I was asked a very specific question on Discord: "In the book, do they refer to Wujing more as Sēng or Heshang?" These are both variants for "monk."
Here are the results:
Sha seng (沙僧; "Monk Sha") - 814 times
Wiktionary explains that seng (僧) is a "clipping" of sengqie (僧伽), a transliteration of Sangha, or the "community of monks, nuns, novices and laity."
Sha heshang (沙和尚; "Teacher/Priest Sha") - 94 times
As for heshang (和尚), it is "[b]orrowed from Prakrit 𑀉𑀯𑀚𑁆𑀛𑀸𑀅 (uvajjhāa), 𑀉𑀅𑀚𑁆𑀛𑀸𑀅 (uajjhāa), 𑀉𑀚𑁆𑀛𑀸𑀅 (ujjhāa), 𑀑𑀚𑁆𑀛𑀸𑀅 (ŏjjhāa, 'teacher; religious teacher'), all from Sanskrit उपाध्याय (upādhyāya, 'teacher; preceptor; spiritual adviser'."
I didn't know the etymology of these terms until now. Very interesting.
When the pelgrims and Odette Met, It was when She trasformed from her Swan form, and of course, at First, they believed She was a demon
Then things calm down, Odette Will tell her story tò the group and about the spello that had been cast One her and that She basically trap there ujtill she agree to marry a evil wizard
Hi i want to ask this on my birthday(march 17) but asks were closed so ill ask it now. how would the pilgrims react to finding out that it the readers b-day? 🐇🍀(idk which one to pick so you decide)
Happy late birthday my dear!🥳🥳🥳🥳 Sorry that asks weren't open on the day of but I hope you had a great day darling! 🤗💜💜💜
Now for reactions!
Wukong would be excited! He loves parties and this is absolutely party worthy! He'd probably either fly you all to Flower Fruit Mountain so that him and his monkeys can give you the BEST day of your life. And you better eat as much sugar as you can cause 'round here the party don't stop!
Tripitaka gives you well wishes and several blessings throughout the day. He grew up not knowing the day of his birth and so he wants you to have a safe and wonderful day.
Sandy would pick you up and give you huge hug and wish you many happy birthdays! He'll be picking you up a lot today so get comfy sitting on his shoulder today.
Ao Lie would congratulate and immediately start looking for a gift. Only the absolute best for one of his friends plus he was taught to have a gift ready on the day of so he feels like he has to start looking the millisecond he finds out.
Pigsy would probably try to get you a hug like Sandy but a loud "NO!" from everyone shut that down rather quickly. (Since this is your first birthday with all of them then Bajie is still... Bajie.) So instead he just wishes you a happy birthday.
And as a gift to you dear 🍀 anon:
🎁Gifts from the gang~🎁
Wukong being a king and loving things that are extravagant and he's totally not trying to show you that he can give you all the riches in the world that would be ridiculous would go for something extremely expensive and rare yet still meaningful. For example he might get you a hair stick of your favorite flower or animal that is made from precious gems and metals. It'd also likely have some sort of magical property as well. Tho because of how valuable this gift would be it'd likely kept safely on FFM with the promise that Wukong would take you to retrieve it once the journey is over. (this also may or may not have just been a ploy to get you to FFM after the journey sneaky monkey)
Tripitaka being Buddhist wouldn't get you anything extravagant or expensive, instead preferring to give you something useful to you and your journey. Maybe something you've been asking for lately like a journal and a brush. He'd also likely try to give you something the has Buddhist scriptures on it as a means to try to when you over to Buddhism once more.
Wujing would give you something he thinks you would enjoy and use often. He'd likely give you a handmade fidget toy made from wood and stone with lots of different textures and shapes. (You've talked to him enough about fidget toys to have a general idea what they're like)
Ao Lie being raised a prince would most likely also get you something very lavish and it'd very likely be something useless to you right now like an art piece or vase (he means well but these were the kinds of gifts given to him his whole life so it's the only reference he has) (this would also have to be kept on FFM)
Bajie would probably get you something that not only helps you and it something you'd like but helps him as well. For example if he likes your cooking then he'd get you new cooking equipment or if he likes when you play music he'd get you an instrument
