#i have xianxia au in the works you know

[anshares]

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED TWITTER

(I dont have a public twt i just saw it on our discord server but im compelled to draw)

[archerdepartures116]

Holy crap I saw your all transmigrators au and immediately followed because that's just. genius, genius work.

I really wanna see their reactions to SQH being the author of PIDW and I'm also curious to know if Ming Fan and Ning Yingying are also transmigrators. It would be so funny if Binghe is only actual important book character that from the original novel, love how you made him travel back in time too.

(Sorry for rambling haha, I just rlly like ur au)

Haha thank you for the support! I love it when people ramble and getting asks makes me very happy lol

Airplane better cook up a believable sob story, I mean not every fellow transmigrator has an ice cold heart like cucumber-bro!

As for other transmigrators, yes Ming fan and Ning Yingying are definitely part of it, I’m going off the idea that named characters in PIDW are transmigrators (also with so many modern ppl transmigrating to xianxia, imagine what inventions they would bring) and all of the peak lords, not just seven of them (cause imagine a half of the ppl you knew since disciple days suddenly became buddy buddy with each other after being indifferent or been unfriendly for years)

As for lbh, he’d be the only one non transmigrator in this au because having a bunch of ppl team up to be nice to him so he doesn’t blow up their afterlife would be funny

[flowersdiceandlove]

Please tell me about your Eminence in Shadow!SY AU, that sounds really interesting and badass

Okay, so, in case you don’t know “Eminence in Shadow” is a reincarnation, isekai anime where a guy named Cid Kageno ends up in a world with magic. He likes playing as “Background Character A” by day and being “The Eminence in Shadow” by night. I was watching this anime and while I was watching, I felt like Cid and Shen Yuan were a lot alike. (I’ve only watched the anime which only has two seasons, so anything beyond that in the manga I have no idea about)

Now, onto the idea (I og had this written out as a prompt and then thought, huh, this might actually be fun to write, so just…didn’t post the prompt. I think I’ll come back later and post an actual prompt for this though. But, I'm literally just copy/pasting what I already wrote for this.)

Imagine, Shen Yuan transmigrates into Background Character A in PIDW, and, just like Cid, throws himself into the role. He just wants to get through the plot without drawing attention to himself so he can avoid Bingge's ire. But! But! This is Shen Yuan who has always dreamed of transmigrating into this type of story. How can he just pass up the chance of becoming a cool cultivator??? He can't, that's how! So then, how does one remain Background Character A while also being a Mysterious And Cool Cultivator? By acting out his role as Background Character A during the day and growing his power to become a cool cultivator in secret! That's how!

He'll spend his days idling and playing his role as Just Some Guy to perfection, but in secret, he'll hone his cultivator abilities, slay monsters, study demonic beasts, and live out his cultivator fantasy! He transmigrates early, maybe as a baby, and uses all his knowledge of reading PIDW and other cultivation stories to work out how to cultivate in secret. He won't interfere with the plot, making sure he blends into the background so as not to draw attention to himself, and will be able to survive the merging of the realms with his cultivation abilities when that time eventually comes.

But, of course, this is Shen Yuan we're talking about. He stumbles his way into trouble and wifebeams people. He plays up his Mysterious And Cool Cultivator act like Shadow/Cid does and ends up amassing his own Shadow Garden (harem of highly trained women dedicated to Shadow and his cause, for those of you who haven't seen Eminence in Shadow) but the gay xianxia version. We're gonna get Zhuzhi-Lang, Liu Qingge, ect. But, just like Shadow/Cid, Shen Yuan does not realize he has amassed this massive harem who would literally do anything for him and have created an entire clandestine organization (that's really more of an empire) with him as the head. He thinks they're all just Really Good Friends who are helping him live out his Mysterious And Cool Cultivator dreams.

Just like Shadow/Cid bullshits the Cult of Diablo, Shen Yuan is gonna bullshit his own stuff. And, just like with Shadow/Cid's stuff, Shen Yuan's words are gonna turn out to be true. I'm thinking he ends up uncovering all the corruption and drama surrounding the Old Palace Master and Huan Hua Palace. It'll probably end up being a whole big thing and once they start digging, they just find more and more sects, companies, people, etc. involved in this. Part of the corruption and wrong-doings they find, is a lot of provoking of demons. Shen Yuan, of course, knows none of this, and always ends up on the outskirts of the investigations bullshitting some Wise Nonsense that has everyone in awe before kicking the Bad Guy's butt, not knowing what's Really Going On.

He remains oblivious to all the Drama going on and what he's leaving in his wake. One thing he is absolutely certain he must do is Keep A Low Profile and remain Background Character A, so all his Mysterious And Cool Cultivator adventures are done in secret and he makes sure that his version of Shadow Garden knows that This Is SECRET!! Do Not Tell. shhhh.

Just like in Eminence in Shadow, Shen Yuan's harem (that he still doesn't know is his harem) venture out on their own to gather more people to add to the harem join their cause.

Shen Yuan had to have met Liu Qingge before he entered CQMS. Maybe Shen Yuan's Background Family is from the same village/city the Liu Family is from and so they grew up in the same social circle. When Liu Qingge eventually goes to join CQMS Shen Yuan sighs and thinks What a good guy, playing with me all this time. Now he's off to be a Great Cultivator himself. I hope we can still see each other again sometime. Not at all knowing that Liu Qingge has the BIGGEST crush on him and once in CQMS is trying to recruit more people to join Shen Yuan's harem organization. He probably convinces at least half of the future Qing generation in time as well as many disciples from various peaks. It helps when on a couple night-hunts Shen Yuan, in Mysterious And Cool Cultivator mode, showed up out of nowhere and solved the problem like a Wise Immortal and effectively wifebeaming all present.

For Zhuzhi-Lang, Shen Yuan definitely found him hurt and cooed over him, nursing him back to health. Eventually Zhuzhi-Lang had to return to the Demon Realm and Tianlang-jun, but tells Tianlang-jun about the Nice Human Cultivator who took care of him. Tianlang-jun clocks Zhuzhi-Lang's crush immediately, and tells him that he can go woo his human all he wants as long as it doesn't interfere with work, and also, he would like to meet this human.

Shen Yuan nearly has a heart attack when the DEMON EMPEROR (and Luo Binghe's father!! Ahhh!) shows up at his house to invite him to a picnic (thankfully no one else saw this so his cover as Background Character A is still in check). He doesn't turn him down though, that would be stupid, Tianlang-jun could kill him in a heartbeat if he offended him. So, he goes on the picnic. Tianlang-jun thanks him for taking such good care of his nephew, and Zhuzhi-Lang is a blushing mess the entire time. Tianlang-jun as being Tianlang-jun keeps trying to set Shen Yuan and Zhuzhi-lang up. Shen Yuan laughs it off. Clearly Tianlang-jun is quite the jokester and eternally flamboyant (and you know how Tianlang-jun is), and thinks all his suggestive comments are just his weird sense of humor. Tianglang-jun is most definitely trying to get both Zhuzhi-Lang and himself into Shen Yuan's pants. Shen Yuan is, of course, oblivious to this.

After the picnic Tianlang-jun and Zhuzhi-Lang leave but have secured invitation from Shen Yuan to return as they please so long as they keep it hush hush. Zhuzhi-Lang will actually visit a lot and spend a lot of time in tiny snake form curled up around Shen Yuan's arm under his sleeve or in his robes. Shen Yuan idly pets and strokes him, feeling the cool texture of his scales without thinking about it. When he does realize, Zhuzhi-Lang tells him that it's fine and he can keep petting him as much as he wants. Sometimes people will see Shen Yuan, Background Character A, with a green snake on his arm, or in his robes, or draped across his shoulders, but never really think too much about it, thinking he just has a normal pet snake.

Since this initial meeting, there are a lot more snakes around the Shen Estate, and Shen Yuan's parents tell him to get it under control, thinking that his pet snake is attracting them. Shen Yuan apologizes and says he will. Zhuzhi-Lang then tells his snake underlings to hide better. They were there to make sure Shen Yuan was safe, not get him in trouble.

