#swk and macaque are brothers in this one

[swk-mac]

Macaque: *eating a chocolate

Wukong: can you let me try a little? A bit

Macaque: ok, a little bit

Wukong: *proceeds to eat half a chocolate

[acoraxia]

(i wrote this while sick before going to the movies and then finished it after watching a movie so forgive me if it's incoherent or whateer im laying down)

do you ever think about how Azure Lion groomed Sun Wukong from a young age into being this perfect people to act as the poster child for the Brotherhood, abandoned him at his worst, was confident he could manipulate him into working for him again and then tried to do the same with Xiaotian and Xiaojiao upon first meeting them? And that, by association, he almost groomed Macaque and you can see how his manipulation affected Macaque even into adulthood when he first met Xiaotian?

No?

Azure Lion groomed Sun Wukong, tried to groom Qi Xiaotian (and Long Xiaojiao) and heavily affected Macaque's world view on Sun Wukong.

EDITOR'S NOTE:: grooming in this case does not mean anything sexual between the characters, grooming is a common trope in media and it's commonly seen as a power imbalance and manipulation tactic (see: when a father grooms his son to take over the company by inflicting him with his own ideals)

Azure Lion has a tendency to display Sun Wukong on this high pedestal and sound very confident in how he describes him. The very first thing he says in his debut is this:

“I'm flattered, truly, but if it were not for Sun Wukong bringing us together, right? Without you, none of this would be possible. Your courage to stand up to the Celestial Host has inspired us to finally take a stand. To make a true difference in the world. And I could think of none other more suitable to lead us on our conquest than you, brother.”

notice how throughout this episode sequence Azure is spoken about like he's the leader and right in every word he says. The other adults at the table (Peng, DBK and Yellow Tusk) smile and turn to him as though he's in the right. They hang on to his every word. something interesting is the fact Macaque and Sun Wukong are talked down to like they're the younger pair of the brotherhood — Peng's insults to Macaque, the way DBK asks SWK to repeat what happened during Havoc in Heaven—

heck even the way they laugh at Sun Wukong when he's being silly is a clear indicator that they see him as... silly.

It isn't until Azure Lion speaks up that they turn to him and start seeing Sun Wukong into a new light.

Not only that but the way that Azure talks to Sun Wukong raises several red flags. He looks at all his brothers the same way (e.g when he's helping Peng during a flashback in Episode 8) but it raises so many red flags when he looks at Wukong like this.

And Wukong hangs on to his every word.

Because Sun Wukong believes in what Azure Lion is saying to him. Everyone believes him in that moment. he sounds so confident in the way he says none of this would be possible without sun wukong. It's a way to manipulate him especially considering Sun Wukong was not the one to form the Brotherhood - Azure was. Azure decided to form this trio after seeing Sun Wukong for the first time according his own flashback:

And guess what? It works. Sun Wukong was minding his own business up until that point, the only thing he'd done (if the timeline matches up correctly) was become immortal and return to Flower Fruit Mountain to train his monkey army. In JTTW at this point he would've turned into a giant version of himself, scaring the other spirit kings into joining alliances with him just from witnessing that—instead we get Azure Lion believing him to be the perfect idol for his plan to come into fruition.

Fun Fact: Macaque is the only one who looks at Sun Wukong like this during Azure Lion's little speech about him and being the rightful leader of the brotherhood.

He seems more confused and shocked than the rest of them are. Mind you, he's known Sun Wukong longer than the rest of them have.

He hears Azure Lion, a veteran celestial warrior, praise his best friend and put him up on a pedestal and it confuses him. because his best friend is not like that. at least, he thinks so—but Azure sounds confident, right? he's speaking so confidently about this, so he must be right... right?

It will, eventually, lead to Macaque changing his view on Sun Wukong entirely. this is why we have shadowplay.

"That's what I believed. What Azure would have you believe."

Azure Lion affected not only Sun Wukong but Macaque in his manipulation — the timeline does not show us where Macaque went after his fall out with Wukong but the theory that he ran into the Camel Ridge Trio before fighting Wukong again works considering that line.

(Not only that but Macaque also tries to do this with Xiaotian: he introduces himself in a easily approachable way and trains him, takes him under his wing, then stomps on him the moment he stops being useful to him. he uses him to get to Sun Wukong. Xiaotian reminds Macaque of Sun Wukong and he uses similar tactics that Azure Lion used to get to Xiaotian — and it isn't until the Samadhi Fire Ritual that he realizes what he's done by being reminded of his and Wukong's fallout. He, a bystander, was also affected and influenced by Azure's manipulation.)

Additionally, Sun Wukong defends Azure Lion. He justifies attacking Heaven during Havoc in Heaven, he justifies the brotherhood's plan to go to war against Heaven—none of these plans are Sun Wukong's ideas. They are Azure's influence. In the original book, the reason why Wukong attacks Heaven in the first place is because they refuse to grant him the respect he wishes and thus Heaven is angry at him for dubbing himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. They ask the Jade Emperor to take care of Sun Wukong and he does—which, y'know, ends up with Wukong imprisoned afterwards. But in Monkie Kid it's all because of Azure's influence on Wukong.

Because he groomed him into being a faithful right hand man. And he is so confident in that that he gives these grand speeches and pep talks and says every perfect little line to make Sun Wukong want to follow him to Hell and back.

"When we triumph in this rebellion, the people will never live in fear. We're about to change everything. It's all because of you, brother!"

And, of course, he tries this on Xiaotian and Xiaojiao, too, when he first meets them.

When he presents himself to Xiaotian and Xiaojiao, he comes to their rescue. He already introduces himself as a savior and protagonist because he saves them from the scroll—even seemingly displaying himself as non-threatening because, while he laughs at them, he does so in a manner that's sincere and genuine. It's a goofy laugh. He's being goofy. He's playing to their good side.

It's the way he talks to them and laughs, introduces himself with such flamboyance and loudness that he mirrors Sun Wukong himself. He is such a direct influence to Sun Wukong that it carries throughout the few scenes we see of him that resemble what Sun Wukong has done with Xiaotian: the astral projection, the goofy displays of excitement, the sarcastic tones when talking about Tang, the way he greats his brothers when they are freed as old friends and all cheery and genuine.

He allows himself to be called uncy lion and romanticizes the past of the brotherhood while not elaborating on the fact he lead Sun Wukong and his brothers to a war while still blaming the aftermath and defeat of their party on Sun Wukong.

"Ah, well. The Sun Wukong isn't exactly the easiest person to get along with. He has quite a habit of keeping people at arm's length. We were young, mistakes were made... and some mistakes can't be undone."

