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Courting

It isn’t until Rumira get into a veritable screaming match that reaches its pinnacle with,

“Having a baby ended my mother’s life, Mira! Excuse me for wanting all of us alive! To hell with a baby!”

that Zoey comes running in between them to stop anyone from saying anything else. Mira and Rumi are nearly chest to chest, breathing hard with tears of frustration pricking at their eyes when Zoey inserts herself and forces them both back a few steps.

There was many land mines in that conversation and playing Switzerland hadn’t saved Zoey from the explosion anyway so she says, “We either talk about this in therapy or we don’t talk about it at all,” staring Rumira down in equal measure until they relent.

With a huff, Rumi and Mira turn in opposite directions to leave but Zoey’s not done.

“Stop.” They freeze. “Apologize. Both of you.” They glance at one another and promptly look away.

“You two let the argument get out of hand enough that I HAD to step in as mediator so no one is going anywhere until I see some hugs, a kiss, AND some apologies.”

Given how fraught the situation was, Zoey let them get away with derivatives of “I love you, I’m sorry”s but usually she’d have them say what they were sorry for and how they were gonna change in the future.

And while she did promise to let them leave after the apologies, she changed her mind at the last second. She drags them to their shared room (formerly Rumi’s room) and gestures to the bed, “Actually, it’s mandatory cuddle time. Rumi will hold Mira for thirty minutes and then you’ll swap,”

Rumira both begin to protest but Zoey’s answering glare is enough for them to change into something more comfortable and start their cuddle sentence.

It takes all of five minutes for Mira to lose the tension that had been bunching up her shoulders while snuggled into Rumi’s collarbone. Rumi playing with the hairs at the base of Mira’s neck didn’t hurt either.

When they swapped, Mira just shimmied further up and rolled over, pulling Rumi on top of her. Rumi was fond of curling up when upset so she ended up with her knees parallel to Mira’s torso and her head tucked snugly under her chin resting squarely on her chest. Mira’s hands snaked under Rumi’s shirt and trailed lazily up and down her spine until she was suitably boneless, fighting off sleep and failing.

When Rumi’s soft snores clued Mira in to her unconscious state, she spoke to Zoey though she couldn’t see her while flat on her back.

“You were right… we needed this.”

Zoey appeared to the left of her, Chesire like, “You don’t say?”

Mira would’ve rolled her eyes but she couldn’t trivialize what Zoey had done or how much Zoey hated having to do it in the first place.

“I’m sorry, jagiya.”

“I know sweetie,” Zoey brushes a hair out of Mira face before dropping her phone on the side table and snuggling up to Mira’s side.

“I just-” but Zoey’s hand covers the entirety of her mouth.

“Therapy or not at all. And definitely not while Rumi is asleep.”

Mira kisses the hand covering her mouth in acquiesce and Zoey lets her go.

Zoey: Hey Rum, your shoe’s untied

Rumi: eh, it’s fine, I’ll fix it when we get there. Let’s just go-

Mira: absolutely not. You’re gonna fall on your cute face and we don’t have time to take you to an ER today

Rumi: *pouting* but I’m pregnant!

Mira: by like six weeks! There’s no reason you can’t tie them yourself!

Rumi: but I don’t wanna bend over to tie them :(

Zoey: *squatting down to tie them for her* … that’s not what you said last night-

~six months later~

Mira: hey, you almost ready to leave?

Rumi: *waddles in, baby bump on full display* I need you to do something for me first. *pushes on Mira’s shoulders until she’s kneeling on the floor*

Mira: *smirking, hand sliding up her leg* baby, if you wanted me on my knees all you had to do was ask-

Rumi: shoes! I need you to tie my shoes!

Mira: oh. Of course, aegiya <3

Rumi: … but maybe later-

~six months later~

Mira, holding baby on her hip: Girls! Hurry up, we need to go!

Rumi: wait! Tie my shoe!

Mira: what? Rumi, you’re not pregnant anymore. You can lean down and tie your own shoes.

