#golden white-eye

[tinylongwing]

Before I head back to Rota, I will be on Saipan for a few days. Canario here (Golden White-eye) is an endangered species found only on Saipan and Aguijan, though it probably was also on Tinian and Rota in the past. Their thrush-like habits and songs are very unlike most other white-eyes.

[taizi]

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. 

[quibbs126]

Randomly because I’m thinking about it, one thing I think is interesting about the Ancients’ designs is that Golden Cheese, Dark Cacao and Hollyberry all have eye colors that match the colors of their Soul Jam. Meanwhile, White Lily’s don’t reflect her Soul Jam’s color, and she ended up becoming Dark Enchantress

But then we have Pure Vanilla, who has one eye that matches his Soul Jam, and one that doesn’t

I’d argue that this could have a meaning of him being somewhere in the middle, or having to struggle between, but I’m pretty sure nothing like this will end up actually happening with him

But I mean, it’s an interesting detail

Actually you know what, while we’re speaking of Pure Vanilla’s design, he’s weird from the other Ancients in other ways too

Most obviously, his color scheme doesn’t match his Soul Jam whatsoever, unlike the rest of the Ancients. I mean sure, Dark Cacao’s color scheme has a lot of greys, but they’re purple tinted greys, and he does still have purples in his cape. But Pure Vanilla is made up predominantly of yellows with some white and brown, while his Soul Jam is blue

Granted I don’t think that’s an intentional character thing. I think it’s just because they had two Ancients with predominantly yellow color schemes, both of which couldn’t really change too much since that’s what their ingredients typically are, so one of them had to get a different colored gem if they wanted all the Soul Jams to be distinct in color. And you can’t really make blue the predominant color in a vanilla based Cookie, that just wouldn’t make sense. I mean sure, cacao isn’t really purple, but Dark Cacao has the black hair, and his purple leans more on the warm color side, which cacao usually is, so it isn’t as ludicrous a difference

I mean maybe they could have made his Soul Jam a reddish brown or white like Mystic Flour’s, but that’d break with the color schemes of the other Soul Jams, which are all bright, vibrant colors

And then aside from his color scheme, another thing I noticed is that the shape of his Soul Jam doesn’t really feature anywhere else in his design. Everyone else has this to some extent, with Dark Cacao’s diamond shoulder pads and crown, Hollyberry and Golden Cheese’s heart and triangle patterns, and even White Lily in that her dress is like an upside down fleur de lis. Pure Vanilla meanwhile, doesn’t really have the club anywhere

I can’t really give an explanation as to why, other than maybe the club symbol being hard to incorporate, but they were able to put White Lily’s symbol at least somewhere else on her design

Sorry, this pivoted after the first point, but I just wanted to add on more observations I made

[mari-bon]

Day 2 battle of the bands

Come on guys why can't we just be friends :(

[onaperduamedee]

"And took whatever price they wanted."

[squidvurd]

White Eyes

[unladyboss]

SYDCARMY SENSUALITY

It's all in the eyes

[icangiveitback]

i did not draw what i wanted to with this but oh well

some fate!bend

[imerian]

Made this keychain while i was sad for Logan after the race. I'm so happy with the result and also i think doodles and references come out good ฅ⁠^⁠•⁠ﻌ⁠•⁠^⁠ฅ

I put more pics under cut if you want to see!!!

There some photos without any drawings plus just doodles bc it's easy to miss something with how much I going on there 😭

Also i finally have plase to rumble about every little detail (tags)

[starbeamssovereign]

This request is going to be a little different from the others so if you don't want to do it you can delete this.

Can I request a ancient mafia boss AU Headcanon? and if you want can you make it the top one the least dangerous and the bottom being the most dangerous type of mafia boss.

Mafia Boss AU: The Ancients

Summary: The Five mafia bosses have chosen to disclose very personal details about themself. All of them are documented and stored in five separate case files. Well, shall we read them together?

TW: Murder ✨, Poison, Blackmailing, and some other stuff. If you can handle the stuff above, you can certainly handle the rest of it <3

I HAVE NEVER DONE STUFF LIKE THIS BEFORE. BE WARNED 😭

File #1: The Sky Syndicate

Boss: Pure Vanilla

Going by the nickname “Pure Vanilla”, or “P.V.”

He’s known to be very social and surprisingly kind, even to the point of being called naive for a mafia boss.

However, much is going on behind those eyes. His mechanical staff almost looks…alive, in a way, blinking and glancing around. As if looking for a traitor in its midst.

