"I'm annoyed, but its not at you. Its more...anxiety," he said with a huff. "The pilgrims of the Journey to the West. Its a story most know in my world. The Great Monk Tang Sanzang had to deliver scriptures after completing a great journey. Made difficult between those who wanted the scriptures and those who wanted to eat the monk because to do so grants immortality. So he had protectors, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, Ao Lie, and most famously, the Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. Who was the...reluctant participant. His bodyguard stint was to be his rehabilitation after some centuries of imprisonment and he was leashed with heaven's gift until he learned 'to be a better person.' Basically. Though it took time to find out he wasn't a willing pilgrim, I think my family are one of the few to realize what heaven's gift was before the journey was immortalized in writing."

He rubs at his neck. They had recognized it after Red Son's own 'gift.'

"Sun Wukong is the...not quite the strongest being back home, but that includes the Jade Emperor and Buddha and other beings who are literally part of the fabric of our universe." Sun Wukong is a beast. "He and my family have a complicated history, but I met the pilgrims on their journey when I was a child. I remember...quite clearly."

The trauma does that.

"And the only original pilgrim alive. He's immortal several times over due to things he did before his imprisonment. The rest of them have passed on. Even Ao Lie, supposedly, even though he was supposed to be immortal to. I don't know what exactly happened to him, though I have suspicions on what may have taken him."