Animation, live Action & the real world

Former show dog!Mira who’s experienced mostly the downs of being in competitive shows and is ready for a change of pace.

A sheltie like this expect…pink

And a rough collie is a good choice for her because they’re beautiful dogs, and known to be loyal, empathetic, intelligent, and protective. But Mira was so embedded in abusive show dog practices she has a hard time adjusting once she’s out which causes aggressive behaviour, something these dogs aren’t typically known for. Which only makes it worse because now she’s not acting how she’s “supposed” to be, and what does that make her if she can’t even behave how everyone wants her to?

Mira grew up in the show business world. She’s lived in it for so long that when she does try to express herself and be her own dog she’s instantly told that she’s basically there for one purpose and she’s useless if she can’t do that. I like giving Mira long fur cause I imagine that (somehow) it could get cut and knotted up when she meets Celine. She doesn’t look like a show dog anymore. She’s growling, hungry, and her fur is a mess so she knows Celine obviously won’t want her for anything.

She’s so shocked when Celine does.

That’s actually a sheltie! (Though I really did mainly pick the breed by asking myself if the fur was long and if it was a show dog so a collie also 100% works). For Mira, it also doesn’t help that her whole family is known for being show dogs. It’s not even just that she’s supposed to be a show dog because she’s beautiful and born for it but because her family does it too and going against shows means going against her family.

@whitebeltwriter-fics also mentioned how Zoey would work good as a mix and I’m starting to agree. From the movie, Zoey does have a tiny question of not knowing where she belongs: America or Korea? Is she more American or more Korean? I think this could translate if dog!Zoey is a mix in the sense that one part of her is a therapy dog usually (I’m not giving up on that) and the other part is something else entirely maybe a husky, leaving her unsure of which side she’s supposed to pick and where she’s supposed to go. Like you said, she is happy and full of energy but because she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do she also struggles with listening.

And Mira being a Sheltie instead is kinda hilarious, especially if Zoey is a husky/bernese (or something similar) mix because that makes Mira the smallest by a lot. Especially compared to Rumi. And her basically getting a lion cut when she's first found because her fur is so matted. Poor thing.

I like to think Rumi would frequently forget how big she actually is. When she was a puppy she'd snuggle up close to Celine and she still wanted to do that once she's grown but she's now way bigger and heavier than her guardian. Celine mostly bears it but as she gets older some of the ailments that tend to befall German Shepherds start to creep up on her and she's snapped at Rumi if the wolfdog plops down too hard on Celine's hips. (Which leads to panicked and distressed whimpers, Rumi believing Celine doesn't love her etc. Until Celine can explain that she's in physical pain and Rumi can't be so rough anymore. Which goes about as well as you'd think.)

I agree with this 100%! Celine loves Rumi, she really does, but she’s gotta realize she’s not a puppy anymore and Celine is getting old. Adding onto this by saying that Celine’s pain keeps her from hunting some days and without medicine or people—both cause Celine doesn’t want to get spotted by people and because she doesn’t want Rumi to get spotted by people—Celine doesn’t know how she’s going to really survive until Rumi starts bringing her food on days when she can’t travel. Rumi acts as a hunter and protector until Celine feels well enough to stand up and move.

I also love the idea that Celine really isn’t looking to expand her and Rumi’s little pack. It’s them and she’s happy about that until she meets Mira and decides “fine. One more can join” and then they save Zoey and it’s like “fine. A second one can join but I draw the line!” As it turns out, Rumi really needed friends who could match her energy.

Former show dog!Mira who’s experienced mostly the downs of being in competitive shows and is ready for a change of pace.

A sheltie like this expect…pink

And a rough collie is a good choice for her because they’re beautiful dogs, and known to be loyal, empathetic, intelligent, and protective. But Mira was so embedded in abusive show dog practices she has a hard time adjusting once she’s out which causes aggressive behaviour, something these dogs aren’t typically known for. Which only makes it worse because now she’s not acting how she’s “supposed” to be, and what does that make her if she can’t even behave how everyone wants her to?

