#Also Wukong just confused now at what is going on XD

[siixkiing]

“Operation what now...?”

[quitealotofsodapop]

Btw... Macaque totally still adopts Bai He and Wukong correctly give him a very unimpressed look when he brings her home because they already have five chaotic kids with a sixth on the way and he's choosing to bring a tiny, very vulnerable mortal in? He's lecturing Macaque about it even whilst bringing her in, setting her up at a table with the fluffiest blanket he can find, and getting peach thenes treats out for her to snack on. Full on, he adopts her just as fast but refuses to admit it because SOMEONE has to be the responsible parent here, and they already have way too many kids, and Macaque should have told him about it before so he'd be prepared (mainly the last one)

I love that! XD

Bai He is still a parent-less child by the end of S3, and Macaque can be a bit of a softy towards the kid.

The moment Mac starts carrying Bai He around like a juvenile monkey, Wukong immediately realises what's happening.

Wukong: "Mac, we have five cubs of our own! And more on the way!" Macaque, holding sleeping Bai He: "She doesn't have anyone left." Wukong: "Oh we're totally keeping her - I'm not arguing about that. It's just I would have liked some warning! Now I have to plan another nest for our cubs!" Macaque: (*happy monkey dad noises*)

Bai He still has moments where she's terrified of the power that the Monkey King wields, so she's a little confused the first time Wukong hugs her to his (noticeably round) body and whispers that everything is going to be ok now. Also the whiplash of being the host to a primordial ice-bone demon for nearly a year, and suddenly becoming the adoptive daughter of two royal demons.

Btw; Yuebei still destroys LBD in aus where she's already been born. Lazer eyes + a furious baby monkey who wants her baba back = Bone Demon reduced to ash. Bai He is a little scared of her, but is quickly calmed by how adorable and affectionate she is.

The Stalwarts try their best to put their new princess at ease. She's been through a lot.

[mislamicpearl]

Monkie Kid S5 first two episodes thoughts

It's 1 AM but I wanna get my thoughts down quick before I forget (but likely this will just turn into a list of my favorite moments and with a whole lot of squealing because omg the FLUFF in these episodes alone!)

SPOILERS under the cut:

Nooooo MK isn't sleeping, Lego stop punishing your boys with sleep-depriving trauma! T_T

Wukong is really trying harder to be a better mentor to MK ;_;

OMG THAT ENTIRE WUKONG AND MACAQUE CONVERSATION ASDSGHHSASDFD WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT MK???

And just... how far we've come, with Macaque genuinely caring about MK this much.

But also stop deflecting Macaque!

AwwwWWWW everyone building Wukong a house was so sweet!

And of course we gotta cover the walls with adorable pictures~ My favorite was the Mei and Wukong one, omg if I don't see anyone redraw that I definitely will!

WUKONG HUGGED MK!! HNNNNNGGHHH!!

Holy FUDGE the DADSY content! It just wouldn't stop!! He sat with MK, gave him some fatherly advice/life lesson, and knew exactly what would put the kid to sleep, and then carried him to bed... and then we get-

"I don't know how I ended up with you, but I'm so glad I did" "I love you, son"

Me during that scene:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

Wukong fixing the origami figures of his friends was so cute DX

And the baby monkeys still being all clingy to Macaque ahahaha!

Just... loving Wukong and Macaque being in the same room together with MK and not fighting tbh, their expressions throughout his whole lawyer routine were hilarious XD

I will never get tired of Wukong treating Nezha like a little brother/cousin that he constantly makes fun of XD

AND OMG HE CALLED HIM NEZHY THAT'S SO CUTE!!

So of course I knew about the circlet angst but WOW I did not expect Macaque to have that big a reaction to it, he sincerely doesn't want Wukong to get hurt, UGH THESE MONKEYS ARE KILLING ME!

Yoooo that little look exchanged between Wukong and Macaque after he sends out the hairs, these guys are totally back in sync again like nothing happened and I LOVE it!

Bahaha Wukong doing the Tang story-telling was great!

MK kicking his legs during the story, why is this boy so adorable dangit-

Nezha's utter confusion at MK's antics was probably the funniest bit of the episode for me ahahaha

Also the three clones just going "I'm a clone" in unison XD

Again, the teasing-the-younger-cousin behavior with them double faking Nezha was so on point, and his angry "WU KOOONG!!" was just the icing on the cake.

"Why is it always like this when you come here?!" Seriously, nothing to add besides that I just LOVE seeing the monkeys together, like their teamplay in taking out the head guard - I saw that smile Macaque!

