#(pigsy cooks a majority of if not all the food)

[zaacoy]

Very rushed value practice before I sleep!! They are vibin'

[googleitlol]

HOO boy, this is a fun one. This part of the journey is one I've had knocking around my head since the beginning, mostly cuz I came up with it the same time I created Dove's backstory!

Dove Masterlist:

Monkshood

Laughter masks the crackling of the campfire you circle with your friends, the look of confused horror on Tripitaka’s face sending his disciples into three cackling messes, even you can’t help but chuckle at his expression. After hiking through the wilderness all day, your friends had set up in a moderately open space in the wooded terrain you’ve been travelling through.

This will be the last night you have to camp before arriving in the next major occupied space. Another kingdom awaits your group, but first you settle for the night in the seclusion of trees to rest. Cooking the rice a family had given you from a few days ago over the fire, and after some foraging, you all had taken seats around the fire to eat and talk.

Tripitaka sits against Ao Lie, who lies just behind him. “We have been on the road together for so long, and only now am I learning that all of my disciples have eaten human flesh?!”

“Many demons eat people, I find it more rare to meet one who doesn’t.” You shrug from your spot by the fire across from the monk. It does not surprise you as much to learn this, especially since the only vegetarian demons you know of are all in your company at the moment.

Pigsy lets out a sigh. “We are all strictly vegetarian now, even if I do miss the tender flavour of meat every now and again.” He looks into the fire, his eyes almost yearning until you whack his arm. “Hey!”

You offer an unapologetic smirk to the pig demon next to you, Wukong snickers on your left. “Maybe you shouldn’t work yourself up thinking about it, Pigsy.”

“But it’s difficult!” He complains, the look on his face wistful. “I can still remember the taste. I’ve only been a buddhist monk for a few years now, I’m not like you. How many years has it been since you have tasted meat?”

The question gives you a moment of pause. How long has it been now? “I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever had it. I would have had to have been a child, then.”

A thought crosses your mind, and you can’t help but giggle. “I do remember a very close friend of mine, a boy named Da Jie. I had never met anyone who was so obsessed with food. He honestly could have eaten more than you, Bajie.” You shake your head, it isn’t often you think about those days.

“I highly doubt that.” Bajie snorts, crossing his arms with a prideful grin.

Sandy shoots you with an inquiring look. “Did this boy live in that village you mentioned by Potalaka Mountain?”

You freeze for a second, caught off guard by the question. “No, I knew Jie before I was a disciple of Guan Yin.”

“Before?” Wukong leans over, an inquisitive expression overtaking his features.

The campfire really is warm, isn’t it? You feel yourself sitting a bit straighter before answering. “…Yes, before. I had a life before I joined my master in her home.”

“I had just assumed you lived in that village by Guan Yin’s Mountain before joining her.” Wujing hums to himself a bit. “Where were you from before?”

The heat of the fire is certainly doing its job. “It, uh, it was a small village, not near any commonly-travelled roads. I don’t remember much, but there was a pond Da Jie and I would play by. On the way there he would chat my ear off, prattling about all the different plants we passed on the way and when we got there.” You smile as you recall those nights, and you can’t help but roll your eyes. “His father studied herbs for medicinal purposes, and Jie always had to repeat everything he learned. Sometimes if he found a flower he liked, he would ask his father what it was so he could tell me about its properties.”

“Flowers?” Pigsy grins, nudging you with his arm. “Sounds like more than just a friend.” He laughs, and Wukong reaches over you to swat him away.

He gives his brother a look laced with annoyance. “Stop that, they were only children children at the time–”

“I mean…” You trail off, glancing up at your friend to see his eyes practically bulging out of his head. All of them, in fact, shared the same look of disbelief. Even Ao Lie, who has been quietly picking at the grass beneath him, was almost staring into your soul.

All you can offer them is a shy smile. “You are right, Wukong, we were just kids…” The corner of your lips twitch, and you clear your throat. “…he may have liked me, and maybe I liked him, too. But it isn’t as though it matters anymore, they were just childish feelings. Even if he was still here, I am a buddhist monk, like the rest of you.”

“If it weren’t for you lot chastising me for it, I would have returned to my wife a long time ago.” Pigsy lets out a bark of laughter. “Wouldn’t you, as well?”

You take a moment before saying anything, playfully rolling your eyes and standing up. “I am going to find some more firewood, excuse me.”

Not waiting for a response, you turn to the woods to start gathering more wood. You aren’t entirely sure you will need more kindle for your flame, but it was getting much too hot in that seat. Any excuse for a walk in the cool night air is a welcome one.

Each of you have told numerous stories about each of your respective homes, you all enjoyed hearing about your friend’s life before meeting one another. Though, you guess all you’ve ever told them about was your life on Potalaka Mountain, so it makes sense they all seemed to be surprised you had another home. Still, you rarely ever think about back then, there isn’t much purpose in thinking about it.

Before you get too far, you hear the tang monk calling your name. Confused, you turn back to see Tripitaka hurriedly following after you. “Tripitaka?”

You pause long enough for the monk to catch up, the man glancing about at the shadows of the night. “It really is dark, I almost thought I wouldn’t catch up to you.” He laughs nervously, watching for movement from the corner of his eye.

“What are you doing out here?” You ask, and he turns back to face you.

“I thought I could help you.” He smiles, and you mirror the expression, albeit with a hint of confusion.

You turn to continue walking, the monk following behind. “Shouldn’t you have sent one of your disciples?”

“Perhaps, but I wanted to do it.” He responds. “Besides, I thought we could talk, too.”

“It sounds like you ‘thought’ of a lot of things.” You chuckle over his repeated use of the word.

The man shares your exhales quietly. “Yes, well I do tend to think a lot.” You glance back at him with a smile as he continues. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” You ask, slowing your pace when you find wood for the fire.

Tripitaka crouches down with you to start collecting the materials. “I may not be the most… perceptive of our friends,” you look back at him with a sarcastic smile. At least he can be self aware, “but you appear to be tense.”

You frown at his words, surprised. Are you tense? You do feel somewhat taut, but that might just be because he brought it up. “I think that was the first time you’ve ever mentioned your old home.” You stand as he continues. “I hope none of my disciples were prying too much.”

“It’s alright.” You smile, your voice light as you continue your walk. “It’s all in the past now.” Looking back, you see your friend following closely behind you.

His brows furrow while he readjusts his hold on his firewood. “If that is true, may I ask what happened?”

You stop, eyes focused on the forest before you. “What do you mean?”

You hear him let out an awkward laugh. “I know I complain about the troubles we face out on the road, and even though this pilgrimage is the most difficult thing I have ever done, I also dealt with my own grievances back home. It feels as though, maybe, you understand that feeling as well.”

It takes you a moment to respond, your gaze trailing to the forest floor as you take a long breath. “Perhaps, but I have dealt with it, so there is no need to worry. It–” Your eyes shut tight as you feel your voice almost crack, and you shake your head. “It was all a many years ago, hundreds really. Before you were even born.” You look back to offer him a smile, but the expression is not returned.

“But it wasn’t hundreds of years for you.” His words make you freeze, but you quickly shake it off. Even if he is right, it’s been well over a decade. You hardly even remember it. “I understand that you prefer to avoid these more sensitive topics, but if you ever feel like it would help to share, I am here. I’ve often found that when you ignore the past, it can still find ways to haunt you.”

“I am not haunted by my past.” You turn back to face the monk, surprising him slightly with your tone. Hearing the harshness in your voice, you quickly step back to take a breath. “I don’t think about that time too often, there’s no point in letting myself get caught up in feelings over something that was so long ago.”

He frowns, the look he gives you worried. “That does not sound like ‘dealing’ with it.”

“Well, it is.” You strain your smile a bit before turning. “The past is in the past, Tripitaka. Now, why don’t we collect some more firewood? Come on, there’s more over there.” Without giving him the chance to argue, you walk ahead to continue with your harvest, the monk eventually following to do the same.

A silence stretches over the two of you while you gather more fuel for the fire, and you find yourself glancing over to your friend every now and then. You appreciate his concern, it really is touching to know how much he cares. But you feel it isn’t needed. If anything, hearing the man voice his concerns only served to cause more stress.

Sure, there may be moments where you feel some grief. The nightmares still prod at your mind some nights, but the same would happen to anyone if they were in your position.

