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Persona 3 timeline before the events of the game.

The distant past

A star eater(later named Nyx) crashes into Earth. Her body becomes the moon and fragments of it fall as Plumes of Dusk. Her psyche gets sealed inside of rapidly evoving creatues, creating the Collective Unconciousness and putting a limit on their lifespans.

???

The leader of the Kirijo Group, Kouetsu Kirijo, finds a Plume of Dusk, sparking his interest in finding out about Shadows. He plans to use their power to create a time machine.

The Kirijo Groups excavates documents of the times in history the Fall almost happened.

1989-1990(1982?)

The Kirijo Group establishes Gekkoukan High School.

1991

5/8: Mitsuru Kirijo is born.

8/11: Shinjiro Aragaki is born.

9/22: Akihiko Sanada is born.

1992

10/19: Yukari Takeba is born.

12/23: Fuuka Yamagishi is born.

1993

1/16: Junpei Iori is born

3/5*: Hero is born

1991-1994

Akihiko Sanada's parents both die. He and his sister Miki are taken in to an orphanage.

Akihiko Sanada and Shinjiro Aragaki become good friends.

1992-1995(1 year after previous)

Both Akihiko Sanada and Miki are about to be adopted by a wealthy family.

The orphanage catches fire. Miki doesn't survive.

Akihiko Sanada gets adopted.

1995

The power supply in Iwatodai gets expanded.

The Kirijo Group establishes the Ergonomics research lab to study Shadows.

Eiichiro Takeba is appointed head researcher of the project.

The Maiyodo antiques shop owner joins the project, analysing the documents.

???

The Cathedral of Time is developed to dispose of uncontrollable Shadows.

Anti-Shadow weapons start development.

1997-1998

Kouetsu Kirijo's goal becomes to create Death to enact the Fall.

The antiques shop owner leaves the project.

1998

6/24: Ken Amada is born.

1999

3/?: 5th generation anti-Shadow weapons are completed and the first few units are activated.

4/20: Unit #031, the latest of the first type but not the last of the generation, is first activated.

5/6***: Unit #031 is deemed the success of the generation and dubbed 'Labrys'.

5/7***: Labrys is deactivated and the 5th generation is concluded.

5/?: 6th generation anti-Shadow weapons start development.

7/?: 6th generation anti-Shadow weapons are completed and the first few units are activated.

11/?: 7th generation anti-Shadow weapons start development.

2000

2/?: 7th generation anti-Shadow weapon Aigis is completed. She is the final one.

3/7: The Moonlight Bridge opening ceremony.

9/10: 7th generation anti-Shadow weapon Aigis is first activated.

12/11**: The project to create Death is interrupted by Eiichiro Takeba, splintering it into 13 pieces. Tartarus and the Dark Hour are created. All the anti-Shadow weapons aside from Aigis are destroyed. Aigis and Death fight on the Moonlight Bridge, and Death is sealed inside of Hero.

???

Takeharu Kirijo becomes the head of the Kirijo Group.

Shuji Ikutsuki uses the chaos of the incident to rise up the ranks of the Kirijo Group.

Shuji Ikutsuki becomes the chairman of Gekkoukan.

2001-2002

Mitsuru Kirijo summons a Persona, becoming the first example of a human Persona user the Kirijo Group has.

???

Shuji Ikutsuki secretly conducts research on children(including Mitsuru) to try and get more Persona users. Some of the results of these experiments are the evoker, Persona surpressants, and Theurgy.

Three of the children manage to escape.

The experiments are deemed a failure, and the children that are still alive are sent to explore Tartarus.

???

Kurosawa attempts to investigate the incident, delving in too deep.

Kurosawa is assigned to Iwatodai, and investigates the orphanage fire.

???

A hotel is rennovated into a dorm for combating Shadows.

2007

4/?: Akihiko Sanada, Mitsuru Kirijo, and Shinjiro Aragaki enroll in Gekkoukan High School.

The Specialised Extracurricular Execution Squad is formed.

10/4: Shinjiro Aragaki's Persona kills Ken Amada's mother. It's covered up as a traffic accident.

Shinjiro Aragaki leaves SEES.

Sources:

Persona 3 Reload

Persona Club P3

Persona 3 FES Official Fanbook

Persona 3 Portable 100 Mysteries

* It can either be 10/5/92, 11/5/92, 12/5/91, 1/5/92, 2/5/93, or 3/5/93. The first 3 depend on the date of the accident. The movies do state his date of birth to be in 1992 instead of 1993.

** Assuming that it's a full moon, it can either be 9/14, 10/13, 11/12, or 12/11. The last 3 depend on the date of Hero's birthday.

*** The narration mentions "a few days". That's been assumed to mean 4 days.

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Persona 5 - Red String SoulMate AU

Everyone has a string tied around their ring finger. It's about one metre in length. Everyone's string is vibrant red, and is taut around their finger. If 2 soulmates come together, their strings entangle, and meet at the end, this doesn’t bind them, and simply walking away undoes it, but it's verification. If your string finds its end, you've found your soulmate. If your soulmate dies, your string undoes itself and falls off, losing its vibrant red colour.

One day Akira is walking around Bumfuck Nowhere, Saitama, picking his little brother Ren up from school. It's about a week before the Shido incident. Somewhere, in Tokyo, a young woman pushes her sister out of the way of a car, and gets hit. Akira's string undoes itself and falls on the ground when he's not looking. Ren is the first person to notice, and it sends Akira into a small spiral of not communicating verbally, thinking the one person he's meant to be with has been lost before he ever met them.

-----

"Damn brat, I'll sue!" 

Akira gets sent to Tokyo. Starts the PT, meets a young red haired girl, a string tied around her finger. it's really fucking unfair, because he's enamoured by her. She's cute, fun, but so straightforward and clear. She has her goals, and she works towards them with everything she has! She has no interest in her string until she's finished her and her sister's dream.

One day, he goes to a TV station, meets a young man who also doesn't have a string. Goro and him share a bond, those unwanted by fate. Unlike Akira though, Goro never had a string. One day in a bathhouse, Goro reveals he was born unwanted, unlike Akira who was just unlucky enough for it to have happened too.

Looking at the man in front of him, the one who's intense glare starts to falter when he talks about his lost mother, the one who's eyes shimmer with tears when he admits out loud that he's unwanted, Akira starts to realise that fate is bullshit. Because if nothing else; He wants Goro Akechi.

He has a problem with whatever god set it in motion, so much so that he's thinking of shooting it in the face.

Once Maruki takes over, Akira, Kasumi and Goro go into his palace. Watching the video that exposes Sumire's true identity, he notices something. She doesn't have a string. Kasumi does though. As he watches her ribbon fall from her head, her hair unravelling to reveal her true self, he notices the string fall off too, not losing its colour, since it was fake anyway. He's forced out, asked to meet his friends and see if they're happy. 

That means he has a whole week. A whole week to reflect on the idea of growing up with not only an inferiority complex towards your sister, but every single day Sumire would see that string missing on her own hand. Kasumi was the one people wanted, and that string was proof.

So he goes into the metaverse. Transforms into his true self, and takes off his gloves. Carefully, bit by bit, he cuts it up, leaving individual strips that he sows together. 3 long, vibrant red strips of fabric. He tests it to make sure his plan works, when he leaves the metaverse, they're gone, when he comes back, he still doesn't have his gloves (He'll have to think of a new finishing pose) but he does have 3 red strips. He ties one to his ring finger. When he leaves the metaverse, it's gone.

January 8th comes around. It's the day he and Goro go back to save Sumire. Negotiations break down, Sumire transforms into her outfit and draws her sword on him, begging him to stop, to let Sumire die. No one wants her anyway. 

