and i’m doing my best

multifandom, comics and kpdh heavy | Leila | they/them | ao3: 2ndtolastrow | stop apologizing for talking to me. I want you here | icon by @doodlesofwhimsy

[secondtolastrow]

i love all of your aus so much, but sometimes i have a little trouble keeping them straight (object permanence really is tough). i want to read through all of them from start to finish but i can't figure out where to start. please help!! i know all the posts are tagged but even just a list of all the aus could really help me line them up in my head

Object permanence is also hard for me, anon, so I half expect I’ll be leaving a good few out here bc it’s been a while but:

Mirror mirror au masterpost

Telepathy au (complete)

Time travel au (complete) (bouncy castle au, related branch off thing)

Bio sibling au (branches off of mirror mirror kinda)

Much writing to be found under gumiho Celine au

Spiderline au

Zoemira and third au

Celine: into the celineverse (crossing over with other AUs—usually related to mirror mirror)

Deaged teen Celine au

Little Zoey thoughts

Portals au

Rumi chronic health issues au

No more Honmoon healing au

Small blender au

If you’re on desktop, you’ll probably want to add “/chrono” to the end of most of those urls. If you’re not… good luck?

EDIT:

[sighs] it’s been like a day. New to the list (and I will try to keep updating):

Demon queen Rumi au

Dairy queen au

Evil Miyeong thoughts

Part demon third au

Blood cult au masterpost

Honmoon in your head au

Superpower au

Celine is Rumi’s bio mom au

Celine takes a vacation

[secondtolastrow]

Blood cult au part sixteen (first, most recent, masterpost)

Currently: the gang are hiding out at Miyeong’s apartment, and spent the morning working through some very mundane trauma… only for Minji’s grandmother to give them a reminder that the wraiths are looking for them. At least they got to see the healing spirit first?

“I’m pro-biting, really,” Zoey says cheerfully, and Mira starts choking for air.

Rumi isn’t entirely sure why, given the circumstances, but she persists nonetheless. “It is a useful tactic in battle, and often quite hard to treat—is that still so?”

Minji-nim nods, clinging to the question as the life preserver it was intended to be. “We have a lot of bacteria in our mouths. Part of why this was so stupid of me.”

She stuck out her tongue to show the scab.

Ah—bacteria, the small creatures that plague all sorts of beings. Rumi must stop being surprised by how many ailments they are the cause of.

Rumi allows them a moment to breathe and settle, watching the shift of Miyeong-nim’s hands on Minji-nim’s wrists. They seem calm, now, or at least calm enough to address the matter at hand.

“If the wraiths are continuing to search you out, then we must take an active stance,” she says, as calmly as she can.

Mira makes another face, this one mildly displeased. It is delightful to see how much more freely her face moves now, but… unfortunately distracting. Rumi must seek some sort of self-control.

“You just got shot yesterday,” she grumbles. “Are we actually about to go diving into another fight?”

“I mean, hey, if we go seeking it out, then we’ve got better odds than getting woken up at one a.m., or being drugged first,” Zoey points out, less to argue than to provoke some optimism about their future into the situation.

“Getting drugged first?” Miyeong-nim echoes, confused, even as she pulls Minji-nim down onto the couch with her, preparing for a longer conversation outside the quiet of her bedroom (as she prefers for research).

Zoey wiggles her fingers in a wave as she flops back onto the armchair. “The cult guys hit me with a roofie first. Very unfair of them.”

It is, perhaps, a testament to the situation that Rumi has put them all in that Miyeong merely shrugs her acknowledgment, while Mira perches on the arm of the chair to declare dryly, “Fair play wasn’t really one of their core values.”

“If we’re plotting,” Minji adds, “I guess we should wait for Celine—oh, speak of the devil.”

The front door has opened again, letting Celine in, and leaving Rumi grasping after what the meaning of that idiom could be.

[the-fallen-blue]

Minji has been pre-gaming a little, since Celine made Mira put the evil book away and sent them back out into the living room (Rumi has too, but apparently she just doesn't get super drunk so Zoey's giving her a pass). She also still seems a little thrown from whatever happened this morning (which is maybe why she's pre-gaming, in which case, fair). Zoey is trying to decide how rude it would be to ask if she's fully up to plotting, before they get into it, when the impossible happens—

"We have been taking an active stance," says Celine, calmly but firmly disagreeing with Rumi. "We would only put ourselves in greater danger by moving faster than is wise. We have been training the others to reduce the risk of engagement. We have been gathering information on our enemy, who we had not even located until two days ago, and about whom we are still lacking significant intelligence. We have been recovering from extremely compromising injuries," and she says that with so much annoyance and distaste Zoey has to hold back a giggle.

