#I love him but dang Wukong is frustrating

[starsfic]

Lionpeach prompt: After Azure becomes the Jade emperor he makes a deal with wukong that if he marries him his friends will be safe

Sun Wukong had no idea how long he had been in the scroll.

It could've been minutes or years. Time was easily lost when you had to traverse a landscape made of your worst memories, from receiving his shifu's harsh words of banishment to feeling the fillet tighten around his head for the first time to hearing Long Xiaojiao scream at him as the Samadhi fire wrapped around her. He had fucked up in his long life, and the scroll made sure he remembered it all, even the smallest thing that slipped his self-hatred.

At least Xiaotian and the others had escaped. If they were out, there was hope.

He sighed, standing up from the ledge he sat on. He had needed a quick rest, although it was tempting to just sit there. He couldn't. He needed to figure a way out.

Before Wukong could begin to move, the world began to glow a familiar azure blue. He tensed up, taking a step back. Before he could run, the blue swallowed him up...

And he came to.

It was dark, although it took him a second to realize that he was scrunching his eyes closed. "Wukong?" a familiar voice said. He scrunched his eyes up even more. Once, that voice had made him feel warm and confident, sure of himself and his friends.

Then he had tried to kill him.

A familiar paw smoothed gently down his face. "Should he be like this?" Azure's voice said, probably asking Yellowtusk. "He should be alright now, right? We fixed the damage to the tile."

Oh. That explained why things got screwy at the end.

"I think he's just pretending so we'll leave him alone."

Dang it.

Wukong opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a giant multi-colored crack that began to close, ruining the lovely bedroom that had to be in the Celestial Realm. The second thing was Azure, practically crackling at the seams with the Jade Emperor's power, sitting next to him.

"Azure..." he whispered, not sure whether to be angry at him or afraid for him. "You're killing yourself."

Azure didn't respond beyond a simple quirk of his brow. "Leave us," he said to Yellowtusk. "I want privacy for this moment." Wukong felt his own brow raise as the elephant demon slipped out surprisingly quiet, closing the door behind him.

There was a heartbeat of silence.

Then Azure's paw gently turned his face towards his. "Wukong," he sighed.

"Azure."

"...I was so worried about you," the lion sighed. "I was hasty and acted foolishly. My cruelty towards Qi Xiaotian was uncalled for," Wukong tensed the moment his successor's name left the lion's mouth. "But I hope I can make it up to him with this."

"With what?" Wukong scoffed. Azure had a tendency to act before he thought, not really taking in many people's opinions. It was one of the things that made Macaque feel uneasy.

The next words are enough to justify Macaque's unease.

"Marry me."

"...Excuse me?"

"I can protect Xiaotian and his friends if the world knows they're under my protection thanks to you," Azure said, not bothering to repeat himself. He was unaware of dots connecting in Wukong's mind, disgust filling him.

He trusted that Azure wanted the Jade Emperor gone, for the better in his mind. But, choosing him to be the next emperor? The minute Wukong had met him, Azure had insisted that he was the perfect choice, even through frustration at him putting his monkeys first and his goofy attitude. Peng had once told him, out of spite at something Azure did, that Azure had a list of baby names for children he wanted with Wukong. Wukong had brushed it off, assuming that they just wanted chaos between him and the lion.

Except now he had to face the idea that Azure had hoped to get in his pants.

Before he could even say something or figure out what to say, Azure sighed. "I'll take your silence as a no," he said.

Lips pressed against his cheek.

"Please, think about it. I only want what is best for you." Azure pulled away, heading to the door. He paused to glance back at him with what he probably thought was a kind expression, but all Wukong could think was the idea that sat in his mind now.

"Good night."

[quitealotofsodapop]

So how's the reunion between Silly Girl and her parents like?

During an adventure with HiB family, they bump into them? Or her parents saw her strap to one of the monkey's back and thought they were the ones who kidnapped her?

The HiB family never stop trying to the find Silly Girl's origins post-film. I imagine took a while to reunite some of the stolen children with their families/guardians. Even with the assistance of minor gods and a dragon with a great sense of smell, it would take a few days to fully determine which infant belonged to whom. And of course there's orphans that the trolls likely stole first, needing to find homes in their own right. The HiB group accidentally end up running an orphanage for a brief amount of time as prospective parents come to adopt the parent-less stragglers.

Leaving only 1 child left out of the 100 taken by Hundun and his forces.

A certain familiar giggly little girl with a big secret that makes all possible adoptive human parents turn tail and run.

Silly Girl is discovered to have a very strong glamour affixed to her that finally started to wear off around the time Liuer was still bed-bound & healing from the battle with Hundun.

Pigsy: "Hey monkey! The little one's grown in her baby hooves!" Dasheng: "That's nice... wait."

Quickly they identify that Silly Girl is definitely not 100% human, and was likely given a glamour by her kidnappers to hide her true origins. Combined with a sudden growth spurt in her magic leading to a lot of tiny fires, the gang really want to find out who her parents are.

About a another month passes before reports of a pair of rampaging demons "ransacking" orphanages around Chang'an, but never taking a soul, reaches Mount Huaguo.

Dasheng gets a hunch and decides to bring the gang over for a look. Zhanshi agrees to keep Silly Girl hidden until they can get a confirmed motive from the demons.