The less you dwell on it, the better. After all, it’s like you said. The past is in the past.

~~~~

The sun rises early the next morning, the summer heat quickly warming the surrounding land as you continue your journey. By midday, you and your friends arrive in the next kingdom on your route to the Buddha’s monastery.

It takes some time to navigate the roads within the walls of the kingdom before arriving in the palace. Before passing the gates of the palace, you perch on Tripitaka’s shoulder in your avian form. At this point, it’s become second nature to you whenever you enter a kingdom.

The process of recertifying Tripitaka’s travel documents tends to be easier when people believe there is only one human in his group of demonic disciples. It also doesn’t help that you do not possess any papers of your own, so putting on the guise of a dove was a much simpler solution.

After requesting an audience, Tripitaka is led into the palace walls with the rest of your friends. Your group is led through the halls of the finely decorated home of the king, and you find yourself watching servants and officials pass you from your position on the monk’s shoulder.

Pigsy huffs as they walk down a corridor. “Does anyone else smell that potent odour?” He asks, scrunching his face with a grimace. “It’s disgusting.”

Monkey scoffs at the question. “And here I thought that repulsive odour was coming from you.”

“Hey!” The younger brother whines, which only makes the simian snicker.

Despite their complaining, the smell doesn't bother you– likely due to their senses being so much more heightened as demons. Even without their level of smell, though, you catch sight of what may be the source.

The potential answer comes in the form of a man hurriedly walking past, cradling a bundle of purple flowers in a cloth. Their petals are lobed, almost hooded in shape. You almost want to frown, recognising the plant. Is that… monkshood?

What a bizarre flower to be carrying, and without any gloves? Sure, he has a cloth, but still. He seems to be in a rush… where might he be delivering those flowers?

Maybe it’s simple curiosity that pokes at you, but nonetheless you feel the need to satisfy your question. Taking off from Tripitaka’s shoulder, you follow the man with the flowers in hand. You make sure to stay close to the ceiling, hiding up high as you shadow the man.

He rushes through the halls, stopping only for a moment to hum to himself, then take another turn into a new corridor. You follow until he leads you to an open space within the palace, a fragrant aroma overtaking the scent of the monkshood he carries. Several species of flora greet you as the man walks down a stone path leading further into what appears to be a garden.

It is quite a large space, housing some plants you recognise along with some foreign ones you do not. They all share vibrant colours, some soaking in the warmth of the sun while others rest in the shade of tall trees. On the far side of the garden, a small pond is accompanied by a crimson-painted wooden bridge connecting the stone path from one end of the water to the other.

A man stands alone on the bridge, watching over the water. His robes are a deep blue, embroidered in white intricate patterns. His hair falls down his back, save for what is held in place by what looks to be a crown with a pin. Once the man with the flowers sees him, he rushes to meet him on the bridge.

“Ah, I thought you might be here.” The man bows in greeting while you perch on a tree just behind the pond, hidden within the leaves and branches. “For you, my Prince.” Prince, huh?

You see the royal look down at the flowers, his silence not offering much of a response. With the two men’s backs facing you, it’s difficult to gather much of a reaction until he speaks. “…Is this meant to be a joke?”

The deliverer sounds startled. “I am sorry?”

“Whose idea was this?” The prince throws the flowers to the ground, his voice low.

The man steps back at the gesture, holding his hands up in defence when the prince stands over him. “I-I am not sure, I was not given a name.”

The Prince lets out an angered huff, turning back to face the water. “…You may leave, get out of my sight.” You blink, a little put off by his dismissal of the one you followed here. The man seems more-so relieved at the words, quickly scurrying away once given permission.

What a rude way to react to flowers, even something like monkshood. It is strange, though, who would gift such a plant to a prince?

“What are we watching?” You jump at the voice next to you, letting out a squeak before looking up to find a familiar monkey demon watching the prince.

Calming your racing heart, you return to your human form to give the simian an annoyed look. “Wukong, what are you doing here?”

“I noticed you fly off and got curious.” He shrugs, his voice hushed as he glances back at you with a grin. He's clearly amused by your reaction. “Why are you following some flowers?”

You reply with a whisper, turning your attention back to the man on the bridge. “It’s monkshood. The entire plant is toxic, even touching it with your bare hands is enough to absorb the poisons through the skin.” You frown as you explain as the man leans against the railing of the bridge. What is he doing, sulking?

Why, it can’t be over the flowers, could it? He looked the same before the man upset him with the gift. “Sounds to me like a threat.” Wukong hums, and you feel your frown deepen.

There’s something else about him, but you aren’t sure what it is. This off feeling, one you can’t place. Something you can see, but just can’t reach.

You look back to respond to Wukong before something catches your eye. Farther back, past your tree, you notice movement in the shrubbery of the garden. A crouching figure hidden in the garden looks out over a tall bush of flowers, their eyes trained on the man on the bridge.

The bow in their hands makes your eyes widen, an arrow already notched on the string. You turn back to look at the prince, the man none the wiser to his stalker. The figure takes aim.

You immediately leap into action, turning back to your dove form for a split second to reach the prince before turning back. “Get down!” You tackle the man to the ground, shielding him with your body just as the arrow flies past. 

Taking your own bow, you nock an arrow and jump to shoot where you last saw the assailant. Another arrow flies by, and you duck down just as it lodges into the railing behind you. They’re covered too well, you can’t take proper aim before they’re able to shoot. You frown for a moment in thought before realising what to do.

Taking dove form, you fly into the air. You soar over the top of the tree you hid in before. The stalker looks out in confusion, seeming to have lost sight of you. You turn back with bow in hand, shooting at the attacker before they can tuck back into their place of hiding. Your arrow catches a pinch of their clothing, making them fall back as the arrow pins them by their shoulder to the ground.

Working swiftly, you jump from the tree and run to the attacker with another arrow already notched in your bow. However, when you get to their place of hiding, all that is left behind is their ripped clothing that’s still pinned down by your arrow. You scan the grounds, but whoever had been here, they are nowhere to be found now.

“Guards!” The prince calls from the bridge, and you rush to check on the man. Whether he was hurt or not, he must be shaken.

You run back to the bridge as the prince stands up, using the railing to support himself.  He turns to face you as you approach. “Are you alright, sir? Here, let me soothe your–” Before you can finish, your words get caught in your throat.

The prince looks back at you with wide eyes, eyes you could never forget. Your chest tightens, a strange constriction twisting at your heart. The features of his face, though older, are nearly unmistakable. You take a step back, convinced this is some trick of the mind. It can’t be, it’s impossible. The last time you saw those eyes…

“You there!” You both turn to the voice of a guard, several behind him approaching quickly. “Step away from the prince!”

Shoot. The guards run to you, but before they can do anything, you take to your avian form and fly off. What was that? How– that prince, he looked just… just like Da Jie. Maybe you are only seeing things, making connections where there are none.

 This is not what was supposed to happen. You didn’t want to get involved in anything, you were only curious! If the others hear you were chased away by palace guards, you will never hear the end of it from Sun Wukong–

Wait, where did Sun Wukong go?! He was in the tree with you, wasn’t he? He didn’t even help! What, did you imagine that, too?! 

Nothing is making sense right now. You just need to find the others and get away from here, maybe then you will be able to clear your head. You never should have separated from them in the first place.

It takes some time to reunite with your friends. Navigating the palace from the outside after following the man from inside proves to be a bit of a challenge, but in time you find them at the palace gates. Tripitaka is pacing by Ao Lie while Sandy stands between Pigsy and Wukong.

The Monkey King rolls his eyes at his brother, seemingly in the midst of an argument. “Just keep your mouth shut tomorrow, pig.”

“There she is.” Sandy points up in your direction as you fly down. You turn back as you land, and Tripitaka is the first to approach you.

He takes hold of your shoulders. “Where have you been? We have to find a place to stay for the night.”

Stay? You look back at your friends in confusion. “What, why?”

“Bajie offended the king.” Wukong leans over Tripitaka’s shoulder, much to Pigsy’s irritation.

“He offended me first!” The pig demon argues, gesturing back towards the palace. “He called me ugly.”

“He said he’d never seen a face like yours before.” Sandy reminds him, stepping forward.

Pigsy snorts in annoyance at his younger brother. “That’s another way of calling me ugly, it was all in his tone!”

Tripitaka looks back at his disciples with a sigh before turning back to you. “In all honesty, this king seems to be more, uh… sensitive. I was in the middle of apologising on behalf of Bajie when someone came into the room saying there was something urgent that had to be brought to his attention. They had us leave and said to come back tomorrow.” Oh.

Oh…

Wukong narrows his eyes at you as your face shifts, the circumstances brought to the king clear to you. The monkey demon hums aloud. “You would not happen to know something about this urgent matter, hmm, Dove?”

“…Um…” You glance at the ground, then back to your friends. Tripitaka is slack-jawed, Wujing’s eyes have never been so open in shock. An ever-growing grin stretches across Wukong’s face while Pigsy lets out a bellowing laugh.

“And here I thought Brother Sun and I were the only troublemakers.” He cackles, and you feel your face grow warm at the notion.

Your hands rest at your hips. “I did not cause any trouble! I just… I was curious and– ugh!” Your head droops down, everything is just happening too fast. “I need a second to unravel my thoughts. Can I explain after we’ve found a place to sleep for the night?”

Tripitaka frowns, taking a second of silence before nodding. “Very well, we should go.” At his word, your group leaves the palace grounds in search of a place to stay the night.

While looking, you opt to stay in avian form. It is likely better not to be seen in public while staying here now. You can’t be sure that the prince understood you were there to help, it isn’t as though you stuck around to explain yourself. Running off was probably even more incriminating in those guards' eyes.

You eventually find a post house to stay the night in. Once inside, your friends find the hall your rooms are in and you resume your human form. Wukong is grinning as you turn to face your friends. “I thought you were just following some pretty flowers, how did you manage to cause such a ruckus?”

“I did no such thing.” You send him an icy glare before backtracking. “I mean, I did do something, but I was not the cause!” The Monkey King crosses his arms in amusement, the others sharing a confused look.

With a sigh, you start over. “I was in the palace gardens when I saw someone was in danger. I saved the man being attacked, but his assailant got away.”

Sandy hums at your story. “So, you thwarted an assault?”

“I think so?” Your brows furrow as you replay the encounter with the attacker in your head. “The man called for the guards and I flew away once he was safe with them. I only hope they didn’t assume I was running because I was guilty.”

“If that man you saved knew you were there to help, then he likely would have told them.” Tripitaka does his best to soothe your concerns, and you do your best to believe him.

“Yes… still, it might be better if I stay here when you go back tomorrow. To avoid any more confusion.” You smile sheepishly, embarrassed over getting involved in this mess in the first place. At least you were able to save him, that man…

“You may be right.” The man smiles with a shake of his head. “We should get some rest. I will see you all in the morning.” 

With Tripitaka’s dismissal, everyone goes into their rooms. All except Monkey, who insists he needs no sleep. You enter your room, finding a bed against the wall and a closed window opposite of the door. Finally now with a moment to breathe, you lay back on your bed with a deep sigh.

The moment you close your eyes, you see his face. You must have just imagined it, how could he look so similar to Jie? No, it must have been your mind playing tricks on you. Wukong doesn’t seem to have known about your little detour, your head must be elsewhere today. It wasn’t him, how could it be?

Even so… you don’t want to go back. Staying back will be better. Tripitaka can have his papers sorted in the morning, and you can all be out of here before noon. This will all be nothing more than some bizarre daydream.

~~~~

Knock knock.

You turn when you hear a knock at your window, the morning light trickling in while in the midst of brushing your hair. “Monkey?”

“Ready for a rude awakening?” He cocks one brow up from his seat on your window sill, arms crossed and one leg crossed over the other.

