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One Word Prompts - Chapter 6

Rating: T Word Count: ~1,264 Characters: MK, Sandy, Mei Summary: Short, reflective stories for a variety of LMK characters CW: PTSD

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MK - Burn

For an inextinguishable, interdimensional flame, capable of burning the fabric of reality, the Samadhi Fire hadn't really done a lot of, y'know, burning.

You'd think at the very least there would have been some singed clothes or reddened skin from being in the literal blast zone when the fire was released but no one had been physically worse for wear as a result of the fire itself.

Not even him, and he'd literally run head first into it to reach Mei!

But now, only days after the event, he'd realised he hadn't come out of that terrible experience unscathed.

At first, the aches and pains and exhaustion from saving the world had been so severe that he hadn't been able to do much more than sleep - only waking up when Pigsy physically roused him and forced him to eat something. And then, once he had been up and about, he had dived head first into helping with the restoration efforts.

So it had taken a little while to realise that the strange discomfort he was feeling whenever he stopped for a moment was more than just the remnants of his harrowing adventure or the result of overworking.

But while it was a discomfort during the day when he had plenty to keep him busy, at night he began to writhe as he burned from the inside out.

And as he felt invisible flames scorch everywhere and no where inside him, he knew without a doubt that it was the Samadhi Fire's doing.

But even after everything he'd been through and his big talk about being a team, he hadn't found the courage to tell the others.

It wasn't too bad he told himself - he could mostly ignore it during the day and it saved him from nightmares at night. And who's to say it wouldn't go away all by itself if he just ignored it?

To the surprise of no one, it did not go away all by itself.

It was equally unsurprising that his various attempts to quell the fire by himself did nothing either. But in hindsight, treating it like a fever or some normal sickness was always doomed to fail. As was messing about with his magic but in his sleep deprived state, he really had thought he was onto something by just trying to force the magic out.

Ultimately, he could only be grateful Pigsy had been keeping such a close eye on him and had caught him tossing and turning and grimacing in pain one night before forcing the truth out of him.

He had then been unceremoniously dragged in front of Monkey King and, after a bit of back and forth with Nezha and the Demon Bull Family, a remedy had quickly been found.

He'd already known that the Samadhi Fire was no ordinary flame but he hadn't fully appreciated that it was an ancient, eldritch power that obeyed no law and burned however it saw fit.

It had set his magic alight and there was no telling what the consequences could have been had it not been caught when it had.

He had been lectured to within an inch of life, and rightly so, but he hadn't been the only one to face everyone's ire. Because, as it turned out, he hadn't been the only one keeping burning secrets.

Although, arguably Mei experiencing the internal burning of the Samadhi Fire was of even greater cause for concern.

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Sandy - Weight

Sandy was exceptionally grateful that his friends were so accepting of his aversion to violence. That they let him play a much more supportive and defensive role during fights, even when he was clearly capable of so much more.

But the fact he had to fight at all still weighed on him.

He constantly had to remind himself that fighting he did now as a hero, was not the same as the fighting that he'd finally walked away from.

He was protecting people. He was saving the world. He was doing it for this greater good.

And not because it was all he'd ever been good for.

The Scroll of Memory had made it harder to believe that.

Whether his ancestor or his previous life, his time as Shā Wùjìng had reinforced the idea that violence was in his blood, or worse was in his very soul. And it was a hard thing to reconcile with.

His nightmares had become so bloody and violent that he couldn't tell his own memories apart from Shā Wùjìng's, where one of them started and the other ended.

But the worst of it was the thrill of it. Of how right it felt to be on the battlefield. To draw first blood and be the last one standing.

He didn't want to fight.

He didn't want to be that monster again.

But some days it felt all but inevitable that he would.

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Mei - Legacy

With the Lady Bone Demon defeated, and the Samadhi Fire used up in the process, the day had been well and truly saved but she knew it would take some time before any of them fully recovered from the ordeal.

Staring in the mirror, she tried to find signs that she had changed. A piece of the Samadhi Fire had apparently been with her for her whole life, after all - shouldn't she be able to feel its absence? Shouldn't she feel different now?

She wasn't sure she did.

Sometimes she thought she felt flames on her skin or a burning in her heart but she was sure that was all in her head - just remnants of terror that refused to let her go.

She wondered if there had been any signs she had missed growing up? Maybe the fire had been the reason she had excelled at aggressive or powerful dragon abilities but had utterly failed with any that required restraint or finesse? Had it bolstered her magic? Would she be weaker now without it?

Only time would answer those questions about her strength but the question of whether she could have known sooner was one she struggled with.

Because it wasn't just her that would have missed those signs - it would have been every family member before her too, those that had carried the flame and those that had been close to them.

She'd been reluctant to bring up anything to do with the Samadhi Fire with her parents at first but eventually the need to know combined with feeling that her family deserved to know about the horrifying power they'd been carrying for generations won out.

It required being more honesty about what she'd been through than she would have liked but she'd done her best to downplay what a harrowing experience it had truly been.

It had clearly been a shock to both of them and, after reassuring themselves that she was alright and cursing out Monkey King for all he was worth, they immediately got to work seeking answers - asking the extended family, going through the archives and reviewing family memories.

There was some record of the Samadhi Fire ritual as told by Áo Liè but he apparently hadn't been too concerned about the whole thing, barely even mentioning he'd been singed by a wayward flame during a "little whoops-a-daisy".

They'd been able to make some educated guess about the route the fire had taken through the family tree but it didn't bring anyone much peace.

Just a frustration that there must have been signs that had been missed and an anger that such a curse had been placed upon their family.

--Chapter End--

A/N: The first two prompt suggestions came from @youre-awesome96! Thank you again! I struggled with the Sandy one for a bit and I definitely could have dug deeper into it but I think the gist is there! Really got me thinking tho!

If you'd like to suggest a prompt - just pop a character and a one word prompt in the comments or in an ask and I'll do my best to get to it!