He can't fight her, and he won't. Goro tries to walk away, but he grabs him by the hand and drags him to her. It confuses her just long enough to not swing her sword, and just watch him.

He walks over to her, Goro in hand. Goro staring at his gloveless hand, a strip of red catching his eye and making him speechless. All 3 of them standing together, a metre apart, Akira pulls out the second string. He pulls Goro in, and ties it around his finger. Akira stays silent, if he says anything, it'll be stupid or he'll cry, and he's not chancing either. Goro stares in disbelief. 

Akira grabs Sumire's hand, luckily she's right handed, so her left hand is not holding a sword meant to stab him. And ties the third strip around her finger.

He grabs the ends of all 3, and all 3 of them know what he's trying to convey. Even Goro can't deny what the tears dripping out of Joker's mask means. 

The metaverse is based on cognition, like a gun hurting a shadow because it feels real.

Akira holds his palm out, while the 3 ends tie together.

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Danny: So I may have did a bit of an oopsie daisy.

Jazz: … define a bit.

Danny: you know how you were telling me about the two main ways of conditioning?

Jazz: Yes?

Danny: And you remember how I said Pavlov’s dog sounded strangely familiar?

Jazz watching her brother pace: Danny?

Danny: Well, there’s this guy in my lit class who was very pretty and I heard he was vegan and you know that giant bag of vegan candy Sam sent?

Jazz: Please tell me you didn’t.

Danny: Not on purpose! You know how big that bag is! And I can’t just throw it way it’s good candy! So I just, kept giving him a couple pieces when I saw him! I didn’t even realize what I did until I passed him in the hall earlier and he nearly smiled at me and he never smiles!

Jazz: only you little brother.

Danny flopping on the floor dramatically: he just looked to the floor in confusion Jazz! Like visible confusion!

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Team 7 gets zapped into the warring states era but it's like, team 7 either mid or directly after wave-arc.

They're babies!! They're untrained little babies!!! None of them have gotten that good good character development yet!! Kakashi is still actively desperately wanting to not teach them!! (tho he may have just gotten his "ahh fuck. I actually have to teach them, huh." Moment)

Sasuke looks like a carbon copy of a younger Izuna and it's going to cause problems

Naruto thankfully doesn't look much like an Uzumaki, but his tendency to very loudly introduce himself is going to get him into trouble

Going w my usual flavor of "the Hatake are a very small but very famous clan known for being fucking insane", people are seeing Kakashi and going "oh god oh fuck what are one of THOSE guys doing here oh sage preserve us please don't eat me" as Kakashi just kinda stands there like 🧍‍♂️

Sakura is the only one safe from not being fucked up and over her clan, good for her!

-> back to the Hatake thing.

The kids still know virtually nothing about their sensei so they're learning all this stuff about his clan and believing every word of it, from the believable rumors to the insane.

Sakura, in a hushed, worried voice: "Sensei,, is it true ur clan eats people??"

Kakashi, who's father died before he could tell him almost anything about their clan and genuinely doesn't know but at this point is starting to get a little worried about it:

Kakashi, who also never passes up the opportunity to fuck with someone: "only stupid little students who ask stupid little questions <3"

Sakura and Sasuke: *worriedly look at a confused Naruto*

For convoluted reasons they run into the Hatake of the era and after introductions they look at the kids and are like,

"Oh!!! Ok, so this is your kid, right? :)" pointing at Sakura.

And Kakashi is like. ",,no."

"Ohhh, ok. So this one is your kid then?" *points at Naruto*

",,,,,,,,no."

They look at him confused then nod at Sasuke. "So then that one's your kid, right?"

"None of them are my children."

*visibly disapproving / disbelieving side eye*

One big difference between this and the team ro time travel one is how much less trustworthy Kakashi comes off to literally everyone who looks at him.

He's a trained adult shinobi, probable bloodline thief (with no way to prove his innocence), and he has 3 children from 3 different clans (2 of which are indirectly enemies bc the Uzumaki is a Senju ally) (1 of which might have a direct relation to the Uchiha main house) and comes from an infamously volatile "wild clan" from another country entirely (Iron country)

He is NOT getting out of this with talk no jutsu bullshit. He has a target on his back from day 1 and it will take a minor miracle to get even a single person hear him out

Anyways uhh—

Saying Tajima and Butsuma are still alive but due to die in some months (till team 7 accidentally interfere and somehow accidentally save Tajima, maybe also Butsuma but I'm more biased towards Tajima so I'm thinking just him actually)

Kakashi sees baby Kagami and feels like he's been hit by a truck bc he looks just like a miniature Shisui and he has hang-ups about his "suicide"

Half-Hatake Tobirama is catching HEAT from Kakashi's antics. Why does one of ur cousins have a sharingan. Where did he get those children. Do you know anything about this. Is it your duty to help hunt him down bc hes your blood. If not yours then it's definatley the Hatake's, call them immediately and tell them to clean up their mess.

Bloodline theft is like THE ultimate no-no for all shinobi, especially in this era. To the point that even ancient enemies will sometimes temporarily set aside grudges to kill bloodline theives. Kakashi is so fucked, someone get him out of there

Mmmm there are like still bits and pieces of thoughts floating around in my head for this but I can feel myself getting distracted and want to get back to art fight so I'll leave it here for now

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Phantom is so Moody-DCxDP prompt

"I don't even understand what I am. I'm a clone so I can't age. But what does it even mean to be a clone? I'm not 100% Superman but I'm still nit like him or Lex? I wasn't born like a normal person so does that mean I don't have a soul?" Kon ranted.

Danny the multi-dimensional godlike being the team had contracted into being their aid slowly shuffled from under his mountain of blankets and pillows and yawned.

"What are you talking about?" He drawled lazily. "Of course you have a soul.

"But I'm like artificially made in a lab." Kon retorted.

"And? So what? Are you telling me I'm wrong?" Danny challenged " Hey stupid, everything has a soul. You, your friends, animals, a tree, a fucking blade of grass, even a kid's toy. If it has energy it has a soul. I'm not talking metaphorically, I mean literally. Souls are a real tangible thing and I will eat your soul if you don't put some food on my sacrificial altar. Also, get therapy."

Kon much like the others had gotten used to Danny. He was mostly all bark and no bite.

As Kon headed to the kitchen to get the god his post-nap snack he heard Danny speak again.

"Also, you can age. Who told you that you couldn't? Age isn't anything but the slow decay of atoms. You are aging. You just aren't changing because your body is so new. Given enough years it'll start to show. Then you'll be no different from anyone else. Granted Superman's race also grows differently. You are so fucking dramatic. You are fine the way you are." The godling huffed, "Ancients, you guys are annoying. You treat existence like it's torture and you'll bearly understand how blessed you are to exist simply because of how un-ideal it is. Look shit sucks, it sucks most of the time but human suffering is caused by humans. You are torturing yourself with all these what-ifs and angst. Just stop caring."

Danny wasn't saying all this to be comforting. He rarely does stuff like that. If anything he was ambivalent to Kon. It still made him feel better though. One thing you could trust about Danny was that he was honest. He could even be helpful considering his job was to be a living encyclopedia of information from beyond the pale. He has always been an asset if you can wake him up from his days long naps.

****

"You sleep all the time." Raven complained.

The Titans were here this time. They needed something from Danny. Something about having to seal a threat away.

"Just death being shy." Danny mumbled curling up on his raised platform. "Now go away."

Raven pulled out a smudge stick of white sage when Nightwing silently held up a hand to stop her.

"Phantom, look we need your help. This issue needs your assistance. We just want info on how to seal this threat properly." Nightwing said.

