KPop Demon Hunters | Polytrix (background) | Rumi Focus/Character Study | It's A Metaphor I Guess?
Summary:
after a rabies exposure, the virus must travel to the brain before it can cause symptoms. therefore, the incubation period may last for weeks to months depending on several factors such as location of the exposure site (in relation to the brain) and age; in extremely rare cases it could be dormant for years.
rumi thinks about this one frequently, lying in bed at night; the idea that you could be wasting away at any moment in your life. a poison in your veins with you none the wiser– like a ticking bomb just waiting to go off.
you would need to get bit or scratched first, of course, and if you took the right precautions you would likely never know. and rumi has never been bitten anyway. she’s fine.
absently, she scratches at her shoulder– skin tight.
ao3 link
this is my most beloved rabies rumi based on this popular drabble of mine. i hope you like her half as much as i love her
how goes your day? Read anything interesting recently?
pretty good!
i'm a little behind on my reading because i got possessed by smut demons again and a lot of the fics i'm actively reading i've already mentioned, but a few i don't think i've rec'd yet that i really enjoyed are
wolfish behaviour by @kayr0ss [M] [Polytrix] [Ongoing]
What if Rumi was werewolf but also was a college professor, and what if Zoey was a vet, and what if Mira had 5 cats and one had IBS too, and they were in a romantic comedy what then
i just love the comedy of this. it's such a fun set up, and one that isn't wasted at all. every joke is perfectly executed
plus, kayr0ss's writing style and characterisations are a complete and utter delight. i'm especially fond of Rumi in this one.
an impossible greed to stomach by @unicyclehippo [E] [Polytrix] [Ongoing]
When Mira says something she maybe (definitely) shouldn't in the throes of passion, it leads to a surprising confession from Rumi. Rumi, who can and does come. Rumi, who can and does come only when she is alone and at her own hand...and who would like to be able to eventually come with her girlfriends and under their tender (and enthusiastic) attention.
i'm super weak for anything that gives Rumi a weird relationship with her body and sex and pleasure and this is that in spades.
also, extremely fucking hot oh my god. what the fuck.
Who's A Good Girl?: Being A Dog Won't Stop Her Having Three Jobs, Matchmaking Her Stubborn Housemates, and Saving The World (And Falling in Love?) by @unicyclehippo [T] [Polytrix] [Ongoing]
Zoey and Mira have been best friends for five years and housemates for four and a half and life is good! Well... Mira's library section and work events are all smooth sailing, which she desperately needs because the rest of her life has been feeling rough. And Zoey? She likes working hard! Taking any and all opportunities that come her way! But it would be kind of nice to slow down sometimes. And to not be treated like she's expendable...
Could finding a dog in the middle of a storm be the thing to fix everything? Probably not. But she's very cute, and weirdly clever, and they love her.
i'm going to give you the big disclaimer that's also in the tags: Rumi is a dog for now. she is actually a human. i'm on my hands and knees begging you to read that tag and understand she is going to be a human again.
with that out the way, this is so much fun. unicyclehippo has absolutely mastered Zoey's inner monologuing and it's never been clearer than it is in this fic.
Roots by @ghostbitsforkicks [E] [Polytrix] [Complete]
Zoey learns how to forgive herself.
this is a heavier one about trauma and how it impacts Zoey, and her relationship with sex and kink in particular.
it's also very hot because it's written by ghostbitsforkicks so, duh. but be ready for it to hit you right in the chest.
ink & honey by @ghostgrlonfirst [E] [Polytrix] [Ongoing]
Dancer and professional lovergirl Mira meets Zoey, owner of Ink & Honey during a typhoon. She walks away that evening wondering if Zoey really is sunshine personified or if she's simply lonely and latching on to any warmth and kindness sent her way.
When she meets Zoey's long-term queer platonic partner and horror video game icon Ryu Rumi and their daughter Hana, she thinks she's in over her head - if she can't keep a family of her own, what right does she have to destroy someone else's?
absolutely wonderful AU with one of the best and most realistic portrayals of a polyamorous relationship i've seen in fic. there's a lot of love for the characters here, both the ones from canon and the original characters used to flesh the world out, and it just oozes out in the writing.
extra buoyant corndog by @gohandinhand [T] [Polytrix] [Complete]
Or: Rumi finds out her homeschool curriculum wasn't exactly comprehensive.
look i know the name is weird. don't worry about that bit. this is a very silly and light post-canon fic about how that penthouse is actually impossible to babyproof and also Rumi is a bit of a dumbass
when i say i was laughing out loud i do mean that. but, also, they're so soft and in love even if they show it by teasing (Rumi deserves the teasing)
You know what I fucking eat up every time? The thing where one character is an optimist and the other is a pessimist, and something happens that just, snuffs the hope right out of the optimist, and the pessimist has to desperately try to do what the other has always done for them, cheer them up. I live for that shit omg.