Macaque or Nezha angrily shouting Wu Kong's name will never get old

"Only thing I know for sure is that I don't trust anyone who isn't standing here right now." MACAQUE'S LOOK AT THAT PART! YES HE'S INCLUDING YOU BUD!

Is... is this the first time we hear Wu Kong say Macaque's name outside of a flashback without ire??

Also NOOOO MACAQUE!! (He's fine, I just don't want him disappearing for the whole season but I'm sure he'll turn up again. Also, proud of him for being the hero in this scene :')

[deadlandsqueen]

Found you through your tiktok and I genuinely would love to hear you talk all about sun wukon as much as you want

Ahhhh! That makes me so happy. Genuinely was getting overwhelmed in comments cause so many wanted to hear XD

The thing is it's all about where I would start- *presure in on staring at the universe like "how did I get here?"*

-cause I could easily direct someone to watch something on him (Like Overly sarcastic production they are the goat of explaining who this little guy is and they have an ongoing series which focuses on more of the exciting tales).

But also I feel I haven't scratched the surface of adaptations. I know about the famous ones like Dragon ball (which I do find funny that Goku is not the first anime Goku there's another anime where it's jttw but pretty anime boys), and Lego Monkie kid.

However to go more obscure outside of America, one of my favorite adaptation -just from premise alone- is a Korean drama where Sun Wukong and Demon bull king are roommates ( A Korean Odyssey).

And there's like one thing from overly sarcastic Monkey King video that I could even add to is The Lumberjack scene (Which has no affect to the story and really you can argue there was no need to bring them u0 (Or maybe they are JUST ion The monkey and the monk)) But I got attached to that scene for the sheer potential of a Lumberjack who lives down the mountain from the immortals (aka Wukong's soon to be Mentor, Master Subhuti). Just a regular dude living his life them BOOM Monkey.

(I drew this after I read about him. Man was singing a poem and Wukong confused the man for being an immortal. beautiful)

Im so sorry for just dropping this but again Thank you I don't want to make you read a novel. There's almost a temptation to make a video on my thoughts but for now I'm trying to make some Jttw content that can express my love for this little guy. But I can say this if you know about how Wukong Scratched his name out of the book of the dead then you'll what my next animatic will be on (hopefully i just scribbled my thoughts out today so it's in pre-production)

I have a lot of thoughts get I still feel like im missiing so much. BUT IM GETTING THERE!

Also I cant talk about Black Myth Wukong. 50% of it is me dying in game. 30% staring at pretty visuals, or 10% me whining that I cant climb stuff even though Im monkey so I should have the right to climb or the last 10% is me finding a character, grabbing him and trying to make a character of them cause i think they're neat.

Im so sorry again for this novel but thank you again XD

[night-faye]

Every once in awhile, I'll remember something I forgot. Not sure if you caught this because it was awhile ago, but in S1 ep 9 when Wukong says "it's time to give back what you stole." Macky's eye twitches. in JTTW, the 6EM stole supplies and created copies of the companions (using monkeys disguised from FFM) and one of them was killed by Sha Wujing so Macky cooked and ate him :D so did some of the other monkeys I think. Anyways, could be a reference of Macky stealing things this time around too. I associate hot pink/purple/magenta colors with him so whenever I see a purple circle with an x over I'm like...hm (like this episode with Pigsy holding that bowl of noodles) at 7:49 it might just be the art style but after S5 I'm SO suspicious, I'll let you know when you finish S5 you'll be kicking down the doors and shaking down that monkey with a Mac-query for him. We really can't solve one thing before he dumps another mystery on us. His powers are just soooo curious y'know, remember the TV in the kidnapping van? How the lights flickers, and you could see horror movie glitch pictures on the screen? Lol, he walked out of the spooky genre and I need more of it. When you wade into the fic pond (I have my links ready) you'll find a HC about Princess Iron Fan and Macky being sworn siblings, a heads up in case you end up like me and utterly confused where in the show that was mentioned. You will also find the illusions widely referred to as "Glamour." Red Son's name is also hóng hái ér which YES should remind you of our dear liu'er mihou because I found out the "er" ending to the names is the pinyin for "child" (probably not in Macky's name depending on how it's written but I dunno) regardless, it's referred to as the english equivalent of calling someone named Rose = Rosie. So in my heart, Macky has a really cute name <3 realistically, it literally just means macaque monkey = mihou. Now WUKONG. He's had a couple names, most commonly Shihou = stone monkey, and Sun Wukong = monkey awakened to emptiness. "Sun" = grandson, and all the little monkeys on FFM are called "little suns" and Wukong calls himself the grandfather of monkeys in JTTW :D