Landing in the ruins of a yaoguai-torn village, the gang barely have a moment to breathe when a magic whirlwind suddenly snatches up Liuer - danging him many feet in the air. Before the adults can jump to assist, A mighty bellow fills the sky as a massive creature comes into view, flanked by his air-light mate.

The Great Sage raises his staff to the creature, ready to cave it's skull in if it means the safety of his charge. The kaiju-sized ox suddenly pauses and huffs with surprise;

The Demon Bull King, pauses boss music: "Wait... Xiandi [worthy little brother]?!" Dasheng, lowering his staff: "...Brother Bull??" Princess Iron Fan, using her magic wind to bind Liuer: "Sun Wukong is here?" HiB!DBK, delighted: "Wukong you old Sun! I had no idea you'd escaped the Buddha's grip! How did you manage that?" Dasheng, gritting his fangs: "I did with the help of someone very important to me. Someone your lover is currently danging 50 chi in the air." HiB!PIF: *looks at the boy dangling in her grip* Liuer, terrified but starstruck: "Hi! You're Princess Iron Fan, and The Demon Bull King; the Great Sage that Pacifies Heaven! You both abandoned heaven cus you fell in love during the Havoc! Are you both still together?" HiB!DBK, chest puffed out with pride: "She is my wife now." Dasheng, growing more frustrated: "And she'll be your widow if she doesn't lower him to the ground safely!" HiB!PIF: "Why should I? All the information we gathered points this little thief as being the last one to see our baby girl alive!" HiB!Pigsy: "Baby girl? Wait, Monkey. You think she means-?" Zhanshi: *arrives on scene in her own furious whirlwind. Silly Girl strapped to her front in a baby sling* Zhanshi, ready to murder: "GIVE ME MY CUB OR- Tieshan?" HiB!PIF, haven't seen eachother in centuries: "Liu'er Mihou!?" Silly Girl, arms outstretched towards PIF: "Mama!" HiB! DBK & PIF: *immediately drop their weapons/kaiju forms to rush forward and reunite with their little girl. PIF lowers Liuer safely into Dasheng's arms as they do the exchange* HiB!PIF, sobbing and clutching her daughter tight: "Oh, Hong Hai'er! My little firefly! I'm so sorry I let you out of my sight for a single second! Did those terrible trolls do anything to you?!" Silly Girl: *delighted giggling and playing with her mom's hair* Hib!DBK, not even trying to hold back tears: "We're so sorry Xiandi! We were following leads to where our daughter was last seen. These... lowly mountain yao swiped her from her crib and headed eastward. The people of Chang'an said that your little monk was the last one to have had her." Fa Ming, finally caught up to the fight: "Thankfully Liuer is a disobedient tudi. He managed to reverse kidnap her from the trolls when they raided the city." Hib!DBK & PIF, looking between the monkeys and the mini-monk: "Liu'er?" [sounds similar] Liuer: *has dark hair, a Monkey King-esque face marking/paint, maybe even a tail like in my revived part-monkey!Liuer idea* Dasheng & Zhanshi, realising how it looks: "Uhh. Well..." "It's complicated." Liuer, talking at double-speed: "First me and Sifu saved Silly Girl from the trolls, but me and Silly Girl got lost, and we went into a cave to hide. Then it turned out to be Five Point Mountain, and I see this big blue crystal and-" *trails off without taking a breath* HiB!DBK: "Your calf seems to have a picture perfect memory at least." HiB!PIF: "Sister, you really should have told us about him. Or told us you were alive even." Dasheng & Zhanshi, talking over one another: "He's not mine-" "We didn't-!" Hib!DBK: "No worries, we should understand. We too kept a low profile after the Havoc. Even more so when our little firefly was born. You saw what a fuss we made to get her back." *nuzzles his daughter's head* Silly Girl, babbling happily: "Ba-ba-abbababa!" HiB!PIF: "I can't believe we almost lost her for good... we owe you an apology Little Liu'er, and our deepest gratitude." Liuer, still starstuck: *faints with joy* HiB!DBK: "Um... Is he ok?" Dasheng, patting Liuer's back: "Yeah don't worry. He does that when he meets someone from our pasts." Zhanshi: "And when he met the Egg for the first time." HiB!DBK & PIF, eyes glowing with excitedment: "More children?!"

They def didn't expect the Cloud Egg to be an actual stone egg, but they're estatic for their old friends nonetheless. The two couples (with details filled in by friends) just sit around for hours inside Water-Curtain Cave, talking about their adventures, and letting the Demon Bull couple catch up with their daughter.

The HiB family also comment on a odd habit Silly Girl has ever since she came to the island. She likes to hug the Cloud Egg whenever possible. Shrieks/moos with anger if removed. PIF and DBK just laugh, explaining that they keep chickens in the palace gardens. Silly Girl likely remembers the hens incubating their eggs and thinks the Cloud Egg needs to be kept warm. The parents aww at the thought.

The HiB family feel a little bittersweet at Silly Girl going home to her family. Truly its a miracle they reunited, but it's also sad that the firey toddler they've come to love is leaving them. They all make promises to the Demon Bull couple to visit whenever they pass by the Flaming Mountains. Dasheng and Zhanshi hold/cradle Liuer and the Cloud Egg for hours after the reunited trio leave westward on the horizon.