(Okay, maybe she's also had a beer in the last half hour. Or a little tiny bit more than that. But they cracked open the samosa box for an afternoon snack and Zoey's tolerance for spice is moderate at best, she needed something to cool herself off. It's fine, she could still do the alphabet backwards. She can do that when she's plastered, actually, courtesy of working in a library shelving books for several years, but the point is, it's fine, she didn't actually giggle, she just wanted to. She's totally good.)

"We have been taking action appropriate to our original situation," Rumi says, just as polite, just as firm. "Our situation has changed. The honorable river spirit has restored Mira and yourself to your full capabilities. Zoey and Miyeong-nim have shown consistent accuracy with the shinkal, and Mira has gained access to her family's knowledge of wraiths. Our enemy escalates, and threatens Minji-nim's family. Our response must change as well."

Celine is unmoved. "Minji-ssi's grandmother is safe, and has bought us time," and then Zoey completely zones out the rest, because there's a tapping, on the windowpane, and she pulls herself out of the armchair and beelines to let Suspicion-ssi in.

"You're early for the party," Zoey murmurs, though there isn't really a reason to be quiet; Rumi and Celine fell silent once they saw what she was doing.

The spirit caws and puffs up, I'm doing you a favor, there can't be a party until I'm here, drawing a chuckle out of Celine that she tries unsuccessfully to disguise as a cough.

But she turns grim at Suspicion-ssi's next words, turning back to Rumi with a heavy sigh, and then a wry smile and an apologetic dip of her head and shoulders. "It seems you have the clearer view of the situation, Rumi-nim."

"What did the bird say," says Miyeong, fingers pressing into her temples, a woman who does not want the answer to her question but feels obligated to ask it anyway.

Suspicion-ssi nips lightly at Zoey's ear, and Zoey swallows and translates, "They're making new wraiths."

[secondtolastrow]

Rumi-nim hisses through her teeth, making a face, and Celine finds herself feeling much the same way.

A part of her is still processing the rest of her conversation with Minji-ssi’s grandmother—a formidable woman, even in passing, but certainly one willing to gossip about her granddaughter’s habits once she understood that Celine only wanted to help—in spite of how much the current one demands all of her attention.

Kkachi-ssi continues, and it’s all she can do not to wince.

“And, uh, working their way up, obviously,” Zoey adds. “Big goal is Gwi-Ma. But right now it’s dead guy central.”

“How far along are they?” Mira asks, gaze lidded and calm, but voice tight.

The summoner is an amateur, Kkachi-ssi declares. The wraith has to teach him everything. Unfortunately, the sacrifice won’t need to be big to get results, so it’ll probably be soon once he gets the idea.

“Uh, still on bookwork?” Zoey translates. “But with everything… it’s gonna be easy once they get all the pieces in place.”

“Wraiths can only be summoned at twilight,” Mira points out. “So we’ve got at least a day and a half?”

Kkachi-ssi caws her agreement. You are not skipping my party.

“We would never,” Celine agrees. It would be a great insult to meet the aid and favor of a spirit not just with no returned tribute, but with the promise thereof and then its withdrawal. She would hate to see that beak set to work with any actual malice.

This, perhaps, is too solemn a response for Kkachi-ssi’s taste, as she sends her triplicate side eye Celine’s way.

“Suspicion-ssi reminds us that the party is mandatory,” Zoey explains and, from the looks on Minji-ssi and Rumi-nim’s faces, probably quite necessarily.

“Well, at least there’s that,” Miyeong-ssi says brightly. “How fucked are we in general, though? We brought six to ten down to four to eight, what would this go up to?”

Kkachi-ssi shuffles her feet, feathers rustling. Zoey translates. “Maybe four this first time. They’ve got a lot of power, but not focus.”

[the-fallen-blue]

Unfortunately, before the party can start, Miyeong has to talk to the damn bird again.

She reports, through Zoey— who, based on Celine's varying, not-quite-controlled facial expressions, is working very hard to moderate the magpie's snark— that several of the wraiths frequenting the target building wear the logo of Changwon Commercial Shipping, that they're in and out at roughly eight-hour intervals, and they have at least one car ("Hate that for us," says Mira flatly, with the voice of experience). The magpie remembers the plate, and Miyeong writes it down for further inspection, and gives the most gracious thank-you she can manage; the spirit did find out everything she asked it for, after all.

Zoey's polite "She says you're welcome" would be more convincing if the bird wasn't squinting all six eyes and sniggering when she says it.

And then Zoey and Mira are off to set up the folding table, and Minji and Rumi are putting the food and alcohol out in the kitchen, buffet-style, and it's Thursday, so Miyeong goes out on the balcony to water her plants. Because this is the day she waters her plants. Restraining herself from starting a fight with a bird is not a factor.

Celine follows her out and leans against the railing, amused. "You know she picks on you because you react so strongly."

"Bully logic from the spirit world," Miyeong shoots back.

"Friendly teasing," Celine corrects, but she does sound genuinely sympathetic.

