I saw a post the other day about Celine feeling self-conscious about aging and, for some reason, my brain decided it merited...[checks word count] 1700 WORDS?!?
Inspiration is a mysterious thing...and fickle :/
Anyway, fic below the break!
Celine had been expecting something like this. It was as much an annual event as the Idol Awards or Chuseok, and as the 'x's on her calendar crept towards that dreaded date she'd kept a wary eye out for signs that the usual negotiations were about to start up.
Texts from Rumi asking to 'just talk,' memes from Zoey of sad-eyed dogs and pitiable kittens (and a beseeching bullfrog that was surprisingly moving), Mira loitering outside her office waiting to pounce with a "look we love you why won't you just let us" that was more compelling then the frog; by this point she knew every one of their tactics and was prepared to meet every one with counterproposals of her own.
She was an expert negotiator, and in this matter particularly she had the unquestioned upper hand (the one benefit of the day); as such the girls always backed down from their grand schemes and settled for her far more modest, run-of-the-mill requests.
So when the three of them marched into her office with the air of Hunters heading into the fray, even though it was a departure from the usual dance, she was ready.
"No."
It was impressive, how all their faces fell in perfect sync.
"Wha- we didn't even start yet!" Rumi sputtered, recovering herself with admirable aplomb.
Celine turned back to her computer, fingers clacking away at an email. "I'm well aware what time of year it is, Rumi-ya; you don't need to 'start' for me to know what you're all about to ask. The answer is 'no.'"
"Told you she'd say that," Mira huffed, flopping into a chair and making herself comfortable, conceding the battle but settling in for the war.
"Can't you just hear us out?" Zoey zipped over to stand at Celine's side, leaning on the arm of her desk chair. Craning her neck to catch Celine's eye, she did her absolute best aegyo face. "Pleeeeeease?"
Celine kept her eyes on her monitor (she was a strong woman, but...she was also human). "It would be a waste of time for all of us. You three are going to propose renting someplace out for a party-"
"Just a little one." Rumi held up her thumb and forefinger, a centimeter of space between them.
Celine raised a brow at Rumi. "We both know it won't be."
Rumi opened her mouth to protest, then shut it at Mira's foot kicking her shin. "Well, I can't help it if she's popular," she muttered, rubbing her leg.
Celine decided to tackle one fallacy at a time. "I'm going to say absolutely not, then you're going to agree to a quiet dinner at home. Like we do every year."
"But it's not every year!" Zoey insisted. "It's your fiftieth birthday!"
Celine grimaced as she put the finishing touch on the email, then dragged over a file to attach it. "Don't remind me."
Fifty. Five decades. Halfway to a century. In every phrasing: old.
She suppose she should consider herself fortunate; a Hunter's lot was a fraught one; in all truth, she should have died several times over. Those years of being the sole Hunter had not been easy or kind, as the scars under her sleeves and the various aches in joints that had never healed right could attest. But she had a Honmoon to protect and- more importantly- a daughter to get home to. Dying was not an option.
So she grew old. The privilege Miyeong and Sihyeon were denied. A better path, but...not a smooth or pleasant one.
The virtual lock sensor on her computer activated, screen going dark so her reflection replaced her inbox. She didn't have to search to find the creases in the corners of her eyes, or the lines life plowed around her mouth; it had been years since she stopped dying out the dusty gray streaking her hair.
While there were still enough echoes of the face that had carried albums to platinum and retail partners to the black to mark her as Kang Celine, there was no denying that she looked old. A costume where only a smattering of sequins remained; a song that was worn thin after decades of airplay.
And while she and vanity were not acquaintances, it was...not pleasant, to accept that she was no longer desirable (old things never were). Or sexy.
She had liked being sexy.
An event commemorating the grim date where everyone acted like a dimming star was worth celebrating was the height of irony; essentially, a protracted performance of pleasantries no one actually means (and she heard enough of those on a daily basis).
Unfortunately, the girls felt differently.
"You do special stuff for our birthdays." Rumi, who just had celebrated a milestone birthday of her own that was akin to a national holiday, hopped up to sit on the desk. "We just want to return the favor."
"That's different," Celine said. "Twenty-five is worth celebrating; fifty is not."
Mira clicked her tongue. "Looks like someone's self-conscious about their age..."
"I am not." Celine answered quick enough that Mira smirked. Realizing her mistake, she cleared her throat and threw on her best everything-is-fine smile. "I'm simply aware of what is and isn't worth celebrating. "
"Celine..." Rumi scooched forward on the desk- mindful of photo frames and pen holders- to grab Celine's hand. "We're celebrating you, how you made it through another year, and how happy we all are that you did." Her face melted into a smile, the one Celine never could say 'no' to. "Isn't that worth celebrating?"
Celine woke up her computer and pulled up an earnings report (dry material that she'd already given her stamp of approval to, but she was trying to avoid a party, not helplessly agree to one). "Rumi-ya, while I appreciate the sentiment, it's just....not appropriate."
"It's a party," Mira deadpanned. "Not a strip tease."
