sageshadowed

[sageshadowed]

"Uh." Macaque doesn't have plans until evening, right?

"So long as we finish up before dinner," he concludes, and eyes the boatgirl and the plate of cookies thoughtfully. "You planning to just like... put these on the ground and hide in a bush nearby, or something?"

He scratches his head, considering, shrugs, and gives NJ a thumbs up. He'll go along with whatever, so long as it's not too absurd. (Did she have an actual plan before showing up...?? he wonders. Eh. Doesn't matter too much.)

"A cookie dispenser..." It was a pretty sound plan outside of one glaring problem. Was it going to be that simple as just putting them in there and watching it all go down? On top of potentially taking the entire stock people tended to get rather aggressive when it came to free food samples. But it was the easiest way to regulate it that much is for sure.

"We could also just camp out for awhile as well. I didn't bring THAT many cookies but it'd probably take the whole day of "testing"."

Although camping would really just be sitting down wherever they could and letting the rest run its course.

"Still freed up my day just for that reason. Hell maybe we should try out both and see if people are actual chill with the freebies."

#indomitableblackdragon 1 #indomitableblackdragon

[sageshadowed]

It's oatmeal raisin. Possibly meant to be a divisive trick-within-a-trick, but Macaque munches on it anyway. He's never understood the whole debacle. Food's food, after all.

"It's tough," he sighs as he brushes crumbs off his hands. "If we just stop a fight and show up with more cookies that would be fine, I think."

He can use portals to break up a fight, but he's only got three left, and he's not using them all on this. "Maybe we need—you know, one of those automatic cat food dispensers, but for cookies."

He's been hanging out with Gabriel.

"Got a variety in there. A lil' friend of mine and yours truly started going mad scientist on cooking and desert making 'while back. So I thought of making another batch while we plan our next endeavor."

The usual varieties like chocolate and sugar were there, but some of the confections seemed a bit more wild. More "Jerseyish" if that word actually existed out in Spirale and not in the mind of the BB at any given moment. Still they didn't look like anything that'd outright harm anyone just adventurous.

"Well that's the bigger kicker I guess." Only then did she realize he had already taken one from the plate, unsure yet of which it is but the open spot being a clear indicator there was a cookienapping.

"See people want food yeah? Problem is they either just pass on by free ones or completely take an entire plate. Now that idea of having people do something crazy or fight for one COULD work but we'd need to set some ground rules too. Can't have someone literally dying for a desert I'd be more than willing to make them another of."

#indomitableblackdragon 1 #indomitableblackdragon

[sageshadowed]

1, 12, 13, 29, 30

rambly answers 4 u, under the cut cos it got long

1. at what age did you start RPing?

i started in (checks notes) september '22 ! so uhhh Recently!

i mean technically i very briefly did warrior cats rp in elementary school at recess but honestly, who didn't

12. what do you think about AUs?

i personally struggle with writing AUs because i'm a very canon-focused writer when it comes to fan content? like i get really stressed out by writing things that stray too far from a canon. i develop a lot of headcanons or will choose to diverge from canon out of spite for how the original writer treated the source material, but that's about the extent of how far i'll go. i do enjoy other people's AUs-- i just come across them very rarely since usually i stay away from fandom.

i'm just not a Fandom Guy, generally speaking... i have very little patience for the internet drama that comes with fandom spaces, and i think a lot of it gets very pointless very quickly.

13. what do you think about OCs?

OCs r so epic and awesome and fweaking cool. personally i'd struggle with them in a mfrp setting-- most of my muses (besides gabe) i've apped bc of other characters in the group i could see them building relationships with, and without those connections i would have a Really hard time getting off the ground. but i do write an OC in a different group who is native to the group's setting, and it's an absolute blast to work with the lore of that group and with the other people who write related OCs!!

(also before isola i was primarily a long-form writer so generally i don't use the term OC to refer to characters OTL)

tl;dr: respect the OC crew!! shoutouts

29. what are your honest thought about your muse’s canon?

man..... i will never be a lmk defender, i think the way the showrunners went about creating this show (initially? idk if it's stayed the same over time) was hugely disrespectful, the western fandom is very white, which a lot of the time ends up very disrespectful as well. (i remain grateful that the show doesn't have guanyin in it bc i would explode and die if i had to see white people talk about her the same way they talked about the rest of the cast, and i'm not even a buddhist.)

anyway. meta stuff aside, ultimately it's a kid's show, so some stuff doesn't hit, but whatever. i don't like a lot of season 1's monster of the week stuff while they're still trying to settle into a story. also a lot of the worldbuilding is lackluster, and i'm a huge freak for interesting worldbuilding (<- spoiled by friends at the table). i do like the characters though... i am not immune to mythology retellings.

i do think it's very fun to play with, especially considering the richness of tradition of jttw retellings... we have three separate jttw casts hanging out in here! i have my qualms with the show but i write macaque cos it's incredibly fun bouncing around with y'all.