Liuer in turn hugs the Cloud Egg like he's seen Silly Girl (or he supposes Silly Red Girl) do many times before, hoping it brings him clarity. He's pleasantly surprised to feel tiny pulses of magic dancing in rhythm to his own heartbeat as he holds the Egg. He vows to make sure no one EVER hurts his fellow tudi (sibling?), and vows to protect Silly Red Girl if they ever meet again...

[magician-kitty]

The Macaque and the Huli-Jing PART 1

"You know, when I found out I was going to be trained by The Monkey King, Great Sage Equal to Heaven," MK grunts as he slams the hammer down onto the old mural, Sweat drips down her face. "I had no clue that...I'D BE STUCK HERE HAMMERING WALLS 12 HOURS A DAY!!" MK shouted chucking the hammer away in frustration.

The Monkey King hummed, tail waving lazily below the cloud as he tossed a chip in his mouth, a scroll laying beside the sage half opened.

It's been days since Red Son and his family stole that Skeleton Key from her and Mei, she felt that something bad was heading her way so needs to up her training.

Easier said than done.

"Why am I doing this again?!" MK complained loudly.

"Because it is a good way to practice your strength, plus It be nice to make a nice lil' breakfast nook, get some light up in here." Monkey King said smiling.

MK huffed, annoyed. "But I'm meant to be Monkie Kid not 'Construction Girl’ How am I supposed to do the hero stuff if I don't know the hood stuff?!" She grumbled.

Wukong snorted, looking up at her. "Oh? So you want to know the 'good stuff,' huh? Like this?" The sage used his eyes of truth, throwing the staff clean through the second rock.

MK grinned and nodded, sliding over to him. "Whoa! Yes, exactly like that. I am ready for something awesome," MK told him. "I feel so underprepared for when demons attack and something like that would help!"

Monkey King laughed, sat up and ruffled the the girl's hair. "Look, sweetie, You can't rush this stuff. You'll get there. You just need practice." He told her. "I'm never going to teach you something you don't actually need to know, okay?"

MK frowned, looking at him. "Promise?" She asked.

Monkey King nodded. "I Promise kiddo." He replied, leaning back again. "Now, these rocks are not going to destroy themselves. So remember: Step into the strike."

MK nodded and was about to strike the wall again until her phone started to ring.

It feels so right

I'm where I belong

'Cause I found my place

I found my place-

"Ooh I love that song!" She heard Monkey King said, humming along to the song. MK quickly answered her phone, to reveal that it was Mei calling her. "What's the Sitch Mei?"

"MK!!" Mei's panicked voice came through, loud enough that she had to hold the phone away from her ear. "We really need your help, some kind of monster is attacking the city!" Mei said in a panicked expression and moved to the side to reveal a giant blue monster attacking the city.

MK gasped in worry. "A monster attacking the city? That's terrible." She glanced behind her mentor, who was still lounging on his cloud.

"Dang. Guess I got to go do some boring hero stuff instead of this," MK said sarcastically pointing to the rocks. MK ran out of the cave.

"Kay, bye!!"

Monkey King sighed in exhaustion, he knew MK meant well, he just hoped the kid knew what she's doing.

'I really wished you were here right now.' He thought in his head. There was suddenly a loud crashing noise.

"Bai-He! I thought I told you to stay in your room! You’re still grounded, young lady!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the city, MK arrived just in time, then soon landed next to a worried Mei, who stared up at the monster. "What did I miss?" MK asked her, gripping the staff.

"MK, what took you so long?!" Mei said panicking.

MK winced slightly. "I know, I'm sorry! Monkey King was making me do house chores." She told her, she then looks up staring at the giant monster. "Is that the bad guy?"

The monster looked liked some sort of fox, with Piercing white glowing eyes, sharp claws, who stared down at them growling menacingly.

"Don't worry Mei-Mei, I'll handle this." MK said twirling her staff. Mei tried to warn her but was too late has MK launched herself towards the monster.

"Here Comes Monkie Ki-" but before she could hit it, the creature used it's tail to wrap around her ankle, flinging her back. When the dust settled MK lying on a crater next to Mei. "Ow, that hurts."

"Yeah," Mei said, rubbing her head as MK got up, "We tried that," she then pointed to Sandy and Pigsy, who lay in another crater next to MK's.

Suddenly, a shadow zooms over them, catching their attention. MK squinting her eyes at the mysterious figure trying to get a better look.

"Monkey King?"

The figure lands on top of a nearby building, summoning two bladed tessen fans, spinning it around with a grin.

The creature was ready to attack, but the figure spun her fans around as a powerful circle of wind tornados surrounded her, sending it towards the creature, the creature's body was engulfed in the wind and disappeared.

"Hmph, well that wasn't worth the effort." The mysterious lady grumbled.

"Yes!"

The mysterious lady nearly jumped out of her skin at the young voice. She whirled around to see MK, who had climbed the side of the building she is on.

"Monkey King!" She attempted to scramble onto the platform only to fall off the edge with a loud screech and then a thud. The lady just blinked before turning around to leave but the moment she faced forward again MK was in front of her.

"That was awesome. I can't believe you came back to--" She gasped when he realized that this wasn't Monkey King. "Oh! You're...not Monkey King."

"I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Standing in front of her was a tall, beautiful woman. She had an hourglass figure that would put other women to shame. She was attired with a long light green hanfu dress with oversized sleeves, with a black undershirt.

Her hair was dark green wavy hair, At the top of her head is a blue and green crescent moon shaped headdress, with a gold crown tied to her hair. She's wearing red eye shadow and a red shaped diamond at the center of her forehead.