"And like a strip tease, celebrating her birthday is not something people want to see a woman in her fifties doing," Celine said breezily. "You can ask anyone."
Zoey raised her hand; Rumi nearly fell of the desk trying to shove it back down; Mira chuckled when Zoey tried again and Rumi did fall of the desk; Celine did not let it go to her head since Zoey's joy was to bring happiness to others and she wasn't above stretching the truth to do it.
Instead she folded her hands and smiled gratefully, but firmly, pointedly ignoring the tussle Rumi and Zoey were now embroiled in. "So girls, thank you, but I have to say-"
"Got it!" Zoey wriggled away from Rumi and whipped out her phone. Celine...did not like the way she was smiling. "Let's put this one to the people!"
Celine caught a glimpse of Zoey's phone screen. Twitter. Oh no. "Zoey..."
"Relax!" Zoey waved away Celine's worry, typing one-handed. "I'm not starting a scandal. Here, I'll even read it to you: 'Hey Hunters!'" she read. "'Who here thinks Kang Celine at fifty is as smokin' hot as ever?' Then I have, like, seven fire emojis and a picture from that event last month when you were sleeveless."
"Nice," Mira nodded approvingly as Rumi choked and protested that "this wasn't part of the plan!" "That's a hot one."
Frankly, Celine did not think there was anything hot about how she'd looked in that dress, which she'd really only worn as a favor to a designer friend in need of publicity, but she had bigger concerns. "Zoey, that's not appropriate-"
"You're right," Zoey nodded. She flicked her gaze to Celine, then back to her phone, tapping the screen like a starving woodpecker. "You need at least ten fire emojis."
That was very much not what she meant but before she could say so Zoey tapped her screen with a final flourish.
"Posted!" Grinning triumphantly, Zoey set her phone down on the desk and folded her arms. "And now we wait. My Spidey-senses say we have approximately thirty seconds before the thirst posts start rolling in."
Rumi groaned as she stood, but it was a testament to how much she wanted this party that she didn't leave or make some comment or other about keeping those posts far away from her; it was clear she viewed trawling for admirers as a necessary evil. Celine rubbed her temples. "Zoey, you realize people are just going to be polite-"
Like a lit firecracker, Zoey's phone started bursting with notifications. Snatching it up, she scrolled through her feed, grin widening. "Oh, really?" She thrust it at Celine. An endless feed of responses, each one more...effusive then the last greeted her. Some calling her their 'forever bias,' others proclaiming that she actually looked sexier with silver streaked hair and hoping they aged as hot as she did, and still others...not something she could read aloud on broadcast television.
Mira snorted as she thumbed through the replies to Zoey's post on her own phone. "Yeah, these are really polite." She glanced at Rumi, shoulders pulled up to her ears and looking like a very pouty pop princess. "You're gonna wanna block Zoey for the weekend."
"OH WOW!!!" Celine pulled away with a wince at Zoey's shout. She bounced on her toes as she looked at the feed over Celine's shoulders. "THERE'S A SAENGIL CAFE FOR CELINE POPPING UP DOWNTOWN!!! And they're gonna have keychains!!!"
"Please tell me you're not going..." Rumi groaned, pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes (this plan was working too well...).
Zoey puffed up her chest. "I am an SLS stan first and everything else second, and I need Celine to dangle from my keys."
Rumi groaned louder. "Never say that sentence again."
"It's a good sentence," Mira, for whom Rumi-baiting was a competitive sport, contributed from her chair.
"It is not!"
Leaving the girls to bicker about what constituted acceptable arrangements of words, Celine continued to scroll through the feed. A pleasant heat started to tingle up her neck, the old fluttering pleasure from her younger days of being undeniably hot swelling in her chest. She'd had enough experience with the media over the years to tell 'genuine' from 'fake,' and these...
She paused at an all-caps declaration of how she had apparently turned someone feral.
it was genuine trash i have no other words there has NEVER been a movie this bad on Disney iâm actually irritated right nowđ
Rise of Red was a masterpiece compared to the mess this was
there was ZERO need for all of those characters
It shouldâve just been Chloe and Red and maybeee Pink.
Actually, yes. Chloe, Red, and Pink shouldâve been the focus here.
There were too many characters and not a single one them had any personality or depth
Edit: The movie has SO much potential if it werenât for the fact that the writers forgot what they were pulling from. Luis Madrigal would NOT have strength as his gift. Thatâs not how it works. Robbie Hood shouldnât have even been a character (or Luis, for that matter). The Smeeâs made sense in terms of Hazel, whose character had so much potential that the writers failed to fulfill, and ended turning her into an awful caricature of Uma and Harry.
Red and Chloe know NOTHING about the world theyâre in and instead of focusing on that theyâre thrown into a new adventure that was lazily written.
Pink and Red should have had more development. As I said, Red has no idea who Pink is. Their relationship should have been explored more.
Donât even get me started on the songsđ They were clearly copying, and I do mean COPYING, Night Falls, Space Between, and Chillinâ Like a Villain.