30. what are your favorite RP tropes to play? (angst, hurt-comfort, etc…)

retired gods is hands down my favorite. like what happens when you're a god and you want to stop being a god... epic

i do indulge in hurt/comfort sometimes but i generally lean heavier on the comfort than the hurt. i have a hard time writing angst for a lot of complicated reasons

i like really meticulous worldbuilding, does that count as a trope

i don't know other tropes

#ty leeeetheeee sry this got rambly. i'm infodump-heavy tonight i spose #ringlorn #ooc #answered

[sageshadowed]

🧅 im hope finally i can send memes also *boops*

yeah hey. thanks sir. boops you with the force of like a thousand suns

i think the original character i wanted to make this meme for was sigyn norsemythology, like "only gets mentioned in völuspá 35 and lokasenna end notes in the poetic edda" sigyn, but also the version of sigyn i've been writing in a like norse retelling story i've been working on since like high school? though it's changed a lot since then.

the rest of this is 1. i will tell you more about sigyn bc i'm too shy to do so above a readmore 2. rambling abt my taste in stories and tropes and opinions abt story/mythology retellings

ok hey. first of all: sig is loki's wife, exclusively known in the eddas for holding a bowl over loki's face when she[^1] was bound, catching as a serpent dripped venom into it. so like. gestures vaguely. the narrative parallels are remarkable, except macaque didn't stay.

my sigyn is a butch lesbian and loki's transfem and theyre super married ok ! also both of em r chinese [or at least jötunnheim is based on china/ne asia] loki's from the north and sig's from the south. my citation for this is the beginning notes of lokasenna: þórr kom eigi, því at hann var í austrvegi, amirite?[^2] iirc there's scholarship out there about how this is supposed to be an allegory for the sámi people, probly sámi/russia/eastern europe would've been better ethnicities/cultures to pull from, but. yknow. i am the person i am

second: i think a lot about what get lost in mythological retellings and how we rewrite sigyn in norse mythology retellings specifically. this has actually been kinda a hot topic in norse retelling lit recently. everyone wants sigyn to be a bigger character in the myths-- you see more books written from her or loki's perspective or whatever, especially since loki's a more popular character, since everyone loves a trickster god. this is supposed to b feminist, or whatever. (few of them are actually good and i can tell u this bc i've read most of them. special interests are wild)

but like what if you consider that sigyn didn't want to be in the myths, seeing how they talked about loki and going "huh. no thanks! i don't wanna be written about like this, actually." what if the myths aren't true, or misrepresent what events actually happened?? what then becomes ur attitude towards the writer of/subjects of the myths?? what gets recorded in history and what gets forgotten or smoothed over. what do we do when the queers are considered the monsters.

anyway i think a lot about how jttw (novel) exists in universe and often i wonder how macaque is written in it. and if it stays as-is, i think about how he would know, deeply, that he is not a guy who just shows up in two chapters. but he is written that way bc stories and histories are cruel.

also wrt just norse mythology vs. jttw in general, a lot of my blorbos are guys who have been fucked over by gods so wukong and loki have that in common. both of them have been my favs for a long ass time. shoutouts

[^1]: she/her pronouns for loki thx. she's a trans woman unless u wanna argue abt how old norse gender was constructed ! i can also do this infodump on request [^2]: norse mythology has been my special interest since i was ~12 and i learned a bit of old norse for it and i'm so sorry for the person i am about it

#ooc #sunsage #answered

[sageshadowed]

munday asks!!!

at what age did you start RPing?

do you RP anywhere else, other than tumblr?

on what platform did you start RPing?

what made you choose this muse?

is there any other muse in this fandom you RP?

is there any other muse in this fandom you’d like to RP?

is there a muse you played on more platforms or in different moments of your life? 

did you have a muse you tried to play, but didn’t feel connected to?

did you have muse you tried to play, but ended up dropping for various reasons? (the rpc wasn’t active, you lost interest, etc)

would you be interested into playing a crossover? if yes, do you have any limits?

would you be interested into playing with doubles? 

what do you think about AUs?

what do you think about OCs?

what do you think about roleplaying with personals?

what do you think about roleplaying with anons?

what’s the best way to approach you to start playing together?

what was your first muse?

did you ever play a muse for more than a year?

do you have ship bias?