The Great Sage always knows the best way to greet a person. “Good morning to you, too.” You offer a smirk as you finish with brushing your hair.

“Two palace officials came into the post house this morning.”

The brush drops from your hand, and before the demon can blink, you’re pulling him into your room by the lapels. “What?!”

Wukong is completely unbothered by your panic, laying limp in your arms with that same smirk. “I noticed them heading towards yours and Master’s room. If they haven’t come to you yet, they’re likely talking to him.”

Your head whips back to the door, and you drop your friend in your rush to get to it. He grunts when he hits the floor, but you pay him no mind. Opening the door as quietly as you can, you peek your head out to see Wukong was telling the truth.

Two men stand at Tripitaka’s door, the monk facing them with a nervous expression. “We were told that you entered this post house with a bird that turned into a woman. Would you be family?” One of them asks, your heart dropping to your stomach.

Tripitaka nods hesitantly. “We are travelling companions… may I ask what business you have with her?” He glances over to your door from the side of his eye, his brows shooting up once he sees you poking your head out.

The other official follows his line of sight, his eyes brightening once he catches sight of you. “Ah, you there.” You glare at the monk, who shoots back an apologetic look. “You must be the archer from the palace gardens yesterday, correct?”

Reluctantly, you step out into the hall as they approach, trying your best not to look nervous. “Uh, yes, I am.” There isn’t much point in running, it’s not as if these two would pose any problems for you if it came down to a fight. These two are innocents, though, and you don’t want to cause any more problems than you already have.

All you have to do is explain yourself. “I hope there was no confusion with what happened yesterday, I was only–”

“You saved our Prince Jian Yu from an assassination attempt.” The first official smiles, making you blink a bit in surprise. So they do know? That’s one good thing, at least.

Tripitaka looks between you and the two men in surprise. “That was the prince?!”

The second official turns back to face Tripitaka with enthusiasm. “Yes! The prince was quite stirred by her courage, nobody has seen him in such high spirits in a long while. We have come on his behalf to request the woman’s hand in marriage.”

The silence that follows his words fills the hall as you and Tripitaka share an expression of utter bafflement.

The monk trips over his words, suddenly forgetting how to speak. “I-I-I am sorry. D-Did I m-mishear you? Did y– Did you say m-marriage?”

“Yes.” The man smiles, too content to notice the horror that invites itself into your stomach, or your other companions exiting their rooms. “The king has already sent for a matchmaker, and would like for the woman to return so that she may be made presentable. After all the arrangements are made and the two are married, your papers will be recertified and you can be on your way with the rest of your journey.”

Tripitaka lets out a nervous chuckle as Monkey comes out of your room. “Ah… but, you see, she is actually meant to be on this journey with us.” He tries to explain, only for the two men to look back at each other with a frown.

“Surely you and your demon disciples will be alright on your own, no?” The first one reasons, gesturing to your friends who seem to be confused over what is being discussed. 

Other than Wukong, who you are sure has been eavesdropping through your door this whole time. “I am sure she will enjoy the comforts of the palace in comparison to braving the wilderness every night.” Can they stop talking as though you aren’t standing next to them?!

“She gladly accepts!” Everyone turns as Wukong gives them their answer, pushing you towards them as your jaw goes slack from shock.

Everyone looks to your simian friend, the demon grinning proudly at each bug-eyed face that stares back at him. Never have you ever sent such a sharp glare to a person in your life. “Wukong?”

The damage, however, is already done. “Excellent! If you would join us, miss, we will take you back to the palace with us. You will be shown where you will be staying for the time being once we arrive.” The first official practically radiates with joy, taking your one hand while his partner takes the other.

“Wait, hold on–”

“Prince Jian Yu will be thrilled to hear you have accepted.” The other official hums, seemingly ecstatic at your nonconsensual acceptance to the offer.

You look back at your friends as you're dragged away, Wukong snickering as though this were some amusing joke. You glare with a burning anger you have not felt in ages, the familiar fire of hating that stupid simian rising up through the depths of your soul.

Immortal or not, you will find a way to skin that monkey.

[quitealotofsodapop]

I absolutely adore Tang River Water au!

I really like the idea that Tang accidentally drank water from this river and became pregnant just out of carelessness. It's too hilarious. An even funnier thing was that now their child is the rebirth of jade emperor. They can never have a break. Poor guys.

But for some reason it became very interesting to me what type of Tang will be during pregnancy? Will it be easy or will he be terribly emotional? Or something else, I would really look at it. I also think that he would really not like that when he tried to eat his husband's food, and then he started to feel sick just from the smell. He would definitely look at his stomach with anger and disappointment "you. traitor". And he would absolutely ask Pigsy to hold his belly in the later months of pregnancy.

I also really wonder how they would behave with their daughter. I know they love her, but I'm sure they're absolutely scared and DON't know what to do. I just want to know what they're planning to do. Will they overprotect her because she is the rebirth of the most powerful being in all of heaven? Or will they hide it? Maybe they will ask for help from heaven?

referencing.

Hehehe! I'm glad you like it!

Tang was just so thirsty after being in the desert (I believe is meant to be the Gobi) that he just leaps into the first water source he can find. Pigsy yells after him but Tang's already gulped down the yucky muddy stream water before Pigsy reminds him that there's a water purifier in the TEA. By then, the remnants of the Mother-Child River had already begun the process.

After his body adapts to the major magically-induced change, Tang ends up using his condition to get out of work/to get pampered on. Emotionally he's ok, just a little more worried than usual. And Pigsy is such an adoring spouse that Tang's symptoms rarely go unattended. Lots of cuddles and tummy rubs in the later months.

Ankles swell: "Oh Piggy~ My feet hurt." Morning Sickness: "I need tea and kisses!" Cravings: (Tang: "I require oranges, bao buns, ramune soda, takoyaki sauce-" Pigsy: "How about I leave you inside the Speedy Panda with 500 yuan and I close my eyes while you go shop?" Tang: "I love you so much piggy.") Smells: "MK you stink. Take a shower or I will literally barf." Painful Kicking: "Cuddle time." >:3

And if the *cicada* part of the Golden Cicada is acting up; he gets into carving/whittling - cicadas etch tree bark to lay their eggs. Pigsy now has many tables in the restaurant defaced with Tang's "masterpieces".

And I absolutely hit Tang with what (he believes) is the worst symptom on Earth; Food aversion. Specifically towards NOODLE SOUP. His husband's own cooking! He's distraught! Something about the combination of broth and noodles makes his stomach turn! Broth and noodles separate? Ok. Together? Instant morning sickness. He suspects its something to do with the texture of the noodles when their soggy.

Wukong: "Maybe your brain thinks its worms." Tang: *turns green and retches*

Pigsy goes out of his way to prepare dishes for Tang that don't set off his nausea, even if it means altering his traditional methods.

Pigsy: "Ok, I've been experimenting with a new dish for a while and I want your opinion." Tang, delighted: "Ooo hoho! You know I'll always be your taste tester, Piggy." Pigsy: *presents the elements of his noodle recipe* Tang: "Huh?" Pigsy: "You seemed really sad to not eat noodle soup, so I made a dry version so that you can still enjoy the flavours. The broth is on the side so you can drink it. The guy from the somen restaurant gave me some pointers." Tang, getting emotional: "You... you changed your recipe for me!?" Pigsy, grabbing Tang's hands: "Our family recipe, Tangy. That includes you and our little critic." Tang: *bursts out sobbing and shovels the dry noodle fixings into his mouth*

The baby - "Bao/宝/treasure or bundle" (also bao buns were one of Pigsy's cooking Tang could eat) - ultimately looks similar to a baby orc from Dungeon Meshi. A mostly chubby human baby with pig features. She has a puff of Tang's dark hair that becomes little black stripes on her back like a wild piglet.

What the baby takes after Pigsy in appearance, she takes from Tang in greediness. Before she's even off milk she'll try taking bites of other people's food. She's bold and confident, hilarious to anyone seeing a tiny piglet chasing Celestial soldiers like she's her own army.

And of course theres the issue of Bao being the reincarnation of one of the oldest and most powerful deities in taoism...

Pigsy and Tang are def the overprotective types, not so much for Bao being a powerful baby, but because every immortal seems to forget that she's still an uber-fragile preemie. Her health wasn't great when she was born (worsened by the circumstances around the birth). The freenoodles parents atleast have experience raising the little chaos monkey that was MK - the only difference being that Bao can't climb so good. Though she does seem to have control over the weather for some reason.

The Celestial Realm has to catch on quickly that she isn't the Jade Emperor anymore - she gets kidnapped atleast once by Heaven's officials needing the Emperor to approve paperwork. Bao screamed and grunted, rampaging around the imperial Palace the whole time.

The Queen Mother is saddened but adoring - her husband truly has passed on, but this little angel is a wonderful new beginning for him. She hopes to reunite in a later life.

Demons in general are pretty hopeful of Bao''s existance. Now that the Jade Emperor has been reborn on one of their kind - perhaps demonkind will be elevated once more? They'll have to wait until she's out of diapers before they start placing bets.

Princess Iron Fan's immediate reaction (after dealing with the shock of losing her estranged father) is to burst out; "HAH!" at the irony. Her father disapproved of her marriage to the Demon Bull King for his race - only to be reborn as a pig demon! The coincidence is hilarious! The Demon Bull fam does visit the baby girl to send their blessings, and offer advice based on how chaotic little Red was as a calf. Bao adores her giant uncle Bull since he's fluffy and big and smells like her baba when he cooks. She also gets super attached to Red Son for similar reasons - though Tang suspects it's because she smells grilled meat on him.

MK adores Bao, and will kill everything in the three Realms if anything happened to her. Bao in turn loves her big bro - even if she bites him and steals his food.

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 50

This chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest marks the end of book 2, and is the midway point of the entire story. We're halfway there everyone, so let's get into it shall we?

So the gang are walking along, and since we've had to many river adventures lately, it's time for another mountain one. Tripitaka as usual expresses his worry over wolves and tigers, and Monkey once again assures him that he has nothing to worry about since he has them. Anyways so they walk along the mountain for a while before Tripitaka starts getting hungry, and just in time to since he spots some lights in the distance that must be a village or something they can stay at.