Luis and Red shouldnât have happened. Zero development and zero chemistry.
I hate when my mind just goes full no thoughts, head empty. Anyways, here's a superman au
Celine and Miâyeong were children of Krypton, never meant to cross paths, never meant to love each other, and yet they did. They tied their lives together against their familiesâ wishes and left their world behind to chase the stars. Somewhere out there, between constellations, they welcomed their daughter. They laughed, they cried, they lived. They built a home they could only dream of on Krypton.
But Krypton was gone. Devoured by greed and shortsightedness. Rumi would never know her ancestral planet. She would always be a tree without roots.
A small price for the survival of her and her mothers.
But space is a dark place. Their ship was attacked, and even though they had fought pirates before and won, the damage was too much. Celine set a course for a planet with a yellow sun, but it did not matter. Miâyeongâs last breath came too soon.
Grief swallowed everything. Their home was gone, her beloved was gone. Celine carried Rumi to Earth, settled on this strange planet full of strange beings, and tried to build a quiet life. Rumi went to school and even though human knowledge could not compare to Kryptonian, she found an energetic friend who brought something new into their lives. Or maybe something they had forgotten.
Years passed. High school faded. Rumi joined Celine in her workshop while studying aerospace engineering. Zoey chose music. Their paths drifted apart but their bond only grew stronger. Celine liked this peaceful life and even though a part of her died with Miâyeong, she felt alive.
Until Rumi, her motherâs daughter, decided she wanted to help those who could not protect themselves. Celine tried to stop her, but when she realized Rumi would do it anyway, she chose to help. At least she could keep her child safe.
Zoey helped however she could, and Celine was endlessly grateful. The problem began when Kang Mira arrived, daughter of a family with far too many skeletons in their closets. Suddenly both Rumi and Zoey lost every grain of common sense. Was Celine just as foolish when she fell for Miâyeong? Maybe, with Minâji Song stepping into her life, she will remember those longâburied feelings. Maybe her heart will beat again.
this is going to piss white people off but iroh opening up the tea shop in ba sing se is kind of crazy. like i get he is a kind wise old uncle and the closest a lot of yall have to dads but like... i hope he has a good lawyer! thats all i'll say! actually no its not the way he talked about azula is also Fucking Crazy brother that is a 14 year old girl who is Your Neice being Groomed by Your Brother. Fuck ya mean "she's crazy" you old cunt Go Get Your Fucking Brother!!!
for the bio siblings au: celine meeting mutt and immediately noticing how much she looks like rumi's dad?
Ohhhh that would be. Not good! Seeing as this is an au where Rumi was conceived during rape.
Might be a little like this:
The mutt kicks her feet under the table, eyeing the exits from the living room. She knows each and every way out, of course, whether that be to skitter into the shadows of the penthouse and wait there, where no one can see her, until she feels safer or to leave.
But right now she is scared, so she looks them over again.
She knows that Rumi and Mira and Zoey wonât be mad if she decides she isnât ready to meet Celine, but they also want her to, and she doesnât want to disappoint them.
âHey,â Mira says softly, and even though the mutt knew she was there, it makes her jump. âYou wanna keep your hands busy until Celine gets here?â
And the mutt nods, and gets up and follows Mira into the kitchen, and she and Mira peel oranges together, Mira showing her how she can make the peel come off in one long piece and the mutt trying to mimic her.
(Yesterday, Rumi and Mira and Zoey went âemergency shopping,â because apparently they didnât have enough âreal foodâ around for when Celine would visit, and then Mira and the mutt started lunch this morning, so they can only makes a snack.
But it is a good snack.)
Eventually, the elevator doors open, and the mutt hears Rumiâs voice. ââplanning to maybe do some stunt work myself, but apparently the insurance guys wouldnât let me.â
âThey do tend to get nervous about that kind of thing,â says a voice the mutt doesnât know, a little careful, affectionate at the same time.
Celine.
âDo you want to go get Zoey?â Mira asks.
The mutt nods, arranging the orange segments on the plate with nervous fingers.
Mira does not make her hurry, just waits, lets her worry as much as she needs, before the mutt steels herself and hurries out of the kitchen to go get Zoey from her room.
She wishes Mira had made her hurry, though.
Because when she does, Celine and Rumi are only a few feet away.
And Celine gasps, dropping her bag to the ground, reaching into the Honmoon as the blood drains from her face.
Rumi knocks the glowing things out of Celine's hands before they can fully take shape. âStop it!â she snaps at Celine, who is Rumiâs guardian, who is a Hunter, who looks so angry, the angriest the mutt has ever seen.Â
Celine is turning to her, oh no, turning the full brunt of her fury on Rumiâ
And the anger dissolves into something else, something horrible, like terror, like abject pain.
Zoeyâs hands squeeze the muttâs shoulders; she hadnât noticed them touching her at all.