what’s a ship you don’t want to roleplay at all with this muse? (except Bad Illegal And Gross Stuff, of course)

what do you think of your muse’s popular fandom ship?

what do you think of your muse’s canon ship, if they have one?

would you play a OC x canon ship?

would you play a crossover ship?

do you play smut? do you play it only with characters you’re shipping with, or are you open for “one night stands”?

are you multiship?

are you interested into poly relationships for your muse?

is your muse canon divergent in any way?

what are your honest thought about your muse’s canon?

what are your favorite RP tropes to play? (angst, hurt-comfort, etc…)

do you regularly play crack?

do you regularly do dash commentaries?

what are your thoughts on dash commentary?

what are your thoughts on reblog karma?

if you aren’t a native english speaker, do you play in your first language too?

do you feel similar to your muse in any way?

do you feel different to your muse in any way?

what’s the best inspiration for your muse?

what’s a song that reminds you of your muse?

[ OBLIGATORY FREE SPACE!!! Ask anything you’d like! ]

#meme friday #ooc

[sageshadowed]

Huh?

He blinks twice. It takes him a moment to remember the conversation. And then he raises a finger in recognition. "Of course," he announces.

Unprompted, Macaque opens a portal below the two of them, sending both of them just outside of Point Zero. NJ's cookies remain miraculously undisturbed. Macaque dusts off his scarf, although there's no real point for the gesture.

"What's the setup?" he says, eyeing the rail outside the pit. A few people are taking walks around it, undisturbed by the duo's sudden appearance. And, more importantly, "What kind? Of cookies, I mean."

Macaque considers snatching one up from the plate for himself. Maybe when NJ's not looking.

"So hey you remember that time we considered putting a cookie in the middle of the city. You know, to see if anyone was willing to just take it? Or hell, get into a fight over it. Well guess what..."

Normally most people would've forgotten such a conversation. The idea of anyone actually trying to get into a fight each other over a pastry seemed like too much of an assumption on the BB's part. But NJ was not "most people", for better or for worse. And she needed to put that theory to the test.

"Well tada! Got some home baked Jersey goodness with us today! And we're about to see how many people swoon over little cookies like these."

@sageshadowed | s.c

#indomitableblackdragon #indomitableblackdragon 1 #lmk if you dont want me to yoink them i figured it would b faster T_T

[sageshadowed]

🧅

badeline celeste is that too obvious. purple weird magic freaks who keep trying to hunt down their double? honestly i don't think too much about her specifically while writing but more generally the "fucked up ghost double" trope is so fun, so i feel like she's gotta be a subliminal influence somewhere in there.

also when wukong and macaque combine into one entity they unlock the ability to dash twice ! ! just like how trans people can air dash in the eight cardinal directions, you can also start dashing a second time when u make peace with the weird ghost haunting you. afaik this will be made canon. i look forward to season 5.

#sxnburst #ooc #..............i miss celeste speedrunning i dont have the joints for it anymore but i do miss it #i love celeste sm i have like a weird amt of nostalgia for it bc it was one of the first videogames i played besides like. #shitty browser flash games and wii sports at a family friends house (i did NOT grow up playing videogames)

[sageshadowed]

send 🧅 (onion) for me to introduce you to a character that influences my portrayal, and talks about how– from the same canon or different canon, personality-wise, story beat-wise, etc.

#ooc #meme monday

[sageshadowed]

why did he wake up to the sound of like a million monkeys chattering in nezha's room-- hey what the fuck-- what the f

#i cant keep up with y'all sprightly young things (<- guy half a decade younger than most people in this cast/group) #godspeed....enjoy ur boop wars....... and ur Pranks ...

[sageshadowed]

"I'm familiar with the number of limbs you have," he's in the middle of saying as Nezha lights his fingers up. Macaque jumps, but passes off the motion as—yeah, okay, he can't really pass it off as anything, so he just stands there a bit frazzled.

"The rest of us just use a regular lighter," he says, annoyed, and, "they let you use Samadhi fucking fire?"

They meaning the Stars, which. 天啊。Macaque makes a mental note to check the batteries on the fire alarm—not that sprinklers or firefighters will do anything, but at least he'll know to get the fuck out of there in case pink boy accidentally sets the house on fire in his sleep, or something.

The warmth in the handshake is what surprises him most. Nezha didn't know what he was expecting—room temperature skin?—but it feels solid, and most importantly alive, when he takes Macaque's hand.

It's kinda weird without all the fur, though.

"Three heads for each pair, plus two extra arms in a pinch," Nezha amends. "Can't use all my weapons at the same time without going full-out."

