Character information

[monkeystail]

Name: Guaiqiao (乖巧) / Houwei (猴尾) as a child (possibly Liling as an adult)
Age: ~23 (or ~13 for the kid version during the journey)
Born: On the day of summer solstice, which Guan Yin revealed to her during the journey.
Height: 151 cm.

Short summary: 'Daughter' of the Monkey King, was along for the journey west as a child.

Personality: Gregarious and cheerful, Houwei generally goes for what she wants unless there really is a reason not to (being told no if she's flirting with someone, overwhelming number of opponents - though that one's for temporary retreat only - for some small examples), though she fears little and acts when others might find it better not to. The only thing she's really wary to confront is middle-aged bearded men (thanks to Erlen Shang, though considering she reacts with being snippy and confrontational, it might not be noticed) and dogs, something which she hasn't yet managed to get over since she was a child.

Despite her outgoing nature, Houwei doesn't exactly trust easily, and is sparing with what she reveals to others or 'lets' them do for her, in case she can instead do it herself (even if it would be better to delegate). Once she actually trusts someone however, she has no problems letting said individuals help or to upend mountains (almost quite literally) for them if that's necessary.

She's also very irreverent to most authority figures, mostly not really even deliberately as it's simply something she has picked up from her father, but sometimes, especially if she gets annoyed or she (or someone she likes) is being threatened, she ratchets the behaviour up deliberately, to be as annoying as possible.
Not to say she cannot take orders or behave in front of her elders or other authority figures, but she usually simply does not, both because she doesn't see why she should, because they're annoying, because her father has taught her bad habits. For the few (her father, though he sees little of it, most often, Xuanzang, the Goddess of Mercy and a few others) who does have her respect, or earns it, she is usually quiet and patient (as much as she can be), and listens where she (thinks she) should.

Houwei has a better grip on right and wrong now than she did as a child, testament to her father becoming a little better, her own development and, perhaps most, Xuanzang's influence. When she was little, she found only amusement in the tales of her father's escapades in Heaven and the rebellion against the Jade Emperor; now, while she doesn't think his punishments were right, she can see that her father really did rather go too far sometimes.
She doesn't like bullies (which means she has clashed with her father a few times), something which in her experience and opinion authority figures often are, and does not think cruelty and inflicting pain for pain's sake is right, and she will fight about it.

Fearless, she has nonetheless learned when to be careful and plan rather than rush right in, even if it's not often apparent. When she actually applies herself, however, she can be a pretty good strategist.

Background: Houwei began life as nothing more than a little (15.1 cm) tall statue decorating Yama's desk - something which Sun Wukong swiped when he erased his own name and the names of all the monkeys of the Mountain of Fruit and Flowers. He kept the statue with him through his escapades later and it was still there when he was imprisoned under the mountain. When Wukong didn't sleep, he talked or sang to it, even if he couldn't see it or take it out, tucked away as it was in his clothes, close to his heart.

At some point (around eight years before Xuanzang came and freed the Monkey King to accompany him west), Wukong woke up to a tiny monkey child sitting curled next to him. Asking her where she came from yielded only 'from you' and how only got him 'I don't know', though through a few more fruitless questions (answered increasingly cheekily), he realised the little statue was gone and made a connection to his own birth, though obviously here he was more responsible than just the earth and heavens themselves.
It was more curiosity that kept Wukong interacting with his 'daughter' (appearing five years old at her 'birth'), but soon true affection and bonding happened, causing him to put real effort into the time he spent with her and what he taught her.

Houwei (named such because Wukong was hardly thinking deeply and she was a monkey... and an extremity/tail to himself, so to speak), in her turn, was instantly attached to her 'father', if rather afflicted with a cheeky personality that turned behaviour the monkey king had directed towards others back on himself.
In the calm, quiet years until Xuanzang came by for his quest, Houwei slept next to her father, attempted many times to free him, listened to stories and was, as well as he was able, being trapped, trained - she learned a few transformations like this (to look exactly like a human, turn into a koi, a crane, and a duplicate of the ten-ton staff (she doesn't much like transforming into an inanimate object), as well as some low-level wind manipulation and to create protective circles.