"Woah..~." MK stared in awe, more softly and obviously embarrassed. "Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine. I just thought you were, you know Monkey King."

The mystery lady chuckled, scratching the back of her head grinning bashfully. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting someone more...Manly~" She teased.

MK shook her head, worried that she offended her. "Oh- n-No No! Ma'am It's just...I'm sorry, who are you?" MK asked raising an eyebrow.

The lady thought about it, scratching her chin. "Hm, Well I've gone by many names. But you can call me...Jade."

The woman now known as Jade, extended her hand towards MK, shaking her hand. "And am I to assume you're the adorable Monkie Kid, right?"

MK nodded, eyes shimmering. "How did you--" She blushed a bit at the "adorable" comment.

She points towards the staff in the mortal's hands. "Your staff kind of gives you away, silly. Not just anyone can wield that thing," She stood up, dusting her dress. "Honestly I'm quite amazed by it."

MK lets out a shy chuckle as her face blushed some more, rubbing the back of her head. "Oh I-It's nothing. I mean, you're the one that's amazing, I mean I don't wanna sound awkward. But we're just, I, I'm awkward, you're gorgeous." She rambled but catching herself.

"Wait, what?"

When MK looked up, she had to gulp. She saw Jade giving her a sweet smile let out a cute laugh which made the brunette's insides churn.

"Are you always this articulate?" She asked in a teasing tone, wiping a stray tear from her eye.

"I..I.."

Clearing her throat, Jade scratched her cheek bashfully. "Well, it's been fun but I should be going...see you around little Kit." Jade waved as she walks away.

MK whined and runs after Jade. "Can you teach me those awesome moves ma'am!?!" MK asked standing in front of Jade, smiling wide and eyes sparkling, Jade quickly backed away, a small drop of sweat on her forehead.

"Uh, don't you already have a Master? I thought The Monkey King was training you." She asked.

MK looked away awkwardly. "Ah, yeah, yeah, no, he-he is. But you can never have too many teachers, right? I'm sure he would agree."

"It's not like he would want to hold you back," Jade said. "You want to be stronger, right!"

"Um," MK contemplated as she looks at her staff, it was true, she does want to get stronger. But all of the simian's teachings it feels like it's getting anywhere with her. How was she going to protect her loved ones If she couldn't defeat a single monster.

She clutches the staff in her hand and glances up at Jade. "Yeah. Yes! I do want to be stronger. He totally would be cool with it."

Jade hummed in thought, she smirked, placed a hand on her hip. "Well then, I graciously accept your request!" The demoness drapes her arm around MK's shoulders. "Come along, kit. I have so much to teach you."

Unknown to MK, Jade lowered her hand onto MK's back, light blue energy lined it's frame over her Monkey King logo turning it into the symbol of a Huli-Jing, a sinister looking one.

Neither of them noticed a pair of binoculars was watching at them from afar, a shadowy figure in the form of a monkey.

The shadowy figure growled as he watched. "I found you, you little (BLEEP)” The mysterious figure disappeared and vanished, speeding up to follow the two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that afternoon, Jade took MK to an abandoned dojo as they began training, MK grunts as she was thrown towards the weapons rack.

MK gasped at Jade's tessen blade was a few inches from her face. "Not bad little Kit. But, I was kind of expecting a little more from someone with...more power." Jade commented.

"Hey! Hey I've got more, I could give way more than that! I can do better!" She proclaimed, she gets up dusting herself off with a smirk on her face."

"Okay then, show me more then." Jade said as she gets into a fighting position, MK huffed as she does the same. The two then engaged in hand-to-hand combat. After a while, the two were left panting, sweating coming from their bodies. "Not bad, I must say you're a very special girl." Jade winked at MK before walking away. "Class dismissed."

As MK left the dojo she couldn't help but let out a sigh of exhaustion. The next couple of days were the same as before, MK would meet up with Jade at the dojo and the two would train.

Often times Jade would make cute comments at her, calling her 'cute' and 'adorable' making her embarrassed.

Right now, MK was sitting on a bench wincing at the touch of her newfound bruises on her. "I said I'm fine Jade, I can handle this kinda thing."

The fox demoness had her back turned from her, putting some ointment onto her hands, hiding the suspicious grin on her face. "Please I insist. Beautiful girls don't deserve bruises."

That got MK feeling all giddy up in the inside, she couldn't remember the last time someone's been like this to her.

Jade lifted her shirt up, placing her hands on MK's shoulders, gently rubbing the ointment onto her bruises there. MK lets out a content hum as she works into some of the knots in her shoulders.

"Feeling better?" Jade asked, working on her back next. MK nodded, eyes closed.

"Uh, yeah yeah. You're fine, I-I mean, I'm fine! The pain's going away." She caught herself, hiding her face in embarrassment.

"Aww, I ain't you nervous now, am I?", She teased, his ever-present smile turned to a sly grin.

"Um, no. Not at all." MK couldn't stop himself from leaning into Jade's hands, the tension from shoulders and neck just washing away in an instant.

"So, tell me kit, Any romantic interests in your life?" She asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Uh, no. Not right now," MK groans at the feeling, her legs started shifting slowly, although she's too lost in the moment to notice. "I can't really recall the time I've had an actual boyfriend, or a girlfriend." She admitted with a shy blush.