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One Word Prompts - Chapter 5

Rating: T Word Count: ~1,630 Characters: Azure, Mentioned Yellow Tusk, Mentioned Peng Relationships: Azure & Yellow Tusk & Peng Summary: Short, reflective stories for a variety of LMK characters CW: None

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Azure - Joy

Azure had never had any difficulty making friends. His goodwill and confidence easily winning over citizens, superiors and his fellow soldiers. And as a result, he had no shortage of people he could call upon for a drink, and he'd spent many a night celebrating victory and toasting Heaven's reign with parties of hundreds, every single one of them someone he would have happily called his friend.

But he understood now how shallow that camaraderie had been, how dependent it had been on his compliance of the status quo.

A status quo he was increasingly disquieted with.

At first, it had only been the odd isolated incident that had caused him to feel uneasy - usually a call made by one of his superiors that just didn't sit quite right with him. But, never one to fear speaking his mind, he had raised his concerns and had subsequently been placated by his opinions being respected and his suggestions taken seriously.

But amidst concessions of minor failings and gratitude for his thoughtful insight, there was always the gentle reminder that he didn't have the full picture, that there were details and factors that his rank did not permit him to know.

He had always accepted that subtle reproach gracefully, his faith in his superiors and the Will of Heaven too strong to believe they weren't doing everything they could for the greater good.

But those same decisions that rubbed him wrong kept happening, again and again. And while his feedback was always welcomed, and even discussed at length, only the most superficial of his recommendations were ever implemented.

His frustrations only continued to grow until, in the aftermath of a bloody campaign, he finally reached his breaking point.

The concerns he had raised to his superiors had never been frivolous or of little consequence. How could they be?

When they had been about stopping innocent blood from being shed.

The Celestial Armies were already returning to Heaven, the great evil they'd been sent to quell successfully defeated. And he'd no doubt they'd be celebrating their victory long into the night, many already patting themselves on the back for a job well done.

He stood alone in the ruins of the war-torn city and solemnly bore witness to the aftermath of "victory".

He took a deep breath.

And then began to help where he could.

It was not the job of a general to move rubble, or to carry the dead, or to tend to the injured, or to quietly console the grieving.

But he worked tirelessly to alleviate the suffering here in any way he could and in doing so it reinforced a glaring truth.

This could have been avoided.

All of it.

If only he'd been listened to.

----

He was not quiet in his criticism of the campaign, or with his frustrations with the army and Heaven at large. And it was here that he learned how quickly one could lose favour for speaking their mind, for questioning the status quo.

It was one thing to sympathise with the mortals that bore the brunt of war but it turned out to be quite another to suggest that Heaven should be doing more to protect them.

He had been taken aback by the anger and offence that even the most benign complaints or suggestions could spark in his fellow soldiers. Any perceived slight taken incredibly personally.

A fellow general had eventually pulled him aside to warn him of the harm his fury was doing.

He was a good man, he was told, passionate about doing right and he could understand his frustration at his advice being overlooked but there was a right way and a wrong way to voice his concerns. All he was accomplishing by so "aggressively" questioning higher powers was pushing people away from him and eroding trust.

It was said in the spirit of someone that didn't want to see a good man get in trouble.

Sympathetic. Understanding. Friendly.

He had swallowed down his anger, thanked him for his advice and apologised for being so emotional.

His "friend" had smiled in relief, slapped his back good-naturedly and reassured him that he understood. After all, who wouldn't get frustrated at a blunder that they had foreseen and had warned their superiors about?

It had been a much needed intervention but not for the reason his fellow general might have believed it to be.

It wasn't just his battle prowess that had awarded him with the title of general. His tactics and people management skills had ensured his success time and time again. And it was obvious that he needed to think carefully on how best to bring about the changes he sought.

He would maintain the status quo for now, be the Azure Lion that Heaven wanted to see. But his mind remained his own and no opportunity to do good would escape his keen eyes and ears.

----

The opportunity he was waiting for finally materialised in the form of a collaborative mission with Yellow Tusk the Wise and the Golden-Winged Peng.

They had all known of each other, had even met in passing more than once, but this fortuitous meeting would mark the beginning of a legendary brotherhood.

It was a curious team that had been put together:

Yellow Tusk, a highly esteemed scholar with an impeccable memory that was almost unrivalled in the field of written magics.

Peng, a guardian of the Pure Lands that was occasionally called upon to act as the personal guard of the highest ranking officials in Heaven, including the Queen Mother.

And him, General of the Wǔtái Division of the Celestial Army, responsible for keeping the north-east regions of the mortal realm safe from malignant forces of Chaos.

And to capture a thief of all things.

No ordinary thief, of course, but he couldn't fathom how the three of them had been chosen for this mission. True, each of them had a relevant area of expertise applicable to what little they knew about their target but it truly was bizarre.

Not that he was complaining, it was a nice change of pace and Yellow Tusk and Peng were extremely competent coworkers and remarkably good company.

It would come as a surprise to no one that it was Peng that eventually let a scathing comment about Heaven slip - deeply insulted that such high ranking and overqualified specialists had been forced to take on such a demeaning task.

He had been careful in his response, not disagreeing that it was unusual, and Yellow Tusk had answered similarly.

It was a moment that could have been easily forgotten, written off as misguided frustration.

But there had been a strange charge to their conversations after that point, each of them carefully testing the waters with small, easy to explain away critiques of the status quo, hopeful they weren't imagining the kinship between them.

Until eventually Peng forced the issue into the open, casually mentioning that their role as personal guard awarded them access to all sorts of gossip. That they had heard rumours about how vocal the two of them had been with their displeasure with Heaven's upper management but that, of course, that they had since come to their senses.

He had glanced at Yellow Tusk in surprise - he had never heard of anyone else so blatantly criticising Heaven's Elite before. But after a moment he had turned back to Peng and, sure he had not misunderstood their tone, he had quirked a smile, "Would we be birds of a feather perchance?"

Peng's grin had said it all.

The tension between them had broken and it quickly came apparent how incredibly like-minded they all truly were. Even though they each had their own cause that had led them to see Heaven for the farce it was.