This time is one of Houwei's fondest memories, despite that Wukong was chained up and trapped for the duration of the stay. Xuanzang's entrance freed her father, yes, but it led to a series of events (before the actual journey west) that she's not very fond of. First, Xuanzang and Wukong argued about her coming with at all - this only after the circlet had been placed on Wukong's head, as before that he'd been intent on leaving - with Wukong slowly coming to agree that maybe it was better that she was put on the Mountain of Fruit and Flowers.
Angered, Houwei ran off, not wanting to listen to this discussion (she wasn't helpless!) and then met Erlen Shang and his dogs. The general, not believing the circlet would be enough to either control Wukong or make him follow Xuanzang on the journey, thought more incentive was needed, and since Guan Yin had reported about the little monkey girl (appearing around 13 years of age by now) with Wukong, decided that she would make good incentive.

She did not go quietly, or easily, and in the end Erlen Shang sent his dogs after her, annoyed he was having such issues collecting a little girl (even less a monkey!). When he caught up to Houwei and his dogs, one of said dogs were dead but the other had her quite firmly subdued (and had given her a torn-up back). It was about then that Xuanzang and Wukong found them, but Erlen Shang left with Houwei after revealing why he was taking her and warning Wukong to behave - if he did, she'd be taken care of.
While her back got tended to - even the Goddess of Mercy laid her hands to it - it didn't do much to endear Erlen Shang to her, and while she wasn't mistreated, she attempted to leave as soon as she could. Four failed attempts later, and the General of Heaven had in a fit of frustrated pique chained her to her bed and put his dog in the room. It kept her there for two weeks, at which point Wukong and Xuanzang burst in and rescued her.

If nothing else, this led to Xuanzang reluctantly agreeing she should just as well come with them, since rescuing her had taken long enough on its own. (And it's at this point, hearing of the grief she caused Erlen Shang and what he's experienced so far, "named" Houwei Guaiqiao (since while she is definitely both lovable and cute, and can be well-behaved, she also definitely acts against reason and isn't particularly normal); from this point on that is what Xuanzang calls her and what their other companions do as well, while her father keeps calling her Houwei.

As such, Houwei was right there with the monk and his three disciples to the journey west, spending a lot of time trying Xuanzang's patience and riding her father's and the other two's shoulders - and talking to Xuanzang's horse, as she had gone with her father when he went to Guan Yin to ask about the large white dragon that had eaten Xuanzang's (original) horse.

She ended up playing with the Red Boy, having wandered off and found him, and later couldn't convince either her father or the Boy Sage King to not fight. She attempted to help her father as well, but both the Red Boy and her father made sure she was out of the fighting - frustrated (and worried for her father), she ran off, calling for the Goddess of Mercy and explaining what was going on, and she promised to help.
When Houwei and her father attempted to get the water from the Spring of Abortion for Xuanzang and Wujing while in Women's Country later, while Ruyi did not use her as an outlet for his grudge against Wukong (especially as she did, in an attempt by them all to be 'proper', present a gift to him (a flower crown)) for the fate of his nephew (Red Boy), he also doesn't let her past - Houwei sneaked past anyway while her father and Ruyi were fighting, gathering some water for the two monks.

In the debacle with Baigujing, Houwei escaped her father's grip when he left in a huff after not having been believed (and cast out for) that Baigujin was all the three "innocent" people that Wukong murdered, intent on going back and explaining things to Xuanzang. She did get back in time to actually start explaining before another demon turned up to capture them, and while Baije and Wujing couldn't defeat it and Houwei, despite her best attempt of course couldn't either, the demon didn't get the chance to get far. Wukong had noticed his daughter missing and came tearing back, killing the demon and getting an apology from Xuanzang for not believing him over the people Bagujing impersonated.
Houwei got into further trouble later, being one of the children kidnapped by order of the King of Biqui, which was how the party ended up at the castle and the White Deer Spirit pointed at Xuanzang being the best cure for the king's affliction. No one was impressed and Houwei and the other children were saved, along with, of course, Xuanzang. And when the King of the Southern Hill tricked and separated Wukong, Wujing and Baije from Xuanzang so he could kidnap him, Houwei followed him to his lair, then went and got her father so he could free Xuanzang.

Houwei got her huge steel gada when they were rather close to their destination, after all of them had been captured by a rakshasa (for the usual reason of supposed immortality from eating Xuanzang's flesh, and because he wanted to brag about capturing someone as powerful as Sun Wukong). He refused to let any of them fight for their freedom - except Houwei, and while Wukong probably would've been able to free himself at some point around then, and didn't exactly want Houwei to fight, he allowed her to do so while keeping careful watch. The first "test" that she was put through was to lift a large steel gada which the rakshasa was convinced she was too young and weak to lift, and thus be unable to defend herself with it and be easy pickings.
Houwei did lift it, and the rakshasa, enraged, especially when the gada refused to come to his call (the weapon being magical enough it decided to refuse the call) he fought her, sure of his victory since she was young and fighting with a weapon she didn't know. She still won, knocking the rakshasa unconscious, and claimed the gada for herself.