He speaks of him in a way to spark doubt between Xiaotian and Xiaojiao and it works in the way they react to what he says. They are disheartened and Xiaojiao even mentions, later, how Sun Wukong has had a habit of keeping things to himself. I wonder why that is.

" [...] If your friendship with Monkey King meant anything to you—" "It meant everything to me." [....] "We're brothers. Nothing could ever change that."

It's the way that Azure talks to them about Sun Wukong. It's the way he still thinks he is close enough to Sun Wukong to say that nothing will change their relationship. It's the way that he tries to plant these ideas into Xiaotian's head when they first meet, because he is the Monkie Kid.

That and the fact that later, when Sun Wukong is bursting through each and every memory, he reaches Xiaotian and goes to him and tries to comfort him and say they'll get to safety soon and they just have to deal with the scroll curse—it's the fact that the moment

that pigsy

mentions Azure Lion

all of that gets paused for a moment

"Oh he says his name like that because he put him in the scroll, he shouldn't be here—" there is also the fact he's not fully blown surprised by this. he's also wary. he's hesitant. sure you can say he's surprised to hear they've met Azure Lion,

but then you get this

this is hatred. this is anger. this is not what Sun Wukong feels towards Macaque during Season 3 — he lunged at Macaque for putting Xiaojiao in danger, for putting Xiaotian in danger, for ruining his plan, and he hesitates to attack him, to deliver that final blow, his fist is shaking and Tang's interuption easily causes him to lose focus and he drops Macaque. He lets go.

THIS? This is him protecting Xiaotian. this is him not wanting Xiaotian near Azure. Xiaotian looks at Azure with wide eyes and a gaping mouth because "oh Azure's here?" but Wukong knows better.

And you cannot tell me Sun Wukong was not heavily hurt by Azure Lion's actions without looking at the way that Sun Wukong puts himself between Azure and Xiaotian immediately, how Sun Wukong tries to be a better person by putting Xiaotian's safety first, always, even if it means he gets possessed or hurt or thrown around.

You cannot tell me Azure Lion wasn't a manipulator or abuser or a person who used Sun Wukong's admiration of him against him, to turn him into an obedient follower and devoted friend, when the very first thing he does when he sees Wukong step between him and Xiaotian is sigh.

Sighs like an older mentor looking at their pupil and going "didn't I teach you better than that?"

And then he imprisons Sun Wukong.

Because he is of no use to him at that moment.

And the fucking kicker: Xiaojiao modeled her new sword after Azure Lion, then is blatantly disgusted by this when she figures out how much of a bastard he is and openly says so. Xiaotian looks distraught and confused. Because Azure admits to being guilty of using them and manipulating them. He aims for sympathy with them.

He aims for sympathy with Xiaotian.

He twists the narrative again when he and Xiaotian are alone.

He's manipulating him. He's using him.

He keeps painting Sun Wukong in this negative light. he keeps putting himself up as the sympathetic victim of it all.

"My former brother was sent to destroy us and all we had built."

and yet he still talks about Wukong as though he has a grasp on their relationship. he calls him brother. he has not abandoned that title. he still thinks of Sun Wukong as his brother and will continue to use him and his name in whatever way possible to get ahead.

Maybe it is not on purpose and Azure thinks he is being true and genuine with Xiaotian but it does not erase the fact he twists the narrative to paint Sun Wukong in a negative light in front of his successor. Because Sun Wukong and Xiaotian have a strong relationship, a bond so strong that Qi Xiaotian bursts with power and strength when he realizes Azure will not give him back to him. It's precision and control and Qi Xiaotian could wreck havoc among everyone for keeping his mentor away from him but he is so controlled and careful with his movements that he manages to not attack Azure, but throw him off balance to get him to release Azure.

All because Sun Wukong is important to him.

Because Sun Wukong was not going to treat his successor as though he were a weapon or a pawn in some major scheme like he was.

Azure Lion showers people with praise that they do not deserve nor want and does so in a way that makes the party feel either delighted to have aided with his success or horrified at the revelation. He does so when Sun Wukong brings the brotherhood together (which wouldn't have happened if Azure Lion hadn't seen Sun Wukong with his subjects that one day) and he does so when Qi Xiaotian for returning his brothers to him (which he didn't know he was doing, because Azure Lion told him he needed to defeat the curse without mentioning his friends would be released too, at least from what I can remember).

"His betrayal, his brutality. He took the only friends I had from me. I would have done anything in my power to bring them back. But it wasn't in my power, it was in yours. You saved my friends. You returned them to me. And for that, I am eternally grateful."

This is similar to what he says to Sun Wukong when he was thanking him for bringing the brotherhood together.

And then, what happens when all this manipulating and tricking does not work? When Qi Xiaotian teams up with Sun Wukong instead of siding with Azure Lion?

"After all Sun Wukong has put you through, how much he's let you down, you would still meet your fate trying to protect him?! (...) He doesn't deserve such loyalty, yet you insist on learning the hard way, just as I did! I should've never trusted the Monkey King! The False Sage, Equal to Nothing!"

He fucking insults Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong who rushes in to protect Xiaotian, who shoves Azure Lion out of the way, and checks on Qi Xiaotian when he glitches out and starst to lose control of his powers.

And when he's losing against Xiaotian? When he struggles to keep up with him?

"Look what he's done to you! Reduced you to a mindless, savage animal."

Again, Macaque's obsession over Sun Wukong makes sense now. His obsession is a result of Azure Lion's doing. His obsession is what Qi Xiaotian could have been had he not known Sun Wukong for who he really is: his mentor and friend.

What gets to me is what Xiaotian says to him when he's losing:

"That's what you were pretending to be, right? To be my friend? To care about me? When really, you were just using me to get what you wanted! To turn me against my own mentor! Well, put your hand in the monkey cage and expect to get bit, son! Come on! Come on! Come on, Uncy Lion! You're the big hero, right?! Then prove it! Show me!"

It's a perfect way of snapping back at Azure for all his manipulation.

And then Azure dies.

He learns he's being manipulated for someone else. He cries and smiles and dies.

What for?

He doesn't save anybody.

He doesn't suffer consequences of manipulating people. He doesn't do anything heroic and he doesn't even save the world by sacrificing himself because Nezha is the one who seals away the Jade Emperor's powers in the end.

He's a natural manipulator.

He's not a hero.

he's a loser

[ryin-silverfish]

I really like Azure Lion as a character. Yeah, you can stop following me now. /j

But no, seriously, I like how LMK has adapted this particular character, given him way more potential complexity than his novel counterpart——not that it's a high bar, the LCR trio of JTTW are just demon warlords living in a literal human slaughterhouse.

