#Beng and Ba

[journeytothewestresearch]

Any info on Wukong's generals?

I worked up an article for you.

[winterpower98]

I DREW THESE SO LONG AGO AND FULLY FORGOT TO POST THEM

Anyway, attempted to replicate the show style with the Stalwart Generals ignore that Liu is purple in one of them

[sixteenthchapel]

hes such a good king, he should win an award for best kingliness

[fansids]

Shadow of the King Au Art Dump

Since I very rarely get past the sketching phase any presentable art is rare, but I managed to find some for ya'll

Warning for some old ass art:

1. The Stalwart Generals

I spent an ungodly amount of time figuring out the designs, dynamics, and personalities of all of these monkies so I'll be damned if I don't show them first.

The Generals take care of anything SWK is unable to. They are in charge of FFM when he's not present.

Marshal Ma - While technically all the generals are the same rank, Marshal Ma is considered SWK's unofficial second in command. She's calm in every crisis with a very low bs tolerance and is 75% of the reason why the island doesn't fall to chaos every time SWK leaves. She's highly respected by all the inhabitants and can and will break your spine Bane style if the situation calls for it.

Marshal Liu - Mean bisexual. Marshal Ma's sister and the bane of her existence. On duty she takes her role very seriously. Off duty she likes to keep Ma on her toes with her dumbassery. She's easy going, hates clothes, and loves to fight. She has a slightly concerning amount of knives on her person at all times. She is big gay for General Beng.

General Beng - Meaner lesbian. A siamang and the largest and tallest of the generals. She enjoys dressing up, tea (both kinds), and a good party. She has a very short fuse. While her size and strength alone would generally deter anyone from testing her temper, there are always idiots. She can fight, but she knows her Liu would enjoy it more.

General Ba - The youngest of the generals. While she's not shy, she is very quiet. She does not waste her words. But, when she speaks, the others will stop whatever they're doing to listen. She likes to spend her free time in the libraries. Get her in the right mood and she'll argue with you for hours about the most random subjects.

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2. Macaque face evolution

Was trying to get a feel for Macaque's face and how it changes throughout the au. Top right is the youngest, bottom right is the oldest. Bro gets all sorts of messed up from the whole died and resurrection thing and very much looks wrong afterwards.

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3. New fit

Macaque and SWK have the whole cape thing going on, I figured SWK gave Mac one of his own when he was still training under him. I like to think it holds a lot of sentimental value to him since he still wears it in present day but he would rather get his head smashed in again than admit it.

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4. I'm sure this won't come back to bite anyone later

Eeesh. Imagine spending your whole life training to receive and keep the Sun Wukong's attention only for him to casually give it to some random human boy thousands of years later. I mean, Macaque did betray him and everything, but it's the principle.

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5. The Tongbi Gibbon Concepts

One of the four world-wrecking/celestial monkies. My brain was very focused on the whole pulling celestial bodies out of the sky part of her abilities that I made her based around that line.

Don't know if this fit is still canon as she and the Horse Monkey had a large role to play in Shadow of the King, and I'm considering if I should take them out

.

Bonus:

I consider the Tongbi gibbon and the Horse Monkey to be older than both Sun Wukong and Macaque in Shadow of the King. The Horse Monkey is the eldest, but the Tongbi's age is nothing to sniff at.

That being said, that does not mean she can't be bought.

Takes place after all the traumatizing shit in SotK

Panel 1

Tongbi: Child, I am an ancient being. I hold the power of gods within me. I was witness to the birth of the Great Sage himself. I have seen nations and empires rise and fall. I have gathered and spent innumerable wealth. Yet you think you can bribe me with 20 yuan?

Panel 2

The host: ...how 'bout 30?

Panel 3

Off-panel (Horse Monkey): TONGBI!!

MK: I thought the nimbus made you airsick

Red Son: Not helping, Noodle Boy

Tongbi: BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!

[jamie-is-out-of-ideas]

Here have these low effort doodles

[sunny-days-and-warm-mournings]

Hey so I finally have something JTTW related WIP to work on :') sorry I died again lol

[reverintherevery]

Would you guys like to see my rendition of the monkey generals/ monkey ocs. I have a normal amount of lore for them i prommy

[sloth-artstudio]

Four Stalwart Generals.