For Yellow Tusk, it was the needless bureaucracy, corruption and incompetence of those in charge. For Peng, it was the clear discrimination of those that weren't human in appearance, how with little exception those in charge had human faces. For him, it was the refusal to be proactive, to not use the incredible power of Heaven to improve the lives of mortals.

They opened each other's eyes to more and more of the systemic issues that plagued the Celestial Realm and it became increasingly clear to them all what lay at the root of it all.

The Jade Emperor.

----

Their careers as revolutionaries were still very much in their humble beginnings but while they slowly made sense of the way forward their newfound friendship flourished.

After committing himself to the status quo, there had been a disconnect between him and the world. He had still befriended his fellow Celestials, still laughed and cried with them, drank and worked with them. But it had been a hollow experience, knowing they would abandon him in the first instance he dissented.

But now, he had finally found true friends in Yellow Tusk and Peng and the joy merely being in their company brought him was indescribable.

It was unfortunate that their duties kept them apart but Yellow Tusk - brilliant, brilliant Yellow Tusk - had developed a foolproof method for them to pass secret messages onto one another. And while many such messages spoke of revolution, just as many spoke of their day-to-day and made plans for some fun at the very first opportunity.

There was no greater feeling than raising a glass with his brothers, squandered somewhere safe from prying eyes and ears, talking all night about their hopes and dreams for the future.

There would be more of them, he always told them, they would find others invested in their cause. But drunkenly he always swore that as long as he had the two of them by his side then there was no future where their dreams didn't come true.

--Chapter End--

A/N: This prompt suggestion came from @youre-awesome96! Thank you so much for such an interesting prompt! I'm planning to get to the other two you suggested as well but this first one really ran away from me! The next two will probably be a fair bit shorter!

Oddly, the very first thing that came to mind for it was Hamilton meeting his fellow revolutionaries for the first time in the songs Aaron Burr, Sir, My Shot and The Story of Tonight so if you notice anything that looks suspiciously Hamilton-esque that's on purpose! 

If you'd like to suggest a prompt - just pop a character and a one word prompt in the comments or in an ask and I'll do my best to get to it!

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LMK Prompts

I'm in the mood to write some more short oneshots but thought it could be fun to have someone else suggest the characters and prompts for a change! So please feel free to leave a comment or send an ask with a character and a one word prompt and I'll see if I can write anything for it (and tag you, of course, if I do)!

If you want to see what I've done for one word prompts previously you can check out here on Tumblr or here on AO3!

[lucagray813]

One Word Prompts - Chapter 4

Rating: T Word Count: ~1,046 Characters: Macaque, Wukong, Monkeys Relationships: Macaque & Monkeys, Macaque & Wukong (Could be interpreted as Shadowpeach), Wukong & Monkeys Summary: Short, reflective stories for a variety of LMK characters CW: Suicide, death, poor self-image, PTSD

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Macaque - Gentle

Macaque was sure he'd once known how to be gentle. Kind words and softly spoken reassurances familiar to his lips. Hands careful and patient as they groomed fur and tended to injuries. Expression loving and unguarded.

In the present however gentleness was a foreign concept, something impossible to understand or extend to himself or others.

Not when pain, anger and fear forever roiled beneath his skin.

The best he could offer was a lack of violence.

The monkeys were the sole recipients of this parody of gentleness.

He never responded to their chirps, lest his words turn sharp and cruel. Never returned the favour when they groomed him, to protect them from bloody, unpredictable hands.

The most contact he ever initiated was to remove them from his person, careful to do them no harm as he did. But he largely let them do as they pleased, allowing them to sit on his shoulder or sleep beside him, only stopping them if there was a real need to.

He wished he could offer them more, reciprocate their affections with his own, but just the thought of reaching out to hold them made his hand twitch dangerously, the thought of answering their chirps with his own causing bile to rise up his throat.

For now, this was all he could offer them and he could only be grateful a number of them seemed to think it was enough.

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Macaque - Death (TW: Suicide)

Body broken and eye ruined, the Six-Eared Macaque lay and stared unseeing up at the stars from the crater that Wukong had left him in.

Their fight had ended long ago and yet still he remained, paralysed by the unfathomable.

Wukong had spared him, a mercy he made sure he knew was out of respect for his master's wishes and nothing else, and then walked away with out a backwards glance, his parting words a promise that he would not be so forgiving a second time.

The finality of it all was deafening.

Wukong was everything. He'd pledged himself to him wholly and completely. His love and loyalty entirely his. Without him he was nothing.

He could hear nothing - past, present, future - it was all gone.

And as the sun rose on a new day, he let the carnivorous shadows that he'd leashed but never tamed finally sate their hunger for his flesh.

An agonising death he'd forever feared, now a welcome end.

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Wukong - Peaches

The immortal peaches that grew on the island differed from those that grew in the Celestial Realm in a number of significant ways.

His peaches only offered immunity from age, illness and death for a hundred years while the Heavenly peaches offered all that and more - granting various boons and with their effects lasting millennia.

But on the flip side, his peach trees also bore a bountiful harvest of fruit every hundred years, whereas the Heavenly varieties could take anywhere from three thousand to nine hundred years to produce fruit.

So he had the better deal if you asked him, the tastier peaches too.

But while he took a great deal of pride in his orchard, an abundance of immortal peaches did present him with an issue.

It had taken him some time to decide on how best to distribute the peaches to his troupe without creating a dangerous imbalance that was of detriment to the island and all that lived on it. Because, as it turned out, immortality had no bearing on fertility or sex drive.

But after much trial and error he eventually came up with a plan that everyone mostly managed to adhere to. It largely boiled down to "You wanted to eat a peach? Then you had a contraception seal slapped on you for as long as you were immortal.". There were a couple other caveats and ultimately he had the final say on who became immortal but that was the long and short of it.

So every one hundred years, the monkeys decided if they wanted to ask for immortality or not. Some only did it once - wanting to experience the sublime taste of an immortal peach than being overly concerned with longevity, and some had had a peach every single time it had been on offer.

He always dealt with his most long-lived troupe members first, and at this point he didn't even ask any of them if they wanted a peach, just handed it over to them with little fanfare and let them happily chow down on the very finest of the peaches on offer.