However once Monkey takes a look at the place he goes 'Nope. Can't do it. It's demon infested.' Luckily Tripitaka is willing to take his word for it, at least for the moment, but the problem that he is still hungry remains. So Monkey has Tripitaka dismount so he can rest while Monkey goes to fetch him some food from somewhere. He gives Sandy the reins to the horse an tells him to just wait here and guard master until he comes back. With that settled, Monkey is about to leave but seems to think better of it with Tripitaka's track record of summoning man eating demons by just breathing. So he uses his staff to draw a protection circle around them. He tells them not to leave the circle because it will be able to protect them, when Tripitaka agrees and settles in, Monkey finally feels secure enough to leave him for the time being.

So Monkey finds some random village 1000 miles due south from them, and goes to beg for some food. The random village person he asks is surprised to see him, and says if he wants to head west he's probably better off trying to find the main road then beg for food here. Monkey tells him that's not a problem, and that his master is waiting for him there now. When the villager questions if Tripitaka won't starve to death by the seven days it should take Monkey to travel that far, Monkey assures him that such a journey will only take him a few minutes at most. The villager decides that, that is a major red flag, and he'd really rather not deal with something like Monkey, who must be a ghost or something and tries to turn him down.

The man tries to tell him to just go somewhere else, after all, their dinner isn't even ready yet, but Monkey insists that he can wait. The man tries whacking Monkey with his staff to get him to go away, and Monkey just kind of lets him to get it out of his system. He says the man can hit him as much as he wants, but each hit will cost him one pint of rice. Hearing this the man slams his door shut and runs into his house screaming about ghosts and whatever. Since the man said that they were currently in the process of cooking dinner, Monkey decides to just go to the kitchens to serve himself, so he turns himself invisible and waltzes right in. Seeing the cooked rice he fills his alms bowl before taking off to return to Tripitaka.

Meanwhile Tripitaka is getting bored of waiting for Monkey, and Pigsy, the voice of unreason, agrees. He says that Monkey is probably just playing around while leaving them imprisoned here at the mercy of the tigers and demons, after all, how can a circle possibly protect them? They should just go to that village they saw before and get some food and shelter there, Monkey is fast anyways, he'll be able to catch up no problem. Thoroughly persuaded by this plan, Tripitaka leaves the circle and the four of them head towards the demon infested buildings. Dang it Sandy, Monkey left you in charge to be the voice of common sense!

They make their way to a fancy manor, and since no one is outside to greet them, Pigsy says he'll go in and talk to them. Which is not the usual plan of Tripitaka using his pretty privilege to let them get their way, but he agrees to it anyway, and just tells Pigsy not to offend anyone. Pigsy say's he'll be fine since he's acquired some manners since becoming a bhuddist, so he walks inside in a civil manner. Before abandoning all civility when he goes to the second floor to find a large skeleton, and three silk vests, which he of course immediately takes. In Pigsy's defense he does spare a few tears and words for the skeleton before stealing from his house, so I guess he really has learned some manners.

Pigsy comes back outside and tells them about the skeleton and the three vests he found. He encourages Tripitaka to wear one of them to get warm. Tripitaka however is horrified, and reprimands Pigsy for stealing, and tells him to put it back. Pigsy however says that it's not stealing if there are no witnesses around and puts a vest on anyways, with Sandy following suit. As soon as they put them on however, the vests immediately constrict turning themselves into straitjackets and binding them. Whaaaaat? A trap? What a turn of events! Who could have seen this coming? Tripitaka makes sure to yell at them loudly enough to wake the whole demon town while he tries to untie them. And sure enough the whole group is then captured.

So Tripitaka is forced to kneel to the demon of the week, and try and explain why they were stealing their garments. Tripitaka of course tearfully explains the story and says that they were of course going to return the vest, and begs the demon to spare their lives. The Demon of course has no intention of sparing them, especially not since Tripitaka is the delicious golden cicada he has heard so much about. Luckily before he can go to far into making his dinner plans, Pigsy chimes in that their other disciple is the Great Sun Wukong who caused great havoc in heaven five hundred years ago. As usual this gives the demon pause, so he decides to just tie them up and wait until he's captured Sun Wukong so he can kill and eat them all together.

Meanwhile, Sun Wukong has returned to where he left them, only to find his protection circle empty, and not only that the demon village from earlier is also gone. So Monkey starts dejectedly following the horse tracks to try and find his wayward master, when suddenly he comes across two travels, an old and young man. Monkey decides to ask them if they have seen his companions, and the old man answers that he saw them get kidnapped by the Great King One-Horned Buffalo, who is a rather powerful demon apparently. Monkey isn't fussed about the possible danger, and is about to offer the old man the rice he got as thanks, when suddenly the two reveal themselves to be the local mountain gods. They offer to preserve the rice for him to give to Tripitaka later, Monkey is pissed at the subterfuge, but allows them to take the rice anyways.

So Monkey finds his way to the demon's lair, and tells the minion demon's that are guarding the door to go tell their master to release his master. So the minions tell the Buffalo demon that Wukong is here to pick a fight, which the demon is hyped about, after all he's been looking for a good fight. So the demon gets dressed in his armor and grabs his spear and goes out looking for a fight along with his minion army. So Monkey once again repeats that the demon should give him back his Master, but the demon replies that, he only captured Tripitaka because he was stealing from him. Monkey says that Tripitaka would never do that! Which is right, but unfortunately Pigsy would do that, so the two begin to fight.

The two fight for a while and the Demon is very impressed by Wukong's abilities, saying his abilities really are worthy of someone who caused so much trouble in heaven. Eventually though, the Demon orders his demons to attack- which is never really a problem for Sun Wukong. And indeed Wukong throws his staff into the air to duplicate it and take out all the minions at once. Turns out this is what the demon was waiting for however, since the demon then tosses up a shiny fillet and tosses it into the air and sucks up Monkey's staff. Monkey now unarmed, flee's the battle to re-evaluate his life choices.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod (Sucked into a fillet) Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing, transforming others, and invisibility Demon Kill Count: 9+ Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1009 God's Defeated: 22 + Unknown number Defeats: 6 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption and Identity Fraud. Cry Count: 7 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra and Meditation. Cry Count: 26 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 31 Paralyzed by fear: 5 Bandit Problems: 2 Kidnapped by demons: 8 Falling Off Horses: 8

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, and Sword Dancing. Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 2 Kidnapped by demons: 1

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement and CPR Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 2 Kidnapped by Demons: 4 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 3 Cry Count: 2 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson, defamation, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud and Theft

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater and Cloud soaring. Demon Kill Count: Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 3 Human Kill Count: 1 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, desecration of a human corpse, Damage to Religious Property and contaminating a substance for human consumption

[kitofawriter]

Spoilers for LMK Season 5 Episodes 1 and 2 (again) below the cut!!

Better audio! Let’s go!

The intro, my beloved!

Tired MK, nap now or you may never get the chance.

“Way batter monkey mountain” I missed that before.

SpongeBob style zoom in is hilarious

“I already said the thing!”

SWK wants MK to be as immortal as he is, of only so they can play fight without him holding back at all. I can feel it.

They destroy mountains in the show more than anything else.

MK, The Small Sage of ignoring his problems until they go away except they never go away.

“A surprise?” The fact that this many thousands of years old monkey is so excited for surprises is adorable.

Mac doing his lurking.

“You really are the worst mentor” Mac, I love you, but you are not any better. Remember the anime style video game?

“We” will get me every time.

I kinda wonder is LBD was actually the one to like, fully bring Mac back or if someone else did and he doesn’t remember.

“You need to do better” you’re not being super fair there, like SWK is trying. Maybe step up and also be a monkey mentor if you’re so concerned.

Pigsy doing his fast little hammer trying to get it finished faster.

MK, if you weren’t ready why did you call him over?

The house!! Genuinely hope nothing happens to it this season. (Tell me it’s not gonna become this shows version of the Bounty)

I was so distracted my the pictures I didn’t notice the drawings!!! OMG!!! MK you’re the best!!

Love Mei in those overalls BTW, super cute.

Hugs!!!

It’s funny that MK can activate Tangs power for him.

It’s interesting to see that the only major difference with the animation is the characters. Like the cinematography is still really similar. It’s just rigged animation now.

If anyone has any insomniac!MK getting comforted by Pigsy (or any of his dads) fic recs, please share them because this is the good stuff.

Also MK is the anti Steven Universe. Steven collects moms and MK collects dads. (But obvs Pigsy is like number 1 Dad. Pigsy gets the worlds greatest dad mug and Tang, Sandy, and SWK all get mugs that say “backup dad” and then a number in order of when he met them. Because I think it’s funny.)

I love how Pigsy knows forcing him to bed is 100% the wrong thing to do here. Like this is something he’s dealt with multiple times.

MK cooks like I do. It’s okay MK, I don’t know how to freestyle either, that’s why I’m the baker of the family.

The animation shift of the food that’s missing something and the finished thing is so nice. I lost how it shifts from looking bland to looking SOO GOOD.

I want those noodles.

Baby MK!!

I would die for Pigsy. Like, he’s such a good character.

I wonder if the burning of FFM is canon and if Mac helped save all the baby monkeys. That would make sense as to why they cling to him.

Every season MK gets further and further for a good nights sleep, for only pennies a day, you could sponsor a monkie kid and help him receive a nap. In return, he will be well rested to prevent monsters from destroying the city.

Team Let MK Rest!

Little monkeys are scared. It’s okay little monkeys, they won’t destroy your mountain this time, probably, maybe.

Episode 2 time!

Took a break because internet was being mean to me. (Wouldn’t load)

Have I mentioned how much I love the new intro?

SWK is unimpressed with the lords of the underworld’s intimidation tactics

I love how MK still uses/wears Monkey King merch even though they’re friends now. Do you think SWK has a closet full of unreleased merch he has saved to give MK as gifts? Because MK would love that.

