Ergodic Musings

I like anime, games, writing, asian dramas, and more. Currently working on a novel. Ask me about my chars! I'm always happy to talk about my kids!

[are-we-really-doing-this]

I’ve made a LOVELY drink for Dynamite which a friend of mine has dubbed the Werewolf Boyfriend, because:

The ingredients are pineapple juice frozen into ice cubes, cream of coconut, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and Monster Energy blended and topped with whipped cream and more condensed milk drizzled into the glass with a few more pineapple cubes. It’s sweet, salty, and very cummy.

[qirex-official]

@were--ralph i found him

[thegaymertrainer]

🍍 🔨

[official-josh]

oh, to be a pineapple

[difty-dift]

"pineapple." 🤨

"hammer."

[randomencounters]

Encounter: Barbarian chef proud to show off the new health food he learned to make you

[vampirebeverage]

smoothie :)

[sighinastorm]

something something werewolf boyfriend something

[mossfoxx]

[fierygremlin]

FIC RECS::

Would You Still Love Me If I Was A Cat? by Echo_elates

Mira and Zoey find a very skittish stray cat. Said cat is not what she seems.

[moringmark]

[echo-has-queries]

LOOK AT THEM! LOOK AT THE CUTIES!!! <3

I did my best to make black, open hair Rumi still look like Rumi ^^' it's hard but I think I did okay.

Hey, maybe read my fluffy (and slightly angsty) Kitty Rumi AU! :3 It's cute I promise <3

[2-beadyeyes-deactivated20251104]

*sees your dead body * eewww lol *remembers we are mutuals* well idk :-) its cute i guess

[spruce-fox]

[sleepyspoonie]

more nonsense for wolfish behavior by @kayr0ss because i have a bit of a backlog of doodles i havent posted!

something about wb!rumi makes her the most mockable and bullyable woman in the universe

[allthingslinguistic]

The International Phonetic Alphabet consonants found in English, with keywords and relevant parts of the mouth highlighted and colour-coded. (Source.) 

[pervocracy]

Pronouncing each of these in sequence is a very strange and amusing physical sensation, and I highly recommend it.

[elodieunderglass]

haha look it’s where those noises live in your dang FACE, TRY IT

[elamarth-calmagol]

Very helpful actually

[art-the-f-up]

Entirely Self Indulgent video because I read the lyrics and thought 'this is Rumi what if I put her thru all the pain all over again'

[frozenwolftemplar]

....

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH THE PAINNNNN!!!!! 😭😭😭

[secondtolastrow]

Okay so. My friends, enemies, and those undecided. Please consider, if you will, what I’m tentatively calling the polytrix blood cult au:

Zoey—normal college student, doesn’t believe in demons, does believe in Bigfoot, mixed on aliens—gets kidnapped by a cult. This is, as one might expect, distressing. Traumatizing even

She’s experiencing satanic panic bullshit and it isn’t even the nineties. She’s in not even in America anymore, for fuck’s sake!

But still. Cult of evil crazies in weirdly opulent red robes who want to use her as a blood sacrifice to feed some ancient evil they’re awakening

They have her in actual iron chains in the back of their van.

Her night continues to get more traumatizing when the cult guys—who have awful taste in music, the one driving is playing the worst dad rock she’s heard in her life—open up the back of the van, and there are more cult people

Including one who promptly yanks off her hood—her hair is dyed a vibrant shade of pink which clashes with the red, Zoey notes, idly—and starts yelling at driver guy (who is, apparently, her dad) about how she could put up with all the crazy cult shit and the demon summoning whatever, but that’s a person. That’s a human fucking person!

And her dad hits her

This does not stop the pink-haired woman

And this? Sitting there chained up in the back of a van watching this is far, far worse than the rest of the night so far

So then they go about unchaining Zoey and binding her to her spot, which is one ritual, done by a fairly unpleasant guy who keeps whacking her with his ritual knife whenever she starts shivering, even though it’s cold and she literally can’t control that, while the other members set up. And the tall, pink-haired woman mostly also lays on the ground

(Mira’s been forced to be here, and just hit her line. Her father beats her into submission and only stops because he needs a standing, breathing body for the ritual itself.)

