#lmk century stone egg au

[quitealotofsodapop]

We discussed something relevant to century egg in the dms

It's possible that Macaque had not been ENTIRELY responsible for Wukong's first miscarriage. That doesn't absolve Macaque of his guilt, nor does it change much about the fact the unborn cub dies. It's still Macaque's attack that had been the catalyst, and he was still to blame for what happened...

But the thing nobody had noticed up until that point had been that the child had already been weak and sickly while kn the womb due to a few previous incidents on the journey. Primarily an attack from a scorpion that could harm even the Buddha that Wukong had still been trying to recover from when the injury happened, putting both himself and his child into an already fragile state. Since Wukong himself was still sick from it, he hadn't recognized the signs. Something was wrong with his baby, but nobody knew until it was too late

Prev.

Wukong had believed for the longest time that *He'd* failed his child. He knows that the deciding factor had been the fight with Macaque; whether the physical & mental stress of the fight itself, and/or the stress of losing his beloved mate.

There had been many factors in Wukong losing the First Egg. But the most dangerous had been the sting he received from the Scorpion Demoness in the previous arc - her venom is strong enough to permanently scar the Buddha himself. And in the novel, Wukong is envenomed so severely that Wujing and Bajie think he could be dying.

If Wukong were to be carrying a Stone Egg then well... it wouldn't be good I'd tell you that. The case studies I managed to find suggest that abrupt miscarriage happens more than often in the case of a pregnant person being stung.

Wukong, no matter what happens with Macaque, ultimately believes that he himself was the major fault. He put himself in danger far too many times, and now he's lost his child.

In another world, namely in the "jttw stone egged au", Macaque would have noticed the irregular heartbeat of the Egg, and drop his weapon to rush to Wukong's aid.

But alas, this is a more tragic Au...

Ksitigarbha, the bodhisattva of the dead, had been kind enough to assure Macaque that his and Wukong's child would reunite with them in their next life, but it would take some time. Macaque meanwhile, sank into a deep despair in the Underworld - dragged down into the cold hells by a primordial force even the Ten Kings couldn't recognise.

Then one day in the cold darkness; Macaque overheard that the little one was to be reborn very soon. When the Lady Bone Demon made her offer, he did not dare refuse. He needed to see Wukong, to finally meet their child - and spend the next eternity atoning for what he'd done.

Sharing some dialogue we did in the dms cus it's tasty. Taking place shortly after Guanyin agrees to give Macaque the Circlet so he can prove to Wukong and the rest of the found family that he's serious about his regret and want to atone for what he did;

Macaque: "It was a boy." Wukong, confused: "What?" Macaque: "The Egg. Our first one. The Underworld's Bodhisattva introduced me to him. He was so small and *perfect*. I hadn't even known he existed." Wukong, tearing up: "Mac..." Macaque, voice breaking: "He was so beautiful... he was already sick when we fought, if I had just stopped and got you help then..." Wukong, beginning to tear up: "You mean... I-" Macaque: "IT WASN'T YOU'RE FAULT! Peaches, it was NEVER your fault! I'm so sorry I ever blamed you for... for anything!"

The two monkeys hold each other and cry a millennia's worth of tears for their lost Egg. In a more kind world they could have greeted them far earlier than now. But at least they'll be here soon enough.

Later on, Macaque asks Wukong an important question;

Macaque: "Do you want to know?" Wukong: "Know what?" Macaque: (*glances down at Wukong's stomach*) Wukong, overjoyed & worried: "Oh! Yes! A million times yes!" Macaque: "He's sleeping right now. The chi is male but the body might not match at first."

Wukong feels a lot better after that. Knowing that his mate can hear and *tell him* what the baby is doing.

That their baby is thriving and alive.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Also PIF. Macaque was her sworn brother, and she may or may not know he died yet. Either way she finds out Macaque, by blindly attacking his mate, caused his child's death. Weather it was from the blow, the stress of killing Macaque, or both that caused the miscarriage, fact is Macaque was at fault. And PIF has to grieve her brother while also finding out about this.

Prev.

As much as Iron Fan mourns the loss of her sworn brother, she cannot stop the hatred rising in her heart for him after hearing how he indirectly caused the loss of his own child - knowingly or not.

A big hc I have for PIF is that she has had terrible luck with fertility. Red Son is the only child she's managed to carry to term - and even then her own health was severely compromised. To hear that Wukong had been pregnant and lost his own baby in such tragic circumstances is like an arrow to her heart. And still he puts himself at risk to save hers! It's a major deciding factor to why she decides to watch over FFM as Wukong settles down to have his own baby. Wukong had not told Iron Fan directly that he'd planned to repeat the Stone Egg making process, but she's learned about it from her husband before DBK went on his rampage to distract Wukong from going through with it.

PIF will mourn Macaque, yes. But she is the first to try strangling him when he returns to the land of the living! She's the hardest nut to crack when Macaque decides to prove himself to Wukong and their second egg. Hence, why Guanyin gives PIF the right to use the Headache Mantra on her brother if he ever dares raise a finger to Wukong or their unborn child again! She takes great pleasure in using the mantra on Macaque when she deems him as acting the fool.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Century egg. I don't know of this has already been discussed but I imagine that bull and PIF (and maybe Nehza) find out about Wukong's miscarriage from the pilgrims.