PS: the tumblr post with part 1 has been flagged for being too ✨spicy✨, so idk if you can still see it. if not, you can see part 1 by clicking the associated link. sorry about that 🫶
Rumi wanted to be an astronaut when she was younger; mostly because she wanted to touch the stars. When she told Celine as much, she’d smiled at Rumi and bought her sticky glow-in-the-dark stars to put above her bed.Â
Months later, Celine explained the Honmoon to her; taught Rumi how to see the glittering blue-shine.Â
“Wouldn’t you rather touch these stars?” she’d asked. “See how they shine, just for you?”
The Honmoon is beautiful, Rumi has always thought that, but it’s not the same. When she’d told Celine, she hadn’t smiled as much.Â
When Rumi still wanted to go to space, a year later, Celine bought her her first practice sword. And the sword was fun to learn, Rumi enjoyed the next year greatly, but the more intense training got the more Rumi struggled to find enough time to pursue science as well. When she brought this up with Celine, who seemed greatly uncomfortable with the question, Rumi realized what she had been missing; she was not going to be an astronaut. She never was.Â
After that Rumi buried her interests in martial arts, voice-training, and Honmoon studies. She spent one evening prying off the stars from her ceiling in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because of the mostly-faded glow of them.Â
Rumi didn’t really think about it again until years later.
Zoey loves the ocean. It’s the first thing Rumi learns about her– literally. Zoey shows up to their first meeting with a bright blue bandaid covering most of her knee, decorated with various cartoonish turtles, and when Rumi asks Zoey does not stop talking for possibly a whole hour. She knows about more than just turtles too; Mira tests her one day, just for fun, and Zoey has something to say about almost every creature in the ocean.Â
Rumi is reminded of space again; she thinks a lot about the stars and the sun and the moon and the way the tides of the ocean are pulled. She thinks of being stuck in a planet's orbit and the way the Honmoon leads her to them over and over.Â
One day, when Zoey is suspiciously quiet and sullen, Rumi drags her into her bedroom that evening. While Rumi is rummaging in her closet, looking for something she hasn't used in years, she gets Zoey to confess that she's homesick.Â
“I hope you can feel more at home here,” Rumi says, finally shuffling back into her room and holding a dust-covered machine. Zoey sits up on her bed fully now, clearly more interested in what Rumi is holding than any of her day’s misery.Â
“Watcha got there?” she asks.Â
Rumi, suddenly nervous, turns her back to her and moves to place it down on her dresser. She blows off the worst of the dust– which makes her sneeze –then moves to plug it in. When she turns it on, it makes a quiet constant whirring sound.Â
“I haven’t used this in a long time,” Rumi says, moving back to the lightswitch on her wall. She switches it off.
In the dark of her room, the machine's purpose– a projection –becomes clear; Rumi’s ceiling and walls are lit up in shades of blue weaving in and out of each other. Throughout it all, white spots twinkle in and out in the form of stars. She hears Zoey gasp once, when the light first shuts off, and Rumi breathes a sigh of relief that it worked before going to join her on the bed.Â
“Rumi!” Zoey whispers-shouts. “This is beautiful! I didn’t know you had this.” She falls back onto the pillows, pulls Rumi down beside her. They lie side by side, shoulders pressed together, and watch the cheap imitation of the universe.Â
They lie in silence for a while before Rumi breaks it, keeping the hushed tone Zoey had started. “I’m sure you already know that we know a lot more about space than the ocean. I don’t know much about the ocean, aside from what you have taught us, but I think maybe…if you get deep down enough, maybe they’re not so dissimilar.”Â
“I didn’t know you liked space stuff,” Zoey says. “You never mentioned.”Â
Rumi thinks of the dust covering the projector and admits, “I wanted to be an astronaut.”Â
Zoey seems delighted by this answer; she lightly shoves against Rumi’s shoulder, grinning. “Cute! Why did you change your mind?”Â
Rumi hums softly, barely audible, and stretches a hand lazily above them. She touches the air with intention, stroking the lines of the Honmoon and adding its natural glow to the room; Zoey and Mira are not yet as adept as touching it like this, but Rumi has been for years.Â
“Wasn’t really in the cards for me,” Rumi says, letting her hand fall back between them. Without her energy, the strands fade away again. She doesn’t mean to sound sad when she says it– she’s made peace with this –but something must slip through because Zoey covers Rumi’s hand with her own. When Rumi turns her head to look at her, Zoey squeezes once and looks apologetic.Â
“I’m sorry you don’t get to go to space,” she says, genuine even though Rumi knows that the best day of Zoey’s life was learning about their destiny.Â
Rumi gets lost, for a moment, in just looking at her. From Zoey’s eyes, always a twinkle in them, to her smile, which brightens her day, to the freckles soaring across her cheeks like stars of her own, Rumi thinks she might have her own galaxy right here anyway. She rolls over onto her side to face her fully; Zoey follows suit and keeps a grip on Rumi’s hand all the way.Â
“I don’t mind so much anymore,” Rumi says. “Right here is pretty good.”
