CUTE && SAVAGE !

♪ * a game of smash or pass ― @murkyhazed

At least they were happy tears.

"It's just so ... did you see them out there when the house lights came up?" Zoey hiccuped, gesturing with one hand towards the stage right wing they'd just exited from. "Those fans sitting in the fourth row ... the ones who ... who had painted patterns on their arms ..."

Patterns just like Rumi's. Patterns that had been on full display since the night of the Idol Awards. Patterns that, though they'd never voiced it out loud, all three girls had privately wondered about the fans' reaction to the sight of them.

Well. They knew now.

"They don't even realize what they're saying by doing that, what it represents, they ... they're just doing it to support you and that ... sorry, I'm being a big baby, but that made me really emotional."

Obviously not the whole Idol Awards; no matter how much distance they got from that day, Zoey wasn't sure she'd be able to stomach seeing it. The demon version of herself torturing Rumi live on stage in front of the whole world, the words she'd written to expose the Saja Boys turned deadly weapons leveled at someone she loved more than anything.

She'd seen the aftermath of that performance and it had given her nightmares for weeks. She couldn't imagine what seeing the whole, horrible thing would do to her. To either of them.

But Golden, Golden was ...

"You sound so beautiful ... and you look so happy..." Zoey murmured, dropping her head onto Rumi's shoulder as her tears continued to silently streak down her cheeks. "No wonder the fans think you're such an angel."

No, that wasn't true, was it?

This hadn't just started today. Something had been wrong, really wrong, between the three of them for a while now. Their usual synchronicity, how they could read each other's minds with a glance, was all out of whack. A poisonous shadow hanging over their friendship, horrible seeds of doubt sprouting in Zoey's chest that she hadn't felt bloom since before she joined Huntrix.

"... I just can't shake the feeling that she's pulling away from us, Mira. And I don't know how we fix the honmoon, fix any of this, without her. We can't, she's ..." Another watery sniffle cut her off before she tipped her head down to disappear into the safety of her own chest, unable to finish the thought.

Actually, she wasn't even supposed to be out here at all. But having told Mira and Rumi that she needed a new battery pack for her headset mic (she didn't) and that Bobby wasn't answering his phone (she hadn't even asked), Zoey had ducked out of their shared dressing room five minutes ago in search of another. In search of him. The girls could never know about this, they'd kill her. But the way she saw it? Zoey didn't have a choice, she had to go to him because-

"... That rap break for Soda Pop was reaaaaaaally catchy. How'd you do it?"

Normally, she'd never invade her friend's privacy by walking into her room when she wasn't there. But Rumi was off having a difficult conversation (to say the least) with Celine, one of the first towards what everyone hoped might be some sort of eventual reconciliation with their mentor and ... well, Zoey had wanted to brighten her day in case it went even worse than expected.

The oversized vase of purple flowers she'd special ordered was really beautiful - it was such a shame that Rumi would never see it. Or, rather, that she'd only see it smashed on the floor because Zoey instantly dropped it at the sight of a figure standing near her friend's bed.

"AHH! A DEMON!"

Shimmering knives flew through the air, expertly targeted to all the major pulse points and ... hit nothing. Smacked uselessly into the wall across the room and disintegrated.

"WORSE! A GHOST! MIRAAAAAAA, RUMIIIIII HEEEEEEEELP!"