#xia fei threads.

[gravesung]

👀 tatsu looking at xf we already know but it bears repeating —

❝ of course you're attractive. i'd have to be blind to say no. in fact, i think you'd make a great model if you put your mind to it, tatsu. ❞

Send 👀 to know if my muse finds yours attractive!

[gravesung]

@heartsbind ( lu guang ).

❝ there you are. i've been looking for you guys. ❞ something in him has noticeably dimmed since they last met, like a lightbulb at the end of its life. ❝ ahh, are you alone? i was hoping to see cheng xiaoshi too... ❞

[gravesung]

“Can’t sleep?”

⤷ LX @ XF. Could be a text / call, could be in person. You never know where you’ll run into the hat man after all

UGH... THIS GUY. XIA FEI PULLS A FACE, intended to be a disgusted grimace but manifesting more as a pretty pout decorating his flushed face. it's like meeting your sleep paralysis demon in real life. why did it have to be here, irresponsibly late at night, while xia fei's standing outside the bar with a dead phone and too much alcohol in his system to figure out what to do next? why did liu xiao have to show up right when he needs something?

❝ how could you tell? ❞ he crosses his arms, leans back against the brick wall behind him, its cold surface slick with rain. a single blond strand clings to the sharp edge of his jaw. ❝ what are you doing out here so late? ❞

prompt // @timeislikemusic

[gravesung]

@stormfated ( idol au )

❝ HERE. I'M NOT REALLY a sweets kind of guy. ❞ with a soft little smile, felix hands rayne the sweet bun one of his fans gave him. their variety show episode just finished filming, and the hour between this and the photoshoot is pretty much the only downtime he gets today, so felix turns his full attention to rayne; he doesn't often get the chance to have a proper chat with his co-stars. ❝ are you sure you're okay after that episode? those hosts are bastards... they love to humiliate girls on camera. i know it's part of the job, but it's still gross. ❞

[gravesung]

@bloodstrings / LINH.

❝ FELIX... ❞

IT ISN'T HIM. it can't be. how long has it been since he heard his name in vein's voice? when was the last time he heard the rare needle-sharp bark of his laugh, the way it shakes through the canopy of leaves above him?

two years on the dot, his half-addled brain supplies. at least, it was two years on the dot when he fell through a glitch in space-time and wound up here, in the bowels of this never-ending fucking forest. was that... this morning? how many hours has xia fei been wandering, listening, as vein once taught him to do, for sounds of running water? listen carefully, felix. you don't want to die out here, do you? he can almost feel the flick to the back of his head, and he almost huffs in response, snaps something like i'm trying, boss. but he can't, and he doesn't. and he has no goddamn idea how long it's been. all he knows is that he needs water, or he's going to die in this prison of trees.

❝ COME HERE, XIA FEI. ❞

there it is again — louder, closer, his real name like a knife straight to the heart. fuck. he's got to be hallucinating again. he has to be. what else could explain the smell of cinnamon and incense drifting past him on a breeze forcing its way through the trees? this voice? worst of all, what could explain the man standing on the path before him when xia fei looks up from the forest floor?

vein holds his hand out with an expectant smile, and xia fei breaks down into sobs. the logical thing to do would be questioning what's happening to him, of course. the pieces align too easily: a portal to a new and unfamiliar world, a man who looks and smells and speaks like vein. hoping it's only some alternate universe where he never died is like handing over your bank account number to a scammer, but he can't help himself.

❝ boss — ❞ his voice breaks; he reaches out, stumbling over his own feet, and forgoes the outstretched hand to fling himself into vein's embrace. it's too good to be true. he knows it is. he has no idea. vein's arms slip around him exactly like they used to, and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze —

❝ he — hey, boss, too tight — ❞ vein plays these games sometimes. he keeps him on his toes, never quite comfortable, swimming in adrenaline, until the pretense drops and felix can sink into him again. but this time, there is no break in the façade. he keeps squeezing. by the time xia fei starts to squirm, that grip has already become crushing; he yelps when he feels his ribs creak, a horrible, lancing pain bursting through his chest like a firecracker exploding beneath his skin; he pushes at vein's chest, mouth wide-open in silent protest but only able to squeak like a broken instrument in absence of air.