So he played favourites a little, sue him. He'd known some of these monkeys for basically his whole life, they were getting the best pickings.

This year however he was startled when General Ba simply shook his head when he handed him his peach. His fellow stalwarts looked equally shocked by his polite refusal and immediately began to question what the hell he was playing at.

But no matter what anyone said or did he stood firm in his decision - he no longer wished to be immortal.

He was ready to grow old.

He wasn't ready to die necessarily but he was ready to begin the final leg of his journey.

No one really knew how to handle this news, the rest of his stalwart looking at their own peaches uncertainly. It had always been the four of them - how could they eat their peaches if he didn't eat his?

Ignoring the chasm widening in his chest, he had promised to keep a peach aside for him, in case he changed his mind. To his relief, this was enough reassurance for everyone else to eat their peaches, clearly confident that he would change his mind, they were going to make sure of it!

Looking at the quiet resolve in Ba's eyes, he had his doubts but he told himself that he would respect his decision no matter what. No tricking him into eating a peach or guilting him into it and when the time came... when he...

Ba's expression softened at his teary eyes, placing a gentle hand on his arm, and Wukong was powerless not to sweep him up and hold him tightly.

The pain of losing him, and inevitably Ma, Liu and Beng, already unbearable.

--Chapter End--

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100-Eyed Demon Thoughts

I was having a think about the 100-Eyed Demon's powers and how they work.

From what we saw with MK, although he could be a special case, when you're trapped you are fully cognisant of the fact that you're stuck in a memory, viewing it from an outsider's perspective, but you don't necessarily know how you got there or that some malignant force is up to something.

I've got a couple of ideas what that "something" is:

Option 1 - Memory Eating

Possible reasons for this: it's just what he needs to eat to survive, it's what fuels his power, it adds to his collection or knowledge, they just taste good.

If we assume memories exist as events or episodes then it could be that the memory you're stuck in is the memory he's currently devouring and if you get to the end of the memory then you'll no longer remember it at all when, or if, you escape. If you did manage to escape before that then what you could remember would be dependent on how much he managed to eat.

This could he something you start to become aware of while still trapped - maybe you start forgetting what you just saw within that memory or maybe you suddenly can't remember what the last memory was when you start the next one.

Option 2 - Keeping you trapped for another purpose

Trapping you in a memory is purely to disarm and distract you and to leave your body vulnerable. Maybe he wants to rob you, eat you or steal your life force while you are completely unaware and unable to do anything about it.

Regardless of why he's doing it, let's think about what the extent of his powers are.

It could be trapping you is all there is to it but it might be interesting if he has the ability to manipulate your memories to an extent. The more subtle the change the less likely you are to notice something is wrong, both at the time or when you wake up. But maybe it's possible to plant completely false memories that you'll believe to have really happened as long as he's not messed up and made something contradictory.

Maybe he has the ability to "freeze" you so you're unable to move about like MK could, forcing you to watch whatever memory he's chosen. Maybe this ability depends on whether he's spreading himself too thin by trapping multiple people or on your understanding of the mind. For example, someone enlightened, or working towards it, might have an easier time breaking out of his hold.

How does he choose the memory? There could be a little bit of recon involved beforehand if he's looking to manipulate something specifically but I think it's likely he's drawn to memories his victim feels strongly about or are high in emotion.

I think if I was to implement him in a fic I would probably have him as a collector of memories, wanting new and unique experiences to add to his collection - thus why he was so engrossed in going deeper and deeper into MK's psyche - and that his powers are primarily to incapacitate his prey so he can kill and/or eat them.

Depending on who he caught, and if they knew it was him that had caught them, he might let them live so they can make new memories for him to collect.

I am wondering though how effective his method of trapping his prey is. It looked like one look into his floating eyes and that was it - you're caught. But could it be dependent on catching you off guard? Are you more able to resist if you've been caught before? He also had a lot of eyes on MK - so it could depend on the number of eyes on you too.

[lucagray813]

LBD Art

Decided to tidy up this design I did for Inktober.

Have some LBD thoughts I had when I first made this a couple months back too.

Original screenshot under the cut.

[lucagray813]

Story Idea - Macaque on the Run

After defeating the LBD, Macaque has a good hard think about his priorities in life and decides that he's wasted enough time on Wukong and that he's actually going to try and make the most of his second chance and live his best life literally anywhere far from FFM and its king.

Unfortunately for him however, escaping from the Dìyù is not something that's just going to be swept under the rug and the forces of the underworld are very much determined to get him back where he's supposed to be.

Unbeknownst to him, LBD had been able to keep the reapers off his tail but now she's gone they have no problem tracking him and after one too many close calls he calls in at FFM to see if there's an artefact or something that can hide him from his hunters.

He doesn't find what he's looking for before he realises that he's safe on FFM - the denizens of the Dìyù not daring to go anywhere near the Monkey King or his domain.

He's still keen to find something to keep him safe but the urgency is somewhat lessened for the time being. But now he's stuck in the last place in the mortal realm he wants to be and unfortunately there's no hiding from Wukong for long.

Not convinced that Wukong wouldn't happily hand him over to the Dìyù he doesn't tell him why he's really here or what he's looking for - just insists he's every right to be here (it's been his home for just as long after all).

Wukong doesn't believe it for a second but resolves to keep an eye on him and just kicks him out of the vault for the time being. And does so every time he catches Macaque there.

Neither are happy to be around each other but Macaque isn't leaving until he's found what he needs and Wukong isn't going to leave him alone until he figures out what he's really up to.

Knowing that the island is safe and he can get back there asap, Macaque will on occasion leave the island - sometimes to get away from Wukong, sometimes because he's going stir crazy and sometimes because he wants to search for a solution elsewhere, maybe he found a promising lead in the library and wants to explore it.

Never takes long for the reapers to find him however and though he always manages to escape back to the island, he doesn't always make it unscathed, eventually prompting suspicion (and concern) from Wukong.

That's all I've got so far, but I think it's a pretty good set up for some bonding! Altho, you better believe Macaque is very displeased to be dependent on Wukong, especially after finally deciding to move on. Could also be fun to get MK involved somehow too if he discovers Macaque is living on the island.