"Ask Constantine."Danny whined back as he shuffled deeper into his blanket cocoon.

"Unfortunately he can't help. This is Darkseid—"

"WHERE IS HE?"

Immediately he was wide awake. You see there are few things to stir Phantom to his full attention. He isn't inactive out of pure laziness. He lets the hero do their thing and he helps when he thinks it's appropriate. But he will not let anything or anyone harm the planet

*****

"He really doesn't like people," Impulse whispered to Aqualad.

"I still don't understand how the Justice League managed to get in contact with him let alone sign a contract with him. " Aqualad answered.

"Flash said he was pretty easy to convince. Hell he said that Phantom was so docile he let Wonder Woman carry him around. Now he'll practically snap of your hand if you touch him."

"Emm...think about it he must have just been really weak back then. If he was injured badly enough maybe he—"

"Stop talking."

*****

"I still don't trust you. What is your game?" Raven said sternly.

A being with origins like Phantom couldn't really be helping them out of the kindness of his heart. What did he gain from this contract.

"You assume you are worth games."

"Were you sent by my father?"

"Your father, Trigon? That nuisance? A petty demon like that having any say over me? I'd crush him if I ever saw him. He claims to have conquered a billion worlds. That alone makes me want to destroy him. No one OWNS a world. If anything I own all worlds. No one touches my universe, all universes are mine. And if people would just stop touching my stuff I wouldn't be here." Phantom growled furiously.

"So you are just like him." Raven hissed in anger.

"Like I said. I own it. It is my domain. My realm. So no one can destroy it. No one can control it. I make it. Every star, every planet, every person is a product of chaos. It is the universal law. I keep my chaos in check. Trigon, Darkseid, Anti-Monitor—I don't care. If they touch what is mine I will destroy them."

"Anti-Monitor?"

Phantom curled his lip in anger then relaxed.

"He is someone you don't need to be concerned about. Not anymore." Phantom sighed. "Just know; I don't care what you think of me. I only care about keeping things the way they should be. I'd prefer if you didn't trust me."

Raven narrowed her eyes in thought before she relaxed. Then a small smile appeared on her lips.

"No. I think I can trust you."

Phantom immediately frowned. This wasn't the response he wanted.

"I think you are doing this on purpose. I think you want us to dislike you." Raven teased "Phantom do you perhaps have a heart?"

Phantom just sighed, his cheeks were greenish hue. He was blushing. Then went back to his dais to sleep.

****

Phantom was certainly a prickly guy. He was sweet deep down. Everyone could tell after a while. It didn't help that Wonder Woman always gave as good as she got.

"Answer the question Phantom. No cryptic riddles either." She said climbing the dias.

Phantom scrambled to escape as she grabbed him by the ankle and held him upside down.

"That's not fair! Kronos said I didn't have to answer this one. I have permission to tell you wherever I feel like."

"Oh? Then how about not having snacks on your offering plate? We'll burn nothing but vegetables until you tell me."

"How dare you! That's child abuse. You'll be starving me."

"You don't even need to eat."

"I still taste everything you burn. That's force-feeding. That's bad too."

"Just tell me!"

"Fine!" Phantom grumbled "Trevor Barnes...didn't pass over yet. He waits for you in the realms between. You shouldn't know that though. He doesn't want you to know."

"Why wouldn't he—"

"Because he wants you to live for yourself. He wants you to love again. You have a long life ahead of you and he didn't want to hold you back with his memory. Although he contradicted himself because he still wants you to think of him fondly."

Phantom phased through Diana's grasp and retreated to his lair.

****

Phantom was like a stray cat or maybe a spoiled one. He was wary of most people.

But even the most moody cat likes at least one person.

"Phantom I—"

"What do you need?"

Tim had entered the chamber only half expecting Phantom to be awake. Though Phantom was always awake when Tim entered. He guessed he was lucky since he didn't have talk to empty space.

"Eh, nothing. I got put on sacrifice duty. I brought some Bat Burger and cookies from home. I'm warning you now that Wonder Woman said you have to eat a serving of vegetables. So I'm burning them first." Tim placed the steamed vegetables on the offering plate and before he tossed them into the green fire he felt the cold hand of Phantom wrap around him.

"Don't." He said softly.

"It's just broccoli and cauliflower," Tim said still putting it on the electrum disk.

"Don't wanna," Phantom whined petulantly holding Tim in place. His head buried in his shoulder.

"You big baby." Tim sighed.

If anyone saw this interaction they'd be disgusted. The oh-so-great and moody god is l acting like a soft and pitiful little guy. Phantom seemed to have such a unique fascination with Red Robin. To the point he acts completely different if Tim was in the room.

"Two-faced." Kon mumbled as he watched Phantom readily answered Red Robin's every question without complaint.

"He's always like that," Tim said afterward " It's probably because I was the one to help form the contract with him when he was summoned here. The League treated him like a threat when it wasn't his fault he was here. He just wants to keep his distance but he is the same age as us."

"He is?" Kon asked astonished.

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Fetch Quest part 1

From the way Crowley had hyped it up, Yuu had expected acquiring a new magic gem to be an epic quest. She envisioned delving deep into the earth, scaling treacherous caverns, and narrowly dodging ferocious beasts. What they got instead was a relatively peaceful stroll.

Yuu says relatively because her company was totally dragging down the vibes.

“Myah! Are you crazy! It’s pitch black in there!” 

Fire Catcoon, don't you have literal flames coming out your ears?

“I can't believe I’m stuck with a literal scaredy cat! This is pathetic.” 

Stop egging him on Ace. That attitude is literally how you got here in the first place. 

“You – !”

“Shut up! Both of you!” Fed up, Yuu seized them by an ear each.

“Yeouch!”

“What the fuc – !”

The brats struggle but there's no escape. “We’re here because the two of you couldn't handle one day without starting a fight that destroyed seven hallways!” Also Deuce’s shit aim but he wasn't being a problem right now.

 The duo tries to protest but Yuu digs her nails into their ears.

Deuce watches in discomfort but doesn't actually try to stop her. Good.

“From now until we get back, I’m in charge, and I won't tolerate any more arguing. Are. We. Clear.” Yuu practically hisses the last part.

“Like I'm gonna –” Yuu pinches harder and twists. “Okay!”

Satisfied that order had been restored, Yuu surveyed the trio. Grim was still nursing his sore ear, Ace had retreated a few steps, shooting daggers with his glare, and Deuce was standing ramrod straight.

“So what's the plan then O’ mighty leader.” 

Ace's sarcasm was thick, but Yuu ignored it. She had a job to do.

If she was being honest, Yuu didn't actually have much experience with leadership. Still, she could improvise. Channeling her experience teaming up against fiends, Yuu tries to imitate some of the squad leaders she's worked with. 

“We go in staggered column formation. Myself at point, Grim and Ace take left and right respectively, and Deuce at the rear.” Yuu glares at them, daring anyone to interrupt.

“In the event of a hostile encounter, I’ll engage because I’m the only one with actual combat experience,” – Fire Catcoon starts to speak up but a pointed look silences him – “while Grim acts as my backup,” thanks to that night in Ramshackle she at least has an idea how he fights. “Ace and Deuce will provide cover fire when needed. Any questions?”

Deuce nervously raises a hand. “What's a staggered column formation?” Shifting in place he follows up, “and, uh, cover fire?”

Yuu blinks. Oh, right. Despite this world's freaky magic these people are still basically civilians. Glancing at the other two Yuu suspects they didn't understand much more than Deuce, but were too proud to admit it.

Motioning them over, she kneels down and starts drawing in the dirt.

