#SY will come REALLY close but of course the System will filter his words

[phoenixtakaramono]

Character Design Thoughts for Shen Yuan & Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky in ‘The Untold Tale’

(This is a Follow Up to This Post)

Hello, @averydrearydiana! Loved reading through your tags! I’m excited that you’re excited! Since I’m also seeing comments on AO3 speculating about how our transmigrators are going to appear as in The Untold Tale, I might as well give my current thoughts and have this archived on tumblr for future reference.

A fun fact about TUT is that a lot of the imagery in the story is inspired by Chinese PVs and popular C-dramas and literature. Since TUT is conceived as a lovestory to SVSSS, one element that I’d wanted to incorporate is playful attempts at satirical genre deconstruction. With that comes with me playfully poking fun at some clichés or things I’ve noticed in Chinese works.

Shen Yuan’s Celestial Design

Before I talk about his mortal appearance, I have to give a lil context about his celestial design in the story. We already know what he looks like as the celestial fortuneteller in TUT’s cover art that I’ve already posted on tumblr. As everyone knows, I was heavily inspired by this Chinese PV:

undefined

(TUT ch1 - Excerpt)

Among the things I’ve noticed are the fictional characters with white hair. We have a whole subculture of fans liking male character designs with white hair in anime and animation. Taking that a step further, they’ve even shown up in C-dramas, i.e. Teng She from Love and Redemption (technically more blond than platinum white, but shhhhh, just let me have this), Dong Hua Dijun from Eternal Love of Dream aka Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (rest assured, I’m aware of the source material’s controversy, but let’s not get into that here), etc. One of the tags for TUT is Opposites Attract. Luo Binghe’s color coordination is aligned with black and red mostly. Now, visually speaking, what’s the opposite of that?

The yin yang symbol.

Fun fact, besides black vs white, green (SY) is the complementary color of red (LBG) on the color wheel. Now taking everything I’ve said, to take it even one step further, my thought process at the time was, “why not go the extra mile then and just have SY be albino? Within context of the Heavenly Realm, that character design makes sense.” TUT is me subtly riffing off what I can (for the good ol’ meta humor), but making the content come across as a legitimate story experience. As Protagonist A and Protagonist B, LBG and SY have to look visually striking together. With all that said, let’s talk about....

(In reference to the original tumblr post)

Shen Yuan (Mortal)

I’ll keep some elements of his albinism from his celestial form (light sensitivity and pale skin mostly), but SY’s mortal form is essentially SY pre-transmigration but within context of the xianxia genre.

For his appearance, let’s just keep this Author’s Note^ and TUT’s summary in the back of our brains. This is the fanvid I was originally inspired by for SY’s mortal appearance:

undefined

(TUT Summary - Excerpt)

For what he wears, I’m currently feeling very heavily inspired by this PV:

undefined

His mortal appearance wouldn’t be considered as “strange” or “otherworldly” compared to the “ethereal fairy-like beauty” SY retains in the Heavenly Realm, but as a side-effect of the 【PROTAGONIST’S HALO】 and his +20 CHARISMA stat, he would still be considered attractive to people even when he takes on a mortal appearance. (Mainly, I like the idea of Bing gē taking large shots of vinegar seeing SY turning heads no matter which appearance SY takes on, and Luo Binghe glaring at these “insects” for even “daring to lay their unworthy eyes on his fated person.” The thought of it just makes me laugh.)

What I mean by how SY’s mortal form being very much based on how SY appeared pre-transmigration but in the xianxia genre context, I mean he’ll have his dark hair (but longer), a “scholarly air” (as a nod to his novelist background), dark eyes, and even his glasses technically (the divine monocle mentioned in ch3, which is also a subtle nod to Sha Po Lang and a riff on men wearing monocles in other Chinese works andit’salsoforeshadowingbutshhhh).

