I need you to tell me more about the Detoxify AU Shadowpeach relationship, like how does Wukong react when Macaque gets revived? How does Macaque react to the Wukong is so traumatized that he doesn't like touch anymore? I am consumed with these questions and more and I need answers
Ps: hope you have an amazing day
Of course! I love talking about my AUs!
So. To summarize, Detoxify!Shadowpeach is tragic and broken by things beyond their control. Their relationship is actually the center of Wukong’s trauma (I.e. him brutally murdering Macaque while under the influence of the love poison.) When Macaque comes back to life and reunites with Wukong, Wukong just…breaks. All of his guilt rushes back at the sight of the one he has wronged the most and he’s on his hands and knees, begging for forgiveness. No matter how many times Macaque insists that it wasn’t his fault, Wukong doesn’t believe him. When Macaque tries to comfort him with a hug, Wukong has a complete breakdown. He’s both too scared that his touch would hurt Macaque again and triggered by the gentle touch.
Macaque doesn’t know what to do. He’s helpless and angry (at Azure) and has no idea what to do. This wasn’t how he had imagined their reunion to be. He’s so, so heartbroken at the state of his king. Wukong, who used to cling and hug and love so freely was now a broken shell of his past self. Wukong pushes Macaque away and flees.
Now, MK is there since the Macaque episode plays out in a similar way except it’s Macaque wanting to surprise Wukong and it going super wrong. This is what pushes MK to encourage therapy for his mentor. Macaque stays in the Shame Temple and keeps his distance for Wukong’s sake until the other is ready to face and talk to him.
RinRin is a whole ‘nother can of worms. Wukong freaks out when he sees her too. She’s currently roomies with Macaque as they seethe at what Azure did to Wukong.
Detoxify AU, questions: How does shadowpeach get together here? Like they’re going to have to work through the trauma™️ first and SWK is going to have to learn that touch is okay and all of that…
Also, How is Macaque dealing with his death? Like SWK was not himself when he did it but he still killed him and that’s gotta be traumatizing even if you KNOW that they didn’t meant to
Slowly. Shadowpeach gets together slowly. Macaque is willing to wait and support Wukong while Wukong puts in the work to heal and get better. In a strange twist, it’s after Season 4’s events (post Azure’s death) that they get together. Wukong faces the source of his trauma and gets his closure. He also finally forgives himself. Yue (his therapist) is very very proud of him. Wukong still has issues with sudden touches, but he’s getting better at tail holding and cheek touches. Baby steps.
As for Macaque and his death experience? Not great. He represses it and sets it aside in favor of Wukong’s pain, but he’s not fooling anyone. MK pushes him to get some therapy too so Yue gets yet another patient.
Feel like the other Aus get no love, so how does detoxify au Wukong deal with the brotherhood afterwards?
So, Wukong didn't really deal with the Brotherhood. He was extremely traumatized from the Love Potion experience and was too busy reeling from the fact that he killed the man he loved with his own hands to realize that his "sworn brothers" were the culprits.
When Azure revealed that he knew that Wukong had been dosed during their time together during the Camel Ridge Incident, Wukong's world was tilted all over again and he kinda broke down. This was one of the rare times when Tripitaka, Baijie, Wujing, and Ao Lie stepped up and did most of the fighting. They all personally sealed the Brotherhood away in defense of their broken brother.
Centuries later, Wukong would finally "deal" with the scars that the Brotherhood left on him by going to therapy. It's a slow process of letting go of his guilt and self-loathing, but Yue is a wonderful therapist.
Requesting 5 facts of any au or aus of your choice
Oooh, this ask is fun! Okay, here I go:
Fact #1: In the Extra Pilgrim AU, whenever Yue isn’t working at Pigsy’s or being a magical girl heroine, she writes novels. Writing books has been her main source of income but she branched out recently since the modern world is safer for her.
Fact #2: In the Warlord Shanzha AU, the relationship among the Celestial Primates is actually a hugely debated topic amongst scholars. Tang is on the “Lavender Marriage” camp.