(She still tries to apologize to the poor woman when her brother drags her up towards the circle, but she thinks her jaw might be broken)

This is followed by what, as far as Zoey can tell, is not summoning a demon, but breaking the seal on some ancient evil—look, it’s not like she can speak dialects of Korean that were archaic four hundred years ago, this one isn’t even her first language!

And the Ancient Evil spills out with a… pleasantly flowery smell, tbh.

I mean, rock dust-y, sure, and oddly crackly, like lightning caught in the air, but. Nice.

Fingers grip the cracked edge of the pit, and a body levers itself out, insignias seeming almost to still be burning their way into flesh as it rises

“We have released thee, o ancient one, and offer a sacrifice of fresh blood to quench thy thirst,” says the head asshole in charge, and the circle parts

The ancient evil stares at her, dark eyes pinning her in place with something ferocious and intent, and hey, if Zoey’s gonna go out, at least it’ll be to someone hot

And then it kicks the head asshole in the face

(See, uh, the whole ancient evil thing? Yeah, that was a case of the smear campaigns. Poor Rumi just made some rich and powerful enemies by trying to help out with the public good

She’s not really one for blood sacrifices, especially if they clearly don’t want to be there)

Zoey doesn’t quite realize it right then, not for another few beats of cultist smashing, but she’s pretty sure that interruption of things is what got her loose, because she doesn’t realize she can move again until she’s already done it

She is not letting the tall, pink-haired woman who clearly didn’t want to be there either get taken out in the process of whatever this is. And if all she can do is keep her alive just one second longer for her kindness, then that’s what she’s going to do

So Zoey is across the room and tackling her defender out of the ancient evil’s way before she can get hurt

And, again: the evil looks at her. Doesn’t hurt her, just… looks, gaze heavy.

Finally, slowly, she asks, “…What are you doing?”

[gveret-fic]

“What are you doing??? Does she look like she needs another ass kicking?” Zoey demands, cradling the pink girl carefully in her arms. She's been making these feeble ass motions at getting out of Zoey's hold, which just goes to show her self preservation instinct is fucked and she cannot be left to her own devices. 

The ancient evil’s nostrils flare. Great sign! Pissing off ancient evils is such a smart move right after getting kidnapped by cultists. 

“She doesn't need another ass kicking, please?” Zoey tries. “O ancient and evil one?”

The ancient evil frowns, ridged brow creasing deeply. Unfortunately it's a sexy look on her. “I'm twenty three,” says the ancient evil. 

Zoey bursts out laughing. 

The young evil’s frown deepens. 

“Sorry, sorry! And you look great, by the way. Genuinely. Who knew hot young evil beings in your area were just waiting under ancient stone slabs for their morning blood sacrifices? Not me! Sorry again.”

“I do not require a blood sacrifice,” the evil says gravely.

“Oh, great! That's great news. For me. And for this girl, who was just trying to help me, by the way, and got kicked all the way to hell for it. You can probably tell, right, you were just there. So you don't mind if we just, um, go, right? Since you're not gagging for our blood and all?”

The young morally ambiguous being's face smooths out. Is that good?? Is that bad?? Zoey sure as fuck doesn't know. 

But the being only says, “You are in suboptimal condition. I will escort you out,” and sweeps Zoey and the pink girl into her arms like they're two nice little bags of feathers. 

[secondtolastrow]

The being skirts around the van with a look that indicates she may, in fact, be older than twenty-three.

But, hey, if she’s only lived twenty three-years, then who is Zoey to judge?

It’s a long walk out of the caverns, and an awkward hold (though the being is clearly trying her best, she’s only got two arms. But whenever Zoey points out that she’s only a little woozy and could totally walk, she and pink girl both give Zoey matching looks of disapproval).

Eventually, as there start to be more cool, fresh breezes, Zoey asks, “Do you have a phone? They took mine.”