Feel free to do what you want with this idea.

[lucagray813]

Journeytober (2024) Days 1 - 15

Last year I discovered @vorpaldoodles's Inktober/Journeytober prompts halfway through October and I decided that I wanted to go back and do the first half that I missed.

This is a project I've been working on on and off for the past couple of months and because I wasn't on a time limit I wanted to try and challenge myself in different ways and I definitely did that! Very glad I did it but also very glad it's done! 😅

If you want to check out the ones I did last year - you can start here at Day 16

Below the cut is a bit more detail on each prompt.

Day 1 - Tree I'm really pleased with how this one turned out, I think the sketch and the line weight of the ink is really good. I'm forever trying to figure out the right medium for colouring and I was determined to give pencils another go. I really tried to do it "properly" doing layer after layer to get it looking right. The leaves I think I nailed but I definitely lost steam by the time I got to the hill 😅 but overall I'm still very happy with it

Day 2 - Ghost So one ambition I had for completing this challenge was to try and do less straight up screenshot redraws and while this is still technically a redraw I definitely put a lot of effort into changing it up! I looked at so many screenshots and artwork of LBD's little ghost things but in the end two pieces of art really helped me figure it out. The first is this amazing work by wurmje and the second is this work I found on Pinterest that I unfortunately couldn't find the original post for. I honestly don't know how wurmje got those smoke trails on the skulls looking so good - experience, practice and talent probably! - but even after staring at smoke trail vectors on Pinterest this was still my best attempt 😅

Day 3 - Fruit I had an epiphany when I was brainstorming ideas for the remaining prompts and that was that there was nothing stopping me from taking inspiration from my own fanfics. So, this basket of fruit is reminiscent of the one Wukong gave to Wǎn'ér the last time he saw her in Until the End. His inclination to peaches means that they always end up being the most prevalent fruit. Generally, the more he likes you, the more peaches he'll give you. But he put together this basket about two dozen times trying to put together the best possible combination for Wǎn'ér's health and enjoyment and the amount of peaches was a critical consideration. At several points it was just a basket full of (non-immortal) peaches. I was experimenting with the line weight to indicate shadows but I was always messing about with new liners so it's maybe not quite as tidy as I would like and also I don't know actually know how the shadows would work here but I gave it a good shot!

Day 4 - Bear Meet (Zǒu Xíng) Shí Xióng, the (Misshapen) Stone Bear, Nǚwā's assistant and one of her failed attempts to create MK - you can find out more about him here. Bear Ref I used was this.

Day 5 - Lotus Who else was it going to be? I struggled with this one a lot - I wanted to try my hand at a non Lego body type and I really struggled with the face, especially the eyes. I must have looked at hundreds of different LMK artists to see how they drew their versions of characters and I honestly still don't know how they make them look so good (I mean, I do - it's practice but you know what I mean). But overall I think it was a decent attempt! I really tried to make the line weight a bit dynamic but honestly I really like how I messed up his wheel and just went ham - maybe a style to really commit to another time!

Day 6 - Cycle Get it? It's a motorcycle? Sorry 😅 People that draw machines are built different. People that can ink circles though? God like ability. You should have seen me sweating putting pen to those wheels and then I messed up the back one so badly I just coloured the whole thing in (it was still a bit off so I also cut out some paper to try and fix it a little). I accidentally missed out some little bits by not getting the proportions quite right but I don't think you can really tell so I'm calling it a success!

Day 7 - Scripture So my initial plan for this was to have Tang crying over some scrolls but I was trying to demand something of myself I just didn't have the skills for yet, positioning a character I didn't have a reference for, and it was just getting frustrating so instead I pivoted to trying to do backgrounds and using line weight to show distance from the viewer. Overall I think I did ok but the pillars were impossible to get straight 😖

Day 8 - Legacy I had a much more ambitious idea for this one but it was turning out to be more frustrating than challenging and I was getting grumpy so I changed tact and did something simpler!

Day 9 - Wound/Scar My initial plan was to do a couple different characters from my fics and focus on one of their most significant scars but I really want to try and explore other styles and since this was going to be a straightforward prompt (i.e. not fully body drawings) this felt like a good opportunity to experiment a little! So I did some little studies of some very talented fan artists work trying to understand how they put faces together and make them look good! Links to the artists and their works: pinkydonatsu, bismuthfool and ninjadudexx

Day 10 - Spider I've written some more about this scene here but basically this is pre-working for Spider Queen and she's got her eyes on Syntax. Pretty happy with how this turned out! I'm not the best at blending different coloured pencils together but I think it looks pretty good! It is pretty obvious that the yellow was a higher quality pencil tho 😅 I also managed to preserve those white lines in his hair so it doesn't look like on big mass.

Day 11 - Creation I did think about doing someone with Nǚwā and her stone carvings but Red Son's little flame sprite from Season 5 just really grew on me the more I looked at it. Decided to have a bit of fun with it and do a little fakemon evolution for it, I actually did a digital version first (add link) before putting pen to paper. Also decided to give the glitter gel pen ago and honestly apart from the fact the glitter sometimes clogs up the ballpoint it was actually pretty nice to work with. But it also does NOT dry as fast which I didn't enjoy accidentally discovering 😤

Day 12 - Underworld So this is another example of me drawing inspiration from my fics. In my Monkey Talk Series, the Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey is the celestial primate of the "underworld" - predating the Ten Kings by eons. She's held many a soul in her life time. You can read more about her here and this is the ref I used. Did a digital version of this one too! Continued to try using the gel pen and found it's more forgiving than traditional liners when it comes to hand shakiness, I'm not sure it layers quite as nicely though!

Day 13 - Pagoda The colours for the 100-Eyed Demon were just so ahem eye-catching and I thought I could maybe do something fun with it. I was messing around with various pencils and pens but the bleeding on some of the pens was really annoying me and so this somehow became a bit of a paper craft project with at least 5 layers and 17 different cut out shapes! Very finicky but I actually did enjoy it! And got to experiment with some pencil techniques so overall I'm happy with it!