Mira huffs. Sheâs planted herself directly in front of the mutt. âLet's try that again, huh? Kid, this is Celine, who is usually cooler than this. Celine, say âhi, kid who can barely squeeze a lemon without feeling bad about itâ.âÂ
Celine abruptly schools her expression into perfect neutrality. Sheâs looking directly at the mutt from behind Miraâs shoulder. Something in her intent focus is almost reminiscent of Rumi. Truly, this is the gaze of a hunter.
Rumiâs stance has softened. She doesnât touch Celine, but she leans into her space, almost as if sheâd like to. âI told you, remember?â she says, voice low. âSheâs like me.â
âYes, I hadnât expectedâŠâ Celine does not finish the sentence. Instead, she shakes her head slightly and inclines it to the mutt in an almost-bow. âHello, itâs good to meet you.â
The mutt swallows, the urge to run fighting with the urge to placate the Hunter fighting with the urge to duck herself closer behind Mira and all resulting in her doing nothing but shaking like the miserable, useless creature she is.
Zoeyâs hands squeeze her shoulders again, comfortingly, pulling her back to her body.
Celine bends down to pick up her bag, finally looking away.
âDo you want to go back into the kitchen?â Zoey asks quietly. âYou can stay in there as long as you want.â
The mutt shakes her head. If she went, she would never come back.
âYouâre sure? I can go with you if that helps,â she adds.
But the muttâthe mutt looks over at Rumi, and Celine, and their intense gazes. Sheâs like me. Her voice shakes, but she still manages to force herself to speak. âI want to be brave.â
âYouâre doing great,â Zoey says, and she lets go of the muttâs shouldersâthe mutt resists the urge to lean after the lossâand slips around to walk beside her.
The silence on the way to the couch is deeply awkward. And when they sit down.
âI am sorry,â the mutt says, remembering.
Everyone looks at her.
âAbout your tupperware,â she clarifies for Celine. âI should not have stolen it.â
And despite how Rumi and Mira and Zoey had talked about how upset Celine would get over the good tupperware being goneâthough only ever when they thought the mutt could not hear, which meant the consequences very much would impact the muttâCeline does not get angry.
âItâs alright,â she says. She does not sound like she means much it, everything flat and hollow, but she says it. âThe girls can get new ones.â
The mutt wishes that she would just be upset. It is easier than kindness, even real-kindness and not false-kindness, though she knows it would make Mira, Zoey, and Rumi sad if she said that. Even so, it can feel like waiting to be hit.
At least if Celine just hit her, she wouldnât have to wait.
Unfortunately, Celine seems to have a preference for waiting.
Her voice had been so warm and alive, behind the door, when she was speaking to Rumi. And then she had seen the mutt, and became quiet and careful.
The mutt understands. When youâre dealing with an unknown threat, it is smart to wait and observe. But she is in no way a threat to Celine, and she knows how dangerous it is for her to be perceived that way. What she doesnât know is how to fix it.
Mira catches her eye and wiggles her eyebrows. The mutt does her best to wiggle back.
âOrange slices, anyone?â Mira says in a perfect monotone.
âYes, please!â Rumi and Zoey say almost in tandem, and then smile warmly at each other.
The mutt collects all these looks for morale and looks at Celine. âYouâyou have raised Rumi well,â she stumbles. âSheâsâgreat.â
Rumi smothers a laugh with an orange slice. But Celine frowns.
âThank you,â she says slowly. âShe is.â
Rumi chokes the orange down and fans herself. âOh, go on.â
Celine eyes her sidelong. âWith an ego to match, Iâm sure.â
âI do nothing by half measures,â Rumi agrees.
âMm,â says Celine, and is silent again.
Mira turns to Celine. âHow about you ask her a question?â she says bluntly.
Celine obligingly turns to look at the mutt, and the mutt does her very best to meet her eyes. She manages only a glance. Thereâs something unfocused in Celineâs gaze. âHow are you finding your room?â
âGood,â the mutt forces herself to say. âItâsâitâs very good.â
âHm,â says Celine.
The mutt wants to wipe her sweaty palms on her nice new linen pants, but she resists.
âSheâs been into linear algebra lately,â Mira says pointedly. âShe thinks eigen decomposition is elegant.â
âI see,â says Celine.
The mutt has something stuck in her throat, sheâs pretty sure, although she hasnât touched the orange slices.
Rumi slaps her thighs. âOkay! Celine, I have a sponsorship proposal I wanted to run by you. Could you join me in the office for a moment?â
It takes everything Rumi has in her not to immediately snap at Celine and ask her what the hell sheâs thinking once the door is shut behind them.
She takes a deep breath through her nose, grabbing her temper tight. âI donât know what your issue is, but you better work it out before we get back in there.â
Celine doesnât say anything.
Rumi doesnât know what she expected, but it wasnât that.
She turns around.
Celine is still standing at the door.