Despite his kindness, Pure Vanilla is known to be quite intelligent, and his truth can be quite harsh. Especially to those who declare that they’re his enemy.

The look of shock on someone’s face when Pure Vanilla comes face to face with them, smiling all giddy and joyful as he lists down everything that they’ve done to betray the syndicate is…exhilarating to him.

And how does he deal with them? Well, by forcing the traitor into a bright, almost blinding room and sending in his subordinate, Strawberry Crepe to…disassemble them.

File #2: Silent Petal Society

Boss: White Lily

They’re a very secretive organization, known for its eagerness to test out the resilience of their members and how their minds work.

White Lily, known to be distant yet intelligent and kind to her subordinates is quite brutal to her enemies, attacking them with no mercy. Just ask a certain jester-looking freak about what she did to him and you’ll get your answer.

She deals with sciences and often sends her members out to smuggle more information and items for the sake of research.

She may have some other side to her, as she was sometimes reported to be cackling her heart out in a room with a bright red hue…but that was just normal, wasn’t it?

File #3: Scarlet Nexus

Boss: Hollyberry

This group is known for its brute strength and love for alcohol. In fact, their group mostly focuses on smuggling said items to their headquarters, where their boss Hollyberry is.

She’s the only one who uses her name, while the rest go by their nicknames. She personally thinks that it’s a power move and that her strength outweighs their intelligence in multiple ways. She didn’t specify how though.

Her group is much more out in the open, but who could really stop such powerful yet swift people? Most, if not all of them are loud and boisterous, both confident in their ability to evade the police and strong enough to fight them if ever caught.

Hollyberry is even in a sort of alliance with a Dragon — one of the five most powerful members in a terrorist organization.

File #4: The Black Citadel

Boss: Dark Cacao

Pussy

Dark Cacao is the most secure and secretive of the bunch. His headquarters is somewhere up in a mountain, yet nobody really knows where. He has his own business by fortifying his borders with technology to make sure nobody goes in, and very few come out.

He may be the most strongest, but he doesn’t plan to show it anytime soon. Otherwise there would be a bit of a bloodbath happening sooner or later.

His three executives, going by the nicknames Affogato, Caramel Arrow, and Crunchy Chip are different in their own ways.

Affogato deals with finding traitors on the inside and creating more poisons and psychological weapons against any enemies who dare wish to harm the boss. In fact, he may be the closest to Dark Cacao for some reason…perhaps he has other goals?

Crunchy Chip works as a guard with his group, known for controlling and training many dangerous wolves. Not much else is known. Perhaps later these files may be updated.

Caramel Arrow leads a group called the Watchers. They’re known for scouting out their enemies. They also work to help trade in materials and weapons. She’s quite loyal to Dark Cacao, even though she was close to getting demoted and eliminated due to a certain meddling of another executive…

File #5: The Golden Circuit

Boss: Golden Cheese

She’s very flamboyant and tech-savvy, and so is her group. They’re well-known and very popular among criminal organizations of all kind.

Golden Cheese loves glittering gold, sending out her subordinates to get any jewelry that gleams and shimmers like her oh-so precious gold.

The Golden Circuit specializes in high-tech surveillance systems and technological innovation, especially with weapons. This group knows everything and everyone that even speaks to one of their members.

So yes, they are known to blackmail quite often.

And any enemies don’t stand a chance due to Golden Cheese being active in her job as a boss, even killing tens of people with some of her high-tech golden spears, able to track any source of heat and follow it.

All of her subordinates are light on their feet, and some even use mechanical wings like hers to fly around so quietly.

She’s probably the one who designed Pure Vanilla’s mechanical eye staff anyways…

GUYS PLEASE I DONT KNOW WHAT I DID

PLEASE DON’T JUDGE ME 😭

[tinylongwing]

2023 was a busy year for me! Thankfully I have some art I can show you all - there's always stuff every year that I can't show until the next year, haha. Enjoy this eclectic mix of birds, fanart, and a velvet ant - that's about usual for me, I'd say!

[androgynouspenguinexpert]

congruent of d'deridahn

[gertritude-art]

Does Lillie have bangs or is that her hair being pulled into her headband?

It's her hair being pulled back! I found this slightly uncomfortable edit of her sprite I did a while back that I think emphasizes this better:

[jonahmagnus]

Two graves, one body // Daisy & Marigold

[tongues--and--teeth]

Listen, I know there’s canon pre-soul jam designs and they really don’t look that different from canon, but. This is my AU, and we’re getting funky.

Flat designs under the cut!