an inescapable place

[iwillberealonceagain]

Moms do weird things that are meant to enable their kids being stupid sometimes. Like carrying spare clothes in a bag, carrying tylenol around, baby wipes way past the diaper stage etc.

Mira and Zoey finding out post new Honmoon that Celine actually favors short sleeves, tank tops and the like. It's just well for a decade itw as easier to get Rumi to put on one of Celine's cardigans than it was to get her into her own long sleeve shirts and then it was a back up just in case.

Mira only a little sarcastic when she notices the change in outfit styles saying that it seems like Celine and Rumi both found a seam ripper and decided sleeves were illegal.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Missed the call Angst.

No demons, some things are bad enough.

Zoey has the chance to debut with friends she's made in Korea on her school vacations visiting her father and his side of the family, it'll be awesome like life long dream! Dude one's got rich parents who are not great parents but they think it'll be good for the image so of course they'll let her, and the other's mom (Two moms really how COOL is that? Like even if they can't really talk about it in public) RUNS the company that'll let them debut.

Except her mom won't let her. Dual citizenship, join custody across countries, it's a two yesses one no scenario and it's devastating but that's okay they can wait til she's 18 maybe? Maybe? Mom's divorced though and low paying job and the little siblings need help and support too and she's the oldest daughter of immigrant parents stacked against her but maybe she can pull it off.

Til one of her little siblings gets sick in one of those the US 'health system' will suck you dry and laugh as you beg for help kind of ways and then… then she can't go. Can't just leave them like that, there's too much expectation on her to help even if she could save up the money to go.

(Even if she knows if she asked or mentioned wanting to go her father would pay to help her in a heartbeat that'd be helping HER, not her siblings, NOT her mother, only her since she's his child and the rest aren't important to him.)

((Even if Rumi and Mira are constantly reminding her they've got a spare room waiting for her the moment she so much as suggests she wants to move in, even if they never say it in so many words. Again they'd take care of her, but what kind of person would she be if she asked them or their families to help out with younger siblings, a mother who aren't their responsibility?))

What kind of good, dutiful oldest daughter just walks away from a family that desperately needs her to fulfill their own selfish wants, right?

She totally collects stuff from Mira and Rumi's debut though, all the merch she can. Most of it gets shipped directly to her the moment some comes out because Rumi's a dork and Mira jokes that Zoey looks good with their faces on her.

[iwillberealonceagain]

There is something real humbling about trying to fit my American ass into the access port of a machine designed, manufactured, and installed by a Japanese company who designed everything to be accessible to their average employee and made no alterations when an American company purchased their machinery.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Rumi vs the current generation's love of true crime podcasts, mystery vlogs and retellings of horrible events.

On tour, checking over things where they've been set up because she can't help but want to micromanage to a degree and double check what Bobby's already double checked, hearing local hired techs listening to something on their break or whatever.

A high pitched far too enthusiastic voice going on about a 'real who REALLY did it mystery for you today folks' that makes her roll her eyes (not like Mira doesn't like crime documentaries sometimes) and go to ignore it until she hears a horrible mispronunciation of her mother's name.

Rumi has been raised in the industry, it does not surprise her to a degree that every aspect of her or her mother's lives have been speculated about in some way or another, but she finds herself absolutely stunned by the cheerful voice debating if Mi Yeong was murdered, committed suicide, or 'pull an Elvis' and if it WAS murder... then oh so many people could be to blame let's look at perhaps those who seemed to benefit MOST from it.

It's not the first time Celine's been texted asking her to fire someone. It is the first time it involved Rumi ranting in the background though, and the first time Bobby's been the one to ask.

(But to be fair at that point it's fire a few local hire techs, or Rumi's gonna filet them with her totally fake prop Huntri/x themed weaponry)

[iwillberealonceagain]

Can we give Zoey a good dad for once? Like problematic in his own way like all parents are but he's not a terrible dad just a normal person. Ish.

Image of Zoey's parents getting together and having her very young (Say 19-20, married idiot age), and then the difficulties of life actually sort of setting in, the divorce, betrayal, fighting etc etc and joint custody with Zoey spending her US sanctioned vacations in Korea with her dad and spending the rest of the time in the USA with her mom.

All this to say: Zoey's dad who has a job.

He's had the same job since his army days, so he jokes. He goes where he's told to go, wears what he's told to wear, looks how he's told to look, and looks nice doing it.

Or where Zoey's dad is totally a male model and has been her whole life which she can't really brag about in the US but in Korea she's probably been in at least three dozen stalker magazine or fan blogs since she was little in the 'oh my GOD look at him he's such a dedicated DAD' way that's just him walking with her in the street.

Zoey calls him in an overwhelmed/overstimulated panic after her first attempt at a photo shoot with her girls asking how he deals with the lights/heat/makeup etc. There's many tips interspersed with her step-mother's helpful 'he doesn't' comments. 'He doesn't' 'He bitches a lot' 'He's lucky he's pretty because he complains' 'We honestly have to bribe him with pokemon cards sometimes'

(Zoey's step-mom the hairstylist. She may have had to openly tell Zoey's dad she was interested and asking him on a date before he got it but he got it)

((Secondary side image: Zoey says something about her mother and her father lights up. Stepmother, holding up her hand: "Is it going to be a comment about 'my hellhound ex' or a comment about 'the woman who gave me the most beautiful and precious gift a man could ever ask for in my most amazing daughter who I love more than anything'?"