Rumi presses a hand against her temple, tired. âLook, IâI know Iâve done a lot of things that werenât necessarily what youâve wanted, butââ
âWhat?â
âSheâs just a kid,â she finishes, nonetheless. âWhatever it is, donât take it out on her.â
Celine looksâstricken, for some reason, at this remark. âRumi-ya, IâI didnât meanâIâm sorry, I never meantâI promisedââ
âTo protect all that was left of my mother, I know.â Rumiâs only heard it a million times. âIs that all you care about?â
âNo, Iââ Celine closes her eyes and leans back against the door. âBefore that. Miyeong made me promise her that I would never hold the demon against you.â
And Rumiâs breath stops. Her anger falters.
The demon means her father, however rarely Celine has spoken of him. Rarely enough that Rumiâs never heard this before.
âAnd I know she isnât guilty ofâŠâ Celine pushes the heels of her hands into her eyes. âShe looks so much like him.â
âGuilty?â Rumi echoes, the lump in her throat a violent and living thing.
(She doesnât remember when she first came to the quiet, sickening conclusion that her father had raped her mother. She does remember the momentâthe exact moment, watching Jinu look at that little girl with her hand drawn cardâwhen sheâd let herself consider anything else.)
Celine opens her eyes. âI never once looked at you and saw anything other than someone your mother loved. I know she isnât your father. Iâll get over it, I promise. I just need a minute.â
âIâm messing this up,â says the mutt, worrying at her cuticle with a thumb. âWhat should I do?â
âNo, youâre not,â Mira grumbles, visibly annoyed. âCeline is.â
âYou were cute as a button!â Zoey agrees, and takes her hand so that now the cuticle-worrying is a much greater logistical challenge.
âAre buttons very good at making a good first impression?âÂ
Zoey giggles. âWell⊠Celine is notoriously hard to impress.â
âItâs not your fault,â Mira says firmly.
The mutt frowns. None of that sounds right. âYou donât need to lie,â she says.
Mira looks offended. âI donât lie.â
âSheâs a Hunter,â says the mutt. âIâm a demon.â
âCan I make it any more obvious?â says Zoey. âNo, Miraâs right, though. Even if that was her problem, no way thatâs your fault. She knows better by now.â
âI think sheâs⊠scared of me,â says the mutt.
They both laugh.Â
The mutt slips her hand away and tucks it in her lap.
âNooo, sweetie, Iâm sorry,â Zoey scrambles. âItâs just, we know Celine. She doesnât get scared like that.â
âIâm pretty sure sheâs a block of granite brought to life,â says Mira.
The mutt stares at her lap. She trusts their judgement, so much more than her own. But she knows what fear looks like.
On the streets, in a situation like this, the best strategy was to run. But, maybe here there could be a better option. She had rarely had the opportunity to clarify her intentions. Well, exceptâexcept for the woman who had taken the containers. And now sheâs gotten to apologize for that too.
For all the good that did. In order to explain herself, she needs to be able to explain stuff.Â
The mutt considers her plan. Her thumb starts to drift towards her cuticle again.
âWe should do your nails sometime,â Mira says, passing her an orange segment, not casually at all.
Unfortunately, they took the peels off earlier, so all the fiddling that she could do with the orange would be messy. She takes it anyway.
âOoh, yes!â Zoey agrees. She holds her hands out in front of her, examining her nails. âSince weâre on hiatus right now, glam wonât even yell at us for at-home mani-pedis; we could have a chill hangout here or we could make a whole thing of it.â
The mutt knows this is an attempt to distract her from thinking about Celine. She hides her smile behind the orange segment. Lucky that she came up with an idea already.
âYou donât have to if you donât want to,â Mira adds. She gestures between herself and Zoey. âWe might be beholden to makeup culture and shit, but you shouldnât be.â
The mutt considers this, for a moment. Zoey had helped her clean and trim her nails once, on the same day she had taught her how to wash her hands properly (all while rambling about how being several centuries old did not mean that a demon couldnât keep up with advances in hygiene).
It was nice, having someone hold her hands so gently.
âMaybe,â she says. She would need to know more about what âa whole thing of itâ means first.
Before she can explain that, she hears footsteps down the hall, and goes still. Now it is time for her to put her plan into action.
Rumi comes in first, and she looks at the mutt, and she is⊠devastated. It is such an expression that the mutt looks down at herself, half-expecting to see blood spreading across her warm new shirt.
But there is nothing. And now her timing is off.
It is only after Celine comes in to the room, and not before she enters, that the mutt manages to sink to the floor, kneeling properly.
âWhat the fuck,â Rumi breathes out, looking wild eyed. âZoey?â
The mutt ignores them. Sheâs already been distracted enough. She needs to do this correctly.Â
She looks only at Celine. âYou can hit me, if you want,â she tells her, quiet and clear. âOr cut me with yourâthose big knives. Iâm not gonna bite you, or, or anything.â
âNo, no no no noââ Rumi chokes out, and starts to step in front of the mutt, and the mutt wants to wave her away, wants to tell her that if Celine could only cut her a little and feel reassured it would be so worth itâ
Butârather than summon her knives, or look reassured, Celine drops to her knees in the muttâs mirror image, and lets out a long, broken keen that reverberates jarringly through the Honmoon so far off-tune it hurts. She puts her face in her hands. The Honmoon pounds through the muttâs head to the rhythm of her sobs.
