Moon Ruyul

♭ music therapy

the little fingers dance over her wrist like playing the piano and then tracing what she thinks is a question mark on her palm. she looks down at the young girl for a few moments more, smiling softly, before she returns her attention to the woman. “i’m used to people touching me all the time, so it’s alright,” she says, though she agrees it would be better to teach the girl to not do that, though it won’t be something she takes part in. “but i can play some piano if she wants me to.”

she gives a little shrug, then watches the woman - who seems a bit tired - ruffle her daughter’s hair before introducing herself. “it’s nice to meet you both, ruyul, minji,” she replies, nodding her head. “my name is chelsea. i don’t know if there’s a piano around here somewhere that i could borrow to play, so we might have to go back to my apartment for the little performance. unless you know a place?”

she really had to learn how to stop minji from touching strangers so simply and so easily. they had gone through enough as it was--what they needed now wasn’t kindness but more of caution. even though they were in what seemed to be the safest place on earth for many of the demigods, ruyul still thought that it was much better to be safe than to be sorry. 

“sorry about that. she’s just..really friendly. i’ll tell her to try not to touch strangers so much, but she still has the tendency to.” ruyul mumbled a little sheepishly, almost apologetic as she exhaled a soft sigh. “but with regards to your question. we don’t actually have a piano in our shop. i was thinking of it but i wasn’t going to buy it until i was pretty sure that it would help her. if it doesn’t impose much on you...i guess we could go to your apartment then?” ruyul hesitated slightly. “this is really impromptu, that’s why i’m a little nervous if we’re imposing too much on you, chelsea. we can do it another day if its too impromptu?” she asked softly, gently grabbing onto minji’s hand as soon as the younger girl’s fingers reached out to latch right onto chelsea’s hand, gripping the child’s fingers within her own with a faint little sigh. 

♭ music therapy

the woman repeats herself, which really doesn’t make the sudden and unexpected request any easier to process - especially the part where this woman simply guessed that chelsea could play an instrument, or is it written on her face perhaps? then she mentions her daughter, and only then chelsea’s attention goes fully to the young girl holding on to her mother’s hand, staring ahead of herself seemingly blindly.

when she looks back up at the woman, she’s explaining the whole thing, and with every word, chelsea mellows a bit more, so that by the end she’s nodding her head in understanding, and a small smile has taken over the perplexed expression from before.

“i can, actually, play an instrument,” she says easily, warmth entering her voice now that she no longer feels blindsided. “i play the piano, the guitar, the flute and the harp. would any of those be fine?” she glances down at the young girl again, not sure if she should address her questions directly to her, or ask them to the mother. “um, did you mean right now, or…?”

“oh no. no no no, not right now.” ruyul laughs a little sheepishly, palms sweaty as she clutched minji’s hand and bit down slightly on her bottom lip with a mild little laugh. “we aren’t prepared anyway.” she jerked her hand slightly as minji tugged on her hand, quickly signing to her that she wanted to hear a little bit of what the other woman could play. “uhm, actually, she said she wants to hear you play.” a little semblance of panic lurches in ruyul’s belly as she watched minji release her hand to flit towards the other woman, worry creasing her brows as her stomach churned, feet shifting from one to the other in a slight momentary moment of mild panic. 

it was something that she had found herself in some vague difficulty to change ever since their shared incident. 

“minji--”she lurched forward a little as her daughter grabbed hold of the younger woman’s hand with a tiny smile on her face, letting young fingers dance across the other woman’s wrist in an attempt to mimic playing the piano, before tracing a question mark on the woman’s upturned palm. “sorry, she should learn not to touch people without their permission.” a slightly harrassed laugh burst from between her lips as ruyul brushed her hair back, tugging on her daughter’s dress to bring minji back to her side quickly. 

♭ music therapy

@mpruyul

to say her experience at the island has been quite normal so far is perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but nothing altogether too strange had happened to her yet, and considering the explanation she’d been given at the start, one might think she would’ve faced a lot more issues with people’s abilities and things like that. instead she finds herself almost thinking this is a city like any other and she’s just somewhere in south korea, about to call home to her mother and tell her about her day. though calling home is restricted to places that can be mistaken for the normal world, she’d been told.

in any case, the days are going by quite well, she hasn’t had to whip out a flame or two to fend off any attacker and though she’s on an island surrounded by sea, it’s big enough that she doesn’t feel uncomfortable with it - which had been an entirely different story when she’d walked across the bridge to said island, but well.

the normalcy of it all ends here, however, with the woman across from her simply walking up to her and asking her if she can play a music instrument - how did she know? - and whether she’d be okay with playing said music instrument for her daughter. it takes her a moment or two to simply process that before she clears her throat lightly and says: “i’m sorry, what?”