Mac is also unimpressed. Very “been here done this before”.

Ace attorney MK!!!

“We have brought a power even greater than yours” *brings out Nezha and Li Jing* did you guys read JTTW? Because like…beating these guys was how SWK got recognized as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

Cheeky monkey

The panic in Mac’s eyes when he realizes what’s happening is fascinating.

I kinda wonder where they got the fillet, cause in the book they were given to Guan-Yin by Buddha. I doubt Buddha was like “you need to subdue the Monkey King again? Yeah sure, have this super powerful thing”

Also SWK still trying to comfort MK even when dealing with this thing.

Your honor, they are divorced.

Tang is the only one who can teach MK anything.

Painted style sections my beloved.

“It’s his lawyer bit.” They’re both so used to MK’s antics

SWK’s obnoxious younger brother vibes whenever Nezha is present are my favorite.

Heaven getting flashbacks to SWK’s last rampage

I think there should be a running gag that MK’s style and Sandy’s style are total opposites so every time MK rebuilds something of Sandy’s there’s a little chibi Sandy mourning the new look. It’s be funny.

You know Mac, if you just portaled Wukong into the truck sooner you probably wouldn’t have gotten caught.

Also sad SWK face will always get me.

[coffee-or-hot-cocoa]

Isekai’ed to the west featuring my oc Nikki Santos, 

A short Filipina 23-year old woman who barely restraints herself to turn Pigsy into lechon. A lover of frying pans and knives, she usually hides any weapons she has in hidden pockets of her outfits.

some trivia about her

she knows how to shank a person and plans to castrate pigsy if he steps out of line

knows where to cut to hit the major arteries of the body as well as which muscles to target to paralyse her enemies

has watched enough true crime and murder investigations to know how to properly dispose or hide a body

studied art and anatomy which is why she knows how to do things listed above

has been trained how to do first aid since the age of 9

looks like a cinnamon roll but will kill you given reason

made tripitaka question himself if she needs the same circlet as wukong

there is no thought behind her eyes but violence and food

she always smiles unless she’s angry

she distracts the beings who kidnapped her with telling them stories, which where basically fanfic ideas she had but tweaked to seem original

loves cooking and sewing

loves to debate and argue with tripitaka about wukong’s punishment due to how she loves to point out that since wukong is mostly familiar with the culture and structure of society for demons and celestial beings and doesn’t even know which constitues as right or wrong in the eyes of morality for humans

has given very shady advice to the empress of the kingdom of women on how to perminantly remove the jerk immortal guy on male undoing mountian

she and sandy are besties

has plotted the demise of pigsy a few times but hasn’t figured out an alibi to not get caught

thinks brushing ao lie’s mane and tail or wukong’s fur is a great stress relief

that’s all

special thanks to @skittlescripts, @semisolidmind, @rennsdeaddoves, @thesexydancingcrepe, @rainyriu, @ritzhasmonkeybrain and @theweepingegg

[themissdnl]

Headcannons of the group when it comes to comforting each other or themselves

Sun Wukong: When it comes to comforting himself, Wukong likes to drink (alcohol), or eat fruit, generally he tries to distract himself or hype up himself with how awesome he is. Namely though, he scratches and strokes his own fur. Others though, he lets it be known that he's there and that he can handle anything that their dealing with.

-He's not really good at this sort of thing.

Pigsy: It's food and drink again. He's a big comfort eater. However, he also thinks about his life with Cuilan that he imagines and how good it'll be once they get through this whole journey. Additionally, he likes to ready poetry or cook, if time allows for it. Towards others...he's even worse than Wukong. He doesn't know how to approach it. Firstly, he'll try and get someone better equipped, then imagine how said other person would try it. He tries, but would rather someone else handle it.

Sandy: He works with cleaning his staff, focusing on a routine care sort of thing really helps settle him. Rivers and streams are a good place of comfort for him too. Meditation, once he gets to it, is also a major help for him. Towards others, he tends to recommend what helps him, or things that he's seen others do. He's methodical about it but goes off of what he knows.

Ao Li: Once it's taught to him, Ao Li goes into breathing techniques and or picturing a calm body of water, listening to the sounds of nature. Real chill sort of things. With others, he goes about similar or assuring them everything will be fine. Things younger people tend to do when comforting a friend.

Tripataka: He goes over his sutras and fidgets with his prayer beads. Even goes to writing down sutras in his journal or dirt. At the end of the day he writes out all his thoughts into his journal to get them out of his head and settle his mind. When it comes to comforting others, he's a master. He goes off of his Buddhist knowledge and how it relates to life. An expert listener he can listens to someone's troubles without judgement and go from there, depending on what they need and what he feels is best.

[cryptic-underground]

The Big Three

Also also- since magic isn't affiliated with my sitcom au, no one is a reincarnation. I mentioned it briefly in a previous post but it was in reference to Sandy, Pigsy and Tang

I bring it up now because, since there's no reincarnation, Mei is also not a reincarnation. So Ba Long Ma, the dragon from JTTW, is separate from Mei. I kinda forgot about him before last night but I didn't wanna write him out completely, so he and Mei are separate beings.

He's was Mei's uncle and was also friends with the others in highschool. He died before Mei was born those and before SWK got MK. I'll thinking he may have died from a car crash or something. I mean in the original legend, Ba Long Ma is Tripitaka's second horse since the other got eaten.

Anyway- stuff about the three

Pigsy

Took a business major in college

His parents owned a tools and gardening equipment store and he used to work there after school and weekends.

But when got older, around highschool, he realized he didn't want to take over his parents shop and wanted to spend his life cooking

Pigsy had bought a fixer-upper shop to turn into his noodle shop in his last year of college, he wanted to insure he would have the place hopefully mostly done by the time he graduates

He couldn't afford to hire people so he did most of the work himself

The project ended up taking a little longer but Sandy, SWK and (technically) Tang helped him finish up near the end to speed it up

SWK had broken an arm while helping-

Has an apron sewn by little Mk, he doesn't wear it at work anymore because he doesn't want to get it ruined since it's so old but he refuses to let anyone trying to fix it

Catered both Mei's and MK's birthday parties as well as their "important business meetings" aka tea parties

The three would take turns each week babysitting Mk, once the kid woke Pigsy up with a tray of questionable food he "made"

It was frozen eggo waffles with whip cream and raspberries, the kid tried

After Pigsy showed him how to safely take them out of the toaster so he can show SWK later

Is a big marvel fan but hates most of the movies, still goes to watch them in theaters though

Put shaving cream on baby Mk face because the kid wanted to be like Pigsy

Can't take photos to save his life

No one but Mac, Mei, Sandy and MK can take good photos

Plans the vacation

Books the hotel, flights all the technical stuff

Sandy

Worked for a while in both an aquarium and as a life guard

Currently works as a veterinarian, but technically also took a psychology course in university and has all the requirements to be a psychiatrist

I just like the thought of Sandy being the only one really interested in the scientific end of things

He would garden with baby Mk

Got really into deadlifts and weightlifting in college

Was indeed skinny lad in highschool

Family has a house near the beach and grew up surfing a lot

Is the one the one to hold the photo out for group photos since he has the longest arms, someone else has to press the button

Is the tallest so has to crouch or sit in photos

The one that's most prepared on trips, has everything anyone could possibly need

Also carries everyone's bag if they get too tired

Scrapbooks, lots of scrapbooks

He began making them in middle school and creates one every year

SWK is especially grateful for this, since he's so bad at taking photos he wouldn't have been able to document mks childhood if it weren't for Sandy

Has scrapbooks for every year of highschool and college

The amount of blackmail this man holds for SWK, Tang and Pigsy is powerful

They are all scared for the day Sandy shows the kids and Mac these scrapbooks

Gives free hair cuts

It was mainly meant for the kids since I feel mk was afraid of the barber for a long time

And Sandy would cut his hair instead because he was a familiar face

Though after a while he has a whole lot of people coming to have him cut their hair, including Pigsy and Tang

But also SWK gets his hair cut by him too because he forgets to book himself a hair appointment

Was the first one to grow a beard in the group

In highschool the guys had a contest to see who could grow more of a beard

From most beard to least beard it went: Sandy, SWK, Tang then Pigsy

Sandy didn't even really have to try, SWK barely beat Tang and Pigsy was automatically picked to be last

Sandy will talk to Red about science since their the only ones that like it

Collects a lot of reusable material and scrap metal

Let's the kids use it for school projects or just their own personal work

Owns a lot of cats but has a few animals as well

All of his animals have movie themed cat puns for names

A few of the cats were named by a people in the group

And each person has an animal that claimed them as their favourite

And as soon as that favorite person walks in, they will not live that person's side until they have to leave

They all love Sandy obviously, most hate SWK except for like two or three

Tang

Took Greek mythology and a lot of odd sounding classes in highschool

He has a major in literature and minor in architecture

Literally can't swim

The gang learned this when Sandy invited them over and he almost drowned

Was the kid of student to tell the teacher when they forgot about the homework

SWK nearly broke his glasses trying to stop him one time because of it

Went through an punk phase in sophomore year of high-school

Introduced Mk to a lot of books, some that might've not been the best choice for his age

Taught him how to do puppy eyes to get free noodles

He had to move out of his apartment and moved in with Pigsy for what was meant to be a temporary thing but became a permanent thing

Definitely had a big atla phase in highschool and had the group dress up as them for Halloween

SWK would be sokka, Tang would be Katara, Sandy would be Aang and Pigsy would be toph

Later on Mei would be Appa, and MK would be Momo

Helps the teens with their English homework

Will stare at all the cool architecture and tell everyone about it while sprouting out historical facts

Is the one planning all the sightseeing part of the vacation

Once the location is picked, he makes sure there's at least something for everyone to enjoy

When Mac joins the group he makes sure if there's concerts or musicians he likes playing in the place they're going

Once SWK was really getting on his nerves so he took MK to get SWK favourite food, then they both took a picture of it and sent it to Wukong

When he brought mk home he instructed the kid to eat the entire thing infront of SWK without breaking eye contact

The kid did and SWK apologized to Tang right after, mumbling about how he turned his son to the dark side

Tang is petty, almost as petty as Mac

Did have lightsaber battles with Mei and MK

Mk once bonked Tang on the head really hard with his lightsaber really hard that Tang fell down

Mk started crying because he was worried he had to be sith member instead

Definitely was the most chaotic of all the babysitters

[winterpower98]

I got home four hours ago and chose lore, so have a comprehensive crash course of my Rage of the Abandoned (ROA) AU's timeline. Took me like two or three hours to write this, counting procrastination.