Pink girl blinks at her in a mildly disbelieving fashion. Her jaw has swollen so badly it would almost be comical, if Zoey could just stop, y’know, seeing how it happened burned into her eyelids every time she blinked.

“Well, guess that’s a no on calling 119 for you.” Zoey sighs, and flops down a little in the being’s arm. She has a very muscular back.

“What is a phone?” the being asks.

Definitely older than twenty-three, Zoey thinks, and bursts into helpless, hysterical giggling.

And, oh! That’s a cavern mouth! That’s moving around! Zoey’s head spins like she’s on a carnival ride as she is gently set down against a tree, and she nearly leans over to puke.

“I would fashion one for you, were I able,” the being offers, all solemn and concerned and so stupidly cute.

Pink girl makes a helpless little sound of her own, like she too just wants to coo over her—or maybe laugh at her, and then groans in pain, clutching at her injuries.

“It’s—“ Zoey snickers. “I’m sorry, this is mean—um, no, it’s a pretty intricate technology. You use it to speak to people over distances and, uh, 119 is the designated number for medical emergencies. You use it to call someone to come get you.”

The being blinks, eyebrows raising. “Anyone can use this… number?”

“Anyone with a phone,” Zoey agrees, hoping the being doesn’t think this is a magic thing and start making the night freaky and life endangering again. Which. She’s been very nice, really, and so it feels kind of mean to be suspicious of her, but that kind of thing gets into a girl’s head, you know?

And the being’s face softens underneath all those inked and/or burned insignias (worrying! Zoey notes distantly), filled by something like wonder. “And a phone is a common possession?”

“…Yeah?” Zoey says, not sure where this is going. She looks over at pink girl, who sort of kind of shrugs with an affirmative-sounding groan.

And then another groan-sounding one.

“Then I shall go find a passerby and tell them my companions are badly injured,” the being declares, and disappears into the night before Zoey can do much as blink.

She rolls her head over to look at pink girl. “Shit.”

Pink girl looks back at her in tired agreement.

“They’re gonna think she’s a LARPer,” Zoey says mournfully, and pink girl starts making those helpless little sounds again.

[frozenwolftemplar]

Rumi knows she should be scanning for passerby- and she is! The two nice girls need help and she's not about to let them suffer from her carelessness- but she can't stop herself from looking up at the sky. The stars have changed.

The constellations she used to drag her claw across, drawing imaginary connecting lines, are...gone, stars shifted out of place into new configurations whose meanings are lost on her. And the trees of the mountainside...they should not be this thick or tall.

How did that happen? She was only sealed for, what, a decade? Two? Surely no more than a century...

Sounds- human sounds- put a pause on her musings. A whole crowd, it seems, singing loudly to music that bounces through the night. She springs across the ground, head bobbing in time.

She always did love music.

But...there's not a crowd when she bursts on the clearing; just two people, a campfire burning before them with some sort of...magic slab (?) between them, small and glowing and-

She tilts her head to a side. Huh. The music seems to be coming from it. Sorcery?

One of the men says something, taps the slab, and the song and singers change.

Yes, this is very much sorcery.

Which is good. The 'phone' the girls said they need very much sounds like sorcery, and these men should be well-equipped to provide.

"Greetings." The sorcerers scream as she steps into the clearing and bows solemnly. Typically, she'd use more pleasantries when addressing sorcerers, but time was of the essence.

The sorcerers blink, silent, staring. That is good. Quiet means listening.

"I have recently been freed from my stone imprisonment by a group with wicked intentions. Amidst their numbers was a pair of girls who were innocent in their deeds and whom I spared from slaughter. They were injured, however, and need a physician's prowess. They have informed me that a 'phone' can be used to acquire this, and this is the request I come to you with."

The sorcerers blinked again. They don't move. They don't offer a phone.

Maybe they are slow... "I need your assistance."

"No kidding..." One of the sorcerers mutters.

The other one, a short, round, friendly-looking man, carefully steps closer. His eye seems drawn to her markings. "So...you say you were...imprisoned?"

Very slow sorcerers. But she is patient. "Yes."

