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Macaque yawned and rubbed his eyes. He looked over at the old fashioned grandfather clock that he had on the wall. It was pretty early in the day, which meant that he had some time before his show that day, so he decided he would take a walk to the theater rather than just teleporting there. Getting up we went outside of the dojo he called home to a nearby plum tree. Grabbing a plum he began eating as he walked over to the river. Once there he sat down and looked at his reflection. His glamours were down and as usual, Macaque got a good hard look at his natural face…the face which had a scar running over his eye. The face which had that blind eye from his fight with his former friend. The face which had those hideous six ears…Macaque growled as he ate his plum, soon tossing the remains aside and putting up his glamours once more and looked down again. No more scars…no more miss matched eyes…no more ears…perfect. Macaque then went back inside, where he threw on his hanfu and cloak, which he pulled the hood of up before going back out, walking along the dirt trail of the hill where the dojo sat.
Along the way, he spotted the moon in the sky. He knew that such a thing was natural but it still felt…odd to see it in the morning. He turned his head away and picked up the pace of his walk.
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The outskirts of Megapolis were always quite peaceful; closest thing to cities he knew before being trapped. As he walked he watched the local children playing their games along the streets, a sight which always brought a smile to his face. Sure he had to weave through them whenever there were kids on his side of the crosswalk, but he could often slip though the kids without them noticing and even when he couldn’t, weaving around their little areas was still pretty easy.
Take today for instance. Some kids were drawing on the sidewalk with their chalk. No problem; traffic wasn’t too bad so he could just walk around them. He could even catch a glimpse of what they were drawing too, in this case they seemed to be drawing fruit; really cute looking fruit too. Next were some kids playing jump rope. Mac didn’t feel like going around this time so he just carried on walking, making sure there was some space between him and the girl jumping weaved in between there, making sure to skip before the rope could touch their feet. Mac carried on from there, not noticing the girls waving goodbye with their free hands. And of course, there was always that one unavoidable obstacle; the Hopscotch Guards…or so they called themselves.
“Halt!” one of the mighty guards said to Macaque, holding out his hand like a traffic cop would. “If you wish to pass, then you must face…..” the other two guards did a mighty drum roll. “THE CHALLENGE!” the head guard shoughted, moving out of the way and posing to show off the dreaded hopscotch course they had designed. The kid then tossed a rock in it, making it fall into one of the little boxes. “Try if you dare.”
Macaque smirked. “I accept your challenge, oh mighty Hopscotch Guards!” Macaque announced proudly.
So the challenge commenced. 1…2 3…4…stone at 5…6…7! He did it!
The guards looked pleased at his performance. “Hmm…impressive.” the head guard said as Macaque tossed the stone back to him.
“I try.” Mac said, turning around when he noticed a familiar little tuk-tuk driving around. ‘MK…’ Macaque thought to himself as he slipped into the nearest alley hiding in the shadows. ‘...I guess showing up to work early wouldn’t be too bad.’ Macaque thought as he teleported to his place of work.
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Words could not even begin to describe how much Macaque missed the theater. Macaque always had a love of performing, even back in the mountains when he would mostly be entertaining the monkeys and occasionally Wukong’s sworn brothers. His love for performing only grew with time as he set off on his quest to find his king and saw the many ways that humans and demons performed; the possibilities are endless! And now in the present day, he performs to get some extra money, just in case he needs it for extra supplies or to amuse himself, though mostly he just enjoys doing the art itself.
If you had to ask Macaque why he liked performing so much, he supposed it was for how everything just…disappears, when a performance begins. In a performance, there is nothing but you and the stage. Whether you are on it or not, soon you will be transported into another world where nothing matters…except for…that one time.
The time he performed a shadow play for a theater closer to the inner works of the city. At first it was just going to be another performance but then he saw them and from there…hurt was all he could think about. On and off stage the only thing on his mind was hurt, both with how he was hurt…and his desire to hurt him . The stage was broken that day, as it was unable to use its magic to take everything away and into its magical world. Macaque never set foot onto that stage since.
“Mr. Liu’er.” one of the stage directors said, pulling Macaque out of his train of thought as he turned away from his lantern to look at the man. “You’re up.” he said.