"You're characteristically quiet, Macaque." Ah yes, quiet. A monkey who has NEVER seen a theatre a day in his life. And would never cackle evilly or raise his voice ever. At what point does a monkey become ship of theseus-ed and come back wrong 🤔 Y'know, iirc Peng's voice actor suggested they might have a hate-crush on Macky-boi here which is HYSTERICAL. Imagine Wukong's face to learning that. And you calling Ao Lie that is 😭 he's too dorky to be giant f-you dragon senior XD like you're NOT WRONG. but its super funny. Oh, btw :D So MK and Mei are hero/warrior coded ;D Mei was all "if you're not giving everything you have to protect the people you care about - you are nothing." the hero and the warrior- were like...the sea and sky...? Mei's "ugh this guy" facepalm is also very Macky of her <- he does that later this season, but MK shares deeeeeep connections to the warrior, sometimes we think he might even lose an eye ;) Also in JTTW, Wukong sinks like a rock bc he's a stone monkey, and show!Macky is all chill in the water. Wukong is all things solid or harsh, earth and fire and lightning (iirc it follows and crashes with him in one of the episodes. Fluffy would LOVE that for her Thunder Bringer AU) and Macky is all wind and shadow and water, all things fluid. S1 ep 9 = "Are you ever going to get tired of living in my shadow?" <--- insane line with Shadow Play context of "The Warrior was cast in that shadow." it implies Wukong DOESNT want him living in his shadow but also take the funny Fluffy and I discussed: Macky had SUCH bad brainrot over this line he incorporated it into his play. "I hate you but ugh, you're onto something." type of deal. his little poetic angst heart was soaring. Iirc also, S4 is one of those openings where it ends up changing by the episode ;) they like being sneaky with it.

Every once in awhile, I'll remember something I forgot. Not sure if you caught this because it was awhile ago, but in S1 ep 9 when Wukong says "it's time to give back what you stole." Macky's eye twitches. in JTTW, the 6EM stole supplies and created copies of the companions (using monkeys disguised from FFM) and one of them was killed by Sha Wujing so Macky cooked and ate him :D so did some of the other monkeys I think. Anyways, could be a reference of Macky stealing things this time around too.

👀👀👀

I associate hot pink/purple/magenta colors with him so whenever I see a purple circle with an x over I'm like...hm (like this episode with Pigsy holding that bowl of noodles) at 7:49 it might just be the art style but after S5 I'm SO suspicious, I'll let you know when you finish S5 you'll be kicking down the doors and shaking down that monkey with a Mac-query for him. We really can't solve one thing before he dumps another mystery on us. His powers are just soooo curious y'know, remember the TV in the kidnapping van? How the lights flickers, and you could see horror movie glitch pictures on the screen? Lol, he walked out of the spooky genre and I need more of it.

I sure do love it when characters have a set block of aesthetics/colors associated with them!! so fun!!!

When you wade into the fic pond (I have my links ready) you'll find a HC about Princess Iron Fan and Macky being sworn siblings, a heads up in case you end up like me and utterly confused where in the show that was mentioned

That actually makes me so happy and fits so perfectly into a fic I'm planning out (if you uhhh...wanna see the bullet points hit me up?)

You will also find the illusions widely referred to as "Glamour.

Wonderful >*taps my fingers together as I giggle*<

Red Son's name is also hóng hái ér which YES should remind you of our dear liu'er mihou because I found out the "er" ending to the names is the pinyin for "child" (probably not in Macky's name depending on how it's written but I dunno) regardless, it's referred to as the english equivalent of calling someone named Rose = Rosie. So in my heart, Macky has a really cute name <3 realistically, it literally just means macaque monkey = mihou. Now WUKONG. He's had a couple names, most commonly Shihou = stone monkey, and Sun Wukong = monkey awakened to emptiness. "Sun" = grandson, and all the little monkeys on FFM are called "little suns" and Wukong calls himself the grandfather of monkeys in JTTW :D

Amazing incredible showstopping

"You're characteristically quiet, Macaque." Ah yes, quiet. A monkey who has NEVER seen a theatre a day in his life. And would never cackle evilly or raise his voice ever. At what point does a monkey become ship of theseus-ed and come back wrong 🤔 Y'know, iirc Peng's voice actor suggested they might have a hate-crush on Macky-boi here which is HYSTERICAL. Imagine Wukong's face to learning that.

oh my gooodddddddddd khfgbdhsfbdsbhwd. It really is like that phenomona where the shy quiet kid discovers theatre and just. poof. that's gone. this is their new whole personality

And you calling Ao Lie that is 😭 he's too dorky to be giant f-you dragon senior XD like you're NOT WRONG. but its super funny.