It's true that she's dated in the past before, but in the end they've all never worked out. Either they were complete jerks, using her, hitting on Mei behind her back, or just awful in general.

Jade hummed, raising an amused brow. "Really? That's too bad, a beautiful maiden such as yourself could get anyone you wanted~" Smirking behind her, Jade leaned down and murmured against MK's neck, feeling a gentle shudder from the mortal.

MK continued to moan, loving the feeling by of hands. After a few moments, the massage stopped.

"All done!"

"Huh??" MK opened her eyes, Jade sat up and was wiping the ointment off her hands. MK frowned, sitting up a bit, she was kinda disappointed.

Later on was more training, more bruises...

Enough! If you want to get stronger then stop holding back! You want something, you take it. Your first strike should be your last strike!" Jade shouts as she and MK sparred aggressively. The more they sparred, the logo on MK's jacket begins to glow.

"Everytime you attack, give it everything you've got! Other people will tell you to be patient."

[rain-bow-donkey]

Catch and Release: Ch 17

Inspired by @starsfic work "Demon Customs."

Previous Chapter

Summary:

Wukong camps out in his room.

—————————

Wukong feels disoriented from the nightmare he just woke up from.

It took a moment for Wukong to even realize he wasn’t in the peach tree anymore. No, looks like he was back in his room. Tucked in his bed. Without his armor on.

A quick scan confirmed that his armor wasn’t even in the room either.

The king can assume that Macaque was the one to blame for his armors disappearance and for his relocation from the garden. Not unless there’s anyone else in this prison with them.

Which there isn’t. Sadly it’s just Macaque and Wukong here.

Alone.

Together.

Ugh. Rolling over to plant his face into the lush pillows, Wukong groaned. Stressed out because he was trapped with seemingly no escape. Now add in the the stress from the nightmare he just woke up from.

Wukong can still hear MK’s screams -

Wait, MK!

Springing his head up, Wukong had an idea. He may not be able to escape on his own, but he can still contact MK! The king had lost a large portion of his strength but from what Wukong can tell, he may still be able to use his powers to some extent. He was able to use his cloud after all. So seeing if he can use his astral projection was worth a shot.

Moving to sit in a mediation position, Wukong focused on his connection with MK.

It should have been easier. The kid has his powers for crying out loud. Wukong should have been able to connect their minds no problem. But it was a struggle to even sense MK.

When the Great Sage finally found him the connection felt weak. MK’s usually power signature was no longer bright. Now it felt far more weaker and dim.

That wasn’t a good sign. Maybe the kid didn’t make it out of the Spider Queens fight alright? Or maybe Wukong really was that weakened?

Well, there’s only one way to find out.

Hounding his focus on MK, Wukong tried to strengthen their connection. As soon as he had done so, the ring on his finger started glowing. Sensing Wukong as he tried to use his powers. And the damn piece of metal sent itself to work reducing it.

Looks like Wukong needs to hurry this call up before he loses his grip entirely. He can feel his powers being drained by the minute.

MK’s golden silhouette appeared before him. Fading in and out as Wukong struggled to keep their connection.

“Kid, Kid. Can you hear me?”

“Monkey King?!” MK’s silhouette spun around to find his teacher. It finally seemed to spot him on the bed. “Monkey King! You’re ok!”

Smirking softly, the king was relieved that his successor seemed fine at least. “Of course I’m ok kiddo. I’m surprised that you made it out of that whole spider fiasco alright.”

“Oh, yeah. We beat the Spider Queen no problem with the Demon Bull King there to help us!” The silhouette jumped into the air while seemingly punching it in excitement. MK stopped mid celebration to look at his master with concern. “Uh, Monkey King, are you ok? I mean, where are you even?”

Dropping his smirk, the king looked solemn all of the sudden. “I’m in a bit of trouble here kid.”

Wukong spent the last few minutes explaining the situation with MK. How Macaque got the drop on him when the king tried to make his escape from the Spider Queen. And is now being held captive by Macaque at some unknown location.

“Don’t worry Monkey King, we’ll find you, break you out of there, and teach that shadowy faker a lesson!” MK was mad. Looks like the kid still holds a grudge against Macaque. And now that grudge is being fueled by the anger his student felt on Wukongs behalf.

“Thanks kid. But you got bigger problems to worry about.” Damn, Wukongs starting to lose his grip on his connection. He needs to finish this up quickly. “I think Macaque is working with the Spider Queen and the White Bone Spirit. I saw the bone demon at the Spider Queens lair right before Macaque ambushed me.”

“Then we’ll teach them a lesson too by taking them down!” MK was pumped and ready to go toe to toe with the Spider Queen again. Especially if it meant he can save his master from Macaque’s clutches.

“Just be safe kid. And don’t worry about me. I can handle Macaque.” The connection was growing weaker. MK’s silhouette was fading faster now. “And be vigilant with the White Bone Spirit! That one is the worst out of all of them.”

Before MK could reply back, the connection finally went out. The silhouette of his successor disappeared completely. Leaving Wukong in his room alone.