From Oldest to Youngest.

Ma, The Mountain's Might.

-

Liu, the Eyes of the Island.

-

Ba, Healer of All.

-

Beng, Fury of the Water Fall.

No one knows where the Generals are in the present day. Though there is a rumor surrounding a five star restaurant who's own just happens to be a Monkey or Primate.

((AN: General Ba is the only General with a mutantion that makes his fur white and not black.))

[lucagray813]

Another Future Monkey See, Monkey Do Chapter

A/N: The chapter set before this one - another intermissions chapter with the G&Ms. I'm posting this one in particular with the hopes that someone (*cough* @thaylepo *cough*) might be able to clue me into any Chinese mythological creatures known for living underground. A quick glance through the Classics of Mountain and Sea didn't bear any fruit (although I do need to actually sit and read through it properly one day) so any nods in the right direction would be appreciated!

Again this is several chapters away from actually being posted on AO3.

----

Liu had been spending a great deal of time in the library recently, usually either drafting up some form of medical journal or record or devouring every piece of literature that Xiāo Hóu had authored.

And while Beng supported any academic effort made by his kin, he thought it wise to keep an eye on her to make sure she wasn't overdoing it.

Xiāo Hóu's paranoia about things going wrong in his absence had apparently left more of an impression on Liu than any of them had realised as she was suddenly quite insistent that everything she knew needed to be written down in case something happened to her.

While it was regrettably not outwith the realms of possibility, it was exceedingly unlikely that anything untoward would happen to her any time soon and so this almost obsessive drive to write everything down as soon as possible was bordering on unhealthy.

Ma was certain she was just trying to distract herself from how much she was missing Xiāo Hóu but if that was the case then it seemed counterintuitive to also spend hours a day reading over his writings.

Admittedly, he had also taken to rereading some of Xiāo Hóu's works of late and while it was in part driven by sentimentality, he also had a legitimate interest in the content that he felt justified the action.

Liu, he knew, had no such interest in the vast majority of the subjects Xiāo Hóu had covered but that didn't stop her from trying to read all of his footnotes on even the most inscrutable texts.

Shí Hóu had pilfered many reading materials of varying quality and usefulness on his travels. And during those early years, when they were still learning to read, he had just picked up anything that had words on it - messages between officials, ledgers, private journals...

And, out of boredom or perhaps occasionally because Beng had asked him to clarify something, Xiāo Hóu had added his thoughts to a number of them. His personality bleeding into every word.

But to fully appreciate his dry wit and scathing criticisms, one had to have a decent grasp of the text he was commenting on. And so, it was quite common for Liu to approach him for help deciphering the meanings of more niche vocabulary and subjects.

It was incredibly rewarding to watch Liu's eyes light up with understanding and on the best of days she would then even indulge him in a discussion about what she now understood. Xiāo Hóu's commentary allowing them both to pretend he was present and part of the conversation.

Today, however, she seemed remarkably down and not even understanding Xiāo Hóu's needlessly ruthless remarks made her smile in that fond yet exasperated way that it normally did.

He found himself frowning at her back as she walked away from him, mind scrambling for anything to say that could help cheer her up. He glanced down at his current project before pushing it aside and calling out to Liu to get her attention.

Apparently lost in thought, she startled badly at the sound of her name, the scroll in her hand escaping her grip and rolling under a nearby shelf. He winced slightly as her shoulders dropped and she sighed defeatedly before she went to fetch the scroll, "What is it, Beng?"

She knelt down, her face coming to the ground so she could peer under the shelf before sticking her hand underneath in search of the runaway scroll.

"My apologies, Liu. I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to ask for thoughts on how best to organise your medical records and journals. Such important information should be easy to locate in an emergency and I believe our current system could be improved."

He could easily envision Ma's disgusted face at his poor attempt to distract Liu from her worries. And he was sure even Ba wouldn't be able to hide his dismay at his dismal efforts. Perhaps, it would have been better to suggest they take a break from their studies and spend some time socialising with the troupe outside...