And honestly, Miyeong will take the pity; it's probably better than whatever she'll get if she actually tries to argue with a mudang about a spirit, so she just shakes her head and changes the subject.

"How was the conversation with Minji's gran?"

"…. illuminating," says Celine.

"Yeah?" Miyeong's done watering, so she just leans next to Celine. "What's our concern level, there, generally? Because mine isn't zero."

Celine considers it, the slightest crease in her brow. "… not zero, no. Her grandmother had some insight, but..." She pauses. Still thinking about it, Miyeong thinks. Illuminating, but maybe not immediately obvious what to do with it.

"She'll need you," Celine finally says, one thing at least that she's apparently sure of, "once the wraiths are dealt with and she's able to start contacting her friends."

Start finding out who's left alive, she means.

Miyeong tips her head back and traces a striated line of cirrus clouds across the sky. "You know, some of them are my friends too?"

It feels strange to say, comes out uncertain, but—

"It's not, I haven't thought about it at all, but. Take Donghyun, he's a radiology tech, constantly snacking, has a niece he helps his sister take care of, he's an absolute idiot. If you asked me who I'm close to, his name wouldn't cross my mind— but I've known him for the better part of a decade, met his family, know his coffee order and his go-to cocktail after work. And if he was on shift that day? If I never see him again—"

She'd thought Minji didn't like her. She'd thought Sieun found her vaguely annoying on Minji's behalf. She thought the whole lot of them mostly just tolerated her because she was Yeonggi's girlfriend, and kept inviting her out once he was gone out of, what, inertia? But she was wrong about Minji, probably wrong about all of them, and if she never hears Donghyun try to goad someone into a stupid bet again…

"I'd genuinely miss him. I'd miss all of them, I think. They're good people." She sighs. "Poor Minji."

[secondtolastrow]

“You are allowed to just feel bad for yourself,” Celine points out. She doesn’t give any of the caveats politeness begs that she add—they both know Minji-ssi is suffering, and Miyeong-ssi doesn’t need any paths to minimizing her own pain further.

Miyeong pauses a moment, and then snorts, still studying the sky. “Would you believe that you’re not the first person to tell me that?”

Celine is certainly startled by it, and she afreely admits as much.

“Yeonggi,” Miyeong explains, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “I always thought he didn’t like it when I talked about my exes because he was insecure, but… it might not have all been that.”

A surprisingly clear-eyed view of the man, after Minji-ssi’s assessment that she’d thought him too good for her. Idly, Celine wonders what he was really like.

“Who would you say you’re close to?” she asks, instead, which is a slightly more relevant matter.

Miyeong-ssi does not answer her for a long time.

It’s not the first time that she has had such a response to that kind of question. She’s seen it in almost every way possible, she thinks.

“You?”

Everything stops. Fragments. Reconstitutes itself, fundamentally changed.

Miyeong laughs a little. “Kind of pathetic, but—I don’t know. I’ve been out of practice with talking to people about hard things for a long time now. So… Minji, and you, and the kids.”

“Fear has a tendency to linger in the strangest of places,” Celine replies, almost automatically.

She feels as if someone has changed the oxygen content of the air, or maybe the strength of gravity. Lightheaded. She holds on to the balcony rail tightly, hoping not to fall, though she knows that it’s silly.

You.

“…I guess so,” Miyeong says. “You’ve got a proverb for everything, don’t you?”

“I guess so,” Celine answers.

Miyeong smiles at her, and Celine thinks that she might just be okay with living in this gravity.

[serpentbeardwrites]

Mira decides that the magpie spirit is out to get her specifically. The moment Celine steps out with Miyeong, the spirit alights herself on Zoey’s head. There is a vicious gleam in her six eyes as she looks between Mira and Rumi. The spirit squawks once.

Zoey glances at Rumi, and her face turns a pretty shade of bright red. “I am not translating that.”   The spirit nips her ear.

Zoey wrings her hands, “Suspicion-ssi would like you to shift the table to the left.”

Rumi smiles and bows to the spirit. “Of course, Kkachi-nim.”

Under the magpie spirit’s haughty gaze, Mira and Minji transfer the platters and glasses from the folding table onto Miyeong’s table.

Rumi lifts the folding table and shifts it to the left. The magpie spirit caws indignantly.  “Ah, suspicion-ssi meant the other table.”

Mira bites back a sigh, the bird gives them all the smuggest side-eye as they clear the platters from Miyeong’s table and put them back on the folding table.

With one smooth movement, Rumi lifts Miyeong’s table as easily as Mira would lift a paper cup. She has to fight to keep her jaw closed as Rumi’s shirt does precious little to hide her lithe muscles working underneath.

Minji gives her a knowing look. Mira can’t find it in herself to care, as with grace that would make a ballerina green with envy, Rumi moves the table to the magpie spirit’s desired spot.  “Is this location acceptable, Kkachi-nim?” She asks.