Zoey's dad making a face: "I'll tell you later."

Stepmother: "I'll react accordingly later."

Zoey, torn between amusement and what the hell))

[iwillberealonceagain]

DAMN BITCH FINISH THE ZOEY FORGETTING HER MEDS😭💔💔

Hey I lovingly punted an idea out into the universe in part because I don't have the time or willpower to finish it as a oneshot.

Go emotionally blackmail your local writer who can actually write lmao

[iwillberealonceagain]

Zoey determined to be the super awesome adulty adult superstar even if she's still a teen when they debut, do their first concerts and tours.

First out of town for a few days event when she's like 17, Celine having to stay behind for demon reasons, and Zoey realizing too late she's forgot her ADHD meds back home.

But it's fine, right? If she admits it she seems like an immature screw up so she thinks, and she's meant to be high energy on stage anyway.

She'll be perfectly fine being completely off of her meds for a few days. She can try to mask, try to just 'control herself', just work really hard to stay on track and no one will notice and she won't screw up any plans!

Spoiler alert, it doesn't work that way.

[secondtolastrow]

It’s not even the ADHD symptoms that do her in. Like, yeah, she’s a little extra fuzzy, a little extra bouncy, has a harder time following things when she’s so focused on Remembering To Pay Attention, gets a bit more than a bit forgetful

But that’s manageable. That’s fine

What gets her are the withdrawal symptoms

The random crashing in the middle of the afternoon so she’s trying not to fall asleep in public on Rumi’s shoulder. The absolute insanity her appetite becomes. The headaches from hell. The constant low level thrum of anxiety to make her feel like she’s fucking everything up and needs to go hyperventilate in the corner right the fuck now

(She’s crying and calling Celine about how she’s the literal worst for being so stupid by day three)

[frozenwolftemplar]

An hour. She has them in-hand in an hour. And now she’s crying again because damn that’s all it took? That’s all she needed to do? Three days of withdrawal and suffering and she just needed to call Celine and she’d have them in an hour? She really is the worst!!!

Zoey, sobbing over the phone: I’m the stupidest Hunter ever you’re probl’y soooooo disappointed I’m sorry the Honmoon chose me-

Celine: Zoey, take your meds.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Zoey's beating herself up in tears, her girls beating themselves up because they didn't notice (Rumi especially because she's meant to be the leader how did she not keep track of something she's never had to track before? ).

Celine just sighing over it. Medicate, eat something, have a nap.

The world is not ending, we're just taking this as a learning opportunity and adding it to everyone's check list before traveling not just mine, okay?

[iwillberealonceagain]

Zoey determined to be the super awesome adulty adult superstar even if she's still a teen when they debut, do their first concerts and tours.

First out of town for a few days event when she's like 17, Celine having to stay behind for demon reasons, and Zoey realizing too late she's forgot her ADHD meds back home.

But it's fine, right? If she admits it she seems like an immature screw up so she thinks, and she's meant to be high energy on stage anyway.

She'll be perfectly fine being completely off of her meds for a few days. She can try to mask, try to just 'control herself', just work really hard to stay on track and no one will notice and she won't screw up any plans!

Spoiler alert, it doesn't work that way.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Celine with a divided fanbase. Not for her actions, or not really.

But divided because she's said enough things sarcastically in the most innocent way that people aren't sure if she's being serious or not.

(Someone jokes about future families/children and Celine in the most innocent tone babbles a reply blending Korean and European myths to come out with something about Goddesses growing babies in cabbage patches and choosing to leave them with people so it's not really her choice with how many she has but maybe she shouldn't grow a garden.) (Mi Yeong lost her shit laughing the moment they were off camera) Her fans divided between "This woman is a master of sarcasm and sass", "This woman is a sweet cinnamon roll too good, too pure", and the complete inability to tell if she's telling the truth or not.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Huntrix (and sunlight sisters tbh) playing a game my friends and I play called "Explain your culture!". Otherwise known as 'I understand what these words are saying but I have no context for them' or 'I think I know what this is but I cannot comprehend why this is a thing'.

There's a thousand things that can go any which way with that, so many things that differ between America and Korea (or France/Canada and Korea if you go that way with Celine).

Primarily though I have this image right now of Celine in America texting confused "???" tagged photos of the puzzle piece logo and requesting context for what 'autism mom' or 'autism warrior' is meant to mean.

Zoey stumbles on replies trying to word them carefully.

Mira has very sarcastic interpretations of the second phrase that gets pillows thrown at her by Rumi.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Big sister Zoey who gets kind of a kick out of the fact she's the youngest of the group and the world knows her as 'youngest' but she's big sister to several little siblings. Who calls and checks on them, stays up to weird hours to play games with them online etc.

Zoey on the phone with her mother hearing about how toddler of the group is having testing done. The tired frustrated tone hearing that they think he might be on the spectrum.