Before he could make that alternative suggestion however, he realised that Liu was apparently having some trouble grabbing that scroll. He made to get up, "Is everything alright? You look like you're-"

He jumped slightly as the bookshelf shuddered as Liu pulled at something unseen with quite a good deal of strength. And as the shelf wobbled again, he quickly made his way over to steady it, "Careful! You're going to bring this whole thing down on top of you!"

Not something that would actually do her a great deal of harm but it certainly wouldn't improve her mood.

Nor his for that matter.

She got to her feet, and eyes filled with resolve, she took hold of the shelves with clear intent, "There's something there. Help me move this out of the way."

He stood firm against her attempt to shift the furniture, while technically the shelves were very sturdy and it was likely they could move it without dislodging any of its contents, he couldn't abide the thought of something getting needlessly damaged.

He said as much to her and though she huffed, she did help him empty the shelves, following his instructions of how and where to place everything. He was perhaps a little much as they moved the shelves, harping on at Liu to be careful but her annoyed expression disappeared the moment she was in the clear to examine the wall that the shelf had hidden.

He fretted for a few seconds more over the ancient furniture before coming over to see what all the fuss had been for in the first place.

At a glance, there was nothing out of place about the wall but Liu's hands had clearly found a near invisible seam around the stone work, an almost perfect square that reached about the height of his hip.

Liu continued to explore the wall before her fingers seemed to disappear into the stone at two particular locations at the top and the bottom. With a triumphant sound, she began to pull and the square slowly slid out. Once it was clear of the wall, he helped her move it to the side.

He investigated the stone panel as Liu poked her head into the large hole it had left behind. His hands were able to sink into the stone and wrap around two stone handles, he hypothesised, "Some sort of illusion magic?"

Liu had gotten up to fetch an oil lamp and was looking down into the hole with awe, "Must be. But forget about that right now. Come look at this."

She moved out of the way and handed him the lamp. Behind the wall was a narrow, vertical tunnel, the bottom of which seemed well beyond the reach of the light. The wall closest to him had evenly spaced footholds carved into it and it was clearly the intended way to traverse up and down this mysterious space.

As he ducked back out, Liu's tail gave an excited wiggle as she asked, "Where do you think it goes?"

His mind already going through the necessary provision and precautions, he grinned, "Well, there's only one way to find out, don't you think? Care to do a little investigating?"

He was immensely pleased to see her eyes lit up in excitement as she asked eagerly, "Now?"

He nodded, "More or less. I think it would be wise to find someone sensible to guard the entrance for us, lest we want a flood of curious monkeys following after us. And we couldn't go wrong with finding a better light source to take with us, and perhaps a rope as well just in case."

Energised, she stood up, "If you gather supplies, I'll go find a suitable guard monkey. Should I try and find Ma and Ba too?"

He shook his head as he also stood, "Those two are always stumbling upon adventure, let us be the ones to regale them with all they missed for once."

She seemed delighted with his idea and all but raced off to put their plan in motion.

In short order, they had a bulky, responsible monkey demon known as Shā filled in on the situation and happy to sit at the entrance to the tunnel and keep a look out for any troublemakers. And Beng had put together a small bag of provisions - rope, writing materials, extra torches, bandages, etc.

He had securely fastened the longest rope he could find to an anchor in the library before unfurling the rest of it down the tunnel. The two of them were, of course, naturally very adept climbers but there was no knowing what awaited them down this shaft and it was better to be safe than sorry as far as he was concerned.

Lit torches securely grasped in their tails, Beng led the way but it quickly became apparent that this shaft was deeper than either of them could have imagined and before long they had climbed down past the end of their safety line.

It perhaps would have been wiser to return to the library and extend their rope but that would be a tedious and time consuming exercise and both of them agreed that as long as they were careful they should continue downwards.

They were going to have to find a way to measure the length of this shaft because they had to have climbed several lǐ by this point and there was still no sign they were close to the bottom.

Until abruptly there was seemingly no more wall to climb down. He called for Liu to stop and then stretched the torch in his tail down to have a look.