Sheâd braced for pain. But this is worse.
Rumi stutters between them in two aborted movements. Then she bends down to press a hard kiss to the top of the muttâs head and whirls around to wrap herself around Celine.
Celine doesnât hug her back; the tips of her fingers are white where they clutch at her head. Sheâs quieter now, but her body is still shaking with her sobs, and the Honmoon is still knocking through the mutt like a nauseating drum.
She thought sheâd understood. Celine had clearly wanted to hurt her when sheâd first seen her. Had been clearly afraid and unsettled after that. Sheâd thoughtâif she made the offer in good faith, to show she is harmless, that she means no harmâ
But Celine is hurting. Celine is hurt, maybe, in a way the mutt doesnât in fact understand.
âKid,â Mira is saying. âKid, noâno one gets toâno.â
And the mutt does not know when she came close, but she does know that she cannot move, not when Rumi is holding Celine and Celine is crying and the Honmoon is shaking andâ
Rumi buries her face in Celineâs hair, her voice low and hurried. âIâm okay, weâre okay, nothingâs going to happen, itâs not you, we re okay, itâs not you, nothingâs going to happen, I swear.â
âRumi?â Zoey says, her voice high and thin as she breaks the stream of Rumiâs words. âRumi, what do you mean?â
Rumi doesnât move, just keeps holding Celine, and they are both shaking now, the mutt thinks.
âI canât,â Celine whispers. The Honmoon screams an echo.
The mutt winces as it hits her, rattling her ribs, and Celine judders towards her, her tear-streaked face such a ragged mess that the mutt almost wants to flinch back at the sight of it.
But she does not, and Celine grabs her face with ungentle hands and rapidly pats her way down the muttâs shoulders in search of injury before collapsing again. âIâm sorry, I didnât meanâI tried to keep my promises, I did, I swear.â
The mutt sits, stiff and confused, as this woman of stone crumbles into her. She does not know what to do, and it is terrifying.
But Rumi follows, her voice breaking, the Honmoon stinging like tears on the muttâs cheeks. âYou did.â
Miraâs hands are on the muttâs shouldersâstill, again, she doesnât know, but they are rigid and stiff and the mutt feels like she is disappearing between them, an unthing.
And Rumi looks at Mira and Mira looks at Rumi and Celine holds tight and the mutt says, âIâm sorry, I didnât meanâI only wanted, I wanted to say that I am not going to bite.â
But no one hears. Mira says, âRumi, what did you do?â
Miraâs hands are heavy, and Celine is heavier, and the Honmoon squeezes, squeezes her, until she is nothing, nothing, until she is goneâ
And pops back into existence, crouched on all fours, on the other side of the room.
âHoly shit,â Zoey blurts out. âI didnât know you could do that.âÂ
Neither did the mutt. If she had, it mightâve made so many things so much easier, not least of them one of her dadâs very favorite experiments.Â
But now she has everyoneâs attention. This is nearly always bad. And things are quite bad already.
The mutt does what she used to do in such a situation: make herself small, bow down, and wait for the consequences.
She can hear a shuffle, and then Miraâs soft voice: âNo, give her space.â
Rumiâs anxiety is almost audible, a tightly wound thread. The mutt has no room for it in her head. She presses her forehead to the cool floor and tries to breathe through clenched teeth.
âItâs okay. Weâre okay.â
âI really need you to stop saying that for a second.â
The Honmoon is no longer on her, suffocating her; sheâd left it behind, as confused as the rest of them, all the way across the room. Still, itâs so hard to breathe properly. She tries, she tries.
More shuffling. A stagger. A horrible step in her direction. If anyone touches her, she might bite after all.
But no one does.
âPlease forgive my⊠outburst.â Celineâs voice is gravelly and rough, though it no longer trembles. âAre you hurt?â
The mutt shakes her head against the floor.
âGood.â Celine is silent for a long moment. The mutt can hear her breath; itâs loud, deliberate. Persuasive. âI did not require or expect an apology from you. I regret making you feel that I did.â
Thatâs no good. Thatâs worse. Without apologies, there is truly nothing the mutt has to offer.
âIf I did, I would neverââ Another pause. âIâhave been trying not to deal in unnecessary violence.â
The mutt thinks of glowing twin blades, taking shape from the Honmoon; of the intent for violence gleaming in narrowed eyes. She knows that look well.
Celine seems to follow her train of thought. âItâs a work in progress,â she says. âClearly.â
The mutt swallows. It scrapes. âYou think Iâm dangerous,â she manages.
âNo. Iââ Celine makes an impatient sound. âMy sense of danger could use⊠calibration.â
âI wonât hurt you,â the mutt tells her quietly. âI do not hurt people.â
âWould you believe me when I say that I will not hurt you?â Celine asks her.
