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polytrixaf

lets talk about flowers 💐

specifically in paint my frozen heart with fire by arendellesfirstwinter

more specifically about the chapter titles! which i LOVE!

all of this is just my personal opinions/interpretations <3

lillowing

excellent, excellent post!! go read it. i wanted to do something like this for my “literally every theory” post but im not aware of flower symbolism. very very good stuff here, time to continually reference it in the future

#fanfic #frozen heart fic #kpdh #polytrix

Perfecting Climatic Fights: Lessons Learned from one KPDH Fic.

Hi everyone! We're back with another entry into my Perfecting series, where I break down fics that I think perfectly embody some aspect.

I was watching a youtube video (link) about how to write a climatic fight scene. It was excellent and very enlightening! So I thought I would apply some of the concepts to SWWL’s climatic fight scene; Rumi vs Mira and Zoey.

Massive, massive spoilers ahead for So We Were Liars by @arendellesfirstwinter

Also, happy Aren day!

The first concept is “The most climatic fight should be a World Cup.” Well, what is a World Cup? See the diagram below.

This is gauging the strength of the winning party versus the strength of the losing party. The winning party is Zoey and Mira, while the losing party is Rumi. Now, the actual results of this fight are Fly Swatting, I won’t deny that. But it’s only because Rumi wasn’t seriously trying to harm them. I count this as a world cup fight because it is that on paper, ignoring the characters. These are the top characters of the verse/story, it is the strongest players fighting each other. In the context of the story this is the strongest going at it, even if one of them is severally handicapped. That's the spirit of World Cup. It's saying that the climatic fight shouldn't be two random bums going at it. It needs to have the highest stakes of that story, and this is our three main characters all fighting each other, making a World Cup series.

Looking at what type of fight excels at which metrics, you can see that World Cup fights feature both characterization and strategy. There is strategy involved in the fight, Mira and Zoey have a solid win condition and outplay Rumi. Ideally, the climatic fight shouldn't play out as X wins because they're stronger. Or Y wins because they have a better strategy. It should be the combination of characterization and strategy, better detailed by the diagram below.

This is essentially a way of visualizing a fight- you gauge their strength against each other, who has a better strategy, and who has the narrative behind them. Whoever wins the fight will have a higher bar. And an excellent fight will make use of all three categories.

Before we can break it down, though, we have to further understand the rules of this fight. You, dear reader, may be confused. Is it really a fight? It’s more Rumi running away.

I am arguing yes, this is a fight. It’s just both an emotional and physical fight. We’ll get into it more during the strategy section, but the girls are fighting each other. Rumi just tried to fight in a different way.

Let’s get into the chart! Strength is the easiest. Rumi, with her demon physiology, and being the leader, would probably be a tough challenge for Mira and Zo, strength wise. However, the fight isn’t decided by just “who’s stronger.” You also have to consider mental strength and fortitude. Mira and Zoey want to protect their girlfriend from a Demon. Rumi wants to live, while hating herself. Rumi fundamentally has a weaker mental here from lying to others and herself, she has less stakes in this fight.

Strategy. This fight can be broken into each party’s win conditions: Mira and Zoey want to kill Rumi. (Okay, they want to kill what they think is an imposter, but, it’s Rumi. We’re speaking from an outside perspective here)

Rumi’s objective is to convince them she is not an imposter, or escape. So “Winning” the fight for Zoey and Mira looks like killing Rumi. Winning the fight for Rumi is basically any outcome that isn’t anyone dying. She could win by killing Mira and Zoey, but obviously that would be bad. Technically she has a win condition of “incapacitate Mira and Zoey” but I do not think mentally she can hurt them.

So the fight starts and their strategies initially form. Mira decides to 1v1 Rumi, while telling Zoey to scout for information… to find Rumi. And Rumi decides to convince them, getting within range of Mira’s weapon. Mira decides to wear down Rumi, which makes sense as Zoey did suffer a concussion. Rumi does attempt escape here, though is unsuccessful. She does manage to stave off Mira physically, though, at which point Zoey joins the fight. This isn’t explicitly stated, but I like to imagine that Mira forcing Rumi back gave Zoey space to work at range. It would be good strategy from Mira, along with synergy. Speaking of synergy, time to bring up another graphic! The youtube video has the 5 S’s of strategy, shown below.

Important to note! You do not need every single one of these for a good fight. But you should have a handful, and every one helps. A fight with none of these is just fists flying in an empty parking lot, which is boring.

So far, Mira and Zoey have mainly used Synergy with a tiny bit of Sneak Attack (Mira at the beginning rushing Rumi).

Zoey continues to throw at range, landing a hit on Rumi, in her thigh. You could count this as Spot of Weakness, since running away is one of Rumi’s win conditions, which is now firmly shut down.

Rumi begins throwing items at Mira and Zoey. While ineffective, this is a use of Surroundings.

Rumi begins to beg, switching her strategy from convincing Mira and Zoey to saying she’ll leave. While still trying to run.

Zoey flanks, launching her weapon into Rumi’s ankles to pin her, and Mira moves in for the killshot. Excellent use of synergy and sneak attack, from Zoey’s perspective. We never see either party sacrifice something to gain an advantage, but that also doesn't really make sense in the story. Mira and Zoey don't need to sacrifice anything, they have the advantage. (Though you could argue by agreeing to leave and never return, Rumi is sacrificing her relationship to fulfill a win condition, running.)

So the final requirement is Narrative Characterization. There’s a statement here, from the video, that must be filled in. “_____ won because they are more ____.”

Alternatively, “_____ lost because they are less ____.” Basically, narratively, why did Aren make Rumi lose? What was the purpose of it? What is the message behind So We Were Liars?

I could pretend to be some giant brained analyzer here that picked through the text and studied it for 100 years.

But Aren yaps about this fic a lot and we already have an answer. This fic is a character study on Rumi, and how her mistakes lead to her ruin, and how she has to shed those mistakes to heal. The front half is an explicit tragedy, a warning and lesson wrapped together. Per the title of the fic, “Rumi lost because she was a liar.”

That’s it! Kinda.

Rumi lost because she had done too good of a job convincing Mira and Zoey she wasn’t a demon. Rumi lost because she separated herself from her girls, causing confusion. Rumi lost because she didn’t value her own life.

Rumi lost because she lied about being a demon while getting closer to the girls. So close, they were sent into a panic at the thought of losing her.

Going back to our diagram, it would look something like:

This is an excellent climatic fight, especially when you remember that writing as a medium does not lend itself to action. Very, very nice work. Go read SWWL!! It's real good. Even though this is a heavy spoiler post, go back and re-read!

#kpdh #polytrix #mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #rumi kpdh #kpop demon hunters #rumi kpop demon hunters #character analysis #swwl #so we were liars #aren day #zoey kpdh #fight analysis #fanfic analysis #fanfic #fanfiction #ao3

Perfecting Comedy: Lessons Learned from one KPDH Fic.

Hi everyone! I’m back with another lesson learned. This time it’s breaking down comedy in fics! Fair warning, I am not formally trained in any form of comedy but I am pretty knowledgeable about fanfiction and what makes certain fanfics funny.

Today, in honor of Kay Day, we’re going to be discussing one of the funniest KPDH fics: Wolfish Behavior! Written by Kayross. (@kayr0ss) This entire fic is hilarious, but by dissecting one scene we can see some elements of how to make your comedy really work.

So, basic context. Rumi is a werewolf. And has an at home vet appointment with her doctor, Zoey. Since dogs can’t open the door, she needs a human there to interact with Zoey. Her planned human, Jinu, couldn’t make it. So she calls her neighbor, Mira, who is also a client for Zoey.

Mira owns a bunch of cats, and knows Rumi by this point.

There’s a few key facts that really allow future situations to shine:

Rumi is not familiar with dogs, never having owned or been around one. Due to being a werewolf.

Mira is not familiar with dogs, but is with cats.

Zoey is familiar with dogs.

The main comedy from this scene comes from Kayross contrasting what everyone knows and doesn’t know to create disbelief between the characters, at which the audience can laugh at both the disbelief itself but also the character’s reactions. We can see this early on, when Mira arrives.

- "Do I need to feed her?" "Oh, no," Rumi's halfway out the door. "She had lunch already! Um, surf and turf, I believe?" Mira's probably making an obviously confused expression because Rumi starts waving her hands and goes: "It's a kibble flavor." They make surf and turf flavored dog food? "Very good for dog nutrition." "Okay."

This joke is really funny, but why? Mira and Rumi both know nothing about dogs. Rumi is the dog so just says whatever she had for lunch.

This is already funny because obviously a dog shouldn’t have fucking surf and turf.

What elevates it is that Mira barely knows anything about dogs. She knows enough to know it sounds wrong, but believes the “Kibble” excuse.

The main “joke” here isn’t that Rumi thinks dogs eat Surf and Turf, or that Rumi accidentally revealed her own lunch. The main joke is that Mira believed her, which is absurd. Since any audience member knows dogs shouldn’t eat surf and turf. This pattern continues for the entire chapter, Kay stacks unexpected reveals and interactions on top of themselves to reach an even more absurd conclusion.

This may seem obvious, but think about what didn’t happen.

A pretty common crutch for people writing comedy is to write arguments. They’re easy to write. Kay could’ve designed the scene where the joke is Rumi arguing with Mira over what flavors of kibble exist. Or Mira arguing that Muri shouldn’t be eating that. But, this would be out of character for both of them, and I don’t think it would be funnier than the conclusion.

These are two very silly women being kind of dumb, and I find that so much funnier. It’s also important to mention the concept of a straightman. A lot of times in comedy, you have a serious, non jokester character. Normally the most qualified one who can point out the wacky situations as contrast. If someone is acting a fool, you kind of need someone to point out that they’re acting a fool. Kay does something really smart here- the straightman evolves. It starts out as Mira. Rumi is acting a fool, and Mira is the confused one. But then Mira believes this wolf is a dog, and Zoey arrives. Now Zoey is the Mira looks oddly proud of her. "I think she can add, too. One plus one?”

Muri baps the floor with a paw twice. “One plus two?” She does it thrice. “What the fuck.” Zoey whispers. “What’s next? The square root of nine?” Muri hesitates—then taps the floor thrice. “What the fuck.”

straightman and Mira is the fool. Then, Jinu arrives, who actually knows Rumi is a dog, which feels kind of obvious. Now, Zoey is the fool. And Jinu is the straightman! There’s this evolving ladder of Rumi is more absurd than Mira, who is more absurd than Zoey, who is more absurd with Jinu. And notice how that’s the order these characters enter the scene? Kay keeps the scene fresh (and funny) by evolving who is the idiot at any given moment. Of course, the ultimate joke is that they’re all gay idiots.