(TUT ch3 - Excerpt)

Shen Yuan originally was an author in his forties pre-transmigration, so I like the idea him having a mature air about him in the Cultivation World as well. So for both our Protagonist B’s celestial and mortal appearances, the idea is that you can look at him and immediately recognize him as a protagonist of the danmei setting. My only two prerequisites are that his appearance screams “hello, I’m Protagonist B” and that he appears in “scholarly” attire.

Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky (Mortal)

Keeping in mind the original tumblr post where I wrote my thoughts on who I’m transmigrating him as, currently I’m thinking it’s a combination of these two PVs for his mortal form:

undefined

undefined

As a nod to him being a successful novelist, I wanted him to also appear scholarly. A scholarly crown prince, if you will. For his attire, imagine all the C-drama clothing you’ve seen actors wear in period dramas, and you already have a good idea already of the direction I’m heading down.

As the prince of the cannon fodder emperor, I very much like the idea of Airplane perhaps having a baby face and brown hair (as a small nod to fanon!SQH from SVSSS) but with a great body (a huge source of inspiration are clothing worn by Prince Yu and Prince Jing of the three princes from the C-drama Nirvana in Fire). Since Airplane will also be able to select his Character Creation stats like Shen Yuan had, one thing I’m fairly certain is that he will max out his CONSTITUTION—because “game logic” and not wanting to die. (For those who don’t know, the CON stat in tabletop RPs essentially indicates a person’s overall health, wellbeing, and vigor checks...so him maxing it out is equivalent to him being as invulnerable as a cockroach. A high CON means overall healthiness, which means your character probably is full of energy and vitality, can heal rapidly, and will rarely get sick—if ever. Low CON usually means a higher susceptibility to sickness and disease, wounds that fester and linger, and a general fatigue would haunt you, etc.) Like how SY zeroed in on his CHA, Airplane would have prioritized +20 CON (+5 modifier), especially knowing the fate that’d await him as a prince and the vicious environment that is expected for palace intrigue plots (the harem is a big factor, with concubines and consorts and even the empress sabotaging each other—just to win the favor of one man). Against poison or whatnot which is a cliché in palace intrigue plots, rather than relying on luck, you typically stand a better chance of passing the CON check if you have a high modifier aiding your checks. He’s basically become impervious to illnesses, most poisons (probably being able to spring back quickly), and is considered the healthiest prince in all the mortal imperial line. <- This could be taken both seriously and humorously simultaneously.

Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky (Deity/ Celestial)

For Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī’s “actual divine body” that is currently asleep and won’t be awakened until Airplane completes his mortal trial to “regain his cultivation powers,” the face should obviously be similar but, as Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī, he would appear regal and dignified as a god of this world:

Imagine something along the lines of mortal Airplane as the man on the right, celestial Shen Yuan in the center, and deity/ celestial Airplane as the man on the left. I envision a respectable appearance that would knock the air out of Mobei jūn and make him recognize Airplane despite any visual dissimilarities, and in a way we have the Four Beauties of China: Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan, Mobei jūn, and Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī.

I will say I currently have an idea of making Airplane have “golden” eyes in both his celestial and mortal forms. (Spoiler alert: in my notes, I’d written down to give Airplane yellow eyes as an Easter egg to Yanxi Palace, I believe, where there was an episode where someone of the imperial harem schemed against the empress and almost had the newborn baby killed because that and the yellow skin was an inauspicious omen. We later find out through a timely intervention that the true reason was due to jaundice—because of the diet/ pregnancy cravings she ate for a period of time which resulted in her son’s symptoms. With Airplane’s high CON and another trope I’m bringing in which’ll have to do with the Medicine King’s Valley/ Valley of the Medicine King, his yellow eyes are the only side effect that lingered from that traumatic event which would have killed him had they gotten away with their scheme. A lot of palace dramas have to do with the vicious harem plots, so this would potentially be one such example.) The reason being that this is the identifying marker for MBJ to clue in that they’re the same man he will have loved. And I think that has romantic potential.

Misc.