ruyul wonders if she’s been a little too direct with her words, or perhaps a little bad in phrasing her words. had her social skills diminished themselves to such a terrible degree? a light frown permeated her brows as she ruminates in thought, a hand lightly brushing against the side of her thigh in minor agitation. “i asked if you’ll be alright with playing well, a music instrument for my daughter. if you could that is.” a side glance to minji, staring blankly into space after having tugged on her hand and pointed at the other demigod, tracing letters into her palm a request that she thought she would entertain for a moment, out of a good mood and love for her child. 

but to be caught in such an embarrassing situation...? ruyul sighed to herself, clearly, she hadn’t thought through it much, and it was a matter of a terrible timing and her own personal impulsiveness. 

mp-dionshun​:

Better Luck Next Time, Prince Charming | Open Starter

Even if Shun was at the Hallow’s Eve Ball alone, the young demigod wasn’t going to miss out on the chance to dress up. The holidays have always been something Shun loves to take part in, no matter if they were from his own mix of cultures or others. The longer the brunette thinks about it, the more he’s sure that the reason why he loves holidays are for their memorable events. He’s got a lot of happy memories before he’s lost his sight. The recent years he’s been alone, protected from the public. Shun was tired. So tired from being sheltered and pitied. Dressing up as a prince he had his fun playing his part. Unlike how the residence of Mount Phoenix usually see him, Shun was walking with elegance and confidence. Most of his luck of the night was spent running into some friends and acquaintances. He’s gotten a small glimpse of costumes but a sudden surge of his power is triggered when his hand is taken. “Oh- hello there..” he says softly gently taking his hand back.

ruyul was..practical. some might even say a little too practical. which is why when minji begged to go for the halloween event and ball, she decided to whip out her old military clothes and dress as her old self, complete with the dustings of a war veteran and her own personal dog tags, whilst having her daughter trail behind her in a little princess dress.

which princess exactly, she didn’t really bother remembering clearly, less out of the fact that she didn’t want to make an effort, but more of the fact that she had truly forgot which exactly she had promised to do for minji. the little girl had taken off on her little feet as soon as she had let go of minji’s own tiny hand, and ruyul soon lost her young daughter in the crowd of milling demigods and gods. with a sigh, she tried maneuvering her way around the crowd, eyes brightening as she noted a familiar piece of cloth that she had used for her daughter’s princess clothes that--as minji had said herself kinda connoted her royal princess status. thinking that the individual was her daughter and half done with the milling and pushing crowd, ruyul reached out and grabbed the hand, blinking slightly as she felt it chafe her hand, way too large for her for a young child’s hand.

Old Memes

“ no. it won’t. and that’s a fact.” as brutal as it sounded to be completely and factually as honest as she was being, ruyul thought that it was rather much more of a mercy little emotional killing that she was doing. being too naive all the time was never good for anything. she sighed softly as she watched the younger demigod with a wry little smile. “it will though, momentarily alleviate it, from what i’ve experienced. but not for long. rather than a remedy, i would say that it likens to denial and just avoiding the problems more than anything.” she purses her lips together, slightly concerned. 

“ why, do you have a lot of problems that you can’t get rid of recently?” 

text starters : still accepting!

ruyul wonders why exactly the egyptian god of death lingered around her to ask about such a question. of all the things to ask, she was perhaps the last person that was considered right to tell him why no one has fallen in love with him yet, or how to sate his own boredom. her fingers pry against the dog tags she had on her neck, nails scraping against the metal as she hummed slightly, brows lightly knitted together as she kept a careful eye upon her daughter, who was blindly touching her way through the playground. 

the last thing that she wanted was for osiris’ attention to fall onto minji, or what as what camazotz had told her--the lingering soul of her son that had attached himself to his twin. 

“maybe because you aren’t interesting enough?” the words twist from her lips disinterestedly, eyes flickering as she finally turns her attention back to the god, licking her lips slightly as she tried to recall what exactly the god had asked her. “you’re handsome and dashing and all, but sometimes that’s not really what other people want from their beloved other halfs.” she gestured lightly, her free hand falling to the promise ring that sat upon her middle finger, twisting the band of metal round and round, chafing her skin punishingly as her thoughts lingered. 

“not everything has to be related to love just because you need something to alleviate your boredom, you know.” the norse demigod murmured.

its not often that she has visitors within her tiny little herb shop, not especially since ruyul could have considered herself as much more of a little recluse than most of the individuals that lingered within MountPhoenix. one person, or rather god really that kept coming back to her shop. camazotz. she appreciated the way that he dropped by at times, as infrequent as it ever was and as few as he ever did. at the very least, it was a cause for interaction between her and the other god, even if she did keep much secrets from him, mainly minji, who she would always make sure to keep upstairs whenever visitors came around in the shop. 