Moving on, Rumi rushes to the bottom of the stairs to loop back into her room. Mira makes herself comfortable. The joke here is the conflicting tones. Mira being nonchalant and relaxed, slightly awkward in this home that isn’t hers. And Rumi is panicking. This is almost slapstick, you can picture a movie scene rapidly cutting back and forth between Rumi running and Mira sitting doing nothing. The humor here is in the contrast. It’s not laugh out loud funny (like Kibble), but it is a background level of funny that keeps the pacing and primes the reader for the upcoming absurdity. An appetizer, if you will.

The changing povs get shorter and shorter, making tension. At this point in the story, Mira walking in on a naked Rumi is not out of the question. It would be funny! But Rumi makes it, gets undressed, and transforms.

The humor here, as said before, is that neither of these fucking idiots know what a dog is. Mira sees a whole ass wolf and shrugs. The humor here is especially complimented by Mira’s internal dialogue:

“For starters—she kind of doesn't look like a dog? Mira's no expert though, and she can hardly imagine what else Muri might be if not a dog. She's got a muzzle, paws, adorable ears, and a tail. Standard dog ingredients in a typical dog arrangement—so probably a dog. Maybe one of those strange, lesser-known kinds. Dr. Choi would probably know better.” One, points for reminding the audience about Zoey and foreshadowing the future humor. Two, “standard dog ingredients” is really funny.

The next few lines are more plot and character focused than humor focused, besides the ironic humor of Mira recognizing intelligence and talking about “Your mom” right in front of Muri’s mom.

Now that Mira’s dumbassery is fully established, Zoey enters!

Small note, I love the difference in prose here. “Zoey’s hyped up” is perfect to prime us to her mind. Kay (and lots of talented authors, Ev does this really well too) makes it obvious which pov you’re reading without names just by the things they notice, the pacing of their thoughts, how they react to things.

“Okay. So. The first thing Zoey notices about Rumi's dog is that it's not a fucking dog.”

Notice what I said earlier? Zoey is now the straightman, to play off of Mira, who is the fool. Poor Mira, trying to defend Rumi and her own ego.

The humor of this scene is the audience knowing that Muri isn’t a dog, she’s a wolf. And a human. Versus Zoey and Mira debating over what the fuck she is. Zoey’s internal panic is just extra to even further push the humor. But still, Kay doesn’t make them argue! Zoey’s frustrated, but pushes that towards someone who can’t currently argue back. Except the sad little baby face (which is another subversion! Rumi doesn’t try to argue or disagree, she’s just… pathetically sad.)

Now, the funniest part of the chapter happens. I think. Mira revealing that Muri is “trained.”

- “Zoey whips her head around to stare at Mira. "She can do what?" "Look," Mira holds out her hand. "Muri—shake hands?" Muri somehow stares at Mira with a deadpan expression, sighs, then dutifully lifts up her heavy paw and gently places it atop Mira's palm. They shake on it. "Other hand?" Muri executes it flawlessly.”

- This is funny because we know Rumi is a human, so the deadpan expression and sigh are funny as fuck. Especially picturing Human Rumi doing this. But the added layer is Mira’s insistence and Zoey’s disbelief.

Here’s the setup, from a rational/normal pov.

Zoey is an expert in animals. She knows its a wolf. Mira is not an expert. She knows Rumi is trained.

Muri can perfectly execute commands.

So the absurdity of the situation is an accomplished vet being proven wrong by Mira and Rumi. And Kay doubles down in the best possible way.

Mira looks oddly proud of her. "I think she can add, too. One plus one?” Muri baps the floor with a paw twice. “One plus two?” She does it thrice. “What the fuck.” Zoey whispers. “What’s next? The square root of nine?” Muri hesitates—then taps the floor thrice. “What the fuck.”

Rumi is an idiot for thinking dogs can do math and not just staring at them.

Mira is an idiot for thinking this wolf is a dog and can do math.

Zoey is an idiot for finding these two attractive enough to put up with this bullshit. They’re all being idiots! And that’s the humor of it. These are three characters we know are rational, intelligent, smart. And they’re all acting like fucking idiots in a believable way based on what we know about them.

The scene continues and is still fucking funny, but the humor itself doesn’t change form too much. They’re all still idiots.

The next evolution of the humor is when our new straightman arrives! Zoey is thoroughly a fool at this point, deluding herself into thinking Muri is a dog and doing the inspection. So of course, a character that knows what the audience knows, finally enters. Jinu. And Kay doubles down again. She adds a new element of humor by making Mira fucking despise him.

The humor shifts into mainly focusing on how Jinu knows, Muri knows, but the other two don’t know.

Not much to say here, it’s pretty obvious why its funny. Rumi being distressed at anyone implying she’s in a relationship with Jinu but can’t prove she’s not.

The chapter ends with more plot and character work.

So the humor here was focused around idiots and experts, conflicting off each other, and the scene continually evolving who is the idiot and who is the expert. Notice how it wasn’t just 5k words of arguments. It wasn’t quips, “Erm, that just happened.” or puns. It wasn’t out of character. And, the plot still moved during the humor and around it! I could say sooooo much more about this fic, but. Go read it! Not just the humor is excellent. The pacing, the prose, the characterization, god. It’s amazing, really.

Seriously, if you want your fics to be funnier, read this. Great, great lessons.

#kpdh fanfic #kpdh #polytrix #mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #rumi kpdh #kpop demon hunters #rumi kpop demon hunters #alternate universe #character analysis #zoey kpdh #fanfic writing #fanfic analysis #fanfic comedy

somebodyunknowable

Author Spotlight: @lillowing

Lillow is a highly underrated author in the KPop demon hunters fandom who has posted 2 fics currently. She also has some amazing in-depth theories on their page about some well-known fics, such as this post detailing her theories on the fic Paint my Frozen Heart by Arendellesfirstwinter, and more. I definitely recommend checking it out after you check out her fics.

Polytrix Christmas Date, Mira gets spoiled [T]

Mira had never cared for Christmas. The lights were too bright, the music too loud, the tropes too painful. But this? Mira could enjoy this. She did enjoy this. More than she could ever admit.

This is a cute one-shot about Mira preparing a date for her girls for the holidays, but Zoey and Rumi have other plans, wanting to spoil Mira instead. It's short but sweet, and it's highly underrated.

Living in Paradise [M]

The first few months fill with repetition, her body trying to learn habits someone needed to live truly alone. She fails, often. Stringing a fishing rod, trying to identify berries, having issues with her wellwater. She eventually learns, though. The monthly supply drops help, always having essentials that she didn’t have to create. Surprisingly, she picks up on fishing the fastest. It’s relaxing in an odd way. The rocking of the tiny boat. The gentle clicking of casting a rod. The colors of the fish she catches. It’s because of this interest in cooking she notices the cracks.

This one is my favorite of Lillow's, it's about siren Rumi and Mira, who decides to runaway from the rest of the world and build her own little paradise in a remote cabin near a lake. There are some really great RuMira interactions, and I'm really obsessed with the way Lillow adapted the lore and integrated it into the story. Currently, 3 chapters are out now, and I reccomend checking them out and showing Lillow some love.

lillowing

heLLO??? author spotlight?? on the shark??

i don’t know what to say. thank u 😭

i’m glad u enjoyed the two fics and the theories!!! siren au ch4 soon :>>>

#like actually #what da hell #author spotlight #kpdh

literally all of my Paint my Frozen Heart with Fire theories

Hi! I know I just did a theory on this fic, but I wanted a spot to compile all of my theories/notes. This doesn’t have direct quotes/sources. Just trust me if I say we know something! If it’s speculation, I’ll mark it so.

Okay! This post will follow a simple format. I want to look at each of the girls, and put together what we know about them. I then want to say what we don’t know about then. Then I’ll come back with some plot ideas of where we may be going based on what’s established! I’ve read the entire fic a few times and I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten all the obvious clues, but if not, let me know!!

Mira.

so my working timeline for mira is

8: Meet Zoey

12: Zoey leaves

17: Hunter debuts

18-19: Mira moves out/gets kicked out, unclear. Deals with homelessness.

24: idol

What we know:

She was angry as a child, Hunter helped a lot. Hunter also helped her through “grief”, this could have been grief for an abstract concept vs a person. However, lots of fics give Mira a hired guardian and then rip them away, which may be happening here.

Zoey was her best friend. Her parents didn’t take her to the park, someone else did. Her parents never took her to the Zoo. Grew up in Seoul. Dislikes Chae Electronics.

Theory territory:

Sunlight entertainment is said to be collaborating with an electronics company. I believe this is Chae Electronics, and will be a future plot point. And Mira’s family owns the company, based on her negative reaction. Her last name doesn’t match, but she could have changed it or gone by her mother’s name. Rumi and Zoey also run into a businessman, without Mira, who many have theorized is Mira’s brother. He seemed interested in Mira, though didn’t name her, and said his company invested into Sunlight.

Mira obviously left her family on terrible terms. A future plot may involve her family getting involved with Sunlight more closely, and Mira being forced to work with them. Mira is still shown to be cagey about her past, I believe she is ashamed about her homelessness and doesn’t want to open up to Mira/Rumi about it.

So future plots to look out for: Chae Electronics, more Mira backstory.

Rumi:

Rumi is harder to parse. Her main questions are: What exactly happened to Rumi? What is her deal with Celine? Why is she hiding being Hunter? What happened to her parents?

Here’s what we know: Small, jagged scars on her face. (Along with Jinu)

Covers her hands and arms and neck.

Covers her entire persona as Hunter

Refuses to talk as Hunter, or sing as Rumi

Bothered by hospitals

Has a Thing about giving/receiving/owning flowers

Both parents died when she was 9

Has had her condition since at least 19

Implies she has had her condition since being 9 (Stuttering when saying Celine helped her after. After accident, or after parents? Probably one event.)

Less flexible than Mira/stretches more than Mira thinks is needed

Theory territory:

I think it would make narrative sense for all girls to have met at the park as children. The two obvious Rumi’s are the little sick girl with the braid and mask, and the girl who liked flowers. I initially theorized that Rumi was the little sick girl, and her coverings were based on some chronic disease that gave a skin condition. However, I think it’s now the girl who liked flowers.

We have two scenes now of Rumi being cagey around flowers. Her throwing the flower instead of gifting it to Zoey, and her getting cagey at being asked why she doesn’t keep flowers in her garden.

Here’s my Rumi theory: Rumi, her mom, and her dad were victims of a house fire. At some point before the fire, 9 year old Rumi gave her mother flowers she had been picking at the park. This gave Rumi the association that flowers bring death, and why she refused to give it to Zoey or keep them on her balcony. It could also be symbolism that her tenderly holding the flower and examining it in the park is a sign of potential suicidal ideation.

Her eyes, when thinking of her mother, were described as "Flickering like a candleflame”. I think this is a hint!

I think a fire is the tragedy that killed her mother, and gave Rumi her scars. Burn scars have limited mobility, can be ‘ugly’ (in a societal sense, obviously ppl with scars aren’t uglier than anyone else), and would explain her aversion to hospitals. Burn scars require extensive treatment that would have her required being there a while.