 “So we are going in with a four point zig-zag pattern,” Yuu starts, drawing four circles connected by a line.

“I’m this dot at the front, then Grim is a little behind to my left, Ace will be further back at Grims right, and we end with you at the back on Ace’s left.”

Deuce is looking avidly at her crude sketch and nods. Despite his aggression from today's earlier fiasco the blunett was being surprisingly cooperative. 

“Cover fire means that if we get in a fight, while Grim and I move forward, you and Ace will use long range spells when we knock an enemy back.” I stand up and dust off my pants.

Fists clenching in determination Deuce looks in my eyes, “Got it!” 

That's the spirit!

Too bad Ace has to speak up. “You're putting the weasel before us? What the hell?”

“Grim is my backup because we’ve fought together before and know how to avoid getting in each other's way.”

At this Grim puffs up with pride. “Yeah!”

“And I've been in combat situations since I was ten. So I’d say I'm qualified to decide this stuff.”

“Wait what?”

Ignoring Ace I summon my scepter, “Alright, nothing else? No? Great.”

“What's that about you fighting since you were ten?”

“I’ll tell you later. Now squad, get in formation.”

“Yeah!” Deuce and Grim cheer. Ace is still looking at me dubiously but he gets in position. 

“Hold still, I'm going to cast a support spell. Grim, we did this before with the dorm ghosts.”

Grim’s tail wiggles as eyes light up with recognition. “The butterfly thing that made me stronger!”

“That's the one. Now, [Dreamer’s Blessing]!”

Shimmering butterflies spiral gently from my scepter and envelop the trio in a gentle glow.

“Alright, let's go!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've got this and the end sorted but the fight scene in the middle is giving me trouble so I'm just splitting the mine into three parts. Part three is the start of where this au really diverge but it doesn't feel right to just 'yada yada' away the things that lead up to that.

[0writes0]

Time Travel Crack(-ish?) TGCF AU

Xie Lian accidentally travels to the past, taking over his own younger (child's) body.

He opens his eyes and he is very confused for a hot second, recognizing all his surroundings and wondering what in his husband's lovely name is happening, when, suddenly, he hears familiar bells and light is engulfing him.

Less than five minutes after arriving into the past, he has ascended. As a child.

Luckily he manages to mostly understand his situation and get himself together for long enough to consider his options and what he should do next.

Gods - gawking, whispering - surround him, child-like emotions overtake him and his rational mind comes up with the best solution he can think of on such a short notice.

Xie Lian jumps from Heaven back to Earth.

He will be known as the first child to have ascended. His legend will spread throughout the land. And, while mortal again, his prowess with spiritual energy will be unmatched. But that is for later. After he finishes crying about his missing husband.

When he lands back down to the mortal realm, tears running down his cheeks and a babbled explanation at hand about too many strangers surrounding him, the people and the heavens assume the poor kid didn't really know he ascended to godhood. In his eyes, he heard an earsplitting ringing of a bell, then got struck by what looked to be lightning, and finally got surrounded by a bunch of gawking strangers. Of course the poor kid got scared!

Everyone seemed a little dismayed at the misunderstanding, knowing that now he has jumped down he cannot go back to heaven unless he ascends again. But that's impossible... Right?

In the next years to come the prince would ascend a couple more times... And he would continue jumping down to the mortals... Again and again. But this time with a sack full of excuses.

"Doesn't heaven need their gods to be more educated before they are given this great responsibility?" He would question, three years after his first ascension, at the age of 10.

"My people need me more than heaven needs another god," He would declare, another three years after his second ascension, at the age of 13.

At his fourth ascension at the age of 15, the young prince would just groan in annoyance, turn around and stomp off towards the exit, chiding heaven itself, "I still have work to do, damn it! Leave me alone!"

The people of Xianle make a parade for each time the prince ascends, wondering when he will accept his rightful place. Temples are built in his name. Tales of his character and good deeds spread like wildfire.

With each ascension, Xie Lian's spiritual powers also grew to match. He could hear prayers, though he wasn't officially recognized as a god.

Jun Wu... Jun Wu is flabbergasted to say the least...

Xie Lian, in the meantime, prays for patience from his husband that isn't quite himself yet.

And little Hong Hong-er suddenly wakes from a deep sleep, quite confused, "...Patience??" He goes back to sleep.

What about the gods? What do they think of all this?

One thinks, "The prince's sleeping robes are quite exquisite. I should take note and acquire similar wears for myself!"

Another ponders, "How is the bell still whole if it falls every couple of years with his ascensions? Can a bell be in love with a living being?" The civil god starts researching.

A third one pathetically tries to spread rumors about the prince because he is jealous that this youngling ascended so young when he barely managed it in his 40/50's. He fails miserably.

A fourth one is tired of trying to chase him down so the prince would finally take over his godly duties. How do they miss him every time!?!?

A martial god wants to fight him to test her battle prowess.

Most of the rest? Well, they are deluded they'll manage to convince him to marry them once he ascends again and finally decides to stay.

Hong Hong-er suddenly feels the overwhelming urge to slaughter some gods. What is that number that floats around in his mind? 33? 35? Maybe he's imagining it...

And Xie Lian? He misses his husband. Feng Xin and Mu Qing think he's a good person & friend if a bit eccentric, praying to his non-existent husband and all...

As for Xie Lian's parents... Well. There is an old saying. If you cannot assuage the tide, then follow its current.

In other words. If you can't beat them, join them.

TBC?

[0writes0]

I would Iike to request more lore for the dreamland au (or whatever you wanna name the au)

Like, how many years did they spend in there? What are the relationships like? And you said that the beasts immediately ran to their respective ancients once they woke up, how did the ancients react when they awoke though?

How many walls got broken that day and how many panic attacks were had- /hj

Honestly I didn't think this idea would be so popular 😅

However I haven't thought much about the details of their relationships yet (also because I'm not very good with these things).

But to answer the other questions:

Ours would remain in a coma for more than two decades approximately.

After awakening as I said the beasts literally went crazy, and escaped from the laboratory in the total disbelief of the scientists and the cookies of dark who were completely unaware of where the beasts were headed.

While the ancients had a much more painful awakening physically and mentally, in fact unlike the beasts with their bodies monitored and almost new, the heroes spoke more slowly after awakening, in fact they had motor problems and above all with the awareness of the space around them, not permanent.

Then yes, the heart attacks were many that day you are there keeping watch and you see one of the 5 beasts that after years comes at full speed towards your city, fear is the least.

Mystic farina has literally crossed the sea of ​​licorice from Beast yeast to the kingdom of dark cacao, climbed the walls and roofs of the citadel while the soldiers and watchers threw everything they had at her to stop her from getting to our dear king bitter.And when she found him dark cacao he didn't say anything except to open his arms and hold her tight as she ran towards him.

Shadow milk flew at full speed in the lands near the kingdom of vanilla ended up crashing at the gates of the palace and jumping from pure vanilla who had literally dragged himself out of the room for him as soon as he heard the alarm. With great concern and confusion on the part of gingerbrave and company.

Burning sadly ran across the burning sand to the golden king's palace creating a huge cloud of sand behind her, breaking walls and avoiding Golden cheese's treasures until she reached her room. She called him and wrapped him in her wings

Eternal sugar also flew to Hollyberry's kingdom causing panic among the citizens, and gliding directly through the queen mother's window, Hollyberry caught her laughing.

Silent jump cut down any trees or plants that got in the way in her race to the fairy kingdom, obviously dodging as many warriors as possible, the knight knelt down next to White Lily's bedside, the latter weakly melted in his arms.