❝ it's alright, fei, ❞ the siren murmurs against his ear. ❝ no need to struggle. you're already half-dead... doesn't a rest sound nice? you're so lonely now, aren't you, you poor thing... come home with me. ❞

come home. vein's apartment is winter-still, now. xia fei hasn't stopped sleeping in his bed, but over time, vein's smell faded from the sheets. that place is not home anymore. he knows what he means.

is it finally time to stop fighting? should he put down the burdens and let vein crush him to death, here, in a forest where no one will ever find him?

it sounds... nice. to die in his arms. better than any other way to go.

fei is about to nuzzle into his neck and let vein's arms squeeze the life out of him when something whistles through the air. it's bright, so bright fei can see the glow from behind his closed eyelids, and even before his eyes fly open, he hears the sickening thunk as an arrow sinks straight into the side of vein's neck.

he's too stunned to react at first. it's almost absurd, the way it happens, vein's mouth stretching open and emitting a bird-like screech as the fire burns away his skin and muscle and bone. his visage, in this engulfing, warbles and melts away, shrinking back into him like a formless creature afraid of the light. what's left behind is something more harpy than human: feathered, crooked, hulking. fei's mouth opens, but rather than screaming, he doubles over and dry heaves into the dirt. oh, god. he almost died, he really almost died, and it wasn't even vein who did it, and now his ribs are cracked, and he's stranded out here, and his head is pounding and he needs water and and and —

[gravesung]

❝ HEY. DON'T DRINK THAT. ❞ BEFORE they can lift the glass to their lips, felix plucks it from their hand and slides it over to the bartender, with whom he shares a look — something extended, specific, a nonverbal communication. after a moment or two of this, the bartender seems to catch his drift; she startles, grabs the glass and takes it to the sink to dump out.

phew... dodged a bullet there. once it's taken care of ( and he can see the bouncer slithering past bodies toward the person he pointed out ), the tension in felix's shoulders visibly unwinds, along with the hard edge to his gaze. all that's left behind is the kind, tired smile he gives the would-be target as he settles next to them. ❝ sorry to scare you. someone spiked your drink; you were probably about to be robbed. ❞

open to mutuals.

[gravesung]

@damnedflames // drummer bakugou.

❝ it's bakugou, right? i'm felix. looks like we'll be working together from now on. ❞ what boss wants, boss gets, and felix's manager seemed to believe bakugou katsuki's infamous drumming would compliment his style — whatever that means. afternoon light filters in through gaps in the music studio's shuttered windows, tangling in the lighter blonde's dangerously-spiky hair. ❝ why don't we practice together? feel out each other's sound a little? i've heard your drumming in a group, but never on its own. ❞

[gravesung]

Other people practice 'mindfulness' or yoga, Jae finds peace in sitting on a creaky dock at some absurdly hellish early morning hour so he can guarantee being left the fuck alone. It doesn't even matter if he catches anything, really- The point of the activity is turn his brain off and enjoy ocean noises for a couple of hours before he has to go back to work and suspect virtually every subordinate under his employ of trying to undermine or cheat him.

There's a calming breeze that filters through the loose waves of his permed hair, the crash of the waves' saline spray against damp kelp-encrusted rock, the clear cries of the gulls gliding overhead and-Jesus FUCKING Christ that is a fat goddamn seal.

He hadn't even noticed it dragging itself across the pier until it was alarmingly close to him, chuffing and loudly exhaling through it's wet little nostrils at him.

Yoon stares back at it in abject silence, unsure of what it wants from him.

[JAE NEEDS TO INTERACT WITH THE SEA ORB.]

XIA FEI IS A BIT OF AN OUTLIER among his kind. most selkies, rare as they are, prefer to interact with humans in human form and vice versa with seals. which makes sense, it does — but most selkies fail to take into consideration the fact that humans are predatory creatures. moreso than sharks; moreso than killer whales. humans hunt to kill and eat and maim and entertain, and they care not for the will of the thing they are reeling in.

in this form, humans without a magical radar have no idea what he is. maybe they can spot the differences in his mannerisms from those of a regular seal, and maybe they can pick out his intelligence, his understanding of their languages — but even if they do put two and two together, they cannot steal his skin without flaying him alive.

which is always a possibility, too. but he's got teeth for that.

and despite his distrust in humankind, xia fei is a lonely creature, and often finds himself drawn to them regardless. this on has three things going for him:

he is young, likely close in age.

he is holding a fishing line, which may mean he possesses fish.

he is the first human xia fei has encountered in almost a year.

this time of year, these waters are cruel and sparse of prey. after looking at him for a few long moments, xia fei rolls over on his back and slaps his jiggly belly in hopes of impressing the stranger into feeding him a morsel.