His personality may be that of an overripe honeydew melon(affectionate) (very watered down but still sweet) but he is, physically when he transforms, a giant fuck you dragon. and he is. indeeed. Mei's senior

Oh, btw :D So MK and Mei are hero/warrior coded ;D Mei was all "if you're not giving everything you have to protect the people you care about - you are nothing." thehero and the warrior- were like...the sea and sky...? Mei's "ugh this guy" facepalm is also very Macky of her <- he does that later this season,

>*points frantically at me noting the parralels between Mei and Macky and Mei&MK and Macky&Wukong!!!!<*

but MK shares deeeeeep connections to the warrior, sometimes we think he might even lose an eye ;)

>*bonks you with a paper towel tube*< You stop that!! (don't actually stop)

Also in JTTW, Wukong sinks like a rock bc he's a stone monkey, and show!Macky is all chill in the water. Wukong is all things solid or harsh, earth and fire and lightning (iirc it follows and crashes with him in one of the episodes. Fluffy would LOVE that for her Thunder Bringer AU) and Macky is all wind and shadow and water, all things fluid. S1 ep 9 =

👀👀👀👀

"Are you ever going to get tired of living in my shadow?" <--- insane line with Shadow Play context of "The Warrior was cast in that shadow." it implies Wukong DOESNT want him living in his shadow but also take the funny Fluffy and I discussed: Macky had SUCH bad brainrot over this line he incorporated it into his play. "I hate you but ugh, you're onto something." type of deal. his little poetic angst heart was soaring.

INSANE INSANE INSANE INSANE

Iirc also, S4 is one of those openings where it ends up changing by the episode ;) they like being sneaky with it.

Ooooh!!! Okay! That's probably something I'll look at closely on the second go around!

[icy-watch]

We are missing soooo much of what went down with the Brotherhood, I'm curious. Like, they gave Tripitaka POWERS. Makes you wonder what he did that makes Peng hate him sm, y'know? Other than ~ Wukong now yielded to an agent of the Celestial Host ~ something we theorize is also, what Mackie might have hated the Monk for. Honestly, he said it right. "Azure is so good at convincing everyone he's the good guy, he's even fooled himself." Mackie's wisdom stats are leveling up XD And because we ALL love taking Mackie's words to others and seeing how they relate to him as well, or at least I do, I was just going hmm at this. And also, I guess dissecting people is kind of his thing if he wants to be able to mess with them. So Imma be scrolling all the way back to your ep 8 liveblog and going from there. The Brotherhood. A little LMK AU where Monkey King's sworn brothers are combined with demons of the same name. Mei is the only one still with the program, even I was going back and forth on what to think of Azure. Sadly being chill was not going to work in this scenario. "The Monkey King, who's only allegiance was to his people." Well YEAH. They're just living their lives, not running an actual kingdom. We love our grandfather of monkeys lol <3 but OOH boi yo, the way Azure looks at Wukong like he's a warrior and a king MMM. He's just a silly guy who always up for friends and companionship. "We followed our king into glorious rebellion." For the love of everything, stop romanticizing this and putting Wukong on a pedestal BUT AT THE SAME TIME what fascinating psychology exposed in the way you treat your view of things. Can we also look at how Wukong looks back. "The Monkey King failed." Sir...the surprise on his face, almost as if he was looking for his friends to be behind him in this moment as well. We see The Brotherhood all gathered together. Macaque is there. They're over a natural shadow, so I imagine this is where Mackie had them all escape, leaving Wukong to his fate. He might not be the biggest fan of Wukong's new friends or this entire plan, but well, wouldn't want to get caught too, right? I'm also eyeing how the moment Wukong's staff hits the ground as he gives up it has the same exact sound effect as every time MK tried/hit Macaque's eye. Good grief, Azure's storytelling is another thing from Mackie's like??? Hella effective and seeping in a very specific image of Wukong and away from the inner feelings of everyone else involved. I need to dissect this lion. Because he's not even trying to be manipulative, he genuinely sees it like this. "If the Monkey King had in his power to create a paradise on earth." I'm going to stop you there buddy. POWER??? Please. If you took their happy little FFM life as "stripping the surrounding land of life to raise the buildings of Camel Ridge." You have a severe misunderstanding of how Wukong made FFM such a nice, happy place and why. Because this ain't it chief. Notice the lack of Mackie in this scene and the very disappointed Mackie as he shares the origin of this place with MK. Hilarious how "tired but satisfied with sparkles" there are in this scene and "oh the Celestial Realm didn't like the competition" haha sure, funny how they didn't respond this way to FFM isn't it, Azure? Monkey King IS a hero, and I too was confused like MK bc I was like yoooo?? Tripitaka and Gang are like an on-call superhero team now lmao???? But they spent a lot of time making the Celestial Realm as the enemy here, and a lot of time treating The Pilgrams as The Redemption Gang For Wukong. So. What think.