The others are trying to convince Wukong to let someone else take his place, he still hasn't fully covered mentally and it's dragging out his physical recovery as well. DBK, PIF, and Nehza are confused, and maybe a little insulted on Wukongs behalf, until Wukong snaps "I will not let the grief for my child cost my brothers!" And oh, that both explains and raises so many questions.

OOOOOOooooo

You're right. Wukong would have lost his First Egg a long time before the infamous Samadhi Fire Ritual.

And even if his and Macaque's fight (and his dear moon's death) hadn't been the factor to losing the pregnancy, Wukong would still be grieving terribly in the later arcs of the Journey.

But he wouldn't let it show when he learned that his sworn brother's child was slowly dying from the primordial flame he hosted.

DBK, PIF, and Nezha do not want Wukong at the ritual at first. But it's hard to convince Wukong not to help.

For the Monkey King; hearing the bull calf's laugh-like crying turn to sleepy coos helped a great deal in healing his heart.

But causing the fire to split and hit Ao Lie broke it all over again.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Tang's shrieked tang through the air. Sandy and Pigsy shared a glance before the both of them rushed into the forest, following the sound of their friend. When they burst from the foliage, through the cave they swore wasn't there before, and into the clearing they were met with a shocking sight. The first thing they noticed was the giant peach tree with a rather nice looking if rundown hut by a cliffside. The next thing they noticed was their friend on the ground, pointing dramatically st something at the tree's roots, a pair of young children they never met before clinging to his back as they tried to peek at whatever it was that had Tang so shocked.

As they approached the pig squinted, trying to see what was so special. It looked like some sort of rock was sticking out of the dirt, likely dug up by the kids based on the dirt on their claws and clothing. The only thing special about it was the fact it seemed to be a statue of a monkey, but as Pigsy watched a break akin to an eggshell breaking suddenly appeared at where it's heart would have been, as gold leaked through the cracks. At the same time, Pigsy began to feel a low buildup of power, his limited senses telling him it's coming from the statue. Realizing what's happening, Pigsy grabbed Tang and pulled him back.

"Tang... TANG GET BACK!!"

There was an explosion of golden light and debris as the statue shattered, exploding outward in the wave of dirt and stone. Covering his face, Pigsy could not make out much, but he could have sworn he saw a silhouette within open glowing red and gold eyes before the light snuffed itself out as suddenly as it came. Taking a peek, he found that in the statues place was a suddenly VERY real monkey covered in so much dust and dirt it was impossible to tell the natural color of its fur. As he watched, the monkey demon fell forward, nearly handing on the dirt had Sandy not moved to catch it. His old friend held the creature in his arms tenderly as he checked for a pulse.

"He's got a pulse!"

Holy dumplings... the monkey was ALIVE! And it proved it too by letting out a huge gasp and coughing before falling silent as Sandy rubbed it's back, falling back into sleep as Sandy carefully lifted him, cradling him as he would a kitten as he looked over at the hut.

"He's been through a lot, we need to get him somewhere safe!"

"NOT SO FAST!!"

A feminine voice rang through the clearing as the wind began to pick up around them, whipping about at inadvertently typhoon as a woman in red with a strange, horn like hair style appeared. The older of the two children, a red bull calf, let out a squeal.

"MAMA!!"

The woman spared a soft smile as the child ran towards her, hiding behind her skirt, before her gaze hardened and she shifted and pointed the biggest fan Pigsy had ever seen in his life in their direction threateningly.

"Let him go. You know not what you risk by awakening my brother from his rest, leave him be and return to your ship, never step foot upon this island again!"

Century Stone Egg au!!

Tang thinking he found a super-cool artifact after trying to stop two weird toddlers from jumping into a waterfall. Only for the "artifact" to be the prone form of a suspiciously familar monkey demon!?

And now Princess Iron Fan is here!?!

Tang is screaming both from her threat, and from fanboy-ing over meeting her!

And maybe a little from realising that the little bull demon thats been bossing him around for past half hour is likely The Red Child!?

The exact moment PIF brought her baby over, Red Son was off like a rocket towards The Waterfall. He knew from stories about "Uncle Shihou" that the Waterfall was important to him. And if Red Son wanted his Baba free, he needed Uncle's help!

Only for a certain baby dragon (camping with her parents) to see an odd flame deep in the jungle and go flying/toddling off after it.

And for a wandering washed-ashore scholar to see these baby dragon and demon get too close to a waterfall and get worried!

Red Son: "Hmm. To find Uncle, I'll need to go through this waterfall. But Mama says I'm not supposed to do things like that with an adult to help me..." Bby Mei: (*pondering baby dragon noises*) Tang, out of breath from running: "Why *huff* are you two *huff* so close to the waterfall? It's dangerous!" Red Son: "Oh look, there's an adult. Now we can jump in." Tang: "Eh!?" (*Red Son grabs the scholar by the hand and pulls him, running full speed at the waterfall. Mei clings to Tang's back, giggling excitedly. Tang is screaming*)

Wukong had placed "exceptions" on his Waterfall seal to allow people/souls he deemed safe to find his baby, should the Stone Egg process take his life.

We also discussed PIF refering to Wukong as "Shihou", esp in stressful situations. It was the name Bull was allowed call him, a privilege of the King's closest family members.

PIF tries to downplay *who* the dirty monkey is by referring to him by "Shihou" - only for Tang to find a certain circlet-shaped scar and perk up with "Sun Wukong!?! Lore?!"

THEN Nezha shows up, summoned by the distressed Ao-Long couple to help find their missing pup. He immediately starts freaking out too.