When Zhuzhi-Lang is back in the Demon Realm he talks about Shen Yuan. He also knows about the Mysterious And Cool Cultivator thing and is also trying to recruit demons to his harem cause. Tianlang-jun knows about this and is fine with it. He's long decided that he's gonna get Shen Yuan into his bed family service and so him having his own underlings and support of demons would only make it easier to do so down the road.

Despite Shen Yuan's meddling, the Tianlang-Jun and Su Xiyan thing still happens and the Old Palace Master stuff leading to Tianlang-jun being sealed. Even with Shen Yuan and his harem friends taking down branches of corruption, they weren't able to take down the Old Palace Master (not yet at least). So, that whole Fiasco happens. Shen Yuan feels guilty about it. Tianlang-jun and Zhuzhi-Lang had become his friends and he knew what was coming. He was confused though because Tianlang-jun did not seem like he was trying to take over the Human Realm and that was why he was sealed. Maybe the System finally decided to pop in and say he couldn't interfere in it, and that some things just had to happen for plot reasons (like with the Endless Abyss). Or, Maybe Shen Yuan didn't see it coming, thinking that he had somehow influenced Tianlang-jun to not want to invade the Human Realm, not knowing that it had always been a lie and set up, the truth never being revealed in PIDW.

Zhuzhi-Lang flees to Shen Yuan, hurt from the attack, and, of course, Shen Yuan accepts him even in his half snake, half humanoid form. It took him a moment, but then he recognized it was Zhuzhi-Lang by his eyes and tended his wounds (again). Zhuzhi-Lang tells him the story of what he and Tianlang-jun believe to be true. By the time he's well enough to do that though, Shen Yuan isn't able to do anything about Su Xiyan's situation. She's already long vanished. Shen Yuan also decides that once Bailu Forest isn't under such careful observation after Tianlang-Jun's sealing, he'll go see the man with Zhuzhi-Lang to see what his state is. Despite it all and Tianlang-jun's...unique personality, Shen Yuan still considers him a friend and wants to help where he can.

It, unfortunately, takes a while for things to cool down around Bailu Mountain and then again to find a way to Tianlang-jun's prison without setting off any alarms. By the time Shen Yuan finally sees Tianlang-jun again, years have passed. He's alive, but not in a great state what with being crushed under a mountain and all. Shen Yuan is in awe of the resilience of Heavenly Demons. When Tianlang-jun sees Shen Yuan he's like "ah, if it's the only human who hasn't betrayed me. What brings you to this place?" all casually. Shen Yuan actually brought him some trashy books and food that he knew Tianlang-jun would like and Tianlang-jun is overjoyed by it. You wouldn't even think he was being squished under a mountain with how happy he was.

Shen Yuan works with Zhuzhi-Lang to figure out how to get Tianlang-jun out, but only after he makes Tianlang-jun promise not to slaughter everyone (probably saying some Wise Nonsense, but is really just trying to get Tianlang-jun to not obliterate humanity). Tianlang-jun pouts, but does. Shen Yuan appeases him by getting him more trashy books and human paraphernalia. During this time, Shen Yuan mentions (intentionally) that he heard rumors that Su Xiyan may be pregnant—Shen Yuan doesn’t think Tianlang-jun’s as interested as he should be in this development; this is Luo Binghe after all—and also that he thinks there’s more to this than they originally thought. Tianlang-jun’s attention is then fully shifted from killing all humans except Shen Yuan, to figuring out what’s going on because hm, you’re right, A-Yuan, this doesn’t make much sense.

With Shen Yuan also working on how to get Tianlang-jun out, Zhuzhi-Lang is able to go back to the Demon Realm to keep things in order. At least to an extent. They keep the fact that they’re trying to free Tianlang-jun a secret bc you never know where there are eyes and ears. Shen Yuan helps Zhuzhi-Lang keep his more humanoid appearance since Tianlang-jun isn’t able to, so that helps Zhuzhi-Lang keep the demons under control, but doesn’t help a whole lot. Things still kinda fall apart there. Shen Yuan’s harem organization is still holding up there and work in secret despite the shakiness in the Demon Realm and the demons in it even use the political uncertainty to their advantage to gain more power.

Maybe Shen Yuan figures out how to make the Sun and Moon Dew Mushroom compatible with demonic qi or maybe he finds another solution. But, either way, he gets Tianlang-jun’s soul out from under the mountain. There is just one caveat of this new body. It must grow from infanthood again at a normal rate. They grow the body, and then Tianlang-jun’s soul pops over to it when it’s a baby, freeing him from his prison. Since the Demon Realm has grown unstable and Tianlang-jun is in a vulnerable state, they decide that the best and safest course of action is for Shen Yuan to keep Tianlang-jun in his care. So, Shen Yuan returns home with baby Tianlang-jun claiming the baby’s his. What better place to hide than in Background Family A, after all? Shen Yuan’s been doing it for decades at this point and thinks it’s the perfect way of living. Thankfully, Tianlang-jun, despite being a baby, does still know how to control his demonic qi, and is able to hide it, making himself appear like a normal human baby.

When the rest of Shen Yuan’s harem Friends find out about “his baby” they’re all seething in jealousy wondering who the mother is. (gender neutral use of the term “mother” here. That harem is definitely trying to figure out how to have Shen Yuan’s baby or get Shen Yuan to have their baby) They also start seething in jealousy over the baby itself bc Shen Yuan is doting on him to the max. He’s holding and rocking him, soothing him, patting him, feeding him, cooing over him, ect. Shen Yuan just can’t get over how cute baby Tianlang-jun is, and is wondering what baby Bingge looked like. (By this point, Binghe’s already entered CQMS)

Every time Liu Qingge leaves the sect to go on a night-hunt, he always stops by the Shen Estate to see Shen Yuan and drop off some monster head/part for him. Shen Yuan always greets him with a smile and thanks him, but asks if dropping the bloody carcass in the entry hall was really necessary. Who’s gonna clean this all up, Liu-didi, hm? Be nicer to the servants! Don’t make unnecessary work for them! The first time Liu Qingge sees the baby, he’s doing this. Shen Yuan comes out to meet him with the baby in his arms, and the sight of Shen Yuan holding a baby, smiling at him, and welcoming him back makes his brain blank for a long moment.

Shen Yuan either is super vague about the baby!Tianlang-jun’s mom or has a super detailed background story ready to go. It’s a bit of a minor scandal in the way that all bastards are, but Background Family Father A is happy to get a grandson from Shen Yuan.

As baby!Tianlang-jun grows up, he gets super smug about having Shen Yuan as his dad and attention. He’s good at playing his role as a little kid around others, but then in private just acts like his usual self, lounging around like the emperor he is, reading scandalous smut, and saying all his suggestive and lucious things. When the members of Shen Yuan’s harem Shen Yuan’s friends show up, he always plays up the act and gets Shen Yuan to let him sit in his lap, pet his hair, snuggle against his side, or something. Shen Yuan’s harem friends swear that the kid knows what he’s doing, but can only chug vinegar in silence bc it’s Shen Yuan’s son. Tianlang-jun is loving having Shen Yuan as his dad, being the only one to call him “daddy” or “baba” or “a-die” or such and has Shen Yuan curled around his finger with his cuteness. (He’s long stopped trying to get into Shen Yuan’s pants and is much happier being his adoptive son. He is still trying to set up Shen Yuan and Zhuzhi-Lang though.)

Because of Shen Yuan’s interference, Liu Qingge either doesn’t have that deadly qi deviation, or is stable enough that when Shen Qingqiu tries to help him with it, is actually able to help. So, Liu Qingge lives.

When Luo Bingge is finally out of the Endless Abyss and is working his way through conquering the Demon Realm, he starts to slowly find out about this vast and secret organization that’s in control of so much. Digging deeper, he’s able to uncover that it spans into the Human Realm and includes some well respected and high class cultivators too. Luo Bingge tries to wriggle out who the leader is, but everyone is so tightlipped and elusive that he’s actually having trouble finding info out. It drives him mad. Xin Mo is also capitalizing on this obsession. Luo Bingge can’t be the indisputable Emperor of all if there’s some shadow organization pulling the strings behind the scenes. Shen Yuan, however, is blissfully unaware that he’s caught the attention of Luo Bingge, still thinking he’s successfully flown under the radar, and tells his harem Friends to avoid getting on Luo Binghe’s bad side and to help him however they can, hoping that this will get those that would have died as canon fodder in Bingge’s rise to greatness to be able to survive it. This just drives Luo Bingge even more up the wall bc he doesn’t know why this secret organization is deciding to back him in everything and so he doesn’t know their motives and so he can’t use those motives to his advantage and so he doesn’t have absolute control! 