Which is why I deeply dislike the take that "Oh, Azure manipulated SWK into fighting the JE! He's just using him like a pawn!" Like, wow, way to completely butcher two characters' personality and agency in one go.

Such takes reduce SWK to some innocent kid, when he is at most an impulsive, daring teenager who haven't met a single real obstacle so far——he robbed the dragon kings blind, and they couldn't do a thing! He struck his name and all his monkeys' names off the Book of Life and Death! What couldn't he do?

And Azure's failing isn't him telling a toddler: "You know what? Driving your tricycle into oncoming traffic will be real fun, trust me kiddo." It's letting his friend go way over the speed limit and not telling him that he should maybe, y'know, slow down, bc he'd seen his epic driving skills, SWK's the bestest driver he ever met, surely nothing would happen!

(And also, no one in that car is sober, except Macaque.)

What I'm getting at here is, even without Azure, SWK is not gonna be content with sitting on his mountain, eating peaches forever. Hell, he sure doesn't in the novel, where his demon king brothers are little more than namedropped NPCs.

He is always gonna want more, chase after greater destinies, drown out that existential ennui and fear of death at the back of his mind with bigger and bigger power-ups and the laughters of his companions.

He told himself he would be content after getting this one thing he wanted. That he could stop at any time. But alas, like any ADHDer, he will not stop at this one exciting thing, and sooner or later, the boredom sets in, and he gets ideas and impulsively leaps into making them reality.

That is the Mind Monkey at his worst: being a whirlwind of chaos, while unknowingly enslaved to his own chaotic mind.

(In the book, this is Wu Cheng'en's reminder to the reader that, even though you shouldn't keep your heart constantly under lock and keys, Neo-Confucian style, the other extreme——letting it go completely wild, disregarding all external rules and consequences, can be equally disastrous.)

And when that car was driven through the Celestial Palace's front door, off a bridge, and straight into a ditch, it was him in the driver's seat, steering the wheels the whole time.

Everyone else in that car failed terribly as friends when they didn't voice any objections, or try to get him off the driver's seat, or realize that cheering and egging him on is an awful idea, however genuine their blind trust was.

Like, they are certainly not helping, and made the situation much, much worse. If you let your buddy drive while under influence and hand him more beers in the car, even if you are also drunk out of your mind and aren't actively trying to get him into a traffic accident, you are a shitty, irresponsible friend.

But the thing is? SWK is still responsible for the consequences of his decisions. He could have stopped, by his own volition, and no one was holding a gun to his head and forcing him to drive. He, too, wanted this.

That, to me, makes a much more interesting narrative than "Poor innocent baby SWK was puppeted into becoming the Great Sage in Heaven by shady blue cat, how awful!"

Oh, and since I'm feeling particularly salty today, I'll also ask some last questions: is SWK so weak-willed and devoid of self-agency to you that he couldn't even OWE his most famous title, the Great Sage in Heaven, 100%, without being manipulated into it?

Is SWK so immature and unintelligent to you that he is incapable of being a genuine idealist or rebel, that he cannot agree, out of the depth of his heart, that the Celestial Realm sucks balls and needs better management?

TL;DR: Havoc! Era Azure Lion isn't some cult leader brainwashing this kid into becoming his figurehead. He's the dumbass who's too busy staring at his teenage crush to care about the blaring police sirens.

Also, I had a bit of an epiphany after writing this: why am I so annoyed by people reading Azure's idealization of SWK as him intentionally manipulating and love-bombing him? Because it is a very western and modern reading.

For someone with traditional Confucian beliefs, it is perfectly normal——it is what you are supposed to feel, as a liege who has found your just and virtuous lord.

If Romance of the Three Kingdoms existed back then, he would probably describe himself as the Guan Yu to SWK's Liu Bei, however wonky the analogy was.

(Gosh, now I want a "Four Classics read each other" crossover.)

I'm not saying it is healthy or wise. But under this context, putting your lord on a pedestral was normalized, and even encouraged, as the virtue of a righteous gentleman. It was the sort of ideals romanticized culture-wide. NOT having such beliefs would probably make you look weird.

And since the Celestial Realm in the novel is a parody of Confucian hierarchy in a Daoist trenchcoat, it was really no surprise that an idealistic ex-celestial soldier would hold the same beliefs.

To torture the analogy further, the problem is that he was trying to be the Guan Yu to SWK's Liu Bei, when the Brotherhood had more in common with the Bandits of the Marsh, down to their giant downer ending.

[fansids]

Reverse Prince Au

And because I keep forgetting to make an official post about it, I combined the False Prince Au with the Reverse Au to make the Reverse Prince Au.

Qi Xiaotian:

This comic is still canon to the au. Macaque gets pissed one night and shadow punches a probably magical plum tree. Qi Xiaotian is born and Macaque keeps him for his own reasons. MK is not Princess Iron Fan's adopted son and more of her adopted nephew that Mac drops off randomly. Macaque is an inconsistent parent mentor and sort of comes and goes as he pleases in Mk's life because reasons, which does not affect Mk at all what are you talking about he's a perfectly fine and mentally balanced person ha ha haaa.

.

Red Son

Red Son is the apprentice of the Monkey King, except instead of Heaven dumping him on SWK post JTTW, he comes of his own volition. This obviously causes tension between him and his family. I am still deciding if he's the Red Boy from jttw, or his younger brother. Because the latter would be hilarious ngl. Anyway, Red Son wishes to make up for his past and be a hero and he...he's trying. He refuses any and all direct help from SWK.

.

Long Xiaojiao

Long Xiaojiao is the only child of the Long family and the direct descendant of Ao Lie. By day she's a completely perfect, diligent, hard-working daughter. By night she street races (less than legally), which is how she meets Red Son. Slowly, they become friends.

Everything starts when MK sort-of-accidentally-purposefully releases the Demon Bull King. Red Son does not react well to this random ass kid (he does not know he's a monkie) casually lifting Sun Wukong's staff like it's nothing, and reacts even less well to his father being released. But he refuses help from his uncle and SWK initially doesn't see MK as enough of a threat to push it. Long Xiaojiao joins Red Son on the fun when he lets her (and when he doesn't cause he can't tell her what to do and that's what besties are for). Que silly shenanigans until Macaque appears.

[withered-owll]

Some late night doodles from my sub AU :3

Just Macaque trying his best in being a single parent and PIF being a supportive older sister and helping her little brother raise his and SWK’s child that the Great Sage is obviously oblivious about.

Ok, ok so quick backstory:

Wukong and Macaque used to be young, promising yet troublemaking inventors from the Lower Metropolis. That until one day Wukong was caught by the Celestials in the Upper Metropolis known also as The Cloud City, and imprisoned.