[kai-keda]

since we've got the discussion ball rolling, what did you think of macaques arc through season 3 and embrace your destiny?

i personally really enjoyed it! i think the writers did a good job not using him too much during s3 and loved the way his demeanor completely changes in ep9. i liked his "redemption" in EYD because it wasnt even really a redemption. hes not a good guy now hes just not a villain any more.

i think its also a plus that unlike some villain-hero team ups *cough* she-ra *cough* none of the cast (except maybe mk but thats up for debate) immediately (or at all) even like macaque, swk doesnt like him, pigsy doesnt like him, it feels more natural i guess?

im asking cause i remember you posting about want a sacrifice-redemption for him.

(sorry for all the long asks also)

Don’t apologize for these asks! I love them! They fuel me!

I don’t have much to add to this one, though, cause I agree with everything you said lol

I think they gave him the amount of time he needed and no more. I didn’t feel like anything with Macaque was unnecessary, especially considering how complicated his relationship with the heroes is. (Like how he started out purely wanting to mess with Wukong via using MK as a tool for that (cough-cough MK was Macaque’s weapon against Wukong) and then was dragged into fighting them because of LBD.

The moment where MK tells Macaque “Then be a warrior.” was SOOOOO satisfying and awesome and I’m pretty confident in saying THAT was the moment his arc came to a satisfying conclusion.

I wouldn’t say even MK immediately liked Macaque, though. I think he’s just more open to him by the end due to a character trait of being more emphatic to others. I mean, he was kinda yelling and fussing and acting frustrated with Macaque when they had him tied up. MK literally told him to shut up cause he was in time-out.

As for my posts about there not being a god-dang point if we didn’t get an ending that would match with “Leave Out All the Rest” from Linkin Park… those were mostly a joke.

Yes I really wanted that and was heavily advocating for it but I was also, much more quietly, bringing up the “Goes off to live isolated from everyone else and occasionally helps the gang in ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ style with bonus points if he causes minor mischief from time to time” possibility. (Heck, that possibility is what I was already going with for my stories with my spicynoodles fankids and having Xiaobo sneak off to bug Macaque into training him. The cast basically has a “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” relationship with Macaque in that universe)

The only thing I knew I 100% did NOT want from Macaque was for him to completely join the good guys and be considered a member of the team. Worse yet if Wukong’s mistakes with how he treated Macaque were treated as worse than how Macaque has responded to and treated others because of it. ESPECIALLY if Wukong never gets a chance to tell his side of what happened. (I am still holding strong to the theory that Macaque is an unreliable narrator)

It feels like making him a hero on the team similar to A:TLA’s Zuko would have cheapened Red Son’s arc since he is so clearly on that path and much further along it.

I’m glad we got what we did, even if I would have LOVED a redemption sacrifice.

Note that I never actually watched She-Ra and know so little about it that I thought the main character’s name was Catadora until I learned about a year ago that that was actually the ship name between the characters Catra and Adora

[skellebonez]

Hello, hi, I would like to please request something about Wukong/Macaque/Spider Queen (I've fallen into that rabbit hole since reading your prompts about them and I can't get out). It can be literally anything you want, but I would really like to see the monkeys sweeping SQ off her feet (be it literal or metaphorical, your choice). Love your work, looking forward to seeing more, have a wonderful day/night!

Thank you so much! I hope you like this, I have had these three on my brain for so long it was hard for me to pick out just one scenario for them, but I’m really happy with what I have managed here!

The Spider Monkie AU, and this ship, come courtesy of @strange-lace who I owe so much to for making me love this ship so dang much.

“Are you alright?”

Spider Queen froze, not expecting anyone to find her hidden away deep in the forests of Mount Huaguo. Then again, if anyone was to find her this deep and hidden behind the foliage it would have to be the king of the mountain in the first place. He knew this place far too well not to know all the little nooks and crannies she could hide away in now that she was... well. As she was before she learned of the technological advancements of the centuries.

“Wukong,” she tried to say evenly, barely able to hold back the hiss of pain as she turned to him. “I thought you were otherwise occupied.”

“I was,” he started, moving closer and sitting beside her. Just crooked in his posture enough that she barely had to turn her back to look at him. “But one of my monkeys told me they saw something that worried them and being King I had to come investigate.”

Worried them?

“Your... monkeys are worried about me?” Spider Queen asked softly, eyes widening in surprise.

She hadn’t been on Mount Huaguo for very long, not really, not long enough for her to really become a part of the Monkey King’s court properly. She and her spider demons, a whole three of them, were still very much on the outskirts of the majority of the court itself. Only Wukong and Macaque would truly give them much attention on a regular basis outside of a handful of the younger monkeys that seemed to latch on to Goliath in particular, though they had cooled off from their initial luke warm reception. Especially after...

She craned her neck a bit, really looking up at the large spider monkie beside her. At the beautiful green eyes that she could find herself lost in for hours. Days, even, they had the time being long lived/immortal as they were. When Wukong had changed his monkeys took to it much better than she had hoped for, granted it probably helped that he seemed relatively excited about his added height and 4 extra arms, and after that the court warmed up to them just a bit more.

That didn’t lessen her surprise in the slightest, however.

“They like you a lot more now than you think they do,” he rebutted with a smile, brighter than even the sun itself in her eyes.

Damn it all, but she knew she was done for. She was already starting to like him once the truth about MK came out, maybe not in a romantic sense but she was. And after they rescued her from the Trigram furnace and he started to stay with her, begin moving her and her small court to the mountain, help her through the aftermath of being trapped in there for so long, she knew she was starting to fall for him. Then that damned venom had to shatter all over him and turn him into... into...

A spider monkie beefcake.

