#and that he always just freezes up

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 54

In this chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest we get to attend a beautiful wedding! So let's get into it shall we?

So the pilgrims are traveling along until they finally hear the sounds of a bustling city. Figuring that this means they've finally arrived at the capital of the empire of women, so Tripitaka takes this chance to warn all of his disciples to be on their best behavior. *cough* Pigsy *cough*. However it would seem that the women of this city didn't receive the same warning for they are immediately swarmed by a mob of curious women who have never seen a man before. Luckily Pigsy's face is enough to scare most of them off, and the combined efforts of Sandy and Wukong are enough to make sure that the rest of them keep their distance.

Eventually they find their way to one of the city officials who tell them that visitors shouldn't enter the city gates without permission. She tells them to wait at the post-house while she goes to announce them to the throne so they can get their papers certified and be on their way. So the gang settles into the post house and have some tea while Monkey explains to the official for the record, on why they are here. Hearing this, the official also orders for some more food and drink to be brought to them, while she goes to talk to their ruler.

So the offical tells the queen, that Tang Sanzang, royal brother of the Tang emperor and his disciples are here to seek scriptures from the west and need to have their papers certified. Last night however the Queen had a rather auspicious dream, that she takes to mean that she should marry Tripitaka at once to consolidate her power and ensure her family line. The official says that, that sounds like a great idea, however his disciples are all rather scary looking. On the bright side however Tripitaka himself is rather cute. So the queen decides that the three disciples can just continue on the quest without him, and she'll even certify their papers for them and give them some supplies. It's the least she can do for her future husband! So while the Queen discusses auspicious dates with a matchmaker, she sends the Grand Preceptor to tell the gang the good news.

So Tripitaka and the others are enjoying their meal when they hear that the Grand Preceptor is here. Tripitaka wonders why someone like that is here to see them, and Monkey answers that it's probably for a marriage proposal. Tripitaka asks what they are supposed to do if that's the case, and Monkey just tells Tripitaka to say yes for now and let Monkey handle the rest. So the officials come in and sure enough Monkey hit the issue's nail on the head, they are indeed her to propose that Tripitaka marries their queen. When Tripitaka hears about this he is to stunned to speak so Pigsy takes over for him, and says that Tripitaka is to devoted a bhuddist to take an offer like that, he on the other hand would love to stay here and marry their queen!

While the officials tell Pigsy he is to ugly to marry their queen, Monkey tells Pigsy to shut up and let Tripitaka make up his mind on what he wants to do. Tripitaka asks what Monkey thinks he should do, after all they can't possibly give up on their quest to stay here! The Grace Preceptor takes his moment to chime in that the queen is perfectly fine with the disciples carrying on with the quest. So Monkey says that sounds just great and agrees to it before Tripitaka has a chance to protest. And ever the opportunist, Pigsy tells the officials to prepare a wedding banquet for them, which the officials cheerfully agree to before heading off to tell the queen.

As soon as their gone Tripitaka grabs Monkey and berates him for doing this to him. He can't give up the quest to get married! What on earth is he thinking?! Monkey tells him to relax, because he's got a plan. See, they can't risk outright refusing and making an enemy of the kingdom of women, because that would mean they would have to slaughter their way out of here. Unless Tripitaka has suddenly changed his stance on murder of course. Tripitaka agrees that murder is indeed bad, and asks what they are supposed to do instead, since he can't possibly get married either.

So Monkey takes this opportunity to lay out his brilliant plan. They'll go through the motions of the wedding preparation just as planned and get their travel papers certified. Then have a wedding feast as a farewell party for them. After the feast as to be allowed to see them off at the edge of the capital, and once they are outside the city, Monkey will use his magic to freeze everyone in the kingdom for one day while they all make a run for it. After hearing this Tripitaka thanks Monkey and agrees to the plan.

Meanwhile the Grand Preceptor tells the Queen the good news. So the Queen tells them to prepare a wedding banquet while she goes out in a carriage to meet her new husband. So the Queen see's Tripitaka and is immediately smitten, and invites him to ride in the carriage with her. Meanwhile Tripitaka is to flustered to speak, and Pigsy is to busy drooling over the queen to be of any help, leaving Monkey to snap him out of it and tell him to just ride in the carriage for now. Tripitaka however is so overwhelmed by this he even begins to cry a little, while Monkey just tells him to try and enjoy all of this while it lasts.