And to be precise, it was neither the witches nor the soul jams themselves who put the beasts and heroes to sleep

That's all for now

[0writes0]

Bare with me on this one

I find it hard to believe that Hua Cheng was hiding his motivations for challenging those gods. Like sure he didn't announce his reasoning (most likely to avoid implicating Xie Lian in his nonsense) but it probably wasn't all that hard to figure out either. And while he wouldn't be running around with a sign that says "from Xianle" taped to his back, things like his favorite philosophies to bring up during the debates or the style of his clothing would probably make that an easy thing to figure out (Alternatively everyone could just see who might have a reason to hate those 35 specific gods. List probably isn't all that long)

Au where heaven drags Xie Lian back up there to either a) demand to know why one of his citizens is doing this bullshit and did he order it, or b) demand that he take care of the problem somehow

[0writes0]

Au where everything is the same except a small group of people witness the whole White-Clothed Calamity "death" thing. After a while the story of what they saw becomes;

A masked soldier stabbed and sacrificed himself to summon the Heavenly Emperor and bring his (insert relationship term here) to his senses after he was corrupted by an evil dressed in white.

And pretty soon, Wu Ming gets worshipped by the people of Young'an as a god of sacrifice, martyrdom, and soldiers. He's probably called something else, but maybe since no one knows what to call their new god, he gets called Wu Ming.

That's why Xie Lian goes back to Young'an during Lang Qianqiu's time. He's talking with someone who mentions that their son is a footsoldier and they are on their way to a shrine to the Unnamed Soldier to pray for their son and the whole thing makes him curious.

A variation would be that the group's story continues to mention that his (insert relationship term again) begged to be stripped of all might as punishment for allowing such a thing to happen. So now Young'an gains a god of sacrifice, martyrdom, and soldiers as well as a god of grief, atonement, and mourners. I'm thinking that it doesn't really help Xie Lian because no one is praying to Crown Prince of Xianle, Xie Lian (tm) they're praying to a being no one knows the name of. (Now I'm thinking that in Young'an they're worshipped together as Unnamed Soldier and Unknown Mourner)

Do with that what you will

[0writes0]

Reverse Au, where Prince Xie Lian gets saved by Ghost King Crimson Rain Sought Flower and goes "I'll be damned if I'm not marrying that guy"

Starts taking his cultivation extra seriously because he needs to be as impressive as possible if he's going to have a chance at rizzing up a calamity. He's got to achieve immortality at the least as quickly as possible

Lies and says he's following his guoshi's cultivation path so his parents will quit trying to get him hitched.

He ascends at 17 and immediately goes "Yes, thank you, do you know where I can find Ghost City?" And is never heard from again

Keeps trying to give Hua Cheng his dowry that he worked really hard to collect because he doesn't want anyone thinking he's some kind of gold digger. He's married to Hua Cheng because he's Hua Cheng. Not because he's rich

[0writes0]

Bingyuan where Luo Bingge, after many fruitless attempts, finally manages to find a world where:

-The Nice Shizun (who he now knows to be Shen Yuan) is there

-Hasn't died from anything yet

-Doesn't already have a Luo Binghe

-Isn't seriously entangled with anyone else either

Enter 52 year old twice divorced silver fox Shen Yuan, who has only just recently come to terms with his homosexuality (after two marriages have imploded over various factors pertaining to it), and is fending off helpful advice from his sweet & encouraging teenage daughter (who is convinced her dad needs someone to look after him before she heads off to college).

[0writes0]

Concept: Wei Wuxian and Hua Cheng as Luo Binghe's younger biological brothers, but it's like, a lot younger.

Like centuries on. TLJ's recovered from his mountain-flattening to the point where he has roughly the strength and capabilities of a decent human cultivator. The world has changed. The boundaries between the realms have gotten stronger, and the potency of demon blood based powers in the human realms have accordingly weakened. Lots of cultivators have ascended, and the current ranks of them are not nearly as impressive as they used to be. Luo Binghe and his husband have withdrawn into the demon realm to try and keep the peace and maintain stability, but TLJ doesn't feel such an obligation and prefers the human realms even when his power is a lot weaker there, so as the boundaries grow thicker, he just sort of sticks around on that side of the divide.

Eventually he takes on the persona of a wandering cultivator, observing the changes that various human sects and societies undergo. As true immortals become much more rare and the cultivation methods and philosophies change, TLJ starts taking on different personas every few hundred years, just to avoid becoming too conspicuous. He observes with interest as the various cultivation sects shift from meritocratic to dynastic inheritance, as the old sects either ascend too far from humanity or else fall into obscurity, while the new ones that take their place provide ample fodder for his soapy RPF stories and gossip mill. The boundaries between worlds become so thick that only beings of extreme strength can pass through, with the most prominent "demonic" forces in the human realms becoming resentful spirits and ghosts, although even so sometimes an item or creature still manages to chance upon a weak spot and cross over.

Beasts and cursed items that would once have been mere trifles for cultivators to deal with instead become major sources of conflict and nigh-indestructible foes. TLJ feels at times like he's watching insects wrestle with the consequences of someone carelessly discarding a piece of garbage in their path, fascinated by the lengths they must go to in order to deal with it, but then he too has his limits these days on how much he can even help (if he chooses to do so, which he doesn't always).

At one point he decides that he'd like to try living life more from the perspective of some of these barely-above-mortal level cultivators. Like choosing to play a game with extra handicaps on, just for the challenge of it. He takes on the identity of a new young cultivator, recently bereft of a master and looking to join one of the great sects, and takes on the name of Wei Changze. Striking up a friendship with the young master of the Jiang sect isn't difficult, and playing the role of servant and subordinate is pretty entertaining.

TLJ is not expecting to encounter one of Su Xiyan's reincarnations in the midst of all of this, but that's life for you.

The new Xiyan, Cangse Sanren, is a lot sweeter than the cold and cutting sugar daddy of days gone by. But she's still quite ruthless when she wants to be, and extremely talented, and she still falls into TLJ's orbit even when she has much more practical options at hand. How can he not fall in love all over again? Even when he thought she orchestrated his betrayal, he never fell completely out of love. He might be a jillion years old by now, but at heart he still wants his Xiyan to pamper and spoil him, and to return the favor as much as he possibly can.

TLJ's no saint. He's as greedy as any Heavenly Demon, especially when it comes to love. So he doesn't refrain from stealing his new Xiyan, Cangse, away from all rival suitors when the opportunity presents itself. When she gets pregnant, he becomes nervous about history somehow repeating itself. He sort of wishes she hadn't. But she's excited, and he never really got to experience this with her the first time. He's greedy for any and all experiences with her, in the end.

The baby is cute. TLJ likes him. This new son also takes after his mother, which is good too. He's not much like Zhuzhi Lang except for being a bit simplistic (because he's a baby) but TLJ feels a stirring in his heart strings not unlike the sentiments he once held for his poor doomed nephew, a stirring that grows in time to become genuine affection.

Intriguingly, this son of his doesn't show many signs of his heavenly demon heritage. It isn't potent enough to require a cradle seal. There are hints of it, here and there, but only to one who knows how to look for the signs of true demon blood. Which actually isn't all that surprising in the end, hybrids can turn out any number of ways. Still, TLJ feels confident that by the time he starts walking and talking, little A'Ying could survive on his own.

Humans tend to raise their children longer for that, though, and Cangse is very attached to their son. So TLJ is like, oh well, no need to cut the apron strings even if this third wheel stuff is dragging on a bit (Wei Ying is four). He's maybe even actively enjoying parenting! He's pretty sure he's improving at it as well, like he always makes sure his son has enough money to buy food before they leave him alone for a few weeks, even though the boy is big enough to hunt small game. Spoils him, really.

