It would be some good angst for Huntrix to discover Celine was half demon like Rumi when she gets de aged. If her treatment from her mentors wasnât the best when she grew up then I can see her being terrified of them.
Hi anon!!!
I'd like to believe that Celine's treatment from her mentors was a mix of "you're a demon and you're only alive cause we need you" and "demons are cold, heartless murderers." which together is not great. Celine was dealing with a lot of inner repression and trauma for so many years that she just buried the secret of her being a demon (cause she would be a full demon in this AU) that she kinda forgets it from time to time. @fakelawyerbug and @secondtolastrow were talking about this in their own post (link here) but this does lead to her gumiho side becoming weaker and not growing like it's supposed to.
Anyways, when she meets the girls, I think she'd start off mostly curios. She's JUST been taken so she is certainly traumatized and scared but she also still has some natural child like curiosity and she wants to see if these girls will be just as bad as the mentors are. Zoey is not. Zoey sees Celine, rushes over and picks her up, commenting about how cute she is. Rumi and Mira are where Celine would get scared cause they're angry at Celine for the lying and not telling them she's a gumiho but Celine interprets that as angry at her for being a gumiho so she is terrified of them.
Rumi and Mira who know it's not helpful to yell at a child who's already scared and doesn't recognize where she is. But who are talking very loudly and sometimes gesturing forcefully at Celine.
And Celine who does not like how loud they are and how angry they sound and knows it's about her even if Zoey keeps telling her that they're not mad at her.
Whimper!
âShhh. Shh. Itâs okay, Cece. Itâs okay.â
Celine, barely 5 years old, wraped her fox tail around herself and pined her ears down, âIâm sorry!â
âWhy are you sorry?â Zoey pulled Celine in close, similar to how her mother used to comfort her after she and her father fought. She would also have rocked her but that might have been too much for Celine right now.
âIâm the problem.â Celine whispered, âIâm a bad demon, so theyâre mad.â
âOh! No, no, no, no! Celine, theyâre not mad at you at all. Theyâre just trying to figure some things out about how weâre going to take care of you.â Running a hand through Celineâs hair, Zoey can see tiny nail marks in her fox ears and her stomach drops.
âCause Iâm supposed to be big?â Celine asked. When Celine first shrunk, the result of a very annoying demon attack, the girls felt it was best to explain to her who they were and what was going on, just in simple terms. That way they didnât have to deal with Celine asking for her mom or Miyeong or being scared by 2026 technology.
âExactly. We donât know how to make you big yet and Mira and Rumi are just arguing about that.â It wasnât a total lie. Mira and Rumi had been arguing about that earlier but their argument had shifted from that to âCeline lied to us againâ vs âCeline kept this huge secret and Iâm mad but sheâs also a kidâ, âTheyâre not mad at you, Celine. I promise. I know Mira and Rumi can seem scary but theyâre both huge softies.â
âSeem scary.â Celine buried her face into Zoeyâs neck when she hears them use her name again, âI didnât mean to be bad. My-my tail and ears donât work right. I-I-I can hide them better! Iâll hide them better!â
âShh. Shhhh.â Throwing caution to the wind, Zoey rocked Celine in her arms, quietly singing one of their more calmer songs until the child in her arms stopped shaking, âYou have done nothing wrong, Cece, and you have nothing to apologize for with your tail and ears. Theyâre amazing. Tell you what. Why donât we have dessert in the tv room? We can watch a good movie and make ourselves sick with bungeoppang?â Then after Celine went to bed Zoey could have a long talk with Mira and Rumi about yelling in front of a clearly scared and traumatized child.
ââŠ.Okay.â
âPerfect.â