Day 14 - Lunar Cutting out paper with a craft knife? Way, way more difficult than it has any right to be. Also, I kid you not, as soon as I was done my brother came through and was like "Oh, yeah, I've got a craft knife specifically for cutting out curves." RIP me, I guess. But I think I did alright regardless! I was half tempted to add some craters to the moon but I was too scared of ruining it.

Day 15 - Mercy I struggled coming up with what to draw for this one but eventually I remembered that Sandy exists and how he very pointedly spares Huntsman! But I wanted to give myself a bit of extra challenge and so tried to draw his hand a bit more realistically. If you're wondering why he's missing part of a finger that's because I used a picture of my dad's hand as a reference, who due to crane related incidents, is down half a finger. But I could believe Huntsman lost a finger in his life - I had thought to add some scars but I forgot. But yeah, overall happy with this one!

Overall, I'm pretty proud of myself! Even if a drawing didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped I can still find something I like about it and almost everyone had it's own unique challenge that I gave my best shot! Thanks again to vorpaldoodles for the prompts!

[lucagray813]

Like it???? I love it!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍 It's so good! 😍😍😍😍😍😍

The could've been just makes it all the sadder! His little shadow! They've missed him so much! 😭😭😭😭😭 I promise they did get their tearful reunion post Season 3! It just took a bit of hardship to get there 🥲🥲🥲

This is honestly so amazing and sweet! Thank you so much! 😭🙏💕😭🙏💕

So i was reading Tales from the shadows CHP4 QwQ and let's just imagine he didn't pull away

@lucagray813 Hope you like it xD

[lucagray813]

RBHM Sketch

I don't usually do this much digital art but I sometimes find it easier to do the "design" stage digitally before I start actually putting pencil to paper.

This isn't the final design of the Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey (she's missing her mask and her namesake after all!) but I think it captures her vibe well enough! We're only just getting to know her in the Monkey Talk Series in the aptly named fic The Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey but she is essentially the Celestial Primate of the "Underworld" and pre-dates the Ten Kings by several eons - she's seen and held countless souls in her time.

The next prompt for my challenge was "Underworld" and there was nothing stopping me from drawing something related to one of my AUs so here we are! 😁

Reference that I used is under the cut!

Link to Original Image

[lucagray813]

Flame Sprite Fakemon

Still working on my little project and the next prompt was "creation" and I thought I'd try something less obvious and went with Red Son's flame sprite from Season 5. And then I just went ahead and made a fakemon evolution for it for some reason. 😅

My ability to draw from imagination is extremely limited so I based them off of the lion guardians that chased MK out of the Celestial Realm during the Season 2 Special. I gave them Mei's dragon horns and teeth because, y'know, she was there too.

[lucagray813]

Thoughts on Syntax

So I'm working on a little project (same one as this) and one of the prompts was "spider" and it got me thinking about how Syntax came to work for Spider Queen in the first place.

Now, I'll admit the spiders are probably the characters I've thought about least in LMK, so I'm not sure what the general consensus is but I think Spider Queen probably had little spider spies all over the city looking for an opportunity she could use to take over.

And after securing a couple strands of MK's hair and starting work on her spider serum, she started looking for someone that could help her with that plan and through spies and a bit of research she found Syntax.

She had to vet the guy and figure out how best to force him to work for her, of course, and thus began the spider surveillance which leads to the scene above.

It's easy enough to dismiss a couple of spiders at first but after a while of spiders everywhere he went, with no-one else seemingly having this problem, he started to get suspicious, paranoid even - they were staring at him, he swore! Maybe he even started suspect a rival academic was out to steal his research or something!

How she actually gets him I've not really thought about yet but wouldn't surprise me if it was either blackmail or kidnapping. Although I could see her appealing to a desire to practice science without ethical constrictions or tempting him with promises to elevate his status in the scientific community by giving him access to tech or funding the likes of which he could only dream of.

[lucagray813]

Relationship Tags

I write a lot of fics with QPRs or with ambiguous relationships (i.e. it's open to interpretation and you can read it as platonic or romantic) and right now I usually tag that as: A/B, A&B, Queerplatonic Relationships or Ambiguous Relationship.

But I'm wondering if that's the best way to do it because I think I might be able to put QPR A&B or Ambiguous A&B Relationship in the relationship tags but while that would be more accurate I think it might stop people finding fics they want to read.

[lucagray813]

Thoughts on Pigsy

Having some big feelings about Pigsy 😭

I'm attempting a bit of an ambitious rewrite of one of my oldest fics and I'm rewatching bits from season 4 to get quotes and then MK hits us with:

"You have scary demon ancestors? That just means you have family. You come from somewhere. I-I don't have a family. I don't have anything."

Like, gah! Can you imagine the emotional turmoil Pigsy must be going through?

His day starts out with him being trapped inside the body of either his ancestor or past self who embodies every bad thing people think about demons, he almost eats his best friend/life partner/most loyal customer, he has to fight his other best friend who he can't get through to, he gets the shit beat out of him by the Brotherhood, who then casually mention they're off to establish a new world order, and then to top it off your kid, that you raised and love like your own, declares that he doesn't have a family and you know that it's in no small part because you've always shied away from being called dad*? And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of all the fears he has for MK who is now missing in action!

Man is having the worst day.

*I'd imagine he's also thinking about all the other ways he thinks he's let MK down over the years too. I also appreciate from MK's perspective there was a lot more going on about his identity that prompted him to say that but from Pigsy's perspective? Devastating.

I have many, many headcanons about MK's childhood with Pigsy and I'm hoping I'll eventually cover them all in my Dadsy series but I do think his reluctance to fully and publicly declare himself MK's father had a lot to do with the fact that he was a demon and MK wasn't, as far as he knew anyway. And then he's just spent a day as Zhū Gāngliè, reinforcing all the terrible things people think about him and demons in general as true? Therapy. Needed immediately.

But then there's no time to even process any of it because suddenly Master fucking Subodhi is telling you and your friends how much you suck and then the world is literally being torn apart at the seams!