So Tripitaka rides in the carriage with the Queen while his disciples follow close behind with all of their luggage, until they arrive at the banquet hall. And good news, when they arrive the Grand Preceptor tells them that it's an auspicious day and they can get married right away and Tripitaka can assume the throne tomorrow. Everything is going as planned as they all enjoy the 'wedding' feast together, and afterwards they are able to get the queen to stamp their papers without issue. However the Queen does remark, that only Tripitaka is listed on the travel papers, not his disciples. And Tripitaka explains that it's because they aren't from the Tang Kingdom like his is, instead he met them all on the way. Upon hearing the story on how Tripitaka met them all, she offers to add their names to the paper, which Tripitaka agrees to.

The Queen then tries to give the disciples money for their journey, but Monkey negotiates her down to just giving them some rations. After that Tripitaka takes his chance to ask the queen if he could accompany his disciples to the edge of the capital in order to see them all off properly. The queen agrees so the two once again set off in the carriage together. Once they reach the edge of the city, Tripitaka drops all pretenses and asks that the Queen just let him go so he can acquire scriptures. The Queen is of course very upset that he suddenly changed his mind, and begs him to stay, which causes Pigsy to snap and yell at the Queen that Tripitaka is a Buddhist dang it! Leave the man alone! This succeeds in scaring back the queen, however before they can properly make their get away, a women suddenly pushes her way out of the crowd and calls dibs on Tripitaka, before grabbing him and disappearing in a cyclone of air.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing, transforming others, and Invisibility Demon Kill Count: 9+ Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1009 God's Defeated: 23 + Unknown number Defeats: 6 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption and Identity Fraud. Cry Count: 8 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra and Meditation. Cry Count: 28 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 31 Paralyzed by fear: 6 Bandit Problems: 2 Kidnapped by demons: 9 Falling Off Horses: 8

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

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

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

[eternity-death]

Okay guys now it’s time to consider…

Sunday being in love with Reader… but being unable to act on his feelings because The Dream Master disapproves of it…

The yearning in this would be INSAAAAAANNNE.

[cherboxishere]

Will never shut up about these panels !!!

Literally could talk hours trigun is rotting my brain

Shares appreciated and this will be available as a print on inprint !!

[cherubchoirs]

cold-hearted

[trans-luis-serra-navarro]

Every now and then I’ll remember this question that just sits in the back of my mind but like. Do you guys think anyone went looking for Luis after he ran away from Valdelobos when he was a child????

Like obviously there were people there to see the house burning and see him standing in front of it and it was noticeable enough that he was gone for somebody to write it down but like. Did anyone go looking for him?????? Or were they all too scared they’d end up like his grandfather???

We know Mendez was pretty close with Luis and his grandfather growing up, so much so that FROM MEMORY I’m PRETTY SURE (correct me if I’m wrong it’s like one am BCBDHENSH) he asked Mendez himself to burn down the house, so like- did Mendez know about or even encourage Luis to run away????? Did he go looking for the boy he may as well have considered a second son???????? Or did he just,,,, let him go???

Has ANYONE he cared about ever gone out of their way to look for Luis?? When he ran away from umbrella did any of his friends or coworkers try to find him??? Like we know most likely the authorities/Umbrella themselves were looking for him after he found out about Nemesis and Saddler and co were VEHEMENTLY looking for him but. Before he met Leon, Ashley and Ada… had anyone ever cared to look for Luis?? Did anyone care enough to notice he was gone??? Cuz if not man. That’s fuckin brutal

[feroluce]

So I went to the wiki page for the henghill Bullet & Brain mission of 2.2 looking for some dialogue I had missed and

a) I found something incredibly tasty that slotted into some other thoughts I'd been having, more on that on another day, and

b) I saw this super fun little trivia at the bottom, which!

I knew Penacony characters like Boothill took a lot of inspirations from old movies, but I didn't realize it was even in his and Dan Heng's relationship, that's so cool!!

It fits them very well, it's such a fun reference. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was an old buddy Western film (from 1969- nice) about a pair of outlaws. Butch Cassidy was the leader of a gang, and described as clever, affable, and talkative. Meanwhile, his closest companion, the Sundance Kid, was known as a man of few words.

Cassidy's original birth name was much more plain, but similar to Boothill, he took on a new moniker when he became an outlaw. "Cassidy" had been the last name of his beloved mentor, who taught him how to shoot and ride. And Sundance Kid was known as he was because Sundance was the name of his hometown, and it was the only place that had ever managed to catch and jail him, back when he'd been younger (also similar to Dan Heng, but ouch).

These two stick together like glue throughout the length of the film- through Cassidy's leadership of the gang being challenged, through a train robbery gone wrong, through being pursued by mercenaries, and even through fleeing to Bolivia and trying to start over together.