"What do you see, Beng?"

"It looks like it might open up into a larger cavern but the last of our ladder has caved in."

"Do you think we're close enough to the bottom we could drop down? You've got some rope in that bag of yours, right? I could hold on to one end while you lower yourself down to have a look?"

He hummed thoughtfully, before simply dropping the torch. It didn't take long to hit the bottom, "Hm. That looks like it fell about thirty to forty chǐ, easy enough to jump down but getting back up might be an issue. Although, it looks like our ladder hasn't collapsed too far back, we likely could climb up the wall and leap from there. Unless you can see somewhere to anchor a rope...?"

She moved her torch about and had a look, "Afraid not." She then climbed over him to get a look at what they were working with, "I think we could use that wall to climb back up, like you said. But if you don't want to risk it, we can head back up and figure out something safer."

He took a moment to weigh up the risk before ushering her back on to the ladder, "No, we will push on. Just be careful jumping down."

He landed on all fours and was quick to pick up the fallen torch off the ground and move it out of the way so Liu could land safely beside him. He took a moment to pout at the amount of dust and cobwebs he had gathered on the way down and did his best to dust off the worst of it before giving up and joining Liu in admiring the tunnel they had found themselves in.

Liu held her torch up high, "What is this place?"

The massive tunnel had seen better days but while some of the stone work had crumbled or had been worn away in areas, it was clearly built by the same people that had built the palace and was not simply here by chance.

He responded, "I haven't a clue but it looks like we have two options - east or west?"

She laughed a little, "Well, given the choice..."

He smiled, "West it is then."

As they walked, they took note of several offshoot tunnels of various sizes, some of which looked much more organic in their construction and they wondered out loud if they had been works in progress or if something very large had at some point began digging around down here.

Liu touched one of the organic tunnel walls as she frowned, "Well, let's hope if something was digging around down here that it's long gone. I'm starting to wish we'd brought Ba with us, I feel like he'd be able to tell."

He raised an eyebrow, "You think he would be able to positively identify what creature could possibly be capable of this?"

"No, but I think he'd have a better idea than us about what type of creature it might be and how recently these tunnels were dug."

He conceded that point, under Xiāo Hóu's tutelage Ba had become quite the adept hunter and he could spot the telltale signs of many animals with impressive accuracy.

They carried on however and eventually they reached a crossroads and here they decided it was time to re-evaluate.

Liu pointed out, "We have no idea how far these tunnels go on for or how convoluted they might get. I don't want to risk either of us getting lost, I think we should turn back and think about how best to tackle this."

"Agreed. These tunnels aren't going anywhere and there's no rush to map them out. And I don't know about you but I'm getting rather hungry - this has turned out to be a much larger endeavour than we prepared for."

She nodded, "Alright then, let's head back and-"

Both of them were on full alert as the earth started to tremble but the last thing either of them expected was for Ba and Ma to suddenly burst from the darkness on all fours and screaming at them to run.

They didn't hesitate to follow suit, running for all they were worth back the way they had come.

A terrifying growl had him glancing back over his shoulder and while it was difficult to get a clear picture of what was chasing them with the erratic lighting conditions, the glimpse of a creature the size of the tunnel with teeth and claws to match was enough motivation to spur him on even faster.

Ma panted, "Please tell me the exit isn't far."

Liu responded, "A couple of lǐ, there's a shaft up on the left, that's how we got in, but it's about forty chǐ off the ground!"

Equally breathless to Ma, Ba chimed in, "We- We can make that. I can- can boost you up."

Voice sharp with worry, he demanded, "And what about you?"

Liu tried, "We have some spare rope!"

He snapped back, "We don't have time to get it out of the bag!"

Ma cut in, "Monkey ladder! We'll- We'll monkey ladder him up!"

Liu approved, "Good idea! Would help if we could slow this thing down though!"

Ma seemed to have a brain wave, "Liu! Catch me!"

Liu didn't fumble as Ma leapt into her arms and snatched the torch from her tail before taking aim and launching the fiery projectile at the creature's eye. The sound of a pained screech, followed by thrashing indicated she'd hit her mark.