He was later on taken in by Tripitaka as a sort of apprentice and becoming ‘The Greatest Inventor’, and leaving Macaque in the Lower Metropolis.

Mac obviously pissed off and hurt tries to attack Tripitaka (y’know Jinx’s style and all) and Wukong protects his master.

They get into a huge fight in their old hideout, that turns out to be an old factory, and Macaque loses his right eye. The factory is burning and Wukong leaves Macaque there but forgets about an old boiler still filled with gas which explodes before Wukong can come back for his friend and mate.

Macaque barely manages to escape through his shadow portal, getting a few burns on his body and more than a half of his fur burned.

He manages to get to his sworn sister’s house, hurt and as it turns out, pregnant with his and Wukong’s daughter- Lì-Líng.

PIF obviously has some not so nice words and many, many insults to throw at Wukong’s face but Macaque stops her. He doesn’t want Wukong to know about their child OR that he escaped the explosion.

And so Macaque is raising his daughter with some of PIF’s help. Red Son knows about his uncle’s child but his mother forbid him about talking about Lì-Líng to anyone, especially Wukong’s new successor.

And again, if you want to know more about this little sub AU of mine, please don’t hesitate to ask! ^^

[quitealotofsodapop]

After that whole mess, they, of course, go back to FFM. Both because the cubs had a long day and needed a nap and also because neither Wukong nor MK had the energy to reset their glamours, and the last thing any of them wanted was to be swarmed. Wukong had to be stopped form going into a cleaning spree as soon as he realized he was having guests over for the first time in years and had to be told to sit down since, out of everyone there, be had been the one in the worst condition when all was said and done. They still enjoyed their smaller, more private New Years celebration and getting to run around in MK's childhood home

referencing.

Absolutely. Wukong is taking all the cubs home for a well-deserved rest (the eclipse twins argue that they aren't tired [lie]), and to properly introduce himself to the Noodle shop gang/aka his reincarnated Pilgrim brothers.

Wukong is a dedciated King to his people, but hasn't really let people "get close" since the Samadhi Fire incident/DBK's imprisonment. So he's a little rusty on how to play host in his own palace. The Stalwarts and the island's subjects are worried since they noticed some sort of havoc going on in the mainland while their King was gone, but Wukong brushes them off.

When Wukong attempts to clean up and play host, Pigsy quickly makes him sit down since; "You're pregnant and nearly got all your magic drained out of you. I'll make dinner." Which immediately puts the pig in the monkeys' good graces. Wukong does have to admit, piglet's grandson makes amazing noodle soup.

Mei (+MK) helps Pigsy out in the kitchen, and Wukong has a pang of nostalgia and grief at how similar the little dragon looks to Ao Lie. Her fun-loving attitude quickly gains her fans amongst the cubs, even if they try to eat her phone once or twice.

Lots of talking happens - especially on the subject of MK being Wukong's eldest cub + who exactly "dad" is. Wukong is still a little too upset at Macaque to give more than a curt explaination that he left on "a vacation" and has been missing since then.

Pigsy blurts out that he'll; "Sock the punk in the nose the second he sees 'em for leaving his family like that". It gets a laugh out of the king at least. Gao Cuilan did the same to Bajie when he finally returned after the journey.

Tang is ofc in Jttw-nerd heaven. Asking so many questions that MK has to interupt him to give his mom some space. The Stalwarts happily fill in the more embarassing/sappy details of their King and Warrior's romance, which delights the scholar (and mortifies SWK and MK) to no end.

Sandy is quickly the cubs favorite new uncle - though that could be because he smells like old uncle Sha Wujing. The Eclipse Twins are sus though. He makes himself busy serving up tea and addressing any emotional issues Wukong could be going through rn, especially with another little monkey on the way. Wukong is touched.

The Demon Bull Family makes an appearance - mainly to offer their apologies and for DBK to start making amends with his little bro. DBK quickly gets swarmed by the cubs he missed out on meeting, bellowing with laughter as they climb all over his horns. PIF is very aloof as per usual, but expresses her condolences for Macaque's disappearance. Wukong can tell that the former celestial princess is worried about her old friend, even if she doesn't care to show it.

Red Son is super confused, holding a casserole dish of non-spicy barbeque (DBK uncharacterically insisted, apparently the Monkey King hated spicy food), and just blinking at the fact that the "Noodle Boy" and "Pony Girl" he'd been fighting with were actually his calf-hood chums! Yuebei tries to eat his hair the moment he's offered to hold one of the Nodelets for the first time.

Overall the New Years "afterparty" (as Mei dubbed it) goes far better than the original celebration. Even if MK is super-grounded for not telling Wukong he became a superhero + lying who he actually was to the gang.

+Bonus: I love the idea of the cubs being super cranky during the events in the Celestial Realm. And when the spider gang attempt to stop the gang on the airship; little Yuebei starts shrieking with anger over her lack of sleep + missing both parents, and blasts them away with her non-fatal lazer eyes. It's one of many signs that MK's family aren't normal demons. Hunstman is a little embarassed that he was technically defeated by a baby.

[semisolidmind]

Has Peaches ever had a moment of relapse in her judgment with the boys? Let her guard down around her husbands in some way? Maybe it's a good day and maybe someday SWK says makes her laugh and Mac does a whole dramatic gig to go along with his brother; and for a moment, for one rare moment, Peaches is laughing and smiling.

Then, at night, when everyone is sleeping and the world is still- she sheds silent tears, not sure what's she's longing for because her freedom has long been dead.

reader has quite a few nights like this, i think.

and it would be really difficult to keep up the cold exterior you'd expect reader to maintain for such a long time. she'd do her best to shut them out, but... she still cares about them. before the abduction, before it was revealed to her that she couldn't leave, she did love wukong and macaque. a lot.

those feelings don't just go away.

and when the brothers continue to be sweet and charming, continue to show her a softness she knows they don't show in other aspects of their lives, reader can't help but want to give in a little bit. an eternity to spend with them, and she's really not sure she can stay bitter and angry through all of it.

it would be so, so easy to just ... let things go back to the way they used to be.

[weaverpop]

So how does wukong feel about nezha dating his little brother? I feel like he'd be pretty chill, but act protective for the fun of giving nezha shit.

Swk: you better treat my precious baby brother right you little turd, your daddy can't stop me kicking your ass again.

In all seriousness tho if it was anyone else I think swk might of actually been a bit protective especially after s5.

Swk has grown progressively more more protective of me threw out the season but I think finding out he's the closest thing to a biological family member would of triggered something in him.

Also he knows mk if perfectly capable of physical protecting himself; but that man does not want to see his lil bro go threw anymore emotions/mental torment if he can help it.

