seaskylark

the other part kinda wishes that there was more friction there.

hate and vitriol don't just evaporate, you know? and maybe it's because a blender is rumi's natural habitat, but i kind of want to see/read zoey and mira hesitating.

when rumi is in the way, they don't lightly push her to the side, but instead ask her to move. when rumi is crying, they don't wipe her tears, but instead just hand her a tissue. when they pass her a glass of water, they don't give it to her directly, but instead put it on the counter for her to take.

just small things done to avoid touching the tainted skin, the markings that make their stomachs churn.

and to dial up the angst even MORE, imagine mira waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or something, and she catches a glimpse of the patterns in the hallway and INSTANTLY summons the gok do and swings. and it's rumi, now bleeding, and mira is sorry, but she can't deny the instinctive hate that punched her chest when she saw the patterns.

or imagine zoey, exhausted from fighting a demon horse turning around only to see another body marked with patterns, and she just shoots a shin kal, the motion automatic and precise. and it's rumi, now bleeding, and zoey is sorry, but she can't deny the instinctive fear that forced her to throw the weapon.

they are uncomfortable, and cannot get used to it for a long time, and when they do get used to it, they sometimes still flinch when rumi rounds a corner. and it's agony for them as much as it is for rumi—the person they love the most brandishing something they were taught to despise and destroy.

Typical social media thread spiraling out of control.

If the "stabber" joke makes no sense to you...

After the idol awards, Rumi and Celine don’t talk for two weeks.

Neither of them reach out, and that all changes when Rumi decides to call. But it goes straight to voicemail. She tries a few more times but receives nothing. Her texts won’t even deliver.

So, the three of them get on a plane to Jeju.

When they arrive at Celine’s home, they are shocked to see the whole house a complete and total disaster. Takeout containers everywhere, bottles upon bottles of alcohol, and trash everywhere. It’s not anything they are used to, Celine usually keeps her spaces incredibly neat.

When Rumi looks in the living room, she freezes.

Celine is sitting on the couch, an empty wine bottle on the table in front of her. A glass is in her hand, eyes bloodshot red, and she looks like she’s lost 20 pounds.

Up on the tv screen, Rumi sees her younger self. It appears to be a home video. The audio crackles in, and she listens.

“Come on, my sweet girl. You can do it.”

Little Rumi stands up, unsteady on her feet. Her face is focused, tiny brow furrowed. She hesitantly takes a step, before tumbling down.

A loud cry pierces the air. Celine places the camera down, but it still faces Rumi, who’s face is now red with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Oh my little hunter. It’s ok. You’re alright.”

Celine brings Rumi into her arms, rubbing her back and kissing her forehead. “I know that was scary, sweetheart. But you’re ok. I got you.”

Rumi buries her head into Celine’s shoulder, cries quieting.

The video goes on for another ten minutes, Celine clearly forgetting to turn it off. The ten minutes are filled with Celine comforting and soothing Rumi, until the little girl is all smiles again.

The video cuts, the screen going black for a moment before Celine emotionlessly presses play on another video.

In this one, Rumi is older, maybe five or six years old.

“Ok, today’s a big day. My little hunter lost her first tooth!” Celine exclaims, holding up a plastic baggy. The tooth is barely visible with in it.

“Hey! I’m not little!” Rumi exclaims. Celine laughs. She grabs a shrieking Rumi, and the next two minutes show Rumi getting attacked with playful kisses and tickles, until she’s completely breathless and teary eyed.

Celine looks up, finally noticing Rumi, Mira, and Zoey. They are standing there in shock. But Celine seems completely indifferent to them being there.

“Oh great. Now all three of you are showing up.” She says, standing up and grabbing a glass of whiskey from the kitchen.

“Celine? What do you mean by that?” Rumi asks, rushing to follow her.

“I know I failed you Rumi. I know I fucked up and don’t deserve to live after what I put you through. I don’t need Mira and Zoey to tell me that as well.”

Rumi is thoroughly confused. Celine hasn’t talked to any of them in weeks.

Why does Celine think she said that to her?

“Rumi, I think she’s been having drunken hallucinations.” Zoey murmurs. Her own father had been an alcoholic before his death.

“Of me?” Rumi asks. Zoey nods. Celine doesn’t pay any attention, going back to the couch and putting on another video.

Just how long has Celine been drinking herself to death?

well, taking her parents into account, she probably was forced did learn piano as a kid. but due to the nature of it, she strays away from it as soon as she's away from her parents, tells celine she cannot do batshit on any instrument, and celine says that they'll work on that eventually, aka, after making sure mira won't die from a demon attack.

anyway, celine gets really caught up in the demon stuff (destiny comes first!) and maybe, sort of neglects to teach mira directly or sign her up for classes, and mira is by all means perfectly satisfied with that. no piano = no bad memories.

she still remembers the burns on the backs of her hands at every wrong note. she still remembers the red skin tightening around her knuckles, the blinding tears she had to blinkawayblinkawayblink—

so you have mira, the designated dancer, happy as is. she watches zoey and rumi play their respective instruments, notices how it calms them, how looser and more chuffed they feel after. but she could not experience that, no. and that's fine, it's fine. she is good at dancing, so it doesn't matter.

but, it doesn't have to matter. part of her wants to touch the keys again, slide her palm across the whole length of the piano. the other part remembers.