From her perch on Zoey’s head, the magpie spirit radiates judgment. 

Confusion then surprise shoots across Zoey’s face. “But she jus—” 

The bird cuts Zoey off with a nip on the ear.

She sighs and gives way.  “Suspicion-ssi asks that you, uh, put that table down, she meant the other other table” 

Other other table? Mira looks around Miyeong’s apartment. Rumi has moved all the… Her eyes catch on the coffee table.  

“Oh, as you wish,” Rumi says, as she strides over to the coffee table and carefully removes the TV remote.

The coffee table is a squat, heavy thing; it has clearly been well-loved. Rumi lifts it like it’s nothing.

Mira’s throat goes dry.

“Do you need help with that?” Mira asks, mostly for the sake of saying something.  

A playfully affronted look crosses Rumi’s face, “There is no need—” With that dangerous gleam in her eye, Rumi shifts her weight slightly and pulls one hand out from under the coffee table. “—for I am quite comfortable here.”

Mira’s jaw drops, the bird cackles and flits over to perch atop one of the nicer wine glasses. Her three eyes narrow at Mira.

She sees Zoey’s sharp intake of breath out of the corner of her eye. 

“Suspicion-ssi says you may put the coffee table down; she now requests karaoke.” Zoey translates. Minji crows with laughter. She says something about fetching Celine and Miyeong.

Mira doesn’t hear her as she feels the floor drop out from under her.

That fucking bird.

[secondtolastrow]

Rumi has always the only way to survive a playful spirit is to delight in their games yourself, and the honored whispering magpie spirit is certainly in fine form this afternoon. She does not know what ‘karaoke’ is, but she chooses to be excited to learn.

“Any song requests?” Zoey asks, cheeks pinkening.

The honored whispering magpie spirit looks deeply amused.

“Then it is a singing game?” Rumi asks, circling around the couch to return to the area in which they’ve congregated.

“Uh, yeah,” Mira says, looking as if she might prefer to abscond from the feast now and fight a wraith. “We put on a song without the lyrics and then perform it. It’s pretty simple.”

It does, indeed, seem far simpler than Rumi had expected from their reactions. She tilts her head, wondering if there is some trick to the game that she has not understood. “So… how does one lose?”

It is at this moment that Minji-nim, Miyeong-nim, and the honored shaman return from the balcony, shutting the sliding door.

“At karaoke?” Miyeong-nim asks, grinning. “By being a really bad singer, I guess.”

“I… see.” (Rumi does not see.)

“Suspicion-ssi has a request,” Zoey announces, scrolling on her phone with all of the enthusiasm of a condemned prisoner.

The honored shaman’s lips twitch. Whatever this request is, she is certainly as amused as the honored whispering magpie spirit. “Miyeong, do you think that we could connect Zoey’s phone to your television?”

“I know we can connect my laptop,” Miyeong-nim replies, still grinning.

Minji-nim’s eyebrows arch, and she looks between the two of them with some curiosity—perhaps at the new degree of intimacy to their speech?

Either way, Rumi must remain focused on the matter at hand. She leans into Zoey’s space, skimming the lyrics of the song she’s brought up.

It is a rather tender love song, one somewhat reminiscent in style of the song Miyeong-nim had led them in during their skirmish at the hotel. Romances are in fashion these days, from what Rumi has heard, so she does not understand why Zoey looks so embarrassed.

“It’s, uh, a duet,” she says, shoving her phone at Mira. “I know the words already so. Yeah.”

[waterfire1848]

Okay but….what if sentient!honmoon was evil and viewed its hunters less as protectors and more as….servants that existed only to ensure that it was protected?

[fakelawyerbug]

Maybe not evil but just entirely impersonal? Like, the honmoon exists to keep demons out of the human world and the hunters are the means by which it fulfills its purpose.

And it cares for its hunters the same way a mechanic cares for the engine of a beloved car -- the engine itself is beautiful; a belt, worn down and used up, is discarded without a second thought.

There are, after all, an abundance of young, hopeful girls with strong voices and a love for the world and souls that burn like stars. There will always be another willing to dedicate herself to the world until she too is used up.

[waterfire1848]

- @theofficeghey

I never thought of this but the idea of the honmoon constantly stitching Celine back together hunt after hunt is so terrifying. She doesn’t want to do this anymore. She doesn’t want to be a hunter or fight demons or sing or anything but the Honmoon just puts her back together to the point that the next day she feels fine.

It’s only when the girls make a new honmoon that it starts protecting them and helping them after fights while also allowing time to rest. Celine is tired and exhausted and without the original Honmoon she’s in a lot of pain but seeing the girls actually get real care and rest from the new Honmoon is completely worth it.