"And freed by an evil cult?"

A little less patient. "Yes."

"Does this happen...often?"

"Of course not!" She snaps, having no patience for stupid questions. "Do you really think I'd be foolish enough to get trapped by the same cult twice?"

He nods. "And...do you know what today's date is?"

She rolls her eyes and folds her arms. "I have been imprisoned."

He nods and grabs the magic slab. "Ooooookay then. I'm calling 119."

Oh! Perfect! They're not as slow as she thought! "Excellent!" She grins, showing her canines. "I shall go and get the girls in need of assistance and return."

[gveret-fic]

Mira is, without a doubt, having a day.

She is in immense and unrelenting pain. She knew with complete conviction that she was going to die, twice. She almost watched another person be murdered. She caught shit from her dad and then watched him eat pavement so hard it knocked his teeth out. She got carried by a literal demon from hell, probably. 

She’s holding a cute girl’s hand.

“Hey,” says the cute girl. Her hand is warm. Fingernails chewed down to the quick. She squeezes. “Can you give me one for yes, two for no: are you doing okay?”

Mira does her absolute best not to laugh, because that shit hurts. 

‘I’ve had worse,’ she wants to say, but she can’t say shit, and also it would be a huge fucking lie. This is definitely worse than her nose being broken, or her rib, or her arm that one time. At least then she could have still cursed the bastard out.

In the spirit of honesty, she squeezes twice.

“No fucking kidding!” the girl shouts. She rattles Mira’s arm in her grip. “I can’t believe they did that to you! I wanted to rip my eyeballs out! I wanted to rip their eyeballs out!”

Mira wants to laugh soooo bad. She huffs a breath out of her nose in compromise.

The girl is still shaking Mira’s hand around in sheer uncontainable outrage. It’s kinda gratifying. “At least the hot young evil—I mean—you know who I’m talking about. At least she really rang their bells, huh? I was too terrified out of my gourd to enjoy it though. Did you enjoy it, at least?”

Did she? Mira takes a moment to think about it. That was her entire family in there, getting thrashed around by a big spiky hurricane of a woman. She would be lying if she said a scene to that effect had never featured in her childhood fantasies. But she also isn’t sure it would be truthful to say the reality was pleasurable.

“Sorry. Forget I asked,” says the girl. “Fuck! You don’t even know me. Sorry, sorry. Zoey, by the way.”

Regretfully, Mira lets go of Zoey’s hand so can grab her other one and hold her palm open. Across it, she slowly spells out her own name with a finger.

“Mira,” Zoey murmurs. “Nice to meet you, Mira. Sorry about your family. Or, congratulations.”

Mira is still clenching every single one of her core muscles to try to stop herself from laughing when the big spiky hurricane of a woman bursts back onto the scene and skids to a grinding halt before them.

[secondtolastrow]

Rumi considers the two women for a moment, and comes to a very simple conclusion.

She looks at the woman who is not a sacrifice, and she says, “You will need to get on my back.”

“Um,” says the woman who is not a sacrifice, blinking a few times. (She has very pretty eyes. They are deep brown, and round, and lined with some kind of makeup which draws the eye, much like the freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose. “Not that I’m objecting, but why?”

“So that I can carry her without causing further injury,” Rumi explains, nodding to the woman who she had nearly injured very badly. Stupid of her, to act so unthinkingly. Foolish, and reckless, and—

She cuts off her thoughts before they can spiral, offering the women a reassuring smile.

“…Yeah, okay,” says the woman who is not a sacrifice.

And so Rumi turns around and gets her arms looped around her neck and her legs tight around her waist (“You will have to hold on tight,” she warns, and this makes the woman laugh and say something to herself in an unfamiliar language), and then she picks up the woman who she nearly hurt, with one arm underneath her knees and the other around her ribs.

“You should put your arms around my neck as well, if you can,” Rumi says.

The woman who she nearly hurt looks at Rumi as if there is something very wrong with her, but that is not altogether uncommon, and she has very good cause besides. And then she puts her arms around Rumi’s neck.

