#guangshu

[winterpower98]

Because I have no self-control, I've decided to draw Beng's parents!

They are both really good and nice, which is a surprise to no one, Beng had to get that from someone.

A bit of info on them:

Because they met way before SWK was born, it wasn't easy to learn a craft. So bakers, artisans, and the like were not as popular.

Meirong was the only one who knew how to sew on Huaguoshan, so everyone had to go for her for any type of clothes, Guengshu included. And Guengshu is a very forward demon, he will say what he thinks without any preambles, so after 3-4 encounters with Meirong he simply told her "I would like to court you"

The demoness was taken aback by the sudden proposal. While she did find the other cute, it was a bit too soon for her taste, so she proposed this 

"I would like to meet you every week until the next gathering (headcanon about gibbons demons singing to find their mates). If by then you still feel the same towards me, I will allow you to court me"

Gunegshu showed up every day with flowers. He didn't know which ones were her favorite so he just tried to guess, and when he guessed them he switched to fruits, and by the time the next gathering rolled in, he brought her favorite flowers, fruits and dressed in her favorite colors just to prove how much he liked her

Like his son, Guangshu really wanted to have kids, so he assumed that the sentiment was shared by Beng's wife. So when he brought it up one day, assuming Ba wanted that too, Beng had to stop him (very sternly) and explained the situation.

It was heartbreaking for Guangshu, especially knowing how much his son wanted to be a dad. It broke his heart, but it also made him very proud. Not only did his son put his personal desire aside for the well-being of his wife, but he didn't hesitate to stop his father the moment he saw how uncomfortable Ba was.

[winterpower98]

Buckle up, time for some BlueHollys angst!

Warnings: There are mentions of death, fire-related injuries, talk of depression, and self-destructive behavior

I don't think I ever mentioned it but Ba's fur was damaged by the fire.

It wasn't as bad as Macaque, but her coat got singed a bit, to the point of shortening her already short fur, and even missing completely in some parts. It regrew with the years but she refused to look in a mirror or any reflective surfaces until Beng could convince her once the fur grew back.

But the damage wasn't just to her fur, but her pride and self-worth too.

Beng made that easier for her by saying how much he liked her, both on a physical and emotional level, and how much he meant it each time. But the fire changed that for a long time. Her elder sister was slowly dying before her eyes. Her King was nowhere to be found. Her brother had been burnt alive and died at least 3 times, not including from all the times he was sick from the infections she had to help clean them daily. Her home was destroyed, burnt to the ground. Her people were dead, dying, sick, or starving from the lack of food and fresh water due to the fire killing many of the fruit trees and soiling the water. 

And the worst part, the reason why her fur was burned in the first place, was because she tried to save Beng's father, Guangshu.

She wasn't quick enough to save him and blamed herself for it. It was one of the reasons why she worked so hard after the fire, to hide from the guilt. She barely slept because she had nightmares about it and even got ill from it. Beng begs her to rest and heal, saying something along the lines of "This experience has taken my father from us both. I worry you will work yourself to death over this and I can't lose you too. If you go... I would shortly follow because I would have no reason to continue living" 

But she still takes care of everyone and everything, trying to take up most of the work so her dear husband can grieve over the loss of his father, whom he had been close to. She didn't give herself time to grieve and heal. She worked, even when sick or exhausted. She was becoming depressed but fought to stay above it fairly well. When they lost Bai He it was the final straw for her. At that moment, all her depression and grief from the last thousand years or so came crashing down on her. She felt she had nothing good left, except for Beng.

And her behavior after Guangshu's death does mirror the way Beng reacted to Ba He's disappearance almost perfectly.

She was the one suffering during the fire but she pushed through even in sickness and Beng did his best to be her support.

When their child disappeared, Beng looked for her nonstop to the point of becoming ill and Ba had to stop him and support him

The number of times they each had to remind/beg for the other to rest or eat when in their supportive roles had been crazy. Ba overworked herself while sick. She was injured and burned, malnourished and dehydrated, exhausted, depressed, and grieving. Add in being sick and she continued to work meant she could easily get sicker. She made sure those who were young or pregnant received the most care and food that they could spare.

She shouldered most of the responsibilities, even when Beng wanted to help her. She never got to grieve for her parents and siblings, after all, but she wanted her husband to be allowed to grieve his father.

Beng was grateful but he felt guilty for a long time over it. He wished she would have stopped to take care of herself too. Even if he grieved for a single day with his mother, Ba insisted on taking the lead on everything that had to do with the recovery of the mountain. Even spent countless nights awake making up strategies and methods to prevent such a large fire to happen again.

If not for Beng and her Pópo (mother-in-law) Meirong, she probably would have worked herself to the brink of death multiple times. Not that she didn't try. Not intentionally at least.

When Bai He disappeared Ba was terrified. Beng had made it so easy to love and be loved. It was easier to shove away the fears surrounding motherhood because Beng believed in her. To lose what she fought so hard for, gave up so much for, cried over, and spent many sleepless nights over, that which was born from the union between Ba and Beng on both a physical and emotional level... It felt as if joy and life itself had been ripped away.

Ba was feeling so stressed and overwhelmed by emotions when Beng found their daughter's comb that it made her pass out, and she was out for the rest of the night. She awakened in bed and looked to her side to see her husband sitting there. Turns out, after catching her and putting her to bed, he was up all night, crying and watching over his wife. He wasn't going to lose her too because he wasn't protecting her well enough. His tears had stopped by the time Ba woke up and when she started to apologize, he just gave her a wobbly soft smile.

He refused to sleep for days and ended up becoming quite sick from the strain that put on himself. While he never was upset about Ba's outbursts or blamed her, he had already been thinking similar things about not protecting his daughter. The stress of it nearly killed him.

Ma had joked once saying that Ba was the one to attack and Beng the one who protected, but now more than ever the only thing Beng could do was protect Ba. And even when he was sick he was strongly against his wife going out of the house, even if it was to look for their lost kid. And part of what made his illness worst was the fact that while sick, he still tried to protect his wife. He would force himself out of bed to search for his wife and make sure she was safe. He did not want to lose her too. Meanwhile, Ba was stuck. She so desperately wanted to search for their kid but she was also terrified of not being by her husband's side. Not for fear of him not protecting her, but she didn't want to lose him either. The last time someone she loved had been this sick, it was after another devastating incident and that loved one passed away, destroying her found family and leaving her with only her husband at her side.

Ba ended up staying by Beng's side constantly because the first time she left him while he was sleeping to go get some food, she came back to find him wandering outside of the house with a high fever. And that's also without considering the nightmares both of them had when they got some sleep. The monkeys and a few demons that were part of the colony did their best to help their leaders but they were also mourning the loss of Bai He, and their knowledge of medicine was much more limited than the one Ba and Beng had.

Meirong was the only one who truly helped her daughter-in-law as she helped her to care for her son. The older gibbon had to console the poor strategist many times at night when the stress of it all was too much for Ba and she found her crying by her husband's side.

[geekspointru]

Manas SUM и Zhelong Xu (Guang Shu) открыли предзаказ на бюст "Ди Цин" (Di Qing) Copper Color Version.