Headcanon - Zoey knows a LOT of Celine stories just from being a big fan of the Sunlight Sisters/old interviews. Rumi knows NOTHING because Celine grew a lot more introverted after Mi Yeong died and Third left.
Some stuff is mundane like the three will be trying out a restaurant and Zoey knows Celine went there before because she remembers a picture of the Sunlight Sisters at the place.
Some stuff is interesting like Zoey knows about the time the three got drunk and stole a car and a tiger because she remembers seeing their mugshots a couple times (there are only two or three pictures of their mugshots because the three destroyed the others). (Mira wants them to get matching mugshots but Rumi says no)
And then there are the wild ones like Zoey just casually drops ‘you didn’t know Celine is trans?’ And Rumi just spits out her drinks because no! She did not know that! Celine receives a very confused and kind of insulted call from Rumi that night and even Celine is shocked Rumi didn’t know.
Okay now I'm imagining some dumbfuck transphobes transvestigating Celine bc she's tall and cracking open the calipers to measure the size of her fucking brow ridge and;
Celine who had been struggling with the Gender Thing (tm) since her Sunlight Sisters days and had firmly put the Gender Thing (tm) in the Do Not Open box because there was always something else going on and she really didn't have the time to think about how she wished she was a man and;
Now the Gender Thing (tm) is a thing and PR is bugging her to make a statement about it and;
Almost out of spite, he publishes a statement on his official social media accounts about how he's struggled with his gender for a long time how recent events have forced him to look deeper at himself and how he would like to be seen and he comes out publicly as a trans man and;
Also he turns off his notifications afterwards because he knows it's going to be a shitshow and;
Completely forgets that he told absolutely no one he was making that statement and now no one can contact him and;
Rumi panic teleports Mira and Zoey to the hanok to check on him
Something something trans Mira where she's genderfluid and Not Cis but is soooo in the closet about it for the first at least 20+ years of her life and she aggressively over-corrects and swerves into hyper-femininity and comphet to hide that her gender is Weird and she keeps trying to repress and suppress the intense longing to present Differently and she keeps writing off what is actually gender dysphoria as a personal failing of not having performed femininity good enough.
Mira who full sends into portraying herself as such a high femme girly girl, elegant effortlessly beautiful, being the Visual known for her feminine looks and beautiful face and body. And seeing people praise her and drool over her looks... it feels strange. On one hand she enjoys the praise, but on the other... it feels like they're praising a barbie doll wearing her face, instead of the real her.
Mira where it takes months or years after the events of the movie to slowly unpack the strange tightness in her chest about being known as the Girly One, the Pretty One of the group. Feeling an increasing amount of dread every time her outfit for an event is a dress that accentuates her breasts but being stubborn and not expressing her discomfort about it. It's not like she has big boobs, she's an A cup, but it's the principle of it all. Being the Visual (ie a Pretty Woman) is her Job.
Mira staring at herself in the mirror and feeling like she's looking at a stranger. Not recognizing herself. Dissociating and disconnecting from her body.
It's not that she hates her body or how she looks... she's just tired of the crushing expectation to always Look A Certain Way. She's not just a plastic doll that looks pretty in a display case.
Mira deciding to cut her hair short and feeling such euphoria about it.
Mira after unpacking her own Gender Feelings, clocks that their mentor Celine acts in a similar way. Mira clocking that Celine is performing femininity in a way that screams that she's compensating to hide some possible Gender Fuckery. And Mira conspiring with Zoey and Rumi to get Celine to realize that she doesn't have to perform femininity if it makes her miserable.
That if being a Woman feels like a Job and a Chore and an active Choice she makes, it's possible to choose differently. That she can choose something else for once, for a change, at least to see if she may like trying something new. That she shouldn't be forced to present a certain way.
So is Trans Celine gonna be our insane loving wholesome no new blenders with high settings comfort AU?? HMMMM
Maybe???