Fact #3: In the Withered Graveflowers AU, Macaque and RinRin might not like some things about the modern cities, but they do enjoy the food. They often go out on cute food dates whenever they’re not scheming against Wukong.
Fact #4: In the Detoxify AU, Wukong is so traumatized by what Azure did to him that he’s averse to nonviolent physical touch by anyone other than his subjects.
Fact #5: In the Fae AU, the original fae lords of the Autumn and Winter courts were Nuwa and LBD, respectively. While LBD was ripped apart after offending Wukong and RinRin, Nuwa faded from existence on her own. The only remanent of her is her son, a Changeling named Xiaotian.
So, after watching Season 5 (which has devastated me, by the way - completely and utterly destroyed me), I was inspired to incorporate a certain character into the Queen of the Mountain Universe and tie together the AUs tied to the games. (Excluding the A/B/O AU, Fae AU, and the Imperial Harem AU.)
This technically isn't a fic spoiler since I won't be adding any of this into the main fic itself, mind you. I already have too much planned in Acts II and III to include the new revelations, but I'm writing my ideas here. (May consider writing some oneshots set post-QotM.)
Warning: Spoilers for LMK Season 5 below!
We all knew it was Xiangliu. This snake man has a grip on me that only happened once before when Season 1 Macaque sashayed into my life. Holy hell, he's the definition of chaotic neutral. Also, the hints of lore he dropped before casually moving on because he thought it wasn't important? Drove me insane. What do you mean you and Wukong used to be friends? What do you mean Macaque made a deal? What do you mean be "he's winning"?! Who's he?!
I have no idea what LMK has planned for him (or if he's even going to come back in the future seasons), but I know what plans I have for him now.
To be honest, Xiangliu (the Nine-Headed Demon who nearly scammed Ao Guang and his ilk in Chapter 16) wasn't supposed to be significant in the Queen of the Mountain universe. But with how Season 5 ended up, I made him into a more important player.
Just like the LMK world, I'd like to think that the QotM world also experiences a similar "cycle" in the form of "resets." It would make sense, right? As In the Sun's Embrace and Sunchaser are games that encourages reloads and resets to explore different routes, it's not too far-fetched to think that the world itself experiences something similar.
I've always had a fondness of Time Loops in stories, especially with at least one person remembering every loop. Xiangliu would be that person in this case. Somehow, he became aware of what was happening and yearned for an escape from this constant resetting of the world.
(He must've gone insane gaining and losing friends, lovers, and enemies, doomed to repeat the same song and dance again except his bonds would never be the same since he's always changing and always growing while everyone else regresses every time.)
Eventually, he removed himself from the living world all together and replaced one of the Ten Kings of the Underworld to find a way out. Still, he'd pop up here and then to maybe make some interventions or watch when something new played out.
While a lot of the diverging AUs are mostly due to the different choices made by individuals, I'd like to think that Xiangliu made some of them possible. Notably, Warlord Shanzha AU, Withered Grave Flowers AU, Detoxify AU, and Extra Pilgrim AU.
Well, you noticed how LBD seems to be absent in those AUs, right? How Yue magically comes out of things alive and unpossessed by her into the modern era? Well, the answer in Xiangliu. He doesn't do this in every cycle, but he sometimes has the heart to spare Yue from her canon fate. Making her fate better always seems to give happier endings to all of the celestial monkeys. Not perfect, but happier.
(And, because it would be so funny to me, I'd like to think he at least hooked up with every member of the celestial monkey poly occasionally in between cycles. So he has a history with all of them which I may expand on in another post if anyone's interested.)
So, there you have it. A way for all of these AUs to technically be canon. (Thank you, Season 5.)
As for what Xiangliu is doing during Queen of the Mountain, he's doing nothing. For the first time, he didn't have to do anything to make a drastic change to the usual script. For the first time, he's interested to see how things turn out. Because of a certain six-eared baby monkey yaoguai who ended up in the palanquin.
