Queersh Reads Stuff

Then she gets kidnapped after Celine stabbed Rumi the first time, activating her latent demonic ability to flee. Zoey, unused and not evolved to withstand teleportation, passes out. Rumi, thinking fast, uses her wilderness survival skills (shoutout Bobby, teaching his daughter to survive in any scenario) to tie up Zoey.

Zoey wakes up in a comfy bed, tied to the bedpost and (oddly enough) unable to summon her shin-Kal to throw at the demon that kidnapped her.

(She tries later and it works fine. The Honmoon is looking away from Zoey’s glare.)

Rumi tries to let Zoey go but the second her arm is free she hits Rumi in the face and starts trying to untie the other knot. Unfortunately for her Rumi ain’t no cheapskate and quadruple knotted that sucker, so after Rumi got back up she re-tied Zoey’s hands.

The conversation between the two takes place an hour after that, and Zoey slowly realizes “oh. This girl has absolutely no idea what, how, or why she’s able to teleport.

Huh.”

The next time she lets Zoey be untied she doesn’t sucker punch Rumi, and actually meets her dad.

(“Ooh and who’s this, Ru? WAIT!” Bobby grabbed Rumi, pulling her away from Zoey with a determined look.

Zoey raised her eyebrows in question as Bobby whispered to Rumi, who turned bright red and whispered something back. Bobby nodded with a knowing smile and walked back over to Zoey, the still blushing Rumi right behind him.

“So, you plan to marry my daughter, yes?”

“…yes.”)

Bobby is ecstatic, Rumi has always had issues making friends and now she has a fiancée? Incredible.

If your wondering why Zoey said yes she blue screened so hard she defaulted to what Celine usually wanted to hear about training or chores. So now Bobby’s helping plan a fake marriage, and Zoey gets a little too into it.

(Zoey does NOT have anyone’s phone numbers memorized yet. Rip, she doesn’t even know where she is.)

Anyways Mira’s having extreme panic and anxiety.

Yeah, so, apparently losing half your soul when your soulmate vanished with the demon? Not the best for your mental state. So she, Celine, and Poppy are tearing through hoards of demons screaming “WHERE IS SHE?!?” Confusing and terrifying every demon before they die.

The week it takes for them to find Zoey is the worst week of Mira’s life, the only upside being the knowledge that somewhere, somehow, Zoey is still alive.

Then Poppy sees Zoey on a Facebook page with a picture of the demon, kissing her cheek.

The group of hunters naturally assume Rumi has somehow mind controlled Zoey, and move to hunt the demon down to save her.

(If your wondering why during that week Zoey didn’t just go back to Jeju island with Bobby’s help, it’s cus she wa spending it teaching Rumi about the Honmoon, demons, and the hunters. She assumed things were probably fine, she’s sure Mira would’ve figured out that Rumi wasn’t a threat already.

…

Oh no-)

Rumi almost gets killed in a surprise attack by the hunters. It’s actually Mira who does it, piercing her right through the gut. By some divine miracle she missed her internal organs, but it still hurt like nothing else.

Zoey moved then, slamming into Mira and sending her stumbling back. Mira tries to get Zoey to snap out of the mind control, which Zoey understandably was confused and asked what mind control.

They go back and forth for a few moments before they feel it, finally, the third hunter.

It’s right behind Zoey.

The four hunters turn and watch as the Honmoon begins to help knit the hole shut in Rumi’s gut, a faint sound of chiming almost like a mother’s lullaby drifting through the air.

Ultimately, Mira would realize that Rumi really isn’t evil and is just a half demon who panic teleported. Zoey apologizes for not contacting them and admits she doesn’t know anyone’s numbers.

Poppy and Celine are hesitant, and the latter tries to suggest chaining her up again, but Zoey and Mira very quickly shut that idea down.

They all actually end up at Bobby’s house, where the man charms Poppy and Celine with biscuits and tea.

…

(There’s a new scar on Rumi from Mira. Her arm is still marred by the break, and now her gut. Mira feels immense guilt about it for a very long time.)

Chapter 10

“So. What do we know?” Zoey wiggles a notebook out from between the couch cushions, peeling the pen from its spine and feeling her mind shift into higher gear as she lets part of her brain speed through the day’s events 

Rumi recoils, then shifts to her knees and begins to investigate the couch like a dog whose owner just faked throwing a stick. “Where- Was that… always there?” 

Zoey blinks at Rumi’s search, unable to hide her mirth.

