Chapter Text
Nudging Zoey aside, Mira slipped her key in on the first try and gave Zoey what the younger woman had once called her ‘Signature Look of Superiority’, “Rumi, we’re home!”
Zoey stuck her tongue out at the taller woman before adding, “And we brought you food!”
“And clothes!” Mira would be damned before letting Zoey get the upper hand on their effort to woo their third. They hadn’t actually talked yet, it was silly, Mira knew how she felt about Zoey, and Zoey was sending some pretty clear signals.
She had even tried asking the maknae about ‘Later’ only for the rapper to blush furiously and stare longingly towards Rumi’s door. When Zoey shyly turned back, Mira had just met her eyes, smiled, and nodded.
They might not know the self-proclaimed bard well, but she had been effusive in her praise of the strength, skill, and beauty. The older woman had even started crying when Zoey had left the room to fetch a set of pyjamas, proclaiming that she would never recover from the loss. It was clear that the attraction towards her was mutual.
Zoey had even captured her favorite exchange on film, “Go on Rumi, tell Mira what you told me.” Rumi looked at her, sleepy and confused, “What did you think when you first saw her face?”
Rumi’s face broke out into a beaming smile; revealing particularly long and sharp canines and surprisingly sharp premolars as her soft creaky voice replied, “Oh! That I could understand why the Greeks would go to war over Helen if she were only half as fair as our dear valkyrie?”
The video panned over to a shot of Mira’s atomic blush, clearly struck hard by the compliment. Zoey’s voice came through clearly, “That’s the one, look at that blush, thank you lovely!”
“Always, my dearest sunshine~” There was a surprised squeak, presumably from Zoey, before the video abruptly ended.
As Zoey placed the fresh pastries on the counter, Mira went through the bags from the clothing store, mentally checking off items as she went ‘socks, pants, shirts, where did… Ah!’ Finding the bag she was looking for, with fresh underwear and comfortable sweats, Mira strode over to Rumi’s door, and knocked.
Silence.
Giving one more pair of knocks, just in case Rumi was still waking up, Mira opened the door, “Rumi, I’m coming in with…” the bag thumped to the floor, “Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!”
“Mira? You okay?” Zoey started making her way over.
“No!”
“What’s wrong, lovely?” Mira’s blush was sudden as she whipped her head towards Zoey.
Mira was silent for a moment, her train of thought clearly derailed. She blinked once, twice, on the third blink she regained her frustration, “She’s gone! Again!”
“What!?”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
“She drowned!”
“Apparently that barely slows her down!”
“I’ll call Min-ha, you call Celine. We have to find her, if she gets sepsis…”
“I know, I heard the warning from the doctor too. We’ll find her.”
Well, it was official, Rumi was homeless. Mama Su was as good to her as always, she had even offered to put the young singer up on her couch if she couldn’t find anywhere else to go, but Rumi couldn’t do that to the kind old lady. Without a basement to rent out, Su-bin would have a hard enough time making ends meet, and all of Rumi’s busking equipment was no doubt damaged beyond repair.
Su-bin told her all that didn’t matter; that Rumi could pick up a local job, something small to make ends meet, just until she got her feet under her!
Rumi didn’t have the heart to explain that without documents she was unhirable. That even finding this place had been a miracle when it came to renting. That she effectively had no savings, because it was all cash, and until the currently flooded basement actually drained there was no way to access it.
The bard shoved down the thought of swimming for it with a shudder, being in the basement would’ve been hard enough. She couldn’t even call Jinu for help, because her phone was down there too.
And her meds! Her hands shook at the thought, pulse roaring in her ears. She had another couple days before she was due for another shot, but Doc Minny would kill her for trying to use something that submerged in stagnant sewer water for who knows how long.
She would talk to Doc first, ask if there was any backstock. Maybe offer to do some housework or something for it. She wasn’t desperate enough to risk drowning again for a tainted dose.
Not yet, at least.
It took several hours of busking with the bipa, and a police officer chasing her away from subway platforms twice, the entire reason she usually avoided the wealthier side of the city; but Rumi finally had enough cash to pay Doc Minny for a new vial, with hopefully enough left over for some syringes. And maybe a protein bar, if she was lucky.
Stepping out of the alley down the street from Minny’s drug store, the closest safe point for teleportation, anything closer was too exposed, Rumi desperately hoped the older woman was working today. Wednesday was usually a safe bet, but lots of places the singer had passed were still closed thanks to all the flooding.
As she approached the building, she let out a sigh of relief at seeing the cheerfully glowing ‘OPEN’ in a looping font through the window; a gift from one of her wife’s students, Rumi had been told.
The place was quiet, except for the electronic chime when the door opened, and Rumi was the only customer in the entire store. ‘Good,’ she thought, feeling the weight of her bipa tucked under her coat, ‘that should make things easier.’
Starting a soft chord progression with one hand, letting the Weave hold the instrument steady as she played, Rumi approached the counter and allowed the music to augment her otherwise frail voice. The technique had worked surprisingly well on Mama Su, which Rimi still felt slightly guilty about testing on the lovely old lady, so she had no doubt it would work equally well here.
Rumi stepped up to the counter in the back, where the pharmacy proper was located, smiling at the Sunlight Sister’s song loudly playing in the back. It wasn’t the first time the young bard had caught Minny listening to them, and it always made her smile.