Rumi: *pulls out the puppy dog eyes*

Zoey: *folds like wet tissue paper and immediately starts tying them for her*

Rumi: *leans over and kisses her forehead* thank you baby <3

Rumi levels her eyes to them, covering her weird, panicky feelings under a mask of indifference. She raises an eyebrow at Zoey. The maknae opens her mouth to say something, then looks to her hand in Mira’s mouth, then looks back at Rumi, then back to Mira. Her face turns the same colour as her hair. “The fangs are. Really cute.” Zoey stammers. - from Chapter 12 of Switch up these vibes

Then you get Reaped because your boyfriend cheated on you - so now you have to fight for your life in an arena.

When you get to the Capitol you’re met by a guy around your age who says his job is to take care of you in the arena, so you figure you should probably use some of those charms you live by on him so you have a better chance at survival. So you flirt with him a little, save his life etc. It works! He helps you! Now you’ve won the Hunger Games! You get to go home and see your family! Thank you random Capitol guy for your help, bye bye now.

And then you’re singing on stage, with your family who you literally killed people to see again, thrilled to be alive and this fuckin Capitol guy has followed you home.

Oh and also he’s a peacekeeper now so is legally allowed a gun.

And now he kind of won’t leave you alone - the charm worked too well and he’s obsessed with you. Brilliant. But you’re a survivor. So you let him get closer, just enough to feel safe. And as you get to know him better, maybe you’re thinking, hey this guy isn’t so bad, he’s kind of cute with his buzzcut and he seems to really like you, maybe this could be something. Also it might be useful to have a peacekeeper on side - everything in your district is about survival.

Things are going well, you write a song about him, he cries, your little cousin loves him.

And then he murders someone in front of you and you’re like oh shit he crazy. And THEN you realise that because of the person he murdered, the mayor is now out for your blood and you’re probably gonna die so you have to get out of there ASAP so you say bye to this guy and he INVITES HIMSELF TO YOUR ESCAPE PLAN and you have to be like “oh sure, that’s super news, would absolutely love to have you along with me, I’m so glad you asked.” So now you’re stuck with him again.

And THEN you’re in the middle of escaping and he fuckin tells you he’s murdered an extra person you didn’t know about and when you ask him who, he says his old self and now you’re thinking oh shit he CRAZY crazy. And THEN he finds the gun he used and you realise that if he destroys that evidence then you’re the only loose end and he has a kind of crazy look in his eye so you’re like, okay time to nip this in the bud, I’m outta here gotta go pick some katniss. So you run away from him and THEN he follows you again and fuckin shoots at you so you run FASTER and now you’ve disappeared and no one will ever find out what happened to you which drives him absolutely crazy for 60+ years.

⟢ "I need an alibi for Tuesday." - "What time." - "You didn't ask what I did." - "What time."

⟢ "Hypothetically." - "No." - "You didn't hear the question." - "Hypothetically no."

⟢ "I did something." - "Scale of one to ten." - "Depends who's asking." "Me." - "Seven." - "Police." - "Four." - "God." - "Thirteen."

⟢ "We need to leave."- "Why." - "I'll explain in the car." - "Why." - "I'll explain in a different country."

⟢ "This is your fault." - "You literally came up with the idea." - "I have bad ideas all the time, you're not supposed to DO them."

⟢ "Okay hear me out." - "My lawyer has advised me not to hear you out." - "You don't have a lawyer." - "I'm getting one specifically for conversations with you."

⟢ "Nobody got hurt." - "Physically." . "Nobody got physically hurt." - "Yet." - "Nobody has gotten physically hurt yet, which is a win."

⟢ "I have a type." - "Yeah?" - "People who are bad for me and you specifically." - "That's not a type that's a pattern." - "Same thing."

⟢ "What's the worst that could happen." - "I have a list. It's laminated. I made it specifically for when you say that."

⟢ "Rate my decision making." - "Historically or right now." - "Both." - "Zero. Consistent zero across the board."

⟢ "You're the only person I trust." - "I dropped your birthday cake last year and told you it arrived like that." - "Yeah but you still got me a cake."

⟢ "I need your honest opinion." - "It's bad." - "You didn't see it yet." - "I've met you. It's bad."

⟢ "Why do you even keep me around." - "Honestly? Entertainment. And you're warm in winter."