Obviously Zoey hadn’t meant to mess with Rumi, and she forgets her notebooks all over the place all the time. Hence her many, many different notebooks about the same thing, all partially full. Somehow it’s rare for her to actually finish a notebook.

It’s got zero to do with the bittersweet feeling of having to retire one, naturally. She definitely hasn’t lost track of how many almost-full notebooks she’s got in the many stacks in her room.

She’d felt the spine of this one dig into her hip from between the couch cushions when she’d been wrestling with Rumi and Mira. Probably left there after one of their recent Takedown brainstorms. But like, she can lean into this. Lend herself an air of mystique. Maybe Rumi’s into that. 

She strategically splays her fingers over the title that says ‘Zoey’s Awesome Diary + Song Lyrics Extravaganza 9th Edition Back-up 2.0 Final Back-up for real this time’ and flips to an empty page, hastily beginning to scribble down notes, tongue sticking out in concentration. “Anyway. We both woke up like this, so it happened in our sleep. And neither of us did anything weird, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Right.” Rumi nods thoughtfully, ceasing her inspection of the couch in lieu of nervously picking at the fabric instead. “I did dream that Bobby fired me because I was made of rice and he felt that was inappropriate because it was past its due date cause we debuted years ago and never fridged me. Which was silly because Bobby can’t fire us.”

“Yes, Bobby firing you is the most unbelievable part of that.” Mira says dryly, stretching herself out beside the two of them with lazy nonchalance.

Zoey just stares. “If I was a therapist and/or media analyst I’d get real interested in that ‘fridged’ part but I’m not so we’re moving on.” She turns back to her notes. “I don’t think rice dreams are what fucked us up. There’s no way this was just… random chance.” 

So obviously Mira’s parents wouldn't approve of her joining a K-pop group, so she decided to audition in secret.

The audition goes very well. She's a very talented dancer and singer, and she also gets along well with Rumi, two things that Celine was looking for. More importantly, the Honmoon favors Mira, which is good. It seems like Celine has found one of the next hunters.

Mira leaves the audition feeling happier than she's felt in a long time. She made friends with a cute girl and also got a genuine compliment from an authority figure. She's on cloud 9. That happiness is dashed the second she gets home and finds out her brother snitched. Her parents are furious and lecture her about ruining the family's image before locking her in her room.

Celine shows up at Mira’s house a few days later after her multiple emails about Mira getting the spot go unanswered. She's met with Mira’s parents, who rudely tell her that their daughter will have no part in such a degenerate line of work. Celine doesn't want to cause a scene by arguing with them, so she leaves.

Now, here's the thing. Celine is A) rich, B) famous, and C) head of a very big company. There are multiple perfectly legal ways she could go about recruiting Mira. However, she is also a little shit who hasn't gotten to indulge her mischievous side since before Rumi was born. So she decides that the only course of action is to kidnap Mira. Excuse her for wanting a little fun.

Also, she's being super dramatic about this being her only option, and the Honmoon is genuinely so fed up with it.

Celine: "It would appear I have no other option. This is my only choice."

The Honmoon: "There are literally so many other options. Please do literally anything else."

Celine: "Alas, I am bound by fate. It is the Honmoon’s will."

The Honmoon: "I haven't willed shit. You're actively choosing to ignore me."

Celine: "It's such a tradegy that I must commit such a heinous act in service to the Honmoon. Truly, to be a hunter is to sacrifice.

The Honmoon: "Oh my fucking god."

Even funnier if you throw in ghost Mi-Yeong hyping Celine up. She's all "yeah lets fucking go! Break the law! Save that poor girl!"

Anyway, Celine pulls up to Mira’s house in the dead of night, finds Mira’s window, lockpicks it (Mira has definitely tried escaping out that way so her parents took precautions), and sneaks in. She wakes Mira up and sees that she's been crying for a bit and internally makes a promise to take care of this kid. Then she asks, "Is it cool if I kidnap you so you can join my K-pop group?" Mira is confused for all of three seconds before she immediately agrees. She grabs some stuff, shoves it in a backpack, and then she and Celine are off.

Obviously Mira’s parents are freaking the fuck out cause their kid is missing but, like, Celine’s compound is basically impossible to find (due to Honmoon magic) unless you already know where it is. And it's not like Mira’s gonna leave, so there's literally no way for her parents to find her. And since they don't pay any attention to the K-pop scene, they don't find out about Mira being part of Huntrix until a year or two after they've already debuted, so now it's impossible to get her back without causing a national incident.