The mutt swallows, again, twice. The fear is still there, a hard persistent lump. She understands about needing calibration. She wants to try. â...Okay.â
âMm.â Celine takes in a long noisy breath. The sound is a strange relief. âI find eigen decomposition rather elegant, as well.â
Celine and Rumi from deadbeat Mi-Yeong au swap with main Celine and Rumi pre-movie. Chaos and angst commence
(@fakelawyerbugâs deadbeat miyeong au)
Oh that would fuck everyone up
Like on main!Rumi and Celineâs side, theyâve just been dropped into a flower shop au where theyâre openly mother and daughter (Rumi wants and hates herself for it) (and so does Celine). They probably donât even realize the other SLS are alive at first, unless this is one of those variants where Miyeong and Third came stalking Celine to try to pat child support. Fucks them up so much worse when they realize
And on deadbeat!Rumi and Celineâs, suddenly itâs a high pressure, high profile, high performance situation⊠oh and Miyeong (and Third???) didnât drop out idol life due to scandal, no she fucking died. So everyoneâs way cooler about Rumi!
I'm thinking about what age Rumi would be and thinking what if this was happening right before debut.
Like Rumi is 18/19ish.
Db!Rumi and Db!Celine wake up in a high rise that Db!Celine couldn't dream of renting and before they even have a chance to breathe, Celine's assistant (what?) is knocking on the door with a private car (what?) because they're supposed to be running through the debut performance (what?).
(Db!Rumi is also supposed to be debuting in a week but Miyeong and Third had said that it was going to be a smaller venue and to just think of it as a performance review.)
(The honmoon was stable enough with two Sunlight Sisters still active and a scapegoat to absorb the fan backlash. Huntr/x could afford a slow launch.)
Instead, Db!Rumi and Db!Celine see a honmoon in a worse shape than they had ever seen it and a debut that was being billed as the debut of the decade. Fuck.
Meanwhile,
Main!Rumi and Main!Celine wake up in an apartment above a flowershop (huh?) and for some reason, the customers are all congratulating Rumi and asking her what her mother thinks of all this and it's so clear that they mean Celine and Rumi feels like someone's slid a knife between her ribs.
Mirror mirror part nine! First here, most recent here
For anyone just arriving: Celine swapped places with her evil, abusive AU counterpart, and has been attempting to fix things for Rumiâs counterpart, Sarang. Their relationship is currently tense, in between Celineâs arguable projection of main!Huntrix into mirror!Huntrix and mirror!Huntrixâs bluntly rejected proposal of therapy.
Kwon Bobby has seen, if heâs going to be a little rude, some shit.
Working in the idol industry does that.
Sometimes itâs fun! Itâs awesome! Heâs spinning twenty plates and watching his groups make some magic and he has the coolest life in the world!
And sometimes⊠sometimes, he feels like thereâs no magic that could be worth what his company asks of their performers.
Heâs not sure what heâs looking for when he accepts the meeting with actual-former-Sunlight-Sister-Celine. Some kind of way out. Some kind of something better.
What he gets: Celine, looking exceedingly polished, gently looking over the menu with a skinny kid with purple hair and birthmarks on her face. A smaller girl nervously looking between them and anywhere else. A taller one who spots Bobby the moment he walks in.
Celine offers him a razor-thin smile as he sits down, something both warm and threatening at once. Kid one tries to shrink in on herself. Kid two tries not to fidget. Kid three near-deliberately sprawls more.
They exchange greetings.
âI see no reason to beat around the bush,â Celine tells him. âIâd like to work with you. My companions here are less decided. Consider this a preliminary interview regarding⊠an upcoming project.â
Itâs an immense showing of her hand to almost outright tell him that sheâs going to be debuting these trainees, and a strong statement in itself to have said trainees there with herâor, well, she hadnât said so explicitly, but if they arenât, he has absolutely no urge to sign on. Then itâs just mind games, not respect.
But Bobby smiles, hopeful. âItâs very nice to meet all of you. What do you want to know?â
Celine hums. Her first questions are softballsâbasic icebreakers and some generalities to help the girls get to know the space theyâre working in.
Kids two and threeâZoey and Miraâask him a few of their own, while kid oneâSarangâstays mostly quiet, which is kind of a weird vibe, honestly.
Celine pokes at him about diet as the food arrives, and he tries honesty.
âItâs good to see trainees who donât hesitate at the sight of food, and donât look starved about it, either,â he admits.
âGotta eat to live,â Zoey responds in sing-song English.
Mira snorts.
And Bobby, who has seen some shit, decides that he has a good feeling about this one, weird vibes and all.
Context: Celine swaps with a version of Celine who isn't nightmarish awful but doesn't really see Rumi as a person per se.
While everyoneâs figured out itâs an alternate timeline situation, main!Huntrix are trying to prevent alt!Celine from doing more damage while wading through their own trauma, and alt!Rumi has had a breakdown about the difference between the universes and hurt her wrist in the process.
@fakelawyerbug
Celine makes a face. It reads, pretty bluntly, as Donât tell me how to raise my child, though Zoey would genuinely love to hear her say that out loud.
âLook,â she says, âwe know a lot more about how demons and patterns work than we did even a year ago. Iâm just trying to be a resource.â
âBecause Iâm not the problem?â she asks.