[the-fallen-blue]

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

Chapter the second: In which Mira's father is an asshole, and Celine has a Moment™ about it.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

so strange when people assume 'waking up early' means increased productivity bc no??? im awake so i can read fanfic in bed before breakdown

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

BREAKFAST

[followthebluebell]

I was worried when he didn't rush out to greet me immediately but it was just because he was cozy.

[strangeduckpaper]

Ever since they’d brought up the concept of children, Rumi had dreamt of weaving.

It was always the same dream. Her and her girls, beneath the Seonangdang, dressed in hanboks, the Honmoon dancing around them as they sung lullabies in three part harmony, threading through her fingers as they fed it into a loom, weaving...something.

What was weirder is that all three of them kept sharing the same dream.

"Maybe we're performing maintenance in our sleep?" Zoey had suggested, "That's what dreams are anyways, loading screens while our brains sort out the day's events,"

"But that's before you add magic into the equation," Mira countered, "Did Celine have anything to say?"

Rumi shook her head, "There are a lot on dreams in the records, even shared ones, but nothing of substance. The shared ones were just a byproduct of the Honmoon connection,"

"But why did we only start dreaming together now?"

Rumi shrugged, helpless.

"Maybe we're overthinking things," Mira sighed, pressing kisses to their foreheads, "This is all Honmoon nonsense and we need to wait for it to make sense,"

---

So the dreams continued, on and off through months, throughout appearances on variety shows where Mira was a standout with children, throughout trips to California where they'd spend time with Zoey's niece and nephew, days spent with children, nights weaving together the Honmoon, mornings spent with songs on her lips and a deep, deep want in her heart.

Then, one night, they finished, and Rumi snapped awake to the fading glow of the Honmoon.

Mira and Zoey roused beside her, looking about as flabbergasted as she felt.

"What-,"

A whine suddenly cut through the room.

An infant's cry.

The three of them scrambled to the edge of the bed, and looked down.

A baby looked up them, swaddled in a patterned cloth the shimmered like the Honmoon.

"WHAT THE-,"

The baby whined, cutting off Zoey's words, and Mira swooped down, collecting the baby into her arms.

"Rumi, Rumi she has patterns,"

She pulled aside the blanket, pointing out dark markings criss-crossing her arm and cheek, like patterns, but softer, rounder, like strings of the Honmoon.

"The dreams," Rumi whispered, "Weaving, oh fuck,"

Zoey let out an insane little giggle, "Oh my god our yearning created a child. Are, are we moms now?"

The words settled over the three of them like a blanket, Mira rocking the child, humming a now familiar lullaby.

"Yes," Rumi declared with an insistence that surprised even her, "Yes, we can be her moms. Wait, it's a girl, right?"

"Yep."

"Okay, okay we can be her moms, but I think we should call Celine first,"

[fakelawyerbug]

//wheeze//

Kind of imagining the call to Celine going like;

"Okay so I need you to be, like, not upset and to keep an open mind okay??"

Which is pretty much the exact thing Rumi shouldn't have said because Celine immediately responds with a stressed, "Rumi, what did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything!? I didn't do anything! I didn't know we were making a baby!"

And there's just this long silence before Celine goes, "Kang Rumi what do you mean you made a baby. Who is this 'we' you speak of?"

[aromantic-diaries]

Hello! Do you want ace representation? (You said aro but same difference, right?) We have

Asexuality 101: They're the token ace in The Sex Show and they say "I've never had sex before and I don't think I want to, am I... broken?" And then they learn about asexuality. Their entire character arc revolves around not having sex in The Sex Show. Completely unrelatable if you're anything other than sex-repulsed and alloromantic.

Asexual Book: it feels like reading a wikipedia article and will stop resonating once you're over the accepting-yourself-stage and start discovering yourself beyond the standard asexual experience.

Token Ace: they're the asexual character in the current big queer cartoon and she has significantly less screentime than the other characters. Confirmed asexual on social media.

Cartoon Animal: the creator didn't wanna think about them having sex because that's a cartoon animal. You'd be surprised how much porn people draw of this character.

The Dark And Mysterious Nerd: don't get your hopes up, he's also a tumblr sexyman and nothing in the source material indicates his asexuality.

Todd Chavez.

Twink Of The Month: he currently has swarms of people going "asexuals can still have sex" but they're not really interested in exploring sexual relationships from an asexual perspective, they just don't want him to be asexual. The other half of the debate is working tirelessly to alienate sex-favorable people from the asexual community.

Ace Coded: they're the most asexual character of all time but it's not stated in the source material or confirmed by the author so you have to write a thesis in hopes that someone might consider that they could be asexual. You might get called homophobic if you do.

Alien Robot: their lack of interest in sex is directly tied to them not being human. The fanbase has a massive collective boner for them though.

Murderer: Yeah... Collective boner also applies here.

Actually Good Representation: she's from a piece of media that has a fandom smaller than the population of a small village and does not suit your taste whatsoever

Your Own Fucking OC: at this point, just do it yourself.