Allow me to autismsplain to the mountains.

This will cover general points in the ROA AU.

VERY LONG BECAUSE NO DETAIL MUST BE LEFT OUT.

Also, this isn't getting a tl;dr. CWs for vaguely referenced child abuse and toxic family dynamics, along with imprisonment. (I feel obligated to put these lol.)

Let me throw you for a loop.

Context time.

I heard somewhere that Nezha blessed Red Son in one of the original scriptures, and that blessing became the Samadhi Fire because Deity magic is not compatible with Demon magic. That fire had to have come from somewhere, right?

Enter the Celestial Samadhi Fire, a weapon and power that Nezha received, born of the coalescing rage, spite, and hatred that abandoned and hurt children had towards those who hurt them, hence the name of the AU. The flames are unfathomably dangerous because they burn chi, aka raw life force, and chi cannot be regenerated by mortals, only given to them by food. (Did some quick googling to iron this concept out.)

This is all important to the AU because the Samadhi Fire and the Celestial Flames can leave lasting damage on some Deities, citation, Monkey King when he was boiled. If he wasn't immune to it, imagine what it would do to a Deity who isn't as impervious to damage as SWK is. Nezha's flames wrought havoc on LBD's mech in this AU, which is primarily what weakened it enough for Mei and the others to defeat LBD.

That's right. ROA!Nezha has burn scars. Most of them are around five hundred years old, except for one, which is three years old as of my timeskip AU which takes place three years after season three. I'll have to tweak it when season four comes out. His main scars are where Yang Jian (Erlang Xiansheng), his adopted father, chained him up and trapped him underground to prevent him from burning Heaven down when he snapped and chose violence at Li Jing. Nezha's chains attached to rings that were wrapped around him near every major joint, plus his neck, just below the shoulders, and midsection. They were supposed to be impossible to break, and they were.

Nezha burned himself permanently trying to escape. All of his burns are sensitive.

Yang Jian got too busy with his heavenly duties to find time to free Nezha, and the Lotus Prince was trapped for nearly a century until Wukong's escapades took him to the cavern where the prince was imprisoned. The two formed a trauma bond over this, strengthening their relationship.

He was bitter towards Yang Jian for a few centuries, but forgave him.

And that was a rough summary of the worst parts of my AU that are exclusive to it.

Moving on. Here's where things start to look up. CW at the bottom for implied toxic and abusive family.

After all this went down and LBD got busted, he bonded with the main cast, and that's where more trauma comes up out of nowhere, because Nezha was on the Journey to the West in this AU, and he deeply bonded with them.

He can see the parallels between his old family and his new one, and it stings, so he's initially bitter and distant towards them after they nurse his burns and shattered ribcage immediately after the LBD fight. The only person he's even remotely kind to is Sun Wukong, since they went through losing Tripitaka, Sha Wujing, and Zhu Bajie together.

Eventually, though, he caves, and breaks the news to Sha Dali, who remembers vaguely, but doesn't remember the good parts, when Nezha would sleep in his arms, which devastates the Deity for weeks afterwards. Tang still smiles at Nezha, just like Tripitaka did. Pigsy will still cook fro Nezha, no questions asked, just like Bajie would.

And it's enough to break him.

Xiaotian, Xiaojiao, Hai'er, Sun Wukong, and Macaque comfort him, which cements the sibling bond for good.

Nezha makes a new friend, a water Deity named Suijin, and their bond is almost immediate and unbreakable. She accompanies him so he's not alone with his anxiety when he apologizes to Ao Guang, who disenchants the golden collar so it can no longer hurt him on command. This is a huge relief for him, but he decides to take the collar off entirely and run off to learn how to control most of the full extent of his powers. He succeeds, which terrifies Heaven into letting him go. Nezha, however, is a responsible individual at this point, and still does his job as a guardian Deity, much to Heaven's relief and sometimes delight. His respect of authority is conditional now, however; if they hurt him or force him into anything, he may lash out.

But he's free.

He's happy.

At last.

Li Jing lets his son go, because he finally realizes that's what's best for him. He acknowledges with a bittersweet thought that he may never see him again, but he's happier elsewhere. He is revealed to have sealed the fire pagoda Randeng Daoren gave him, and branded it as a forbidden device, as he sees it as a mark of his wrongdoings against his son.

Li Jing has a new building built in the midst of a garden, in honor of Nezha's resilience, a safe space for the young and the vulnerable to be their authentic selves. The back wall of the main hall contains a huge mural dedicated to the main crew and Nezha, along with the JTTW crew. A memorial to what was, and a celebration of what is. Several therapists are brought into the Celestial Realm, one of which is an OC of mine, the Viper Lord, Binglun, who, despite being a powerful venomous Snake Demon, is gentle and understanding of others' plights. Nezha bonds with Binglun over the course of the therapy sessions, and Macaque begrudgingly joins sometimes, much to the prince's delight.

Nezha never properly takes the surname of 'Li' again after he had his name change, but eventually starts to use familial honorifics with Li Jing, as all of his hatred, all of his spite, has turned to forgiveness. Muzha and Jinzha are terribly guilty about not noticing the damage Li Jing's actions had on him, but Nezha, who is healing from the trauma slowly but surely, readily voices his forgiveness, though he's not ready to have Muzha, Jinzha, or Li Jing back in his life full-time yet.

All three of them are deeply proud of Nezha. They get family therapy periodically, and Binglun has their hands full due to this, not that they're complaining. Although the entire journey has left all of them deeply wounded by their actions and those of others, the group heals and moves on, and Nezha forever keeps the JTTW crew in his heart, remembering them as they lived and not how they ended. He opens up drastically more to the current crew after this, and refers to most of them with familial honorifics, much to their delight. His nightmares refuse to relent, however, so he seeks out comfort in Xiaotian, Xiaojiao, Hai'er, Tang, Sun Wukong, and Sha Dali, who all give it readily, alongside care and affection, which Nezha deeply appreciates.

Found family loves him, old family loves him and now knows that keeping him in Heaven hurt him, so they let him come and go freely. He sends letters to report on things Heaven needs to know about, otherwise he only really visits for therapy. (Sometimes takes care of and plays with young Deities that are in the safe building Li Jing had built.) Muzha, Jinzha, and Li Jing leave gifts and notes for him in his room, since Nezha normally doesn't go out of his way to see them.

I intend to have my Desiderium fic end on a note of a steady recovery from the overarching theme of the fic, which is grief and trauma, then write an epilogue detailing a timeskip where the group is now not just a big, messy, happy family, but the immortal guardians of the megapolis, and to an extent, the world.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Oh, you're talking about this right? Yeah, that's a neat idea. Cool art too

This was a long read but a really interesting and creative one

I am excited to read the fic now

[skellebonez]

You like soulmate aus? 44 with a soulmate au where there are countdown timers for important events and if you concentrate you can see the lifespan of your romantic and platonic soulmates except immortals. MK realizes he can see Red Son's life countdown and he only has 1 year left

ANON I WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS WAS THE SADDEST PROMPT I HAVE EVER BEEN GIVEN AND I HAD TO TAKE IT OUT OF THE WAIT LIST TO FILL IT ASAP. Just. Damn. You came for my heart and crushed it. @kitkat1003 you helped make this sadder so I wanna make sure you see this.

WARNING: I mean, look at the prompt. It's gonna be a depressing read regardless. Read the tags for a major spoiler if you want to know about the end in advance.

The Lunar New Year special is mentioned in passing but NO SPOILERS.

Why are you still awake?

MK never made it a point to concentrate and look at his soulmate timers unless he really felt he had to, tempting as it may have been. Especially not their life countdown timers. The colors one saw differed from from viewer to viewer, some people even saw only one color in varying shades, and no one knew why the colors were chosen the way they were for each individual. But to MK the timers were a whole swath of colors.

It was easy with Mei, her platonic bond with his allowing him to see the bright green (green for all platonic bonds, not just Mei) countdowns to major events (some bad but usually good, like a major race being announced or taking part in a game tournament spontaneously). The familial blue bond he had with Pigsy and Tang went much the same, as well as Sandy's own platonic bond. He didn't learn that immortal beings had their own color, brilliant gold tinted in whatever the proper bond was until he met Sun Wukong, his gold-green timer slowly changing into a gold-blue bond of family found.

It wasn't until Red Son that MK realized his romantic bonds were a brilliant red (which, in retrospect, could have been seen as funny), shining brilliant and bright and almost blinding him when he caught sight of him properly from far above him (and it nearly made him fall before Wukong forced him to, the traitor). He'd mistaken it for some kind of antagonistic bond before he learned that that was also a type of platonic soulmate. So that was something he shoved deep deep deeeeeep down inside to think about later, especially since a lot of people now a days rarely went after their first romantic soulmate and instead waited for a platonic to change in time.

He never told anyone.

It also wasn't until he tested concentrating on timers with Wukong, for fun and out of sheer curiosity if he really was super immortal, that he realized that immortal's life countdown timer just looked like a mass of rapidly changing numbers screaming in confusion and he decided to never do that again.

Until... the Lunar New Year celebration.

He was curious, scared, and Red Son was there and he let his curiosity get the better of him. He wanted to see if Red was still immortal and if his timer did the same thing.

361 days, 17 hours, 8 minutes, and 42 seconds.

That couldn't have been right.

He tried again.

361 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes, and 30 seconds.

And again.

361 days, 16 hours, 56 minutes, and 45 seconds.

And one last time, after everything was over.

361 days, 12 hours, 1 minute, 29 seconds.