Now addressing the other tags, yes, essentially speaking, Mobei jūn might just very well experience his very own Big Damn Reunion trope that Bing mèi had suffered from SVSSS. Poor MBJ. He’s in a tumultuous ride of his own with him considering Airplane as his own fated person, hahaha. But for the Moshang dynamic, I want him—a demon—to find himself taken with Airplane in his mortal guise—and subsequently his true celestial appearance once he finds out. I very much also want SY to jokingly snark to his fellow transmigrator-and-writing-colleague about him getting in a relationship with his own “creation” (MBJ). And Airplane would jokingly snark back about SY “ruining his ‘first son’ as well” (LBG). If you can read between the lines of that, then kudos. I’m glad to hear you’re looking forward to the palace intrigue.

I’m especially very happy to hear you’re looking forward to the descriptions! I personally love worldbuilding in the stories I consume I’m an interior designer and realtor irl, so I’m glad my love of house details and landscape, etc shows in TUT. For the pseudohistorical vibe, in the Mortal Realm, I will be referencing the Forbidden City of our Chinese history and a couple popular period C-dramas. Take the settings of period C-dramas like Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace, Yanxi Palace, and Nirvana in Fire as examples for what will be awaiting us when we finally meet Airplane in his mortal body. In the Heavenly Realm, the descriptions will be heavily referencing shows that contain aesthetics such as those of Ashes of Love, Love and Redemption, and Eternal Dream.

Take this with a grain of salt just in case I change my mind later on, but in the chapter when we meet Airplane for the first time, I probably won’t say which character he is in the first scene. I’ll give plenty of hints in the first scene so that you all can make your guesses before the big reveal, but I’m fairly confident you all or most of you will be able to pinpoint who he is among the cannon fodders. We’ll meet the emperor, who is discussing with his sons about the matter regarding the approaching calamity that is Luo Binghe. Then when we transition into the second scene, we’ll know exactly which “royal prince OC” it is that our beloved Airplane has transmigrated into, hahaha.

(*Keep in mind, for everything written above, some details are subject to change. Nothing is official until it appears in the story, or I’ve actually drawn my ideas out and posted online to both my tumblr and twitter. These are just my current thoughts.)

A goal of mine for TUT is to make the story widely accessible, meaning it doesn’t matter if the reader is new to the SVSSS fandom or aren’t familiar with the Easter egg references or meta jokes or subtext or even the Chinese culture, or even if English is not their first language. Having knowledge beforehand might help someone notice more hidden details in TUT, yes, but it is a humble wish of this writer for her esteemed readers to be able to dive into the story and get the enjoyable feeling like they’re reading a genuine danmei novel. It really makes me smile whenever I hear feedback that I am able to emulate that experience.

Very exciting developments indeed are in store!

[honestsycrets]

A Woman, Not a Demon

❛ pairing | king alfred x reader

❛ type | multi

❛ summary | sick of the reader, bjorn hands her down to alfed-- who has yet to prove himself to bjorn.

❛  warnings | verbal arguments, whipping, bad!alfred, dark!alfred, dark!bjorn, dark!reader, slavery, hatesex, angry words, verbal abuse, beating, 

❛ sy’s notes | i wrote this fic a while ago but i just didn’t have the balls to post it until right now with coaxing. i was in a mood just last week and wrote this then. 

He buries the Bishop Heahmund. He buries his memories of his father with them. Cold in the ground, his memories disassociate from him as he walks past through the halls his grandfather once walked. He steps into his throne room and finds that there stands Bjorn, the back of his blond head unmistakable.

“Bjorn Ironside,” he calls.

Bjorn shifts, tugging with him a smaller body. The candlelight reflects off of the smaller one, outlines more delicate features. A girl. No-- Alfred comes to a stop at the base of the stairs. A woman.

“Who is she?” Alfred sways to a stop, his hands folded carefully in front of himself.

“This is (Y/N) Flokisdottir.”

Alfred looks her over. It means nothing to him.

“Does that mean something to you?” Alfred asks.

“It means she is the daughter of a certain boatbuilder,” Bjorn says cryptidly. “You’ll keep her.”