There is the lingering question of why Hunter is private. To avoid questions about covering up? Celine heavily implies in an argument that two previous trainees have ditched Rumi. Many of us have theorized this was due to Rumi revealing her scars, however. What if this is a red herring? What if they actually left because they didn’t want to be in a trio, with Rumi? Rumi self selected for weirdos. What if the argument was about Rumi wanting to go public that they’re a trio? What if Rumi impulsively decided she wanted to be a trio, again? And that’s why she was hush hush to the businessman.

This doesn’t fully track with the original Celine convo, though. Celine assumed they would be a new trio. Maybe Celine decided after the last disaster of Rumi losing trainees, they’d just make a trio without Rumi? And Rumi wanted them to be a duo? And now Rumi is asking them to be a trio again? That could explain Celine’s annoyance.

Or the read is literally about her burns, and Celine not wanting them to know that. I think the red herring would be fun, though.

Zoey

What we know:

Hunter “gave her courage”

Hasn’t allowed herself to dream

Holds “courage” carefully

Try “one last time”, multiple auditions

Graduated HS in America, took a gap year, came to Korea for school.

Not familiar with Seoul? May just be from the penthouse view

Last saw Mira 12 years ago (so Zoey is also 24)

Watches anime

Zoey used to: trying to hard, overly eager, acting too cool

Hunter gave her something to “cling to”

Zoey doesn’t want to be weird

Parents divorced

Used to others not being her friend or wanting to

Haehwa/Hannah is an asshole

Also has a secret she’s hiding!

Pain, sorrow, grief, and something else familiar to zoey

Theory territory:

What if Zoey is responsible for the suicidal thoughts tag? I mean. Her bullying sounds pretty intense. Not just people disliking her, but a friend claiming to like her while bullying her. While dealing with a divorce. And losing Mira. It would fit her secret, I think. But the tags said that it’s only in a singular character’s backstory, and I do really like the ideation idea of flowers for Rumi. Alas. Rumi’s backstory has a lot of weight already, and with Hunter stuff, I can see Aren giving the other girls some more meat.

It’s also, like, Zoey has less going on so far than Rumi and Mira. Mira has this complicated past with homeless and her rich family. Rumi has… everything. Zoey seems to just have deep interpersonal issues that are being addressed already, like the zoo. This could be Zoey’s main arc! Especially as she’s worried about being too much, has issues with “courage”, and doesn’t want people worrying about her. I think an attempt in her past would be something she would go to great lengths to hide, and play into her anxieties of no one wanting her around. Of others being happier if she was gone.

Just a thought, though!

Okay, so like, overall, where do I think the plot is going?

I think that Mira and Zoey are going to become more and more public, and this will create tension with Mira’s family. I think Mira will go through some shit while figuring this out, and something will happen with Hunter that requires Rumi’s attention. I know, I know, we already did the “Rumi couldn’t be there for Mira” but I want it to hit harder. Blend her more. There’s also Zoey’s budding crush on Mira! I think Zoey will smother it down. Or, worst case, try and “tone it down” around Mira to not look weird. Which would be super weird for Zoey. I think Rumi will come to heads with Celine. She’s really getting braver in showing affection for Mira/Zoey, and I’m guessing Celine will have issues with this.

I think the climax may be a triple threat of all secrets getting revealed at once: Imagine Mira, breaking down because her family is back in control of her life (through Sunlight funds). Rumi, getting outed as Hunter. Among Zoey suffering from issues related to her past. All crashing together in one big angst pile. My gut says that Aren won’t stagger these reveals, but make one big polytrix soup and blend on high. Bonus points if this confrontation happens in the Park.

#polytrix #kpdh #mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #rumi kpdh #kpop demon hunters #rumi kpop demon hunters #alternate universe #character analysis #zoey kpdh #paint my frozen heart with fire #fanfiction analysis #fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #archive of our own #fanfics

Who is Hunter? A Paint my Frozen Heart with Fire theory. Hi guys, I’m back with a new theory! This time about Paint my Frozen Heart with Fire, one of my favorite ongoing fics. (Coda, Wolfish Behavior, PMFHWF, Pull me to the Ground, Build me up (before I break again) for anyone curious)

This fic is really good! Go read it. And give @arendellesfirstwinter a follow. There’s lots of mysteries, between Rumi’s strange condition, Mira’s past, Zoey’s family, etc. But the largest mystery has yet to be solved: who is Hunter?? This question has plagued KPDH fandom spaces for far too long, so today, I set out to solve it.

Full fic spoilers ahead! Up to ch4.

So what do we know about Hunter?

Feminine lower voice, she/her pronouns

Face, neck, arms, hands covered by sleeves. Also wears a hood.

Excellent at singing, dancing, lyricism (according to Mira and Zoey).

An idol under Sunlight Entertainment

Launched 7 Years ago (from Ch1)

Active in Sunlight Entertainment Tower

Hosts live shows, very rarely talks.

Rumi doesn’t like her, or at least thinks she could improve.

Okay! So! Let’s go down a list of characters and eliminate them based on whether or not they could be Hunter.

Zoey/Mira- The easiest ones to mark off. They stayed at home during a Hunter concert, which was live. So they cannot be Hunter.

Celine- Celine was already an idol under Sunlight, many years ago. She already had a successful career. It is true that the girls rarely see her, signaling she may be busy as Hunter, but they have also heard her sing during her idol years. If Celine was Hunter, they’d probably recognize her singing voice. Also, Celine is older now, and probably couldn’t keep up with Hunter’s busy life and demanding choreo.

Jinu- Jinu is a guy. However! Hunter is completely covered. He may just have excellent voice training and control. He is rarely in the fic, matching Hunter’s busy schedule. He also is shown to have scars on his chin, explaining why he would wear a mask as Hunter. Rumi also is annoyed by him, so it would make sense if he was Hunter, Rumi’s annoyance is probably constant.

Jinu also mysteriously was able to get tickets to a Hunter concert. And when Mira/Zoey cancelled, he still went. Maybe he had to go, due to being the main performance. He also gives a vague reason for having to go, like “Supporting a friend.” Maybe he’s talking about himself in third person. He also states he can easily get them more tickets in the future. Him being Hunter would explain this.

So it appears Jinu is a fine contender, but there may be more! Let’s keep going.

Rumi- Most people would probably point to her. However, there’s a few issues with Rumi being Hunter. One, Rumi criticizes Hunter a lot. And if she were Hunter, this would show severe self worth and perfectionism issues. And that would be sad. I don’t want Rumi to be sad.

Rumi in this fic also wears long sleeves, with a mask. But she’s shown while eating around Mira/Zoey to reveal her mouth. In the latest chapter, we also saw she had scarring on her chin. Hunter covers her entire body, staying completely anonymous. Hunter is less concerned about covering “flaws”, and more concerned about staying hidden. Rumi is very not hidden to Mira and Zoey.

And speaking of Mira and Zoey! They’ve seen Rumi dance, and Mira noted it wasn’t perfect. But Mira thinks Hunter is perfect. Are you implying Mira has some sort of subconscious idol worship? No, that would be sad. Also, surely they would figure it out by now, them not knowing is a ding against Rumi. Rumi still covers her arms and hands religiously, like Hunter. However, there’s an easy explanation for this. She is half demon, and is hiding glowing vibrant patterns. It just makes sense.

Rumi is mysteriously absent during Hunter concerts, but this could be a coincidence. See the mountain of evidence above that she isn’t Hunter.

Overall, I think Rumi is a close friend of Hunter’s, who is concerned about his or her progress as an idol and she’s just a good friend. (another point towards Jinu).

Okay! Who else?

Mi-Yeong- Mi-Yeong is dead. So probably isn’t Hunter. Also, Rumi being mean to her mom would be sad. Mi-Yeong did die in a tragedy, so perhaps she was left scarred in an attack and now has re-debuted as Hunter. However, the Celine issue of recognizing her voice still applies. I doubt Mi-Yeong is hunter.

That little sick girl at the park- This little sick girl has one mention. It would be narratively interesting if all three girls were at the same park growing up, but I doubt this is Hunter. We didn’t even see her sing! She did love flowers, but we haven’t seen if Hunter loves flowers.

Elsa- This may seem like a wild pick, but think. Arendellesfirstwinter. Arendelle. From the movie Frozen. Elsa wears sleeves to hide her ice powers. Aren has also written Frozen fics before, and people have pointed out the similarities between Frozen and KPDH before. What if Hunter is Elsa? Maybe she hides due to being previously cancelled for casting Arendelle into an eternal winter.

Aren- Hunter could be Aren. Perhaps it is a self insert. I doubt it, though. I don’t think Aren is a KPOP idol. Also, Aren’s favorite character is Rumi. Surely, Aren would make Rumi Hunter. But we already established Rumi isn’t Hunter.

The reader- Meta. The story is Meta. The story is about how the characters are inspired by the reader, how they only exist in the minds of the reader. How the reader is perfect to the characters, for the reader translates the words into a world. It’s meta commentary about how KPOP idols are nothing without the fans, so it’s a story about how these up and coming idols look up to the ultimate: the reader. Probably not though. The reader isn’t absent during Hunter concerts, and we don’t see Hunter’s pov.

Me- Maybe I am Hunter. I can’t sing, though, and I’d probably know by now. Also, Hunter isn't a shark.

Well dang. It appears as we’ve run through our options. From all of these, our strongest contender was Jinu! There’s one piece of evidence that seals this pick.

Jolaf.

Jinu, canonically, dressed up as Olaf for halloween. That’s a costume. A mask. He’s used to being hidden, another self. And it’s Paint my Frozen Heart. Frozen. Arendellesfirstwinter. Aren loves Frozen. Jinu is the only Frozen mention. Aren loves Jinu. She has called him her little Meow Meow.

It just makes sense. Jinu is Hunter.

#april fools #polytrix #kpdh #mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #rumi kpdh #kpop demon hunters #rumi kpop demon hunters #alternate universe #character analysis #zoey kpdh #fanfic theory

yanniest

Ao3 author spotlight: ev09 (@a-contentious-ev-scenario)!

i'm back again. this wasn't the next one i had planned but it's ev09 appreciation day so i shuffled things around.

i've recommended ev's series before, but i can recommend it harder and with more detail and that's what i'm gonna do! but first, i cannot express enough how lovely she is as a person and how grateful i am to be able to call her my friend. not only is she an extremely talented author, she's also something of a genius who's been helping me out immensely with one of my fics (even if she keeps playing down her involvement) for no reason other than because i asked very nicely.

so, the fics. i could be lazy and rec the whole series, changed for worse maybe for better (but i love changing together) in bulk but i'll actually break it down into its individual fics because each one is so, so good

just a girl in a jigsaw puzzle (trying hard not to fall apart) [M] [Polytrix] [Complete]

a pre-huntr/x meeting fic

the series comes out swinging with this one. it hits hard with the angst of Rumi not knowing if she even has her fellow hunters and then gently hands you the comfort of knowing that she does and she will.

i absolutely love ev's interpretation of the honmoon here. there's just something about it that feels a little different to other versions i've seen, in the best way.

and yawn and stretch and try to come to life [M] [Polytrix] [Complete]

a teeny-tiny exploration into the celine-rumi dynamic and rumi's training (spoiler alert: she's kinda miserable)

and boy is she kinda miserable. Rumi and Celine have a fascinating dynamic here, something raw and difficult and damaged even while Rumi is so young.

even with the relationship being so harsh, don't be fooled into thinking this is a 'Celine is a villain' fic. there's love there, too, it's just a little faded and hard to see at the moment.

pale white skin (with strawberry gashes) [E] [Polytrix] [Complete]

where rumi's thoughts wandered in the shower in yawn and stretch.

ev has this talent of making things hurt in subtle ways, and this fic is an incredible example of that. it's on the shorter side, but jesus christ is so much packed into it. every word carries a weight and you can feel how it's weighing Rumi down

do mind the tags on this one, though. these punches are not being pulled.

can see it in your eyes (a spirit i recognize) [M] [Polytrix] [Complete]

they meet. for real this time.