Red Son... had less than a year left to live. Red Son, The Boy Sage Prince, the one who almost defeated Sun Wukong on his journey and eternal thorn in his side... was going to die.

MK hadn't ever really imagined that he could die. He had believed that Red Son was immortal, and maybe he still was. There were ways to kill immortals who weren't all powerful Monkey Kings. But he'd always imagined that, maybe, eventually, they could possibly at least work things out and get to know each other eventually after what happened with WBS.

Now he was plagued with the thought 'what if I'm the one who kills him' and he couldn't handle that so he made up his mind then and there and before Red Son could leave he grabbed him by his jacket collar in front of everyone and changed that thought to 'fuck it' and kissed him and pulled away and looked DBK in the eye and announced "I've known Red is my romantic soulmate since day 1 and I am not wasting anymore time with stupid feuds".

Apparently that was just enough to startle the other man into not attacking and to send Sun Wukong into a frenzy of cackling "I KNEW IT"s.

Red Son turned as red as his jacket on his cheeks and just looked at MK in awe. They had-

361 days, 10 hours, 2 minutes, 16 seconds.

Red hadn't left his parents, not immediately, but the sudden relationship that have been revealed between the successor to the Monkey King and the son of the Demon Bull King had forced everything to a standstill. DBK wanted revenge, PIF wanted her husband to be happy, Sun Wukong wanted to be retired, and all three of them were too stubborn to not insist the two men court each other anyway because tradition dictated that when a romantic soulmate pair revealed their bond no one could force them apart.

352 days, 14 hours, 34 minutes, 18 seconds.

MK felt back constantly checking Red Son's timer, but he didn't want to waste a single second. They had less than a year. He'd seen just how smart and resourceful and, as much as he didn't want to admit it at first, protective and caring for the people he had grown close to he was.

By the end of the month they had moved into Red Son's apartment (he had an apartment?).

322 days, 2 hours, 28 minutes, 50 seconds.

MK learned that Red Son was a fantastic chef, on par with Pigsy even. His food was spicy but over time he learned that MK would suffer through food that was hurting him just to try his food and make it less so. Just for him.

315 days, 2 hours, 45 minutes, 34 seconds.

They kissed for the second time well after they had moved in together. Despite rushing into this they had both been too nervous and flustered to do more than hold hands and sleep side by side in different blankets.

They started sharing a blanket by month 2.

292 days, 8 hours, 1 minute, 12 seconds.

DBK was still pissed at Wukong. No one thought his grudge would ever fully disappear. But he and PIF had stopped attacking. For now. For their son. The best thing they had ever done for him was let him be with his soulmate without fighting.

MK never felt more guilty than when he realized he was never going to tell them. He tried once, after they moved in. After he had truly fallen in love with Red Son. He'd cried too hard to get the words out and PIF had looked torn between telling him to leave and comforting him before she put a shockingly gentle hand on his shoulder.

He could never tell them.

267 days, 18 hours, 59 minutes, 2 seconds.

Red got along amazingly well with Mei and Sandy. The three of them together were a mechanical nightmare for anyone on their bad side and the most amazing team for anyone they made anything for. Red was also the new favorite among Sandy's cats. No one was surprised.

He and Red ended up adopting a little one eyed kitten they found outside Pigsy's Noodles. They named her Bao-Bao. They loved her.

245 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes, 34 seconds.

Naturally nothing was going to be calm for the Monkie Kid. Eventually demons far and wide came to attack either him or the city. The only difference was that, now, he had Red Son by his side.

Every time Red took a hit MK felt no fear. He knew that would not be the hit that killed his soulmate. His soulmate had-

208 days, 19 hours, 78 minutes, 21 seconds.

Red and Tang were fast friends. Red and Mei and Sandy were faster. It had taken longer for Pigsy but he came around fast enough.

Sun Wukong, though. Even after 5 months he was still slightly tense and terse and short with Red. But he had been coming around, slowly. Just like with everyone else, Wukong was hard pressed to open up to anyone who wasn't MK.

They visited Flower Fruit Mountain from time to time, and it was one day when Red had wandered off to enjoy the scenery at MK and Wukong had heard the pained screech of a small monkey in the distance.

When they saw Red calming the little one down, tending to it's wound as best he could, MK saw Wukong properly smile at him for the first time. Soon they had-

157 days, 22 hours, 28 minutes, 59 seconds.

There were still fights. DBK and Sun Wukong didn't get along. But things were better.

There were family game nights. Red and Pigsy and Wukong cooked together. Bao-Bao had grown into a beautiful Tortoise Shell cat (with tortitude included). Everyone promised to try to get along and things were going well. Red Son and MK were truly in love, it seemed. At least MK was. He was certain Red was as well.

That's why MK asked him to marry him that night.

Red said yes.

140 days, 19 hours, 34 minutes, 34 seconds.

Was 7 months too fast? Yes. Did MK care? No. Did anyone object?

Only the demons that showed up to fight. They were taken care of quickly. DBK was not entirely happy about how fast things were but for his only son it seemed he would not allow anything to ruin the day.

He'd changed over the 7 months. Not entirely, not enough for MK to completely forgive him for everything since he had awoken. But seeing him punch a demon into the stratosphere for Red Son was a pretty good marker of how much he was trying.

6 days, 37 hours, 8 minutes, 12 seconds.

Everything was amazing for those few months together. They fought demons. They kissed. They spent time with their family. No longer two families but one family.

Then Macaque came back.

MK had thought he was gone for good, he had been so quiet. But apparently he was planning something the whole time.

Something to kill an immortal.

That was when MK learned he was immortal. And wasn't that ironic?

Macaque had meant to stab him. MK didn't move in time.

Red Son jumped in front of him and there was red.

Macaque wasn't seen again after what MK did to him.

They bandaged the small wound in Red Son's shoulder. They would find a way to fix this. They had to. MK knew what would kill Red Son now, it wasn't that he wasn't immortal it was whatever poison had been meant for him. He knew people had beaten death clocks before.

He had to try.

5 days, 12 hours, 29 minutes, 56 seconds.

5 days, 12 hours, 29 minutes, 55 seconds.

5 days, 12 hours,. 29 minutes, 54 seconds.

That was what MK saw when Red Son coughed up blood for the first time.

4 days, 1 hour, 12 minutes, 13 seconds.

Sun Wukong found out where Macaque had gotten the poison.

There was no cure.

Red coughed more red and MK screamed at the Monkey King to look again. Do something. Anything. Anything...

They didn't see him or DBK for over 2 days.

1 day, 17 hours, 34 minutes, 14 seconds.

1 day, 17 hours, 34 minutes, 13 seconds.

MK watched the countdown timer tick down.

"Why are you still awake?" Red Son had asked him as he held his head in his lap.

"I don't want to miss any more seconds with you," MK answered softly.

"Am I going to... die?" Red Son asked softly.

"Not if Monkey King does what I know he can do," MK answered again. "I know he'll be back soon. I know it. I-"

"MK! MK I'M BACK!" Sun Wukong yelled through the apartment, bursting into their room looking disheveled and like he hadn't stopped moving since he left. But smiling. DBK looked much the same as he came through the door behind him.

"I think we found something!"

1 day, 17 hours, 32 minutes, 2 seconds.

MK prayed that Sun Wukong was right. He was Sun Wukong. He had to be.

1 day, 17 hours, 32 minutes... 3 seconds.

[inkweaver22-blr]

Wow! Two chapters in two days? I'm as surprised as you are. Now this chapter technically takes place before chapter 1, so keep that in mind. Let's see what Tang does in one of the earliest cycles.

AO3 Link

<Previous | Next>

Scattered Cicadas - Chapter Two: Hope and Despair, Life and Death

Content Warning: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death

Tang tests the limits and rules of his new life. He gets mixed results.

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He was in a dimly lit cave. Nothing else around except for the stone floor and walls. Several voices suddenly shout out to him, calling his name. Before he can react he is consumed by a bright, all-encompassing golden-yellow light.

----------

With a gasp Tang awoke from the dream and looked around. He was back in his room. Again.

He quickly scrambled for his phone. That had been the third time he had that strange dream and, judging by the date he read on the screen, the third time he had jumped back in time.

Tang clutched the phone and stared at it in disbelief. This couldn’t really be happening right? Time loops were just cheesy narrative devices used in bad sci-fi and fix-it fanfictions. (Not that he had ever written a fix-it fic. Nope. Not him.)

With a shaky breath the scholar got out of bed and began to prepare for the day. Sitting around panicking wasn’t going to solve this. What he needed was a clear head and a sympathetic ear.

His stomach growled.

Perhaps a meal wouldn’t go wrong either.

Tang left his apartment and headed straight to the one place he knew where he could satisfy all three needs.

----------

“Wow Mr. Tang. That all sounds a bit… Unbelievable to be honest.” MK had been pretty excited at first when Tang had started his tale. But once the scholar further explained the coming events his enthusiasm waned. Tang assumed he didn’t enjoy hearing that he would eventually lose a fight against the Lady Bone Demon and have his brand new powers taken from him.

“You sure it wasn’t just a bad dream,” Pigsy asked in concern. While he had been skeptical of Tang’s story, the pig demon hadn’t dismissed him out of hand.

“Yes, I am positive.” Tang took a breath and tried to keep his tone even. He knew what he was saying sounded far fetched, but getting upset that they didn’t believe him wouldn’t be productive. “This is the third time I’ve had that dream and the third time I’ve woken up in my room back in time after starting the second Journey to the West. Something strange is going on.”

Pigsy shared a glance with MK who shrugged and turned back to Tang.

“Well if you say something weird is happening, then I believe you.” The sincerity and trust in MK’s statement made something in Tang’s chest unclench.

“Thank you MK,” he said with a sigh of relief.

“Hey,” the delivery boy suddenly exclaimed, his earlier excitement returning. “Maybe the Monkey King might know what’s going on! I’ll be sure to ask him later when we meet up for training.”

“Great idea, kid,” Pigsy said. “And aren’t you always going on about how such a great scholar you are? Surely you could find something in those dusty books you’re always praising.”