But of course, then tragedy strikes again. Despite being stronger than most stuff, TLJ is not nearly as powerful as he used to be, and he sometimes sucks at guesstimating the actual differential between him and some of the malicious ghosts out there. His attempt to satisfy Cange's ambitions and take on the Burial Mounds go disastrously, with Cangse once again dying on him, and TLJ ending up trapped in the resentful mire of the Burial Mounds, body nearly destroyed (again).

So he spends several years locked in a depression fugue state and also very slowly regenerating his destroyed parts, lost in memories and grief, eating a lot of dead humans (never his cuisine of choice, but he isn't rich on options) when one day some rancid little upstart throws down a corpse that isn't a corpse, and is also very familiar.

Why, it's Wei Ying! And he's basically a man now! TLJ's not sure exactly how much time has passed, but given how badly humans age these days, it's probably less than a century. Wei Ying is injured and having a rough time of it, it looks like his human cultivation has gone badly somehow, but he still has enough potency to his heavenly demon blood that he'd need to be dismembered and probably eaten before death would really stick. He's not entirely lucid, though, and the malicious ghosts in the Burial Mounds aren't helping.

TLJ figures, well, he is a father after all, and Cangse was so attached to their little dumpling. He'll help out! Just until the kid gets his legs back under him again. So as Wei Ying scrabbles in the dirt and writhes in torment against the dark energy of hostile ghosts, he also gets to hallucinate his father's half-rotted visage talking him through the basics of some demonic cultivation techniques that ought to help him crawl back out of this pit.

It's a good day when Wei Ying manages it. TLJ wishes him all the best, he truly does, and then he goes back to wallowing. For like five minutes (to him). Then somehow his clingy second son returns to the region, if not to his specific pit, and brings with him a gaggle of humans in varying states of distress and poor health. TLJ finds that the neighborhood has become noisy, but at least this noise involves some interesting news and gossip, and Wei Ying appears to be mastering some kind of hybrid ghost/demon cultivation technique that is pretty fascinating. Trust Cangse's son to be so creative! And he farms, too! Badly, but. Well. TLJ certainly can't throw stones, he's never once gotten the hang of gardening himself either. The only thing he's good at growing is parts of his own body, haha!

He's actually pretty upset when the human cultivators turn up and his son ends up getting torn apart and devoured by the backlash of his own innovations. TLJ briefly considers tearing himself out of his shallow not-grave to kill everyone involved, but that does sound like a lot of effort, and in his experience revenge just never works right anyway. So after a while he just crawls his way out more sedately, saves his energy and uses it to cross back over to the demon realm for a while.

He revisits his eldest son, and is like hmm this is how you decorate a palace? No no it's fine I guess. Where's Mobei Jun's little hamster man, has he written anything new lately? By which I mean in the past thousand or so years. Oh he has! Great! Also you had a younger brother for a while there. Yeah no he's dead now. But he did exist, I actually liked him, very creative boy. Shame about the angry mob.

To which Luo Binghe's response is basically some flavor of "I don't care" whereas Shen Qingqiu is genuinely distressed that Binghe had a brother and didn't even get to meet him.

TLJ hangs out for a while, reads through all of Airplane's latest works, recovers his strength, does some "bonding" side quests with Binghe courtesy of his son-in-law's meddling (doesn't really work), and then eventually decides to go back and see what's going on in the human realm again. He can't help it, he's just not really into demon culture that much, there are only so many years he can spend lounging around the place before he starts feeling itchy and recollecting every agonizing hour of youthful displeasure and boredom that defined his life as a prince.

Getting back to the human realm is even more difficult by the time he leaves again, though. The Heavens are being annoying about it. There are tiers of Heaven, of course, and lately the lowest tier (closest to earth) has been taking a fairly hard stance about keeping the realms apart. Probably because all those gods are still weak enough that even TLJ's failson could just smash them to pieces if so inclined, and the higher tiers have been consumed with their own celestial matters, so most of these junior gods haven't had much guidance and are convinced they are responsible for the order of the universe.

Imagine being less than a thousand years old, coming from the era where most cultivators don't even ascend anymore, and thinking you're hot shit just because you moved up a single rank in divinity. Whippernappers, all of them. TLJ would scold them but that sounds too much like hard work, and anyway they don't even know that he can listen in on their noisy little communication arrays and settle back with some popcorn to watch their dramas unfold. It's like his own personal television channel.

Though he doesn't let himself think directly about it too much, he is also on the lookout for another reincarnation of Xiyan. Things ending in tragedy twice can only make it more likely that they should go well the third time, right? Or, even if not... the tragedy might be tolerable, so long as there's a reprieve of togetherness beforehand again.

Alas, TLJ is not in luck for quite some time. In a moment of weakness he even settles for the pursuit of a spirited young commoner with a just-similar-enough kind of temperament to soothe the ache, before making him feel all the more unsatisfied in the aftermath. It's not that he imagines himself keeping faithful to a woman who has been dead (again) for ages and may or may not be reborn one day, it's more the feeling that having something near to the right thing is, in its way, even more unsatisfying than nothing.

Anyway, the young lady eventually tracks him down with news that she's pregnant, which TLJ supposes could plausibly be a result of their tryst. He gives her some money and tells her to contact him if the baby is weird, which does end up being the case (red eyes, clear demonic tendencies) so he provides some more compensation, at least until the kid is big enough to survive on his own. Then he just sort of peaces out to keep looking for Xiyan-Cangse Mark III, good luck to Third Son, it's not like this world is especially dangerous to a heavenly demon with blood that potent anyway.

Or rather, it shouldn't be, but plot twist: Third Son didn't get the regenerative abilities in the hybrid lottery. He dies on a battlefield. TLJ doesn't even hear about it, though he does eventually assume that the kid must have died because he's not hearing anything about a red-eyed conqueror or such after a few decades and that's unusual for Heavenly Demons. He's not too bothered in this instance, however, because he didn't let himself get attached this time. Smart of him. That whole Wei Ying business was just awful, he still thinks about it occasionally and he'd really rather move on.

Eventually a new ghost city crops up. TLJ doesn't think he'll find any version of Xiyan there, but he goes to check out the night life. Lo and behold, he finds himself spying a familiar face at the new gambling den, too. He's never heard of a Heavenly Demon becoming a ghost, but again, hybrids can be weird like that, and ghosts have filled a lot of the ecological niches left behind by the absence of demons. Ghost King, huh? Turns out Third Son is conquering his way across these piddly little realms. Good for him! Good for him. TLJ opts not to interfere. After all, he's not needed, the kid doesn't owe him anything, and he's mostly just in the city to collect gossip and enjoy the market. They get some interesting books.

He does cheer for this "Hua Cheng" when the kid beats a whole bunch of junior gods into the dirt. This must be the appeal of children's sports teams. The divine communication arrays start buzzing about this calamity, as the youths call it, and TLJ decides he's once again doing pretty good at this fatherhood business. Two interesting sons out of three isn't half bad!

The show gets even more entertaining when it turns out that Third Son has been carrying a candle for a particular disgraced god (Heavenly Demon romantic hyperfixation strikes again) and said god ascends once more, and this time there's all sorts of intrigue and plot twists in the heavenly court. It's so good that TLJ even goes to the effort of placing a call to the demon realms and magically livestreaming some of it to his son-in-law, who was so disappointed to miss seeing Wei Ying in action.

Unfortunately, the event he manages to livestream also features Hua Cheng dying. Whoops?

Well, it's a fittingly dramatic end to the story, even if his eldest son is pissed at him for upsetting his son-in-law with such things. His intentions were good!