Oh she had it bad. And she knew that Wukong knew she had it bad.

“Who likes Queenie more than she thinks?” A second voice sounded, and the flush tat had begun to pepper her face deepened as Macaque emerged through the trees with a small monkey slumbering in his arms. “Are you ok? Are your legs bothering you again?”

Spider Queen froze for a moment as he knelt down, looking over her with a discerning glance.

She and Macaque had already talked through... a lot of what happened. What with the experiments she had approved and what happened to him after. How she made salved and balms and different medications to help ease his aches and pains. How he had almost immediately returned her attempts at helping him when her burn scars and weak legs hurt her as well.

And it didn’t help that he sported a beautiful shade of purple in his own fur that she couldn’t help but stare at as it glistened in the sun because neither of these men could wear shirts anymore.

“O-oh, I’m fine!” She laughed out awkwardly, waving her hands in front of herself. She told herself in her head to act normal. “Who’s Queenie?”

That didn’t go as planned.

“And you’re going up!” Wukong exclaimed, scooping the woman into his arms with effortless ease and a care that still honestly shocked her, as if she was made of the finest glass he had ever laid eyes on. With six arms it was easy for him to hold her steady, one arm carefully laid out for her legs to dangle from at the knee and another gently cupping her neck as he held her to his chest. “Comfy?”

“YeS ThANk You,” was the awkwardly squeaked reply that escaped her lips. She couldn’t even scowl in frustration or embarrassment when Wukong laughed in reply, his booming voice almost overtaking the soft purr she could feel in his chest against her.

From the side she could see Macaque smirking a bit, muttering “show off” under his breathe as they made their way out of the forest and back. She listened to Wukong’s soft purr against her and Macaque explaining to them both what he left behind when he followed Wukong, and why he had one very tired and sleepy monkey still holding tight to one of his arms (and if him gently petting the little one wasn’t one of the sweetest things Spider Queen had ever seen then she was still soup).

“So,” Macaque said with a concerned frown as they finally reached their now shared home and he watched as Wukong helped he lay back and take off her shoes before leaving to get something for them to eat. “Heels again?”

“You’ll thank me for trying to wear them one day, I promise you,” She said softly, knowing their concern was warranted when her legs pained her to walk in any capacity on a regular basis. “And they’re not that bad this time!”

“You’re right,” he admitted with a smaller frown, moving to sit beside her. “I just... worry about you, you know? The way you worry about my back when I push myself too hard to move stuff or fight.”

“I know, and it’s very sweet,” she admitted, smiling as the little monkey in his arms awoke and looked around in confusion before seeing her and freezing with wide eyes. “Oh... Hello.”

It took no more time than that for the little one to sit up, leaping from Macaque’s arm to her shoulder. Spider Queen froze, watching as the monkey looked at her with an odd expression and seemed to nod to themself as they settled on her opposite shoulder and began running their fingers through her shortened hair and picking out bit of leaves and dust that had been trapped there when she had tried to find a place to rest.

“Uuuuuh,” she said, looking at her partner next to her in surprise.

“We told you they’d warm up to you,” he said softly, leaning over to give her a quick peck on the cheek. “This one liked you already, they were just too shy to approach such an amazing Queen.”

Spider Queen didn’t know if Macaque was telling the truth or embellishing it with his own feelings toward her... but as Wukong returned and cooed over the sight of one of his many charges grooming through her hair and they ate the peach slices he brought, she found she didn’t care either way.

It meant the same to her regardless.

[sketching-shark]

I think we should start a protection squad (although they don’t need it because they can protect themselves) for Sun Wukong and Guanyin

“Begone monkie kid fandom trying to down grade these really interesting characters with interesting personality’s and backstory ( the both of them like seriously Guanyin backstory is so cool) to a villain wile trying to justify your angsty backstory (that are no where near as cool as monkey who fights gods and Person who has 1000 arms and heads to help people in need) for the actual villain”

So who wants to join

Me:*raises my hand*

Ps: sorry if I got Guanyin backstory wrong am not an expert on it.

Haha okay so some critiques on the jttw & associated media western fandom & fandom in general coming up, so please skip this upcoming text wall if you don't want to encounter my undoubtedly ~devastating~ words (i.e. don't like don't read as people love to say, & if I have to be inundated with images of my notp every time I go into the sun wukong tag then I imagine people can be chill with me expressing my opinions & giving people fair warning that I WILL be critiquing common fandom trends, but no need for you to see that if you don’t want to. Cool? Cool.)

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PFFFFFTTT oh man there are many times when I feel like signing up for such a protection squad...when it comes to the current western jttw & Sun Wukong fandom I do feel like I'm often swinging at a rapid pace between "well it's fandom & people are allowed to make the stories they want" & "I am once again begging my fellow monkie kid enthusiasts (& sometimes creators) to do more research into the og classic/show it more respect so you can avoid any potentially offensive/off-the-mark misunderstandings of the status & cultural context of the characters in their country of origin (I promise it's super interesting & I can provide you with links to free pdf copies of the entire Yu translation, i.e. the best one ever created, so feel free to ask!) & maybe also stop constantly stripping away all the nuance of Sun Wukong's character for the sake of either making him an entire asshole so your little meow meow can look completely innocent in comparison and/or making the monkey king's entire life & character revolve around said meow meow."