Zoey refuses to wince again, no matter how much of a dick she is. A smile is a kind of game face, and Celine is the one who taught her that. âExactly.â
Celine sighs, and gestures for her to sit. âI donât know what issue you think youâve spotted, but I can tell you that the Rumi I have raised is competent and respectful, as well as being aware of the control over herself that she needs to have. Unlike the three of you.â
Zoey takes a breath, and very strongly considers picking a fight.
///
Celine, very gently, tells Rumi that she can bring Mira and Zoey if she wants, or just let them know that theyâre going to the clinic, and that sheâs going to get Rumi some ice and meet her at the car.
This isnât actually a choice, because the second Mira and Zoey hear theyâre going to want to come, it gives Rumi a moment where she thinks sheâll be able to avoid the shame of them seeing her get lectured.
Then again, Celine generally prefers to keep that between the two of them, so maybe having Mira and Zoey around will buy her some time?
(She does not let herself think, walking down the hall, about how tenderly Celine had cradled her face. About how sheâd spoken to her so gently. About the name sheâd used.)
She pokes her head through Zoeyâs door, finding (as expected) that Mira is also lounging there. âCelineâs taking me to the doctor. You guys can just stay here andââ
âIs it broken? WhaâRumi, why are you just holding it like that?â Zoey yelps, instantly on her feet and in motion.
Mira is quick to follow, grabbing her glasses off the bedside table. âHow else is she supposed to hold it?â
Zoey sputters, and Rumi laughs, trying to ignore the sinking feeling still present in the pit of her stomach.
Mirror mirror part eight! First here, most recent here
For anyone just arriving: Celine swapped places with her evil, abusive AU counterpart, and has been attempting to fix things for Rumiâs counterpart, Sarang. A note from main!Huntrix explaining some of what went down with Rumiâs patterns sent Celine into a spiral, and made mirror!Huntrix aware of her suicidality.
The situation sheâs in hits her so hard that Mira almost laughs.
Sheâs got a half-demon in a muzzle doing aegyo for her to ask what kind of medicine makes a person good and a suicidal mentor from an alternate universe dissociating right next to them. Even herself as of two weeks ago wouldnât have believed this.
Almost.
But Celine, no matter how she meant it or what suicidal plans she had when she asked them, was right when she said they had to trust each other and was right to make Mira promise to take care of her third.
She takes a breath. She sorts through her head. âSick doesnât mean bad.â
Sarang cringes, and Miraâreflexes trained by so long with Zoeyâstarts to reach out and barely aborts a movement that couldâve been taken as a threat.
âThatââ She swallows. âJust like broken doesnât, either. That doesnât mean youâre wrong about there being medicines that could help Celine.â
Sarang perks right back up again, eyes wide and purposely cute and demon-gold. âReally?â
âThereâs a kind of doctor who could help her,â Mira explains, eyeing where Celine is sitting and staring at the wall. She didnât like talking about someone as if they werenât in the room, but Celine was too checked out to speak for herself. âBut I donâtâI donât know a lot about psychology. My parents werenât exactly champing at the bit to let me have someone know about the shit they did to me. So.â
Sarang tilts her head, genuine curiosity breaking through. âYou donât like them. I didnât realize they made you sick, too.â
Instantly, internally, Mira recoils at the label. She canât notânot after so many years of her problems being held over her head.
But.
Is she wrong?
âI donât know if I can blame them,â Mira manages, at last, around the tightness in her throat. âNot entirely. They were definitely still shitty parents, though, yeah.â
Sarang nods slowly. âWe should call a doctor who does know, then. Will we have to prepare like when MââŠthe bad Celine had one come to talk to me?â
what is it with people being obsessed with trying to find writers that orphaned their old works? i havenât written half the stuff iâve been asked about and iâm still irritated đ
New drunk marriage post since that other one was getting lonnnnnng (@frozenwolftemplar)
Now, see, weâre on the fun part: because while the girls did have a marriage ceremony, they are not legally married
No marriage license! Just a certificate! Theyâre exactly as married as they decide they are and all of them know itâthereâs a reason they didnât tell Bobby about The Incident right after it happened
But standing there, where it would be very, very easy to listen to Celine and admit thereâs nothing real to annul, that her job is all the easier than she thought⊠they donât do that
Itâs not so much about Celine as it is about each other, right then, even if sheâs the one who hears the first âI donât want to,â the one before Rumi turns around with her eyes a little wide, not really about to believe that theyâd pick her, fully knowing and fully sober
âI donât want to either,â she breathes, and she canât believe sheâs said something so selfish, so antithetical to her duty and her salvation, andâ
The Honmoon flickers. Brighter. Stronger. Because the problem has never been that Rumi was selfish, not really. The selfishness was always a symptom of the fear, and the fear a symptom of the shame.
âThen letâs not,â Mira says, simple as that.
Rumi holds out her hands, and theirs fit, just the way they always have.
tangentwithtanner
ellievsbear
snowghoul