For someone of her height—and the woman is tall, with long legs that make carrying her a bit awkward—she is very light, and Rumi—

Rumi is always so reckless, isn’t she?

“Please tell me if I am hurting you,” Rumi says, looking the woman in the eyes.

The woman holds her gaze for a moment, and then she looks away, face twitching, and nods.

“I am going to run now,” Rumi announces.

Despite this, the woman who is not a sacrifice still howls out her surprise when they start to move.

[awkwardlybenevolage]

"119, what is your emergency?"

Honestly, Bobby is not quite sure how to answer this question. At first, he was pretty sure they were about to get mugged, or worse, but then the young woman(? Yes, young woman! Why the hesitation?) started talking and the impression faded quickly.

She didn't seem in distress, but she did speak about very disturbing things. She talked about injured companions, imprisonment, an evil cult for some reason and her apparently "slaughtering" them? Bobby didn't think to check her knuckles to see if they were injured. To be fair, he was a bit distracted by the markings on her skin that he very much hoped were tattoos.

"Hi, uh, hello yes, I'm Bobby Jeong and uh… So, we were camping when this girl…"

He's in the process of answering that no, the woman didn't look inebriated or drugged in any capacity when Ji-hoon starts shaking his arm with an alarmed look on his face. He pulls the phone a bit from his ear to listen and…

Stomping.

Rapidly approaching stomping.

VERY rapidly approaching stomping.

The girl suddenly bursts into the clearing and LANDS in the middle, stopping abruptly. Bobby is not too proud to admit that he screamed a little.

"We have reached our destination. You may descend now."

The girl clinging at her back chuckles breathlessly before releasing her death grip and landing on legs more trembling than a newborn fawn. She seems shaken, but not outwardly hurt. The one in her arms, however— Holy shit.

This was supposed to be a nice, relaxing camping trip with his coworker-crush-maybe-boyfriend-but-they-haven't-really-talked-about-it-yet! They were supposed to listen to music, roast marshmallow around the campfire, bitch about the terrible management at their job, look at the stars, and maybe get intimate.

But now, Bobby has three young women in need of assistance in front of him, and nothing will stop him from helping.

He's taking charge. "Ji-hoon, start packing. We'll bring them to the hospital by car. It will take twice as long to wait for an ambulance."

[secondtolastrow]

From what Mira can guess, the emergency dispatcher promptly starts yelling at the guy on the phone to not do that, there’s already an ambulance and trained paramedics on the way, and to please instead describe the situation.

Just based on the next few things he says.

Mira doesn’t really care either way, as long as she doesn’t die, but the guy who isn’t on the phone still puts out their fire and starts packing.

And the hurricane in humanoid form just keeps holding Mira. Like it’s effortless.

She’s gentle about it, perfectly still. Not at all like something restrained, something contained. Just like she could do this forever.

There are a couple of dark, tacky speckles in the rock dust on her face. Mira doesn’t know whose blood it is, but she knows the entire range of possibilities.

Someone wanted to put this woman down, though, and it can’t just be the strong and fast part—Mira doesn’t exactly recognize all of the ink on her, but she recognizes enough to know that it’s a more intense binding ritual than any of the ones her mom ever used to keep her locked in her bedroom. It’s some demigod-level shit.

“—Mira.”

The sound of her own name makes her tune back into reality.

“I don’t know her family name, though, and she can’t really talk, so…” Zoey shrugs, laughing awkwardly. “Couldn’t really tell you about Superwoman over there either.”

The hurricane does not seem to understand the way all of them turn to stare at her. Mira uses her foot to lightly tap her in the ribs.

“Oh!” she says, and almost makes to bow, before remembering that she’s holding Mira and, thank God, not doing that. “I am Rumi.”

Which is… a very personish name, all things considered.

[frozenwolftemplar]

It almost makes it worse, somehow, having the demon- woman- demigod- whatever referring to herself with a name Mira could envision written on a nametag at a boba shop or being read aloud during roll call in school.

Like she's as much human as she is ancient powerful being, and her family the ancient evil. Which, yeah, tracks, but still, to think it stretches back that far...