My heart anon why 😭

Wukong would totally be protecting mk like that! (Also Wukong referring to Jing as daddy again 🤣) I mean, imagine almost losing your ONLY family. Especially one who you just started bonding with. Not to mention everything Mk has gone through with past relationships. There’s a reason dude was single for so long.

Thankfully the ‘protectiveness’ is more toned down and playful, since mk and Nezha getting together takes a lot of time. Especially since, after a certain point it just got painful to watch, with Wukong strait up giving Mk advice on how to flirt. (It doesn’t go as planned to no one’s suprise).

Macaque: “The hell happened to you??”

Mk, nursing a red cheek: “I asked Wukong for dating advice.”

Macaque: “And you listen to him?!”

[watzuu-lmk]

How does MK feel about Macaque compared to how Wukong feels?

Mk's pretty fond of Macaque! He admires him a lot and finds it amusing that he's not the only one who can sass Wukong and get away with it now lmao. Mk's glad his brother has someone else to rely on.

He more often than not vouches for macaque and supports him, much to the chagrin of Swk lmao. Whenever he's not around wukong, he's with macaque!

[autism-autobot]

Flower of a Poisonous Seed Part 10

Wow! Double digits!

Tw: Pica, blood, self harm, (let me know if I missed anything)

Part 9:

To say Sun Wukong was stressed would be an understatement, but it hadn't gotten this bad in public before.

He didn't even entirely understand the reasoning behind his stress, although it could be because Nezha was taking a little bit too much time in his most recent meeting. And as usual, he was sitting on the couch in the Demon Bull Family's home.

Whenever Wukong was stressed, he had the most terrible cravings. It was the mixture of a trauma and a sorry attempt at coping with it. At least he thought it was sorry.

He was an emotional eater for as long as he could remember. Peaches usually did the trick. But there were no peaches for him to eat after Macaque left him starving under the mountain.

So he settled for eating himself.

Apparently, there was a word for his compulsive cravings: Pica, as one of his relatives has described it. Wukong ate his own hair often, it was satisfactory enough...

...usually.

But he was too stressed now. Hair wasn't enough. Not enough to satisfy his tastes at the moment.

So he started biting his hand, hard.

Wukong heard his bones snap and the felt the pain that followed soon after, but he didn't stop there. It took a few bites before he ripped off a whole chunk of his hand: the thumb and index fingers, and a good chunk of the palm, too.

Blood sprayed from the open wound. He swallowed as much of it as he could. With the whole chunk now thoroughly chewed up, he swallowed that too.

Luckily he had locked himself in one of many bathrooms in DBK's place, so no one would be able to find him like this.

Almost no one.

~~~

The Demon Bull King could smell his little brother a mile away, and it would serve him well now. He had the slightest bit of worry at finding the room he left Wukong to rest in empty. DBK didn't show it, of course. It was only when he picked up the unmistakable scent of blood mixed with his brother's natural odor did he really begin to panic.

He ripped the bathroom door clean off its hinges to find his peach-loving compatriot eating anything but that.

Demon Bull King scooped up Wukong while he was still shocked by the sudden arrival. Noticing his scared, teary, and regretful eyes and remembering the illness Nezha had informed him of, Demon Bull King decided not to lecture him now.

It was clear this was the result of a mentally unwell and quite sickly individual.

Oh, his poor brother.

~~~

The Demon Bull Family carefully inspected all of Sun Wukong's wounds: patches of raw flesh (the result of hair ripped to the scalp) , half a hand and a whole foot bitten (almost) clean off, and bleeding teeth and gums from eating through the aforementioned body parts.

None of them had the heart to lecture him. A strange occurrence, really, to have them of all people self-silenced on the matter. Wukong honestly preferred the yelling.

The family bandaged him up, put him in fresh clothes, and wrapped him up in a blanket. Demon Bull King held Wukong in his arms like a swaddled infant. Neither of them minded. It had been a long enough day as is.

~Some hours later~

SWK: I'm sorry.

DBK: It's alright, little brother.

SWK: I was stressed and scared.

DBK: I know, brother. Nezha should be returning soon. He has never taken this long before, has he?

SWK: No... what if something happened to him?

DBK: I doubt anything did.

PIF: Celestial meetings can take an unreasonable amount of time. I know from experience.

DBK: Even if something were to happen, he is a fierce opponent! All in this room know as much.

SWK: Yeah, I just get anxious without him around. He's been looking out for me for a while now, it's crazy to think that I ever managed alone.

RS: But you didn't manage alone, isn't that the whole point of the four of us acting as a support system?

PIF: Indeed, not to mention you have been getting sicker.

DBK: What even is the cause of your illness? And how far will this continue to progress before you show signs of recovery?

SWK: Honestly? I don't know. It might be purely mental. But it's affecting my body to such an extent that I'm not sure if it really is just my mental health going in a downward spiral.

RS: So we just do nothing?!

SWK: Nezha said he'd get to the bottom of this, his says he doesn't want me worrying any more than I have to in case it really is about my mental health alone.

DBK: So it is being dealt with?

SWK: Yeah, I think.

DBK: Better than waiting for something worse to happen to you.

PIF: Nezha is a very capable man, he'll get to the bottom of this.

RS: And speak of the devil! Look who's here!

Nezha: I apologize for my tardiness. I was setting up an appointment for Wu- *gets full body tackled by Wukong*

SWK: Hi!

Nezha: *pinned to the ground by Wukong's body weight* Hello Wukong.

SWK: I MISSED YOU!!!!!

Nezha: I missed you too. Setting up that appointment for you took longer than expected and that meeting took ages!

SWK: Setting up the what-

Nezha: We'll discuss it at home. For now... CAN YOU PLEASE GET OFF OF ME!!!!!

SWK: Sorry *gets off of him*

Nezha: You definitely lost weight since falling ill, but you still weight enough to feel like you'd crush my ribs in.

SWK: Can we go home now?

Nezha: Yes, yes we ca- WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU HANDS???!!!!

SWK: I had another pica incident.

The Demon Bull Family: ANOTHER????!!!!

