#but I'm here and the sun is shining

[she-ra-ra-skirt]

Yeah, I'm still here!!

And not quietly either. Ha

Remember this: you are not lazy, you are sick. You are not useless; you are in recovery. You are not unproductive; you are trying your best to live your life while dealing with your health all the time. See the effort it takes to be you. And appreciate the things you do for yourself, be proud of you because you are still going.

[goodlucktai]

gently in the cold dark earth

scum villain's self saving system word count: 2k canon divergent / no system au; sy transmigrates into an empty npc role; gray lotus binghe loves his shixiong more than life and he's ready to make it everyone's problem

title borrowed from work song by hozier

read on ao3

x

The first thing Luo Binghe does when he escapes the Abyss is return to Cang Qiong Mountain. 

With Xin Mo secured to his back, the way could be instant if he so chose—the journey of a thousand miles reduced to a single step—but he unsheathes the elegant jian at his hip instead.

Yong Liang sings sweetly for him, the snow white blade still shining and untainted even after years of helping Luo Binghe carve his way through hell. It has never once failed him, soulbound to the one person still on this earth who has never failed him. 

“Take it,” his shixiong insisted, low and urgent. The Abyss was behind them, an even deadlier threat was ahead, and Without A Cure clogging his meridians made Luo Binghe the best choice to wield the only unshattered spirit sword they had between them. “Binghe, take it.”

He pressed until Luo Binghe’s grip curled tight around the hilt, not hesitating to put his soul in Luo Binghe’s hands even with the rosy glow of an unsealed demon mark shining on his face. 

Luo Binghe flies at a pace best described as dangerously reckless, hardly smelling the fragrant spring air or feeling the sun on his face. His robes are a disgrace, his hair a tangled, matted mess, and it occurs to him that he could stop somewhere and clean himself up, make himself presentable, but it’s a brief, fleeting thought. 

Shen Yuan would be furious to find out that Luo Binghe wasted even a single second returning to his side. 

——

He passes through the ancient wards effortlessly, feeling them fall away from him like water. It’s a simple thing to tamp down on his demonic qi, to disguise the parts of him that those so-called righteous cultivators would scorn. He ghosts through the familiar grounds as eagerly as a starving animal bolting down a fresh game trail, but one by one, all of their familiar haunts come up empty, without even a lingering trace of Shen Yuan’s spiritual energy left behind.   

The head disciple’s room is dusted and undisturbed, as if its occupant might walk through the door at any moment, but the lack of clutter and the empty book shelf makes it very clear to Luo Binghe what the truth must be.

If Shen Yuan returned to the peak after the Conference, he didn’t stay. 

All at once, images crowd the front of his mind—his shixiong grieving, pulling away, turning his back on those responsible for his heartache. 

Yue Qingyuan, always only a step behind wherever his precious Xiu Ya sword went, promised that no one wanted to hurt them. They only wanted to help.

He looked so solemn and righteous that Shen Yuan reluctantly allowed himself to be convinced. Luo Binghe, who had gone to the man for help after a bloody whipping when he was a child, only to be given a walnut cake and turned away at the door, knew better. 

He wasn’t surprised when Shen Yuan was wrenched away from him, and shizun sent him staggering off the cliff with a spiritual dagger buried to the hilt in his chest, all of it happening within a matter of seconds—but it still hurt. 

Shen Yuan’s scream followed him all the way down. 

I’m alive, Luo Binghe thinks, with no one there to tell it to. I came back to you. Let me come back to you. 

——

Including time spent in the abyss, it’s three years before they meet again. 

Luo Binghe’s revenge is his second priority at best, but he is nothing if not efficient and knows how to kill two birds with the same stone. Huan Hua affords him ample resources and opportunities to scour the world for his missing shixiong while playing the role of earnest and diligent new disciple. He snatches up each mission that comes along as though  eager to prove his worth to the sect that so graciously took him in, but he takes every excuse to wander, to search, to make conversation with vendors and innkeepers and passing strangers. 

Have you seen my heart? It lives outside of me in the form of a beautiful young man and tends to wander. Very contrary, likes to fuss over people, could argue the stripes off a lushu just for fun. You’d know it if you met it. You’d never forget. 

