Attempts at Creativity

Mira, trying to play it cool: *switches on the wipers to push the spider off*

Wipers: *go right past the spider without affecting it, indicating that the spider is not outside of the car but rather inside the car with Mira*

Mira:

Moments later

Rumi, nearly wiping out as she slides to a stop next to Mira: WHY IS THE CAR ON FIRE?!?!

Mira, kicking a gas can behind her: It was time for a new one anyway.

Zoey, bending down and gently scooping up the spider as it crawls away: Hey pretty girl. Let's get you somewhere safe.

Mira:

Mira: *starts to summon her gok-do*

Miyeong and Third (I've called her Ha-yun in a couple stories now so I'm going with that) never find the final Sunlight Sister so they debut as a duo. But they've always had this feeling that she was out there. The Honmoon never lets them forget, even if their mentors have given up on the possibility of finding her.

The Sunlight Sisters see mild success in Korea and amongst Korean populations outside of the peninsula but don't really go global. Miyeong meets a guy who seems nice enough, and has a short fling with him before they drift apart.

Then the Honmoon stops calmly reminding them.

Miyeong and Ha-yun get this sense, this deep urge that is relentless in their souls. They know it must be their third Hunter, so they "go with their guts" and let the Honmoon guide their decisions all the way from their apartment in Seoul to Montreal in the middle of January.

And then they stop getting any help. Discouraged and not dressed nearly warm enough, they dip in to a small restaurant that caught their eye because it was serving genuine Korean food. It looked like it hadn't been updated since it opened in the 70s. All sorts of knick-knacks and paraphernalia adorned the walls. Newspaper clippings about the restaurant, photos of various local and Canadian celebrities partaking in food, old prints of popular Korean locations from ten years ago. Christmas lights still glowed warmly around the window and amongst the lovingly-cared for potted plants at the front of the shop. There was a flag hanging on the back wall with a large, oddly-shaped "C" with an "H" in the middle, coloured boldly in red, white, and blue. A grainy TV was mounted up in the back corner, displaying highlights from a hockey game with a team wearing jerseys with the same logo. There were only a few other patrons, but it was between meals on a weekday.

Miyeong and Ha-yun were shaking the snow out of their hair when a short older woman appeared through a set of double doors to the back. "Ah, bonjour! Une table pour deux?" she asked them, and even if they couldn't understand the French they could pick up an accent.

"Uh...sorry, we..." Ha-yun stammered in Korean, wincing as she gestured to her and Miyeong with a 'I'm so sorry we didn't understand a word of what you just said' expression on her face.

The older woman's face lit up. "Oh, it's no worries, my dear!" she replied in perfect Korean, "A table for two, yes? I'll set you both up in the best seat in the house!"

She sets them up at a table right by the front window, where they can look out on the busy street outside and the fat, fluffy snow falling from the darkening sky. They ordered based on warmly given recommendations, and then wait for their food. "Do you think we made a mistake?" Miyeong worried as she watched the snow fall, "What if we don't find her?"

"I'm more worried about where we're gonna find a place to stay tonight," Ha-yun pointed out glumly, "We were so preoccupied we kinda forgot that part."

Miyeong had yet another thing to worry about, but her mind was drawn from it by a commotion behind the double doors leading into the kitchen.

"Eomma! Stop! I told you I cook the food instead of serve it for a reason!"

"At the front table are two lovely girls just waiting to meet you!"

"Believe me, I'm happy you're supportive, Eomma, but I literally told you two days ago after you wouldn't stop trying to set me up with Ye-Jun."

"They're pretty, they speak Korean, and I'm certain I saw them on television the other day. Go talk to them!"

"But the japchae needs-"

"I can handle that. Now go!"

And then a woman about their age is definitely shoved through the doors by an overly-supportive mother, carrying their plates of food. She blushed profusely, looking like she wished the floor would open up underneath her, and stiffly brought their order over.

But Miyeong and Ha-yun don’t notice how awkward she was. All they saw was the Honmoon dancing around her like a light show. It might as well be forming a bunch of arrows pointing to her with its bands.