Mira and Zoey's perspectives are so perfectly characterised. their sections establish who they are, their lives, their priorities, without giving too much away too quickly or feeling like we're being told what we already know.

and we get a little bit more of Celine, too. a look into her complexities and how she can hurt Rumi the way she does while still loving her. it perfectly sets up for the next fic in the series:

if you feel it (could you let me know) [M] [Polytrix] [Ongoing]

the awkwardness of becoming something together before you really understand what together means.

i could talk about this fic for hours. this is THE pre-canon fic to me. if we ever see what the girls were like pre-debut and it isn't this i'm gonna file a complaint.

the love between them is so clear and palpable but they're just all so hurt and they can't help but cut each other with their sharp edges because at the end of the day they're teenagers who are deeply hurt in one way or another. it doesn't feel like the conflict is forced, it feels completely natural for them to have these sorts of disagreements.

and holy shit the descriptions. i won't spoil it, but there's a section that's so visceral, so evocative, that i think about it constantly. every so often it just pops back into my head and i have to sit there and acknowledge that i get to read this for free.

the sun lights up your eyes (when you look at me) [T] [Polytrix, Rumira focus] [Complete]

Rumi’s still wearing that dumb grin, this time paired with a grey activewear set Mira had bought for her a few weeks back. As Mira watches, she shrugs off her cropped zip-up, revealing the matching form-fitting tank underneath, and. Well. Rumi’s all lean muscle and smooth skin, patterns arcing delicate and nacreous along her body, which is. Distracting, to be sure. But not quite distracting enough to draw attention away from the very loud red paddle she’s now holding up like a particularly athletic, overenthusiastic bidder. Or distracting enough to make Mira forget about this god-awful situation her girlfriend had dragged her into. “Pickleball!” Rumi announces happily, and Mira briefly contemplates death and the sweet, quiet relief it would bring.

and now for something completely different. this isn't part of the series, it's a delightfully fluffy post-canon oneshot that i finally made time to read tonight.

i'm gonna steal a bit of my own comment here, but the narration for this fic just oozes adoration. no matter what Mira is saying, it's so clear from how she's thinking and how the narration describes things how absolutely head-over-heels in love she is with both Rumi and Zoey.

and Rumi gets to be goofy and silly! she's happy and safe enough to do dumb shit, and it's so heartwarming to see.

this is a perfect palette cleanser from all the angst in the fandom. it's a little ray of sunshine, all warm and cozy. i can't recommend this enough. i'm so mad that it took me so long to read it.

please, please read ev's work. you won't be disappointed. i am not kidding when i say her series is the pre-canon series for me. she is such an immensely talented author.

lillowing

the thing that i particularly enjoy about Ev’s pre canon series, changed for worse maybe for better, is how natural the conflict is.

there’s kind of a trap when writing fanfic of established characters. you want them to go on these big arcs. we know canonically mira and rumi butt heads. so you want to write them arguing more than we even see in the movie. but writing arguments isn’t exactly the easiest when you’re invested in *both* arcs. it’s difficult to frame it as they’re both justifiability upset.

one of ev’s real, undeniable talents is taking these character traits and their backstories and naturally extrapolating drama from this that doesn’t feel forced and moves their arcs.

it could be easy to cop out and make their arguments not that severe. ev does not take this option. rumi and mira have immediate, explosive, soul hurting issues. yet neither feels particularly in the wrong. knowing their ages, histories, and seeing their internal dialogue helps. and god, zoey too. the way zoey slots into the conflict when so many forget her.

i could break it down, but just. read the fic. the pacing and drama is top tier. soul hurting in the best way. the way ev writes obvious love conflicting with learned survival behavior.

a lot of your favorite authors call this fic “THE” pre canon fic. i just wanted to explain what that means. all story is conflict and the conflict here is *perfect*. an amazing deconstruction of the polytrix we know that naturally fits and explains them. after reading some of ev’s works, your view of the girls will be permanently shifted in ways that carry.

ev appreciation day, or whatever.

#polytrix fic rec #kpdh #kpdh fic #fic rec #polytrix

A strong impression: analyzing KPDH Fics to show how a strong opener can elevate a work.

Hi everyone! I love first lines. They’re some of my favorite lines of the whole story! First lines aren’t required to do anything special. Your fic isn’t worse if you have a purely functional first line. However, sometimes authors take the extra effort to really make their first lines pop. Today I thought I would share some of my favorite first lines among the fandom, along with why they work! Spoilers ahead for all of these fics, but like, there’s only so much you can glean from the first line. I’ll try to not spoil anything further than tags when discussing why I like the line.

So what makes a really good first line? Ideally, it should be memorable, instantly establish tone of the fic, be thought provoking, and striking. This is the equivalent to the first shot of a movie! I wanna be wow’d. (Please note, all my wonderful author friends, if your fic didn’t make this list, it’s not that it had a bad first line. There's just only so much I can put!) So starting out, let’s look at @arendellesfirstwinter! This author makes great first lines, so we have two fics from her.

paint my frozen heart with fire

"Mira wants. She wants so desperately much. (It's ironic, for a person no one wants in return.)"

Okay, already breaking my own rules here. Technically, this is the first three lines. But like, cmon. Even if I left it at “Mira wants”, that would still be excellent. This instantly clues us into Mira's motivations, character, and just. Hngh. It’s such a strong start. Mira wants. Wants what, exactly? Well, read and find out! This fic is about these girls, their wants, how they hide themselves. Both superficially and on a deeper level.

This works so, so well on a first read because of the striking language. She wants. That is Mira, her character, her arc. And you keep reading, and find out about the audition. But then we get hints at her poverty, at her family, at her abandonment. This is a girl that wants and my mind kept going back to that first line when reading the chapter. An excellent start to this list from an excellent author.

Moving onto another fic from Aren! so we were liars

“In an unexpected twist of fate, Rumi falls first.”

This fic is about Rumi. Her rise, her fall, her redemption. Her mind, her lies, her barest self laid bare. It’s really, really intimate to her. This is reflected in the heavy use of sex scenes to move the plot, this is a deeply personal story to Rumi as an individual. So of course, right up front, what’s the most fundamental undeniable truth about Rumi? More than her shame, more than her lies, more than her talent, what makes Rumi? She loves her girls. Her love for them is the only thing that isn’t tested in this fic. It’s one of the only constants. And we start with that and are reminded of that.

I have another post about why I like Rumi so much in this fic, and this line plays into that. She loves them so, so desperately. It’s the first thing we learn about them! This is Rumi’s story, Rumi’s fall. And we learn about her most primal motivation first: she fell first.

Next we’re gonna move onto @ramblingarachnid Hi, V. I have chosen the crowd favorite, Comeback (How to Tame Your Rumi)!

“Gold overtook the bright blue of the Honmoon as the final notes of Golden echoed through the stadium. The audience exploded into applause, and Rumi’s chest heaved as she recovered from the intense performance.”

Another two lines, sue me. But anyways. This fic is about the girls successfully turning the Honmoon Golden. Yipee!! They won! And then the fallout. This is established immediately, the very first words being “Gold overtook”.

I really like this first line for more subtle reasons. Gold overtook. This feels like very charged language. It didn’t become gold, morph into gold, but gold overtook i9t, washing out the bright blue. I love the addition of Bright blue. This Honmoon was strong! It was already strong. It didn’t strengthen by becoming Gold, but changed. Shifted sideways. Was… overtook?

And then Rumi heaving and recovering. The obvious effort this took from Rumi, established upfront. The Honmoon is Golden, because of Rumi. Her effort. It sets up her motivation early, and immediately tells us why she does what she does.

This could also be me reading too far into it, but these two lines don’t feel celebratory. They feel somber. The final notes of Golden. Overtaking. Drowning out the bright blue. It doesn’t feel like achievement, but a slow cage being lowered on Rumi. She’s heaving and recovering like an animal trapped, not a woman freed. I feel like you can tell from these two lines that this is not a good thing.

Let's talk about @somethinglikesawyer! God, do I adore this author. And this fic, I had it all (I had you). I’m going straight for the depressing part, so.

“She’s happy, for a while.”

This fic is about Immortal Rumi. It’s sad. I’m sad. But god, what a start. She’s happy, for a while. What a distillation of the first chapter. Rumi is happy with her girls. For a while. And then, (major fic spoilers), she becomes happy again with their returned souls. For a while. I don’t know how this fic is going to go. It’s not finished. But to me, the themes are already shaping: find joy where you can. Obviously it’s deeper than that, but we’re talking the base base themes. (This fic deserves it’s own entire post, but for another time.) The intro embodies this theme. She’s happy, for a while. Just instantly primes you for this fic to rip your heart out. But what do we focus on? She was happy. It says it right there. First two words. She’s happy. I think this fic is about focus. What part do you focus on? The happiness, or the fleetingness of it? This question is posed at the front. What’s more important to you? She was happy. Isn’t that worth something, even if it ended?

I’m going to bully @yanniest now. (I’m realizing now, that every author so far is one I’ve made a post abt before. Oops.)

You crave the applause (yet hate the attention). Love this fic! What’s the first line?

“Rumi had always liked routine. A schedule, a structure, a set of rules—the contents mattered less than the security of it.”

On this surface, this starting line seems pretty standard. We’re establishing our focus, Rumi, with some character traits. She likes routine. But we have to actually read the fic to realize the genius behind this. Read the tags. OCD Rumi. This fic is about Rumi having undiagnosed OCD. Now re-read the first line. God! It’s so fucking obvious! The first fucking line. I adore this because if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it seems standard. But on re-read? I’m screaming. This line haunts me. She doesn’t know. I’m about to read thousands of words of her suffering about a condition that should’ve been obvious. (Not saying this is the only trait of OCD, or even a required trait. But in retrospect it’s a big tell, for Rumi).

