heartlesslotus.

Hmmm. HMMMM.

Mikey glares at the innocent walnut in his palm. Offended , he holds it out to Wen Kexing to look at ( as if he had not just put it there moments before ) " — but it's plain ! I don't want it. " No salt , no honey , no anything ! Who cared if it was good for the brain when it tasted bad on the tongue ?

@𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐚𝐬​ 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 :       ❝ i’m not here to drudge up the past. i’m just hoping we could have a future. ❞ scorpion after yang yang visits "the house." :)

* ˙ ˖ ✶ 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭,  accepting.

        if anyone dared to call it one, xue yang’s heart must’ve shattered at least a dozen times in the past few years. to be alone again after he had everything & learned to hope for something beyond flirtatious, cheeky grins he’d slip on to smother the flame sparked by the prospect of mutual affection ─── he might’ve wanted more. by the time he could face it within himself, wen kexing had left without a word or a way that would teach the assassin how to forgive. he didn’t need to know how to do it back then, but at the present moment he feels awfully unprepared for remorse expressed in such a manner.

        a house this size isn’t an apology gift one can offer overnight : the more he thinks about it, the more it feels as though something in his chest might burst with a rare, never-before witnessed touch of guilt for not having heard the other scorpion out. the bed is large enough to accommodate two people, there are two cups on the low table he’s just passed on his way from one room to another [ … ] things he has noticed, things he doesn’t yet want to point out just so he could stall whatever else they’ll eventually have to resolve. things that come in pairs no matter where he turns to look & which he makes sense of as soon as wen kexing talks to him about his wish for a future, distant or otherwise.

        he wants it, of course. it’s the only way he could make up for the lost years. the only way this is worth anything.

Crossovers. Just crossovers where we ignore canon cast and it's okay again to have two different muses from vastly different series interact. Like seriously why do I never see crossovers anymore what happened they were genuinely fun.

Reblogging general aesthetics / musing / music about our muses without 'clogging other people's dashes'. I don't know when it became a general dislike when someone reblogged stuff related to their muse, but for whatever reason it's distasteful now and I don't get why.

When we all were stans for familial / platonic relationships and how deep those went.

Promos being reblogged instead of just liked. Liking doesn't do a thing on tumblr no matter how much they try to make it work. Reblogging gets peoples muses seen.

Interacting with people's ooc posts to show interest or support toward other people's muses.

That small window of time when people were happy to give female muses and ocs a chance.

Also that small window in time when multi-muses weren't as harshly criticized but now we're back to that.

@𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐚𝐬​ 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 :       “here's to a new year blessed with health and many little ones!” wen kexing said, brandishing the firecrackers in his hand towards the scintillating night sky as if he were ready to climb mountains to conquer the world. silence settled until suddenly, a roar of laughter echoed in the air, and wen kexing only had so much strength left in him to hold his stomach from the abrupt cramp. after a while, although tears welled up at the corner of his eyes, he eventually managed to calm down.

wen kexing could hardly remember when was the last time he'd felt so good. now, he had a wife at his side, who stood just a few feet away from him night and day alike, who liked to cook for him on occasions like this, and who even came to sit on the wooden platform outside their house to exchange a few kisses under the moon no matter the weather. with things being as they were, it almost felt as though nothing in the world could possibly disrupt their peace. and though this was their first new year celebration together since they'd settled down, it sure felt as if they'd been together for much, much longer.

“a'yang, won't you come closer? let's lit up the first firecracker together, alright?”

* ˙ ˖ ✶ 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝,  always accepting. 兔年快乐！🐇

        every once in a while, wen kexing says things that xue yang couldn’t anticipate even if he tried. the tenth time is just as startling as the first, & there’s always that fraction of a second that freezes his features before the corners of his eyes crinkle up & his expression starts to look more like that of the other once he’s figured out it worked. xue yang has heard him come up with the most absurd of ideas & has laughed every time. on the eve before the new year, he’s decided to laugh a little extra. he’s nearly managed to fully ignore the chill of the wintry night wind ──── even under the makeshift porch in front of their house, it doesn’t seem to be any less harsh.

        but it must be around midnight now, at any rate ; it’s a bit difficult to tell when they’re so far away from the festivities in the city, the music, the costumes. the laughter of children as they bump into the two men’s tall frames, even if the topic has only come up as a source of amusement between them : because xue yang would rather die than tie himself down to something he never got to be. here though, they’ve gotten used to hearing the clear sound of the nearby river more than anything else. if anyone had told the yueyang-born delinquent that he’d spend ( possibly ) the last of his days in a small mountain house with the one his heart couldn’t object to, he wouldn’t have let them finish. tongue split in half, & a trickle of blood splatter across their cheek.

        just like he’s always done things.

@𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐚𝐬​ 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 :       “this is the third time this week. i'm starting to believe you're getting hurt on purpose.” scorpion verse 🦂

* ˙ ˖ ✶ 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝,  always accepting.