The pressure in his chest quickly turned into a comforting warmth. Tang wasn’t sure how he had managed to get such supportive friends but he was glad for it.

“You’re right! I’ll head over to the library right now.” He smiled brightly at the two before heading for the door. “We’ll meet back up this evening to discuss what we’ve found.” He ducked out of the shop, calling out a ‘Thank you!’ as he left.

Tang’s good mood carried him all the way to the bus stop and for the whole ride to the library. He was certain that with the help of his friends they’d be able to find a quick solution to his problem.

----------

Tang gave a sigh as he sat down in his usual stool. His research at the library had been going much slower than he would have liked. He had a few potential leads he could follow up on but nothing solid had shown up yet.

“Something eating you,” Pigsy asked as he placed the scholar’s usual order in front of him. Tang thanked him, inhaling the delicious aroma of noodles cooked to perfection before quickly digging in.

“The research at the library isn’t going quite as quickly as I had hoped,” Tang replied around a mouthful of food. “I’m sure I’ll find something soon though.”

“Ooooh! What’cha researching,” an inquisitive voice piped up behind him. Tang turned to find both MK and Mei in a nearby booth. Mei was messing with something on her phone while MK seemed interested at the mention of his research.

“I told you and Pigsy about it this morning,” Tang said with a frown. “You know? The time loop I seem to be stuck in?”

“You’re stuck in a time loop?!” Both MK and Mei practically teleported from their seats and were now leaning excitedly into his personal space.

“You told the kid and I about this earlier?” Pigsy frowned at the scholar, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Tang’s heart began to beat a little faster.

“I- Yes. MK, you were supposed to ask the Monkey King if he knew anything,” Tang nervously explained.

“I was? Hmm...” The Monkey King’s successor scratched his head. “I don’t remember you asking me that.”

“Aw, who cares,” Mei shouted excitedly. “This is so cool! Tell us what’s going to happen!”

Tang took a steadying breath. Perhaps both Pigsy and MK had busy and stressful days today and simply forgot. Yes, that had to be it. With nothing better to do, he launched into a second retelling of what he remembered.

Again, MK had seemed subdued at the thought of being beaten. Again, Pigsy was somewhat skeptical but didn’t outright call him a liar. Mei being excited and boldly stating that none of the bad stuff would happen this time around was a welcome distraction from his fears. MK promised once again to ask the Monkey King questions and Pigsy once again encouraged him to go looking for answers. Mei even offered to let him into her family’s personal library.

Tang once more felt the anxiety bleeding away and the warmth for his friends replacing it. He picked up his bowl and resumed eating his now lukewarm noodles. There was a comfortable lull in conversation for a few minutes.

“Hey, you never did tell us what you were researching Mr. Tang,” MK said curiously. “Anything interesting?”

Tang dropped his bowl onto the counter.

“Oi! Watch it!”

Tang ignored Pigsy’s indignant shout as he whirled to face the younger man. He was sitting at the booth with Mei once more, his expression completely earnest. Mei seemed disinterested as she played on her phone.

The scholar’s heart began to race.

“But I just told you!” His panicked tone earned concerned looks from his friends. “I’m stuck in a time loop and you all just offered to help me find a way out!”

“You’re stuck in a time loop?!” Both MK and Mei practically teleported from their seats and were now leaning excitedly into his personal space.

“We offered to help you out just now?” Pigsy frowned at the scholar, his brow furrowed in confusion as he wiped up the broth spilled from Tang’s dropped bowl.

Tang felt sick.

----------

Tang lay in his bed, the anxiety and fear of the last few days clutching at his heart and preventing him from sleeping.

Every time he told his friends about his predicament, not even five minutes later they would act like the conversation had never happened. He had Mei record a video of it once, but the file instantly became corrupted upon completion. Not even the Monkey King, who he forced MK to take him to, was able to keep his memories of anything Tang said.

Whatever was happening, whatever magical effect he was under, it was forcing people to forget everything he told them about it.

Tang had never felt more alone.

----------

Tang glared from his position at the counter as the fake mayor presented MK with the Skeleton Key. He had learned during the second loop the real identity of this man: a servant of Lady Bone Demon.

The scholar angrily slurped at his noodles as he thought about the past few weeks.

He had been hiding in his apartment for a few days, refusing to speak to anyone before his friends took matters into their own hands. They stormed his home, kidnapped him, and plonked him down in Sandy’s therapy cat room until he broke down and explained his actions.

He couldn’t tell them what was actually happening, but his feelings of loneliness and despair were something Tang felt he could share.

Warmth bloomed in his chest at how his friends had been more than supportive. Sandy made him a special blend of teas that would help with anxiety. MK and Mei did their best to involve him in more activities, inviting him to the zero gravity arcade and other fun events. Pigsy’s actions had been the most surprising, practically forcing Tang to move into his apartment.

“Nobody should be alone if they don’t have to,” was all the chef had to say on the subject.

“Because I’M the mayor!”

Tang was snapped out of his fond recollections by the obnoxious voice of the Lady Bone Demon’s servant and subsequent explosion of smoke as he teleported away.

Oh right. The Skeleton Key.

The scholar scowled down into his bowl as he half listened to MK and Mei gush over all the cool things they could unlock. This being his third loop and fourth time experiencing these events overall, he was fairly positive this was the catalyst that led to Lady Bone Demon appearing. It was a shame he couldn’t just take the key and prevent that from happening.

Wait.

Tang sat up straight in his stool, his thoughts racing.

Why couldn’t he? What was it Mei had said the first time he told her about the future? That this time none of the bad stuff would happen. Just because he was the only one who knew about what was to come didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything about it!

Tang dashed out after MK and Mei as they left the store, quickly inviting himself along. Throughout the day his heart raced as he tried to come up with a way to get the key away from them.

----------

In the end it was relatively easy. One made up story about an unopenable letter box belonging to his grandmother and a promise to bring the key with him to the shop the following morning was all it took.

Tang stood alone in his room in his and Pigsy’s shared apartment. In his hands was the Skeleton Key.

His heart pounded as he stared down at the artifact. This was it. He could prevent Lady Bone Demon’s rise to power.

With trembling fingers, Tang took the key in both hands.

Then he snapped it in half.

Tang was launched back against the wall as a wave of force exploded from broken artifact. He slid to the ground as the energy dissipated, only to gag as a hand gripped his throat and pushed him back up against the wall.

“What have you done?!”

Tang gasped as stared down into the very pissed off face of the fake mayor. The scholar clawed at the hand holding him up and cutting off his air, desperate to get it to release him.

“You have ruined our plans,” the mayor hissed. “You’ve snapped them in two. Now I’ll do the same to you!”

Tang had never thought about how it might feel to have one’s neck snapped. Unfortunately, the mayor decided to help him experience the sensation first hand.

----------

Alone in a cave. Voices shouting his name. A bright golden-yellow light.

----------

Tang came awake half screaming and half sobbing. He gasped and choked as the phantom sensation of not being able to breath refused to leave. The sound of his own neck being broken seemed to be drowning out other sounds and made his stomach rebel. He quickly leaned over the side of his bed and vomited.

Fuck.

He had just died.

Murdered in a horrifically violent fashion.

Tang vomited again.

“Tang?!” A gruff and startled voice cut through Tang’s panic. He looked up to see the blurry form of Pigsy standing in the doorway. Without his glasses he couldn’t tell what the chef’s expression was, but by the sound of his voice he seemed a bit freaked out.

Unable to really articulate at the moment, Tang simply sobbed and reached out a hand towards the pig demon. Pigsy didn’t hesitate and rushed over, pulling the scholar into a hug and began whispering comforts into his ear.

----------

Tang had been a complete mess for the remainder of that cycle. He practically lived in Sandy’s therapy room (which strangely had ferrets instead of cats) and rarely spoke.

His friends were deeply concerned over his changed behavior and it warmed him at the ways they all tried to accommodate him. But what could he tell them? They wouldn’t remember anything he told them anyway.

So he told them nothing. He let them dote on him and he did his best to heal.

----------

It took him five more cycles before Tang tried changing anything major for the better again.

It went about as well as the first time.

Dying violently hadn’t gotten easier to deal with the second time around.

----------

After his disastrous second attempt Tang tried changing smaller things.

An anonymous tip to the weather station about a potential attack resulted in the city being destroyed in a massive storm.

Telling MK that the prize for the race wasn’t a real Peach of Immortality ended with Mei paralyzed from the waist down.

Casually bringing up stories of Macaque from the original Journey led to MK being kidnapped and turned into a horrific combination of weapon and surrogate son to the black furred demon.

Tang wasn’t stupid. He was a scholar and academic. He could see a pattern when it presented itself.

The message was clear.

Don’t attempt changing any significant events.

So he didn’t.

----------

Tang almost passed out in relief when he first figured out that while major events were off limits, the quieter moments of his life were still under his own control.

Small things like choosing where to take Pigsy on a date or comforting MK through his insecurities and not having something terrible happen nearly made him weep in happiness.

Slowly his confidence was restored. He vowed that if he couldn’t really change what happened, he’d be there for his friends and to help pick up the pieces after things went wrong. It was the least he could do after the kindnesses they showed him.

And there had to be a way to break this cycle. He refused to believe that this would be his life for the rest of eternity. The knowledge Tang needed was out there somewhere. He just needed to keep going until he found it.

Life continued, and Tang chose to continue living.

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Bet you all thought this was just going to be a fluffy romp through the timelines huh? WELL YOU WERE WRONG! Told you I would change those content warnings when I needed to. Get your tissues ready because this is just the first wave of angst our little scholar boy will have to weather. Events from now on won't be in explicit chronological order but I'll make sure to make it clear which events came first when needed. See ya'll in the next chapter!

EDIT

Shout out to PeachBased for pointing out the reference in this chapter I forgot to credit!

That line about MK becoming Macaque's messed up weapon/son is a reference to Repeated Consequences by Gremlin_In_Blue. Fair warning though:

PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO ALL THE TAGS AS THIS FIC IS PRETTY GRAPHIC!!!