Like I get that fandom's supposed to be a kind of anything-goes environment, but one thing that honestly seems to be true of a lot of fandoms--and the western one for Sun Wukong & co. is certainly not immune from this--is that there often seems to be a kind of monoculturalization at work in what stories are created & what character interpretations are made popular. Across a multitude of fandoms, you frequently see basically nothing but the exact same tropes being made popular & even being insisted on for the canonical work (especially hasty redemption arcs & enemies to lovers these days), the exact same one-dimensional character types that characters from an original work keep getting shoved into, the exact same story beats, etc. And I get it to an extent, as fandom is generally a space where people just make art and fic for fun & without thinking too hard about it & without any pressure. 

This seems to, however, often unfortunately lead to the mentality that it’s your god-given right to do literally whatever you want with literally any cultural figure without even the slightest bit of thought put into their cultural, historical, and even religious context, even (and sometimes especially) when it comes to figures that are really important in a culture outside your own. For such figures--even if you first encounter them in a children’s cartoon--you should be a little more careful with what you do with them than you would with your usual Saturday morning line-up. It of course has to be acknowledged that there exists a whole pile of absolutely ridiculous & cursed pieces of media that are based on Journey to the West & that were produced in mainland China, but for your own education if nothing else I consider it good practice for those of us (myself certainly included) who aren’t part of the culture that produced JTTW to put more thought into how we might want to portray these characters so that at the very least (to pull some things I’ve seen from the jttw western fandom) we’re not turning a goddess of mercy into an evil figure for the sake of Angst(TM), or relegating other important literary figures into the positions of offensive stereotypes, or making broad claims about the source text & original characterizations of various figures that are blatantly untrue, or mocking heavenly deities because of what’s actually your misunderstanding of how immortality works according to Daoist beliefs. Yet while a lot of this is often due to people not even trying to understand the context these figures are coming from, I do want to acknowledge that the journey (lol reference) to understand even a fraction of the original cultural context can be a daunting one, especially since, as I’ve mentioned before, it can be really hard & even next to impossible to find good, accessible, & legitimate explanations in English of how, for example, the relationship between Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China & according to the Buddhist beliefs that define the original work. 

That is to say, I do think it’s an unfortunate, if unavoidable, part of any introduction of an original text into a culture foreign to its own for there to be sometimes a significant amount of misinterpretation, mistranslations, and false assumptions. There is, however, a big difference between learning from your honest mistakes, & doubling down on them while dismissing all criticism of your misinterpretation into that abstract category of “fandom drama.” The latter attitude is kind of shitty at best and horrifically entitled at worst. 

Plus, as I’ve discovered, there is a great deal of interest and joy to be drawn from keeping yourself open to learning aspects of these texts & figures that you weren’t aware of! I can say from my own experience that I’ve always really enjoyed & appreciated it when individuals on this site who come from a Chinese background--and who know much more about the cultural context of JTTW than me--have taken the time to explain its various aspects. It often leaves me feeling like woooooaaaahhhhhHHH!!!! as to how amazingly full of nuanced meaning JTTW is like dang no wonder it’s one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels. 

And I guess that right there is the heart of a lot of my own personal frustration and disappointment with the ways that fandoms often approach a literary work or other piece of media...like don’t get me wrong, a lot of the original works a fandom may grow around are just straight-up goofy & everyone’s aware of it & has fun with it, yet the trend of approaching what are often nuanced and multi-layered works in terms of how well they fit and/or can be shoved into pretty cliche ideas of Redemption Arc or Enemies to Lovers or Hero Actually Bad, Villain Actually Good etc...well, it just seems to cheapen and even erase even the possibility of understanding the wonderful complexity or even endearing simplicity that made these works so beloved in the first place. Again, I feel like I need to make it clear that I’m not saying fandom should be a space where people are constantly trying to one-up each other with their hot takes in literary analysis, but it would be nice and even beneficial to allow room for commentary that strives to approach these works in a multi-faceted way, analysis & interpretations that go against the popular fandom beliefs, & criticism of the work or even of fandom trends (yes it is in fact possible to legitimately love something but still be critical of its aspects) instead of immediately attacking people who try to engage in such as just being haters who don’t want anyone to have fun ever (X_X).   

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Anyway, I know I didn’t cover even half of the stuff you brought up in the first place anon, but I don’t want any interested parties to this post to suffer too long through my text wall lol. I was asked to try my hand at illustrating Guanyin, but as with you I’m nowhere near as informed as I should be about her, so I want to do more research on her history and religious importance before I attempt a portrait. I’ll try my best, and do plan to pair that illustration with my own outsider’s attempt to summarize her character. From what little I do know I am in full agreement that her backstory is so incredibly amazing...just the fact that she literally eschewed the bliss of Nirvana to help all beings reach it, and even split herself into pieces in the attempt to do so (with Buddha granting her eleven heads and a thousand arms as a result)...man, I can see why she’s such a beloved & respected deity. 

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 As for what western fandom commonly does with everyone’s favorite god-fighting primate...I can talk about this at length if there’s interest, but for this post I’ll just say that I guess one lesson from all of this is that for all the centuries that have passed since Journey to the West was first completed, literally no one drawing inspiration from the original tale in the west (lol) has come even slightly close to being able to equal or even capture half the extent of the nuance, complexity, religious, historical, and cultural aspects, and humor that define Wu Cheng'en's story of an overpowered monkey who defied even Buddha.

So thank the heavens we'll always have the original.