It gave them the precious seconds they needed but there was no denying the fury in its cry as it charged back after them.

Ma had left Liu's arm to run beside them once more and at the same time Beng spotted their exit, "There! Look!"

Ba put on an extra burst of speed and skidded to a stop just below the shaft, he knelt down one knee with his hands on his thigh, ready to give them a boost, "Alright! Beng, you first! Get ready for Liu!"

There was no time to argue about the order and he didn't hesitate to leap forward and let Ba propel him upwards. The anchor for the monkey ladder, he held firm as he felt Liu grab his ankles, Ma's weight quickly following.

"C'mon, Ba! Move!"

As soon as he felt Ba's weight added to the chain, he did his best to move upwards as quickly as he could manage and he could feel the others do the same. He felt a gust of wind as the beast dove past the shaft but he didn't let that slow him down.

And sure enough it was the right call as moments later a snarling snout forced its way into the bottom of the shaft.

During the climb all of the extra weight had left him as each of his kin started to climb the ladder themselves and it was only once the creature stopped trying to shove itself into the tiny passage that they stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

No-one said anything as they waited to see if the beast had another trick up its sleeve but once all seemed clear, Liu asked, "Is everyone alright?"

He nodded tiredly, "I'm fine."

Ma responded, "Little banged up but nothing worse than some bruises."

When Ba's answer was not immediately offered next, Liu pressed him, "Ba."

"Fine. I'm fine. Just hurt my wrist. Probably just sprained it."

Despite the futility of it, he tried to get a better look at Ba but it was hard to do when Liu was climbing over Ma in order to examine him, "I knew you were avoiding putting weight on your right arm! Here, let me see it."

He heard Ba protest, "It can wait until we're out of here. We've got a bigger problem on our hands."

A small scuffle seemed to break out on top of Ma's back but that didn't stop Beng glaring down at her, "Like what you did to anger such a behemoth? How did you even get down here?"

Ma glared right back at him, "Don't start. It was pure chance that it found us before it found you." Liu's tail smacked her in the face, and it was clear her patience was at its end when she snapped, "Liu! Enough! Get off my back! Deal with it topside!"

"If he would just let me look at it-! I don't want him climbing and making it worse!"

Beng interjected, "I will carry him then. Let him climb up here and he can hold on to my back."

She argued, "No, I'll carry him. You have the torch and your bag and this way I can-"

Ma cut it, "I'll carry him if he needs it but for the love of the Spirits can we please just start climbing. We might have an actual fucking war on our hands to worry about!"

That certainly got their attention.

Stunned, all he could offer was, "What?"

"I'll explain when we're up. Now come on!"

Liu returned to her place on the ladder, "It's a long climb, you can explain on the way."

[lmk-monkiesibs-au]

AGES later, here's the rest of the design of the stalwart four. here are the generals!

marshals here

more on them under the cut!

first up, Beng!

he is the oldest of the generals, although no one really knows how long he's been around, and he won't tell either. he's based off a mandrill, and his main color is lilac! no metals for him because he does not care for them.

personality-wise, beng appears to be very aloof and uncaring at a first glance. although when the situation calls for it, he is quick to prove why is that he is a general of huaguoshan; beng is the most experienced of the lot, and is a fantastic magic user... to the point he doesn't use weapons at all, instead sticking to magic alone. which type of magic? shadow magic, which he taught mihou how to wield properly. unlike the prince's, his magic is not purely intrinsic, but bestow-inherited (see note*) — which means he's made a deal for it not unlike xiangliu implied macaque's magic had been acquired in s5 *hint hint*

he is not the most touchy-feely of the bunch, and most certainly gets awkward in any situations involving feelings. he is shit with kids also, but a great teacher. this is the only reason why he gets a 6/10 in mihou's scale. his score would be a lot lower otherwise.

next up, Ba!

ba is the second oldest, tallest and physically strongest of the generals. based off an orangutan, their main color is red, and metals are gold! they are the only one of the stalwart four to use armor besides Liu.