When he does finally get a member of the harem organization to talk to him, they just say “Our master is wise. He sees potential in you. Do not squander our master’s good will.” because when they asked why Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan said something like “I believe he’s destined for greatness. I want to see the world he creates.” or “He has great promise. I want to see what he does.” all sage like while internally panicking, hoping that that was vague enough so they don’t continue to ask why he wants to help this random demon that he’s never met. This answer does not help to assuage Bingge’s unease at this secret organization and their secret leader, and only makes it worse bc how does this man know Luo Binghe well enough to know his POTENTIAL!?!?! But he can’t ask the person more bc they vanished from their cell after Luo Bingge was called away on urgent business. And, they also somehow have a way to counteract his blood parasites. Bingge is seriously losing it over this. (He doesn’t know about Zhuzhi-Lang and Tianlang-jun, and I’m sure they both know a lot more about Heavenly Demon abilities and how to counteract them than Bingge does)

Shen Yuan and his harem friends end up leading Bingge through the Demon and Human Realms with mind games and wild goose chases, every adventure leading to Bingge gaining more power. Shen Yuan eventually learns that he’s caught Bingge’s eye and hopes that this all will show that Shen Yuan is a friend and not a foe. See! He’s helping you gain power, Bingge!! We’re not enemies!!

Luo Bingge is not put at ease by this and every encounter with the harem organization is just leaving him more frazzled. Eventually Shen Yuan and Luo Bingge meet on one of these crazy adventures when Shen Yuan had to get involved, Shen Yuan in his Mysterious And Cool Cultivator act, and disguised so that even a Heavenly Demon and the protagonist won’t be able to recognize him. (Zhuzhi-Lang and Tianlang-jun helped him test his disguise out) Shen Yuan spouts more of his Wise Nonsense at Luo Binghe to make Luo Binghe see that they’re on Bingge’s side before vanishing without a trace. After every time, Luo Bingge screams and levels some stuff in frustration. He still doesn’t know what these people are after! How are they so elusive!? 

Because of all this, Luo Binghe’s plans to infiltrate Huan Hua Palace and destroy Cang Qiong Mountain Sect are put on hold. He doesn’t know exactly how far this secret organization's power reaches, but he can’t go in blind with such a big power behind the scenes. He does know that the secret organization has reaches in CQMS, but doesn’t know how deep (Liu Qingge’s been hard at work there and all of Bai Zhan is under Shen Yuan’s command along with over half of the other peaks. Shang Qinghua is freaking out because he didn’t write this!!! Who the fuck is that guy!?!? Why is he rivaling Bingge!?!?! And, WHY IS HE WINNING!?!?!? Bingge’s supposed to reign supreme, not some rando he never even wrote! He’s wondering if he maybe wrote out this idea while high as fuck and delusional with sleep depravation which is why he doesn’t remember it, but he knows he wouldn’t do that even at his most addled bc Bingge is supposed to be unrivaled. That’s why he scrapped the Tianlang-jun vs Bingge idea.) 

Bingge gets so caught up in paranoia over this secret organization and not knowing whose a part of it and who's not and what they really want that he’s not negating Xin Mo with dual cultivation bc are the women part of the organization? Are they in on it? What do they want? What do they gain by sleeping with me? So his control is slipping.

It’s also during this time that the harem organization start getting closer to Huan Hua Palace and the Old Palace Master. Their progress is helped when Shen Yuan, during a friendly get together with one of the high ranking members of his harem organization his Friends, he accidentally slips that he’s wondering the validity of the Old Palace Master’s claims of Tianlang-jun wanting to invade the Human Realm and the story of what’s really going on there. The harem organization takes his words as Shen Yuan telling them to look into this matter, so they set their sights fully on Huan Hua Palace and the Old Palace Master.

Not long later, they uncover the Truth, and clear Tianlang-jun’s name, dragging the Old Palace Master’s through the mud. Tianlang-jun, hearing about this, swoops in and kills a whole bunch of Huan Hua Palace high ranking members and the Old Palace Master along with a bunch of other powerful people involved in the cover up and mess. The organization, at seeing the gruesome slaughter, are at first horrified bc who has this kind of power to slip past the organization's defenses and do this? But, then someone spots Tianlang-jun slipping away, recognizes him as Shen Yuan’s son, and concludes that Shen Yuan was the one to do this. Later, at another friendly get together with Shen Yuan, one of them vaguely mentions the slaughter, subtly asking if Shen Yuan knew of it and even more subtly inquiring if he was the one to do it. Shen Yuan, knowing that Tianlang-jun was the one to do it and just got finished burning the bloody robes Tianlang-jun had come back in after reprimanding him to be more careful what if someone saw you???, doesn’t pick up on this at all and is instead trying to divert attention away from them, says something vague back which only confirms in the organizations mind that Shen Yuan was the one who did it. With their firm belief that Shen Yuan knows what’s best, even if they initially thought the execution was horrific, they believe that they had deserved it if Shen Yuan would resort to such tactics.

The organization sweeps in and helps clean the mess up, CQMS and other sects and businesses affiliated with Shen Yuan and the organization distribute Huan Hua Palace’s wealth and territory, gaining more influence. Luo Binghe hears about all this, and poking around some more, finds that the organization was behind this. The fact that this clandestine organization was able to take down such a well established and reputable sect like Huan Hua Palace only sets him more on edge about them. If they can do that, they could also dethrone him too, couldn’t they?? Just because they haven't outright opposed him yet doesn’t mean they won’t. He cannot trust such a powerful organization.

Eventually, Bingge tracks down Shen Yuan and, in a great show like in Hua Yue City, Shen Yuan has to pull the “self-destruct for you” card to stop Bingge’s qi deviation while saying more Wise And Meaningful Nonsense that has Bingge realizing that this guy was really on his side. This entire time, this guy has had unwavering faith in him and his abilities. This entire time, he’s had his whole organization working to help him in any way possible simply because of that. That this entire time, his only motive was to see what Bingge would become, see the world he creates, and for him to be happy. And now he can’t even do that. Because he’s dead. For Luo Binghe’s sake!!

And, Binghe…

Binghe just can’t take it. He hasn’t had someone so staunchly on his side since his mother died when he was little. He starts bawling. He can’t help it. He hasn’t cried in so long, and he just can’t stop the tears. They just keep coming, a heartbreaking wail from his mouth, while he hugs the dead body to his chest.

Other members of Shen Yuan’s harem organization that watched the whole thing stay standing around this scene, some tears falling from their eyes too, not able to believe that Shen Yuan is really dead. Liu Qingge, and others, are getting ready to fight Luo Binghe for Shen Yuan’s body, but before more fighting can break out, Tianlang-jun struts in with Zhuzhi-Lang following meekly behind him. The harem organization members that don’t know about the truth are shocked and scared bc they were supposed to get Shen Yuan’s son away from this chaos and protect him from Luo Binghe. But, Tianlang-jun (whose like a teenager or something by this point) just ignores everyone’s shouts and deftly evades their protective grabs for him, waking straight up to the still bawling Binghe.

See, Tianlang-jun is not nearly as oblivious as Shen Yuan is—he’s the exact opposite really—so he clocked Luo Binghe starting to fall for Shen Yuan a while ago, captivated by the challenge and mind games that Shen Yuan was playing with him, and is staunchly knowing that Luo Binghe won’t attack them again.

“Luo Binghe, do not fear,” he starts seriously, then breaks out in a massive grin and gives him a thumbs up, “we have contingency plans in case of death! Many of them!” Because of course they do. They’ve long secured the Sun And Moon Dew Mushroom Seeds and started growing them to Shen Yuan’s body. Tianlang-jun also still has access to the Holy Mausoleum and the Resurrection Chamber. And, with both Shen Yuan’s PIDW knowledge and Tianlang-jun’s and with his resources, they have a vast variety of back up bodies and plans for many different circumstances. It is also revealed that this is Tianlang-jun and literally no one is surprised by this development. Of course Shen Yuan’s son is the last Demon Emperor who’s supposed to be sealed under a mountain. It also made some of them “understand” why Shen Yuan had been so ruthless in his execution of the Old Palace Master and others since they now knew he had a personal interest in the matter.