Hhmmmm. Very interesting. I can see the Og Pilgrims as a way for Wukong to be redeemed. But that would be inserting Abrahamic beliefs on a book that is mostly based mostly around Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.

[angstandhappiness]

@generouskittentidalwave Oh boy this is an interesting one and an issue that has plagued the fandom for a while. I'll say it here, the monk was not an abuser by any means. The circlet was given to Wukong, tricked into wearing by the monk, not to force him to follow the monk but to keep Wukong from going to far as it was the only way they could do it. It wasn't small like not being house broken, Wukong was literally killing people. The monk wasn't strong enough to hold him back on his own so the circlet was given as the only way to reign him in. The monk never liked using it, but had to use it in order to keep Wukong from killing someone because Wukong was a feral monkey that wasn't taught any better before then. The circlet never forced Wukong to bond with the monk Tripitaka, Wukong and Tripitaka bonded naturally and Wukong grew to care for him dearly and because of that Tripitaka slowly stopped having to use it as often and the monk grew to be one of the closest friends Wukong ever had. The man who helped him be a better persom

*person, typos are the death of me XD.

Now I'm not saying you should go and beat up an animal or person for acting out, please don't do that. Just don't do abuse in general honestly. However this situation was very different, as the circlet was the least harsh way possible of keeping monkey reigned in during the time because unfortunately there was nothing else anyone could do. Actually Tripitaka even tried removing it himself once but couldn't get it off.It was simply an unfortunate circumstance for everyone involved

@birbs-n-cats @generouskittentidalwave all of you were saying is correct and even then. Tang sanzang had only used the circlet in extreme circumstances where swk had gone way out of line for the monk morals and scoldings. Like the times where swk had behead a bandit and was showing it off as trophy infromt of him snd the bandits parents.

@generouskittentidalwave @birbs-n-catsIt was like a cat displaying a dead mouse to their owner all proudly XD With Wukong you couldn't just give him a lecture like some people keep saying would've been better, the circlet was the only way to hold him back. You don't just go to a wild tiger that mauled someone and go "No, bad kitty, bad" LOL

@birbs-n-cat Tang sanzang was a traumatized man that even his first disciple had wanted him dead. Every time he used the spell was for a reason and even he himself hates doing it. And he stopped using it by the time LEMH arc ended bc swk had stopped being so murderous. Not to mention guanyin was the one who gave the circlet to him and taught him that spell. Had he wasn’t a good Buddhist then even in the narrative he would have been punished just like thise bad Buddhist got. These two are complicated

@generouskittentidalwave Also to give you some better insight, as I can understand how it can be confusing. Mk and Mei met the Tripitaka before he met Wukong and gave him the circlet. What he said before about not harming another living thing was before he met Wukong and his disciples and he learned that not everything is black and white and sometimes you have to do things like using the circlet, something that causes another living thing harm, in order to protect others That's why when Mk and Mei unlocked that core lesson that the monk learned Tang was able to break free. That's why it can seem so confusing if you've only gotten bits and pieces of JTTW and lmk ^^"

@loyaltykask Considering that it was made by Guanyin the bodhisattva as mercy, I always trusted her in knowing that the fillet was more used as a symbol of discipline, not for violence. It's not meant to be seen as just a torture device, rather it does show how Wukong is meant to be practicing that self resistant. And yes Sanzang did use it wrongly at times but they weren't for the cases of malicious rather misunderstandings that were part of trials, things that were also set up by the heavens. It saddens me to think people are just reducing it down to a thing of torture when it isn't and yes times have changed and we know the extent of punishment and how detrimental that is but it's not fair to say Sanzang is a bad buddist when within the story the fillet is allowed and approved by other buddhas and bodhisattvas Even worn by a few themselves as well

@potatos-messy-mind This... oh man this is exactly what i needed. I never thought Tripitaka was abusive either, but i'm so glad to have some clarification in the replies that the circlet was the last option heaven had to really control Wukong and it wasn't meant to torture him. The clarification with Tripitaka using the circlet was also very much needed and i'm glad he stopped using it after Wukong stopped killing people. Though one thing that does irk me Is the parts where Wukong was killing demons who were going to kill Tripitaka. I absolutely think that should have counted as self defense. Of course punish him if he brags about it, but from how the story was going there was no amount of persuasion that could be done with most of the demons who tried to eat Tripitaka. I'm not sure if there were any who listened and backed off from eating the monk, but i have no idea if this was brought up at all.