She really is the black sheep, huh? Or- or maybe her evil just hasn't ripened yet and is sitting in her soul like a young green apple? Or maybe-

Her jaw throbs, and she groans, squeezing her eyes tighter because she is not about to cry in front of two strange men, the cute girl, and the hot ancient not-evil.

-Or maybe she's getting deliriously philosophical with pain.

She sighs, slumping. Man, tonight sucked.

"Are you not comfortable?" Rumi asks, looking worriedly down at Mira; the threads of light from Bobby and Ji-hoon's lantern catches in her eyes, flickering in the gold irises so it's like drops of dazzling sun are staring down at her. Without waiting for an answer, she readjusts her hold so Mira is held more snugly against her chest. "There. Is that more to your liking?"

Mira just stares back. If her jaw wasn't swollen shut, she'd probably be saying something really stupid right about now.

"Here." Zoey popped up out of seemingly nowhere with a pair of blankets. She starts tucking one snugly around Mira, chattering all the while. "I read somewhere once that if someone's in shock- which, let's get real, fifty-fifty chance you are- you should keep them, like, warm, so I figured 'hey, Mira probably needs a blanket,' and then I went 'huh. I probably do, too, having been kidnapped and-"

"Wait." Rumi seems to realize something the same second Mira does. Both level her with wide, horrified eyes, and Rumi says what Mira wishes (or, well, a more formal and flowery version but whatever). "Do you not have a family that misses you?"

"No. I mean, yes, I mean-" Zoey scrunches her nose up. "Yes, I have a family, no I don't think they miss me." Mira can feel Rumi's chest expand with the question they're both doubtless wondering about when Zoey folds her arms and firms her stance. "But I'm not going anywhere until I'm one-hundred percent certain Mira's gonna be okay."

"We're all packed up," Bobby says, suddenly appearing beside them. He gestures down the path. "Bit of a hike to where the ambulance will meet us, so we should get moving."

"Okay, so, I guess I'm going somewhere anyway," Zoey shrugs with a dimpled smile as Rumi helps her up onto her back again (Ji-hoon had offered to carry her, but he was a beanpole, Rumi was insistent, and Zoey was clearly crushing). "Not that I'm complaining!"

Tonight still sucked, but as they headed down the mountain, Rumi a cocoon of warmth and strength around her and Zoey prattling in a way that made the ache in her jaw dim, Mira decided that it sucked...less than usual.

[clar-a-m]

Pov: you're Zoey in toro, toro by @kayr0ss

[moringmark]

[clar-a-m]

I like to think that since Rumi lived in the middle of nowhere for most of her life she knows how to fix most things around the house. Mira, on the other hand, doesn't know how to fix shit but her lovergirl tendencies make her feel bad for not being able to help so she just stays next to Rumi the whole time asking if she needs anything

Full drawing and referenced meme under the cut

[blankmindwrites]

If someone were to ask Huntrix in an interview what they were best at besides being idols, Mira would say she was the queen of the kitchen. There wasn't a recipe she couldn't master, nor a kitchen utensil she didn't know how to use. The kitchen was her kingdom, and everything else was her subject.

The sink, however, seemed to have rebelled against her reign today.

No matter how hard Mira tried to turn on the tap, the water just wouldn't flow through the pipes and out of the spout so she could clean the dishes that had served as vessels for her latest creation.

"You good there, babe?" a voice said behind Mira before purple strands appeared in the periphery of her vision.

"Yeah, it's just this damn thing." She turned the tap on and off several times, as if that would change anything. "It just won't work."

Rumi hummed thoughtfully beside her, moving closer to inspect the sink more closely. She tried the same thing as Mira, and at first nothing happened, until Rumi opened both taps as wide as she could and a little water, barely a trickle, came out of the faucet.

"Huh," Rumi said quietly before turning off the taps. "Well, at least a little water is coming out, which means something might be clogged."

"Ugh, great," Mira complained, throwing her head back. "We'll have to call a plumber."