"You're staring."

Mira looks up, her trance broken, "What?"

"You're staring," Zoey now turned fully to her, patting the corner of the bench, "You want to learn?"

Tchach, learn. As if the rhapsodies aren't burned into the nerves of her fingers, as if the etudes do not shrill in her nightmares.

"Oh, no, no—I'm good, yeah. Thanks." Mira stood up abruptly, scratching the back of her neck as she looked away from the piano. A blush dusted across her cheek, a small scowling voice echoing from somewhere deep within.

there's a day when zoey and rumi are both occupied by something else. rumi is in the garden, frolicking and watering plants. zoey is hours deep into a book she recently bought.

a force she cannot explain pulls mira to the studio. to the bench. to the piano whose keys are now not teeth ready to bite, just plain plastic, smeared with fingertips. she places her palms on them, slowly, as if waiting for the burn to appear.

it doesn't.

she presses the first key, a C#, a note she fell in love with before the pain replaced delight. and it rings in her ears as she holds it, testing its patience, testing her own patience.

her left hand slides farther, pressing down on a chord. it is an anvil pressing on her chest, but she pushes through. she closes her eyes, promising herself she will not look, not peek, that it doesn't matter if she misses a note, if she misses—

it doesn't matter.

the honmoon jitters as she continues to play a slow, but not dragging melody. she's uncertain at first, taking her time to find the notes, getting used to the weight of the keys. on instinct, her foot reaches to push on the pedal, but finds empty space.

a brief look down reminds her that this piano does not have pedals. still, a distant memory comes through and replicates the reverb in her mind and it echoes as if real.

Mmm miss big boobs. Miss bodacious breasts. I headcanon that Rumi has the biggest boobs of huntrix🤤 Not that they're crazy big, just the biggest of the three. Anyway, I'd like to think that Zoey and Mira will just start squeezing them without even thinking. Not even to be sexual but like the way you'll just be doing smth and u just grab ur boob yk. They'll be sitting watching TV and they'll just be squeezing her boobs and she tries really hard to be nonchalant abt it but she's sensitive to touch in general and she starts squirming and it isn't until her patterns starts going crazy that zoemira look over and realize how flushed she is and then they giggle and Rumi's like 😠😠😠 And she starts climbing all over them like "I can't take it anymore, u got me all bothered so do smth abt it"

Mira: *sat on the floor next to the crib, sleeping newborn cradled in her arms* in a minute. I just… wanna watch her sleep a little longer.

*Rumi crosses room, comes to sit next to Mira*

Mira: doesn’t mean you can’t go back to sleep. I can handle it myself, if she wakes up

Rumi: she’ll be up anyway for a feeding soon, we can switch off then. And then you get to bed, I know you waited until Zoey and I fell asleep so you could come watch her

Mira: *still not taking eyes off the baby* heh. Guilty.

Rumi: *curling into Mira’s side, voice soft* … tell me what’s on your mind, nae sarang

Mira: I just… I love her so much. She’s so little.

Rumi: … well she sure didn’t feel little. But I know what you mean, she looks so tiny in your arms.

Mira: I don’t… I don’t know how anybody couldn’t love somebody this small.

Rumi: … Mira? Are you crying?

Mira: Rumi… do you think my parents ever- even when I was this little-

everyone is questioning how this nepo baby pop princess is gonna be able to make it past the first day, with several people tuned in just hoping to see her crash out early on

but rumis been raised with a lot of survival knowledge. she knows how to start a fire, hunt, fish (with and without a pole), preserve food, make a cooking spit, etc

by the end of day 1, shes the only one with shelter. and its a good shelter too, one that people got to watch her build in real time. its sturdy, and warm, and somehow, inexplicably, made of WOOD. she actually built a little hut.

shes got enough preserved food to get her through several months ready by the time any other people have built proper shelter

millions of people watch as the queen of kpop gets through this competition effortlessly. no one can quite fully believe what theyre watching but they cant look away, and they have no choice but to start to believe

almost a month in, all but one other person is left. the weather has been a nightmare for the other contestants. people who were doubting rumi at the start are now her honest to god fans.

the last one other than rumi is cold and pale, shivering and struggling to make a proper fire. his food is dwindling. he’s not looking too hot, and people are pretty sure that if he doesnt just give up outright in the next day or so, hes gonna be med evaced

rumi looks just fine, health wise.

but shes clearly sullen. her health has stayed steady this whole time, but her mood has been nosediving over the course of the last few weeks

“its weird,” she says to the camera at one point, while chewing on a piece of jerky she made herself, “if i was doing this a decade ago, i would probably have been in good spirits right about now. i didnt have many people in my life who i could consider close to me. this isolation would’ve meant nothing to me.