The days blur together, meaningless and gray, but he doesn’t stop looking. Shen Yuan still exists somewhere in this world, because otherwise Luo Binghe wouldn’t. It’s the only thing that makes sense. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about. 

And then, finally—an afternoon in Jinlan City, when Luo Binghe arrives in a throng of incompetent gold-clad Huan Hua disciples, to investigate a plague of all things—

He’s there. 

In dark, neutral colors and plain clothes, a traveling cloak with its hood resting down around his shoulders, as if his beauty could possibly be lessened by cheap, shapeless fabrics rather than effortlessly enhanced. His hair falls from its half-tail in glorious waves—he never did have the patience for anything elaborate, only wearing braids when one of his sticky shidimei cajoled and convinced him. Traveling alone, who could he possibly have to roll his eyes at and complain about and sit patiently still for?

A pale green ribbon is all that decorates his hair. Luo Binghe recognizes it instantly. 

“You should spend your allowance on yourself, Binghe,” Shen Yuan scolded him, not for the first time and certainly not for the last. 

“But I did,” Luo Binghe protested, widening his eyes and clasping his hands earnestly, the way he knew worked best. “I wanted it! And now that I have it, I want to give it to you.”

Shen Yuan was too clever by half to be truly fooled by the innocent act, but he always folded like paper anyway. He spoiled all of his shidimei but Luo Binghe most of all. Anyone on Qing Jing Peak would be hard-pressed to think of a single example of Shen Yuan telling Luo Binghe ‘no.’ 

Sure enough, after a second spent visibly wrestling with himself, he blurted, “Oh, fine! Hand it over.” 

He wore it every day since. He’s wearing it now. The wind catches the ends of it, sending it streaming behind him like the tails of a paradise flycatcher. Lovely. 

For a brief moment, Luo Binghe is frozen where he stands, finally faced with the very thing that he’s been missing for years, that he’s been living a miserable half-life without. 

And then he remembers himself and lurches forward. His voice is a tangle in his throat but he manages to choke out, “Shixiong!”

A strike of lightning couldn’t have jolted Shen Yuan into more perfect stillness. He stops mid-step, every inch of him as good as carved from precious jade. He doesn’t turn his head, and the sliver of his face visible from where Luo Binghe stands is very pale. 

Luo Binghe wonders suddenly if this has happened to him before—if Shen Yuan has heard a voice on the road or in the market that was almost familiar, that was almost the one he was hoping for, only to be disappointed when he turned to follow it and found a stranger. 

Luo Binghe shortens the distance between them with a few anxious steps and tries again. 

“Shixiong.”

The older boy whirls around abruptly, as if to get it over with. He’s bracing himself, but Luo Binghe barely has a second to absorb Shen Yuan’s painful-looking anticipation before it bleeds out of his face in favor of something else entirely. 

He looks like the earth has fallen out from beneath his feet, like he hardly dares to believe his eyes. Zheng Yang gleams golden at Shen Yuan’s hip, reforged and whole again.

“Binghe?”  

“It’s me,” Luo Binghe says softly. 

There’s a tableau he’s afraid to break, as if they’re in a delicate dreamscape and a move too sudden or loud might dissolve it. He wants to say I’ve missed you the way lungs miss air, immediately and needfully, I haven’t breathed at all since we’ve been apart. He wants to say you’re my light in the dark, I can only stand in front of you now because I love you too much to ever truly leave you. 

Instead, he tells his dearest friend, “This one made you wait. But your Binghe is here.”

Shen Yuan sprints the rest of the way to meet him, almost before he’s even finished talking, and they collide in a solid embrace that knocks the air from them both. 

His arms wind around Luo Binghe’s waist like steel bands, fingers digging into the back of his robes, precious face pressed into the crook of his neck and shoulder. Luo Binghe doesn’t hesitate to gather him up close, holding him as tightly and securely as he knows how, burying his nose in his shixiong’s hair and breathing in the familiar, beloved smell of him.  

