Okay so I know you have a bunch of Found Family Instruction Manual asks piled up and I hate to add to the onslaught but I am DYING to know what Wukong does to his tea that makes it taste so awful.
Like I understand he might get distracted and oversteep it or let it go cold, or get impatient and not let it steep enough, all of which would make it not the most pleasant to drink, but like... It tastes like piss? It KILLS WEEDS?? What is he ADDING TO IT???
I understand it's probably just a silly bit you haven't given much thought to, but I'd love to know if you actually have ideas about it. The best explanation I can come up with is that he's just throwing random leaves into the teapot and it's just astoundingly good luck they haven't all been poisoned yet.
Please add to the onslaught, I LOVE these asks!
So it did indeed start as just a silly bit that Wukong sucks tremendously at small domestic tasks, in fun contrast to his epic prowess at...basically everything else. But honestly, what are Wukong's besetting flaws? Pride, impatience, impulsivity. (Okay and a wee bit of abandonment trauma but it's FINE, he's fine, he's totally fine and normal about it.)
I honestly cannot think of a worse trio of traits to have when it comes to basic chores. At the start of the pilgrimage, Wukong approaches everything from laundry to dishwashing to, yes, tea-making, with the mindset that this is all INCREDIBLY beneath him. And, yes, it is, he is a king! But this attitude exacerbates his impatience. This kettle is taking too long to boil. These leaves take too long to steep. This tea is taking too long to cool back down enough to drink! And so we get the impulsivity flaw showing up (hand-in-hand with pride again) and saying: I'll bet that I, the Handsome Monkey King, could come up with a way to do this Better and Faster.
Cue experimentation.
It might be magical experimentation--I bet he's accidentally flash-boiled the whole teapot to steam and shards at least once--or, like you said, him adding random ingredients to the fire and the pot. And since he's a trained Daoist, probably they're ingredients with alchemical virtues that he thinks will affect the speed of the steeping, or the calming/energizing effect of the tea. (Who cares whether it tastes good if it can give you five times the energy of normal tea! Right? I know you're having this at bedtime but wouldn't you rather cover ten more miles tonight? Master?)
Given the fact that wayyyyy too much of medieval Chinese alchemy involved copious amounts of mercury...yeah, you're right, it is ASTOUNDINGLY good luck he hasn't killed anyone yet.