Part 11:

Masterpost

[byfulcrums]

I'm making a headcanon thingy for stableboys bc there isn't enough content about these two

Ao Lie was the second one Sun Wukong opened up to. The first one was Sha Wujing. Part of the reason why Ao Lie wasn't the first is because he spent most of the time shapeshifitng into a horse

SWK avoided him because he is a horse person at heart and didn't want to befriend anyone on the journey. He was there to protect his master, but when it was over, it'd be off! (He failed, in case that wasn't obvious)

When they had to eat, Ao Lie and SWK would always go to find food together. Sun Wukong always hurried him up due to being worried for Tripitaka's safety, but they still had a good time

It wasn't uncommon for them to roll in the dirt and end up being covered in mud and grass. Tripitaka has long since given up on trying to get them to stop

Eventually, when SWK finally accepted that he thought of these ppl as family, he would brush and clean Ao Lie's hair (basically grooming him the way monkies do) after these moments. He really enjoyed doing this bc it reminded him of the monkeys back at his mountain

Ao Lie was the only one he could do this with since he's the only one with actual hair (Sha Wujing is a fish, Zhu Bajie is a pig and Tripitaka's just bald)

Ao Lie sucked at grooming SWK's fur but he tried anyway. It was common to watch them argue over this. He got better after a while tho

Sun Wukong is the one who drew the art from some of the storybooks from the current timeline. He always drew Ao Lie as a horse, ignoring him when he yelled about how he should at least make me more dignified, Elder Brother!

SWK would answer with "it's not my fault you spent the entie journey as a horse!"

Ao Lie died first, in Wukong's arms

Ao Lie started to swear a lot after the journey. He picked it from Sun Wukong, who picked it from Zhu Bajie

Sun Wukong had long... hair? Head fur? That he only cut when it was getting too uncomfortable. Cutting it used to be Macaque's job, but now it's Ao Lie's

Sometimes Ao Lie cut his own hair too to match with him

To add to the long hair HC --- SWK kept his hair on a braid for most of the journey, since he didn't want it to get in his face. He kept the braid Macaque gave him for as long as he could, but it wasn't very durable and he spent 500 years in that mountain, so it didn't last long

He wishes he could say he liked to have Ao Lie braiding his hair, but honestly, he sucked almost as much as he sucked at grooming his fur

Surprisingly, Zhu Bajie is the one who makes the braids that always last the longest. Is he rough and careless? Yes. Does he always accidentally/on purpose pull SWK's hair, ending up in yet another fight Tripitaka has to stop? Absolutely. But his braids are the most durable

While Zhu Bajie's are the most durable, Sha Wujing's are the prettiest. He's rated second for this reason. He sometimes (if Wukong lets him, which doesn't always happen) even puts flowers in it

Tripitaka didn't know how to braid hair and every attempt at learning ended up in utter failure and ugly hairstyles. He got better later though

And last but not least! SWK may be decent at braiding other people's hair (learned from the moon n shadow themed bitch) but he sucks at braiding his own. He had to do and undo his hairstyle all the time before he started to trust the JTTW gang enough to do it for him

Ao Lie is the only one SWK got to say goodbye to. When the others announced they were joining the cycle of reincarnation, he screamed, angry, and left. He learned of their demise days after it happened. It's something he regrets to this day

Sometimes SWK would shapeshift into a horse to walk besides Ao Lie!

Ao Lie joked that Sun Wukong should be the one to carry their master, since he can also turn into a horse and that way he cam keep track of him, but SWK took it seriously and got very offended. Ao Lie gave him a bunch of peaches in hope of earning forgiveness. SWK can barely remember this happening (it's been like a thousand years, after all)

[a3liu2]

LET'S BE REAL ABOUT TRIPITAKA GUYS. (SPOILERS OFC)

Let's be so real guys, Tripitaka isn't an "abuser". He's been mischaracterized/misunderstood to HELL and I'm tired of it. He's a monk guys, being an abuser LITERALLY goes against what he stand for. The "Monkey, no violence!" Scene has been taken out of context. Swk, as much as I hate to say it, isn't a silly little cutesy guy. He was a literal evil fella. If he was going to be Tripitakas discipline, he had to be disciplined in some manner.

But in a sense, "abuser" I guess is how Macaque and the brotherhood viewed him after Swk had the circlet placed on him in the show. They took Macaques best friend and the brotherhoods brother. But, Swk also STAYED with Tripitaka even after the circlet had been removed so Macaque saw him as a straight up traitor.

BUT, in JTTW, the brotherhood and Macaque were NOT there when the circlet was placed on him. Swk had been trapped under a mountain and Tripitaka and freed him and soon later put the circlet on him cause he was to silly to control guys. It was a way to keep the him in check cause he kept killing "people" (They were demons guys) and since he was now one of Tripitakas disciples, he couldn't be doing all that since monks are pacifistic.

Tripitaka is not an abuser and he never will be, he's literally the textbook definition of damsel in distress. He was getting kidnapped left and right in JTTW, and didn't do anything about it.

BUT ALSO GUYS. Macaque, in jttw, is an evil doppelganger and tries to manipulate Tripitaka (after swk was kicked out) into believing that he's Swk then beats them up and robs em. Swk, not having any of that, kills him off. So they aren't necessarily friends in the book, so I can't mirror their behaviors to the show.

I strongly recommend you guys to read JTTW or watch OverlySarcasticProductions summarization of it, they do a great job on it and it's all drawn too with amazing visuals!

[acoraxia]

What are your thoughts on shadowpeach?

Fandom wise? I do not care for it.

Canon wise? I believe in men committing crimes while forming the most toxic, unhealthy attachments to one person could lead to such a dysfunctional relationship that it, eventually, turns into a functional one. And also they’re trans and aspec.

Disclaimer: this is all my opinion and people can do whatever they want, i simply have my gripes with some of the fandom stuff. this is just me explaining what i like and dislike about shadowpeach.

I think the most common thing people fall into when it comes to ships—or shipping in general—is how to domesticate these two characters without fully addressing their flaws, personalities, behavior, and their overall choices throughout the original media/show they come from. 

Macaque and SWK both suffer equally through this mischaracterization: Macaque is often painted as this shy or “edgy” character with little to no ties to his actual character in canon and, more often than not, he is perceived as this “dad” type of character when, in fact, he should not be allowed near children for I fear he will bully them nonstop until they sit there in the corner feeling disheartened and miserable about themselves; Sun Wukong is often portrayed as this dumb himbo with little-to-no means of understanding social cues, not understanding emotions in a way that’s very frustrating, and be this yearning, pining idiot who’s still longing for his childhood crush when he did not hesitate to punch this guy in the face multiple times throughout the show. So when they are paired up together it’s this weird mash of people believing Macaque is the better dad with more understanding of human behavior and Wukong is his dumb, doting husband who’s doing his best and cannot stand up for himself when confronted about things.

The amount of times people choose to make Macaque sympathetic by having Sun Wukong’s family side with Macaque when it comes to Wukong’s actions/choices is so vast I could not count them all on one hand. The common trope of having Princess Iron Fan (Sun Wukong’s sister-in-law) become Macaque’s sworn sister is so disheartening to see for someone who read through Journey To The West and thought of how silly the overall family dynamic of the Demon Bull Family and Sun Wukong’s troops was. Removing Iron Fan as Sun Wukong’s literal sister just to have someone backup Macaque and sympathize with him is funny and a bit silly. 