Granted, he's rarely had to go that far without showing off, so the storybooks gradually started leaving out arms 7 and 8, too.

"I mean, technically yeah, the fingers are all doing their own thing? But you don't have to think about it. It's like...like vines wrapping around a thing, they just fit where they have room. Like how my thumb and fingers are holding onto different parts of your hand."

He gives Macaque's hand a squeeze before letting go, then summons samadhi fire on three fingers and wiggles them around. "Also useful for customized matchstick making."

#right it would be so sick. i would buy the six armed lego guy but just the guy #(i dont care very much abt legos sorry i'm just here for the funny monkey show) #ringlorn #ringlorn 2

[sageshadowed]

[ injury ] sender cleans receiver's wound and patches it up. yknow you should b more careful off the isles right (sorry i keep sending in prompts about maiming wukong i just need guys to care about him when he's hurt. trip and fall monkey boy.)

PROMPTS FOR COMFORTABLE INTIMACY

"It's not that bad," he says again for the fifth time. Macaque ignores him, again, only tightening the bandage more. It's a weirdly familiar situation, though it's been... a very long time since it happened last. Back when he was still able to get hurt from holding a knife wrong, back when they were- well, much smaller than they are now, for one.

He wonders if that's what Macaque is thinking about too. Judging by the frown etched into his face, it probably is.

'You know you should be more careful off the Isles, right?'

Or maybe not.

"Come on, it's just a little cut. I've survived much worse than- ow," The bandage tightens again, painfully, and the frown deepens, so that's probably the wrong thing to say. He's quiet then, waiting for Macaque to finish.

(Just because they're on better - much better - terms now doesn't mean he suddenly got better at figuring out the right thing to say.)

The bandage is tied in a neat, professional way and Wukong flexes his hand experimentally. Tight, but not too tight. Just perfect. "Thanks. Guess it's a good thing I have you to help me out?" Again, he doesn't add, though the other could definitely guess it.

Macaque looks up at him with an unreadable expression for a moment too long, and sighs.

'I'd say 'don't make a habit out of this' but knowing you, you'd just take it as a challenge.'

And there it is: an actual, genuine smile. It's a small one, but Wukong still considers it a win.

'So yeah. I guess it is.'

#sunsage #annoyed medical care macaque is so real. shoutouts

[sageshadowed]

🥂 for a date outfit / ❄️ for a winter outfit / + one of dealer's choice, Nerd

Send a symbol and my muse will pick an outfit for your muse |

Send a 🥂 for a date outfit

"You want me to dress you for our date? Alright, come here~"

Send a ❄️ for a winter outfit

Send a 💤 for sleep clothes

"I know you get cold a lot so I added one of those hot water bottle plushies. You can just hug it and get warmed up! At least when I'm not around to do that for you."

#full moon activities tshirt rly good 2 me #ooc #sunsage

[sageshadowed]

need me to run out and grab a few things?

(neighbors interactions)

He hands Nezha a brief but specific shopping list.

33 banana 40lb trail mix onion granola bar (primal kitchen brand)

He's been systemically trying all the kinds of granola bars at the grocery store. The onion's for fun. The rest is just his usual diet.

#ringlorn #i'm sorry i was looking for a regular icon and decided this was much funnier #cannot for the life of me give up the need to bully li nezha

[sageshadowed]

"Well, I'm sure you'll find someone who you can get along with," Macaque says, somewhat awkwardly; he would like to not give advice to this kid right now. "I'm afraid I don't know most of the kids—you know Li Nezha is my roommate? All grown up, though. Got much pinker," he confides.

Macaque pauses, considering the number of shadow portal uses he has left, before opening one behind him. "I can take you someplace, if you want flowers. Probably better than the city for your big ol' ears, too, huh?"

Savior's Respite and the area around it is speckled with flowers, even at this time of year—crocuses starting to peek out of the frozen dirt, and narcissi starting to bloom. He holds out his weird fingerless hand for Liu'er to take so he can pull the kid through.

Liu'er immediately brightens as Macaque changes tune. Their ears twitch excitedly, and their tail stands straight up into the air. A small grin even spreads across their face, equal parts surprised and absolutely delighted. So he is going to teach them?

But then the older monkey is pausing to say something else, and what he says next only has them stare blankly up at him. What else were they supposed to do, while waiting for either the rest of his troop to arrive or a way for them to be sent back? Is there even a way back home?

"Well," they start, but then pause. How are they supposed to respond to that? "...I've only played with Shihou before. I don't think he's here." And even then, most of their games these days were training.

They nervously pick at the fur on the back of their hands. Was that the wrong answer? "Uhm. I normally just read. Or pick flowers.. I don't see a lot of flowers around here, though..."