Alfred trudges up the steps. The usual Alfred-- the one that was careful about Bjorn, might have quivered. The Alfred that has lost so much in such a short span of years grasps the dirty woman by the straps of a sheening silk dress, yanking you upright. You fight back, slamming your head into his with a wet crack. Alfred staggers, catching himself on a step. His eyes widen bright and wide, the whites of his eye visible. For your effort, you fell down the stairs.

“That woman! She’s a-- a--”

“Demon?” Bjorn finishes, stepping down the steps and hauling you back up to your feet. He grips the fine collar of Alfred’s clean tunic and rushes him up to his feat. You stand on your bare toes, blood coursing down your eyebrow over fluttering, bloody lashes.

“A demon,” Alfred affirms, glancing over the strap that has migrated off your shoulder. The bud of your nipple is visible, causing him to stir a bit. A frisson of concern over the guards watching washes over him then leaves. They are outside the door. Bjorn leans in, lingering there. Ubbe has taught him many things. Alfred is in no way afraid of Bjorn Ironside, but its not so simple.

“No, not a demon. She’s a woman. One that knows you’re a weak man.” Bjorn releases her, eyes flickering over Alfred’s dress. He could never imagine putting on a frock. A frock of fear. In his eyes, he might have seen a flash of pity. Bjorn releases him. “As do I.”

Bjorn starts for the door, confusing Alfred whole heartedly. You shift onto your knees, getting your bearings to stand upright. He stares off Bjorn yanks the door open. Stop, the word caught in his throat. It’s too slow. Bjorn shuts the door behind him. It leaves him lost, scanning the stony ground in confusion. He steps away, looking to the letters marking his grandfather’s grave, a sodden body below.

ECBERT

“He’s right,” you say, twisting your wrists in rope with no give. “You are weak.”

Alfred turns back to you, blood dry on your eyelashes. The ground is hard on your knees, even with this simple but lavish dress. Alfred looks back to you, the symbol of everything he’s lost. A beautiful Norsewoman. The picture of beauty for your people. Long hair, a trim body meant to murder like the best of your men.

“You’re held down by stupid ideologies, Christian.”

The spite on your tongue. He’s heard it before-- not from anyone here. He’s heard it from the tales of the Norsemen that his mother told him of. Floki, the boatbuilder. That was it-- the boatbuilder.

“Just like your stupid father, traveling about anguished for his gay love of Ragnar and his stupid devotional love for his god.”

Alfred turns, walking up to you in a great and quick stride. His voice is darkly smooth, running over you as if you were bathing in dark wine. You meet his eyes, threatening him to continue.

“What did you say?” His lips curl when he’s mad. You notice something. Despite the hardness of his face, his eyes almost glisten.

“Are you going to cry?”

Alfred fists the silk, yanking it off of your body as if it really meant something to you. Modesty. A Christian trait. A Viking one? Perhaps, Alfred debates it momentarily. Your warm breath pulls over his face. A rictus of a smile that is all teeth widens, foully speaking.

“I said-- you’re a bitch.”

It breaks the remnants of his patience. As sick as he was, as kind as he could be; both flew out the window when he dug his hand into a handful of your hair, dragging you across the floor to his throne. Your teeth gnash, grabbing onto the arm of the throne.

Alfred turns to find the item of his interest. It’s a whip-- you make note when it cracks upon your back, causing you to grip the arm a little harder. It tears down into muscle, leaving long cracking welts up your back. Another blow to your back leaves you breathless, struggling back the urge to scream. No Norsewoman screamed. At least, not for a forigner.

“Had enough?” Alfred yells in a bout of his rage.

“Are we punishing in holy numbers? Is there some Saxon mysticism?” You say back to him, looking over. A wild, loose pleasure filling your face when Alfred comes close. His palm is flat over your throat, pulling you back against his chest. That’s quite enough of your tongue, you think Alfred’s had enough. He drags a ripped piece of cloth around your head, tying with a force none too gentle.

A shuffle of fabric behind you reminds you of your sex. The king forces you to bend over his throne, prickling you in excitement when the head of his cock nudges your hold. It’s been a while. Your hands grasp the arm, moaning into the cloth when none too gently, and with way more oil than was needed, Alfred slams his cock into your cunt. It burns.