Mira grew up in the show business world. She’s lived in it for so long that when she does try to express herself and be her own dog she’s instantly told that she’s basically there for one purpose and she’s useless if she can’t do that. I like giving Mira long fur cause I imagine that (somehow) it could get cut and knotted up when she meets Celine. She doesn’t look like a show dog anymore. She’s growling, hungry, and her fur is a mess so she knows Celine obviously won’t want her for anything.

She’s so shocked when Celine does.

That’s actually a sheltie! (Though I really did mainly pick the breed by asking myself if the fur was long and if it was a show dog so a collie also 100% works). For Mira, it also doesn’t help that her whole family is known for being show dogs. It’s not even just that she’s supposed to be a show dog because she’s beautiful and born for it but because her family does it too and going against shows means going against her family.

@whitebeltwriter-fics also mentioned how Zoey would work good as a mix and I’m starting to agree. From the movie, Zoey does have a tiny question of not knowing where she belongs: America or Korea? Is she more American or more Korean? I think this could translate if dog!Zoey is a mix in the sense that one part of her is a therapy dog usually (I’m not giving up on that) and the other part is something else entirely maybe a husky, leaving her unsure of which side she’s supposed to pick and where she’s supposed to go. Like you said, she is happy and full of energy but because she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do she also struggles with listening.

Hi anon!!!

Ohhhhh!!! I like this idea!!!

I'm assuming that, if they have to guide her, they were demons for a while before Celine found them. I'm gonna steal from my kid!demon Huntrix AU and say Mira is a gumiho demon as well, Zoey is a Dokkaebi demon (the same kind of demons from the plane scene in the movie) and Rumi is a mul gwishin demon (a water demon from the movie (someone correct me if I'm wrong)). Please, please, send another ask if I change this AU too much or you want to go in a different direction, this is just how I'm thinking of this. I was having trouble thinking of some angst moments at the end and I didn't want this post to get too long, so just send another ask if you want more of something.

Miyeong and the Third Sunlight Sister pass away from a demon attack in the early 2000s. Celine continues to hunt and sing but she's clearly more depressed and not doing so well so a lot of companies have trouble really trusting her as a consistent performer. Also, Celine's starting to hit her mid/late 20s and the Kpop Industry is turning to new talent (Celine does have her reputation which is why she's still pulling in concerts with amazing numbers but she knows it can't last forever) but this point which is just adding to Celine's worsening mental state.

During a hunt, Celine finds a group of demons kicking out a younger water demon, calling her useless and weak. Celine attacks the group but when she goes to the water demon, she's shocked to see the girl is just that: a girl. If she were human, she couldn't have been older than 6 or so. Celine also notices how dry her skin is and tells the demon to follow her. There's a small lake near Celine's hanok where Celine allows her to swim and instantly she takes to it, swimming around for hours before coming inside where Celine wraps her in a towel and asks her why the other demons treated her that way. She reveals that she doesn't want to steal souls and hates Gwi Ma and the other demons got mad at her and were going to leave her as bait for the demon hunter. Celine offers her a deal (mostly because she's incredibly lonely and has kind of just said 'screw it' to hunter rules after Miyeong and the Third Sister died): she can stay here and swim in the lake all she wants but she can't eat any souls and she has to wear a human disguise. Celine's never seen a water demon look so excited before.

Less than a week later, Rumi gets her name from a tv character.

A few years later, Rumi and Celine stumble across an orphaned pink gumiho trapped in a hunting net. Celine helps her down and extends the same offer to her and she agrees, confirming her name is Mira. A year after that, during a bad storm, a Dokkaebi demon arrives on Celine's doorstep and hands her her child, asking her to take care of her. Celine agrees to take in the girl just before her mom dies. That's how Zoey joins their group.

You might be asking: why doesn't Gwi Ma just force them to return like all the other demons? I think there are two reasons here: the first is that....they're kids. He has really nothing to gain from bringing them back to the underworld even if he could which gets to my second reason. That being that they didn't make a deal with him. They were born demons and, in the same way Gwi Ma has no control over Rumi in canon, I think he has no control over these kids here. He can hurt them if they get into the demon realm but otherwise he can do nothing and since Celine doesn't plan on letting any demons take them, he's out of luck.