@potatos-messy-mind #thank you for clarifying this#like seriously thank you#though this doesnt completely answer my question of wukong killing demons in self defense it answers everything else

@shiwinu #waos

@loyaltykask Also, the phrase of using the carrot, not the stick, is still the same mindset of that actions should be rewarded or punished rather than teaching empathy and self reflection. The point being is that Wukongs circlet is supposed to be an allegory for the same thing but instead it’s treated like a stick solely because of what people see from it and not for what it actually represents to have Wukong understand that his mindset that might equals right isn’t healthy and can be proven against him.

I’ve known parts of journey to the west for years before I knew about Monkie kid and I’m saying this before I continue because what I’m about to say doesn’t come from a Monkie kid fan it comes from someone who has always been confused about a big element of the original story. Corporal punishment is super not Buddhist

“Buddhists don't believe they should harm any living beings and corporal punishment causes harm. Buddhism believes that cruel treatment of an offender does not make right what they did, and does not improve them.”

The moment the tang monk started using the circlet he was breaking the rules that made him such a pure monk that he was chosen in the first place. What he was doing is a huge no no and from the very first time he did it he was no longer a pure Buddhist monk.

I’m repeating this again he broke his Buddhist code every single time he used that circlet he is physically hurting someone he should be actually helping learn to be better.

If you kick a dog every time it goes to the bathroom inside it probably won’t go to the bathroom inside anymore but it’s doing that because it’s scared not because it learned anything. If you hit a child every time they’re loud while you’re on the phone or every time they don’t clean their toys they won’t do those things not because they learned anything important but because they don’t want to be hit. Either situation the mentor figure is technically getting the dog or child to do what they want or what’s right but they’re doing it in an incredibly damaging way that will forever harm the victim of their actions.

Use the carrot not the stick.

[winterpower98]

I feel like they'd at least suspect Wukong was trying to make them a part of his family, but as Uncle Guang always told them, they just let the monkey do what he wants. Moang would probably be confused at best since they're all adults and have been for centuries (even funnier if he actually turns out to be older than Monkey, but we all know that won't stop him XD) and Cunxin actually has her father's love but knows he's terrible to her brothers, so she doesn't really care either way, so long as her other siblings are happy and safe.

Sidenote, but yeah, I finally checked and it's actually Cunxin! She appears in a show called Lotus Lantern Prelude!

—Serenity

Nothing is going to stop the Monkey King from adopting someone, doesn't matter if Moang whats to be adopted or not XD

also

Goddammit now I gotta go change the tags

[quitealotofsodapop]

When Yuebei wad born, Wukong most CERTAINLY went into a medical coma as well. Like, no joke... in Century Egg au, Wukong had gone into labor with potentially he best case scenario and still almost died... wit Yuebai in Slowboiled we've got a Wukong who's been several centuries overdue, had his magic literally running on empty during time, the moment he gets even somewhat decent he then gets strapped to a web and used as a battery, only to then have a madrush that took at minimum the better part of a month and was most likely more to find a weapon, then his powers were fucking short circuited in a magic barrier and then drained even more. Another madrush this time being pushed by his own deceased mate who he is fairly certain hates him and wants him dead, burned by Samhadi Fire, fought an ice with, and then possessed by said ice witch and forced to be used as a weapon against his own troupe, his own adopted cub and mate included. And only AFTER all that he ended up going into labor in some random campsight xD

Thats a good point to bring up.

Another major distinction is that Yuebei (SlowBoiled) was present for many of Wukong's experiences along the Journey, and literally ate the entire soul of ancient being just before she was born. Wukong likely only survives birthing Yuebei because she fully consumed another being's dao (LBD) instead of his own.

And even with Macaque at his side at last, Wukong is still running on empty once the Egg is born. Yuebei is probably still hangs out in her shell for a while before hatching from all the physical/mental stress her parent just went through.