“morning.” a tight but wry smile flickers upon her lips as she raised a hand rather awkwardly in greeting to the god. “its been a while.” faint shuffling of her daughter’s footsteps could be heard up the stairs, allowing for the demigod to lightly make a note that her daughter had awoken, keeping her fingers crossed behind her back that minji hadn’t chosen to make her way down at the moment. “what are you looking for again?” she sucks in a reluctant breath as the door behind her swings open, and her daughter shuffles into bleary view of the god, her protective instinct and anxiousness shooting up in the charts massively as her foot started tapping upon the ground nervously. 

“that’s my daughter, minji. she’s been upstairs most of the time.” it felt like a need for her to explain herself on why she had kept her child a secret from others in the shop, especially to camazotz, whom she had strangely achieved a sort of camaraderie in the moments that he had come to her shop for items. she watches as her daughter freezes, blankly staring into the air for a moment as she clutched tightly to the air above her shoulder, a frequent action that she saw of her child when they came across death gods, before slinking behind her back nervously, vanishing behind her frame as though to completely hide herself away from camazotz’s own sight.

“sorry, she’s a bit..wary of strangers. and she can’t..really see.” the words felt bitter in her mouth as she said it, a flash reminder of their past that caught up to them with detrimental means to an end. “anyway, back to you. whatcha looking for again?” 

long had ruyul heard of things related to the oracle of delphi. despite her intentions and her inclination to believe more in what she liked to see than that of what she just heard via prophecies, pythia was perhaps the last--or one of the last resorts that she felt she had to take in her journey of finding back her lost lover and the process that she was to take to resurrect her son. 

its so that she finds herself making her way to meet the oracle, wherever she could find the woman, with her daughter tagging along by her side. ever side the incident, ruyul never let minji too far out of her sight. it was too dangerous, even within the safety of mount phoenix itself. the world was cold and cruel to little beings, and as much discomfort and panic it set ruyul in, being by a child’s side, ruyul still found it in her her duty to keep minji by her side no matter what. 

“thanks for meeting with me.” her throat bobs as they flicker, watching as she settled into the seat opposite pythia at the flower mill coffee shop, feet jerking slightly in nervousness as she helped minji into the seat next to her, watching quietly for a moment as the tiny child busied herself with staring into the space of her own world, fingers slowly moving across the sides of the table to get a physical feel of what she could not see. 

“i was just wondering about a few things that i hoped that you might be able to help me answer.” it was an awkward way to start off a meeting like this, but still a meeting that ruyul would have preferred much to simply nip it in the bud instead of waiting for a different, genial and perhaps more amiable way of starting up a conversation. she was long used to cutting straight to the point, something that most people did not appreciate, but also a part of herself that ruyul found that she wasn’t that found of to change.

“ i’ve got more than a minute.” ruyul wonders if the smile on her face is functioning correctly at this very moment, even with her daughter at her side, clambering up the shelves of the shop in her attempt to reach the top of the counter in her ardent interest at seeing this strange, new customer. “what would you like to find? herbs? plants? poisons? i’m much better at the latter unforutunately, due to my previous...work experience.” her tired eyes glaze off into the distance where the smell of gunfire was pungent in her nostrils, and the cracking sound of bullets ricocheting off hard surfaces, together with the stinking scent of burning flesh.

“ war.” the corners of her lips turn upward sharply as she attempted to smile a little further. “ we should all be familiar with it. one way or another.” the simple shrug dances upon her shoulders as she stretched lightly, pulling her long hair into a ponytail as she tilted her head slightly at the other individual. “ also, is it something for yourself...or for your significant other? or perhaps someone important?” clothes rustle as she hitched up her sleeves, tendrils of her loose fringe falling over the sides of her face as she turned her attention towards the ledger in her hand. “oh. its a pleasure to meet you.” a tired smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes flickers across the contours of her lips. “i’m moon ruyul.” 

Ruyuls mouth dries a little as she stares back at the goddess, watching as her little girl pranced a little while away in the grassy fields before them, blissfully ignorant. "I can't... Do what?" the words barely manage to leave her lips, dry as they were like sandpaper blistering the insides of her mouth.

They couldn't have known--no, wouldn't have known that she came here with selfishness in part, with little intentions to heal her daughter's blindness and every preparedness in the chasms and Chambers of her own heart to sacrifice herself, if need be, to cut herself apart just to bring back her son.

Even if that meant leaving behind two children without a mother. They were children of two demigods. In here, even without her, they would be perfectly alright.