when he comes."

Well, Hakkai is a good fighter. He'd be someone worth having around for protection if you did need it. But Goku's mood is like whiplash and maybe that's a good thing?

She's not sure, but it is easier to deal with. "How would you decorate it?"

"Hmmm..." There was a pause as he tried to think. What could he decorate the room with? "There's a lotta junk lyin' around... not a lot of pretty stuff...

"Oh! But th' trees in the orchard hafta bloom as flowers before they make fruit. I know th' monks used to hang them upside down and they'd dry and be really pretty n' stuff.

"Sanzo's really pretty, so flowers might be good." It was best he occupied his mind with other things. Too much mental duress was... incredibly bad, in concerns to him.

Well, he isn't wrong there. Her place hasn't had a stitch of decoration in the months she's been here- just the occasional pieces of clothing that she doesn't pick up and notebooks used for mindless scribbling when she isn't running somewhere or the other.

"What kind of flowers?" And is drying flowers really that easy? That she did not know.

"I'm not sure... all th' fruit n' stuff is weird, so I'll hafta watch t' see what kinda flowers they make.

"And if there's cloth lyin' around, I could make streamers and tie them together! But they have to be nice colors. And I gotta wash them first too, cuz they'd be icky otherwise." He seemed to truly be considering decorating the room with whatever he can get his hands on--whatever he deems nice for Sanzo's arrival. But then...

"Do you have someone thatcha miss real bad?"

Point taken. The streamers could be an interesting touch, that's for sure. "Maybe you could ask Delight for some stuff." And there's always that.

The question catches her off guard, and is enough to make Kate slow down her chewing even futher. Yes. Quite simply, she misses everyone. "Got no one from home here," she answers as a beginning to the explanation. "Miss-" Hm. Carl, Faith, Jon, Alicia and Diana. Dagny... God, she couldn't even decide. "Pretty much everyone."

"That's a lotta people. I don't know that many people. Just Sanzo, Hakkai, n' Gojyo." There's a thoughtful pause. "I'm glad they're here with me.

"But I made a friend! His name is Kougaiji. He knows Hakkai and Gojyo n' I think they were friends. So...

"Even if I miss Sanzo, I'll just make more friends." He doesn't realize yet that people can just disappear from here too. "And I have you now, too. So if you miss your friends, I'll make you happy." He smiled up at her.

"Okay?"

Kate's never sure what to think about being here alone. Generally, it's alright, because this place is an uncomfortable reminder of way too many things in her past and she would rather not have her friends subjected to those memories as well. But some days she speaks of things, has to explain things at length that she could normally leave to silence and shared understanding. Moments like those are what brings the pangs for company from home. Moments where she finds herself in combat with another person around, not sure if they can fight or if she needs to defend them both - moments like that make her miss the people from home, whose skills in combat she knows like the whorls of her fingerprints.

Mostly, she just tries to remember that they're in a far better place, that they're making their home far better without her there. And that's as much as she can hope for until she finds a way home.

(But then, leaving here won't be so easy. Not when there are so many people she's growing fond of. Not when there are days where she thinks that if there was a sky, if the monsters and gods disappeared, she'd quite happily stay here, quite happily make this city a new home. Would she miss her old life? Sure, but there are things here she'd miss if she gave them up for her old life, too.)

And Goku is so earnest in his words as he says them. She bites her tongue on knowing that people have found themselves leaving this place, bites away the conflict inside her - it didn't happen when she tried to force it, so maybe it won't. Not for a while.

Maybe not ever. Who knows? Kate certainly doesn't.

"Okay." Because that was sweet, because it did make her happy. She tosses the napple core into the bin with easy accuracy and smiles. "Someone's set up a fabric shop near the lake. Might find some stuff for streamers there."

"Good. I don't want you to be sad." He started munching on the peach-like fruit.

"By the lake...?" He went to the lake all the time! "I go there a lot! One time, Gojyo was with me an' he fell asleep while I was swimmin'. And a big ol' octopus came and grabbed onto me with some of it's sticky arms and pulled me under the water.

"Gojyo can't swim real good so he couldn't help. But that was okay. I punched the octopus and it flew out of the water and into th' sky. And we cut off it's leg and Hakkai made takoyaki and we had octopus for three days." Which was saying a lot about its size, considering how much Goku ate.

... You know, there's so much wrong with that story that Kate doesn't know where to begin. But it is a good distraction from the thoughts running through her head. Instead of replying, she blinks for a minute, as if that will rewind time enough to a point where she isn't imagining this kid punching an octopus.

"There's octopus in the lake?" Okay, more reasons she's glad she doesn't really... swim...

"I think it would be, um... a... seven-o-pus cuz we cut off it's leg." Subtraction!!! Hakkai was a good teacher. "I dunno if there are more. Maybe.

"And there are tons of fish, too! All different colors n' stuff." And he downed that peach and reached for a napple. In seconds, it was gone, and he got another.