They had bonded somewhat over the band, Doc complaining that so many young people had no appreciation for the group that had, in its heyday, proved that women in K-pop could be just as successful as the men.
Rumi had agreed in an instant, there was just something special in those old songs. They set the Weave to bouncing like nothing else she’d ever seen, short of her own songs at least. They had actually been how a confused young woman, still in denial, figured out that magic was possible. Singing along to their music just felt right; for a reason she hadn’t learned until later.
And of course they had talked about their biases, Doc admitting with an embarrassed blush that she used to be more of a Mi-yeoung fan, but that Celine had won her over in the years since the group's tragic end. Rumi, of course, had been obligated to call her a traitor.
After waiting for the song to end, Rumi hit the service bell, continuing to play the quiet chords.
“Coming, coming!” Doc Minny’s voice sounded out from the locked storage room, “What can I do for you to– Rumi?!”
“Hey, Minny.” Rumi let the music carry her whisper and give it depth and tone, “So, funny story, my apartment got flooded. I need another vial.”
“What you need is to get back in bed!” The older woman snapped, “You nearly died three times in the last two days!”
“I heal quick!” Rumi immediately defended herself before pausing, “Wait… How do you even know that!?”
“Keep your voice down young lady!”
Rumi froze.
“We’re not discussing everything here. The pharmacy closes in about an hour. If you come with me after I can promise meds, food, and answers. In that order, even.” Min-ha promised, “And take the money you were going to use for meds to get a phone! Your damned brother has called three times already looking for you!”
Rumi nodded, as much as she teased her elder, Min-ha was well respected as a woman not to cross. Her pharmacy had been robbed once, a targeted attack against an open member of the community.
The three men who did it were found in front of the police precinct the next morning, badly injured, in only their boxers, with a note tattooed on their chests in a sloppy scrawl.
'𝑲𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆.'
The police declined to investigate.
Rumi had only managed to get off the phone call with a worried Jinu in full mother hen mode when it started hurting too much to whisper. Auditory illusions didn’t work so well through a phone, something about the digital signal. Even then he demanded an update at least twice a day, calling it older brother privileges, and not letting her hang up until she agreed.
Thankfully, Minny was waiting patiently with a pack of medicated cough drops. “Pop one in now, and another one when the first one dissolves, then you can start trying to talk again. I saw you fighting that cough on the phone.”
The honey lemon flavor wasn’t her favorite, but the relief came quickly.
Following Doc through the city, Rumi tried once more to figure out how the old pharmacist could possibly be involved. Maybe she was one of their parents? She was about the right age at least.
“I can hear you thinking back there!” The older woman’s voice was slightly mocking but otherwise cheerful, “Stop trying to guess, you’ll get the full story soon enough.”
The subway ride was emptier than usual, which made sense with all the damage from the storm, so they made good time. About half an hour after they left the pharmacy they approached a large house, could this be Minny’s? It was way too big to afford on a pharmacist’s wages, especially in a nicer part of the city like this. And yet, it opened with her key.
Rumi’s curiosity had grown with every step, and if it weren’t for the raised finger that almost booped her nose, she would’ve been demanding answers.
“Wait here, just for a minute.”
Switching her shoes for house slippers Minny stepped into the living area of the house. Rumi looked around for a guest pair, and figured out why she might’ve been asked to wait. Both the guest sets looked to be in use. Instead she listened, a kids movie was playing on a TV somewhere, which matched to the small set of shoes tucked next to her guide’s. The savory tang of kimchi-jjigae filled the air, almost distracting her from the real reason she had agreed to the trip.
There was quiet conversation down the hall; Rumi tried not to listen in too much, but when she heard a distinct smack let her ears sharpen into slight points, “I can’t believe you! Making a guest wait just so you could ambush your poor wife! Slaving over a hot stove!”
The voice was familiar somehow, it must’ve been some time since Rumi had last heard it, but the teasing tone was definitely not one she had heard before. Hearing Doc’s footsteps approaching, Rumi forced her ears back into her normal human shape.
“Here,” the older woman was holding out a pair of lavender colored house slippers, “and you can hand your coat up too.”
Rumi hesitated, and looked to Minny when it came to the suit jacket. “Yeah, better lose that too. Though I am wondering where you managed to find a silk suit that fit so well on short notice. Might need the name of your tailor.”
“Ready?” Her pharmacist barely waited for her nod, “Alright, follow me. Time for you to meet the missus.”
All this just to meet her wife? Rumi was curious about the woman that captured Doc’s heart, but the secrecy seemed a bit much.
Following Minny into the kitchen, Rumi stopped dead. So did the other woman stirring the pot.
The woman behind this meeting beamed at them both, “Rumi, I’d like you to meet my wife, Kang Celine. Celine, meet Rumi.”
“Did Min-ha say why we had to rush?”
“Nope, just that it was urgent, more urgent than anything else.”
“Maybe she found Rumi?”
“I dunno, Zo. Why wouldn’t she just tell us that?”
“Probably to fuck with us, you know how she is.”
“True, but this is important enough that I’d hope she’d have some sense of shame in pulling pranks.”
“You think the woman who once claimed ‘Shame is for people who care what other people think’ would suddenly change her mind?”
“...point.”