she's standing in the kitchen and making a sandwich for herself and then, when they come skulking out of their rooms like once-stray cats, for both of her girlfriends. zoey makes a whole production out of it, twisting her arms around rumi's waist and nuzzling her cheek against her spine, which is sweet but she also finds it fun to put her feet in between rumi's legs to trip her up, purposefully, on the way to the fridge and back and cackles any time rumi stumbles or, worse, freezes because she doesn't want to break zoey's fucking ankles. mira, on the other hand, sits primly at the counter and watches them both, fondness pouring out of her that she'll deny, half-heartedly, when zoey calls her out on it.
rumi makes her sandwiches the way she always does. fluffy white bread, shredded cabbage, a few slices of ham and cheese on top to keep the cabbage from coming off the bread. a smear of sauce on the other piece of bread. she slaps it on top of the sandwich and presses it very flat before cutting them into triangles and sliding them onto a plate each for her girlfriends.
they are staring at her like she's done something weird.
rumi scans the kitchen - maybe she accidentally picked the wrong sauce from the fridge? but everything looks right. and they're still staring at her.
'what? what did i do?'
'nothing!' zoey bounces to her seat, yanks her sandwich forward to cram half of it in her mouth.
mira tugs hers forward too. 'looks good. thanks, rumi.'
'you're welcome?'
she cleans up before she comes to eat with them. she runs through everything - zoey clinging to her back, making the sandwich, handing it over - and can't think of what she did wrong.
//
rumi is standing in the laundry room and despairing over the machine - stupid, new and stupid, new and stupid and with too many dials and she hates it - when her girlfriends slink out of their rooms like once-stray cats. they're trying to be subtle about it but it's hard to do when they literally follow her from the laundry room to the couch and sprawl on the other end as she folds her clean clothes.
'okay, what is going on?' rumi demands, a touch of her leader voice crawling into her tone.
they exchange a quick glance that alone would have made rumi suspicious.
'what? nothing! why would something be going on? with us? what about with you? what's going on with you, pretty girl?' zoey winces. 'that was convincing, right?'
'not really.'
'no.'
'okay! well! thank you for the feedback! i'm going to go - ' zoey hesitates. 'cry about it later.' she exchanges another glance with mira and then they both fix on rumi and smile.
rumi quirks a brow. she returns to her folding, shakes her head. 'you're creeping me out.'
'rude?'
'really rude.'
'insulting your girlfriends!'
'i've never been more wounded. emotionally. spiritually.'
'what about when that demon bird dumped on you?'
mira ignore's zoey's reminder with impeccable grace and slams a pillow into her face. zoey goes with the motion, laughing, and topples off the couch. she claws her way back up only to be hit by a second pillow. rumi tosses mira a third one when she makes a grabby hand motion and laughs quietly.
'we're worried about you,' mira says simply.
rumi sets her shirt down on the pile. she has more new clothes than she ever has before--all at the same time, that is--and she's still not one hundred per cent sure how to feel about it. short sleeves. cropped tops. one sheer number mira declared would be "insanely hot".
'worried? about me? why?'
zoey peeks up from behind the couch. looks suspiciously at mira and the pillow in her hands, then smiles at rumi. 'because a huge secret got revealed without your say so?'
'okay, but...' rumi feels familiar nerves crawl up her throat. her eyes dart down to her hands - arms all exposed - and firmly reminds herself that the girls know. they know about her patterns, about her, and they still want her here. 'we already talked about that?'
'we know. but still. it's going to take some time for everything to settle.'
'okay.' rumi nibbles at her lip. 'is that why you've been staring at me so much? i thought it was about--' she lifts her arms. her girls shake their heads no. 'then...what?'
mira doesn't want to answer her. rumi watches as her face goes very still and blank and she won't meet her eyes. her fingers pluck and pull at the corner of the pillow, which she holds in her lap, equal parts for comfort and protection. rumi's stomach swoops. she looks to zoey next, who has half crawled back onto the couch, and zoey isn't much better. her eyes are huge and bouncing around rumi--face, hands, arms, knees, hands, face--like she wants to memorise her. or, rumi thinks, like she's looking for something.
'i'm still me,' rumi offers softly.
zoey winces, caught. 'we know that.'
'do you? i'm still -- nothing else was a lie. i know it was a big one but i - i still cut my sandwiches into triangles and i still prefer our old brand of laundry liquid and i still want to want turtle documentaries with you. i'm still - i swear,' rumi tells them, close to tears, 'i'm still me. you still know me. i know that i was - was hiding, a little--'
'a lot.'
'--a lot,' she corrects, 'but it wasn't because -- it was just because i never wanted you to know. that. about me. but i always wanted - ' rumi falters. how is she supposed to explain? how can she make it make sense to them? 'i wanted you to love me,' she whispers. 'i never wanted you to see them. but the rest - all the rest - it's still me.'
you want kara to be older than kal so she can be his failed teen mom.
i want kara to be older because she's the firstborn of one of krypton's most powerful families, and that means she was always destined to have too much on her shoulders, even before krypton exploded.
“Hey Trinity! I’m not sure if you saved my number, but this is Mel from work. I had a lot of fun the other night at karaoke, thank you so much for inviting me! I was wondering if you would like to hang out again sometime? I think you and I both have the next few days off, and my sister Becca is spending the weekend with her boyfriend. No worries if you’re busy! I know this is pretty sudden haha. Just let me know, and have a good weekend 😊”
“@ drag brunch pull thru” *Trinity Santos shared her location*
"Have you not been held like this before?"
...
...
...
"Does she not hold you?"
the vision for the first meeting of mira and werewolf rumi muri were beamed into my brain from the moment @kayr0ss showed me the early outline for the chapter. so I immediately drew this, showed kay, and then she turned around and wrote so much tenderness and vulnerability into the scene inspired by these three simple panels :')))