Finally, we get to some authors I haven’t talked abt! The first is @kayr0ss, with wolfish behavior.

“Rumi taps her finger against her desk, her perfectly-manicured nail striking against the polished wood, the sound echoing through the silence of her office.”

I really like this starting line for two reasons. One, the character intro. Showing Rumi as this polished, organized, structured woman. She has an office. (That’s silent). Perfect nails. Wood desk. This instantly shows us she is successful, she is lonely, she is smart. All things this Rumi is! The second reason I like this intro. It’s funny as fuck in retrospect. We open up with such a strong, confident Rumi. And she devolves into pathetic wet dog girlfailure so fucking fast. This first line is so ironic on re-reads. It’s the dichotomy of Rumi. She deserves to be soaked in milk and thrown against a wall in this fic. But she’s also smart, capable, witty, Rumi! But also a failure. And I love how the first line is just. So, so funny in retrospect. Love you, Woomi.

And finally, we’re going to talk about show me (how to love you) by @honestground! I’ve briefly mentioned this fic before, I adore it. And the intro is very nice.

“The hotel is far nicer than Mira had anticipated.”

This intro may seem simple but shines on re-reads. Mira, in this fic, is a sex worker. She’s meeting a new client, Rumi. She states in the first few chapters that she’s really fine with it, but cracks have slowly leaked in. Learning she’s a lesbian but mainly services men, (spoilers) her only servicing Rumi in the future, thinking about Rumi while alone or with other women. Mira starts this fic claiming to be a stone wall, confident, uncrackable. But the cracks were visible from the start! From the very first line. “The hotel” sets up she goes to hotels for her work. “Is far nicer” shows normally they aren’t this nice. This is explained later with her curated lists, but we get the sense she’s seen some shit. And finally “Than Mira had anticipated.” She wasn’t expecting this. It’s actually kind of a microcosm for the entire fic. The hotel is Rumi! Rumi is far nicer than Mira had anticipated. She fell so fucking hard. This entire situation is far better than she thought. This opening line both foreshadows how the fic goes, and establishes that Mira doesn’t really like her job, if she’s dreading a so/so hotel. I also enjoy establishing the tone of Mira’s internal dialogue. She’s all business here. The hotel is nice. Nicer than she thought. No immediate comments on the actual hotel (we get those in a few lines.) But up front? She’s not overwhelmed by luxury. She’s here for a job. It’s nice. God, Mira, you girlfailure. I love her. Excellent fic, by the way, please read it.

#mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #polytrix #rumi kpdh #kpdh #kpop demon hunters #rumi kpop demon hunters #alternate universe #character analysis #zoey kpdh #fanfiction analysis #fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #fanfic writing #archive of our own #fic writing #fanfics

lillowing

love ur fic analysis posts :) really cool thing to do

thanks! i’d like to do more, tbh. or youtube videos would be cool. maybe when im less busy, there’s so many cool fics in the fandom that deserve love.

lillowing

my therapist yelled at me to go back and add

“i do not wish id like to do more, i do enough and thats good. thank you for the compliment.”

sincerely, someone who just got yelled at for unfair expectations of myself

A Transfemme reading of jagged edges by ramblingarachnid

Hello friends i am back with more fic analysis

There is a silly little fic written by ramblingarachnid which people have said many a time is transfem coded. It’s expressed confusion at this, so I thought I would go line by line to everything that is even remotely transfemme coded and explaining why. This is less fic analysis and more, focused reading? But I thought it could be interesting! Also, I will use transfemme/trans women/tgirl pretty interchangeably here. I won’t use agab language, or “biological” language. If this is an issue for you, don’t read! Also, brief mentions of genitalia in this post. No smut.

Text from the fic is italicized. I won’t recap the plot here, or walk you through it. Go read it, if you haven’t! It’s not too long.

- Mira is a beta, according to her official profile with the agency, all public communications, and anyone who has known her since the age of 14.

And that’s all that really matters, right? If she can suppress the ruts, pretend she can’t smell any of the pheromones, avoid popping a boner around a hormonal omega, and tell everyone she’s a beta, then she’s a beta.

Nothing too explicit yet. We’ll draw many parallels between a/b/o dynamics and transness, but it doesn’t start tooooo much yet. Mainly just quoting this to mention the “popping the boner” quote. Nothing new to alpha writing, but this is a fear for obvious reasons. Especially with the mention of “ever since 14”, a lot of trans women get heavy discomfort near the front of puberty, which 14 is for a lot of us.

Alphas taking heat suppressants isn’t completely unheard of, but it isn’t really safe or effective either. Mira is sure any reputable doctor would be appalled, but the one she pays to do whatever she asks isn’t exactly the pinnacle of ethics.

While HRT is very safe and effective, the mention of “Alpha Suppresants” will be compared to HRT significantly throughout this commentary so I’m establishing it here. Also, Mira thinking that ordering the meds online through a shady doctor could be drawn to buying HRT on the gray market. It feels a little shady, even if its not.

“Morning.” She says. She knows she looks pissed off, but it’s a normal-enough look for her that she doesn’t bother to hide it. She pours herself a bowl of cereal and takes it out to the couch, doing her best to ignore the stench of both of them. After all, they think she can’t smell it.

“Morning, Mira!” Zoey says, sighing contentedly into Rumi’s arms. “How’d you sleep?”

“Fine, after I put in some earplugs,” she jokes. Sometimes she wonders how she could have gotten so upset with Rumi’s secret-keeping. She’s such a hypocrite.

Two things here. One, Mira being upset at her roommates PDA isn’t explicitly transfemme coded. Though I would argue that the experience of feeling… excluded from our female peers, even if they don’t mean it, can hurt. I know every time I found out my friends had a sleepover without me (because I was different really hurt. And Mira feeling left out for being a beta isn’t too different, if you squint.) The main thing here though is the secret keeping line. If you’re stealth or not. Coming out as trans sucks every time, so a lot of us don’t! And it feels horrible. Poor Mira.

It’s not that she’s particularly bothered by the relationship. It’s cute, actually. But the smells, the sounds, the reminders of her own body and the things she can never have because of her weird hangups… she’s just jealous of their comfort with it all. She’s jealous of the way they love each other.

This is gender envy, lol. Once again, I have been envious of my female friend’s relationships many times before HRT. Especially trans women that deny themselves from lesbian experiences due to their genitalia. Seeing what’s often your closest friends enjoy something you have denied yourself sucks. - “It’s Mira. My pills got stolen. Tell him I need a new prescription yesterday.” She sounds harsh, but this is an emergency.

Here’s where the “Alpha Suppresants = HRT” start properly. Obviously, having your meds stolen is a universally shitty experience. However, I’d like to point out her doctor saying: “You’ve been through a rut before. You’re just going to have to tough it out, I’m sorry.” He does sound sympathetic, but sympathy doesn’t do shit for her right now.

This has happened to me before, with friends. When I had to go a week or two without HRT, and being told “well, it’s not like you’ll die without it. Your T will just be high for a few days! It’s not like, insulin.” The frustration that Mira feels here is very similar to the frustration that trans women feel, lol.

What is she going to tell her friends? Shit, are they going to smell her? Is she going to smell the way Rumi does, all horny and desperate and, well, attractive?

This is meant in an a/b/o pheromone kind of way, but. A lot of trans women, including myself, report our B/O reducing significantly on HRT. Reducing and changing. The fear of being smelt is not an omegaverse exclusive here, it is an odd coincidence back to something about T. (And, before anyone says anything. I’ve had this argument. Yes, I was cleaning myself properly. I changed nothing about my cleanliness routine and my B/O reduced after dropping my T.) - She knows it’s a bad stereotype that alphas can’t control themselves. She knows it’s not true, she’s seen Rumi be perfectly lucid even at the height of Zoey’s heat. But that’s Rumi, and, well, Mira doesn’t trust herself. She’s never trusted herself. She’s a loose cannon.

Finally, we can start the Testosterone comparisons! Alphas in fanfics are: Dominant, assertive, stinky, possessive, physically stronger, have penises, and have strong urges. Essentially if you threw in every trait of western “manliness” into a soup and simmered it for hours. A lot of these traits are caused by testosterone. (Physically. Mentally, the changes are iffy if they even exist. Read Testosterone Rex by Cordelia Fine for more!) I’ll also go a step further in tying the metaphors together. Mira worries what being an alpha (on Testosterone) will do to her. She has a close friend who is like this, and she knows that close friend isn’t like that, but still worries about herself. I feel like this is similar to being a transfemme with transmasc friends! We tend to loathe testosterone, and admittedly play up it’s effects when complaining. But then we turn around and swear up and down that our trans male friends aren’t like that. (Or, we should. Don’t be weird about transmascs, pls.) Because, of course, we know intuitively testosterone does not make a monster. Testosterone doesn’t make you insane, aggressive, or whatever. But we still fear that due to societal expectations of us being predators, abusers, wolfs in sheep clothing. Like societal expectations of Alphas.

Mira is on edge the next few days, constantly smelling herself, reapplying deodorant, washing her hands. She’s snippy and stressed, which she can tell upsets Zoey.

Odor mention again. Also, snippy and stressed. Lots of tgirls mention this when low on E, especially those of us on injections when our cycles are at a low.

She wakes up to a pool of sweat and hellfire under her skin. Her equipment is fully hard, straining against her pajamas. She ignores it.

Once again a puberty dysphoria.

Mira groans as her stomach cramps up again with need, the same feeling that had her screaming for suppressants as a young teenager. This time, though, she wants them, not some random omega off a magazine cover, and it disgusts her a little that she would think of her friends that way.

Trans lesbian experience of villainizing your own attraction. See above about societal expectations around us being predators. Hell, even cis lesbians have this guilt too, it’s just extra strong with a lot of tgirls.

It doesn’t take her long to finish like that, knot swelling beneath the layers of clothing between them.

Sex between clothes, common dysphoric response.

“Isn’t that, like, super dangerous?” Zoey’s concern returns. All she’d ever heard was that alphas should never take heat suppressants, that it was practically suicidal to do so, not to mention shameful. But she hadn’t read all the articles, forum posts, and books Mira had. She hadn’t made a pro/con list with RUT underlined in red seven times.

“Only if you care about staying fertile. Mostly. And it’s not that bad. It’s far better than the alternative.”

Loved ones not being educated on what HRT does. Parroting concerns from friends and family of “Are you sure” and “I heard this was dangerous!” And, the fertility mention. Something HRT famously does, that if you go through the medical system you have to sign a thousand forms saying you know and don’t care. Some countries even have the gall to make you freeze sperm. God.

“I’m not a real alpha, I never will be, and people seeing me that way makes me feel so wrong.”

Common dysphoric response. Also, quote from my own coming out: “I’ve never been much of a man, anyway. It just makes me feel awful to be seen that way.” - “Ruts, sex, it just feels like torture for me.”

While not every trans women is dysphoric about her equipment, this is still a very common attitude I’ve observed in myself and friends over the years.