⟢ "I wasn't thinking." - "First time for everything." - "I resent that." - "Statistically valid though."

⟢ "On a scale of fine to not fine." - "Remember that time in Prague." - "We don't talk about Prague." - "That fine."

⟢ "Nobody panic but." - "I'm already panicking." - "I haven't said anything yet." - "I know you. I'm getting ahead of it."

⟢ "Promise you won't be mad." - "Absolutely not, that's a trap and I won't fall for it."

⟢ "I have good news and bad news." - "Good news first." - "The car is fine." - "And the bad." - "Define car."

⟢ "You're my emergency contact." - "I know." - "You're listed as my next of kin." - "I know." - "You're also listed as my therapist, my lawyer, and my spiritual advisor." - "I know." - "Do you want to talk about that." - "Nope." - "Cool."

⟢ "I'm a responsible adult."- "You once called me crying because you got your sleeve caught in a door and didn't know what to do." - "I was panicking." - "For forty minutes." - "It was really stuck."

One of my friends in high school changed his named as soon as he turned 18, so that the ethnic name his family gave him was finally the name reflected on all of his paperwork. He told me that he understood why his parents had given him an “English” name, but that he felt that if he needed to assimilate in order to succeed, then that was a type of success that he didn’t want.

When I was on my way home from the courthouse after changing my own name, I got into a conversation with my rideshare driver, who was extremely interested once I told him what I was in court for, and wanted to know how I’d done it, how much it cost, was it difficult, etc. It turned out that his girlfriend had chosen the name “Yo-yo” when she came to the United States, unaware of how rare that was as a name, and that she was frequently made fun of because of it. Neither one of them had realized that a name change was so easy, and he told me he was excited to let her know that she had options.

There was an intern at a summer job I had once, who changed her name to be the same name, but a different spelling. She said that she had no idea why her parents had spelled her name so oddly to begin with, and suspected that it was just an honest mistake either by them or by some nurse, but it had been a headache for her entire life, and it was a huge relief to not need to be correcting people’s spelling on important documents anymore.

One of my exes legally changed his name to have an exclamation point, because he liked to sign his name with an exclamation point.

OH BOY AN ASK ABOUT THE NEW IDEA LETS GO TIME FOR THOUGHTS

Rumi is nervous at first, since she knows from Mira’s roar that Mira is a large carnivore and the last time she was around a large carnivore it was the older indominus who wanted/tried to kill her

Mira is so so excited when she smells Zoey and Rumi coming towards her territory. She starts b-lining towards the paddock gate to meet them as soon as possible

she gets there after the paddock door has been opened by Miyeong and Zoey and Rumi have entered and her immediate thought is “oh, she’s not that weird-looking, I was expecting way weirder” about Rumi cuz she knew Rumi was some mix of species via her scent

Rumi is submissive at first, doesn’t want to anger this other larger carnivore. she doesn’t want to get attacked again like her sister the older indominus did

Mira is practically vibrating in excitement over them finally being here, but she recognizes Rumi’s nervousness and does her best to reassure her that she’s welcome here

it takes a while for Rumi to get used to everything, since she’s used to a small enclosure with little sound other than Zoey so hearing all the squishies (humans) working constantly and hearing Mira’s heavy footsteps spooks her sometimes

she gets used to Mira’s footsteps pretty quickly once it really registers in her brain that she’s safe here

Mira leads them all over their new territory, to her favorite watering hole, to her favorite spot in the forest to sleep, to where they feed her her goats and cows

Zoey adjusts quickly, running off to watch the keepers work at some point

the keepers were terrified at first bc that’s a raptor in the rex paddock oh god it’s gonna die isn’t it

and then Mira lumbers up and nuzzles Zoey and the keepers are even more shocked

Rumi’s camouflaging herself in the trees, watching

she’s too nervous to come out and interact with any squishy other than Bobby

After terrifying the keepers, Mira tells them to explore to their hearts content since this is also their territory now

Zoey takes that offer immediately and runs off again

Rumi takes longer to go off alone, but eventually she does, and she finds a nice pasture that is perfect for sunbathing