        “ ...who’s getting hurt on purpose? ”

        xue yang, with a threshold for pain so high it might as well be correct to assume he wouldn’t feel a thing if he was stabbed or whipped into unconsciousness, is currently putting on a terrific act of insincerity while fixing the ex-valley master with a look that implies he’s been wronged beyond belief. he knew if he pushed his luck to the point wen kexing might get suspicious of his motives, the next time it wouldn’t be as easy to fool the healer into treating the patches of skin he’d purposely wounded & left to bleed for that extra effort of credibility.

        yet, where’s the fun in doing an almost perfect job of it every time? while his lies have been nothing short of sweet & detailed enough not to plant a single seed of doubt, it wasn’t long ago that he decided to increase the frequency of his so-called reckless blunders. he wanted to mess up, to bewilder the other scorpion, to make successful deception a challenge so the next little lie would bleed a little longer.

        lying back on his elbows on the low bed, with one of his legs bent slightly at the knee in order to complete his pretense of being barely capable to move it freely, xue yang rips his gaze away from wen kexing’s skeptical eyes & presses his cheek against his own shoulder, breathing unsteadily, feeling the blood trickle down the outer side of his thigh underneath that fabric. if it sticks to the wound, it’ll hurt even more ; a convincing reasoning that he tucks away for later, should he need to actually rush wen kexing & his gentle hands toward the throbbing gash [ … ] & as such, he mistakenly thinks the man might remedy that within a few moments, until he doesn’t.

@𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐚𝐬​ 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 :       “look at them going around. fussing over money, power and fame. do they realize what’s going on around them?” (for main, edited to fit our verse!)

* ˙ ˖ ✶ 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭,  accepting.

        having just passed a street vendor’s stall,  & naturally eyeing the colorful variety of candied fruit to the point he’d unawarely fallen a step or two behind his partner,  xue yang’s attention shifts in the direction of the voice as though he’d never gotten distracted in the first place  ─────  & he has yet to notice the beginning of a ruckus caused by a handful of guards acting in the name of,  surely,  some self-important nobody just a few stalls ahead.

        barely months prior,  he & wen kexing were in a situation where striving for the same thing presented itself to them not as an excessive luxury,  but a prerequisite to live.   power wasn’t granted,  it had to be taken ;   the dead weren’t honored or given funerals,  they were robbed & put up on display for everyone to see & cower in fear.   the ghost valley wasn’t a place where one could feel comfortable without a price for others to pay.   it was not a matter of fame,  but rather how infamous one could get among thousands of like-minded individuals.

        “ i know them, ”   he answers simply,  unmoved,  though there’s a biting edge to his words that could put to shame the cold,  end-of-year chill.   a razor-sharp whip waiting to snap.   “ i saw them harassing a bunch of cultivators for giving free meals to dirt-poor kids outside the city yesterday.   look, ”   motioning with his chin,  he straightens the fur collar of his cloak over the back of his neck as he can’t help but hiss a soft scoff through his nostrils.   “ those helmets look so fucking tight on their heads.   of course their tiny brains can’t squeeze a single thought past. ”

        for the sake of that seven-year old’s memories if nothing else,  he’s on the verge of considering a scene.   but that child’s grown up into a mass executioner & he’s a few decades too late   [ … ]   the jianghu’s got its own kind of leading participants now,  anyway.   the least xue yang is inclined to do is make room for guilty consciences or time to play savior to something that’s dead.   so he puts the whole sight out of his mind,  lets his fingers curl around wen kexing’s left arm instead,  careful not to bump the still-bandaged shoulder underneath those layers,  & gently stops him from walking further.

BOLD: yes. ITALIC: maybe. STRIKE: no way. :)

@𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐚𝐬​ 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 :       convincing the brothel owner to let go of xue yang for a couple hours had been a little arduous, but it was nothing wen kexing couldn’t do. as per usual, he had managed to make it seem as though they were only exploring their bedroom possibilities and that it was purely in the context of xue yang’s job. but in reality, he had only come up with a convenient little lie to cover up the fact that he’d dragged him out for an outing in a garden pavilion, where none of the curious gentlemen could have their eyes on them.

as they stopped by the wooden platform, where the view on the brightly lit city could be seen, wen kexing pressed closer to the man’s side, wrapping an arm all around his waist and pulling him closer so that their faces were only a few inches away from the other. he hadn’t seen that face in over a couple weeks, and couldn’t help but feel just a tad cheerful at the sight of those soft traits. breaking the silence first, he said, “it’s been a while,” his hand then came to rest on the surface of xue yang’s cheek. “aren’t you going to grace this poor gentleman with a kiss after so long?”