[chemicahs]

Can we please bring back buttons PLEASE can we bring back buttons BUTTONS PLEASE for the love of god BUTTONS THAT YOU PRESS DOWN AND CAN FEEL IT BEING PRESSED buttons please buttons can we bring them back can we PLEASE can we please bring back the buttons

[molabuddy]

really specific trope i like that i feel like can only be explained in a diagram

[secondtolastrow]

Blood cult au part sixteen (first, most recent, masterpost)

Currently: the gang are hiding out at Miyeong’s apartment, and spent the morning working through some very mundane trauma… only for Minji’s grandmother to give them a reminder that the wraiths are looking for them. At least they got to see the healing spirit first?

“I’m pro-biting, really,” Zoey says cheerfully, and Mira starts choking for air.

Rumi isn’t entirely sure why, given the circumstances, but she persists nonetheless. “It is a useful tactic in battle, and often quite hard to treat—is that still so?”

Minji-nim nods, clinging to the question as the life preserver it was intended to be. “We have a lot of bacteria in our mouths. Part of why this was so stupid of me.”

She stuck out her tongue to show the scab.

Ah—bacteria, the small creatures that plague all sorts of beings. Rumi must stop being surprised by how many ailments they are the cause of.

Rumi allows them a moment to breathe and settle, watching the shift of Miyeong-nim’s hands on Minji-nim’s wrists. They seem calm, now, or at least calm enough to address the matter at hand.

“If the wraiths are continuing to search you out, then we must take an active stance,” she says, as calmly as she can.

Mira makes another face, this one mildly displeased. It is delightful to see how much more freely her face moves now, but… unfortunately distracting. Rumi must seek some sort of self-control.

“You just got shot yesterday,” she grumbles. “Are we actually about to go diving into another fight?”

“I mean, hey, if we go seeking it out, then we’ve got better odds than getting woken up at one a.m., or being drugged first,” Zoey points out, less to argue than to provoke some optimism about their future into the situation.

“Getting drugged first?” Miyeong-nim echoes, confused, even as she pulls Minji-nim down onto the couch with her, preparing for a longer conversation outside the quiet of her bedroom (as she prefers for research).

Zoey wiggles her fingers in a wave as she flops back onto the armchair. “The cult guys hit me with a roofie first. Very unfair of them.”

It is, perhaps, a testament to the situation that Rumi has put them all in that Miyeong merely shrugs her acknowledgment, while Mira perches on the arm of the chair to declare dryly, “Fair play wasn’t really one of their core values.”

“If we’re plotting,” Minji adds, “I guess we should wait for Celine—oh, speak of the devil.”

The front door has opened again, letting Celine in, and leaving Rumi grasping after what the meaning of that idiom could be.

[the-fallen-blue]

Minji has been pre-gaming a little, since Celine made Mira put the evil book away and sent them back out into the living room (Rumi has too, but apparently she just doesn't get super drunk so Zoey's giving her a pass). She also still seems a little thrown from whatever happened this morning (which is maybe why she's pre-gaming, in which case, fair). Zoey is trying to decide how rude it would be to ask if she's fully up to plotting, before they get into it, when the impossible happens—

"We have been taking an active stance," says Celine, calmly but firmly disagreeing with Rumi. "We would only put ourselves in greater danger by moving faster than is wise. We have been training the others to reduce the risk of engagement. We have been gathering information on our enemy, who we had not even located until two days ago, and about whom we are still lacking significant intelligence. We have been recovering from extremely compromising injuries," and she says that with so much annoyance and distaste Zoey has to hold back a giggle.

(Okay, maybe she's also had a beer in the last half hour. Or a little tiny bit more than that. But they cracked open the samosa box for an afternoon snack and Zoey's tolerance for spice is moderate at best, she needed something to cool herself off. It's fine, she could still do the alphabet backwards. She can do that when she's plastered, actually, courtesy of working in a library shelving books for several years, but the point is, it's fine, she didn't actually giggle, she just wanted to. She's totally good.)

"We have been taking action appropriate to our original situation," Rumi says, just as polite, just as firm. "Our situation has changed. The honorable river spirit has restored Mira and yourself to your full capabilities. Zoey and Miyeong-nim have shown consistent accuracy with the shinkal, and Mira has gained access to her family's knowledge of wraiths. Our enemy escalates, and threatens Minji-nim's family. Our response must change as well."

Celine is unmoved. "Minji-ssi's grandmother is safe, and has bought us time," and then Zoey completely zones out the rest, because there's a tapping, on the windowpane, and she pulls herself out of the armchair and beelines to let Suspicion-ssi in.

"You're early for the party," Zoey murmurs, though there isn't really a reason to be quiet; Rumi and Celine fell silent once they saw what she was doing.

The spirit caws and puffs up, I'm doing you a favor, there can't be a party until I'm here, drawing a chuckle out of Celine that she tries unsuccessfully to disguise as a cough.