When Shen Yuan wakes up, he’s immediately tackled by a sobbing Luo Binghe who places a big, fat, wet kiss on his mouth. He tries to reel back, but Luo Binghe has him in a death grip, so he can only stare wide-eyed at Luo Binghe until he pulls back to keep sobbing against his chest. Those of the harem organization that were there were furious at this bc barely any of them have kissed Shen Yuan and they’ve been in his harem service longer!! And, instead of shoving Luo Binghe away, Shen Yuan hugs him closer and pats his head, trying to calm him down, whispering that “No, Binghe, I won’t go anywhere. Yes, I can stay with you. Please don’t apologize, Binghe, this isn’t your fault. I should have done better to make you see I was on your side. You’ve done nothing wrong.” and so on.

After this, Shen Yuan is no longer able to maintain his cover as Background Character A, but that’s okay because he only kept it so he wouldn’t get taken out as Bingge’s rival or something. Since Binghe is on his side, he can live his whole life as a Mysterious And Cool Cultivator, living out his transmigration dreams unhindered! But, Binghe, what do you mean you’re making me Empress of the Demon Realm? I’m a man! I can’t be your Empress! Pick a pretty girl for that if you want one! Tianlang-jun, why are you laughing!? Why are you supporting this!?

Binghe convinces Shen Yuan to marry him by presenting it as a political marriage since Shen Yuan is in control of so much, and if he wants Luo Binghe to be the Emperor of it all (which he knows Shen Yuan wants) then they really need to be married and Shen Yuan made Empress for his reign to be undisputed. Shen Yuan eventually figures it out, and by that point he’s also figuring out that he actually has feelings for a lot of his “friends.” Well, it’s a good thing they all want to marry him too.

There are a long line of weddings after this as so many of Shen Yuan’s friends harem demand to be formally married. Binghe fights for position of First Husband. And wins. Because of course he does.

Luo Binghe has pretty much lost interest in his own harem (which was still pretty small and shrinking when he decided to kick women out for fear they were part of the organization), and becomes nonexistent after his marriage to Shen Yuan. It’s not a problem though, because Tianlang-jun, Shen Yuan, and Shang Qinghua pull resources and knowledge to nullify Xin Mo’s effect on him, so his harem is obsolete anyway.

—Later, once things are settled, probably:

SQH: bro, wtf? You haremed my harem novel.

SY: 🤷

I just feel like Shen Yuan and Cid are so similar. They both curate their role in their new transmigration life, bullshit through so much by spouting wise nonsense, and making people fall for them left and right while being totally oblivious. Shen Yuan just gives Cid levels of oblivious vibes.

I’m not super feeling my svsss fics right now, so I don’t think I’m gonna write on them and just close the tabs for now. Idk. I’ll prbly come back to this later at some point, but 🤷‍♀️ Hoped you enjoyed this 😊

If anyone has any ideas for what to call sy's version of Shadow Garden, let me know. I was feeling stuck on that part, but like I said, I don't know when I'll come back to this.

[bloodyfries]

Au where SY get transmigrated into one of those ball joint mannequin dolls

Ik they probably didn't exist back then (most xianxia books take place around the song dynasty from what I've read) but we'll just say that airplane didn't know that when writing Cang Qiong Mountain

Anyway, since one of the things CQM specializes in is arts what if they used those mannequin dolls for references.

Luo Binghe probably wasn't given a new one like most ones but rather one that a missing hand or arm (most of his art supplies was probably broken or used)

Shen Yuan probably lost the limb by falling off a table, absolutely taken aback that he's a literal freaking doll

Well one day Binghe gets back from some punishment a bottle of medicine is rolled to him by his mannequin. He probably freaks out at first but decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides, his possessed reference doll is being kinder then anyone else on the sect.

Shen Yuan would have helped a lot sooner but he's small and that medicine was hard to get on his own.

Luo Binghe ends up taking a great liking to his possessed mannequin. The soul that inhabitants it is very nice to him and his sharp wit is endearing. One day while LBH is trying to practice his cultivation SY stops him, saying that his form is incorrect and models what he should be doing (actually being a refrance like the object he inhabitants original purpose). LBH actually ends up correcting a lot of his cultivation and has a healthy base.

Shen Yuan is trying to be helpful so he won't be thrown away or be given over to someone to get a exorcism

LBH plans to try and get a better body for SY to inhabit but in the meantime he learns how to make/take care of dolls/mannequins. He ends up fixing SY's missing body part and probably paints a face or give poor SY some clothes

For some extra angst maybe MQ notices LBH talking to the doll and deciding to break it. SY probably doesn't get fully broken (or maybe he does, you decide) but LBH loses it and gets into a altercation with MQ. I actually think considering his background SJ would hate when people break stuff like it was nothing so MQ would probably get a actually punishment. LBH also gets punished just not as bad (still pretty bad though, just less). Though LBH doesn't really cares and rather try and fix the only person who deeply cares about him. He probably spins every night working on fixing SY. He lags behind because he isn't sleeping properly and ends up getting punished more.

[xomakara]

As of 4/23/24, Here are my current WIPs. Titles might change lol. Let me know if anyone wants to be tagged in any of the works for when I post the finished result.

Into the Unknown (Mark/Fem!Reader) - You and Mark take on a mission only to find that the academy you called home is hiding a dark secret.

Breathing (Jaemin/Fem!Reader) - Fantasy AU in which you’ve become the so-called villainess. Your heart was broken because the man you loved and was engaged to, fell in love with another woman. Leaving you to die in the fields, a soldier named Jaemin came across you and nurses you to health.

Against All Odds (Ten/Fem!Reader) - You’ve been kicked out of Neo Tech, the most ruthless gang in Seoul. You’re left to pick up the pieces of your old life, build your family’s gang to be powerful to take on Neo Tech…but when you find out your pregnant from a one night stand with a man named Ten, you have to rethink your life choices.

Storybook Romance (Winwin/Fem!Reader) - You’re magically transported into a romance web novel as a minor character. And then one day, you’re falling in love with the main character who looks exactly like your secret crush back in the real world. Little did you know that he had a secret that could change your life forever.

Perfume (Dojaejung/Fem!Reader) - Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Jungwoo all get a bit too jealous of each other when you have sex with them individually.

Turning Back Time (Yangyang/Reader) - Fantasy Au (wuxia/xianxia theme??) in which you’re an immortal goddess and become the concubine to Demon King Yangyang. You pray to the heavenly realm to turn back time to before he became evil.

[rhysiana]

I ended up rewatching The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity with a friend who had never seen it this weekend, and I am SHOCKED to report there isn't a single "oh no, the guy I had a one-night stand with the night before I started my new job is here" fic in this fandom.

I recognize that sometimes we simply must cook our own food, but since I don't have time to write such a thing in full right now, here is the vaguely sketched out snack-sized version:

Modern AU

Qingming and Boya have both been hired to work on the TV show debut of an idol/pop star (aka the princess)

Qingming is her stylist

Boya is security

They arrive in Hengdian the night before and meet in a bar

There is a group of stunt performers doing enthusiastic but increasingly drunk karaoke (they appear to be working on some xianxia show, judging by the way they keep calling each other by their character names of Killing Stone, Snow Hound, Mad Painter, etc.)

Killing Stone in particular appears to have just gone through a breakup and decides to perform an overly emotional rendition of a ballad

Boya makes a pained face, Qingming tells him to be more sympathetic, Boya insists if he was truly heartbroken he could at least get the words right

Qingming challenges him to do better

Boya does

Qingming has to, you know, reward him

The next day...

Boya wakes up alone, which he is not annoyed about, tyvm, much less awkward, he can go about his morning routine in peace, etc.

He arrives at the studio and starts getting shown around by the princess-actress's manager and introduced to all the people who will be on her regular team this time...