As it happens, too, his divine livestreaming was a little more strongly broadcast than intended (well, he had to get it through the realms, that's not easy these days) and someone picked it up on the other side of the celestial divide as well. Specifically, one of the higher tiers of heaven. Which is how TLJ finds out that Wei Ying had actually come back from his first death, in a new body (smart kid!) and then subsequently hooked up with one of those Lan boys and ascended to godhood together.

After reuniting, Hua Cheng also proves resilient to the whole dying business, and so TLJ decides to make things up to Shen Qingqiu by organizing a family reunion.

His efforts initially garner interest from Wei Ying, coldness from Lan Wangji, glacial indifference from Hua Cheng, and some very cautious encouragement from Xie Lian (his sons all have impeccable taste in men), before the reunion finally happens and the gates of hell spring wide to bring forth the ultimate evil (Luo Binghe) and his better half, armed with some delicious banquet dishes and gifts for Shen Qingqiu's new brothers-in-law.

[0writes0]

Trying my hand at this one:

Shen Yuan transmigrates into a worm.

It's just a normal garden variety (heh) earthworm, not a special magical worm (yet), so initially he thinks this is gonna be a really short transmigration adventure indeed. But of course that would be boring, so he also manages to end up in the body of a worm who lives under one of those magical immortal fruit-bearing trees.

One of the fruit drops, Worm Yuan chows down, and he significantly upgrades his physical abilities, and senses, and gains a cultivation boost! Hooray!

Unfortunately it's not enough to fix that he's still a worm, but it's enough so that he has less to fear from getting hit by a random shovel or such. In the process of eating the fruit, he sees some disciples (come to gather the fruits, slacking somewhat since they even allowed a few to hit the dirt) and overhears enough of a conversation to figure out that he's transmigrated into a worm that lives in the PIDW setting. Specifically, on Qian Cao Peak!

Wow! How random and wild! Why a worm??? What god did he piss off in his past life for this?

Well anyway, it is what it is, and Shen Yuan decides that if he's gonna live a probably short and uneventful life as a worm, at least he wants to see his favorite character. So he inches his way in what he hopes is the general direction of Qing Jing Peak, course-correcting whenever he gathers that he's guessed wrong, hitching a ride on the occasional shoe or once even gripping the internal part of a wheel from an An Ding Peak carriage, until finally, he's leveled up his meager worm cultivation even more and has reached Qing Jing Peak!

As Worm Yuan continues to inch his way across the peak, he keeps just-barely missing Luo Binghe, until finally he comes across... not Binghe, but a recognizable item: a fake jade pendant!

Though lost initially on a tree branch, it must have fallen at some point, down to the ground where Worm Yuan stumbled upon it.

Mustering his strength, Worm Yuan manages to get the broken string of the fake jade around his little worm body, and then makes the herculean trek to the wood shed. Dodging bird attacks, hiding from other QJP disciples, and further upgrading his Worm Skills such as digging, inching, and oozing, until finally he reaches his destination and squeezes under the door.

Leading to the situation of an incredulous disciple Luo Binghe -- who had previously been tending to his bruises -- watching as a little worm climbs into the shed (normal, usually it's spiders but sometimes other bugs get inside) while dragging his long-lost most treasured item in what can only be described as a deliberate fashion (very not normal).

After ascertaining that Worm Yuan is not some cultivator's tool or shapeshifted creature, Luo Binghe decides to approach this situation in the only reasonable way, and offers the worm some scraps from his leftovers. Worm Yuan happily shares a meal with his favorite character, and things take off from there.

Somehow Luo Binghe finds himself learning more about cultivation by watching Worm Yuan than he has in all his attempts to figure out his manual or listen to his shixiongs on Qing Jing Peak so far. He watches Worm Yuan work up the spiritual energy to crack rocks and scale the wood shed walls, and deduces some methods for applying his own spiritual energy in similar ways. He finds it heartening to think that if even a little worm can learn to cultivate through what seems to be pure determination, then surely Binghe can make his situation work, too. He scrounges around and manages to gather up enough materials for a makeshift terrarium, so Worm Yuan can be safe and cozy by his side at night.

Of course, trials and tribulations never stop. At some point Ming Fan and his cronies find the terrarium and smash it. Binghe is inconsolable until he realizes that Worm Yuan got away (extra durable, after all!) and is wriggling back towards him in a reassuring fashion.

Worm Yuan's hero schedule is quite full, too! At some point he digs his way into a tunnel to the Lingxi caves and saves Liu Qingge, and in the midst of the demon invasion he manages to help Binghe at a vital moment by hardening his body and tripping his opponent. He rides in Binghe's pocket when Binghe goes to claim Zheng Yang, too, developing his cultivation throughout it all.

Unfortunately, kind of, Worm Yuan is also in Luo Binghe's pocket when he gets thrown into the Endless Abyss. Through the hardships of the Abyss, Worm Yuan consumes some unsavory things (the less said about the quality of worm food in the Abyss, the better) but manages to unlock rare worm cultivation upgrades, until finally he achieves his first transformation -- a gigantic Dune-esque mega worm!

The less said about the symbolism of a stallion protagonist accompanied constantly by a literal monster worm, the better, probably. But having the ability to tunnel through basically anything does make a lot of things easier, at least in terms of travel, and cuts years off of the Abyss trip. Binghe and Worm Yuan almost have fun, even, just tearing through the terrain and any foes stupid enough to get in Worm Yuan's path until they retrieve Xin Mo and bust out.

Then they get into the demon realms and that actually is just straight up mostly a good time. Worms like Shen Yuan are not common so at first he nearly always surprises Binghe's foes when he shows up to help with fights, and a lot of the time the demons involved don't even seem to realize, at first, that he's with Luo Binghe and isn't just some hellish calamity that's coincidentally also shown up! But word gets around pretty quick that the new Heavenly Demon on the scene has a giant worm companion (probably leading to some misconceptions of people who think it's Tianlang Jun returned and that someone's mistaken Zhuzhi Lang's snake form for a worm).

Once that happens, unfortunately, some demons start taking precautions. After the first time Worm Yuan gets poisoned and nearly perishes (saved by Binghe's blood in the nick of time), Luo Binghe stops letting him participate in fights. Which is just rude! Worm Yuan's not going to make the same mistake twice, duh! But Binghe just keeps holding him in reserve again and again until the fight with Mobei Jun, and then when Worm Yuan intervenes anyway (is it just him or does Mobei Jun seem to know a lot more about potential heavenly demon weaknesses than he did in PIDW...?) and gets partly frozen, Binghe goes berserk. For a while there Shen Yuan is worried he won't actually LET Mobei Jun surrender!

Thankfully though he does, and then Binghe settles into his properties and starts... building a giant-scale worm garden? What about the harem, Binghe? Like obviously it's nice and all, but shouldn't you be focused on housing for, y'know, your future wives?

Other factions in the demon realms clearly are wondering about the same thing, as the marriage alliance offers naturally start pouring in. The most vocal of these being Sha Hualing. Worm Yuan supposed that his Binghe is probably waiting to officially take his wives so that he can marry Ning Yingying first or something, but still, a little planning wouldn't go amiss. Though eventually Luo Binghe seems to get -- if anything -- fed up enough with the questions about his marriage prospects that he does start setting up for a wedding.

Worm Yuan is surprised and touched when he finds himself being fitted for a monster-worm sized amount of wedding regalia. So he can be included in Binghe's wedding procession? That's so sweet! He's not sure he understands the inclusion of a veil, though...?

Anyway. Yes. Binghe marries the worm.