personality-wise, ba is the biggest softie around. seriously. they're rated a 8/10 in mihou's scale for that honestly. at first, there was questioning why they were even selected as a general, but time showed their true value. ba is a skilled fighter, and great with magic too — although not as confident/arrogant about it as beng) — going to great lengths to be of service to anyone who needs it. extremely humble, all ba wants to do is to help the monkeys of Huaguoshan in any way they can. they are almost as much of an optimist as ma, and pretty informal as well.

their weapon of choice is the meteor hammer — it is heavier than most can handle, and fairly hard to use... making it perfect for ba, really.

also i am aware that ba looks WILDY different and more detailed but that is because my art has evolved a lot from the time i drew liu/ma/beng for the first time lmao

*i'm treating magic based on this magic class analysis by @/that-guy-sleepy-miles. they are of course being adapted by the resolutions i already had for this au. in beng's case, im thinking his magic was bestowed by whatever the "him" was that xiangliu implied the deal had to be made with, and that is behind all the chaos business from s5. i am not fully commiting to explaining what beng would have to do with that until we get a better explanation hopefully in s6. just know that he made a deal or whatever, and mihou didn't (though he did cultivate upon his intrinsic magic)

[wolfsonic]

Fire on the mountain

So before I begin this, I entirely blame @journey-to-the-au for this, cause I rememeber they mentioned that Liu and Rin Rin and the others of the main group survived the attack on the mountian, but they didn't say anything about any of them not being hurt in the process. Am I about to make myself cry by writing this? Yes. Yes, I am. And, please, if i get anyone wrong or mix up anything with the timeline, please let me know, and I'll fix it, but ENJOY THE ANGST ANYWAY!

TW!!! Death, injures, child injury, fire, and the destruction it brings

(if I forget any let me know please, but I think that's all of them)

"GET EVERYONE IN THE WATERFALL CAVE NOW!" XinShu's scream had rang across the mountain hours ago. The celestials that attacked the mountain have all but left, leaving the smoldering remains of the once great forest. Leaving the remaining monkeys scrambling to look for survivors or any food that was salvageable. In some parts, fires still raged, making Liu cough from the smoke.

Ma, Liu, and XinShu were a part of the few ok enough to search the mountain. Beng was in the cave tending to survivors. Thankfully, he had kept his herbs stored away in a smaller cave attached to the waterfall cave, so they remained untouched by the fires. Unfortunately, he had lost most of his equipment in the attack. Ba had taken a serious burn to his back, Chestnut having minor scratches from the ordeal was tending to him after Beng had looked him over.

Courage and Wisdom had made it safely to the cave, thanks to XinShu. But, that only left one monkey unaccounted for. One Liu was despretly trying to find.

Rin Rin.

The Marshal held a tiny cub in his arms as he raced back to Waterfall Cave. The little thing looked to be a month old. His mother long since passed, protecting him from most of the brunt of whatever happened to them. A cut was across his side. Thankfully, it didn't look too bad, but Liu didn't want to take any chances.

When he finally entered the cave, the sight of many hurt monkeys made his heart sink. He swept the crowd and looked for Beng while simultaneously hoping Rin Rin had finally made it to them. Liu raced towards medicine monkey, calling out to him. The stress lines on Beng's face showed brightly as he gently took the cub from Liu's arms. His tiny, pained whimpers from the child was the only thing Liu could hear.

Everything else felt muffled to him, as his panic to find Rin Rin grew, before he could sink further, a gentle paw rested on his shoulder. The Marshal turned to meet the eyes of Courage, and the mute monkey gently cupped his face before she made an exaggerated breath. Liu held onto her as he fought to get his breathing under control.

[You can not search if you don't have a clear head. You will find her.] She signed to him when he finally was able to calm down enough to make out what she was saying.

"Thank you." Liu said softly, before gently letting the older monkey go, she nodded before he turned and raced back out of the cave, passing by Ma who led a group of monkeys into it.

Liu searched, his panic continuing to grow each second he couldn't find Rin Rin. What felt like an eternity, a pained voice spoke making him stop in his tracks. "Liu..."