Terrible, terrible day.

But yeah, as you can imagine, it's proving challenging to unpack all that in a fic 😅

[lucagray813]

I have a question about MT about Wukong erasing his name from the book of the dead. Will you go with what Macaque impless, Wukong went to the Underworld with the intent to erased his name as part of his quest for more immortality? Or how Wukong implies it happened, he was kidnapped(and/or killed?) and crossed out his name in retaliation?

In MT, we're sticking pretty close to JTTW - where his soul is more or less stolen away in his sleep at random and he sees an opportunity for another immortality and takes it. The reason for that is partly because he absolutely never wanted to go anywhere near the Dìyù ever, that's his worst nightmare come true!, and party because it gives him ample motivation for what happens next.

On one hand it drives his motivation and fear for more immortality because clearly one wasn't enough if the Dìyù can just ignore it and show up anyway! So he needs more to soothe those fears, even after he removed his name from the book of the dead! He gets quite paranoid about it.

On the other hand it gives him more reason to be Team Azure when he shows up because can you believe the disrespect the Dìyù, and by extension Heaven, showed him? You better believe he never forgives or forgets that insult!

There are a couple little differences from JTTW canon - like that he only managed to erase his own name before he was chased out of there and that the Ten Kings were very much expecting something to go wrong when they tried to bring him in - but for the most part it's all pretty similar!

[lucagray813]

Always a painful delight to reread Monkeying Around, but now i have a question of a "if" escenario, how horrible it would be if the G&M existed in the Au where Mac reseted himself, would they think that was Mac reincarnation until they talked with mk and wk, or would they never know since they might be somewhere in the world?👀

Monkey Talk not angsty enough for you? 😂

Alright then let's try and see how it might play out! Forgive me but this is probably going to get long and rambling!

So the first problem is what AU this is set in because MT!Mac and BtF!Mac have wildly different back stories - MT!Mac coming to the island as an adult and BtF!Mac being born there. Then we've got the problem that season 4 isn't canon to BtF and the fact there is a bonkers plot unfolding in the background of MT and that bonkers plot won't allow for a reset like in BtF.

Another problem is that BtF does actually have a fully fleshed out storyline - I've just resisted the urge to write it when I have so many other WIPs on the go - so I know it but no-one else does 😅 so bear with me as I try and explain elements of it 😅

Ok, so in slamming these AUs together this is what I've got:

- MS, MD is canon

- But most pre-LMK fics that involve the Spirits of Wǔxíng, other Celestial Primates or any other non-canon characters or elude to something being up with Mac are not.

- Season 4 hasn't happened and MK doesn't have a monkey form

- After centuries of searching, it is confirmed that Mac is dead when Wukong goes to ask Guānyīn to check the Dìyù for him as per MT. But this time she actually gets an answer. She tells him how he died and eventually Wukong tells the G&Ms the truth. So the G&Ms are no longer searching but they still travel.

Ok, so that's our starting point. Now a bit of info on what Mac Jr is up to after BtF!Mac resets himself.

He's out there trying to live his best life - travelling about and putting on shows using a range of shapeshifted disguises. He also develops a sort of one-sided parent-child relationship with BtF!Mac - viewing this man he's never met as his parent rather than as who he used to be. Someone that "died" to bring him into the world and did all he could to give him the best start. And someone he grapples with being separate from but also wanting to prove himself to.

He does have a little knowledge of who the G&Ms are because BtF!Mac left him his, admittedly selective, memoirs to help him avoid making the same mistakes he did but he doesn't know much or that they're still alive or that they were searching for his old man for so long. (In BtF the G&Ms are actually dead but for this remixed AU obviously they're as close to their MT counterparts as I can get them!)

In BtF, MK and Wukong accidentally find Mac, in disguise, putting on a show in the middle of a town they're checking out for hero reasons and that basically kicks off the plot of Wukong refusing to believe BtF!Mac is really gone for good and MK deciding he's going to teach Mac Jr how to be a good guy. MK's plot is a lot more lighthearted but it follows Mac Jr becoming his own person. Wukong's plot... 😬 Let's just say it doesn't end with reconciliation.

Alright so that's us set up to finally answer your question 😅

So there's a couple ways this could go - the original plot of Wukong and MK finding Mac Jr or one, or all, of the G&Ms finding out in the world first.

OG plot first - Once Wukong believes that this isn't actually some con Mac is running, then he is torn over whether he needs to "fix" Mac or not. He doesn't feel conflicted about it in BtF, he's bringing back OG!Mac, but in this version he's more concerned about the G&Ms and doesn't know what would be better for them - the Mac they knew but bitter and angry and damaged beyond repair or this new Mac who's happier but is fundamentally not the same person. (He doesn't care what would be better for Mac Jr or what he thinks.)

The decision is eventually made for him because the G&Ms come back after finally hearing about MK and it doesn't matter what Wukong tells MK, MK eventually will tell them about Mac Jr.

And now the G&Ms.

They won't think he's a reincarnation because MK & Wukong will have filled them in on the LBD plot but they are going to have a lot of feelings about it. Mac Jr initially feels very awkward and doesn't want to be around them because obviously they're very upset at seeing "him" after such a long time and then that he doesn't remember them and seemingly doesn't want to.

What would eventually happen is that they would come to view Mac Jr as OG!Mac's kid, ergo their nephew, and he would eventually let them see everything that OG!Mac left for him, including everything he wrote, etc. It wouldn't be smooth sailing but eventually they all have a very good relationship.

So the other plot, without the intervention of Wukong and MK, has a similar sort of end game with them accepting Mac Jr as his own person but the initial meeting would probably be a lot more dramatic and stressful. Because it dawns on Mac Jr who these monkeys must be and he decides it's safer to book it. The G&Ms don't know who this guy is but he's the spitting image of their brother and has his powers so he's getting hunted down no matter what.

(Another difference between MT and BtF is that MT!Mac and Wukong start life as infants but in BtF!Mac and Wukong are born adults so it could be a really interesting twist to explore a baby!Mac version of events but let's just stick to the adult Mac canon here!)