“but since then, ive met mira and zoey. two people who i couldnt imagine my life without. whose souls feel so tethered to my own.” her voice grows rough. “these past few weeks have been agony without them. i havent even been able to hear their voices. look at their faces. my only solace is that my dreams are full of the two of them, and my mind has cataloged every detail about them to the most minute of them all, so their voices are closer to echoes in my brain than imitations, and their faces appear to me as vividly as if they were in front of me.”

she stares at the jerky in her hand. “i cant wait to go home to them. i wont quit, even though it kills me being away from them any longer.” she turns her attention back to the camera, and points at it, knowing her girls are watching her in that very moment. there are tears in her eyes. “just you wait, mira and zoey, im gonna win this whole thing, and when i do, we’ll never be apart ever again!” her lip wobbles, and the tears begin to spill. “i love you girls so much!”

(back home, mira and zoey clutch each other, sobbing as they watch her, “WE LOVE YOU TOO!”)

luckily, it only takes another day for rumi to win the show. her picture is shown next to those of the former winners at the end of the last episode, and the contrast between their end of show appearances (tired, malnourished, pale) and hers (well rested, full, flushed) is almost terrifying.

2 years post movie, after a long journey of healing together, Rumi asks Celine to redo this photo of them, 25 years later.

I live in a world of unicorn and rainbows

Celine and Rumi might be my favorite mother-daughter duo, I hope to see more of them in the sequel 🫶

I love post-train convo Mira again firmly Defining Herself and doing so according to the worst things she’s ever been, even though she hasn’t once lost her temper in the preceding runtime and her very slight aggression has been extremely controlled

I love fansign Mira with her voice pitched up and her emotiveness on for the fans because she needs them to look at her and see someone better than those worst things

I love train scene Mira being scared for her friend and scared of being lied to and scared of being unloved. I love train scene Mira having someone actually lash out at her and not lashing out back but instead freezing because she’s taught herself her first impulses aren’t safe

I love backstage at the Idol Awards Mira (over six years in!!!!) saying she knew this was “too good to be true”. I love Gwi-Ma attack Mira blaming herself and finally truly lashing out at someone in her own self-hatred as she isolates because she doesn’t get to have a family

(zoey and mira are lounging on their hotel bed while rumi is out working on some behind the scenes stuff. zoey is curled up against mira’s side, her head resting on her shoulder while she scrolls through twitter, occasionally replying to tweets and giggling softly. mira’s eyes are closed, her cheek pressed to the top of her head, but she’s awake, her fingers running through zoey’s hair. she’s just enjoying her girlfriend’s company.)

zoey, out of nowhere: *gasps in a mixture of astonishment and amusement* oh my god

mira: *opens her eyes and looks down at her* what?

zoey: its finally happened

mira, confused: what finally happened?

zoey: she actually blocked me

mira, still confused: ??? who?

zoey, grinning: celine

mira:

mira: no fucking way

zoey: *lifts her phone up to show her*

mira, shocked but smiling, mildly impressed: you fucking maniac. what the hell did you do to get her to do that *reaches over and picks up her phone*

zoey: 😁

mira: *slowly realizes something*

mira: zoey.

zoey: yes my love?

mira: do not try to butter me up right now. did you flirt with her?

zoey: 😊

mira: *pulls up celines twitter and scrolls through her latest replies, eventually finding the thread that got zoey blocked* ZOEY

zoey, smiling nervously and shrugging: it was funny?

mira: NO IT WAS NOT 😡

zoey:

mira:

zoey: 🤨

mira: …okay its a little funny.

zoey: 😌 exactlyyyy, so-

mira: *grabs her by the waist and flips their positions so shes on top of zoey* but dont forget that you’re mine. celine doesnt get a single second with you, let alone a day. got it?

zoey, dazed and extremely aroused: *nods* yeah. got it 😳

mira: *kisses her and grabs her wrists, pinning them above her head*

(the kiss intensifies, clearly escalating into something neither of them had been anticipating just minutes ago before zoey realized she was blocked.

but mira’s not the only girlfriend zoey’s made jealous with her shenanigans, as evidenced by the puff of red smoke that appears near the entrance to their suite, accompanied by an angry shouting half-demon)

rumi: ZOEY 😡

zoemira: *jump in surprise, but otherwise stay in the same position*

rumi, stomps through the room until she spots them on the bed: …oh 😳

zoey: 😅 heyyy unnieeee

mira: *smirks* hey ru, i was just reminding our maknae who she belongs to. wanna help?

rumi: *joins them on the bed* with pleasure 😈

zoey, roughly calculating a prediction in her brain for how long she wont be to walk after this:

but then the idol awards happen, and she gets together with zoey and mira, and she sees zoey using a vibrator on herself and finally decides to buy one for herself and orders one online (after taking the vibrators place on zoey of course)