In the meantime, Wukong has disconnected from the chat and has to do a major recharge before he can start waking up again. It really scares the gang at first, but Guanyin manages to soothe their worries that Wukong's physical reaction is super normal given the circumstances.

He just eepy, give him a few minutes days.

MK: "What about the egg itself? Does it take super long to hatch?" Guanyin (honestly doesn't know): "I'll... get back to you on that." Macaque, ears fluttering happily: "Don't worry. Cub's ok for now, she's just being lazy." MK: "How can you tell?" Macaque: *points at his ears and then to the Egg, smiling wide* "She snores like Wukong does." Yuebei, safetly in Egg: *tiny snoring sounds*

It's also part of the reason Macaque is super cuddly of Wukong before and after the Egg arrives. Stone Monkey instincts tell him to provide as much warmth and emotional support as possible to his mate and his immediate troop members.

Macaque would even sacrifice his own life energy/dao to ensure Wukong survives Yuebei's arrival.

If Guanyin didn't point out something super off about his own body.

Guanyin, doing a check-up on Wukong: "Liu'er Mihou - when where you buried?" Macaque, confused: "Buried? The heck you talking about? When I died I'm pretty sure my whole body got dragged into the Underworld." Guanyin, eyes widening: "Oh-no." Macaque: "What oh-no?" Guanyin: *performs a small spell on Macaque's stomach. Two distinct egg-shaped silhouettes appear* Macaque: *struck silent* Guanyin: "It appears that the Lady Bone Demon physically taking you into her Realm, and likely beneath the earth, caused your body to respond in the same manner as Wukong's when he was buried by the Buddha's hand." Macaque: *pokes stomach* "...why is there two?" Wukong, groggily after days of medical coma: "Two what??" Macaque & Guanyin: *shrieks of joy!*

Yuebei hatches shortly thereafter, causing greater celebration amongst the little troop. Macaque decides to tackle his problem later.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Yē Lín throws an apple at Macaque when he first abandoned Wukong in the mountain. When he sees Macaque on FFM again after leaving Wukong the second time, it's a tomato. The biggest, most rotten tomato he could find (which is difficult on a mountain with perpetually never spoiling fruit). Or if LBD's powers somehow allow others to physically see Yē Lín, he'll lay into Macaque for leaving Wukong like

Yē Lín: Liu'er Mihou, how dare you shown your face to me after abandoning my Stone Flower's cub for the second time! I didn't want to forgive you the first time, but I did, for Wukong's sake. I trusted you to have learned your lesson and to look after my boy and his cubs, to be there and support him. And what did you do!? Leave him alone, again! Pregnant, again!

The whole time, Macaque is prostrating himself in apology to his father-in-law. Pigsy is a hit confused cuz who's the new ghost monkey until MK explains that's Grandpa Yē Lín and he's been a since before his mom had hatched and is actually his paternal grandpa.

prev XD yes, disapproving ghost papa!

Macaque can also hear Yē Lín even if he can't see him - his six ears plague him with the sounds of deceased monkey demons, but especially one of a scholarly man yelling at him for "abandoning my [his] son". Macaque assumes that the spirit means a fellwo soldier lost to the Burning or the War itself, and can only offer his condolences.

Until he's infected with LBD's power (either from possession or investigation), and sees a furious brown-furred monkey spirit trying his best to toss fruit at him.

MK just happily introduces the gang to his ghost Grandpa, his mom's + Luzhen's dad.

Tang makes a squealing gasp: "THE MONKEY KING HAS A DAD!?!"

Yē Lín just laughs, the rage that just had Macaque bowing so low that his face was buried in sand now gone.

Yē Lín: "I'll admit, I wasn't sure how much of my dao he would take from me personally. But he got my height and my book sense! Now his mother, my beloved Stone Flower [*dreamy sigh*], she's the one he takes most after- " MK, light-hearted whisper: "Now you got him going on about grandma. He won't stop for hours."

Macaque is afraid to lift his head for most of those hours. His father-in-law scares him.

And by Nuwa, he's contemplating letting the earth take him when Guanyin, and his mother-in-law get there. XD

[quitealotofsodapop]

A fourth child?! Manjushri must be happy.

Mr Chen and his wife, and Faming are also happy xd. Who does this new tiger/lion cub look more like? Will the new cub be closer to his grandfather Manjushri?

Tripitaka and Azure don't waste their time, they are real cats in love.

Hypothetical question. If the cubs traveled to LMK's dimension and found Azure LMK and the lion had to take care of them, what would the lion do? What if the lion had kidnapped Tripitaka? How would Tripitaka react? Their children have just arrived from another dimension, their faces must be immortalized.