"Do you ever go outside and play and stuff? Or..." And the thought again. "Do adults not go outside and play? I know Gojyo and Hakkai go and play at the bar. Or inside of the house together." Way to make that sound hella incriminating.

Kid kind of has a point, she supposes. And, well, that eating speed is-

"You'll choke if you eat that fast," she points out, words sounding almost bland as she reaches for one of the banana looking fruits, examining it carefully. When peeled, it almost had the pallor of someone who was slightly ill.

Well, nothing for it but to eat it.

"Er- I run," she begins, barely managing to avoid choking on the piece of not-banana she's chewing on when Goku adds that last little tidbit.

Well. Good for Hakkai.

"But the Banonos are good." Since it wasn't a banana, it was that instead. He took another bite. "Hmm--mmmm...

"Running?" He swallowed. "...Yeah! I run really fast! We should run together! And play outside!

"Sometimes I play with the cats outside." Rats. You know the ones. He was still pretty sure they were cats--ugly ones--but still cats. "But playing with you would be way better." And he was sliding out of the chair.

"Come on!"

She chews on her banana - banono, sorry - slowly, her eyebrows drawn in slight concern at the speed all the same. She doesn't agree - never has, even before she started training at Dagny's clinic - and God, if this kid goes and starts choking Hakkai would probably have her head. If he was an adult, it'd be whatever.

But he's not, so she watches, carefully. And doesn't even get the chance to ask any questions before Goku is already out of his chair and darting out for some new adventure.

Shit.

Well. She's going to have to follow now. "What cats?" Not the rat he dragged in to the house the first time she visited, right? This is going to be a disaster.

Goku was heading outside at an incredibly fast pace. He looked back at Kate with a happy grin on his face. He hadn't even started running yet. His little short legs were used to walking fast to keep up with the likes of Gojyo and Hakkai.

"You know! Like the cat I brought home when I first metcha! I play with them all the time now!" He looked around.

"Where should we go? To th' lake? Or the shops and stuff?"

Isn't it a good job Kate is faster than the average human, being that she isn't technically one. So she catches up pretty quickly and sucks in a breath at that explanation. "Wasn't a cat." They went over this before, right? S I G H.

"Wherever you like," she answers, although the words sound like a terrible idea the second they leave her lips.

"Lets to to the lake! I wanna see if we can see across the water since all that weird fog stuff is there now!" And he grabbed her hand, pulling her quickly, quickly along.

"It was really scary when all those monsters n' stuff were out. But it would be kinda fun to fight stuff again! I think I'm getting really strong, like Hakkai and Gojyo!"

Well, she doesn't seem to have much of a choice, does she? And without the fog, the lake is relatively pleasant. (She hasn't visited since Glacius carried her across to escape his demons, but it's a nice chance of scenery despite the memory.) She lets Goku talk away, keeping up with him with the ease that comes to someone whose existence has been primarily physical for as long as she can remember.

They reach the lake with the quickness of excitement and habit. "Giant octopus, huh," she murmurs to herself, casting a glance along the expanse of water. Weird.

Goku looked across the gently lapping lake. He grinned, hand holding Kate's with excitement.

"Yeah! And there were all kinds of cool stuff in it! Watch." And Goku moved closer, to the edge of the water. He let of of Kate's hand, digging around with his fingers until he found a small stone. He gave it a very casual toss into the water. As the stone hit (and skipped once), a small group of fish sprung out, flying up from the surface. Hues of toxic green, blood red, and neon blue showed themselves across the fish... if they could be called fish. Whatever the heck those things were.

"See? Super cool, right?!"

Behind them, a Coeurl was on the prowl, watching them with careful eyes. They had taken a crouched position, looking upon the two new arrivals to the area with caution. Goku hadn't noticed it, of course, mainly due to his excitement (and the other half? because the creature wasn't of any threat to him really). He hopped up and down beside Kate.

"We should do a race around the lake!" Which meant stepping into Silent Hill territory, but...

Kate misses the days when fish looked like fish, okay? And a lot of things about not being stuck in shithole cavetown, no matter how much she likes the people she's met here. But it would generally be nice to not have to guess what creatures and food were supposed to be.

"Er..." She... guesses? "They're bright." But there's a prickling feeling on the back of her neck that's distracting, making Kate subtly shift her head to try and see behind her.

Which she promptly forgets at the suggestion. Okay, racing? Racing is fun. Racing across to the area of town she helped accidentally create? Nooot so much. "Not here. Could race somewhere else." Somewhere they're less likely to be stuck in a fog-filled nightmare, at least.

"But Kate, you said we could go wherever I wanted...! Where else would we--"

It was at that instant that the Coeurl decided to come out from hiding. It let out a fierce growl as it soar through the air, heading right towards the two. Goku's head snapped towards it, gold eyes going wide.

"KATE!" And he was moving, his small hands grabbing her waist, dragging her out of the way of the lunging beast as it hit the now-empty ground where she had been standing.

[OPEN] The Misadventures of the Monkey King

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feel free to control cat-thing too lmfao

of course

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