[0writes0]

You know those anime meta posts along the lines of “I was born with pink hair. The doctors told my parents I was a Main Character and ever since my life has not known peace from demons/spirits/sports competitions/harems who find me”

Well I see that, and I raise you this:

An anime boy whose appearance is, by absolutely anyone’s account, completely and utterly average. Mundane hair. Mundane eyes. Not even glasses to set him the tiniest bit apart. A simple, unmemorable, unrecognizable civilian among a backdrop of millions.

And he has a lot of passions, and a lot of ambitions, which he hones every chance he gets. He’s dabbled in sports and archery and cooking and just about anything you could wrap a competition around. And he’s competed in many of these. Every chance he gets. With all of his passion and all of his might.

He’s crushed by the competition every single time.

Until one day–one day something clicks for him. Something that should have seemed obvious from the start and yet never was–as though everyone, including himself, was unwittingly blind to it. It clicks, when he realizes every kid who’s beaten him in competition, every kid who’s gone on to fame and glory and acclaim, has been some candy-haired gel-spiked ridiculously-dressed fucker. 

There’s some trend there that this Main Character boy can’t explain and can’t understand but he decides, this one time, fuck it. He’ll play along too. He’s got a model train competition in four days, and he’s got nothing more to lose. He hits up the department store, buys the pinkest, noxious-est, fruitiest hair dye he can find, the spikiest hair gel available, and the gaudiest clothes on the thrift rack. He enters the model train competition looking like a bubble gum gijinka.

And he wins.

Suddenly, the other candy-haired contestants notice him. They talk to him. They pledge rivalries. Girls notice him. Judges applaud him. Acclaimed model train aficionados offer him internships across the world. He’s hit on something. 

The main cast expands to cover just about every candy-hair cliche in the book: from the mostly-normal-looking demure school girl with the blue hair to the Naruto-est, yelling-est boy with the red-and-green spiked hair. The cool megane senpais, the purple haired tsunderes, suddenly everyone is interested in him. They’re prodigies and upstarts and underdogs and they truly believe that this main character boy is one of them.

So the main character boy maintains his ruse. He touches up his roots at dawn every morning and carefully attends to his gelled spikes and tells absolutely no one about this great, uncanny, unfathomable secret he’s stumbled upon. He wins his competitions left and right. He racks up the acclaim. He’s hailed as a prodigy of all trades, just now bursting onto the scene, and boils to the top of all his candy-haired peers.

He’s rising up, his every dream within his grasp. Until one day he gets a note under his door, taped to an old picture of his Normal Boring self from middle school, that says “You don’t belong”

[0writes0]

Danny's parents talked him into doing a school transfer, to see if his grades are failing due to Casper High or something else. They have an old family friend that he can stay with, and that friend has already agreed.

He makes an arrangement with Dani, so she can pretend to be Phantom while he's gone, and agrees.

If anything, it'll be a vacation for him! A year of uninterrupted school, so he can get his grades back up and get some rest. Like, a full quiet, peaceful night of sleep.

It'll be fine!

And the old friend isn't Vlad, or anyone Vlad knows!

It's some old guy named Max, who's already looking after another kid.

They're both a little cagey, but that's fine. It give Danny an excuse to be online a little bit longer so he can talk with Sam and Tucker. Eventually, though, he and the other kid, Bart, start getting along.

Max introduces him to some friends of his, Wally and Iris and Barry and their kids and family, and in half a year Danny's got a pretty concrete support network in an entirely different city.

It's great!

He just...has to make sure they never, ever find out about his powers.

Which is when he blows it, because of course he does.

He and Bart are walking back home after school, when someone clearly having a mental breakdown bum-rushes them with what appears to be a pipe.

Danny, not thinking, grabs Bart and shoves him out of the way...just in time for the guy to stab him with the pipe.

Now, thanks to Danny's healing factor and insane pain tolerance, he's mildly annoyed and greatly inconvenienced. There's blood on his clothes, he's pretty sure the pipe ripped into his backpack so that means his textbooks are ruined now, and he knows from experience that he now only has one working lung.

The other is filling with blood around the pipe stabbed through it.

Even once he removes the pipe and heals, he'll be hacking up random globs of blood for days.

"This is such shit," he mutters, hands on the pipe and ready to pull it out, only to be stopped by Max.

Max, who definitely had not been walking with them and was supposed to be on the other side of the city.

Max, who has Wally standing behind him, on the phone with what appears to be 911, as Barry and Bart are pinning the stabby-pipe-man down.

"Sit down, son, you shouldn't be standing. It's all gonna be okay, just sit do-"

"No it's not, he's talking to 911! They'll tell my parents!"

Or; Impulse, AKA Bart Allen, has a new...roommate? Sure! Named Danny, who was kinda iffy at first but turned out to be a pretty cool dude, and all the Flash Family likes him, so he's great!

Except that Bart was distracted, and now Danny has a pipe sticking out of him and blood dripping from his mouth, and Bart maybe hit the guy that attacked them a little too hard, but he's kinda panicking right now and so is everyone else.

[0writes0]

Bingge has been running himself ragged for MONTHS looking for HIS 'nice Shizun'.

What he doesn't know is that Shen Yuan transmigrated into wife #216 (the one from the sexy slime chapter...) the same night he came back and have been living his best life in the palace's library every day. He's been 'giving' his night with Bingge to the harem member who managed to sneak him in a 'Flower of Transing your Gender'.

It's kind of uncomfortable to wear a woman's clothes when he's just a totally normal straight guy, but he's FINE!! He's low enough on the totem pole that he is ignored for most of the harem drama and since he's a DUDE now he isn't pulled into any wife plots! Now he gets to study all the monsters he could ever want! Plus, just occasionally glimpsing the 'best wives' like Liu Mingyan, Sha Hauling, and Ningying is pretty cool, too!

Things are going GREAT until he passes by an upper courtyard one morning and finds a Beauty Devouring Harpy-Lizard has three wives cornered and is about to eat them! Oh no! Well, this is probably a wife plot, so Bingge will come any moment now to save them....

any moment now....

any moment....

...

WHERE is he???

Shen Yuan uses his new Beast Knowledge and his stolen body's mild cultivation to tame the lizard. Turns out it's just a juvenile and they can wean it off eating pretty women if they feed it enough regular meat! Now Shen Yuan has three women in his corner, too! They can help keep him off Bingge's radar while he stays in the palace!

Except... well... it keeps happening.

Beasts attack when Shen Yuan is nearby. Bingge doesn't show up. And then Shen Yuan has to deal with it! He's forming his own harem inside of the harem and he doesn't WANT that!!! Bingge will kill him!!!

It all comes to a head when one of the IMPORTANT wives, Ningying, is cornered by a Ravenous Rainbow Gem Tiger! Even using all of his cunning and smarts, Shen Yuan isn't sure he's going to make it! He manages to get Ningying out of there, but he's on the back ropes...

Then Bingge shows up just in time to save the day.

Oh and he looks BAD. Hair unkept, bags under his eyes, like he hadn't been eating; even with Airplane's shitty Cultivation rules the protagonist shouldn't look like this! Shen Yuan INSTANTLY starts fretting over him. Bingge doesn't seem that impressed, probably used to it by now and thinking that this is just gunna lead to The Usual Business. But he gets this little nagging feeling when Shen Yuan invites himself back to his chambers. Shen Yuan bullies him into bathing, brushes out his hair, makes him eat something, and gets him tucked all nicely into bed. And without a hint of papapa in sight!

In fact, Shen Yuan just... pats Bingge on the head and makes him promise he'll sleep and then leaves.

Bingge staring at the ceiling of his bed, taken care of, no sex expected... squints and has his 'wait a fucking minute' moment.