Okay, that took way too long to get to the half-gumiho Celine part but I got here! Anyways, Rumi, Mira and Zoey had time as demons, they know about what they are and they know about what it means to be demons in the human realm. I imagine the reveal of Celine's gumiho side would come post Idol Awards so the girls are in Seoul and have already been selected by the honmoon and trained under it by Celine as well. Their relationship would probably be better with Celine but she still keeps a distance, so much so that Rumi is shocked to get a call from her one random morning almost begging them to come down to Jeju Island.

Days later, Celine still hasn’t left her house and suddenly hears banging on her steps. She assumes it’s just an animal or the wind but she still decides to go check and opens the door to the same little demon from before staring at her with a giant grin and basket of fish. Celine is determined to go back into her house and collapse onto her couch but the young demon is determined to thank Celine somehow for saving her life.

(Rumi’s reaction to Celine rejecting her gift)

She'd try to act like it's nothing. After all, it's just a scrape; that barely qualifies as an injury. On the scale of 'does it need attention' a scraped knee is just barely above a paper cut.

(never mind paper can be downright vicious if it wants to be).

There'd be the expected gasps and "Oh my god!" from Huntrix, followed by Rumi rushing over and picking Celine up before she can maneuver herself back to her feet (how embarrassing...). The next thing Celine knows she's on Rumi's lap, Zoey's emptying her water bottle over Celine's knee, and Mira's flipping open the first aid kit.

This is unacceptable.

Of course she'll start insisting she's fine, start squirming and wriggling to try and get back to her game of Hunter Hopscotch; of course Rumi will just hold her tighter and say no, she's not fine, and she's not going anywhere until they get that cleaned and covered before it gets infected.

"It's not gonna get 'fected!" Celine will insist.

"If you don't take care of it, it will!" Rumi counters. "You were the one who taught us that!"

Celine does remember that, and she's about to say this is different (because she's herself and is fine) when she finally notices the scrape, shreds of skin flaking away from the raw, bloody mess, peppered with flecks of dirt and gravel.

And she notices it hurts.

Objectively, she knows she's felt worse pain and seen worse injuries, but the part of her that's three or four is terrified because that's her blood and it hurts!!!

She one-hundred percent didn't mean to start crying; she is a Hunter, after all, whose faults and fears must never be seen.

But Rumi, Mira, and Zoey promise they won't tell, so...just this once.

Of course, Mira, Rumi and Zoey would rush over to make sure she's okay. In my mind, for this story, Rumi did kind of....cause this to happen so she'd feel guilt and a sense of wanting to help Celine more than Mira and Zoey which I like to imagine, post reading this, would translate into being a touch overprotective, especially when Celine gets hurt.

Mira and Zoey aren't exactly....not overprotective but they're not on Rumi's level. I think Mira would be watching out for Celine but would probably be the most hands off when Celine does get hurt unless it's very obvious she needs help then she's rushing over but she doesn't go first thing to avoid overwhelming her or scaring her. Meanwhile, Zoey just panics and she knows a scrap won't kill Celine or badly injure her but she doesn't want to leave anything to chance---very similar to Rumi.

As for Celine, yeah, I can see her not wanting to make a big deal over her injury but sobbing the moment she sees it. I feel like some kids do this where they don't get scared and then they see it and panic. As for crying, I'd really like to think that all three of them are fine with her crying, they don't say a word about it or anything, but when she does it's Mira who jumps in and comforts her cause Rumi and Zoey don't know what to do.

Rumi: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Zoey, mouthing: I don't know!

Celine: Ah-ah!

Mira: Shhh, shhh. It's okay, it's okay.

Celine: 'm--'m sorry. I don't--don't know why I'm crying!

Mira: You're hurt. It's okay to cry when you're hurt. Can you try taking some deep breathes for me?

Celine: Can't.