...including her new stylist, Qingming

Well, now it's awkward

As yet undetermined plot would have to happen from here, but it would definitely have to include:

Qingming in work mode, being extremely flirty with everyone (because he thrives on industry gossip)

Boya: seething in jealousy and mad about it

[letteredlettered]

Hi Lettered, I’m a big fan & watched The Untamed to better understand your two fics :) Is there anything I should know about the source material for your new work? Can I read it without background info? Thank you for sharing with us!!!

I'm so glad you like my fics! I hope you liked The Untamed!

Both of my (big) fics for The Untamed (Say More and Time Signature) can be read without canon knowledge, as they are complete AUs set in the real world.

My newest fic (The New Cultivation Method) is based on Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu, TGCF for short), which a web novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX). (MXTX also wrote The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, aka MDZS, the web novel upon which The Untamed is based.) My new fic is canon compliant and deals directly with canon events. I don't think it can be read without background info.

If you still want to read the fic without reading the source material, here is a brief summary of the book as well as some basic info you need for the fic. I put additional info about the book behind the cut, as it contains spoilers, but I hope said spoilers might entice you to read the book, given that it's amazing! That said, if you only watched The Untamed and haven't read a xianxia novel, I would recommend starting with Scum Villain's Self Saving System, as it is actually a meta novel starting in the real world, and it's very short and quite the page turner.

Basic summary: TGCF is about a prince, Xie Lian, who was so martially talented, he ascended to heaven and became a god. However, when Xie Lian descended to help his kingdom's people through a time of war and strife, he was banished from heaven. After a short time he ascended once more due to his spectacular heroism, but very shortly after that, he was banished a second time. After his second banishment, Xie Lian wanders the earth, unlucky and obscure, for 800 years before ascending to heaven a third time.

Throughout the book you learn quite a bit more backstory about his ascensions and banishments. The forestory is about Xie Lian's various missions after his third ascension--either quests to help friends, save people, or to obey the Emperor of Heaven. On these missions Xie Lian repeatedly encounters Hua Cheng, a dangerous god-slaying ghost.

Basic info for the fic: The fic is Xie Lian/Hua Cheng, and largely centers around Xie Lian choosing a new cultivation method (cultivation is basically magic in the xianxia genre. Xianxia is a genre of Chinese fantasy that involves cultivators--magicians, basically--and immortals). Xie Lian's canonical cultivation method includes sexual abstinence, so his decision to give up that method in that fic is supposed to obviously mean he really wants to have sex. I had him decide to give up his old cultivation method in favor of dual cultivation; dual cultivation is a method in the xianxia genre wherein cultivators have sex to strengthen their cultivation.

Further book spoilers:

In TGCF, the backstory is that Hua Cheng was a young boy who was saved by Xie Lian multiple times. Hua Cheng decided to dedicate his life to Xie Lian. He died fighting in a war for Xie Lian's kingdom. He not only worships Xie Lian as a god, but is deeply, obsessively in love with him.

In this world, people come back as ghosts if they have a strong enough purpose that ties them to the mortal world--say, they want revenge against someone who killed them. There are three ways ghosts get destroyed: they fulfill or lose their purpose, the ashes of their mortal body get destroyed, or the ghost's spiritual energy is dispersed. Dispersing a ghost means tearing apart through extreme violence or sucking out their spiritual energy so that it can't gather again.

Hua Cheng's dedication to Xie Lian was so strong that this purpose brought him back as a ghost, where he continued to try to stand by Xie Lian's side and help him with anything Xie Lian needed help with. Right before Xie Lian's second ascension, Hua Cheng was dispersed.

But Hua Cheng's purpose was unnaturally strong, meaning he rather spectacularly survived dispersal, and he came back yet again. He became one of the most powerful ghosts in existence, destroyed gods who had previously insulted Xie Lian, and looked for Xie Lian for 800 years, only locating Xie Lian once more when Xie Lian ascends a third time.

They go through quite a lot together in the book. Xie Lian eventually realizes Hua Cheng is the young boy (and young ghost) from his own past. He also realizes that Hua Cheng loves him and has been obsessed with him his whole life. This is quite all right with Xie Lian, who rather likes him back.

Right at the end of the book, there is a big battle, and Hua Cheng is dispersed a second time trying to help Xie Lian. Xie Lian begs Hua Cheng not to leave him, and Hua Cheng promises Xie Lian that he will survive dispersal once again and come back.

Xie Lian waits a year. At the very end of the book, Xie Lian comes home to a house he has built for them, and finds Hua Cheng waiting outside the door. The book ends there, and my fic is about their reunion, mostly with porn.

If you're looking for some really dirty porn, this isn't it. They are both so, so so excited to be having sex that they both repeatedly come more quickly than they mean to and lose any sense of chill either of them ever had.

[snicker-doodles]

Qiubing Xianxia AU

I’ve been rewatching love you seven times because of Ding Yuxi, and it gave me this xianxia AU idea for qiubing.

The drama version of Qiu Qingzhi had been nerfed a lot in comparison to the manhua and donghua, cause he’s supposed to be very very strong to the point he can decimate a whole army all by himself, so, Qiu Qingzhi is definitely the strongest God of War from the Heavenly realm.

As for Li Bing, I really like the demon realm storyline in love you seven times, so, Li Bing is a cat demon who managed to become the new Demon King after defeating the previous King.

After the last great war, the Heavenly and Demon realm have been at peace for thousands of years. They don’t usually interact with each other, and both have currently been fighting a common enemy from the Devil realm.

One day, Qiu Qingzhi got hurt after being ambushed by some assassins from the Devil realm and he accidentally fell to the Demon realm. Li Bing found him, then help to nurse him back to health. This is how they got to know each other.

After getting nursed back to health, Li Bing found out that Qiu Qingzhi is very strong, and for the first time in his life has met someone that can defeat him and also manhandle him with ease. Which, he’s really, really into, so… yeah.

As for Qiu Qingzhi, he really feel thankful, and swore to always protect Li Bing in return, but also, this cat demon is really really pretty, and his cat form is very cute, and also, the sound he made when being manhandled is very… ahem… interesting.

Qiu Qingzhi did eventually return to the Heavenly realm, cause he’s the God of War, and he’s got tons of work to do. But he will sneak out to go to the Demon realm from time to time to hang out with Li Bing, and they also often help each other in dealing with troubles caused by the Devil realm.

One day Qiu Qingzhi has to go and do his mortal trial. Li Bing sneaked in to find him and give him a protective amulet, but accidentally fell in to the pool of rebirth with him. And so they are both being reborn as humans and has to do a mortal trial together.

So, it’s basically a xianxia AU where white cat legend drama universe is their mortal trial lol.

Yeah, well, this idea just somehow got into my head and I just had to get it out somehow.

[grassbreads]

"Generation Ship Rough, Generation Ship Plots and Plans (two docs for this one fic)" <- tell me what this is about

Thank you for the ask! (context)

The Generation Ship docs are brainstorms and a half-finished outline for a Tai Sui sci-fi au idea I had a couple months ago.

I don't know if you've picked up any awareness of Tai Sui's deal from my posts, but it's largely a story about how fucked up immortality is. Lifespan and mortality are important concepts, and social inequality/classism (including lifespan's effect thereon) is one of the novel's big themes. I think it would be really cool to write a Tai Sui au set on a generation ship, as that setting also inherently lends itself to dealing with lifespan and social inequality as themes, but with a very different vibe/context than Tai Sui's steampunk xianxia setting.

Canon Tai Sui and generation ship stories also both deal with enclosed, self-contained worlds and the idea of carrying on godlike founders' legacies. Tai Sui's Sages work very well as shipbuilders, with everyone else generations later now living in the wake of how those Sages chose to amass power as they avoided disaster.

I don't have an excerpt for this one, as it's all in the planning stages, but I can talk a bit about the plot. For those familiar with Tai Sui story arcs, it starts with a plot adapted largely from Indignant Cicadas, which then flows into remixed elements of Traveler Abroad, A Life of Regret, and Conclusion. Qiu Sha's insane scheme flows into Zhou Ying's insane scheme flows into Wangge Luobao's insane scheme, and Xi Ping is just a bodyless ghost in the machine trying to deal with it all. Also Wei Chengxiang is there.