“Even if I don’t want to mate… I still want what you two have. I want the bond, I want to belong.”

See above. I won’t write a whole thing on like, “Avoiding sex because of dysphoria” but it’s definitely a thing. And it doesn’t make you any less wanting of love and connection, even if you deny yourself because of what’s between your legs.

“Of all the things I want suppressed and knocked out of me, that isn’t one of them. I’ve always kind of stupidly hoped someone would want to bond with me, some omega—or, hell, alpha—would decide I was worth it anyways. That someone would be willing to love me in just the ways I’m okay with, and somehow deal with everything else without me… it’s selfish, but I still want it.”

Very common thought. It speaks for itself.

-smiling into the mirror at her reflection for the first time in a very long time.

Add in some mirror avoidance to top it all off, why don’t you V.

And that’s all the references I caught! Keep in mind, ramblingarachnid did not write this parallel intentionally. I do not know what possessed him to write this omegaverse fic with no smut, but I’m glad he did! I think there’s actually really interesting and thoughtful discussions to be had around a/b/o’s worldbuilding and how sexism is baked into the genre. But you can take that and flip it on it’s head to make interesting comparisons, like this fic. I think intentionally taking “Alpha is basically a sexist view of men” and going “Yeah, and this fic is exploring the issues of that.” It’s neat. It’s weird. I like it! Also, if you like the above writing or world, it posted a prequel/sequel to the same ao3. Go read it! It’s good.

Establishing Enthusiastic Consent: Lessons Learned from one KPDH fic.

HI guys! I’m back with more fic analysis. This time it’s of Pull Me to the Ground by somethinglikesawyer, or Silver! An excellent fic that we’ll be talking about today. Specifically, the smut and how it relates to consent! Along with some very light literary analysis about character work and pacing. Very light, though, I promise.

Okay so I haven’t done like, analysis analysis of smut. That’s basically what this is. If you do not want discussions of smut, excerpts of smut, analysis of smut, do not read. Really.

Also! Discussions of consent ahead. Nothing like graphic descriptions of SA, but obviously if discussing how sometimes people don’t do a great job at consent is an issue for you, do not read.

Alright! Getting into it. Pull Me to the Ground. Or Bar AU. Or Ryules Rumi AU. Or, the AU that starts with Mira and Zoey picking Rumi up in a bar. And then spending a night with her. This AU poses an interesting scenario: all three girls are into kink, but obviously they don’t know each other’s limits. Silver, the author, does an excellent job of demonstrating the proper way to show consent here. And, I’ve seen some discussions floating around the fandom about consent in different fics, so I figured this was a good fic to go through scene by scene and point out where consent was established, what it was doing, and what good consent looks like in kink. All while getting to talk about a fic I love! Alright. Opening scene. Mira and Zoey have picked Rumi up from a bar. They’ve already been flirting, Zoey was kissing and straddling her on the car ride home. They’ve made it to Mira and Zoey’s house, and things are about to escalate.

Zoey kisses Rumi up the way to the door, and kisses her once they’re inside. Mira takes over, they kiss some more, Rumi bites Mira’s lip. Everything here is still kissing/grinding, stuff they established in the bar.

Mira carries Rumi to the bedroom, throws her on the bed, and we get our first interaction to tear apart: “Rumi,” Mira said, all teasing gone as she stared down at her, not touching her yet anywhere, as if she wanted to keep a short distance. “Choose a safeword.”

“Stoplight system,” she said automatically.

Mira nodded. “You got that, Zo?”

A common question people less informed ask is “But establishing consent isn’t hot! I don’t want to ask “is it okay if I touch you” while grinding on someone! That ruins the mood!” Well. Skill issue. Mira does a great job of establishing a safeword while staying attractive and high energy. Notice how this exchange is also short, they don’t take 2k words of the fic to establish this. Short, snappy, attractive. Also take special notice of how Mira checked in that Zoey heard and understood. Zoey then moves onto other topics:

“Yep!” Zoey, who had followed them in, chirped. She climbed onto the bed to Rumi’s left side, leaning in close but also not touching her, not yet. “Red, yellow, green it is.” A gentle, real smile. “And how do you feel about marks, pretty girl?”

One, listing the stoplight system verbally. This is less for consent and more a clever writing tip. Obviously, Silver doesn’t know how familiar every person reading this is going to be. Saying “Red, yellow, green it is” is less for the character’s benefit and more for the audience’s benefit. But! This line is pulling double duty. Zoey has ADHD. She’s chatty. This is also establishing that Zoey likes to speak her stream of consciousness, since she’s probably thinking internally about the stoplight system now. This check both informed the audience of specifically what the stoplight system is, informed us of Zoey’s thought process, stayed attractive, and further established consent. In. Three. Words! It wasn’t clunky, it wasn't awkward.

She also begins to establish kink limits, around marks and pain. Standard stuff. Each question is just a few words, along with the response. Once again, consent does not have to be a paragraph of I want statements. Especially for these characters that are established as comfortable in kink. It’s snappy. (This also pulls double duty of keeping the pacing tight. They flirted at the bar, increased intensity with the making out, increased more with the car ride, and now this conversation acts as a short breather before the heavier smut begins. Think about how horror movies often start with a victim dying, slow minutes of ramping tension, then the slashing. Smut is actually quite similar to horror but that’s a convo for another day.)

After establishing those, I want to point out a small moment.

“Strap?” Mira questioned next, and Zoey shot the pink-haired woman a look.

Rumi didn’t know them well enough to decode what that look meant, so she just nodded and coughed out a, “Yes. Definite yes.”

This is later revealed that typically during their threesomes Mira takes a backseat, and Zoey leads. This is Mira asking both if Rumi is fine with a strap, but also asking Zoey if she’s fine with it. Hence, the look. This is nonverbal, but still explicit consent. Obviously Mira and Zoey are a lot more familiar with each other, so they communicate through shared glances and expressions. But it’s still consent!

And, finally. They touch her properly. The consent is established, limits established, and the narrative has had time to breathe. (Rumi has also had time to breathe.) Important to note that the two girls stopped touching Rumi during this. This could be for a few reasons. Giving her a breather, giving her an out. I like to believe it’s to remove pressure. Touching her while asking about what she wants could be taken as them pressuring her to say yes. I like to think that them giving her space is also giving her autonomy to say whatever she needs to. It could be triple duty, though, giving her autonomy, an out, and time to relax slightly. (It could also be time for Mira to enter any headspaces she needs to.) The smut starts proper here. Obviously everything got established, but I want to point out a few cute details.

“How about you stop complaining and get our girl inside the house already?” Mira tugged on Zoey’s loose hair, coaxing another whine from her throat, and Rumi clenched her thighs together at the sight. Zoey was just so beautiful, and the way she subtly surrendered into Mira’s hands with the slightest lean, as if she didn’t even realize what she was doing, was devastating.

Mira glared at her. “You just can’t help but brat, can you? How many times—” she yanked out and pulled at Zoey’s other bun, dislodging the hair band and freeing those dark curls. “—am I going to have to remind you that this isn’t about you? It’s about Rumi.”

Zoey whined into her grip, and Rumi saw the tension seep from her limbs, letting Mira hold up much of her weight by her hair alone.

Two times Mira pulled Zoey’s hair and Zoey leaned into it. Obviously, her leaning into it isn’t required. Some people get really into the scene! But it is confirmation that yes, she’s into it, yes, she’s in control, yes, she wants it. It also characterizes both of them as genuinely caring, which is setup for the aftercare that Rumi is surprised at later. It separates these two in Rumi’s mind from Couple I want to fuck into Couple that is genuinely sweet which I like.

Anyway, smut, smut. More smut. It’s good! Go read it. I don’t need to play by play this part. Until we get to the Bite of ‘87-

Joking, joking. You’d think it was that bad based on some community reaction. Sigh. Let’s break it down. It all starts here:

“You’re a biter,” Mira groused. “And a hypocrite, at that.” She turned back to Rumi and added, “While we’re at it… pain?”

“Yeah,” Rumi agreed, the word catching. She cleared her throat. “Fine by me. But in… in moderation.”

Pain, in moderation. So, after some smut, Mira goes for the pain:

It turned out to be a ploy, though, because Mira seized the moment of distraction to finally sink her teeth in, biting Rumi on the same spot.

Rumi jerked, only barely managing to stifle a yelp. She turned back to Mira with a glare.

“You’re playing dirty,” Rumi accused.

“How about you stop complaining and just focus on me?” Mira murmured into her chest, before biting her again. It wasn’t a particularly rough bite, but Rumi still stiffened, a small jolt of pain running through her.

Mira was watching her. Studying, eyes flickering over every twitch and grimace. Testing, Rumi realized, to see her reaction to the bite. And where her limit was.

Not to copy/paste Silver’s entire fic, context is just important. Mira bit her moderately roughly once, gauged Rumi’s reaction, and bit again. And then it’s explicitly stated that she is watching Rumi’s reaction, trying to gauge what “Moderate” was for her. This, too, is a form of consent. And Rumi replies:

It shouldn’t have affected Rumi as much as it did.

Rumi let out a mocking laugh. “You call that a bite?” she scoffed.

It was subtle, but she still caught it when Mira’s jaw ticked.

Zoey giggled again. “Oh, you’re making her mad, Rumi.”

Mira ignored Zoey, instead tilting her head a little to the side, angling herself over one of Rumi’s ribs, and bit her again. Harder, but not hard enough.

I think some people focus on the wrong part here. Zoey saying “Oh, you’re making her mad” isn’t genuine. Mira isn’t biting Rumi because she’s upset. She’s biting Rumi because they’re both into it. Zoey is just fueling the fantasy for all three of them, but Mira obviously isn’t actually mad. See the “but not enough.” Guys, I don’t know if you’ve bit someone. It’s easy to make it hurt. If Mira was really biting her in a rage, Rumi would know. Anyway. Mira bites her again, before moving onto other pastures. The bite hasn’t happened yet. Let’s jump to it.

Smut, smut, smut. Great smut, by the way. I’ll point out this small moment.

Mira smoothed over the bite with a consoling lick, flicking the tip of her tongue over her nipple, before moving up to Rumi’s neck. As per Rumi’s request, she didn’t bite or suck hard enough to leave a mark, but she did nibble lightly, as if testing for sensitivity.

Mira doing the bare minimum. But once again, she’s not mad guys. She’s in total control here.

Anyway. Smut, smut, more smut. Go read it. But then we get to The Bite.

Mira licked another stripe up Rumi’s abdomen, and then paused, hovering.

And bit down.

And that’s when Rumi learned that Mira had been holding back up until then, because when she bit, she bit hard. Her jaw clamped down, her teeth digging in deep and rough.

Rumi wailed as pain, hot and abrupt, lanced through her. Her body seized in place, like it wasn’t sure whether to pull away or move closer, and she cried out again, loud and guttural.

She felt her skin break beneath Mira’s teeth and keened.