#sorry for the very specific flower its 水仙花 which doesnt have a short english translation OTL. wanted the teeny ones #sixthear #sixthear 1 #i think nezha was in his house at this point idr the order of apping but i Think it was nezha before the liu'ers

[sageshadowed]

PROMPTS FOR NEIGHBOR INTERACTIONS * adjust as necessary, send 'reverse' for the reversal of action prompts

DIALOGUE PROMPTS

could you turn the music down?

thought i'd come by and introduce myself.

could i borrow a cup of flour?

something strange is happening around here.

when did you move in?

welcome to the neighborhood!

it's a quiet road. you shouldn't have any trouble.

if you ever need anything, i'm just next door.

something smells good! what are you making?

the walls are thin. i hear everything.

that's the nosy neighbor i was telling you about.

you should come over for dinner sometime.

i hear your door shut every morning.

did my package get delivered to your door?

i'm having a party tonight. wanna come?

hi! i'm your next door neighbor!

why don't we exchange numbers?

need me to run out and grab a few things?

that's what friends are for.

i like what you've done with the place!

make sure you lock your doors at night.

your place or mine?

wanna walk me home? it's literally right there.

so you're the one making all that noise.

i haven't seen you outside in a while.

i rang your doorbell a few times, but you never answered.

sorry, am i interrupting something?

if you've got company, i won't intrude.

i don't mean to be a bother.

i locked myself out. could i wait here until the locksmith arrives?

your lights were on all night.

oops, sorry. wrong door.

ACTION PROMPTS

[ moving ] sender moves in next door and receiver comes over to introduce themselves

[ party ] sender storms over to receiver's door to complain about their loud party

[ accident ] sender accidentally tries to use their key to unlock receiver's door, and receiver catches them

[ comment ] sender has been spending so much time over at receiver's place that receiver finally notices

[ invite ] sender is hosting a party at their place and invites receiver to join

[ note ] sender slips a note under receiver's door and hurries away

[ cooking ] sender makes too much food and brings a plate over to give receiver

[ tinker ] sender fixes something at receiver's home

[ chat ] sender and receiver sit together on one of their porches and chat

[ angry ] sender angrily pounds on receiver's front door

[ outdoors ] sender and receiver tend to one of their gardens together

[ window ] sender sees receiver through their window, and the two start communicating through movement and gestures

[ package ] sender gets a package meant for receiver and brings it over to them

[ bbq ] sender and receiver have a barbeque together

[ flowers ] sender brings receiver some flowers from their garden

[ produce ] sender brings receiver some vegetables from their garden

[ suspicious ] having seen some suspicious activity happen at receiver's home, sender finally confronts them and asks what's going on

[ snoop ] sender is snooping around receiver's property and receiver catches them

[ fire ] sender accidentally starts a fire while cooking and receiver rushes to their rescue, putting it out and saving the day

#ooc #fibonacci crew where r u...... hello........... #meme friday

[sageshadowed]

我要记住你的样子 像鱼记住水的永抱 像云在天空中停靠 夜晚的来到 也不会忘了阳光的温暖——

我要忘了你的样子 像鱼忘了海的味道——

#this isnt even that macaque-core i just like this song and its Vaguely relevant #heard the end credits theme for meihouwang '09 and was like yeah similar energy. #ok thats all from me gnite #ooc

[sageshadowed]

"Speak for yourself," Macaque mutters, "my height is perfectly fine." He frowns, a bit. "You're multitasking with every one of your fingers? That seems a bit excessive—or, oh, right, you've got six arms." He was talking the five-fingered hands thing. He can't deny the six arms are neat, though. He wishes his own Nezha would pull the trick out more often.

Macaque's still stuck on the (possibly misguided?) idea that you could do multiple different things with each of your fingers at once. He returns the handshake; no questions there. If Nezha does something weird he'll just drop him into a shadow portal or something.

"I mean sure, the temple statues still go with that but—" Nezha exhaled and looked aside. "...sometimes it's better to be taller."

Attaining godhood as a seven-year old in looks didn't mean he had to be a child forever. Maybe he wanted variety once in a while! Now he was flexing his fingers, thinking about the different weapons they wielded and the calluses that would match.

"Multitasking," he answers Macaque. "You get a better feel for what you're doing with your weapons too. I'm not saying you don't, but—" Lego hands were like, two fingers at most. Or just one big bendy one?

"—hey, gimme a handshake for a sec?" Out of impulse, Nezha reached out to offer his own hand across the table.

#can lmk nezha summon the 6 arms? a subject of decades of scholarly debate #ringlorn #ringlorn 2