Shen Yuan is a few inches shorter than he remembers. All the better to tuck him beneath Luo Binghe’s chin, to cover and surround him so completely that not even the heavens above can get a decent eyeful. 

He wants to grab and bite and pin Shen Yuan beneath him and never let go. His jaw aches with wanting it. 

“I’ve been looking for you,” Luo Binghe says, eyes wet. “I went home first.” Unsaid goes the obvious but you weren’t there. 

“How could I stay?” Shen Yuan bites out, managing to sound all at once strangled and bewildered and—charmingly—offended. He shakes his head without lifting it, an aggressive nuzzle against Binghe’s shoulder. “After what they did to you, I’d rather die than represent their stupid sect another minute.”

“Step away from it, Shen Yuan,” shizun said coldly. “I’ll put that beast back where it belongs.”

“No,” shixiong said in a voice that was smaller than usual, one that shook. He was frightened, clearly overwhelmed, but he didn’t budge from where he was plastered in front of Luo Binghe like a breathing shield. 

“Now.” 

“No, shizun.”

“Shizhi,” Yue Qingyuan said gently, offering his hand. “Come here. It will be alright.”

Shen Yuan said, “No. You can’t hurt Binghe. He’s not bad just because of who his parents are. He’s as good as he was yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. He’s hardworking and loyal and a sweetheart to anybody who gives him half a chance. He’s so good.”

Liu Qingge was behind the sect leader, sword drawn. Shen Qingqiu was quickly losing what little patience he had, face twisted into a sneer, dark eyes stabbing hatefully at Luo Binghe from over his head disciple’s shoulder. There were more figures rapidly drawing closer, the other peak lords following the flare of Yue Qingyuan’s qi. The standoff was becoming more and more untenable, and Shen Yuan was too smart not to see that, shrinking back against Luo Binghe as much as he could without crowding him closer to the edge. 

“You can’t hurt him,” he said again, the closest Luo Binghe had ever heard him come to tears, “he’s my shidi.”

Luo Binghe is unsurprised by his shixiong’s loyalty, because it’s already been proven to him over and over. It’s unremarkable at this point, which is an absolutely remarkable thing in itself. It makes him feel warm with gratitude and affection and ownership. 

Shen Yuan is clever and quick on his feet and always three steps ahead, more knowledgeable about flora and fauna than anyone else Binghe has ever known combined, and probably a force to be reckoned with as a rogue cultivator, where the only rules of conduct he has to adhere to are his own. 

But Luo Binghe hates to think of him on the road alone, without the little martial siblings who follow him like ducklings, without his Binghe there to make sure he remembers to eat all his meals and comb out his hair before bed. He’s a creature of comfort, made for airy rooms with too many cushions and an abundance of sweets and books to read. 

Luo Binghe has fantasized more than once about building a home for Shen Yuan to lounge prettily in. It was, in fact, his favorite flavor of daydream since he was about thirteen. 

If Shen Yuan wants to rogue cultivate, then that’s what they’ll do. But Luo Binghe thinks, if he constructs a palace that’s as comfortable as it is grand, and fills it with trashy romance novels and obscure beasts and his own hand-made meals, he can convince his friend to live in it with him.

Shen Yuan needs to be taken care of. Luo Binghe needs to be the one taking care of him. They’re together now and they’ll never be apart again and those needs can both be met. 

That possessive, proprietary feeling coils dark and deep inside him, undulating lazily like a serpent who’s fed enough for days, reminding him over and over what he already knows:

Mine. 

[moonchild-in-blue]

Not to get mushy but. Have you thought about how lucky we all are for being here right now? Like, how many of us struggled so hard before, to the point of nearly giving up? And yet we're here??

What are the odds of a bunch of random weirdos all over the world happen to get into the same bands, and be active in a equally weird, supposedly "dead" social media, at the same time? And just happen to be "just" brave enough to talk to someone, and another one, and another one?

I mean really. Have you thought about it? This just doesn't really happen like that. There's so many of you I consider genuine friends. So many of us that have or will meet irl. Like??? Hello ??? This is crazy!! Genuinely bonkers!!! Idk man, I'm super in my feels and I appreciate tf out of you all.