Now, for those of you unaware. Even in kink circles, this isn’t looked upon amazingly. Human teeth are mildly disgusting, and bite wounds are very prone to infection. Some people are into it, generally the consensus is that the risk of infection isn’t worth it. So, what is Mira’s reaction? Did Mira plan this? Is she just hurting Rumi because she wants to?

And just like that, sheer panic flashed across Mira’s face. Mira drew back abruptly, rushing to pull her fingers out of Rumi, and Zoey removed her hands from her chest like she’d touched a hot stove and no, no, where were they going—

A desperate, choked sound left Rumi. “No wait stay green greengreengreen ple–” Rumi cut herself off just in time before she’d accidentally begged.

So, one, Rumi was way too into it. Two, Mira did not mean to break skin. As soon as she did, she pulled back, and Zoey followed. They immediately stopped and waited for Rumi, to check on her. And then they return to smut, making sure she’s okay. This gets addressed in aftercare, but there’s another moment coming up I want to point out.

“Hey, beautiful,” Zoey whispered, reaching for a strand of Rumi’s hair that had come loose, tucking it behind her ear. “Would it be okay if I sat on top of you?”

Rumi understood immediately, and she nodded frantically, suddenly desperate for it. Zoey smiled at her warmly before swinging one leg over her head and getting into position. This time, Zoey faced Mira.

“Tap my leg if it’s too much,” Zoey murmured to Rumi before lowering down. Rumi opened her mouth with an eager whine that would have embarrassed her if she wasn’t so far gone.

Their established consent system, stoplight system, was verbal. Up to this point Rumi’s mouth wasn’t busy enough to need anything. But Zoey wants to ride her face (it’s a very pretty face, understandable) so quickly establishes a new system. Tap if it’s too much. Once again short, snappy. Sweet. No 2k words establishing a new system.

Anyway. That’s all the consent checks in the smut! Explicitly, anyway. You could argue that every time one of them vocalizes “I’m going to do this” it’s establishing consent, giving an opportunity for Rumi to say no. You could also argue every little whine out of Rumi’s mouth is an answer, but. I think covering the explicit parts is good enough. Aftercare! Once it’s over, Zoey and Mira immediately go into care mode. Specifically:

Rumi just groaned, and Zoey chuckled. Mira dabbed the gauze at the bite again, and Rumi hissed at the sting of it.

“I know, angel. I’m sorry, but I have to clean it,” Mira said, sounding genuinely apologetic. Rumi quieted down and studied Mira, noticing the creased line between her brows and the careful way she touched Rumi with the gauze, mindful of how it would feel.

Mira is well knowledged in kink, and knows that bite wounds are nasty. She works to make sure Rumi is okay as soon as the scene is over, and apologizes while she’s doing it. They also explicitly pay attention to her, giving her Advil and water. Zoey also does another explicit consent check that everything went fine, and that she’s already. Mira stays busy, and asks once again if Rumi needs anything. Plot about Rumi and her damn rules. Not related to consent so I won’t discuss it. They cuddle, pass out.

This is just chapter 1! There’s more in the other chapters. But I will cut for time here. Anyway, Go read it!! It’s very sweet. I loved the demonstration of kink and consent here. Mira is a great representation of a sadist here, too. Too many people don’t get sadism, or think it’s problematic. But then masochists would never have fun! Go read the fic.

#tw suggestive #tw smut #smut analysis #mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #polytrix #rumi kpdh #rumi kpop demon hunters #alternate universe #character analysis #kpdh #kpop demon hunters #zoey kpdh #polytrix fic rec #fanfiction #fanfiction analysis #fic analysis

wymmsically-chaotic

FIC REC TIMEEEEEE

For my first original post in a while, I am going to be reccomending some of my favorite Polytrix Fics:

[E] See Me Bare My Teeth For You by @yanniest (Yannie on AO3) God, as a bottom Mira truther, this fic was WRITTEN for me. Mira wants to give up control to Zoerumi but she doesn't know how to. Bring in some tasty family problems and this fic is SOME GOOD. ASS. FOOD. (The author always cooks, please order more from their menu) https://archiveofourown.org/works/74042541/chapters/193162956

[E] Pull Me To The Ground by @somethinglikesawyer Brat chronically ill Rumi meets couple Zoemira who rail her until she forgets how to human. Jinu is a little shit. Rumi avoids problems like Rumi does. Seriously if you have not read this fic go read it NEOW. Updates yesterday and goddamn THE NEWEST chapter is so FUCKING GOOOOOOD. Rumi you are SO throttable. https://archiveofourown.org/works/69822951/chapters/181199216

[T] The Problem With Radio by @lyct Moronsexual radio host Mira deals with Loser/Bully (/lh) Co-host Jinu. Rumi's unable to pass chemistry and Zoey is always around the studio. A new anon musical artist causes so much fuss and Mira just goes here. She is so moronsexual here it is a wonder she wasn't dating a rock. (Special shoutout to Ice Cream AU as well. The freezer will exist one day.........🫳🫳🫳) https://archiveofourown.org/works/70407146/chapters/182898446

[E] Strawberry Silhouette (Take a Bite) by @decoyhounds Rumi goes into crazy demon heat mode via the full-moon. Folds Zoemira. Very good 11/10. If that didn't convince idk what else will, GO read it. https://archiveofourown.org/works/71110571

[E] The Real Thing by @/Frenchsoda Too Hot To Handle AU feat. Polytrix. Goddamn this fic is SOOOOOOOOOOOO good and so hot. The story is well-written, it's also funny as fuck sometimes, and it DOES pay off in the end. I am looking forward to The Arrangement as well. https://archiveofourown.org/works/69331621/chapters/179759126

[T] She KPOP On My Demon Til I Hunter by Anon Funniest fucking chatfic I have ever read. Holy shit. So in character too. The entire fic is chat so there not antics seen but they are described through text. Seriously if you need a break from the blending in this fandom, please read this fic. https://archiveofourown.org/works/74598616/chapters/194806056

[E] Show Me (How To Love You) by Honestground A rumira one-shot turned Polytrix long fic featuring domme Mira, sad pathetic wet cat Rumi, and little shit front desk hotel worker Zoey. This fic has been fantastic so far and I am excited to see where it goes. Shoutout to the arts within the thread, you have been amazing and personally feeding me. https://archiveofourown.org/works/73090166/chapters/190459446

Many of these people are folks I call friends so please read their stuff, it really is worth it and they encouraged me to actually begin writing myself. GO READ FICS. NOW. Authors, enjoy the PVP :), and thank you for sharing your brainworms with me and the fandom. Goodnight :D.

lillowing

a *very* solid list!! maybe a preview of future posts on this blog, most of these are fics i’ve wanted to talk abt for a while (show me how to love you and pull me to the ground sticking out)

#polytrix #kpop demon hunters #kpdh #fic recs #polytrix fic rec #polytr/x #tw suggestive #mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #rumi kpdh

love ur fic analysis posts :) really cool thing to do

thanks! i’d like to do more, tbh. or youtube videos would be cool. maybe when im less busy, there’s so many cool fics in the fandom that deserve love.

How one KPDH fic expertly paces humor, characterization, and smut. (cabin pressure, by Yannie)

Hi everyone! One of my favorite authors, Yannie, published a new oneshot today! Linked below.

cabin pressure

It was great! As always. But I wanted to highlight something Yannie did really well here-

The humor blended with the characterization and smut effortlessly. Like, genuinely shocking.

So, how does Yannie achieve this? Well, lets take a look! Spoiler, it’s all from good set-up and planning, actually.

The very first thing about the fic- It is exclusively told from Zoey’s point of view, third person limited This means we get to hear Zoey’s internal thoughts and feelings mixed in with the prose. A good chunk of the humor comes from this alone. There’s a general sense of “Quip Fatigue” happening in most published work right now, a lot coming from Marvel. Larger studios have started to introduce just one kind of humor- quips. There’s an excellent video on youtube about this versus situation humor, btw, go watch it- (video)

Anyway. The humor in this fic isn’t necessarily Rumi, Zoey, and Mira all throwing puns at each other or making “witty” remarks. It’s from Zoey’s own brain, how she processes things, along with the absurdity of the situation. We get primed for this almost immediately, her first thoughts literally being about her job and reflecting on her breaks, amount of passengers, and wines. Yannie could’ve started us out with a giant block of prose describing the airport, the weather, the atmosphere. Instead, she started with Zoey’s pure, uninterrupted thought train. This primes the reader for the later humor. Nothing here is especially laugh out loud funny (even if the rookie joke was cute), but it gets you in her headspace, so when we return to her headspace later it is both familiar and contrasted. We see how Zoey is maybe slightly irritated, concerned about the logistics of her job, and slightly uncomfortable. It contrasts with the sheer patheticness later.

"I might have some," Zoey teased, "But I don't think they'll help you if you get hungry on the flight."

Okay! So! Planning. The first part of planning a fic is deciding how it will be told. We just went over how Yannie decided on a narrative style that suits the fic well. The next part of planning is the actual plot! (Well, some people plan the plot before the writing style, but regardless. My essay, my order!) The plot of this fic is extremely cleverly set up. Zoey has a 12 hour plane ride, then a fun night. Zoey doesn’t leave the plane until nearly 6000 words in. 6000 words of just flirting, and characterization. No actual smut. This means despite being a twenty-two thousand word fic, it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome or drag on. (Too much smut is a thing, guys). A third of it is set up and character work!

Deciding to pace it this way, teasing the audience with this long plane ride, does a few things. First, like I already set, you clearly set your pacing. A third setup, a little bit rising action, then the glorious uninterrupted smut everyone wants to see. Second, it gets you in the mindset of Zoey. She also wants the smut! She wants it so bad, and she’s being so patient. Zoey is being forced to sit (stand?) through this 12 hour plane ride, and the reader is being so patient and good with her. Third, it makes the smut later hit harder, since you are now actually invested from the set-up. Sure, it’s a fanfic. We all know Mira, Rumi, and Zoey. Hell, a lot of us reading have binged Yannie’s catalogue and know how they write Mira, Rumi, and Zoey. But we don’t know this Mira, Rumi, Zoey. (Sorry, had to find an excuse to repeat the three names three times).

Allowing a good chunk of your story to be flirty teasing/set up allows the characters and their dynamics to be solidly established. No one should be surprised by what happens in the smut later, it’s all clearly laid out how these characters interact with each other.

People often say that fight scenes and smut are written in similar ways. Well, Yannie writes Zoey flirting with them as a battle. Which adds to the humor (situational humor, the fact that she is shamelessly fighting a sky high battle and losing), but also keeps the pacing tight. It’s not boring talking for 6000 words. It’s a battle! A test of wills. It’s fun to read because you know it’ll come back later. And Yannie is actually smart enough to make their flirting, the battle, come back up later. All of the characters remember this section of the story and it influences how they behave when alone.

"Point to Zoey. This was going to be easy."