Not that we can’t blend trans Celine but it appears that way recently lol
Anyway please come think about AMAB genderfluid Celine getting told that yes, of course she is/can be a girl, she’s a Hunter so clearly, and all Hunters are women, and their struggles to figure out how to be something much more complicated over time
Another spin off AU of the Deadbeat Miyeong AU involving transmasc Celine 😔;
(Aka the hot single dad flowershop au)
Where Celine (who is going by a different name but I'm just too lazy rn to make something up) is a florist and owns a flowershop following taking the fall for the baby scandal for Miyeong.
In the intervening time, Celine transitioned, got tattoos, cut his hair short, and is now raising two girls (11-12ish).
(Rumi found Mira hiding in an alley behind Celine's shop and took her to Celine. Celine hunted down Mira's parents and Mira's parents were like oh you're actually willing to put up with her? Here's money just make sure she isn't causing problems for us.)
Eventually Zoey's mom walks into the shop. She's a divorced single mother who's working long hours and is stressed beyond words.
She and Celine start chatting and she sort of just busts into tears because things have been so hard and wanted to get flowers to brighten up her new, shitty apartment but she doesn't think she can even do that for herself because finances are so tight.
And Celine wraps up a simple bouquet and tells her, "here, on the house."
Zoey's mom protests that she can't take the bouquet, she doesn't want him to feel sorry for her.
And Celine says it's not because he feels sorry for her. He's raising two daughters by himself, he remembers how awful it was when he was a new single father. So he's been there and you know what? Fresh flowers in the kitchen really does help.
So she takes the flowers and tells Celine that once things have calmed down in her life, she's going to buy him a coffee.
And Celine tells her that he's looking forward to it.
Trans!Celine, single dad, flowershop AU (how did it come to this? I ask myself as this side AU spirals further and further from the main AU like a comet being flung into the depth of space.)
Anyways, Zoey's mom!
(Who for our purposes I'm naming Park Kyung-sun)
***
The finalization of her divorce, regaining full custody of her daughter, and their flight back to her homeland should have had Park Kyung-sun crying in relief that her legal battles were finally behind her.
Instead, she was barely holding back her tears as she walked the five blocks from the subway station to her dingy, one bedroom apartment that her daughter -- used to their house in Burbank -- kept caling "fine." Which, in Zoey-speak, meant that she hated it.
Kyung-sun had promised her daughter that they would have a better life in Seoul; that eomma had gotten a good nursing position at a good hospital and wouldn't it be nice to see her cousins more?
But the divorce lawyer had cost two hundred and fifty dollars an hour (charged per six minutes) and the move had taken what little was left. Her savings were gone until her ex-husband sold the house and sent her half the proceeds (whenever that would be -- knowing her ex-husband, she would see her share at the heat death of the universe.)
She couldn't afford to move Zoey to a better apartment, get her into a better school, until she had enough savings and who knew when that would be?
The flower shop, who's wide bay windows always displayed large, meticulously arranged flower bouquets, was one that she passed every day to and from work.
And every day, she held herself back from going inside; knowing that she didn't have the money to waste on flowers.
Just for a second, she tells herself as her feet take her through the front door. So you can calm down before going home to Zoey.
"Be with you in just a minute!" She hears from the back of the shop, behind swinging doors labeled 'employees only.'
She's bending down to trace the soft petals of a peony -- amazed at how healthy the petals looked on a cut flower -- when a man approaches her and asks, "are you looking for anything specific? We also sell potted peonies if you prefer to grow your own flowers."
Quick as a rabbit, her hand falls away from the flower and she stands up.
"No, sorry," she says, feeling heat rush up her neck. "I --."
Her words trail off as her eyes take in the man in front of her.
He was tall with delicate looking tattoos covering his right forearm and disappearing under his rolled-up sleeve. His forearms were well-defined in the ways that told her he was used to working with his hands and the way his black button up tightened against his arms and chest hinted at more muscles than his work clothes showed.