I mean, wow. How lucky I am to be here right now and be your friend. Yall are so neat and cute and interesting and cool and precious, like WOW. I'm glad we made it so far guys. Let's be alive for a long time 🥹💙

[mactiir]

The very funny thing about having finally recovered from depression after being depressed for literally decades is. Even though I'm no longer depressed. My kneejerk initial reaction when I get overwhelmed is like "fuck it time to die" and then, because I have spent a lot of time and intention and money on therapy, my IMMEDIATE next thought is "no you won't babe, eat some broccoli. Go for a run. Go see ur friends" and the moment I've done any combination of those things I'm like singing showtunes about how good life is. Like ok brain i understand you spent the last fifteen years in a critical state but maybe we can do the broccoli first next time. Vegetables before defaulting to Habitual Symptoms please.

[fullmetalgirl98]

GUYS. THE SERIALIZATION OF LOST IN THE CLOUD HAS JUST BEEN ANNOUNCED IN MY COUNTRY, STARTING IN APRIL, AND I'M GOING BADLY CRAZY, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH.

The timing of Italian announcements is always so sudden and damned calculated. My guess is that they aim at increasing the incidence of AMI.

Yesterday (well, technically yesterday in part of the world, here the 20th started 12 hours ago) marked the start of the third season.

This morning two new official art have been spread online.

And now THIS.

THIS.

THANK YOU KAMI-SAMA. I love you so much!

(always a thousand thanks to @kuro-ayame who is officially invested in the role of Angel of God and harbinger of good news about pretty much everything I want in my life)

[c4ts4ndstuff]

basic outline is done! i also made the gate, and have a section planned for the throne room. need to do some finetuning with the wall height, figure out the layout for all the rooms and buildings, start working on the docks and bridge, AND start figuring out the stained glass window design for the throne room :D

[sunrise-on-the-shore]

why restrict yourself to have only 1 birthday when it's possible to fuck around and get yourself a few more!!!

today's one of my birthdays and i'm vibing. 🧡

[cursedfortune]

It’s COCKtober 🍆🎃 u🇺🇸 know 😦what😦 that 😏means😏 👀👅 Dick sucking 🍆awareness month🈷️ 😯🙆🏼👅 time🕡 to remind all 👭😈 that love💛 that dick 🍆🍆🍆💦💦💦 THOT-O-WEEN 🎃is upon us🇺🇲 become the tru thot king👸👸!! BOO!! Sorry did I 😨scare 😨 you?? 🇮🇹it's🇮🇹🇮🇹 Cocktober 😈🌚 u🇺🇸 kno what😦 that 😏means 😏 SLUT-O-WEEN! back🔙 is the spookiest🏮 slut 🔛on 🔛 the block!!!! 🌚😈🔮💯 you've been visited by the thottie 👻 ghost‼‼ if u 🇺🇲 don't send this to 🔟 other thots💁🏽😩💋 you will 🉐get🉐 ❌NO DICK 🙅🏽✋🏽👋🏽 this Halloween 🎃😜😉Spread awareness of this joyous occasion by sending this to 🙆🏼👅 10🕙 of ur closest hoes! Get 1️⃣0️⃣ back: THICC DICC KING 💯👑👸‼️ Get 5️⃣ back: 🇺🇲u🇺🇲 gettin 💯the succ💦 tonite💦🌝 Get 0️⃣ back: no😣 🚫 succ for u🇻🇮🇻🇮 😭👻

"If I don't send this to ten people... I don't get no dick? But... I like dick." She casts a blessing of good fortune upon herself so that she may prosper in getting the dick during slut-o-ween. "I will not be subjecting others to this but I also refuse to not get the dicking I deserve."

And let's be real, she deserves to get absolutely railed.

[lilacerull0]

i feel like i'll ruin it if i give a code name to this person, but his histology thoughts are <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[moonspower]

there's the stray verse where vi's professor and you know he's showing up at clubs where his students are and when they see each other on class, one alcohol and xanax bender later, he just sits down and tells everyone to shut the hell up, take a nap or get out, just make sure your paper is done by wednesday.