But she turns grim at Suspicion-ssi's next words, turning back to Rumi with a heavy sigh, and then a wry smile and an apologetic dip of her head and shoulders. "It seems you have the clearer view of the situation, Rumi-nim."

"What did the bird say," says Miyeong, fingers pressing into her temples, a woman who does not want the answer to her question but feels obligated to ask it anyway.

Suspicion-ssi nips lightly at Zoey's ear, and Zoey swallows and translates, "They're making new wraiths."

[secondtolastrow]

Rumi-nim hisses through her teeth, making a face, and Celine finds herself feeling much the same way.

A part of her is still processing the rest of her conversation with Minji-ssi’s grandmother—a formidable woman, even in passing, but certainly one willing to gossip about her granddaughter’s habits once she understood that Celine only wanted to help—in spite of how much the current one demands all of her attention.

Kkachi-ssi continues, and it’s all she can do not to wince.

“And, uh, working their way up, obviously,” Zoey adds. “Big goal is Gwi-Ma. But right now it’s dead guy central.”

“How far along are they?” Mira asks, gaze lidded and calm, but voice tight.

The summoner is an amateur, Kkachi-ssi declares. The wraith has to teach him everything. Unfortunately, the sacrifice won’t need to be big to get results, so it’ll probably be soon once he gets the idea.

“Uh, still on bookwork?” Zoey translates. “But with everything… it’s gonna be easy once they get all the pieces in place.”

“Wraiths can only be summoned at twilight,” Mira points out. “So we’ve got at least a day and a half?”

Kkachi-ssi caws her agreement. You are not skipping my party.

“We would never,” Celine agrees. It would be a great insult to meet the aid and favor of a spirit not just with no returned tribute, but with the promise thereof and then its withdrawal. She would hate to see that beak set to work with any actual malice.

This, perhaps, is too solemn a response for Kkachi-ssi’s taste, as she sends her triplicate side eye Celine’s way.

“Suspicion-ssi reminds us that the party is mandatory,” Zoey explains and, from the looks on Minji-ssi and Rumi-nim’s faces, probably quite necessarily.

“Well, at least there’s that,” Miyeong-ssi says brightly. “How fucked are we in general, though? We brought six to ten down to four to eight, what would this go up to?”

Kkachi-ssi shuffles her feet, feathers rustling. Zoey translates. “Maybe four this first time. They’ve got a lot of power, but not focus.”

[the-fallen-blue]

Unfortunately, before the party can start, Miyeong has to talk to the damn bird again.

She reports, through Zoey— who, based on Celine's varying, not-quite-controlled facial expressions, is working very hard to moderate the magpie's snark— that several of the wraiths frequenting the target building wear the logo of Changwon Commercial Shipping, that they're in and out at roughly eight-hour intervals, and they have at least one car ("Hate that for us," says Mira flatly, with the voice of experience). The magpie remembers the plate, and Miyeong writes it down for further inspection, and gives the most gracious thank-you she can manage; the spirit did find out everything she asked it for, after all.

Zoey's polite "She says you're welcome" would be more convincing if the bird wasn't squinting all six eyes and sniggering when she says it.

And then Zoey and Mira are off to set up the folding table, and Minji and Rumi are putting the food and alcohol out in the kitchen, buffet-style, and it's Thursday, so Miyeong goes out on the balcony to water her plants. Because this is the day she waters her plants. Restraining herself from starting a fight with a bird is not a factor.

Celine follows her out and leans against the railing, amused. "You know she picks on you because you react so strongly."

"Bully logic from the spirit world," Miyeong shoots back.

"Friendly teasing," Celine corrects, but she does sound genuinely sympathetic.

And honestly, Miyeong will take the pity; it's probably better than whatever she'll get if she actually tries to argue with a mudang about a spirit, so she just shakes her head and changes the subject.

"How was the conversation with Minji's gran?"

"…. illuminating," says Celine.

"Yeah?" Miyeong's done watering, so she just leans next to Celine. "What's our concern level, there, generally? Because mine isn't zero."

Celine considers it, the slightest crease in her brow. "… not zero, no. Her grandmother had some insight, but..." She pauses. Still thinking about it, Miyeong thinks. Illuminating, but maybe not immediately obvious what to do with it.

"She'll need you," Celine finally says, one thing at least that she's apparently sure of, "once the wraiths are dealt with and she's able to start contacting her friends."

Start finding out who's left alive, she means.

Miyeong tips her head back and traces a striated line of cirrus clouds across the sky. "You know, some of them are my friends too?"