I have no idea how far I'll ever get with this one, as I historically struggle to finish anything longer than a oneshot, but if nothing else I'm fond of the idea ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

[analviel]

No hate, I do appreciate them since I learn new things, but I'm also baffled by people who try to fit SVSSS as.... historically accurate.

I'm.... not even sure how that works. Since xianxia itself is fantasy - wuxia would make sense of course.

For my part I just slap on that it's in a distant past, where the earth is mostly pangea shaped, with one culture from real world cropping up here and another here, and they just..... mix. Interact.

Like, for the sake of the genre itself I'd say it's mostly chinese, mostly chinese writing system, which is easy enough since as it so happens, it's the root of a number of other writing systems. Literally just think ATLA, the way they mixed real life culture with fantasy and not let that hold them back.

Oh hey convenient space to put my 'headcanon races if they were transmigrated in our modern era'. SJ and SQH I'd put as chinese, YQY and QQQ korean, LQG japanese, and MQF vietnamese, WQW thai, mostly because I have this AU I play with where they are reincarnated in modern world but have faint recollection of their old lives as CQMS Peak Lords (this would be after the happenings in my universe AU where SJ, rather than dying of heartbreak after seeing Xuan Su sword shards escapes instead this and yes, spoiler alert they stil die bcs I'm all for the whole 'if I can't ascend with you all then I guess let's just all die'), and I keep playing with this scene of SJ living in a compound with YQY (imagine SJ waking up going 'Qi-ge, Qi-ge, gege I want breakfast' and YQY humming indulgently while cooking on the stove💗💗💗💗💘💘💘 (I mean not really relevant AS MUCH but just note I imagine them as brothers brothers here) and they have it for rent at first but when they meet the other PL and realize the truth of their memories, they have it reserved only for their martial siblings. And live together like a group of really chill friends that are low key keeping a pulse on the underground cultivation world that is concealed from the public

Yes, SJ does annoy LQG for rent even if it's not yet time to pay. He just likes being annoying okay, let him be annoying.

..... My posts are losing any sense of order these days. Like I know I should stay at least on one topic on one post but whatever.

[extraordinarilyextreme]

Hi hi hi~ for fic writer ask 1-3, 5, 27, 30 🙈💖💖💖

hi!!!! 🫶💕

1. the last sentence you wrote

quite literally haven't worked on fics in MONTHS... the last official sentence i wrote is probably from cat AU:

For the first time in Wang Ye’s memory, Zhuge Qing is taller than him.

2. a character whose POV you're currently exploring

ZCL and WZQ... i wrote a teensy bit of ZCL before in 冤家路窄 | our paths were bound to cross, but i was thinking mainly about drama!ZCL at the time... our original/manhua Chulan is much more difficult to grasp (i think, at least), because Mi Er-laoshi is very intentional with the rare occasions in which we're allowed to see ZCL's inner dialogue.

as for WZQ, i think it's just difficult getting ahold of the balance between actually malicious/wicked + playful and aloof + earnest 🥲

3. how you feel about your current WIP

should be WIPs, because at any given moment i have, like, at least 5 active docs open 😅😆 i always love my WIPs (hence why im working on them still LOL), but it's just frustrating that i often don't have the time to properly sit down and work on anything these days 🥲🥲🥲

for yrzx, there's: xianxia AU, youth campus AU, cat AU, stories from vol. 520 (ten nights in beijing, reunion night, post-canon qiulan)

for lztj, there's: amnesia AU (probably will not work in this anymore though; i'd started it with the assumption there would be no S2, but now we're getting one!!!!), crossover with 问心 The Heart lol

for lhl (but i may never finish these), there's: huatubing (hanahaki) AU, wangchuan post-canon/amnesiac!FDB AU, and post-canon LLH starts to forget AU (lowkey like the vibes of this one still, perhaps i will return to it...)

there's a post-canon dlssqy BingShi fic... there's a post-canon yngs fic (sort of not really Yang Yang/Li Tonggong)... and there's my chssn reincarnation RongZhi fic that i never finished 😭😭😭

AND there's a post-canon qihun GuangYing fic 😭😭😭

perhaps unsurprisingly, most of my fics are post-canon exploration (and emphasis on healing) and/or reunion-oriented 🥹🥹🥹

5. first sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished WIP

the full fifth paragraph (two sentences lol) from my amnesia AU for lztj that i'll almost definitely never finish, titled 充满诱惑的黑夜 | through the night full of temptation:

It takes him longer than expected to turn his head, and even longer for his vision to stop swimming. A woman sits in the plastic chair to his left, backlit by the afternoon sun shining through the windows.

27. your favorite part of the writing process

everything except action scenes 🤣🤣🤣 genuinely! i love researching (as you know), and i love world-building and fleshing out the plot... i love writing internal conflict in particular (maybe bc of my psych background lol)... i love writing a fic just for One Scene, and i love it when i finally reach that "climatic" scene (oftentimes not even actually emotionally or narratively climatic, but it Feels that way to me)... dialogue is definitely my favorite thing to write.

30. share a fic you're especially proud of

honestly, it has to be the first yrzx fic i ever wrote: 岁月不待人 | the moon and the tides, you and i. there are changes i would make now, particularly with my interpretation of ZGQ, but it's still just so near and dear to my heart. i love the IP and its many adaptations, and i really cannot wait for donghua s6 and drama s2 to come out!!!

[peridot-tears]

We don't even know if Arno lived to his seventies, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he was very much alive (and a senior citizen) by the time Jacob was born. Maybe if he was lucky, he could have even been alive during the events of Syndicate, but we don't all get to live to a hundred, especially back then.

So the possibilities are ENDLESS.

Time travel!AU where Jacob goes back in time, falls in love with Arno, then comes back and realizes his love is the crabby old man upstairs.

Time travel!AU where ARNO goes forward in time, falls in love with forty-year-old Jacob with an awkward age gap that they work out (because Arno's in his twenties still) and goes back to his timeline, always yearning for his love, only to hit his seventies and find his boyfriend literally being born in a Crawley hospital.

Or instead of being awks, we do some Bu Bu Jing Xin shit where Jacob blacks out after killing Roth, goes back in time while unconscious, and lives out the events of the French Revolution with Arno. They have an uneasy relationship but Jacob learns what healthy love looks like, and he and Arno die together holding hands (or we go full Bu Bu Jing Xin and he dies thinking Arno sent him away, who knows). He wakes back up in his current timeline with Evie next to him, thinking it's all a dream...until he enters a museum where he sees himself and Arno in paintings from the French Revolution and realizes that he actually inserted himself into that time period and changed it, and that Arno actually is long dead.

Immortal!AU where Arno gains immortality after Elise dies (I desperately wanna SOMEHOW go the xianxia Chinese immortality route instead of western vampirism, but to each his own), and spends several decades witnessing empires rise and fall, unsure if he'll ever love again...until Jacob. But make it mildly slapstick, and he initially mistakes his own feelings as liking Evie instead, because something something she's so focused, just like Elise.

ENDLESS, I tell you.

[monsterblogging]

Decided to design a character based around the question, "what if Sephiroth was a guy in my Pacific Rim with magic dragon hybrids AU?"

So first of all (and please bear with me here), his first name wouldn't be Sephiroth; it would be Michael.

In human form, he'd look mostly like Squeenix Sephiroth, but he'd have round pupils and his hair would be a lot shorter, maybe down to his neck at most. (I know, I also love the xianxia hair, but it won't work out here - you'll see why soon!) His wardrobe includes a lot of black, though with quite a bit less leather and a lot more denim and canvas. He'll wear a pair of black leather boots in human form, and he probably owns a black biker jacket, but we won't see either of those in actual draconic form.

When he's in draconic form, he's covered in very pale scales; at their darkest, they're a light gray. His eyes glow bluish green, and he has bluish green bioluminescent markings on his body that take the form of long, curving lines. He has a very long, whiplike tail. Small plates protrude from the top of his tail; they aren't sharp enough that you can get cut from just touching them, but you definitely wouldn't want to get smacked with them. He's also got some sexy little claws and fangs, because that's always fun. And just to be clear, we're not really looking at a long snout on this guy; in terms of facial proportions, think maybe a little more Shape of Water or Luca.