Macaque only nodded as he walked up to the stage. Once there, he saw a familiar sight…that blue guy…Sandy was it? And…that girl. ‘No.’ Macaque thought to himself. ‘They are irrelevant. It's just you, the stage, and the tale of Chang’e.’
Macaque smiled at the audience as his lantern glowed a brilliant purple light.
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Macaque smiled as he walked through the field, satisfied at another successful performance. Even with…them…in the audience, he had been able to keep his composure through and simply share the moon goddess’s tragic tale with the audience. Still…if it had been…’No. Don’t think about it Macaque!’ the monkey thought to himself. ‘Just disappear…just like in the play.’ he thought, teleporting to his dojo.
…
”What?” Macaque thought allowed seeing the sight before him. There was Sandy, and the little girl, who had just stopped in their tracks sweeping the place and putting away the equipment he never bothered to clean up.
“The shadow monkey!” the girl said, running towards Mac and tackling him with a hug despite Sandy’s protests.
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Macaque sat at the table awkwardly as he ate the dumpling he was given, staring at the girl as she drank her hibiscus tea. He tried to focus on something else, like Sandy, who was fussing around the place muttering about how horrible it must be to live in such a gloomy place while doing anything he could to make it more presentable by letting in light or arranging the furniture, but even that couldn’t distract from the little pink elephant in the room.
“Why are you here?” Macaque asked, wanting this awkwardness to end.
“Oh…right.” the girl said, setting her tea down. “I just wanted to thank you.”
“For what?”
“For saving me of course.”
Macaque blinked, then smirked awkwardly. “Okay.” the shadow monkey said, his voice containing a slight chuckle. “Listen kid.” he said placing a hand on her shoulder, “You seem nice and all but I’m no hero if that’s what you’re thinking…”
“But you caught me? And made sure I wasn’t in danger when you and the others fought Lady Bone Demon.”
“...You knew that?” said Macaque, who was confused, as there was no way this kid could have gotten a good enough look at him when he had her in his arms.
“Yeah. Mr. Sandy told me.”
Macaque’s head turned to face the sand demon, who waved at him before putting a tablecloth over one of the broken pillars. Macaque took a breath through the nose and turned his head back to the girl. “Alright you got me…still don’t know why you wanted to see me though. No way you would have come here just for that.” Macaque said matter of factly.
“Well…I guess I wanted to check up with you.” the girl said with a smile that could light up a room.
“Oh…what do you mean by that?”
“Well,” Sandy said, walking closer to the two of them. “we haven’t seen you since you helped us beat Lady Bone Demon. I know we weren’t on the best terms when we teamed up but still.”
“Hey, I just thought you wouldn’t want to see me.” Macaque said, hands held up in defense. Though that was only half the truth.
“Didn’t MK give you noodles though?” Sandy asked.
“Yeah, what of it?” Macaque said, looking away.
“He tried to reach out to you. I know the others are still suspicious of you and I honestly don’t blame them but still, you’ve shown us that you can be good. Don’t you think you should give it a shot?”
Macaque stood back up. “Well, have you considered that maybe I don’t need help being good?” Macaque said, turning away from the two.
…
“You were hurt though.”
All eyes were on the girl at that moment. “...what?” Macaque asked.
“The Lady Bone Demon!” the girl said in a raised voice. “I was there! I know she hurt you! I know you were scared when Mr. Mayor went after you! I know she tried to freeze you if you didn’t get the rings! I-” the girl stopped in her tracks and ran over to the shadow monkey, hugging him. “We were both hurt by her…it’s…hard…to go on after that…trust me; I know…” Macaque took a look at Sandy, who had a somber look on his face. “I also know that being alone won’t help!” the girl said, looking up at the monkey. “So please…just let me help you.”
Macaque stared at the little girl and smiled, scooping her up and hugging her, making the girl giggle. “Alright kid. How about I start visiting you and Sandy. Would that make you feel better.”
“Yep!” the girl said happily.
“Oh and by the way, what’s your name kid?” asked Macaque.
“Bai He.”
“Alright, you got yourself a deal Bai He!” Macaque held out his free hand for the kid to shake. Bai He accepted.
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Soon the two had to leave. Macaque watched as they went down the road before looking up at the sky. It was still as bright as before, and the moon was still visible. It was, cute, Mac decided as he went back into the dojo.