Reincarnation does not usually result in someone being born again as the same person but given that Macaque and Wukong aren't normal monkeys - they couldn't rule it out. All sorts of theories were thrown about as they tried to catch Mac Jr - including that he hadn't actually died and Heaven had lied to Wukong, sentient clone, that Mac had somehow created a back up of himself if he ate it, etc.

Eventually they catch him and Mac Jr is very much "I'm not who you think I am" and takes them to the place OG!Mac reset himself to prove it. And from there it follows a similar trajectory to option 1.

To be honest, option 2 is a lot easier for everyone involved because it lacks Wukong, and to a lesser extent, MK's involvement but eventually they get involved when the G&Ms return home but at that point they've already declared themselves aunts and uncles and everyone else just needs to deal with it.

I appreciate the fact they know OG!Mac is dead changes things significantly but there's no reason for them not to be able to figure that out without MT's plot, although I suppose LBD could have made a move a lot sooner and complicated things 🤔 but while it would draw things out a bit, again they'd reach the same ending, albeit with a lot more grieving involved.

It was trickier to combine these AUs than I thought it would be - they're are particular plot points in both that contradict each other and certain elements effect characters and their relationships to each other so there was a bit of cherry picking! But it was a lot of fun to think through it! But hopefully all of that made some sort of sense!

Thank you for the question! Made my train journey today fly by! 😁

[lucagray813]

LMK Story Idea - That One Rotting Peach Under the Mountain

I've sometimes wondered about the security of LMK's version of Five-Phase Mountain (The mountain that served as Wukong's prison). In other versions, his head sticks out from under the mountain and people that pass by can talk to him but I get the vibe that in LMK visitors are not permitted.

So how do they stop people getting in? I think you could put it down to one or several of the following:

It's a completely sealed off cave so no-one can just stumble in by accident

There's a security detail that keeps watch (In the book there's "a local spirit and the Fearless Guards of Five Quarters" (Yu, 2012) watching the mountain.)*

There are seals/magic at play to stop anyone damaging or entering the cave

*I've seen some people play with the idea that any guards only check in on Wukong if there's a reason to (e.g. he's trying to escape, they need information about where the brotherhood might be hiding, etc.)

So with these restrictions in place how does Macaque get in? Well, in my mind, he's a master of reconnaissance and combined with his shadows he can get round the first two obstacles (a sealed cave and guards) relatively easily, assuming none of the guards are in the cave with Wukong constantly and can't just sense his presence even when they aren't.

The seals/magic could be an issue however if they're tailored to stopping people teleporting in or if they're set up to alarm the guards if anyone does get in. I do often like to headcanon Mac as being particularly knowledgeable with seals but I think the Buddha's seals might stump him no matter how good he is.

So, a few options here:

The Buddha's seals are only there to keep Wukong imprisoned. The Celestial Realm was responsible for any additional measures such as keeping people out and as such could perhaps be undermined

Macaque, being an indefinable Celestial Primate himself with powers of mysterious origins, can fly under the radar.

They didn't initially worry too much about anyone breaking in and didn't go ham on the magic protection in addition to the guards because really who's going to be stupid enough to go against the Buddha that isn't already trapped under a mountain?

I do like to think Macaque was very cautious trying to figure out if he could get into the cave undetected. Testing the waters extensively before letting Wukong even know he was trying to communicate with him.

Opening miniscule shadow portals for no time at all initially and gradually building up to see if anyone would notice. Sticking objects and animals into the cave to see if an alarm would go off before sticking a hand through himself and eventually building up the nerve to go through and only immediately leave again just in case.

Once he was sure he'd considered every possibility, he went for and all goes well and he can try to talk to Wukong.

And then he makes a mistake because he leaves evidence behind that someone that wasn't supposed to be in the cave had been there - a slowly rotting peach.

The guards notice it and immediately interrogate Wukong, but no matter how upset he is with Macaque there's no way in hell he's about to snitch. Just claims he was asleep and doesn't know how it got there either and he sticks with that story no matter what they do to him.

You could have Wukong trying to convince them not to phone it into the boss upstairs because then they would be the ones in trouble for slacking but whether they tell someone or not, they've got to up their game.

(If they did report it, you could play around with the idea that Heaven knows it must be Macaque and that would be especially bad in cases where say, Macaque is the known regent king of FFM that signed terms of surrender, such as in Monkey Talk.)

There are a couple of proposals made - new and/or stronger magic/seals to stop people with teleportation, a fine tuned alarm system and, if you want to go for maximum angst, a seal that lets people in but doesn't let them back out.

Wukong, privy to this information, keeps up a constant whispered litany begging Macaque not to come back whenever he's awake (on days where he believes Macaque would even want to come back in the first place. Maybe he even has bad days where he wants Macaque to get caught or believes that there's no way that he could be caught so he should risk it to see him again. The mountain makes Wukong very temperamental).

At that point it could go several ways:

Macaque never came back of his own volition and so it was never a problem

He heard Wukong's whispers and was forced to stay away

He doesn't hear Wukong's whispers and goes back but manages to escape

He doesn't hear Wukong's whispers and goes back and gets caught

Each option has different consequences with 1 & 2 having the least amount of impact in canon, 3 having the potential to effect canon if Macaque is now being zealously chased down by Heaven if he wasn't previously, and 4 having the most significant impact on canon because Macaque is now a prisoner too.

Let's explore option 4 a little more. So potential things to happen next:

Macaque becomes trapped beside Wukong à la radiobugso's AU

Macaque is trapped inside the cave but he is not trapped within the walls like Wukong is

Macaque gets a completely separate punishment from Wukong (such as in the AO3 Shadowpeach fic The Constellation Within Us by cloud_somersault)

Unlike Wukong, Heaven is able to remove Macaque's immortality and execute him

Macaque is forced to work for the Celestial Realm

Personally, I think number 2 might be an interesting one to explore where Macaque is trapped with Wukong but technically has more freedom.

But yeah, a lot of potential just from that one peach! I might incorporate some of these ideas into a fic at one point but if something here seems interesting then feel free to roll with it!