After the journey was over with, Wukong finally took her back to 'his' country; the Mountain of Fruit and Flowers, and they spent a few years there, with Houwei all too pleased to explore her father's home. Though after a while the desire to travel as she'd done during the journey (and feeling somewhat trapped, staying so long in one place, even if the mountain was far more pleasant than the one her father had been imprisoned under), Houwei left to travel - and to return Nezha's wind wheel, which she'd stolen when he'd visited Erlen Shang during her capture. Luckily, he was more amused than anything else, and procured another wheel for her, saying she deserved it if she could actually use it as a vehicle. Which she could, as she'd become quite adept at balancing on the single wheel during the journey.

Shortly after leaving Nezha, she was approached by an official of Heaven she didn't recognise, and while she didn't exactly trust her request to talk, she followed her - and came face to face with King Yama. Houwei almost ran then and there, but he stopped her with a quick comment 'I can remove your name from the Book of Life and Death like your father removed his if you do something for me'. She paused, reluctantly, and stopped to listen; the book had been stolen, and Yama needed it back. After some deliberation (not as long as offered, as Yama said she could have three days to think it over and he'd provide food and lodgings, which she declined), she said she'd do it, though said she'd do it because it was right, and that he didn't need to remove her name, but she'd be grateful if he did (since that would ensure she would live longer and could spend more time with her father).
Yama, surprised at her willingness to abide by the order of things, nonetheless (maybe especially) reiterated her reward for bringing the book back, and gave her the only clue he can; a bone that was left in place of the book. Houwei, taking the official of Hell who'd come to talk to her first down to hell to talk with potential witnesses, finally found out a direction after one of the not-yet-reborn spirits say something about seeing a skeleton running off with a book, leaved to try and find Baigujing, who had, apparently, stolen the book.

Adventures ensue.

(Others involved in the theft; Jade Faced Princess and one of the spider demons that harassed Xuanzang, and Lady Earth Flow, who wants (roundabout) revenge on Wukong for being responsible that she was brought back to Heaven.)

Abilities: Her father and his friends have taught her fighting since during her travels west with them, so she's well-proficient both in hand-to-hand martial arts and using weapons, most specifically a huge steel gada and a staff.
She is strong, though doesn't possess super strength to the ability of her father (she can lift around 3 tons). She is also proficient in a handful of transformations (she starts out with being able to turn into a koi, a crane and a duplicate of her father's staff, but as she grows older she learns a few more), can manipulate wind, start fire with her breath (something the Red Boy taught her while they were playing), and create protective circles to contain demons. In addition, Houwei can tell when someone will die (how long it is to that moment in time), something that may be from her time as a statue on Yama's desk near to the Book of Life and Death - though she doesn't like using this, and luckily needs to concentrate and intentionally try to use it for it to happen at all.
She can use the wind wheel (either Nezha's before she returned it, or her own) to travel much like Wukong uses his cloud, and she's rather proficient at balancing on the one wheel.

Some favourite things: travelling, flowers (particularly camellia, plum flowers, various wildflowers and lotus; and flower arrangement), sparring, storytelling, singing, animals (but not dogs).

Some not-so-favourite things: dogs, 'old' (anywhere from middle-aged to actually appearing old) bearded men, having to dress up, (having to wear) shoes, authority figures, waiting/having to be patient.

Note about her looks: Houwei is proficient enough at her transformation that she can, unlike Wukong, hide her tail completely if she so wishes, and in human guise she looks perfectly such. "Relaxing" said transformation to let more monkey traits through means her hair turns red, her tail appears, her ears grow and she starts to look more "monkey-ish" (as an example, how the Monkey King is usually/often represented in live action movies). She also has scars on her back from the attack by Erlen Shang's dogs.

Note about the AU: A lot is the same, though Sun Wukong's right eye has been clawed out by Erlen Shang's dogs, and he can only "see" evil on that side (thanks to Laozi's attempt at getting his pills of longevity back) - his other eye is mostly unaffected, and while it's gold, does not carry the same ability or weakness as his right. Sha Wujing is, compared to otherwise, a woman in this story.