* ˙ ˖ ✶ 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝,  always accepting.

        xue yang missed him ;   truly & almost more desperately than it should be allowed of him,  he thinks he could admit to it with only one nonchalant little remark to precede it this time,  if he were to be asked.   a passing week certainly felt like longer & by the time he’d counted to the third week,  he thought he might as well not see him again.   he’d had to pull himself from uncharacteristic preoccupations twice already,  scoffing at himself without giving chances to the reasons behind it.   but now that there’s a familiar arm drawing his whole body closer with what feels like the bare minimum of effort,  xue yang finds himself ridiculing his previously unreasonable restlessness again.   of course he would come back.   he likes me too much not to.

        a small garden pavilion facing the animated night view of the city,  away from flurries of people walking to & fro as though busy festival days were just around the corner,  & lotus flowers standing proud above the surface of the surrounding lake :   no doubt,  wen kexing must’ve planned this in advance.   & although he’s held tight in that half-embrace,  close enough that he can feel the man’s warm breath brushing along the high of his cheek,  thinly lined eyes direct their focus to the lotus petals splashed a pale shade of ruby by the lanterns hung above,  instead,  letting wen kexing’s doting gaze linger in waiting.

        “ i thought you forgot about me, ”   xue yang’s response carries subtle hints of a pout,  the corners of his mouth slightly downward as he tilts his head to look up at his company.   usually,  he’s impervious to most  – if not all –  forms of coaxing him for a touch of lips or even a smile,  but this will be difficult to drag on.   it’ll be embarrassingly difficult to want to drag it on for his own satisfaction.   not when wen kexing is staring at him like that,  allowing into glimpses of unmatched honesty.   it’s really been a while,  but does he know?   does he know how much he’s saying with just his expression?

        xue yang can’t find it in himself to deny him any longer.

@𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐚𝐬​ 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 :       📨 a'yang, did you know it’s national boyfriend day today? 📨 happy national boyfriend day (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠) 📨 should we drive to mcdonald’s for dinner tonight? 📨 let me spoil you a little (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡ 

* ˙ ˖ ✶ 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝,  always accepting.

[ 下午4:39 ] :  …….? (≖. ≖ ) [ 下午4:39 ] :  does such a day really exist?

        wen kexing’s got one hell of a knack for smooth communication.   this has gone on for so long that xue yang eventually learned to guess when that may be the case,  & so he initially perceives the comment as being just one of the man’s multiple attempts at suave playfulness  ─────  playfulness he once thought would fade after the first few months of a promising relationship.

        they sure have national celebrations for everything these days,  he notes.   while it’s more a mental remark than one actually sent in the chat window,  a quick search for confirmation’s sake has him half-tempted to remove the message next to his own name.   well,  never mind.

With each passing birthday the amount of people that arrived steadily decreased, all claimed by things he could not control. This was perhaps his first birthday that none of the familiar faces he had come love would be attending. There's no cellphones or video games, but he makes do with entertaining himself by drawing in the ground with a stick. He's half way through drawing a lopsided Keke, all while wondering how everyone must be doing when the smell of food fills the air.

The promise of sustenance has him standing up , head raising as he spins towards the kitchen. Wen Kexing's voice travels pass the walls of the house confirming what his nose tells him. Running under Xue Yang's arm to get there first , Mikey overshoots his steps and slides past the table. He quickly back pedals before plopping into the seat , hands excitedly drumming on the table , " What's this ? "

— and even though he asks , he's already put the noodles in his mouth. It's bouncy and chewy in all the best ways , and he kicks his feet around in pleasure. Spraying some food from mouth onto table , Mikey praises , " You made this ? It's really good ! " before snapping his mouth shut before he's scolded.

@𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐚𝐬​ 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 :       “sweet tea will do. i’m not here for long, i just came to ask you to accompany me out of the valley tonight. at our own discretion of course.” main verse a'xing coming to visit yang yang in his room! 😋

* ˙ ˖ ✶ 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝,  always accepting.

        xue yang isn’t accustomed to having company in this room.   on the rare occasions the purple-clad girl does visit him,  it’s next to never that she lingers long enough for the valley to have been enveloped in sunset colors before her departure.   as far as the former assassin’s bedroom goes,  if he’d known he would end up spending fewer & fewer nights where he was supposed to,  he might as well have been bolder & entertained different preferences for accommodation from the beginning.   but to have wen kexing as a rare guest at the table by the open window is an occurrence the other ghosts can say they’re lucky not to have experienced ;   xue yang though,  an eccentric & a half by nature,  dares to think the pleasure is all his.

        “ & here i was,  thinking i’d never get to see the world outside the valley again. ”   no doubt relieved by his self-imposed exile to mount fengya,  as if he truly was a vengeful ghost sealed under the holiest of mountains,  the jianghu might finally rest easy for a while.   the mildly sweet fragrance of osmanthus flowers emerging from the lacquered teapot is quick to saturate the air already tinctured with hints of cherry,  & with a sort of nonchalance that’s perhaps infuriating to the other,  xue yang kneels across from him to place two cups between themselves.   charming arch of lips,  lashes downcast.   wen kexing appears to be a bit too composed himself,  & xue yang likes his company a touch more…   stirred.