I don't want to say too much more, since the mission title is referencing one specific movie that I've never seen. I kinda wanna watch it now, though, just to see the inspiration that went into Boothill and Dan Heng and how they get along. I just think it's really sweet that these two were literally made to be the best of bros, how lovely is that. 💕

[popcorndispenser]

Hershel is actually the only character I've ever projected my dpdr onto. Idk, it fits him really well imo. Des' PTSD gives him uncontrollable fits of anger, Layton's makes him dissociate.

For those uninitiated:

[squorttle-pox]

please. i need alastor with his hair up so we can see the side of his head. second set of ears or smooth flesh prairie?

[jrmblob]

i yearn for jlud in a way where its like a sad song. when they look at each other it hurts but the burn feels good and when they touch their blood runs cold but it feels warm.

[aloneonceagainaspredicted]

omg PLEASE can i steal the line about hoffman being wasted as a detective because of his mouth because i am ~ losing my sweet mind at strahm treating him like a whore and hoffman is there like :) I've broken his brain :)

friend. my dear fellow hoffreak. it's not stealing if i'm offering it to you in a silver platter, i want my brainrot and slutshaming to infect as many people as possible, my horny thoughts a new disease. mistreating hoffman disorder. it has no cure.

accurate depiction of mark hoffman bamboozling special agent peter strahm by the shitty break room coffee machine:

[spectral-honey]

Au where Damian is closer in age to Tim and joins the batfam after Jason dies

bruce has to make himself functional with a new kid dropped in his lap and then has to cut back on the violent outbursts because Damian WILL take it as permission to kill and they're trying to teach him not to do that

tim keeps his stalker tendencies and grows to like Damian's robin just as much as Dick and Jason's, even if this new robin is a bit stabby around the edges

damian is the first robin to notice Tim tho and confronts him on his own without telling Bruce

timmy is like heyyy don't stab me I swear I wouldn't endanger the bats ever & also I can maybe give you info I find sneaking around & also hey wouldn't it be cool to have a secret from bats? You could have your own personal informant wouldn't that be so cool you could impress Batman and everything

dami: fine but you don't have any more secrets right

tim, knows their secret identities: and I said no, y'know, like a liar

so they make a truce that turns into a friendship that turns into Damian hiding the fact that he has adopted a brother, shut up Batman you picked up random children from the street so can damian

bruce and dick: wow it's so nice that Damian has started listening to us about not killing or using excessive violence on people. We're glad he understands now

Damian, who got a 72 slide PowerPoint lecture from Tim about the practicality of not killing as a vigilante in Gotham: yes, that is what happened. I have accepted your perspectives on morality. No other reason

tim’s powerpoint has a lot of graphs and venn diagrams measuring different kinds of criminal activity vs public cooperation vs batman's violence levels vs police cooperation vs rogue activity. The gotham ecosystem is delicate

when jason comes back tim throws a fit because he has to REMAKE his powerpoint and all the graphs to add red hood’s vigilante-slash-rogue effect

Tim at some point: batman is fragile if you kill people it will make his traumatized brain explode

Dami: trauma?

Tim: y'know from martha and thomas being murdered in front of him

Damian, eyes narrowed:

Tim: I mean… that's just a game theory?

but just like generally Tim and Damian being each other's support systems

they bond over having parents who are absent?? Like, damian missing his mom and tim immediately empathizing on how its hard when you love someone who is away a lot or for a long time

they talk about missing them and damian is able to open up about feeling out of place and how difficult it is to adjust or know how he's supposed to act

[reineyday]

idk if im late to the party but i thought it was interesting that 1899 used plato's allegory but never really surfaced passed discussing the shadows vs the fire, only to reveal at the end that they themselves are living the rest of the allegory: theyre running away from the sun that is their reality bc it hurts too much. they prefer the shadows on the wall, the darkness of the cave, bc the light of their reality is too painful for them to accept.

[cinnamon-bunni]

NOT okay right now im thinking abt pokemon leaving scars on their trainers + everyday, domestic problems.....

[nomairuins]

ow .y hip actually. fuckk

[s0fter-sin]

“maybe if i, an 8yr old, managed to talk sense into my groomed and deeply traumatised 13yr old brother, maybe he wouldn’t have accidentally almost killed himself and become a villain” and no one in that room disagreed with him??

[g8d]

i feel like if that one guy ever dare make eye contact with me he will die on the spot that's how much i hate his pathetic coward hypocrite guts.