He immediately whipped his head, searching for his moonlight. Before he could stop himself, he called out to her, his voice desperate. "RIN RIN!"

A pained whimpers was all he received back, and immediately he followed the sounds. Not caring for the increasing burn marks that littered his hands, arms and back. He had forgone his armor ages ago, after it got melted beyond repair in the first attack of the celestials. The first thing he spotted was the tattered remains of the flower Rin Rin wore proudly. One he had picked for her himself, it was then when he looked up he saw the sight before him.

Rin Rin looked up from where she laid, meeting his eyes her own swam with relief at the sight of him. A barely mature tree had fallen due to fire, one of its many branches currently had the smaller monkey's leg trapped. Tiny flames still danced along its bark, one of them being too close to Rin Rin for his liking, and Liu immediately raced towards her.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the branch trapping her, and slowly began to lift it. He held back any sound of pain, as the very hot bark touched his palms. When finally it was high enough, Rin Rin scooted out from under the tree branch. The Marshal dropped the branch before immediately checking her over.

Soot and dirt covered her once pristine fur, old and fresh tears trailed down her cheeks, Liu gently leaned down lookin over the ankle that had been trapped. It was swollen, his panic brain couldn't tell if it was broken or just sprained. Thankfully it looked to not be burned, which was a small blessing.

Liu after the check immediately pulled her into a hug, careful not to aggravate anything, one she returned. Sobs of pain mixed with relief came from her, only making him cling tighter to her. After a bit, he spoke gently to her "I'm going to pick you up. Ok?"

Rin Rin could only nod, and with as much care and gentle apologies, Liu held her close to his chest as he began to walk back to Waterfall Cave. That's when he finally got a good look around, and realized where they were. One of Flower Fruit Mountain's many berry fields, the once beautiful field now laid smoking.

Liu bit the bottom of his lip at the sight but, continued his trek. Focusing on the shaking form in his arms, one of his hands gently kept Rin Rin's face hidden in the crook of his neck. Keeping her from seeing the majority of the remians of their once thriving population. Liu fought the urge to cough.

Liu tried desperately to keep the walk back as smooth as possible, finally after what felt like hours, the cave was in sight. Making a immediate bee line towards it. The Marshal once again looked around for Beng, seeing him sitting down, Ma was next to him holding his hands, and talking to him gently.

A voice broke through the silence as Chestnut raced towards them. "Rin Rin! Marshal!"

The monkey gently tugged Liu forward fretting over both of them. Which Liu tried to brush off himself to direct it more towards Rin Rin. At the call Beng shot up. "I'm sorry Beng." Liu said seeing the tired eyes of the other as he approached. Beng just waved it off before motioning for Liu to put her down.

With gentle coaxing, Rin Rin finally let go of Liu from the hug but, kept her hand into his own. Beng first checked her leg, his face pulled into a frown before making a snapping motion with his hands. Rin Rin asked softly "do you have stuff to fix it?"

Beng nodded before walking off toward what little supplies he had left. He returned with a salve, some herbs, splints, and a wrap. Beng with gentle hands reset the foot with the splints and wrap, Liu cooing softly to Rin Rin with words of encouragement. Then he moved to adding salve to Rin Rin's scraps, before finally giving her herbs to eat. Beng then turned to Liu thrusting them as well as the salve into the Marshal's hands.

"Beng I don't need-" Liu was cut off by a gab in his good side, and he immediately looked as an irritated Rin Rin.

"Don't even think about not taking them, your breathing already sounds bad!" Rin Rin said with a glare, bringing Liu to notjust how raspy his breath has gotten. Liu just nodded making Beng relaxed before the medicine monkey walk off. Ma gently leading him to lay down and finally rest.

Liu looked at the Monkey's around them. Chestnut had returned to Ba's side, but the General was sound asleep. So all she did was curl up next to him to fall asleep as well. Wisdom, Courage and XinShu all say in a small circle, he immediately averted his gaze when he realized they were hugging one another. Beng had his head in Ma's lap, grooming him gently as she spoke softly to him.