That being said… the canon version of Shadowpeach and its possibilities are, in fact, very delicious.

Canon wise this is what we know about Sun Wukong and Macaque’s history together: 

Sun Wukong and Macaque meet

The brotherhood is formed after Azure meets Sun Wukong, Macaque tags along with Wukong (note: Macaque is not addressed as “brother” by the characters, only Wukong is)

Macaque tries to warn Wukong about how dealing with Heaven might be a bad idea

They share a peach under a tree; Wukong reassures Macaque this plan will work

Wukong carries on with Azure’s plan anyway (yes, azure lion’s plan, not wukong’s)

The brotherhood is defeated and Wukong gets trapped under a mountain

Presumably no one comes to visit Wukong, only Macaque

During his final visit, Wukong is angry that Macaque is free and can’t see the fact that Wukong was trying to do everything for them and his kingdom

Macaque snaps back at Wukong and calls him an obsessive demon before leaving

They have another fallout and fight

Wukong ends up killing Macaque in the aftermath

500~ years later, Macaque and Wukong fight again with Wukong being more apathetic towards their reunion than Macaque is

Macaque obsesses over Wukong continuously (coughs)

Macaque is biased in his retellings of his and Wukong’s relationship (see: all of shadowplay and the scrolls memories)

They fight (again) throughout S3

They somewhat reconcile by the end of S4

We will address the fact Sun Wukong was groomed into going to war by this former celestial warrior instead of having it be because of his own want to protect his family and friends after Heaven refused to pay him the respect he wanted when he first joined their ranks later. Right now we focus on the fact that Sun Wukong is canonically a person people easily fall in love with (platonically) and have a tendency to want to stay close to regardless of what his future actions will be like and Macaque is sequentially obsessed with him throughout the show.

“The hero and the warrior were like the Sun and the Moon. Their light, a protective glow, shining upon the world. Together, there was nothing that could stop the two of them. Either in the Celestial Realms or on Earth. As time went on, the hero attained power beyond comprehension. As the hero's light grew, so too did his shadow. And soon, the warrior was cast in that shadow. In the darkness, the warrior was forgotten by the hero.”

Fun fact: Macaque is never going to be on par with Sun Wukong’s power and he works best as support than he does a duo-attacker along side Wukong. Wukong is on his own power level and Macaque, while being able of holding his own against enemies, could be stomped to death by Xiaoijiao is he crossed the line.

Macaque’s obsession with Sun Wukong comes from the inability to move on from the past; Macaque wanting things to go back as they were is a subtle theme going through the show — he keeps latching on to biased memories and avoiding the actual problems that caused their relationship to fall apart and it isn’t until Season 3’s big confrontation with Long Xiaojiao’s Samadhi Fire ritual. He realizes he abandoned Wukong during a time of need and proceeds to flee, abandoning him again. 

Macaque has issues. More often than not people call out on Sun Wukong for abandoning Xiaotian or the Monkie Kid Crew all while ignoring the fact Sun Wukong does not purposefully leave Qi Xiaotian, he tries his hardest to make it back in time and is visibly scared/horrified when LBD attacks in his absence. Sun Wukong tries his hardest to comfort Xiaotian while Macaque tries to torment him. 

Regardless, Sun Wukong and Macaque’s relationship is unique to most media’s portrayal of friends turned enemies. Because Wukong does not see Macaque as a threat up until he teams up with Lady Bone Demon — he is only scary by association, not by anything he has done up until that point. You can tell with the way Wukong mocks him and calls him something akin to a puppet during their interaction in Season 3 when Macaque trapped him and Nezha in the ice. 

And even then Macaque doesn’t even bother trying to engage with Wukong in a friendly manner because kindness is for losers HA i’m not apologizing for anything, bye Sun Wukong, you big old LOSER [proceeds to possibly live on the streets and stay homeless until wukong allows him to return to ffm under certain house rules]

You’ll notice that Sun Wukong barely has any opinions on Macaque.

This is because Macaque is favored by the narrative more than Sun Wukong is so we have very little context as to how Sun Wukong genuinely feels towards Macaque. 

Sun Wukong sees Macaque as an annoyance, a bother, a threat, a coward, an imposter and then, finally, an ally. 

But all we get from that is Wukong handing Macaque a peach-flavored ice cream pop as a parallel to him sharing a peach with his old friend back when they were young monkeys before he was trapped under a mountain for 500 years as a result of his abuser’s power hold on him that forced him to fight heaven as a way to “make the world a better place”. 

We love to see it.

Macaque and Wukong’s relationship goes from mutual interest and a supportive friendship established years prior to the original building of the brotherhood to a very weird, uncategorized type of dynamic. The only way to characterize Sun Wukong’s “affection” towards Macaque is, possibly, the same way most people would characterize Macaque to be towards Wukong. Y’know the slightly judgmental actions and eye rolls and scoffs of affection most people write about Macaque when Wukong does something stupid? Yeah.

“But Macaque said “this guy” when Wukong was presenting his plan to defeat Azure—“ yeah have you considered Wukong does a lot of masking in the presence of the entire Monkie Kid Crew and Macaque has a tendency to present himself as this cool persona when in fact he’s just a homeless monkey who’s been crashing on his ex’s couch for the past weeks since the ending of Season 3? 

“OK…. but why QPR Shadowpeach?”

Sun Wukong throughout the course of Journey to the West and all its past and future iterations have always had him be uninterested in both men and women. There are multiple instances where he’s capable of courting women and he instead backs away or does not pay it any mind; aside from this he’s heavily implied to only care about familial love and friendships. He does not see his pilgrim brothers as anything more than family and he views Tripitaka as a mentor rather than someone whom he was chained to. And Azure was his idol and he was groomed by him, and everyone else was viewed to him as a troop — or, y’know, a family.

This and the fact that— both Sun Wukong and Macaque are over a thousand years old. Why on earth would they have a normal type of relationship? Giving them a checklist of what passes on as romantic and platonic when to them the line is so blurred it’s barely existent to them is amusing. 

Sun Wukong and Macaque having their own weird relationship where it changes from frustrated best friends to partners to angry middle aged demons to the tired traumatized immortals who sometimes cuddle while still beating each other up is so deliciously interesting and unhealthy to the point where it is healthy. 