"Oh! No need to do that!" Rumi smiled at her. "It shouldn't be difficult to fix."

A pink eyebrow was raised skeptically.

"And who's supposed to fix it? I don't know anything about fixing sinks, and you know very well that Zoey is certainly a menace in the kitchen."

"I heard that!" They both turned toward the source of the sound, Zoey's scream at the end of the hall, from her bedroom with the door... closed... She certainly had tremendous lungs, not to mention her hearing.

Rumi chuckled softly before turning to Mira. "I can handle it. It wouldn't be the first time I've done something like this."

"What...?" Mira watched, wide-eyed, as Rumi bent down and opened the doors under the sink before sticking her head inside and inspecting everything. "What do you mean, 'not the first time'?"

"Celine and I used to live alone in the hanok, way out of town," Rumi said as she lay on her back and started fiddling with the pipes and valves above her head. "Hiring people to come and fix simple things like a sink or blown fuses was too much of a hassle. Once you understand how things work in your home, it's easier to fix them yourself than to ask someone to take a ferry ride all the way over, y'know?"

That... made sense, actually. How had Mira not thought of such an obvious thing? Of course Rumi knew how to do that 'fixing things of the house' stuff; she'd learned to treat her own wounds from a very young age, after all. Knowing how to fix a sink was, by comparison, a minor thing.

That proved to be a fleeting thought when Mira noticed what Rumi's new position was doing to her body. Her white tank top accentuated her strong arms, which flexed slightly as they inspected whatever it was Rumi was looking for in that PVC maze.

Mira wasn't staring, of course not.

Just... appreciating.

Yes, appreciating was the right word, absolutely.

"Ah, I think I know what the problem is," Rumi commented, a cheerful note in her voice. Mira had to blink a few times to shift her attention from Rumi's biceps to whatever she was fiddling with. "The shut-off valves look worn out. I can barely move them; they're quite stiff. I think I'm gonna have to replace them."

"Uh..." If all it took to leave Mira speechless was for Rumi to lie down and raise her arms, they could have done it somewhere more appropriate, like any of their bedrooms. On the bed. Preferably naked. "Sure, yeah. Okay. Um, what do you need?"

Rumi grunted under her breath as she emerged from under the sink, standing a second later with seemingly inexhaustible energy, if her eager smile was any indication.

"We're going to have to shut off the main water supply to prevent accidents while I replace the valves." It was a criminal act for Rumi to throw her arms up to release some tension in her shoulders right in front of Mira. "Can you let the team know while I get my tools? I think they'll have to shut off all the water in the building, but it shouldn't take long."

Mira only remembered saying something resembling an affirmation before Rumi gave her a thumbs-up and disappeared into her room.

Minutes later, after they'd been told the water was shut off and Rumi had carried a toolbox into the kitchen that would put even the best plumber to shame (seriously, where did she keep that stuff?), the pair found themselves back in the same position that had almost made Mira blue screen.

Rumi, lying on her back, still sporting that goofy smile of hers, was wielding tools whose names Mira didn't know as she removed the darn valves that had caused the problem. Her arms and part of her abdomen were exposed for all to see, for Mira to admire, who couldn't look anywhere but at Rumi and only Rumi.

Was this what being hypnotized felt like? If so, please, never take Mira out of there. She was exactly where she wanted to be.

So focused was she on Rumi that the sudden giggles in the background felt like background noise, a product of her own mind. Thank Honmoon for her body's autopilot, which allowed her to hand Rumi the necessary tools when she asked, all while her eyes remained fixed on her girlfriend—her quite, criminally attractive girlfriend.

Perhaps the sink rebellion had been a good thing after all.

(Zoey's social media post, which appeared within hours of the incident, was, in Zoey's own words, her revenge for the "being a menace in the kitchen" comment.)

[yuumei-art]

Silver to Gold

Today is Witch Hat Monday! ✨I can't wait to see the new episode! I just caught up on the manga recently and oh how my heart is broken 💔so of course I drew fanart ahahaha😭

[rincrowe]

“… Perfect, my next meal is here.”