And, this battle establishes their characters! What’s the specific dynamic? We learn from the flirting that Rumi flusters more easily than Mira, that Mira isn’t immune, that they enjoy giving Zoey attention. That Mira is more aggressive, that Rumi tends to be gentler but still has her moments. I don’t think its a coincidence that Zoey will start the battle, Mira will say something that makes Zoey blush, then Rumi steps in to either save her or hit her again. It establishes a very clear pattern that’s followed up on in the smut! There’s also actual non-smut characterization for all three of them. Mostly, Zoey, with her internal dialogue about being wanted, being seen as more than a fling. She notices Mira’s softness, lovergirl maximum, along with Rumi’s tendency to reel her back (Saying “Jesus, Mira” to the more egregious flirting, telling Mira to use her words when staring at Zoey). "Mira," Purple—Rumi—chided as she sat down in the window seat, "Use your words."

Zoey also continually assumes that Mira/Rumi must be joking. Then, once she realizes they are not joking, she assumes she’s just a one night fling. Her apprehensiveness can be initially read as realism. After all, these types of situations never happen in real life. But that quickly gives way to the audience realizing that she has been burned in the past, and is afraid of that happening again. Beneath all the horny, this flight attendant Zoey is someone desperate for connection. Insert connecting flight joke. Idk. (You probably could analyze how often Zoey is given service jobs in AU’s (Front Desk Zoey, Flight Attendant Zoey, etc) but that is more of a general fic analysis than cabin pressure analysis. Go read show me (how to love you), by the way.) "There was something about extremely pretty rich girls that irritated her, the way they looked down their nose at her, the way they flaunted their family's money." Okay, okay. I’ve gotten on tangents. Pacing. Humor. Characterization. Yes. Summizaring message: The flirty dialogue in the first third of this fic both establishes characterization which is followed up on in the smut later, and allows the fic to have solid pacing that matches the general sense of edging that Zoey feels. (The building “pressure” of the entire fic. The cabin pressure. Haha.) It’s great! It’s so, so smart. And makes reading it so natural, so easy. I know a lot of fic authors worry that people get through the setup to make it to smut. This fic was not the case at ALL. The setup is funny, charming, sweet, and engaging. What a way to expand on “Plane AU mile high club haha.” It’s good! Go read it! And other Yannie fics, just mind the tags.

#mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #polytrix #rumi kpdh #rumi kpop demon hunters #alternate universe #character analysis #kpdh #kpop demon hunters #ao3 fanfic #guys yannie is really cool #zoey kpop demon hunters #zoey kpdh #rumi x mira x zoey

lillowing

hi! i made a rumira mermaid au fic

that’s the whole post basically. first two chapters are out!! siren rumi x fisherman mira based on the fanart on twitter by artillato. if u like rumira or mermaids i think you’ll like it it’s a pretty in depth look at mira’s character (as i understand her)

also i combine the canon demon hunter magic with siren magic which i think is super fun and there’ll be an explanation of how a siren-powered honmoon works later :)

anyway here’s the link!! (to anyone who followed me for stormlight im sorry ill post that fic of the transfem radiant oc soon i swear)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

lillowing

Chapters 3 is up! Also updated the tags to more accurately match where the story is going. My useless anti-social lesbians, I love them so.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/73410481

#polytrix #alternate universe #siren #mermaid #kpdh #rumira #kpop demon hunters #rumi kpdh #rumi kpop demon hunters #mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #zoey kpdh #kpdh fanfic

so, like, why is Rumi likeable in So We Were Liars?

hi everyone!!! i'm back with more kpop demon hunters posting. this time an analysis of another fic!! This post assumes you have read So We Were Liars by arendellesfirstwinter (ao3) (hi Aren!) in its entirety, I do not plan to recap the plot. Significant spoilers ahead. Also, mentions of manipulation, death, sexual topics. It’s heavy. But good!

In SWWL, Rumi’s flaws are increased tenfold. Thousandfold? Increased significantly. Throughout the fic, she lies repeatedly, disregards her own safety, lies during and for sexual favors, and is generally an all around bad person. If we were to list everything she did, it would be almost comical. Going by her actions alone, Rumi is not a good person and hard to root for.

So why is she still likeable? Why do I tear up when they finally reconnect? Why do I want her to find happiness? What is this fic doing to portray her in a good light?

The key actually hides in the scene everyone talks about as super angsty. It is angsty, yes, but also integral to the story. Without it, Rumi is a terrible person. To figure out why this works, we need to look at the Why of Rumi. A Root Cause Analysis, if you will. Why does SWWL Rumi lie, manipulate, etc etc.

She lies to hide her patterns, same as the movie. Her patterns out her as a half demon, she doesn’t want her friends (“friends”) to know, so she lies. One step deeper, she doesn’t want her friends to know since they have been trained to hunt demons. Demons hurt people, demons are bad, so she hides out of fear of retribution. Not just for being “other” but for lying about it this entire time. This creates a negative feedback loop where Rumi lies to hide, then hides her lies with more lies.

Rumi’s fundamental fear and source of anxiety in this fic (and in the movie!) is that Mira and Zoey will have a negative reaction to finding out she is half demon. Whether this be social exclusion, violence, confrontation, she fears this negative reaction more than anything. This, along with her self esteem issues around being half “bad” drive most of her actions in this story.

A key to making these anxieties sympathetic and not frustrating is realism. Let's say there was a character, X, that was deathly afraid of Y finding out they, I don’t know, stole cookies. But Y states to X repeatedly “I don’t like cookies, take all the cookies you want, I hate them. I would not care if you took the cookies.”

X looks… less favorable here. They may even look silly, or stupid. How can X possibly think Y finding out they stole the cookies is an issue? Maybe X has cookie-stealing trauma, which will garner sympathy, but only to a point. If Y is perfectly patient and makes it excruciatingly clear that they do not like cookies, X’s fears now look silly instead of serious. This would make X lying very, very unlikable. Because the audience is screaming “Just tell them you ate the fucking cookie!” If we know nothing bad will happen from the reveal, doing unlikeable actions to hide the reveal just seems like angsty writing.

Back to KPDH, Rumi is hiding a very big cookie. The entire jar, if you will. Yet, in many fics, Zoey and Mira don’t really care that Rumi is a demon. Sometimes the author will even have them joke in front of Rumi that Demons are attractive, not that bad, or something similar. Even the movie, attempting to make Mira and Zoey more likeable, does this. During the confrontation, Mira and Zoey raise their weapons at Rumi, seemingly validating Rumi’s anxiety. But their weapons shake, they look conflicted. This makes Mira and Zoey more likeable, but also makes Rumi’s anxieties look less serious. I’ve seen many a people watch the movie and react “Why didn’t she just tell them? They recovered pretty quickly.” Liar-revealed plots run a very fine line of being interesting and being frustrating.

And yes, I know Celine told Rumi from birth that stealing cookies was a cardinal sin that deserved death. She has a lot to unpack there. But this only stretches audience sympathy so far. Once again, if you make it abundantly clear that nothing bad will happen, the audience will lose sympathy with every shitty action the cookie-eater takes.

This is where we round back to SWWL. SWWL actually takes it a step further than the movie. Mira and Zoey don’t just raise their weapons at Rumi. They kill her for it. Sure, there’s misdirection planted with “Demons have tried to imitate them before” but Mira and Zoey see Rumi as a demon, and their reaction is to kill her. Since Demons need to be killed. On a first read, this may just appear as angst. But it’s finally a story that validates Rumi.

Shell-shocked, Mira blurts, “We’re saving a demon.”

Zoey stiffens. She turns to look at Mira incredulously. “...We’re saving Rumi.”

“Who’s a demon.” Mira repeats. She doesn’t know why she’s focusing on this so suddenly, but the abrupt insistence of the patterns’ presence worms its way into her thoughts.

Rumi lying during sex is abhorrent. But, the alternative is death. It’s still abhorrent, but it’s sympathetic. I can see why she did this, even if it's a terrible, awful, no good decision. Rumi rushing into battle alone is reckless and dangerous. But is it more dangerous than being loved by Mira? We see where that love led. “Do you think I’m not grossed out at the thought that I’ve potentially been having sex with a demon who was just using us?”

Okay, that was mean. I’m not saying Mira and Zoey are evil. They’re not. What we see is a tragic miscommunication over years, forcing their entire belief system against their feelings. And, realistically, the training won. When Demons eat souls the girls can’t afford to be sympathetic. Combining the miscommunication, misdirection of demons, and Rumi’s behavior, no one can really say that Mira and Zoey are in the wrong. Any more than Rumi. They dispatched a dangerous demon. But the blame can’t be fully placed on Rumi, either. She did hide it, but the alternative was death. So who’s to blame?

This is where SWWL really shines on a re-read. The first time I read Rumi borderline giving herself a panic attack, I was rolling my eyes at her. Girl, just tell them. It’s not that bad. But the fic showed it is that bad. This is where chapter 7 and 8 shine. It may appear angsty. Rumi got revived, the lie is revealed, why can’t they kiss? But everyone in this fic is looking for sources of blame, and internalizing. Even fucking Celine joins the battle of internalizing. Mira and Zoey blame themselves for not seeing through Rumi’s lies. Celine blames herself for how she raised them. Rumi blames herself for her terrible actions.

They all blame themselves and retreat. Which, they all share blame. I really like the conclusion of they all just sort of.. Accept it happened. Apologize. Cry. And try to move on. It’s realistic. None of these girls are monsters. They all did terrible things in the fic, and took accountability. (Mira touching Rumi’s scar really shows this the best, I think. Mutual forgiveness. This happened, you did it, it was partly my fault, but I forgive whatever part was your fault. “I love you. I love you Zoey. I love you Mira. And I forgive you.”

“We forgive you too, you know that, right?” Mira mutters uncertainly, Zoey adding a quick agreement.

They *all* share blame, they all share forgiveness. Just three girls who love each other very much going through a genuinely shitty situation that's the world's fault.

It’s a really good fic guys! I really like the themes of blame and forgiveness. I love the ending. I love that they’re all kind of bad people, by action alone. But they each find redemption in the end. This is a fic with borderline gaslighting, lying, murder, but none of the characters are the villain.

Anyway, go read it! Again! It shines on re-reads. Every time you think Rumi is being stupid, remember what it leads to. Wouldn’t you do the same?

#swwl #so we were liars #kpdh #rumi kpop demon hunters #rumi kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters #mira kpdh #zoey kpdh #zoey kpop demon hunters #polytrix #ao3 fanfic #character analysis

hi! i made a rumira mermaid au fic

also i combine the canon demon hunter magic with siren magic which i think is super fun and there’ll be an explanation of how a siren-powered honmoon works later :)

anyway here’s the link!! (to anyone who followed me for stormlight im sorry ill post that fic of the transfem radiant oc soon i swear)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

#rumira #kpop demon hunters #mermaid #siren #alternate universe #rumi kpdh #rumi kpop demon hunters #mira kpdh #mira kpop demon hunters

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