And as if that wasn’t enough, she was stunning. Long black hair was tired up in a messy bun, bangs swept up high and falling down to partially hide one eye. She was wearing an old red and black plaid shirt, rolled up to her elbows, and a food-splattered apron across her front. It was clear she had been busy preparing things in the back, but even after all that time in the kitchen, she made their hearts leap as if they were seeing her on a runway in Paris.

"Uh, sorry about that," the angel in Buffalo plaid said with a wince, "My mother can be…nevermind. Here’s your food."

Miyeong was happy to just accept her food and let the poor woman retreat to the kitchen, but Ha-yun had other ideas. "You have a Korean mother willing to forcefully set you up with women? Girl, you struck the queer jackpot," she commented with a laugh.

Their server released a long suffering sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Tabernack," she muttered, before adding, "I apologize again. I’ll leave you to your food. Let us know if you need anything."

She turned to leave, but only got two steps toward the safety of the kitchen when Miyeong shot out of her seat, shouting, "Wait!"

It stunned everyone. Ha-yun blinked at her in surprise and the mystery woman just stared at her in shock. Miyeong sputtered for a moment, feeling like a car stuck in the snow, before stammering, "Uh… Y…you said you cook here, right? Well, we’re way hungrier than we thought so is there anything else you’d recommend?"

The woman narrowed her eyes, which felt way more intimidating than Miyeong was anticipating. "The mandu is one of my specialties," she stated slowly.

"Ok, we’ll try that!" Miyeong squeaked.

"And…could we get a name?" Ha-yun added with a sly smile.

The woman glared at her. "If I give you my name I’ll have to go back there to where my mother is definitely eavesdropping," she said bluntly, "Do you have any idea how smug she’s going to be?"

Ha-yun shrugged. "So…is that a no on the name?"

Miyeong bit her lip, then blurted, "I’m Miyeong. And that’s Ha-yun."

The woman looked between them, heaving yet another sigh. "Celine," she finally relented.

Here is one last preview below the cut. Thanks so much for reading everyone!

And this scene brings up two things that stick with me: the first being that this confirms Gwi-Ma had no idea Rumi was half demon until that moment (otherwise he would have mentioned it at any point before this). Why is this important? Because moments before this, Jinu discovered Rumi was half demon. And without any visual cue that Gwi-Ma was watching the bath house fight, we see that one demon learning about Rumi's patterns meant Gwi-Ma learned about them. So if that's all it took for Gwi-Ma to learn about Rumi, then that means that up until that point, Rumi had managed to keep her patterns hidden. Every single fight she'd been in before, nothing slipped. Even before she became a Hunter: she - and by extension, Celine - managed to keep her secret. And this may also imply that Rumi's father either didn't know about Rumi at all, or he was somehow able to sever his tie to Gwi-Ma before meeting Miyeong/learning she was pregnant. Because all it took was Jinu realizing what Rumi was for Gwi-Ma to know, and if he didn't know up until that point, then the demon who was her father probably also couldn't know. (I have a feeling this detail will likely get retconned or forgotten about, but we'll see.)

But the other thing I was thinking about is the implication that people can have patterns before making a deal with Gwi-Ma. If patterns (Gwi-Ma's mark) = shame, because that's something Rumi supposedly has, but she has them without Gwi-Ma even being aware of it, does that mean it's possible for someone's shame to be so great, the demon patterns start to form before Gwi-Ma notices? And maybe that becomes almost like a flag for him to find people more likely to make a deal with him. (Like a demon Air Tag or something.) And maybe that could tie into how quickly Gwi-Ma learned about the demon marks - most people wouldn't know what they were, so roaming demons would spot them faster and Gwi-Ma would then have another victim to dupe into a shitty deal. Rumi growing up a Hunter was taught to hide them, and whether or not Celine knew this was why, we can't argue that it at least worked. Gwi-Ma didn't know about Rumi until Jinu saw.

And given Jinu's jump in logic, it's safe to say Gwi-Ma would have thought of something similar, and if he had learned about Rumi earlier, likely would have tried way harder to get to her well before the movie even starts.

But then their relationship grows and slowly Zoey starts to realize that Celine is a person, not an untouchable Idol, and she starts to act more and more like herself around her mentor. And the more she does and Celine doesn’t do or say anything that proves Zoey’s greatest fears, the more comfortable she gets