His jawline was sharp, his lips looked beautifully plush, his hair -- which looked like it was starting to gray -- was pulled back into a loose bun.
He stood a respectful distance away, his posture languid in a way that reminded Kyung-sun of a panther.
But he tilts his head with such a boyish charm waiting for her reply that she can't help but stiffle a giggle.
"...I'm just looking," she says, finally.
"Ah of course," he says with a polite bow. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, miss."
"It's not that I don't want to!" She finds herself blurting out. Her cheeks redden at the surprised jump of his eyebrows. "I just -- you have such lovely flowers everyday. And I thought coming in here would cheer me up after..."
The man's eyes soften. "After a difficult day?"
Kyung-sun nods.
Then, to her horror, her eyes tighten and tears begin to spill from them, fast and hot and uncontrollable.
"I'm sorry," she's saying between gasps. "I'm sorry. I'm not -- I'm not usually like this."
"It's alright," the man says.
He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a packet of tissues and offers them to her.
"Tough day, yeah?" He asks as she takes the tissues from his hand.
Hysteria tinges her laugh. "Tough three years. I got divorced and brought my daughter back from America and now all my daughter has is a -- a shitty little apartment and a single mom that works all the time. And she won't tell me but I know she's getting bullied because her mom got divorced and her dad wants nothing to do with us."
And it was humiliating how much she was sharing at this poor man but her mouth keeps moving and words keep falling out.
"-- And the divorce cost so much I can't even afford to put flowers in a plastic vase!"
The man blinks at her.
She blows her nose into a napkin and looks away. Her head feels light; her chest feels like a boulder has rolled atop of her.
"Stay here," the man says before he's hurrying back through the employees only door.
This was her chance to leave, she thinks. Before she humiliated herself even further.
But her feet don't move and before long, the man returns with a ceramic vase with a branch blooming with plum blossoms in his hands.
"On the house," he says, holding the vase out for her to take.
She shakes her head.
"I can't -- you don't need to feel sorry for me."
"It's not because I feel sorry for you," he says. He sighs, a crooked grin pulls his lips up. "I'm a single parent too so...I get it. I've been there. I was in a tiny apartment, I was working all the time to try and have any savings. And sometimes I felt like I was going to be stuck in that apartment forever."
He shrugs.
"But having something pretty to look at helps. And everyone deserves to be able to have flowers." He holds out the vase again.
This time, Kyung-sun takes it and holds it close to her chest.
Okay, here me out, the Duo somehow discover that Rumi is the kid that they abandoned. However, they still have no idea that Seong-Ho was Celine.
So the Duo just thinks that Seong-Ho is the demon that Miyeong slept with.
"I really don't think that's the demon I slept with," Miyeong says, glancing at the owner of the little flower shop they kept finding themselves in. The man kept sending disgruntled looks their way. "I think I would remember if he looked like that."
"How would you even remember how any of them looked? You basically date the same guy every time," Third hisses.
"I do not!"
"Long face, sharp jaw, he's even got that stupid hair swoosh you like so much," Third says, ticking off each trait on her fingers. "He's completely your type and he's got that demon kid with him."
"Maybe the kid made a deal with Gwi-ma, you never know!"
Third rolls her eyes. "Right. Because Gwi-ma is making deals with ten year olds now."
Miyeong shakes her head. She sneaks another glance at the man. He kept looking back at them as if he was hoping they would have disappeared.
"Celine wouldn't have left the child with a demon," Miyeong insists.
"Maybe Celine didn't have a choice," Third says quietly. "Or maybe he kidnapped the child."
The thought of something happening to Celine -- Miyeong refuses to entertain it. They would have felt something. The honmoon would have let them know.
"Well, I'm still not talking to him," Miyeong mutters.
Third sighs deeply.
"You're impossible," she says, putting on her best interview smile before approaching the man.