Alfred forms a ponytail from your hair, pumping his hips forward. Your breath swipes away, pleasure beating you with every slam. Your hands cling onto the throne, raunchy slaps of skin filtering through the heavy wooden door.

“Mmph!”

“Shut up,” Alfred says, the words distant and strange on his tongue. Alfred yanks your hair back, just for the hell of it. It causes your cunt to squeeze his long, earnest stroke. His hips judder, shallow and quick. You told yourself you wouldn’t cry subjected to this feeling. The way that Alfred brought you pleasure, being bent over and taken raw, oh-- he might have thought it to be a punishment. But from the way you cling to his cock, he knows it isn’t.

“You,” the king says, leaning back as far as his tip. He lurches forward, your ass jiggling against his hips. Your legs shake. Incredible-- Alfred thinks. For all his efforts, the beating-- the whip. It seems to have made you soak in pleasure. The filth is dripping down over his curling pubic hair, soaking him down. You’ve cum over him.

“This is a game to you.” the king makes note. “You’re a jokester.”

The sound of slaps in the room hasten. Waves of pleasure build upon him, building up and threatening to overflow. Your body thrums when the king makes a pleasured cry that almost sounds too effeminate off his lips. He draws out of you, dropping to sit in his throne.

“Come, whore,” he calls out to you.

You crawl as obediently as you can over to him. He makes no other command, wondering what you might do. Your lips center on his sac, suckling wet juices off of them. He’s soaked in his taste of you, his balls heavy with the need. Alfred beats his fist over his cock, until he’s certain he is moments away.

“Sit on me.” He pants, holding back. You crawl up his body as best as you are able. The king grasps your hips, holding you steady and thrusts forward back into your hole. On the throne, he makes short and shallow thrusts, pumping into your cunt with such force that you shout in pleasure, losing yourself in the moment. Alfred yanks you back, faltering in his thrusts to fill you. You yank up, wanting nothing to do with his seed-- but he pushes you back down and forces you full of his seed.

Alfred lays back, the rage burnt out in his stomach. Your back is still bleeding over his shirt, your cunt dripping and still stuffed with his Saxon cum.

“Gotten it out of your system?” You ask.

“Yes,” he pants. “Yes.”

“Good,” you return. “Now get out of my pussy, that hurt.”

Alfred pushes your hips up, obeying and setting you back onto his thigh. Yes, he laughs to himself. You were something much more than a demon. Much worse. You were a heathen woman.

@igetcarriedawaywithyou, @kylobien, @titty-teetee, @breathlessouls, @nejijjeoroo, @bcat1291, @readsalot73, @mslothbrok, @captstefanbrandt, @ailucascen, @michaeliskindahot, @cbouvier23, @naaladareia, @cbouvier23, @the-geeky-engineer, @lisinfleur,  @tephi101, @akamaiden, @ethereallysimple, @venusloviing, @happylittlepuppydog, @beyond-the-ashes, @slutforrpg, @sparklemichele, @alicedopey, @lif3snotouttogetyou, @noregretsandyeteveryregret, @dangerous-like-a-loaded-pistol, @deathbyarabbit, @unacceptabletatertots, @beyond-the-ashes (no sig), @babypink224221, @ivarandersen, @queen-see-ya-in-valhalla, @moose-squirrel-asstiel, @end-of-night, @gruffle1, @lol-haha-joke @arses21434,  @smileyparrots, @miss-artemis-wild, @two-unbeatable-beaters, @wonderwoman292, @wish-i-was-a-mermaid, @killerb00sdeath, @heartbeats-wildly, @boo20017, @acacheofstrange, @shaelyn102,  @smokealone, @shaelyn102 @laketaj24, @peaceisadirtyword, @ly--canthrope @cris101071 @daughterofthenight117 @unassumingviking @ladyofsoa, @inforapound @winchesterwife27 @feyrearcheron44 @allvikingsfanfic