Zoey trying to be cheerful and positive because that's who she is, always has to be stating that if he is that's okay, right? Like that's still baby bubby and they'll deal with it. It's not like they haven't before, right?

The unexpected snap back response from her mother that yes they've dealt with it but maybe she doesn't want to deal with it again. Doesn't want to deal with speech therapy and occupational therapy and safe foods and triggers, missed milestones and counselor meetings, medications, IEPs, repeated meetings with principals etc.

It's a phone call that ends quietly with half apologies about it just being 'a lot' (it being 'you', Zoey knows and internalizes the way she has for years, it's unspoken "you were a lot to deal with") and of course they'll find ways to deal with it.

Always deal with it, not embrace it, not go with the flow. 'Deal with it'.

Deal with her (and now maybe a sibling too).

Zoey spends the night and the next few days internalizing it, over-analyzing every word said and unsaid in the obsessive way that was something her parents had to 'deal with' when she lived with them, and now is something her girls have to deal with she thinks.

[iwillberealonceagain]

"Sometimes people have claw marks on their tits for dirty reasons. Sometimes it's because they got a new job and don't know how to deal with the itchy side effects of it yet." Said in my household but instantly made me think of something Zoey would say, very foot in mouth.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Thinking about Huntrix with a very lax contract when it comes to being performers. Or lax as far as most KPOP idols get. Nothing is really policed, there's guidelines etc.

There's probably a 'don't get caught doing stupid shit' clause but it's simple stuff meant to keep them safe.

Connecting to that thought is the image of them getting to see one of the first contracts Celine signed. Possibly the very first one, when she was younger than they were when they debuted.

Being absolutely astounded and outraged because it dictates everything including a mandatory curfew, a weight range that must be maintained, who she can be seen associating with.

[fakelawyerbug]

Rumi one day asks Celine why she never trained them like her mentors trained her(Celine used to say that their training was not nearly as hard as hers when they complained about long hours of training and waking up super early ). Celine has a flashback of her mentors beating the shit out of her while harshly criticizing her posture, technique, and skill. She just responds that the old way of training was outdated which isn’t technically a lie.

Celine also justifies how she was trained by saying she became the best weapon the honmoon has produced, and that it allowed her to carry on by herself when SLS feel apart.

Rumi and the girls have always wondered why Celine's mentors never helped train them. They were, as far as they were aware, still alive and still relatively young (even if 50-60 seemed ancient to them) and surely they knew how busy Celine was?

It's not until after the Idol Awards, when the girls have come to visit Celine (finally ready to have that conversation) when they get the sense of what growing up with the mentors must have been like when they hear all three of them yelling at Celine and Celine meekly saying,

"Yes, seonsang-nim."

[iwillberealonceagain]

Celine might have been tired and worn out a lot as their mentor but she never reached out for help. She might have said they had it a LOT easier than she ever did, but she never tried to change that.

Huntr/x learning about the old training methods because other mentors come to visit after the whole honmoon reboot. The elder and mom guilt trips that hit, the prideful 'if you'd learned how we learned you'd have done it sooner' meet pointed comments about Rumi's marks being a side effect of doing it the wrong way.

Maybe the girls also learning through it that SLS's manager was one of Celine's mentors son's, the family business set up that Celine created herself, a generation earlier and still enforcing the old way of doing things in a way that meant SLS were never out from under the watchful eyes of their mentors.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Currently entertained by the idea that Celine supposedly doesn't speak English.

Admits she's fluent in Korean and French but jokes that English wasn't one she mastered, sorry. Uses a translator whenever it's needed, but she just doesn't speak it.

Which leads to teenage Zoey in the house being taught intricacies of the Korean language she didn't know before or hadn't really used due to her American upbringing, and in return Zoey's trying to get Celine fluent in English cause it's fun.

Celine still refusing to admit she can speak it though, even years later, but not because she can't understand it or the words are hard or the like, she's fluent enough.

No, Celine swears she can't because she's well aware anything she says is probably going to sound like a Cali teenager including the slang and while Zoey (along with Rumi and Mira) is delighted by that, she's not showing that off to the world thank you.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Celine being ""retired"" and bored, occasionally taking up little projects here or there as something that interests her. Mostly posting random covers, sometimes consulting on song writing bits (mostly when Zoey's texting her at 3am obviously writing up a storm to be fair).

Agreeing to lend her voice to an animated character for fun, why not?

Some animated show that's aimed at teens/young adults so it's not some innocent little thing, adult topics etc. ("little" but something a whole lot of people have been waiting a long time to be adapted)

Retired or not, Celine has a fanbase and as soon as she's in something it's everywhere in fandom spaces.

So see the immediate divide online with one side panicking thinking Celine's so innocent she totally doesn't know she's about to voice a QUEER character, and the other side claiming this is a coming out story that's her own too damn it PROOF Celine is gay!

The 5000 tags at Rumi, Zoey and Mira from chunks of fans asking them to PLEASE tell Celine what she's just signed up to do before the other side of this split does.

[iwillberealonceagain]

10 1/2 hour shifts, 5 days a week. My brain is mush.