Also Celestial bodies are not the same as mortal bodies; canonically Sun Wukong has transformed into women before and people have addressed him with female-leaning pronouns before. my personal headcanon of sun wukong being genderfluid lves on and now we can have sapphic shadowpeach with transfem macaque.

also im still feverish so if this doesnt make sense then too bad damn im sorry

[emelinstriker]

so having just binged the entier Eternal Servants AU, you made it clear that all of the Champions are solely devoted to their Master with little space left for affection for one another (not ZERO affection, just far less) but what if a Master ordered them to 'be together'? Like, instead of giving/receiving affection, they just wanted to *watch*, and so like, picked two of their Champions and gave an order like (using SWK and SEM as an example) 'Until this hourglass runs out (or something) Macaque you will act as if Wukong is me, and Wukong you will act as if Macaque as me', how (potentially very badly) would the boys take it? Is that a kind of order they could even handle? Or does it pull too far away from the whole 'Master is the most important being in existence' even to *pretend* to be devotedly in love with someone else, even if it's an 'order' (Since it was established the Champions *can* choose to 'interpret' orders and such)

They can most certainly try, but literally none of them would enjoy it. They would also struggle. Like, a lot. As in- You know how devoted and happy they're towards their Master- if they suddenly got dared/ordered to pretend another champion is their Master, that entire enthusiasm and devotion goes down the drain and you can just see even the talkative one be quiet af. Probably the one having the least amount of problems with it (depending on the other champion) would be Macaque, since he's got the best relationship with most of the champions. But pretending to be devoted towards one another would still be very much awkward for any of them.

Though, some would be a lot more awkward about it than others who are more tolerant.

Mink would just dip out the moment the order drops since he already is the one denying orders much more easier than the others. Or if he's told that he's gonna be seen as the Master in this, he'd still immediately dip out because he wouldn't be able to deal with any form of love and affection from these weirdos he was forced to work in a team with.

Macaque would just be so much less enthused about it and all that usual extreme happiness and obsessed love is gone. He might cuddle a bit with his brother if he's the one he's supposed to worship for such a dare/order, but he wouldn't do more than that.

Wukong wouldn't externally change much with expressions, but he most certainly is very reluctant about showing any affection towards anyone who isn't his true Master. If the champion he's supposed to worship is his brother, he'd literally just treat him the same as ever. Maybe cuddle a bit with him too, but that's about it.

MK and Red Son would be filled with so much confusion and disappointment. Like, why would you want them to do that? What's the point? Are they not good enough as servants for their Master?

Nezha do be a lot more grumpy. He usually is already easily angered, but if he was ordered to devote himself to another champion.. You can bet he'll glare daggers towards the other champions the entire time with how annoyed he gets about it. Depending on the champion, his glare is so much sharper. With MK being hit with the least amount of his annoyance.

[fansids]

Twins

Tablet is shot, so have an old headshot of the monkies.

Info below:

They are twin brothers in the Reverse Au. While they're technically the exact same age, Sun Wukong is considered the "older" one. In-universe it's because SWK was immediately sapient upon birth (call back to the whole intelligent part of the stone monkey thing), out-universe it's cause Macaque has that gremlin baby brother energy.

They both have their issues. SWK is possibly going through a 500+ year depression with Red Son being one of the only things keeping him going after the death of his friends and he would very much appreciate it if Macaque left him tf alone. Otherwise he's fiiinnee, psshhh.

Macaque spends his time trying to get his older brother's attention, usually by making him miserable anyway he can outside of directly putting his hands on Red Son (because that did not end well last time) and has nothing else going on in his life aside from training MK to eventually take part in his schemes and the occasional shadow play.

There's a lot more going on with them, but spoilers.

(They may be smiling, but they are both incredibly pissed in the pic)

[jestiamy]

LMK mandarin dub (and how characters address eachother) ; an old and. mostly unfinished project I was working on a bit ago. only got mk & mei, alongside past swk & macaque

mk (qi xiaotian) calls mei (long xiaojiao) her full name, and she does the same inversely. I did not find any notable exceptions, but to be honest I did not look very hard. if anyone is interested in seeing how they call eachother in specific episodes or whatever ; send me an ask and I'm open to looking. but I don't feel like combing every single episode to try and find them aimlessly.

my full notes on past macaque (liu'er mihou) and monkey king (sun wukong) via the flashbacks in the season four special. notably, I've yet to go through the flashback in season four episode two yet. I can only talk about part one of the special.

peach tree segment :

- Sun Wukong greats Liu'er Mihou (swk and lmh will be used as shortenings henceforth.) with his full name. followed quickly by Xiongdi/兄弟. literally composed of the characters for Elder Brother and Younger Brother - used as 'bro,' sort of. it's a way men call close friends/comrades. notably doesn't denote that one or the other is older or younger.*

* age and respect is like. a really big deal in chinese culture. really really big. I'm assuming everyone in the brotherhood refers to eachother as XiongDi to denote that they see themselves as on equal standing. though don't quote me (I'm not an expert; I did most of this post in. january. and stuff like this can get confusing when it comes to immortals)

- lmh greets swk as 'Hou Wang Bixia'/猴王陛下 - [pronoun] majesty, the monkey king. the pronoun in question is between his majesty, your majesty, my majesty. pretty sure this is translated as 'my king' in the english dub, so I'm leaning towards my majesty. the way swk reacts ('come on, don't be like that! eat some fruit, enjoy the sunshine!') as well as how he delivers it can make it very safe to assume this is not a sincere term of address on lmh's half.

mountain segment :

-lmh greets swk as xiongdi. when swk replies, swk calls lmh his full name.

-when lmh rants at swk for his inability to consider others, he calls him Sun Dasheng/孫大聖 - great sage sun. intended to highlight his arrogance within context. also, with consideration, I personally believe to put an emotional distance. (pretty sure he says 'great sage wukong' sarcastically within the dub, or something of the ilk, which is rather close to it's like. tonal goal. though it is missing the fact lmh calls swk by his last name, a rare occurance in mandarin. from observation I think it's usually only to show. really high respect? don't quote me though.) it's a variant shortening of his full title, Qitian Dasheng (great sage equal to heaven.)

* notably, lmh does not call swk a demon/variant of demon at any point, which is contrary to the english dub. shortly before calling swk sun dasheng, he says exactly - "你已经着了魔" ; which can be translated as 'you are possessed,' but I'd say it's closer to other translations like you're obsessed/you're obsessive.

I'm, ironically, struggling to find the mandarin dub of season four (I remember having literally the exact opposite problem around this time last year but you know. life goes that way sometimes.) when I do find it, though, I'll be quick to note it down ; though I don't think they directly address eachother in that. so.

mostly this was a pet project for. me. I realized it was actually really hard to find people who noted this stuff down and I was like. hey you know what. why not. though due to extenuating circumstances I ended up too busy to finish it ; I still thought what I already had was pretty interesting. though I don't really go into as much detail as I could have, as I was assuming I'd be noting a lot more character dynamics in this post than I did