It feels strange to say, comes out uncertain, but—

"It's not, I haven't thought about it at all, but. Take Donghyun, he's a radiology tech, constantly snacking, has a niece he helps his sister take care of, he's an absolute idiot. If you asked me who I'm close to, his name wouldn't cross my mind— but I've known him for the better part of a decade, met his family, know his coffee order and his go-to cocktail after work. And if he was on shift that day? If I never see him again—"

She'd thought Minji didn't like her. She'd thought Sieun found her vaguely annoying on Minji's behalf. She thought the whole lot of them mostly just tolerated her because she was Yeonggi's girlfriend, and kept inviting her out once he was gone out of, what, inertia? But she was wrong about Minji, probably wrong about all of them, and if she never hears Donghyun try to goad someone into a stupid bet again…

"I'd genuinely miss him. I'd miss all of them, I think. They're good people." She sighs. "Poor Minji."

[secondtolastrow]

“You are allowed to just feel bad for yourself,” Celine points out. She doesn’t give any of the caveats politeness begs that she add—they both know Minji-ssi is suffering, and Miyeong-ssi doesn’t need any paths to minimizing her own pain further.

Miyeong pauses a moment, and then snorts, still studying the sky. “Would you believe that you’re not the first person to tell me that?”

Celine is certainly startled by it, and she afreely admits as much.

“Yeonggi,” Miyeong explains, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “I always thought he didn’t like it when I talked about my exes because he was insecure, but… it might not have all been that.”

A surprisingly clear-eyed view of the man, after Minji-ssi’s assessment that she’d thought him too good for her. Idly, Celine wonders what he was really like.

“Who would you say you’re close to?” she asks, instead, which is a slightly more relevant matter.

Miyeong-ssi does not answer her for a long time.

It’s not the first time that she has had such a response to that kind of question. She’s seen it in almost every way possible, she thinks.

“You?”

Everything stops. Fragments. Reconstitutes itself, fundamentally changed.

Miyeong laughs a little. “Kind of pathetic, but—I don’t know. I’ve been out of practice with talking to people about hard things for a long time now. So… Minji, and you, and the kids.”

“Fear has a tendency to linger in the strangest of places,” Celine replies, almost automatically.

She feels as if someone has changed the oxygen content of the air, or maybe the strength of gravity. Lightheaded. She holds on to the balcony rail tightly, hoping not to fall, though she knows that it’s silly.

You.

“…I guess so,” Miyeong says. “You’ve got a proverb for everything, don’t you?”

“I guess so,” Celine answers.

Miyeong smiles at her, and Celine thinks that she might just be okay with living in this gravity.

[victusinveritas]

[danielkanhai]

it would suck being a new immortal. like it’d be 2109 and people would go, “what was it like seeing ancient civilizations rise and fall like that? seeing the pyramids being built? watching the expansion and growth of the new world?” and i’d just be like, “no…no i was born in 1991. so like, wow i’m gonna see some cool stuff, but, i mean i’m not that much older than just a really, really old person, you know? phones were big back then. so big. but only for like ten years, then they got like, as good as they are now. uh. rhinos existed. don’t think i ever saw one in person. cool, good talk.”

[ayellowbirds]

even worse, imagine being an immortal who keeps missing stuff. “What was it like seeing the pyramids being built?” “Fuck if I know, I was in Madagascar.” “Oh, okay. Well, how was the Renaissance?” “I fell down a hole in Scotland and people thought I was an enchanted well for four hundred years, it was over by the time I convinced someone to get me out.”

[erkhyan]

And now, a lesson in biases:

We barely know anything about Madagascar pre-500CE. We don’t even know whether the island had a permanent population before then, despite finding a bunch of much older signs of temporary human presence.

Malagasy mythology makes mention of the vazimba, a “precursor” ethnic group that might or might not be distinct from Madagascar’s current population.

The point is, we do not know.

So you were in Madagascar when the pyramids were being built in Egypt, i.e. during one of the most obscure, most undocumented parts of Madagascar’s human history?

Oh, buddy, you better go and make a bunch of anthropologists and archeologists really happy RIGHT NOW instead of feeling bad about missing everyone else’s pet Major Event.

[ayellowbirds]

It’s been a decade since we left that comment and you have the best reply anyone’s left to it.

[secondtolastrow]

I have a feeling that DB Rumi is gonna give Bobby and the sunlight employees grey hairs due to the fact that she’ll get into it with the press at some point. Also asking questions about main Mi-Yeong when she hates her worlds version is gonna cause a scandal with her answer.

Well, it’s Monday and the performance isn’t until Friday… they’ve got four days to teach Rumi to keep her eye from twitching at being called “Ryu”

[wormnextdoor]

i love queerplatonic relationships where one of them is aroace and the other isn't. i love when the allo character has a crush that fades over time. i love when they don't care what they are to each other as long as they're together. i love when romance is an option that they don't choose. i love when both aros and allos feel fulfilled without romance or sex.

[hexhomos]

canon btw

[kira-kui-n]

"get him pregnant" well thats not my thing but to each their own

"get her pregnant" *takes up my sword and shield* i wont let you do that to her. ......................