Finally Liu turned his gaze to Rin Rin, her eyes still looking at him. He then relented and ate the herbs he was given. The Marshal's face screwing up at the taste, but thankfully the pain in his throat seemed to lessen. Before he could do anything, Rin Rin took the salve and started applying it to his burns. Taking great care, especially with the ones on his hands. "You hurt yourself because of me." her pained whisper made Liu look at her.

He leaned down and gently rested his forehead to her own. "And I'd do it again. If that ment taking you away from pain." Fresh tears slid down her cheeks at the vow, the two sat there as the fires dwindled down to nothing outside the cave.

[winterpower98]

Haven’t drawn my favorite monkey troop in a while!

So have a few doodles of random moments

[quitealotofsodapop]

Ahora que los generales están en la historia... ¿Alguna vez se reconciliaran con su Rey?

translated via Google:

"Now that the generals are in the story... Will they ever reconcile with their King?"

It is a... long process.

One or two of the Stalwart Generals have experienced death at the hands of the Celestial Army - only returning because Diyu would not accept them.

Marshal Ma, once Wukong's adoptive sister, still treats him like her idiot younger brother. Now advanced in age, she busies herself in training the new generations of Monkey demons in self-defence. The first of the Stalwarts to come out of hiding and reunite with the King and Macaque. Character reference; Old Toph from Legend of Korra.

Marshal Liu however, is still furious with both Macaque and Wukong for leaving their people. His fur is permanently marred with burns. His words and his bow are just as sharp as they were centuries before. He has not been seen in decades. Character reference: George Carlin

General Ba has become far too old and grandmotherly to worry about the past, and simply wishes to live in peace. Has but her military career on stand-by, but will raise a sword to defend her people. Character reference: Betty White in the Golden Girls

General Beng chooses not to worry himself with the matters of the past. There is still far to much to do now that the King and the Macaque have returned! Prefers to channel his little magic into healing the wounds left by the Burning. Character reference: Radagast the Brown from The Hobbit.

in short; The Stalwarts are mostly able to reconcile with Sun Wukong. Some faster than others. Some are faster to forgive Macaque over their king.

[jamie-is-out-of-ideas]

Star In The Sky AU

[writing this out cause the comic is gonna take me a long time to finish and I wanna share my ideas with tumblr.] 

Their King had been missing for three days now, gone without a trace. It was very unlike Wukong to leave without saying anything so everyone on Flower Fruit Mountain was quite worried, his four Stalwart General especially. 

The first day they assumed he’d just slept him but after no sign of him for a few hours they went to go check on him only to realize he wasn’t there. They’d spent the past two days looking all over the mountain for him but just couldn’t find him anywhere. 

“You don’t think he got himself in trouble again, do you?” Ba asked Ma as the four Stalwart Generals searched aimlessly through the forest of Flower Fruit Mountain for their king. 

“It’s Wukong, over course he got himself in trouble.” Ma said with a concerned expression on her face. All of a sudden there was a woosh sound, Ma and Ba looked up to see Wukong’s nimbus cloud zoom overhead and towards Water Curtain Cave. “...We better go check on him.” Ma muttered, anxious about finding out where their King had been for the past three days.

The four generals made their way up the mountain and into Water Curtain Cave. When they entered the cave there was the sound of crying echoing throughout the cave. They walked further into the cave until they got to the King’s hut. Ma hesitantly opened the door, all four of them gasped when they saw the state their King was in. In his arms, Wukong was holding a cub that looked identical to him when he had been younger. His hair was a mess and all his glamors were down, his red eyes were unfocused and he didn’t seem to be all there mentally at the moment.

“Oh Shihou…” Ma whispered, “what did you do?”

[amalgamorph]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49337704/chapters/162468184

Next chapter is up! Woohoo!!!!

Sorry this took so long to get out. Life kinda got out of hand for a little bit, but things are finding a new normal now. Hopefully I'll be posting more this year!

[frostedclock]

Too Much Wine

--

With the Banquet in full swing, even the Marshals seem to be drinking up their share of wine, particularly Marshal Ba. Liu and Ma might be making a bet whether or not he will crack his skull open or just break a limb before the nights done.