Chapter Text
Pace yourself
You've got a long way to go before you get to lie down
Rumi was overworking herself, though it took her the gift of hindsight to realize it. She always said that she would rest once the Honmoon had turned gold, and was sealed for good, even though she knew from the beginning how long it would take.
You're stuffing coins in your mouth
Hoping happiness will fall out
Despite the fact that Rumi was living the dream, being a super-famous K-pop idol with more money than she could ever need, she never really felt happy. She wouldn’t fully let herself relax around anyone, which left her feeling isolated and lonely. Rumi was close with Zoey and Mira, but she was still fairly guarded, and their relationship was often more work-focused than anything else.
I've been blind to the shortcuts
Stuck on the tracks, losing my way home
It had never once occurred to Rumi that it didn’t have to be like this; she could take time to relax and have fun, while also making sure no one found out she was half-demon and keeping the Honmoon intact. If only she had listened to the two people constantly telling her that.
Keep looking for the end of the tunnel
Never seems to get any closer
She had in fact gotten so focused on keeping the demons at bay and turning the Honmoon gold that if their progress wasn’t linear, or they didn’t improve on anything for a little, it felt like all their work was actively unravelling. Zoey said that it was a silly way to think, and Rumi needed to take a break. Mira said that Rumi needed therapy. She ignored both of them.
Who's gonna keep the lights on?
Who's gonna make it rain?
Zoey and Mira didn’t take their job nearly as seriously as Rumi did, so surely that meant that everything was resting on her. She had to be the one who did most of the work, for fear of it not being done good enough. It was like Celine taught her, “If you want it done right, you should just do it yourself.”
So Rumi worked as much as she could, and barely ever asked for help with it. That wasn’t a great way to go about doing her two jobs that both required multiple people, but I digress.
Calling out to an echo and
Just hoping for a different refrain
Eventually, Zoey and Mira found out what Rumi was. She had hoped it would be different from what Celine had told her would happen and what she convinced herself, but it was exactly the same. They drew their weapons on her, and everything Rumi said seemed to make it worse. And while they did sing together and restore the Honmoon, Rumi knew it was only for the good of the people. Zoey and Mira could go back to hating her now, as they should.
Like a mad dog after a rabbit
I keep run-running, running, running
After the defeat of Gwi-Ma, Rumi was restless. She knew it was only a matter of time before her friends kicked her out of the house, or told her how much they hated her, or did what both they and Celine couldn’t do that night. Rumi had enough of the fear and uncertainty, so she ran. She bought a little apartment, still in Seoul, and left her friends in the middle of the night. She left a little note, but all it said was: I moved away. -Rumi
I don't feel like it gets me anywhere, anywhere
Rumi wasn’t sure what she wanted to do now that she had moved out, she only knew that she wanted to run away. She felt trapped in the penthouse, like an animal stuck in an enclosure far too small.
You know the kickback is automatic
It keeps com-coming, coming, coming
Knocking me down to the bottom and keeping me there
Safe to say, running away didn’t have nearly as much of a positive effect as Rumi had hoped.