Mira: Breathing feels a little weird now?

Celine: Mmmhmm.

What could be a really fun angle here would be building off Rumi lowkey being at fault or at least having a hand in it, maybe got distracted by a honmoon tear or call from the label (one that she wouldn't normally handle, but the CEO is currently running around the penthouse trying to get out of taking a nap, so). She gets hit by guilt, yes, but also the realization that Celine did this for years.

Raising a kid, starting up a label, maintaining the honmoon...alone.

She can't- she can't wrap her head around it.

Did she ever thank her? Tell her how much she appreciated it?

...She doesn't know.

I love this!!!

Rumi never actually took a second to really think about everything Celine had to do for her, she kind of just took it all for granted that she was raised with a good amount of money, a label that doesn’t treat her like other idols in the industry, and a honmoon that’s not torn to shreds. It’s only when she has to maintain the label, keep the honmoon afloat and convince Celine that a pair of Sunlight Sister pajamas that Zoey found are not a bad thing to wear to bed that she starts to realize how much Celine did.

She'd try to act like it's nothing. After all, it's just a scrape; that barely qualifies as an injury. On the scale of 'does it need attention' a scraped knee is just barely above a paper cut.

(never mind paper can be downright vicious if it wants to be).

There'd be the expected gasps and "Oh my god!" from Huntrix, followed by Rumi rushing over and picking Celine up before she can maneuver herself back to her feet (how embarrassing...). The next thing Celine knows she's on Rumi's lap, Zoey's emptying her water bottle over Celine's knee, and Mira's flipping open the first aid kit.

This is unacceptable.

Of course she'll start insisting she's fine, start squirming and wriggling to try and get back to her game of Hunter Hopscotch; of course Rumi will just hold her tighter and say no, she's not fine, and she's not going anywhere until they get that cleaned and covered before it gets infected.

"It's not gonna get 'fected!" Celine will insist.

"If you don't take care of it, it will!" Rumi counters. "You were the one who taught us that!"

Celine does remember that, and she's about to say this is different (because she's herself and is fine) when she finally notices the scrape, shreds of skin flaking away from the raw, bloody mess, peppered with flecks of dirt and gravel.

And she notices it hurts.

Objectively, she knows she's felt worse pain and seen worse injuries, but the part of her that's three or four is terrified because that's her blood and it hurts!!!

She one-hundred percent didn't mean to start crying; she is a Hunter, after all, whose faults and fears must never be seen.

But Rumi, Mira, and Zoey promise they won't tell, so...just this once.

Of course, Mira, Rumi and Zoey would rush over to make sure she's okay. In my mind, for this story, Rumi did kind of....cause this to happen so she'd feel guilt and a sense of wanting to help Celine more than Mira and Zoey which I like to imagine, post reading this, would translate into being a touch overprotective, especially when Celine gets hurt.

Mira and Zoey aren't exactly....not overprotective but they're not on Rumi's level. I think Mira would be watching out for Celine but would probably be the most hands off when Celine does get hurt unless it's very obvious she needs help then she's rushing over but she doesn't go first thing to avoid overwhelming her or scaring her. Meanwhile, Zoey just panics and she knows a scrap won't kill Celine or badly injure her but she doesn't want to leave anything to chance---very similar to Rumi.

As for Celine, yeah, I can see her not wanting to make a big deal over her injury but sobbing the moment she sees it. I feel like some kids do this where they don't get scared and then they see it and panic. As for crying, I'd really like to think that all three of them are fine with her crying, they don't say a word about it or anything, but when she does it's Mira who jumps in and comforts her cause Rumi and Zoey don't know what to do.

Rumi: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Zoey, mouthing: I don't know!

Celine: Ah-ah!

Mira: Shhh, shhh. It's okay, it's okay.

Celine: 'm--'m sorry. I don't--don't know why I'm crying!

Mira: You're hurt. It's okay to cry when you're hurt. Can you try taking some deep breathes for me?

Celine: Can't.

Mira: Breathing feels a little weird now?

Celine: Mmmhmm.