#ink!mk

A. So, unlike QotM!Xiaotian, this Xiaotian has no memories of a prior life. This Xiaotian wasn't raised by Pigsy and Tang either. He's not the sweet, earnest, Monkey King fan (*gasp* I know, right?) we know and love. Instead, he's chaos incarnate. He's a bit feral. He's an eldritch being who's driven with the sole purpose of ending the world.

...He also knows nothing about the world he's set to destroy. He's only known the evils and sins of the worst of the worst.

When Xiaotian (known only as the "Harbinger of Chaos" at this point) breaks into Heaven and attacks Emperor Wukong, he actually nearly wins. He knocks the older monkey off his feet and is ready to deliver the fatal blow that would make Wukong lose his grip on the universe, only to be stopped by a barrage of spells that knock him back.

Enter: Yue, (grand)daughter of the Emperor of Heaven and the world's best sealmaster. She poses as a worthy opponent.

Yue is also a very, very pretty girl. A very pretty girl who, after seeing his face, blurts out that he's gorgeous. That never happened before. So, in a moment of distraction, Xiaotian falls onto his face.

B. Xiaotian's courtship struggles mostly come from his inexperience. He's never socialized with living beings aside from his "guardian" before. He doesn't know why he feels so strange and gooey and funny whenever he looks at Yue and hears her compliments.

When he does learn what these feelings mean, Xiaotian then faces the trouble of successfully reciprocating. He fumbles and stumbles a lot in his attempts. Yue is charmed, but the people around her are far more critical. The court doesn't want a troublemaker near the future Empress.

Wukong and Macaque are surprisingly the most accepting of Xiaotian as a suitor for Yue. They still put up an act, but they're easier on him and give him a few pointers.

Honestly, Yue is the one taking the lead in this entire courtship. She's the one who decided to oversee Xiaotian's rehabilitation process and shamelessly uses that as an excuse to spend time with him.

C. Where in the world was he?! Well, to make matters simple, he was in Diyu. Out of desperation to kickstart the end of the world, Xiang Liu took the stone egg and hatched it pretty early. He kind of raised Xiaotian as a single dad who works two jobs (as the King of Diyu and as the Agent of Chaos) and left most of the parenting to the cursed scrolls to give Xiaotian some form of education. The exposure stained his fur black and what he saw made him a bit sarcastic and jaded.

But after meeting Yue, the world doesn't seem too bad. Xiaotian was given a name and the opportunity to learn about the world he was raised to hate and destroy. He finds that he likes noodles and boba and playing in the arcade during his visits to the Mortal cities. He's encountered kind and generous souls. Brave souls. Good souls.

Xiaotian also learns more about himself. He starts to like existing. He starts to like living.