polytrix thoughts ( rumi focus mostly ) cause i can't stop thinking ab them
i think there's a general consensus between all of them that the three of them together is as natural as breathing air, but #tome rumi falls first and zoemira fall harder.
zoerumi is easy. despite the careful distance she tries to keep between them—close because they have to be a real team to turn the honnmoon gold, but not as close as zoemira are to each other—rumi gravitates to zoey's easy affection and optimisim like a moth to a flame when they first meet. zoey talks a Lot and rumi likes it a lot. it's been just her and celine for as long as she can remember and casual conversation hasn't come as easy between them since rumi was a child.
zoey's expressiveness is foreign. she can't hide her feelings for shit, says anything that comes to mind and talks so fast sometimes rumi can't even keep up, but rumi likes it. it's easy to let herself be consumed by zoey instead of getting stuck in her own head.
rumi is thrown off by zoey's easy affection. where celine can only hold her when her patterns are covered, zoey clings to rumi, linking arms, sitting way too close to show her a video and touching her unashamedly. rumi indulges more than she should.
what gets her is zoey's steady presence. even when rumi is weird and distant, zoey is steady and tries harder than rumi expects to understand her. rumi likes the sound of her voice the most, it grounds her easily. she's a bit weak to zoey, and gives in where she probably wouldn't usually.
i think rumi falls in love with zoey without even realizing it. she's never had friends before so naturally she assumes the butterflies in her stomach when zoey calls her name is normal. she chalks the tingling on her skin where zoey held her arm a few seconds prior up to getting used to physical affection. she thinks the closeness they have and the way she feels so painfully safe and loved with zoey is purely platonic, because what else would it be?
zoey on the other hand first notices the way cute, socially awkward rumi copies her mannerisms. zoey boops her nose once while trying to cheer rumi up, rumi does it back the next time zoey gets too in her head. rumi uses certain phrases more after hearing zoey say them a lot. rumi's affection doesn't come as easy, but she notices the way rumi copies her to figure out how to be affectionate to them both.
what really gets her is when she realizes how attentive rumi is when listening. anything zoey's said, even in passing, gets catalogued somewhere in rumi's too busy brain. from mentioning off handedly that she dislikes the instrumental to a song to a random turtle fact rumi quotes back at her. it's a breath of fresh air to have someone remember her thoughts and words so clearly. rumi is a breath of fresh air.
it snowballs from there for zoey. she feels a bit flustered at the way she has 100% of rumi's attention whenever she speaks. she likes the way rumi's eyes crinkle when she laughs, like really laughs, and she makes it her mission to make her laugh as much as possible. she likes the way rumi smiles when she's with her or mira. it's different from her idol smile. it's crooked and wonky like she's never smiled a day in her life and it gives zoey butterflies.
it's a combination of all of this that does zoey in: she told a stupid joke and rumi, who's been distant lately, laughs harder than zoey's ever seen, tears coming out of her eyes. she's pressed closer to zoey than she ever has and zoey catches glimpses of that goofy smile everytime rumi tries to stifle her laughter. after days of rumi pulling away, seeing her like this zoey thinks yes, i want to see her like this for the rest of my life.
of course she then kind of freaks out because while she's glad to finally be closer to rumi, who's always kept a practiced distance from her and mira, it's another thing to completely fall in love with her. she ends up confessing to mira one night about how she doesn't even know how to act around rumi which leads to mira confessing her own feelings for rumi which takes me to rumira!!
rumira is way more complicated. where zoey and rumi easily gravitate towards each other and fell into a closeness easily, rumi and mira are like oil and water.
rumi thinks mira is impressive. where zoey grasped onto pre debut idol duties faster, mira seems like a natural at hunter duties. where she can't match up to rumi in skill and experience, she outshines her in body control and creative moves when they fight. mira still loses every time they fight, but rumi praises her often and gives her practical advice. rumi thinks she's being as nice as possible, so she doesn't understand at all why it seems like mira can't stand her.
mira brushes off rumi's praise and taunts her by calling her princess. she almost actively avoids taking rumi's advice. no matter what she says or does mira always has a snarky comment and an unphased facial expression to follow. after every interaction, rumi is left barely concealing her irritation, which somehow seems to irk mira more.
she doesn't get it at all. with zoey, mira is plenty nice. they have inside jokes, mira actually smiles at her and she reaponds leagues better to zoey's eager praise and hesitant input. but the second rumi so much as breathes in her direction, her easy body language suddenly screams irritation.
rumi thought that the biggest obstacle to group harmony would be her own problems, not that one of her group mates would immediately hate her guts. it also kind of sucks because mira happens to be insanely pretty—which, no shit she becomes the visual for a reason—and it kills her more than she thinks it would that she's never seen mira's smile or soft eyes directed at her. she says she's not jealous, and she's not because why would she crave the attention of someone who cleatly hates her. but where zoey gives her butterflies and leaves her feeling a pleasant tingle, there's a hunger in a veins when she's around mira.
it comes to ahead late one night. rumi's restless and up training when mira comes in. one thing leads to another and they're having what should be a friendly spar, but there's hardly anything friendly about the way they're attacking each other. mira keeps going out of her way to irritate rumi and for once rumi gives in to the taunting, having had enough. she takes mira down in a swift move that leaves mira breathless with rumi pinning her down.
"would it kill you to shut up for once, mira?" she yells, exasperated. all the fight leaves her body when mira's eyes soften just a bit and the laugh she lets out sounds satisfied rather than condescending. "so you can do something besides kill me with kindness." and the lack of irritation in her voice is all it takes for rumi to feel utterly fucked.
over the next few weeks, mira's attitude tones down. she doesn't seem completely opposed to rumi's presence anymore and the three of them sit down dor their first movie night. mira orders food and she already knows what rumi likes even though rumi swears the girl doesn't listen to a word she says. rumi's heart flutters just a bit.
mira falls for rumi months later. zoey and mira had snuck out and ended up running into some demons. of course rumi arrives just in time to save their asses, because even mira can admit they were in over their head taking on a whole hoard alone when they'd just started going on group hunts with rumi a few weeks ago.
mira keeps her irritation to herself when rumi takes a rather unfortunate beating, but it rises back up when rumi tries to walk it off even though the two of them can see her wince everytime she breathes.
she and zoey are too persistent for rumi this time around and they get her to at least let them look her over and give her some pain killers. rumi and zoey are passed out on the couch a couple hours later, but mira can't sleep. she watches the steady rise and fall of rumi's chest. glancing at her face, she thinks rumi looks younger when she's asleep. when she's not forcing herself to pretend everythings okay. she brushes hair from rumi's face, tucking it behind her ear thinking that she wants to see her like this—vulnurable—again, perhaps without the bruised ribs though.
in the next few weeks, mira finds herself finding little ways to take care of rumi more. she off handedly mentions making too much breakfast, telling rumi to eat it so it doesn't waste. she's satisfied when she catches rumi, who skips breakfast half the time, eating with a pleased look on her face. she'll work up to making her eat with them soon.
mira and rumi still spar and it's actually friendly this time. she's gotten better after she stopped purposely not taking rumi's advice. but when rumi's tense, mira's gotten in the habit of ticking her off on purpose. in typical rumi fashion, the easiest way to get her to rest when she's pushing herself is to tick her off then tire her out. sitting on the training room floor with rumi pressed into her side and snoring, mira's realizes that she likes it when rumi falls a part in her arms, trusting mira with her raw self, far too much to be normal.
zoemira both falling for rumi after seeing her more raw and vulnerable is so peak you guys.