Prev.

Meng Huan is certainly a surprise! Not just to the parents, but to everyone else since it confirms that Tripitaka has certainly broken his vow of chastity! He can't blame it on the Mother-Child River this time. XD

Out of the grandparents; Meng Huan doesn't really have a favourite. Gonggong Chen and Popo Yin dote on the little girl since they were able to be present at her birth. And while Manjushri does have a little bit of favouritism for Meng Huan being is the most like his dear disciple - the dreamy cub has trouble listening to Manjushri and Fa Ming's teachings. Will fall asleep mid-lesson, not unlike the Golden Cicada themselves. XD

Of the parents, Meng Huan looks more like Azure - having his more prominent nose, wild (albeit blue-grey) mane, and purple eyes. She's the tallest of the cubs due to being a full liger - and therefore just kept growing.

In the case of "Dimension-Travelling Cubs" ending up in the canon LMKn universe;

Azure takes one look at the four cubs who fell out of a portal in front of him and smiles warmly. He doesn't immediately see them for what they are, but he's glad to see healthy little demons running around testing their magic.

Until he smells them.

They smell nearly *exactly* like him and a mixture of someone else. He also smells his former brother Sun Wukong upon them, though not as strongly - as if he were a pride member of theirs.

The four cubs run to him shouting "BABA!", clinging to his legs and rambling about how they were messing around in "Brother Wukong's" treasury and touched something they shouldn't, and all they could think to do was to open a portal home.

Azure quickly scoops up the cubs and brings them into the palace, much to the confusion of Peng and Yellow Tusk.

The lion is playing it cool. He certainly hasn't had a mate in forever, and he doubts there's any other blue-furred lion that he could be mistaken for. Clearly this is a case of time travel or dimension hopping.

Azure: "Children, do you know where you are?" Wenhou, confused: "Camel Ridge? We live here when we come home to see you, Baba!" Tangzi: "Baba's losing his memory." Boguang, worried: "Oh no! Was that what that mirror did!?" Azure, warm laugh: "No, no, children. I'm just trying to make sure you haven't lost your memories... is the rest of your family around?" Wenhou: "We were playing in Eldest Brother Wukong's treasury while him, Mama, Uncle Wujing, and Macaque were having tea together. Bajie is still with Auntie Cuilian, and Uncle Ao Lie had to go to his home to deal with something royal and boring. Boguang: "Uncle Bull and Auntie Tieshan were going to come to dinner too. Eldest Brother said they had good news about something." Tangzi: "I hope it isn't a baby. Mama said he had good news once and now we have stinky." (*Tangzi points to the youngest cub, who's barely at toddling age*) Meng Huan: (*blows raspberry at hir*) >:p Azure, tail swaying excitedly: "Mama?"

Azure isn't exactly telling the cubs that they're in another space-time yet, since he really wants to know who their "mama" is and see who captured his heart enough to bare children with him.

The fact that Wukong, Bull, and even Macaque somehow are involved somehow is even more intriguing.

Azure likely does his "Pretending to be the King of Wuji" trick just to meet the Pilgrims and find out *who* his dear mate is. The cubs are are kept nearby to confirm.

Azure is however... a little surprised when he meets the cubs' "Mama" in person for the first time.

Azure: "You're... not a demon." Tripitaka, confused: "I am not? I was transformed for a time, but I do not understand why that would become common knowledge." Azure: "Wait, were you born a demon and then became divine?" Tripitaka: "No, I was transformed into a demonic tiger very briefly by Kui Mulang. Wukong broke the curse with help from Guanyin." Azure, disappointed: "Aww." :(

To learn that the only thing that stops the Great Monk from becoming his mate and mother to his children is his humanity, Azure would immediately have the thought of "Well... thats not much tbh. He's still a cute little human."

Meanwhile; Tripitaka is screaming like the cicada he truly is cus: "I would have broken my vow!? And children!?! Why would I have children!? My journey is too long and dangerous for such a thing!" Meanwhile the cubs are clinging to his robes, still wanting comfort from their parent despite it being clear that this isn't the "real" him.

Just as Wukong and the rest of the Pilgrims are trying to figure out how to send the cubs back to their own world - Azure gets the bright idea to kidnap Tripitaka. Demonic courtship afterall. If he can show the Tang Monk how good a mate he can be, maybe he'll like him in this world too?

The Pilgrims and the Brotherhood are forced to play nice for a bit in order to deal with the lovesick lion, the mortified monk, and the homesick children from another dimension.