[bearinabandana]

I had a dream I was some guy and I got kidnapped by some super important organisation dictatorship style and when I woke up from the fainting and all that they told me I was on a different planet and that I'd live there now and I was like no the fuck this is earth and they were like no but we have proofs look at the sun it's a different shape here you just can't see it because you can't look at the sun but see the beans are shaped different on this planet too and so I thought okay yeah that's convincing and then I lived some days in this weird utopian feeling that I was in another planet and the people there didn't know but at the end of the dream I was like no! I think you're lying! See! And then I kissed some stranger in a shop and said this is the ultimate truth!! They taste like human!!!!!!

Anyway my dream self was convinced that they weren't on earth anymore based on super dodgy information so that's probably what it feels like to be a flat earth believer

[fairymint]

i need a bit more sleep and alone time today (have to take my testosterone and preferably decompress)

but i am chewing on some lore in my head to hopefully make my muses more comfortable to work with while i make connections with them. logistically, anyways. (such as volo being in the future, twins traveling, etc. general things. )

my rp mental health is a little fragile admittedly, and i don't know what it needs... though i may try to focus on just making posts/ possibly replies until i feel better. my mental health overall is fine, just some little internal issues.

I'm still available for ooc chatter if you have something! but I'm trying to fine tune my efforts ic. when I'm feeling better i might make some self indulgent posts, but imma rest until I'm in good condition to reach out w/ individual wants again-

that's my mental from the past few days, there'll probably be mood whiplash and sin/fluff the next time i post IC- gonna let the muse be a brat later cause he deserves to unwind a bit.

[mischiefmodig]

Tag Dump

( ic . ) \ / prince of asgard . rightful heir of jotunheim . odin son .

( ooc . ) \ / legend of D. B Cooper .

( dash comm . ) \ / I'll have that drink now .

( crack . ) \ / puny god .

( answered . ) \ / you may bring your urgent to me .

( queue . ) \ / the sun will shine upon us once again .

( meme . ) \ / the god of mischief .

( hc . ) \ / you think so little of me ?

( musings . ) \ / burdened by glorious purpose .

( albums . ) \ / another relic locked in a vault .

( music . ) \ / mothers lullabies .

( magnusmodig . ) \ / I remember a shadow. living in the shade of your greatness .

( odin . ) \ / birthright was to die .

( frigga . ) \ / trust my rage .

( thor . ) \ / I'm here .

( loki . ) \ / your savior is here .

( laufey/jotunheim . ) \ / the stories of monsters children are told .

( asgard . ) \ / the rightful king . betrayed .

( thread . ) \ / starter call .

( thread . ) \ / closed .

( thread . ) \ / open .

( thread . ) \ / drabble .

( saved. ) \ / have you come to gloat ?

( aevum isles . ) \ / this is madness .

( tva . ) \ / love is like a dagger .

( hiddleston . ) \ / where's the pudding .

[rusalkarusa]

No matter how good those winter pics from Russia look I still think "thank God I'm not there now" like I hate winter so much I can't imagine myself surviving another winter like this. One or two weeks is maximum I could survive in that climate now lmao

[moved-naitfall]

tag drop #1

—◆ visuals | perhaps cherries look violent in the sunlight ( you are all honey & rage ). perhaps you should let the moon be your courier

—◆ thread | the absurd hero’s refusal to hope becomes his singular ability to live in the present with passion

—◆ ic | that means i'm abnormal. . . probably because i've seen far too many abnormal things

—◆ queue | some ancient call that i've answered before

—◆ memes | make a choice you won't regret

—◆ dashboard game | it's the cracks that let the light shine through

—◆ headcanon | i will not bare my soul to their shallow prying eyes. my heart shall never be put under their microscope

—◆ wishlist | even so. here i am. waiting impatiently for the day when i can touch the light

—◆ crack | i was gonna put my password to ‘levi’ but it was too short

—◆ character study | somebody inside of me has always tried ( with all his strength ) to be nobody

—◆ aesthetic | a world illuminated by the sun. a world bathed in light

[gangrenados]

Imagine Jason taking care of you when you're sick, he'd be so sweet, like a momma hen. I need that rn 😔