He also has wings - indeed, two of them. I know the whole one winged angel thing is a big deal in FF7, but I want this guy to fly and magic levitation isn't really a thing here. It took me awhile to settle on what kind of wings he should have, but in the end I decided to go with white wings that fade into bluish green at the ends, a bit evocative of the original character's final boss form. His feet resemble a theropod's.

The really cool long coat he owns is made of waxed black denim, and it's tailored so that his wings can comfortably push out the back when he shifts to draconic form. (Also, his pants are tailored in the back for his tail.)

Now, Michael here isn't the product of evil genetic experimentation; he's like this because at some point, somebody in his family line (or maybe multiple somebodies) canoodled with somebody who was secretly a dragon and made a baby. (This happens surprisingly often in folklore and fairy tales.) He can shift to draconic form because at some point, he underwent a magical ritual to unlock this ability. (I personally like it when the ritual involves getting dunked in water, but for Michael it might have been different.)

However, it is entirely possible that Michael grew up in family that still saw him as a means to some kind of end. So, I'm going to say that he didn't grow up with his biological parents; his father was unknown, and something happened to his biological mother that cut her out of the picture. (I'd like to think that she's not dead, and one day he'll actually meet her.)

He was raised by his uncle, an absolute fuckhead of a biologist who somehow realized what the kid was, and figured out how to unlock his draconic essence. His uncle hoped that Michael held the key to humanity's next step in evolution, that would keep us all alive through the coming climate crisis. His uncle had his DNA tested and everything (but didn't really find anything usable; draconity isn't something that boils down to one key gene or something), and had him trained in combat, because his uncle's the kind of guy who believes that society's going to collapse, and when it does, they're gonna have to exercise their dominion before anyone else does.

If we take Sephiroth's seemingly autistic characteristics at face value and just say, "yeah, Michael was definitely autistic," then it's possible that he was tacitly dehumanized as a child. This happens to many autistic people to some degree, but in Michael's case it was a little more overt, with his autistic traits being treated as inherently draconic traits, and both his genuinely draconic and autistic traits being treated as either subhuman or superhuman depending on whatever was most convenient to others.

(Also, does Michael own a long sword? Probably. In fact, he probably owns several, plus a number of exquisite little knives, because this is a Pacific Rim setting and characters in Pacific Rim tend to be a little extravagant about their interests.)

The end result was that Michael had a very toxic perception of his place in the world. One the one hand, he's supposed to be this superhuman savior, but on the other, he's never really allowed to exercise his own judgment. The very real skill he develops in combat supposedly demonstrates his inherent superiority, but the neverending disapproval of his "inhuman" behaviors make it clear that he is actually a lesser being to these people. He does not understand why he is denied basic respect despite the elevated status he is assured he has.

When the kaiju begin emerging from the Breach, it doesn't take Michael long to notice that they have some things in common. (They're both scaly, and they both have glowing eyes!) And he finds himself feeling a strange catharsis when he sees the kaiju destroying everything; it's as if all of these contrary demands and expectations are somehow being lifted from his shoulders. It's also something of a pleasure to see his family's predictions of gloom and doom coming true, but not in the way they wanted.

Of course this is a short-lived thrill, and Michael wants answers. So, he starts going to the kaiju cults that seemingly popped up over night. They don't have kaiju brains to drift with, but they claim they have a connection with the kaiju - and their masters. So he goes to them, and eventually one of them gives him a formula that's supposed to expand his consciously, and what do ya know - the young man's seeing visions of the Precursors.

Now, a little-known fact about Pacific Rim's Precursors is that they were Catholic-coded. Their designs were modeled after Catholic clergy, and the designers outright gave them clerical ranks like "cardinal" and "bishop." (Pacific Rim: Man, Machines, & Monsters, page 151.) So, I don't really depict them as forcefully taking over people's minds, but rather preying on lost and vulnerable people by seemingly offering them assurance in a chaotic world. The Precursors assure Michael that he is their son, and he has a crucial role to play in purging the world of its evils so it can be made anew. This is an incredibly powerful emotional experience for him; like when you dream you've met the love of your life and it's so intense that when you wake up, you experience actual grief because they're gone. Like a new religious convert, Michael feels like he's got it all figured out. He can't even conceive that he might be wrong.

At this point, Michael probably cuts ties with his family and joins a kaiju cult, and maybe even effectively takes over because he's done letting other people tell him what to do. If he's a big deal, he should be treated like it, right?

What happens next? I don't really know. I'd like to think that he pulls out of it at some point, though I also know that once someone gets this deep into something that actually offers them power and validation, it's not really easy to get them out. But of course, this is also a fictional character, and anything can happen. Maybe he's got friends somewhere who can help him see that this isn't really what he wants, but a perversion of what he wants, I dunno.

[deusvervewrites]

Heroic Cultivation AU: So I was reading through this and saw your mentioning about being unsure if AfO would go through with any of the cultivation stuff because he's lazy as heck. I also saw you mention that you weren't too familiar with xianxia stuff. To be clear, the first point is true and the second is fine, but I know a little bit and wanted to add in because I think AfO going demonic cultivator could in fact work. If you already know this, then sorry for bothering you with the long message.

So to start, in most xianxia there's standard cultivation as theory, which is the whole philosophy-and-slow-meditation-self-reflection-and-growth path to immortality. This tends to exist as the background foundation of How Cultivation Is Supposed To Work. Then there's cultivation as practiced, which is borne of cultivators (and xianxia authors) looking at that theory and going "man, that's gonna take so long to get me immortality and ultimate power, and it's gonna be so boring just sitting around meditating to get there instead of doing anything... what if instead I took some really good drugs to get high as a kite, dosed myself with steroids on top of that, and did some nice feng shui in order to cut that down? Couple decades, maybe a few centuries tops, instead of taking thousands of years or something. Yeah, that sounds good." This both feels more proactive, even if it's against the strict spirit of things, and it lets the xianxia author have the characters actively doing stuff with arrogant characters competing for the best resources to ascend or what-have-you to provide conflict. It also dodges out having prolonged sessions of meditating in a cave for power being something other than a background aspect - there will be characters doing it, but unless they're strong enough to astral project or something then odds are you won't have those characters really involved in the plot actively because they're spending 99% of their time, well, in a cave. So already we're more in AfO's lane of finding shortcuts to save time and effort on the road to power.

Then there's demonic cultivation. Now, exactly what demonic cultivation actually means isn't the most well-defined beyond the association with demons and badness, I don't think all xianxia stories even have it as a distinct thing, but if present it'll usually be considered a cheat and power shortcut even compared to normal-cultivation-as-practiced. Practitioners of demonic cultivation will be making deals with demons if demons actually exist and are sentient and communicative in the setting, stealing artifacts of malevolent and cursed power and the REALLY wild drugs, stealing power from others by draining their life force and using their bodies as grisly ritual components, reanimate corpses, backstabbing allies, re-absorbing the passive malevolence and resentment generated by their evil deeds in a downward spiral of cruelty and power, and generally just doing Very Bad Things to get power even faster. If the story's protagonist is a normal cultivator of some stripe then the demonic cultivator is a convenient enemy, whose path to power provides easy moral superiority and maybe a message about seeking strength "The Right Way". If the protagonist is a demonic cultivator then they probably won't engage in the more morally repugnant possibilities (except maybe against "deserving targets," maybe - the morality can sometimes get kind of protagonist-centric, who'd have thunk it), they'll probably be motivated by revenge against a cultivator who is still considered "righteous" despite however the protagonist feels wronged, and there may be some flavoring of calling out how in practice normal cultivators still commit violence against others to hurry toward power and the demonic cultivator is only a problem for using unapproved methods. (How well that lands does require interrogating what the story's version of demonic cultivation actually is, of course. Just redirecting existing bad juju energy to achieve good deeds? There may be a point there. Running the Orphan Juicero 5000 to get the power to conquer an empire? Hold on a minute, there.)

The thing is, especially noticeable as this was being typed out, a lot of those things are pretty similar to stuff AfO is already doing. Reanimating corpses and creating minions from what's left from others? Hello Nomu. Reveling in the cruelty of his actions? You bet. Stealing power from others to get stronger, faster? Heck, that's his whole Quirk right there. All that needs to change is for him to learn enough about cultivation to do that in the direction of cultivation, instead of just Quirks and mundane society. I'm imagining a realization something like this:

AfO: "So I could try engaging in slow and inactive self-reflection to access that brat's power. Cringe."

AfO: "Or I could rearrange the furniture in here and take some good weed to hurry that along. Still too slow."

AfO: "Or I could go all in on this Demon King thing, drink the Airport Cultivator Jungle Juice, get gruesome with it, and really start cooking with gas."

AfO: "Yes, that's what I'll do. Garaki, make preparations for my new path to ascension."

Garaki, who's been spending the last three days frantically going through whatever sources on cultivation and cultivation manuals he can patch together without rest because he majored in Mad Science not Cultivation and all this is horribly documented nowadays, and AfO certainly isn't going to do the esoteric research himself: "Of course, sir."

My knowledge of Cultivation is in a weird spot because I knew about the Orphan Juicer 5000 in theory but I don't know how authors have put it into practice and how many centuries it shaves off of a Cultivator's training program, so all of this is quite fascinating

[worldsfromhoney]

Ficlet Masterlist

Each ficlet has its respective warnings so pay heed to them!! I aint responsible if you don’t know how to spot the big red warnings 👁️👄👁️

Gen All The Way

Tar dan Elif

High fantasy. An assassin goes about an assignment. It’s their favourite one yet

tints, tones, tests

Punk. The occupant of a room sees two worlds in one and makes a choice

pristine clean

Magic realism. The cleaner of souls heeds the call. The body’s in a forest

this winter we played

Medieval. A statue shows up in town. It’s not as cold or unmovable as they think

Ornaments Along the Parapet

Modern. She decides to go to the old railroad bridge

counting on

Historical. This child gets candy. The price? Freedom

…and so on!

Queer platonic

The Crowning Jewel

Cyberpunk. The rebels go and rob critical information. They get more than they expected

Lines of Power

High Fantasy. An undead necromancer goes for a sleepover at a witch’s house. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Throw Thy Pride

Modern. After being imprisoned, a government agent comes back home. It doesn’t mean he comes back whole

Not Like This

Urban Fantasy. A chicken humanoid gets a scare and the farmhand is there for comfort. It’s not as easy as it sounds

S.A.D.

Modern. One day, the tattoo shop remains closed and its florist neighbour needs answers. It’s somehow what they expected and not at all

Tears For You

Medieval. The knight sees the servant when they start crying. It is on their honour that they help stem the tears

Let Me

Xianxia. A master healer’s junior comes back to the sect. It doesn’t mean they came back whole

A Home With You

Modern Dæmon AU. Local tour guide approaches seemingly lost tourist. They get more than they expect

When in Rome

Steampunk. You come upon a stranger being dismantled and torn apart. You stay and witness.

…and so on!

Gay Gay Gay

what use are labels (with you)?

Modern. A chase between a hero and a villain. To what end will they reach?

With My Heart and Soul

Historical. The best bachelor in Roma’s looking for something. He finds it in a house he’s too familiar with

He Who Tends, He Who Mends

Medieval. A knight comes home from war. He finally gets taken care of

This Godly Taste

Historical Fantasy. Playing a game with a god never ends up well. Not even if you’re the pharaoh

Jewels of Mine

Historical. In the eyes of God, love is not a sin. In this case, it is and he cannot stop wavering

My Dear Thief

High Fantasy. A thief just wants to start a new life, free from the past. But everyone dreams and so does he

Vivre Notre Amour

Historical. A revolutionary sneaks into the bedroom of one of the most protected nobles in France. They talk as they always do

…and so on!

Series Ish

Welcome to My Channel

Urban Fantasy. You go through your coming of age ceremony. You wonder how anyone gets through adulthood like this

PART ONE

FINALE

To Fall and Fall to Rise

Urban Fantasy. After years of freedom, Val’s mother calls for him. What else is he to do but come?

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

FINALE

Imposter Syndrome

Urban Sci-Fantasy. Del’s mother is dying and it’s time he claims the thing he wants most—or the person

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

FINALE

…and so on!

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Have fun reading love 💛💛💛

[knifebaby3000]

Your OC Tian looks like he could he my OCs brother and I'm so obsessed with him. The beauty marks and the oblivious glazed over look really fucking do it for me

can u share more about him :0c

Omg thank you so much!!!!! I designed Tian to be so extremely husband-coded To Me so I'm happy some of the boxes he checks 4 me ✅ are checked 4 u also ✅🙏🏼

Tian (and Zhu) is the protagonist of two of my projects, the original and its overgrown AU. The OG is........ A xianxia romcom bildungsroman like....... Swan-maiden myth meets FFIX meets Disney Hercules.......... And the AU is what I usually draw/upload, which is a neo noir like...... FFVIII meets........ Drive (2011)....... Meets........... Disco Elysium which is a connection I'm only making right here, right now, as I type?????? Anyway OG-style Baby T is "tiger", "spring", vs Big T who is "dragon", "winter". Both are True Neutral tho I think Baby T leans Chaotic...

Some quick blips: Cap sun, Aries moon, Taurus rising, bday is 31 Dec; 6'2 188cm, ~190lbs 86kg, benches above his bodyweight; vegetarian, doesn't drink, healthiest guy you know (chainsmoking is healthy); blue MCR-coded tobacco depression wifeguy to Zhu’s red LDR-coded cocaine mania guywife

Charm points: natural curls, beauty marks, underbite

Talents: carpentry, wushu, gymnastics, fixing whatever

Likes: Zhu, tofu, his motorcycle

Dislikes: texting, cardio, doing laundry

Songs: MCR – Drowning Lessons + Fashion Statement + Desert Song (it's bad!!!!!!), The National – Walk Off, Hyukoh – 似是故人來 Like An Old Friend Arrives

Motifs: chrysanthemums, smoke, temples, the moon

Not really a talker, he's all abt acts of service and can be hard to understand if you're looking specifically for words. I like to think of him as the lead in a Western film except the horse is a black motorbike – silhouetted against the horizon, never says more than he has to, does what needs doing. His catchphrase is basically "🆗", "Sure." Also he doesn't use guns but anything else goes 🔨

Some flavor:

More under the cut if this hateful app will let me add one 🤪

I think he's best understood thru the way other ppl talk abt him – so here are a couple names/epithets!

His maternal grandmother is a distinguished mobster known as The Old Empress, which is why most ppl call Tian "Crown Prince", "the Prince", etc. Their family is more/less popularly-elected local deities (see "city god" on Wikipedia) and he's the last of the bloodline But has been refusing to officially inherit for over a decade, though he performs all the duties anyway. Old, old agreements put them above virtually all modern law, generally thru loopholes that allow them to, for example, literally start a gang war at 23 bc you got a little too annoyed Or take an eye for an eye/publicly execute someone as ritual vengeance. Pls note that Zhu is a criminal defense attorney. Smile

They also sometimes call him "Bodhisattva" bc he, due to Circumstances, grew up in a Buddhist monastery from age 8, along with Jin, his baby brother. He became an ordained monk at 20 but disrobed at 22 so he could help Jin thru university. During that time, he worked three primary jobs: seasonal construction worker/contractor, auto mechanic, and plumber. "why not model" No Vanities Lifestyle. He Is Just Some Guy. He Wishes He Were Still Bald. Fuck Fast Fashion Btw.

With his name specifically, Tian Tian, family name 田 “field” + given name 天 “heaven/day/sky” is his entire character – simple, no frills, unassuming on paper, but also strong, steady, salt of the earth. It's a name that once you see him both does and doesn't do him justice, like surely there's something fancier and yet between those two characters you already have the world. The name is also 9 strokes altogether! Fav number and an auspicious one – 9 heavens + if you've ever seen an imperial dragon robe, it's 9 dragons with scales in multiples of 9, eg 81.

A few bonus reasons I chose 天:

I associate him with swans (symbol of beauty but also violent, aggressive birds), 大天鹅 Big Heaven Goose

Single-character names are so elegant/Tough to me

Canonically seen as a "Fifth Great Beauty", literally a man named Heaven, the H is for Husband TO ME

FACT I decided on the monk thing after I named him and I think it's funny. His Dharma name is 釋恒心 Shi Hengxin btw which means "monk", literally, and "resolution"

Final bonus, literally my man: