Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zoey was trying her best not to wake up. Sunlight was streaming into the room, someone’s knee was pressing into her overly full bladder, and she could hear tightly suppressed giggles from someone else scrolling through the endless social media feeds that were a collective addiction to all of them. But Zoey wanted nothing more than to sleep until noon. Or better yet, tomorrow. Who knew having two wonderful, pretty, amazing girlfriends could be so much work? It was the phone ringing that finally ended her dreams of more sleep.

“Hey girls!” came Bobby’s voice on speaker, which meant Rumi was the one who had been awake.

“Hi Bobbyyyyyy!!!!” the three of them chorused in various forms of wakefulness. Zoey wasn’t entirely sure if Mira’s attempt was actually understandable.

“I know it’s early, and I apologize for that, but I know the three of you are disconnecting today and I wanted to touch base before you did, see if you needed anything. Snacks, water, a ride, water, anything at all!” Bobby was an absolute gem of a human being, but Mira was already starting to softly snore into Zoey’s neck, and Zoey was still trying to remember whose bed they were actually sleeping in this time, so Rumi took over the conversation.

“Thank you, Bobby. A ride would be lovely, say in an hour and a half? And I’ll make sure these two are properly hydrated. The snack cabinet isn’t as full as it was last night, but I think it could just do with a small top-off. I’m pretty sure Zoey inhaled all of the Turtle chips.”

Zoey grunted at that. She hadn’t inhaled them; she had eaten them with dignity and poise. All of them. Then Mira shifted a bit and reminded Zoey that she really needed to pee, so defending her honor would have to wait. Untangling herself was a bit of a struggle, and she finally noticed that they were in Mira’s room. Snagging the first shirt she came across, she attempted to drag it on while slipping into the bathroom. When she came back out, significantly more awake and ready to point out just how ladylike she had been with the chips, she ended up being distracted by Mira’s exposed legs. Then Rumi said her name. Again, apparently.

“Sorry, Bobby,” Rumi said while grinning at Zoey. “I don’t think Zoey has remembered human speech yet this morning.” Zoey pouted at her and tried to regain some dignity.

“I’m so sorry, Bobby!” she said to their manager. “I’m just having a slow start this morning, but I’ll kick it into gear for you! What did you need from me?”

Zoey swore she could hear him grinning. “Oh, it’s not a problem at all, Zoey! I just wanted to remind you that it’s coming up on time for your annual aquarium donation drive, and I wanted to see if you had any thoughts on what you wanted to do.” Zoey faltered. Between the new Honmoon, Rumi and Mira finally admitting what Zoey had known since they met, and Bobby starting their own label, Zoey hadn’t had the time to breathe, let alone think. Bobby took her silence as an answer and gave her an out. “But I also figured that all three of you have been working so exceptionally hard recently and that today is really your first day off in months. So, being the awesome manager that I am, I’ve put together a short list of ideas for you to review and think over. Not trying to push you in any direction, I just know this is important for you and I wanted to make sure it didn’t slip through the cracks.”

Zoey sighed loudly while Rumi started to play with her hair. It really wasn’t fair of her to do that while she was trying to keep a conversation going with Bobby. “Bobby, I love you. You’re right, this is important to me and I haven’t had the time, so thank you. Send me your list and I’ll look it over.” A small tug on her hair and Rumi just stared at her, eyebrow raised. “After our spa day. Rumi is giving me the look.”

Bobby laughed at that, promised that he wouldn’t send them till this evening, and then he and Rumi covered a few other points—photo ops, how the recordings had been going, deals and wheels and everything that Celine used to be in charge of. Zoey just stared at Rumi, who seemed so much in her element, confident and commanding. And soooooo incredibly sexy. Zoey decided that Mira was missing out on the view and kissed her awake.

Rumi and Bobby eventually ran through everything while Zoey convinced a grumbling Mira into the shower with her, and by the time they had emerged Rumi was about to head in.

“Alright,” Rumi said, “I’m gonna shower real quick, and when I come out I want phones off! Bobby has assured me that nothing needs our attention the rest of the day and we need this spa day. So you’ve got until I finish washing my hair to doomscroll.”

Zoey and Mira dived for their phones.

———

The three of them settled into the baths with a long drawn-out sigh, the hot water already beginning to turn them all into putty. Mira already knew that nothing could ruin this for her, not even Zoey already trying to play footsie with her.

“Zoey,” she growled out, “if you don’t let me enjoy this bath in peace I’m going to tie you to the ceiling.” Zoey didn’t even open her eyes to respond.

“I’m not doing anything,” she murmured, “but if you want to tie me up I’m not going to stop you. I’d prefer it not to be here though.”

Mira opened one eye a sliver and looked at her rapidly melting girlfriend. She then glanced at Rumi, who was failing to hide a small smirk as her foot continued to slide up and down Mira’s legs. “I was wrong, Zoey. As an apology, you can help me tie up Rumi.” Mira deadpanned, relaxing back into the hot water while Rumi tried not to giggle.

“I have handcuffs too, you know,” Zoey muttered, and Mira couldn’t help but grin at the now perfectly still Rumi, who just maybe might have been starting to look worried and quickly shifted the conversation.

“Tell us about the aquarium thing, Zoey,” she said, and Zoey instantly perked up and started rapidly telling them about all of the previous fundraisers she’d done. Mira half listened. She and Rumi already knew about Zoey’s side project with the aquarium, but she was just so freaking cute when she gushed like this, and Mira opted for a little revenge against Rumi by sliding her own foot up Rumi’s inner thigh.

“.....and of course we raised enough money for a new exhibit like I said we would, but Bobby told me no more fundraisers out in public because getting security for it is just difficult when we don’t control the venue and Rumi you are super pretty blushing like that. I hope whatever Mira is doing to you feels good.”

Mira barked a laugh as Rumi suddenly went crimson and tried to hide in the water, while Zoey tried to pull both of them into her lap.
Some time later, and feeling far more relaxed than they really had any right to at this point, Mira decided to revisit the topic.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do this year for the aquarium, Zoey?”

“Nooooo,” Zoey pouted. “It’s like Bobby said, we’ve been running a zillion miles an hour and there just hasn’t been time, and Bobby is going to send me a list of ideas tonight, so I’m procrastinating a bit.”

Mira tried to stay silent, she really tried to stop herself from saying the words, because she knew it would be exhausting, but in the end her own heart couldn’t stop her, and she knew that she could deny Zoey nothing.

“Would you raise more money if Rumi and I did….. whatever it is you come up with?”

Zoey’s eyes lit up brighter than the Honmoon and Rumi’s patterns flashed through several colors.

“Really?!?” Zoey squeaked. “Like for real?!? You’d do that for me?!?”

Mira groaned and sank into the water. “Me and my big mouth,” she muttered, but she knew that she was going to do anything Zoey asked of her. Or Rumi, for that matter. Being in love with those two was decidedly inconvenient sometimes. Rumi was already steering Zoey into less…. chaotic directions.

“Of course we will, Zoey, you know we’ll do anything for you, but some idea of what torture we can subject Mira to would be helpful.”

Did Mira really think Rumi would try to curb Zoey’s chaos? She splashed water at both of them. “No eating challenges, something…. well, I think Zoey might be allergic to normal, but nothing too extreme, please,” Mira managed to grumble out.

Zoey was suddenly kissing her fiercely, and any thoughts Mira had decided to go on vacation.

———

Bobby wouldn’t describe himself as a workaholic; it’s just that his work is never done. Sure, he could take a vacation, fly out to Hawai’i for a week in the sun, but if he did that, who would take care of his girls? And they were his—he loved them so very much and really just wanted everything to be perfect for them. But still, he had nothing to do today, and it felt…… weird.

His apartment wasn’t anything special—he couldn’t see the point considering how little time he spent there—but it was still home and he was glad that he had it. He checked all of his messages really quickly, seeing that Zoey had convinced Mira and Rumi to do the fundraiser with her, and muted his phones. Well, most of his phones. Not the one that only Rumi, Mira, and Zoey knew the number for—that was the emergency phone—but the others? Those went on silent and were placed on the kitchen counter. Ji-An had proven to be an amazing assistant at Golden Records, and for the first time Bobby felt no guilt about leaving such a major task to someone else. Not his girls though, never his girls.

He stretched big, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and headed to his poor abandoned computer. Maybe a few rounds of a game, relive a bit of his college days? He turned on the machine, popped open a bag of chips, and waited for everything to fully load in. He was just about to log into one of his old guilty pleasures when a message popped up.

TheBlueDevil: BOBBY!!!! I SEE YOU ONLINE!!!! DON’T YOU IGNORE ME!!!!!

Bobby grinned wide—his night had just gotten a lot more entertaining.

PureGoldAndEffort: Luka! My man! I’ve got the rare night off, join me in some action?

It was less than a second from when Bobby hit send until a video prompt appeared. Bobby quickly accepted, and soon enough one of his oldest friends was grinning madly at him.

“Jesus, Bobby, you are literally the most difficult person to get a hold of. I bet I’d have an easier time trying to get in touch with a rock star than you.” Luka was quick to poke fun, but he had always been supportive—and honestly, the only reason Bobby had passed that nightmare of an English class. Luka kept right on talking though. “You still with that entertainment company? ’Cause I gotta say, they are running you ragged. Forty-seven days since the last time you logged on. Forty. Seven! Never mind how difficult time zones make things! That’s just unacceptable! Fill me in! What have you been doing for a month and a half?”

Bobby was laughing. “Luka! Man, slow down! Alright, alright, let’s see. Yes and no on the company question. I’m no longer with my old company—I’m striking out on my own and forming my own thing. It’s still fresh, but I’m working hard to make it good.”

Luka laughed. “I bet! But that’s amazing though, congrats on making the leap. If I can do anything to help—long shot that that is—you know you just have to say the word. Any of your talents jump with you? I remember you saying you had three you were really proud of.”

Bobby grinned even wider. “All three jumped with me, and man do I love them for it. I’ll be honest, this wouldn’t be possible without them.”

The two of them chatted for hours, Luka talking about how he had some time off coming up due to a project completing and wanting to use all that saved-up vacation time, while Bobby talked about the girls and how hard they’d been working, but how they were taking a couple weeks off after a really grueling schedule. He didn’t go into specifics, and Luka didn’t want them. It was one of the things Bobby really liked about his friend—he knew when to ask for info and when to let things be. Bobby actually wasn’t sure if Luka knew exactly who Bobby was a manager for, but to Luka it wasn’t important. It was just a job that Luka knew Bobby loved.

“Oh yeah,” Luka said, taking a pull from his drink. “I’ve got a D&D table with an open spot, and before you say a word about your schedule, it’s all text-based and online. I know even you get the occasional minute. In fact, I’m running for some friends because they have schedules like you do. No pressure, but you’re joining if I have to fly to Korea and make you.” Luka grinned wide into the camera.

Bobby grinned back at him. “Man, I’d love to, but there’s not a chance in hell that I could. I don’t have the spare bandwidth and the girls are…….” Bobby went quiet, thinking hard.

“Yo Bobby, did you lag?” Luka started checking his connection.

“Hey Luka?” Bobby said.

Luka looked back at the camera. “Oh, you are there. Something distract you?”

Bobby grinned at his friend. “You could say that. Say, how would you feel about coming to Korea for a small project? Charity stuff, shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks. I’ll fly you out here and put you up the whole time.”

Luka settled back and frowned at his keyboard slightly, thinking hard. “I’m not opposed, I guess—it’s been years since I was last there, and that was business. Would this be helpful for your new gig?”

Bobby was grinning widely now. “Oh, you have no idea.”

———

Rumi sat on the giant couch, Mira using her lap as a pillow while one leg dangled off the back and Zoey paced back and forth, spilling out words rapid fire.

“I mean, it’s just so much fun!” she exclaimed. “You can do whatever you want, be whatever you want! I mean, yeah, there are a lot of rules, but you really only have to worry about your character, and of course I’ll help you! Also, you did say that you wanted to help, and this is a great way that doesn’t involve being out in public or anything like that!”

“Zoey,” Rumi interrupted. “I love how excited you are about this, and yes, we said we would help. But it's been 20 minutes since I last understood what exactly you were talking about. This is a thing for your aquarium, right?”

Zoey stopped and blushed a bit. “Mira, you understand, right?” she asked, a faint note of hope in her voice. Mira grunted in response.

“I’m going to be real with you, Zo, you said a lot of words I understand, but I have no idea how they’re supposed to work together.” Mira grinned at the other woman. “Might have something to do with how you didn’t stay on a single topic for longer than half a sentence.”

Zoey started pouting, and Rumi tried her best to smother a grin. She held out her arms, inviting the tiny hunter to the cuddle party on the couch. “How about you start from the beginning, slow down a bit, and let Mira and I ask the occasional question?” Zoey pouted some more but lost no time snuggling into Rumi, giving Mira a quick kiss, and settling in for a better explanation.
“Right, I guess let’s start with the basics. Do you know a game called Dungeons and Dragons?” she asked.

“I’ve heard of it,” Mira said slowly. “It’s a really nerdy game, right? All make-believe, swords and magic, elves and dwarves type stuff.” Zoey nodded.

“Yeah, though the nerdy title is only kinda deserved, a lot of people play.” She shrugged past it. “I mean, I used to play, and you wouldn’t call me a nerd, would you?”

Rumi poked her in the side. “How many different types of turtles are there in Korea?” Zoey didn’t even pause to think.

“Seven, unless you think sea turtles don’t count, in which case you would be wrong and I’d have to withhold kisses from you for at least an hour,” she said proudly, and then, noticing the wide grins on Rumi and Mira’s faces, blushed furiously. “Anyways! That has nothing to do with D&D!”

“What’s D&D, nerd?” Mira asked.

Zoey threw a pillow at her while she answered. “It stands for Dungeons and Dragons, and it’s the game we’ll be playing together. Bobby thought it was a great idea, and I agree with him. We can do it here in the penthouse, record it, and release it as videos! Add some cute pictures of the sea turtles and a donation link, and we can raise all sorts of money!”

Rumi started looking things up on her phone, now that she understood enough of what Zoey was saying to know what to look up. Apparently Mira was doing the same, because she started asking another question.

“What’s a Dungeon Master? That’s not like… a sex thing, right?” Rumi blushed at that, and Zoey started laughing.

“No!!!” Zoey continued giggling. “Nothing like that! That’s what they call the person that runs the game. They’re kinda like an umpire and storyteller rolled into one. They’ll tell us what is going on in the game so that we can react to it, and they keep track of all the rules. They also control all the bad guys, but they’re not trying to win really, they’re trying to tell a story, but we play the main characters.”

“So,” Rumi started asking. “Will Bobby be the… Dungeon Master?” Rumi thought that Bobby would be great at it; he was fantastic at organizing things and keeping track of everything.

Zoey hesitated. “He probably would if we insisted, but he said he has a friend who would be a better choice. Actually, he was really pushing for his friend to run the game. You know Bobby, he never really pushes any idea, just makes suggestions and does whatever we choose. I told him we’d talk about it, because it would mean someone new in our space, if only for the game.”

Mira grimaced, and Rumi frowned in thought. The penthouse was their sanctuary, and they allowed very few people access to it. Zoey was probably right in that Bobby would back down if they asked, but if he really wanted this to happen despite knowing how they would feel about it…

“What’s so great about this friend?” Rumi asked. “And how does Bobby know them?”

Zoey gave a small shrug before answering. “Bobby said that they went to college together and that ‘Luka is the best storyteller I have ever met.’ He didn’t even relent when I asked if he was better at telling stories than me!” Zoey pouted at that. She did love telling stories.

“If Bobby really thinks this is best,” Rumi said slowly. “He has never failed us, and we haven’t made that an easy task for him.”

“But!” Mira cut in. “I'm not down to let a stranger into the dorm unsupervised. Bobby might trust this guy, but I don't. So long as he agrees to be there and keep an eye on his friend... Fine. I guess.

“So… you’ll play with me?” Zoey asked, beginning to sparkle in excitement. Rumi blushed at the double meaning while Mira laughed and pulled Zoey in for another kiss.

“Whenever you want me to, Zo,” Mira said. “Whenever either of you want.”

———

Incheon International Airport was a massive affair. Crowded without feeling claustrophobic, Luka nonetheless was reminded just how much he hated crowds. Still, he worked his way through customs, grabbed his luggage, and was just about to start looking for a cab when he noticed a young lady holding a sign with his name on it.

“Uh, hello?” he said while giving a small bow. Despite having been to Korea before, Luka had never been able to adjust to the bows and honorifics. The young woman gave a slight bow in return, then offered her hand.

“Welcome to Seoul, Mr. Black. I am Yoon Ji-An, and I am Bobby’s assistant. If you would follow me, I have a car prepared.”

Luka grinned at her and shook her hand. “None of that ‘Mr. Black’ stuff, just Luka is fine. If you’re Bobby’s assistant, then you know how informal he can be, and I take pride in knowing how much of that is my fault. Don’t call me Mr. Black for the entire drive, and I’ll tell you some Bobby stories from college. Deal?”

Ji-An gave a small smile. “A worthy prize. Very well, you may call me Ji-An. Bobby didn’t want you to have to deal with a hotel while you are in town, so he has taken the liberty of putting you into one of the apartments that Golden Records maintains for VIP visitors. Have you been to Korea before?”

Luka followed as she started walking toward a waiting bank of cars. “A while ago, when I was in the US military, but that was much further south and this is really my first time in Seoul. I do remember a lot of really great food though, so I’m looking forward to that.”

“Well,” Ji-An continued, “if you are feeling hungry after your flight, we could make a stop on the way to the apartment. Do you have any preferences?”

As tempting as a bed was after an almost 12-hour flight, Luka was pretty hungry. “Korean Air is a lot easier to fly on than any of the American airlines, but I still feel like a Pringle being pulled from the tube and can’t really string together coherent thoughts. Just something simple for now—I can already hear that bed calling to me.”

Ji-An held the door open for him and climbed in after, before saying something to the driver. Turning back to Luka, she said, “Well, let’s see about some food and getting you settled in. But while we drive, you mentioned some stories about Bobby in college?”

Luka just started to laugh.

———

Bobby had decided that he hated this desk. It was large, expensive, and felt like a trap. He honestly had a difficult time remembering how to do things not on his phone, or with a tablet if he really needed the extra screen space, but as the CEO of Golden Records he had so much more paperwork to deal with than he ever had to as just Huntr/x’s manager. Still, he would need a different desk. He sighed in relief when his cell phone started ringing, welcoming the distraction.

“Ji-An, how did it go?” Bobby had felt uneasy about sending his assistant to do what was glorified grunt work, but she had surprised him by actually looking forward to it. Still, she was his main assistant; he should probably look into hiring someone to take care of these types of tasks.

“Luka is an interesting gentleman, and you’re right, he’s very good at telling stories. By the time I left the apartment he was already asleep on the couch—he didn’t even make it to the bedroom. I left a note with the company phone you provided, so he should message after his nap.” Her tone changed, becoming… teasing? “So. Wisest Wizard, hm?” Bobby groaned.

“Ji-An, please don’t repeat that story. To anyone. Ever. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you forgot it altogether.” Laughter answered him. Somehow, Bobby had managed to forget that Luka was a master storyteller, who happened to know almost every embarrassing story that Bobby was the star of. He also didn’t tell those stories for free. “Wait, what did you agree to for him to tell that story?”

“He said this one was a sample, but I had to agree to not call him Mr. Black while he was here.” Ji-An still had amusement in her voice. “That said, I would love to pick up any more of your friends from the airport. You can count on me, Bobby.” Bobby sighed and made a mental note to hire a runner tomorrow.

———

Luka woke to a phone ringing. Bleary-eyed and confused, he tried to take stock of the unfamiliar room he was in while reaching for the phone on the table in front of him. He still hadn’t managed to connect all the pieces when he answered.

“Hello?” He winced slightly at the sound of his voice. He sounded like he had been eating sand.

“Luka, I love you, but I want you awake for what I’m about to tell you,” came Bobby’s voice on the other end. Oh. Right. Luka was in Korea. He shook his head to try and clear the jet lag.

“Right,” he muttered into the phone. “Wait one.” He sat up, placing the phone on speaker and setting it back on the table before lightly smacking himself into wakefulness. The sharp impacts cleared his mind enough to remember getting into the apartment yesterday, crashing onto the couch, and letting the void take him. Groaning, he stretched aching muscles and did his best to bring his brain up to speed. “Good as you’re getting for now, Bobby. I need a serious dose of caffeine for anything better.”

“I’m on my way over, so that can be arranged. I wanted you to meet the players tonight, get to know them a bit—think of it as a session -1 instead of a session 0,” Bobby said, and Luka woke up a bit more.

“That’s not a bad idea. I’m sure they’d appreciate me not being a faceless name too,” Luka responded, trying to hold back a yawn. “I got time for a shower first? I probably still smell like traveling.”

“You do,” Bobby said, “but new ground rule—no more Bobby stories, please?”

Luka blinked at that. “I told a Bobby story?” he asked, while at the same time remembering the car ride to the apartment with Ji-An. Oops. “Fuck, I did, didn’t I. Sorry, Bobby. It was the Wizard one, which is at least tame. No promises that I won’t tell more, but I’ll at least make sure you’re around if I do. Deal?”

“I will tell your stories, Luka,” Bobby tried to threaten, and Luka just grinned. Bobby must have realized that his threat wasn’t very threatening and gave up. “I’ll be there in about 30 minutes. Can you remember how to be human that quickly?”

“Sure thing, Bobby,” Luka said, standing up finally. “Bring me that caffeine you promised and I’ll even be pleasant.”

———

Mira wasn’t stressed. She knew what stress was. If beating the hell out of a punching bag looked like stress to her girlfriends, that was their problem—but Mira knew she wasn’t stressed. Just because Bobby was about to bring some stranger into their home, who would probably stare at Rumi, make a pass at Zoey, or—nope! Not stressed at all.

“How bruised do you think I’d get if I tried to interrupt her?” Zoey muttered from the corner.

“I’ll rub a salve on them if you’re brave enough to find out,” Rumi murmured back.

“I can hear you!” Mira snapped, and redoubled her attack on the bag.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Zoey walked over anyway and wrapped her arms around Mira from behind, pulling her slightly off the bag.

“Mira,” Zoey said into her back, “meeting him in the gym is a good compromise. This is still our space, yes, but it’s not our sanctuary. We control the ground here. He’s Bobby’s friend, and you know Bobby wouldn’t bring anyone near us he wasn’t a hundred percent on. Besides—if he does turn out to be a demon in disguise, we’ll just turn him to ash and tell Bobby the full story.”

“And if he’s just a human creep?” Mira grumbled.

“Then we’ll kick his ass the normal way, Bobby will boot him, and we’ll figure something else out.” Zoey said firmly, as Rumi slipped into the hug.

“And if you meet him and despise him,” Rumi added, “then we thank him for his time and move on. Zoey will pout a little—” she ignored the indignant squawk—“but we won’t force you into anything you hate.”

Mira drew a few deep breaths, but she had to admit Rumi and Zoey were doing more to calm her than any breathing exercise. “Alright. I promised Zoey, so I’ll… try to be polite. Best I can manage. That okay, Zo?”

The distant ding of the elevator ended the conversation. Zoey gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and went to greet Bobby and his friend.

“We’re here for you,” Rumi whispered as voices approached.

“Yes Bobby, the apartment is great. Didn’t realize your company owned this whole building. But you’re ignoring my question on who the hell I’m actually—” The voice cut off.

He was older than them, as tall as Mira, with black hair, a beard that was just starting to gain a few grey hairs, and brilliantly blue eyes currently wide in shock.

“Bobby…” the man whispered. “That’s Huntr/x. Is this really Huntr/x? You’re the manager for Huntr/x? And you let me—” He turned to Bobby. “You know I’m going to get you for this, right?”

Bobby grinned. “Consider it payback for the stories. Now stop being an idiot and introduce yourself.”

The man gave him a light shove but smiled. “We’re not done talking about this, jerk.” Then he turned to them. “Hello. I’m Luka. It’s an honor to meet you all. I knew Bobby was managing a group he was proud of, but I didn’t realize y’all were the biggest K-pop group in the world. I love your music.” He held a hand out to Rumi, who shook it.

“Thank you for coming all this way. Bobby told us basically nothing about you—I think he wanted us to form our own opinions.”

“Yeah, that tracks,” Luka said, before turning to Zoey. “I’m a hugger, but I’ll let you set the pace.”

Zoey grinned and pulled him into a quick hug. “Thanks for the option. It’s very nice to meet you too! I have so many character ideas—you’ll have to give me some details so I can polish them.”

“Sure,” Luka chuckled, then turned to Mira. He gave a respectful nod, his eyes flicking to the bag behind her. “A pleasure to meet you as well. I hope I didn’t interrupt your workout?”

“Just burning off some energy,” Mira grunted. “Zoey and Rumi didn’t want to spar.” Shit, too much info.

“Spar?” Luka asked, head tilting to the side. “Unusual hobby for idols, but I like that you push past stereotypes. If you’ve still got energy, I wouldn’t mind a round. Good way to get to know someone.”

Mira raised an eyebrow. To her surprise, he didn’t back down—just settled into a relaxed stance, waiting for her decision.

“Luka…” Bobby warned.

“Don’t worry, Bobby. I still know how to hold back in a spar.” Luka said. Not condescending—just matter-of-fact. Maybe he really could fight. Mira doubted he’d match her—she was a hunter, after all—but if he could lose with grace… A grin tugged at her lips.

“Sure. I’d be happy to.” She padded forward.

“Mira, what are—” Zoey started, but Rumi placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Mira, you’re sure?”

“Oh yeah. A friendly spar, promise. Like Luka said—it’s the most honest conversation you can have.”

“I agree completely,” Luka said, already shrugging off his jacket. “Not to give you an advantage, but Bobby might murder me if I touch your face. Good to call that off limits?”

“Sure, sure. Ready?” At his nod, Mira lunged forward, rapid strikes driving toward his chest.

He backpedaled fast, redirecting blows while giving ground. He quickly sidestepped, driving an elbow aimed at her ribs that she barely evaded, countering with a strike at his shoulder. He let it land and rolled with it, using the momentum to reset. First hit to her, though not much of one. He seemed to agree—because he went on the attack.

He quickly settled into what Mira recognized as a boxer's stance, quick jabs testing her defense and pushing her back. His strikes had power, but Mira could tell he wasn’t pulling all the way through with his hits. Just enough force to be dangerous, but not enough to actually hurt. Mira was unfortunately impressed, it was a difficult skill to master. And he was good, maybe good enough to win the spar.

“You’re freaking good” He grunted out. “I think you’d kick my ass six ways from Sunday if you had whatever weapon you normally use. Polearm of some type?”

Mira danced back further than she needed to, shock painting her face. “How in the world do you know that?” she asked, gasping slightly from the exertion.

He raised his hands, conceding the spar. “Your distance control. You want to stay two paces out and dictate the fight, but that’s tough with just fists, so you rush in at odd angles. And that shoulder strike—you drove it like you had to punch through extra reach. Weapon training. Not common in the US, but I know people who enjoy it.”

Mira just stared.

“You got all that from twenty seconds?” Rumi asked softly.

“Benefits of experience,” Luka said. “I know what to look for, Mrs. Swordwoman. In your case, it’s the calluses.” He turned to Zoey. “You’re trickier, but I’m betting something small. You’re too good at shifting your center of mass—reminds me of a knife fighter. Bobby, on the other hand—ever seen him with a staff? He’s beaten me a time or two.”

“Bobby can spar?!” Zoey squeaked.

“Why in the world would you tell them that?” Bobby groaned.

Mira regarded Luka with new eyes. He’d walked in and had been blindsided with who they were, claimed to be a fan, and instead of fawning, he’d challenged her to fight—and more than held his own. He was sharp, seemed honorable, and smart enough to meet each of them on their terms: a handshake for Rumi, a hug for Zoey, a fight for Mira. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“So,” Mira said suddenly, startling everyone, “you’re going to run our Dungeons & Dragons game.”

Luka smiled, noticing that it wasn’t a question. “Yes. I believe I am.”

———

The video was unusual. A pair of hands rested on a table, a set of shining blue dice glinting off to one side and an ornate clock ticking softly on the other. The channel itself had no subscribers, no history—and had been created less than three minutes earlier.

“Hello.” The voice was a rich baritone. As it spoke, the right hand gave a small wave.

“I am Master Hands, and I would like to invite you on a journey across the table, as our brave adventurers set forth to save their world from the forces of evil. It will be a difficult road. I cannot promise they will live. But I can promise this: pain has a purpose. It is up to our players to define what that purpose is. I look forward to seeing you at the table.”

With that, the hands withdrew into the darkness. Text bloomed across the screen, announcing that this would be a charity game to benefit the Hunter Aquarium and Turtle Sanctuary in Seoul.

Within minutes, the video was liked and shared by every member of Huntr/x and their manager.

An hour later, it had 700,000 views.

And kept climbing.

———

Chapter Text

Dokka carefully pulled apart the strands of the Honmoon, ignoring the burning hiss as it fought against his very essence. It was so much stronger now—stronger even than the golden Honmoon he remembered from years ago. But strong did not mean impossible. He knew he couldn’t break the strands, but he could shift them, just a bit—enough to squeeze through if he was willing to pay the price. And oh, was he willing. Anything to fill that gnawing hunger within him. Gwi-Ma might be defeated, but Dokka would still pull himself out of the demon realm and feast. And with the Honmoon as strong as it was, there would be no reason to send souls back—he could eat them all himself.

With a final effort, Dokka tore free into a dark alleyway somewhere deep in Seoul, smoke rising from burns all over his body. He laughed despite the pain. He had paid the price required, and now he would eat his fill.

“Well now… I was wondering who was trying to move into my territory,” a voice whispered.

Dokka spun, claws flashing, eyes searching.

“Who?” he managed, before a sickening crack landed just behind his ear. He collapsed, vision fading fast. A violet light bloomed before him, draining the last of his strength. The final thing he heard before darkness claimed him was a soft voice, like a knife wrapped in velvet:

“Thank you for bringing me dinner.”

———

“Luka!” Zoey yelled. “I wanna build my mfmffmfmf!”

Rumi was impressed. Luka had managed to shove an entire cookie into the maknae’s mouth, grinning at her while he held a gentle hand up to keep the crumbs from flying everywhere.

“You,” he said in a slow tone, “have done this before, which means you have to be patient while we work on Rumi’s and Mira’s characters first. If I let you go first, you’ll build a monster and the others will have to build something complicated to keep up, and complicated characters don’t make for fun first games. So here.” He handed her a small bag of cookies. “Work on those, and see if you can convince Mira to call you a good girl. I’ll start with Rumi, okay?”

Zoey finally swallowed. “That was rude!” she declared imperiously. “But it was a delicious cookie, so I forgive you. Hey Mira!” and she skipped off to pester her.

Rumi stepped up beside Luka. “I’m more surprised that you managed to keep all of your fingers than the fact that it actually worked. No cookie bribe for me?”

Luka snorted and passed her another bag. “Mira’s are on the counter—I didn’t want to risk them around Zoey.” His smile softened as he glanced at the other two hunters. Zoey was in Mira’s lap, puppy-dog eyes in full effect as she munched on a cookie. Mira was valiantly trying—and failing—not to look at her.

“I’ve got a lot of sisters,” Luka continued. “Zoey reminds me of my youngest. Andy’s got the same habits, and I learned it’s best to steer the chaos fast—and with food.”

“Which sister do I remind you of?” Rumi asked quietly, and Luka grinned a little wider.

“Thea. She’s the reliable older one.” Luka grinned. “Though unless you’ve got an army of teddy bears stashed somewhere ready for war, it’s not a one-to-one match. Mira’s more like Clair and Becky—Clair does kickboxing every week, and Becky would rather end up in the hospital than let an emotion show on her face. We’re working on that, but she thinks it’s hilarious, so progress is… slow.”

“So you see us as little sisters?” Rumi pressed.

“No.” Luka’s tone was firm. “You remind me of them, sure—but you’re not them. And I’m not about to start treating you like you need protecting.” He gestured to the laptops on the table. “Now, shall we? I’ve got suggestions, but the choices are yours.”

“Zoey implied there would be a mountain of books?” Rumi asked while she sat down. Luka sat across from her, opening the other laptop.

“Technically she’s right,” he said, quickly sending a couple of files to Rumi. “But my collection is several thousand miles away, and I doubt you’d want to spend hours looking up each and every reference when I have the digital forms of the books, complete with a search bar.” He glanced up and grinned. “Of course, if you’d like to do this the traditional way…”

“No!” Rumi said hurriedly. “Search bars are great! You had suggestions?”

“Yeap!” Luka grinned at her. “Give these a read and tell me what you think. This is for your class—think of it like your job.”

He sent over several options, and Rumi read through them. The cleric didn’t sound particularly fun, and the wizard seemed like it would be complicated. It was, Rumi decided, a fairly endless list of options, several of which had subcategories.

“This is… a lot,” Rumi said hesitantly, and Luka looked up.

“Yeah, sorry, I kinda threw you into the deep end on purpose.” He shrugged apologetically. “That giant list is a great reference, but unless you know what you’re looking for, it’s a giant pile of random information. My plan, such as it is, is for you to tell me what you’d like to do, and I narrow down that list a lot—save you a lot of pointless reading. My suggestion is a martial character. They tend to be simpler and more easily customizable. That means you’ll swing a weapon of some sort, magic would take a back seat, or not be used at all. But again, there’s a lot of options.”

“Well…” Rumi hesitated. “I don’t mind a challenge, so I don’t want something too basic. And magic is one of the main draws about this type of game, right?”

Luka nodded. “I get that, and it starts to narrow things down a bit. What about fighting style? Do you want to hit hard? Be quick and nimble? A slightly mobile fortress?”

Again, Rumi hesitated. “Is there an in-between option?”

Luka nodded again. “Sure, jack-of-all-trades types exist. Let’s see…” He started looking over his laptop again. “You said you’d like some magic—do you want to cast healing magic, or throw fireballs? There are a few other options too, so if you’ve got something specific in mind, let me know and I’ll see what I can make work.”

Rumi thought for a moment. “Explosions seem like a Zoey thing, and I have a feeling that she’ll need healing, so yeah, I think healing magic is a good option.”

Luka sat back and smiled. “Easy then—you want to play a paladin. Cleric could work too, but I think paladin is closer to what you want. Think a knight crusader, but with an actual connection to their god and real consequences for not following the rules. They tend to do the whole Law-and-Order thing, but would rather extend a hand to help. They’re good at fighting, but it’s a last resort for them. Particularly powerful against evil forces, especially undead and demons.”

Rumi hummed to herself a bit. That did sound like a character she would enjoy a lot. “Yeah, that sounds good, let’s make a paladin.”

Luka smiled wide and clicked a few things on his computer. “Alright, the next bit is going to be more difficult—you get to pick a race. There are a lot of different races, so I’ll ask a bunch of questions to pare things down again, alright?”

He was right in that it was difficult. They spent 20 minutes at it, Rumi asking questions, Luka giving his opinions. He refused to tell her if an option was good or not, just said what they tended to be better at, but stressed that all of them could be valid options. Then Rumi noticed another option.

“What about this one? Tiefling?” she asked. She wasn’t sure, but she thought that Luka might have been avoiding that one, and it seemed like he might have hesitated before answering her.

“Tieflings are demon spawn.” he said slowly, picking up speed as he warmed to the topic. “They’re no more good or evil than humans, but a lot of people in the setting can’t see past their parentage. They have some fire resistance, tend to be good at sneaking and the like. They make excellent thieves. That said, you could make a really interesting paladin with a tiefling. Fire damage is one of the most common damage types, so you would be able to shrug off some of it. And despite the heritage coming from hell, they’re more open to divine influences, including good gods.”

Rumi sat very still, looking at the photo underneath Tiefling. Horns curled above her head, and her skin was a deep red, bright yellow eyes beneath black hair. She had a smile on her face, cheeky, with a “try and catch me” type of look. It almost seemed to call to her.

“I’ll play a tiefling,” Rumi said quietly.

Luka was staring at her, an unreadable expression on his face. But slowly, he nodded, and his face softened.

“Alright, let’s make a tiefling paladin,” he said.

It took another 30 minutes of questions and explanations, but at the end of it, Rumi held a character sheet for Indranna Duskrunner, a paladin of the stars.

———

One day, Mira knew, she would be free.

“Mira, don’t ignore me,” Zoey pouted. “Come ooonnnnnn… just two words! Two little words, Mira! It would make me so happy. Don’t you want to make me… happy?” Mira felt her blood pressure spike as Zoey cooed those words into her ears, her breath hot on Mira’s neck. One day Mira would be free, or dead of a Zoey induced heart attack. A sudden voice from over by the kitchen broke in.

“Damn, Mira, I don’t know what’s more red, your hair or your face.” Luka had a giant grin plastered on his jaw, while Rumi stood next to him gaping. “Zoey, it’s been an hour and you haven’t managed to break her yet? I gotta say, I’m impressed at Mira’s resolve.” Mira started choking.

“You put her up to this?!” she gasped out. “Do you have any idea what this is doing to my heart?” Luka grinned even wider.

“Pretty sure she would have stopped the instant you called her a good girl. In fact, I’m willing to bet that if you kissed her while you said it, she’d blue-screen for at least 15 minutes.” The bastard was trying not to laugh.

“Hey! No I wouldn’t!” Zoey barked out. “And besides, Mira…”

Mira kissed her. All told, it was a rather thorough kiss, and both of them were short of breath by the end of it. Zoey was just opening her mouth to say something when Mira whispered in her ear, and Zoey went perfectly still, mouth slightly open and wide-eyed.

Luka was doubled over, silent laughter causing him to shake. Rumi had managed to close her mouth and was trying to look blank-faced, but her blush could shame a sunset at the moment. Mira took the opportunity to stand up, Zoey still in her arms, before placing the tiny maknae on the couch and walking over to Rumi and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Could you be an awesome girlfriend and make sure she’s still breathing?” Mira said to Rumi, who was fiercely looking straight ahead. “I need to murder Luka really quickly.” Luka was now on one knee, a single tear working its way down his face. The entire thing had happened so fast, and she was a little ashamed to admit that she had forgotten he was there. She’d have to do damage control if she could.

Mira looked back at Rumi. “Good girl.” she finally said, and Mira could have sworn that she could see the steam shooting out of Rumi’s ears. It was embarrassing as all get out, but Mira had to admit it was effective. Still, she reached down, grabbed Luka by the ear, and started dragging him out of the living room toward the dining room.

It took a few minutes for the two of them to regain something resembling decorum, but they finally settled down at the table, Luka offering his cookie bribe to Mira.

“I am sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think she’d be at it for an hour, but gods, that was funny. And she really did freeze up at the end. And then you went and broke Rumi? Well done Mira, very well done.” He opened the laptop and started sorting through files while still trying to control his chuckles.

Mira was sitting stiffly. I mean, she obviously couldn’t say that she and Zoey weren’t a thing after they had basically made out in front of the man, and one look at Rumi would have given up the other half of that game pretty much instantly to anyone with a brain. Still, they hadn’t gone public with that information, and Luka was an outsider. He looked up, the silence having stretched.

“You’re worried.” he said. “About what? No judgement from me if that’s what you’re afraid of. I may tease y’all about each other, but I do that to any of my friends who are head over heels in love.”

“It’s just…” Mira hesitated. Rumi was so much better at this kind of stuff. “We aren’t… I mean, we haven’t…” How was she supposed to talk about this?

Luka frowned. “You three obviously love each other, you’re doing couple stuff, I doubt you’re hiding this from Bobby, you know he’d support and love all of you. So what is it?”

“We haven’t made it public,” Mira muttered.

Luka raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I figured that. People know far too much about your personal lives already, they don’t need to know this.” And then it finally hit him. “You think I might say something! Oh, absolutely not! Who you date is none of the world’s business, along with the rest of y’all’s lives. I won’t say a word about anything. My word and honor on that.”

Mira glared at him.

Luka shrugged. “I already plan to not show my face during this entire thing, or use my actual name. Compared to you four, I’m nobody. So no one is going to believe the ramblings of some guy, not to mention that we have already established that with a weapon you’re more than capable of kicking my ass. Hell, I’ll sign an NDA if that’ll help you feel better. Probably should anyway—I’ll talk to Bobby about it.” He shrugged the idea of a gag order off like it wasn’t a big deal.

Mira wasn’t entirely sure what to think of the man. He had no issues treating all of them like normal people, which was rare, but he didn’t think he was superior or anything like that. It actually felt nice being treated like a regular human being for once. She sighed.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just worry about them. I’m sure we don’t need to get lawyers involved.”

Luka waved that away. “It’ll protect me too, give me an easy out if anyone does ask questions. Alright, you ready to start with your character?”

The sudden change of topic caught Mira off guard, but she recovered quickly. “If you won’t change your mind about the lawyers, then sure, we can get started. Is this going to take me an hour too?”

Luka shrugged, pulling out a few folders from a backpack. “Depends on how you want to do this. I took Rumi through the entire process because that’s how she likes to do things, at least, that was my thought process and I think I was right. You’re the rebel, but I’m not 100% sure on how much that’s blown out as part of your public figure, but sitting there while I explain every rule doesn’t seem your style. So I’ve got options.” He placed three folders in front of Mira. “These are barebones characters. I’ve done a lot of the base work, but left a lot of questions blank, especially about who said characters are. This saves you from having to make a lot of mechanical decisions and focus on the roleplay aspect. Once Zoey reboots she can explain the actual mechanics you need, but really I just want these characters to feel alive to you.”

Mira opened the first folder and started reading. “An elf barbarian?” she asked.

Luka nodded. “Personally, my favorite of the three. Elves don’t make the best barbarians—they’re known for being pretty and graceful, while barbarians are all about strength and power—but mechanically it’s a sound character. How an elf would decide to leave archery and art and become a walking anger-management advertisement is something you’d have to come up with. But I see the character as someone who hates being put in a box, who struggles against rules. I like characters that are interesting to play over someone who’s built perfectly.”

Mira found herself nodding along. “I like it. Can I have a giant weapon?”

Luka grinned. “Oh, absolutely! You want a giant six-foot-long sword? Or are you thinking more along the lines of blunt force trauma instead?”

It took them about 15 minutes to cover everything that needed doing, but by the end, Mira was feeling pretty good about Jathal the Hammer.

———

Luka was grabbing a drink when Bobby walked into the kitchen.

“Here,” Bobby said, handing over a character sheet. “I’m assuming you haven’t changed your character creation process. Sorry I’ve been gone all day, it’s been busy.”

Luka hummed at him and looked over the sheet. “We’ll still need to shoot some footage for the video, but I don’t mind speedbuilding for you. Bard?”

Bobby shrugged. “Mike suggested it, said you had some really good house rules that I could take advantage of.” Luka looked up at that.

“And you’re willing to trust Mike?” he asked cautiously.

“Was he telling the truth?” Bobby asked simply.

Luka stared at his friend for a couple of heartbeats. “Yes, he was. We’ll go over it later. Pretty standard build though, Bobby. I don’t see anything weird about it.”

“Well, this whole thing is really for Zoey. I’m only here as an extra. Honestly, I’m surprised the girls were so insistent. Still, I know you like four-player teams, so it all works out, and it’s an excuse for me to put more work on Ji-An’s plate. It’s nice having an assistant.” Bobby got a drink of his own, something stronger than what Luka was drinking.

“Cheers to that,” Luka said simply. “Hopefully you’ll now have more time to hang out with old friends. Now, details — I want to hear about this human bard, Andrezi Silversong.”

———

Zoey was practically vibrating. Yes, Mira whispering “good girl” in her ear did something to her brain that she was still processing, and explaining to Rumi how her character worked had been a fun challenge, but it was now her turn, and she was ready! Luka was already sitting at the table, laptop open and typing away. There was a solid thunk as Zoey set her backpack down, loaded with every character idea she had ever had.

“I’m ready, and no amount of cookies will distract me!” she said proudly. Luka didn’t even look up, though she could see a faint grin.

“Is that so?” Luka sounded… smug. Zoey’s smile faltered just a bit.

“It is so! Now, I’ve got a bunch of ideas. What did Mira and Bobby pick? I want to balance out the party. I’ve got this idea for a kobold that really likes lightning, or a drow princess who’s really just misunderstood, or how about a halfling who… what’s that?” Zoey couldn’t help but notice that Luka had closed his laptop and pulled out a single green folder.

“This?” He set a hand on the folder. “This is a custom class, designed by me, with you specifically in mind for it. It’s one of your options tonight.” Zoey reached for the folder, but Luka pulled it back. “Nope, you only get to see what’s in this folder if you pick it. That’s your first choice, Zoey — we either build out one of your concepts, or you play this one-of-a-kind, personally built character, backstory and all. That will be a new challenge for you I think, to play a character you had no hand in designing. Don’t pick this character, and that will be it. It’ll disappear into my vault, never to see the light of day.” And then, he just grinned at her.

Zoey was paralyzed. This… this was evil! This temptation! This manipulation! This… custom class… built specifically for her… that would never see the light of day if she didn’t pick it… No! She must have hundreds of characters that were more awesome! Thousands! But she didn’t have that one…

“You,” Zoey said very quietly, “are the most evil, despicable, vile, horrible, and cruel person!” Zoey gave her very best pout, the one that always worked. “Can’t I look just a little bit first?”

Luka grinned wider. “I’m immune to puppy eyes, Zoey. You can’t cute your way with me.”

Zoey gasped. “That’s not possible! You’d have to be… a demon or something!” Luka laughed at her.

“I can say no to a wet kitten, Zoey. You have no power here.” He picked up the folder, showing her name written across the front. “So, what’s it going to be?”

———

Rumi walked in to find Zoey face-down on the couch, Mira sitting next to her and stroking her hair.

“So…” she started cautiously, “you’re all done with your character, Zoey? I thought you’d take the longest of all of us.”

Zoey responded directly into the couch cushion, meaning that none of what she said was understandable. Rumi looked at Mira questioningly.

“It turns out that Luka knows how to tell Zoey no,” Mira said instead of answering. “I wonder if we can get him to teach us how to do that.”

Zoey hit her with a pillow.

“He tricked me!” Zoey didn’t quite wail, but it was a near thing. “He said he made a custom class for me, but I couldn’t see it if I didn’t pick it, and if I didn’t pick it, it would never be played by anyone! I just couldn’t do that!” She returned to her face-down position, hand flailing until it found Mira’s and placed it back on her head.

Rumi tried hard not to giggle at Zoey’s antics. “A custom class is a good thing though, right? You’ll be more powerful?”

Zoey just groaned into the couch by way of answer, so Mira picked up the story.

“Apparently, Reda Greenwood is—how did you phrase it?—a druid but worse and boring?”

Zoey sat up, still pouting. “She is boring. She’s a half-elf, woop-de-doo. And yeah, a druid but worse. I get a few extra spells and wild shape at level one, but I lose all of my weapon and armor proficiencies.”

“What’s wild shape?” Rumi asked.

Zoey sighed. “That’s the coolest part of the character. I can turn into different animals, like a bear or a tiger. As we level up I can turn into more things. But I can only do it once per day for, like, a minute. That means I’ll be useful for exactly one combat a day. It sucks.”

Rumi picked up the character sheet and started reading while Zoey kept muttering.

“I’m serious! I’ll be useful, like, once a day! All of my spells are downtime stuff! I can give you some minor buffs that’ll last a bit, or talk to animals, but the only weapons I can use are natural weapons—and half-elves don’t have those! It’s dumb.” Zoey was really in pout mode, and it was adorable.

But Rumi had noticed something. “Hey, Zoey? Are you sure you only get wild shape for a minute?”

“Yeah,” Zoey mumbled. “That’s how the spell works. One minute per level per day, to be spent in minute increments. Why?”

“Because,” Rumi answered, “Luka didn’t give it to you as a spell. It’s a spell-like ability.”

“So?” Zoey asked. “They typically behave the same way.”

Rumi handed the sheet over and Zoey read:

Wild Soul — Spell-like ability. As the druid spell Wild Shape.
Duration: 10 rounds × class level
Can be activated 1 × ½ class level (minimum 1) per short rest
Animals: Small reptiles, small cat, medium cat, wolf, medium bear, rodent, small bird, medium bird, small shark, octopus. More options unlock starting at level 4, and every 4 levels after.

Zoey stared at the paper.

“Is it still bad, Zoey?” Rumi asked quietly.

“This might be the best class ever.” Zoey whispered back.

———

Once again, the video opened with a shot of the table, dice to one side while an ornate clock ticked on the other. Soon, a pair of hands appeared from the blackness, settling on the table with a small wave.

“Hello again, Hunters. Tonight we shall set in motion the turning of fate for our small party of adventurers. But first, how about we introduce everyone, shall we?”

The camera tilted down, zooming in on the table as it shifted to where the mysterious Game Master was sitting, eventually settling so that the viewer could see the entire table, including the mysterious hands resting upon it, as if the camera was now sitting inside the Game Master’s chest. Four empty chairs sat across from the voice.

“As you know, I am Master Hands, and I will be the Game Master for this adventure.”

A GM screen seemed to rise out of the table, but shorter than normal, not hiding any of the empty chairs or the space where the maps were likely to be. The screen was also unusual in that it was currently blank, except for a few words in the very center.

The Cost of a Soul

“Now, how about we meet our fellow players?”

And in walked Zoey, Mira, Rumi, and Bobby, waving at the camera as they took their seats. They joked with each other, and Zoey was practically vibrating with excitement, but eventually they all settled in.

Master Hands’s rich baritone voice returned. “And finally we are all here,” he said. “I’m fully aware that Huntr/x needs no introduction, but tradition is tradition, and it is proper Dungeons & Dragons manners to introduce your characters. So, Mira, will you start us off?”

Mira stared at the camera with a deadpan expression. “You know who I am. Worship as you should. I will be living vicariously through Jathal the Hammer, an elf barbarian with a hammer.” Mira gave the faintest of grins. “She will crush all before her, and any on the side who piss her off.”

“Mira!” Rumi fussed, failing to hide her smile. “Don’t encourage blasphemy!”

“I know what my fans want,” Mira responded, grinning a little wider. “I believe it’s your turn, princess?”

Rumi blushed at that but decided to ignore it, instead smiling widely into the camera. “Well, I’m Rumi, and I wanted to say thank you for joining us this evening. My character is a tiefling paladin named Indranna Duskrunner, and I really hope all of you like her as much as I do.”

Zoey was literally bouncing in her seat, and no sooner had Rumi finished than she was spilling out her own introduction. “Zoomies!!!! Your Zoey is here and you know I love each and every one of you! So! As all of my diehard fans know, I have played D&D before. Rumi and Mira haven’t, so Master Hands wanted to balance the table a bit. So get this! He custom built an entire class! Just for me! It’s called Wildborn, and think of a druid who is even more into nature! Oh! And we’ll be selling digital splatbooks of the class in all of its goodness, proceeds to go to the Hunter Aquarium and Turtle Sanctuary! Link down below!” And Zoey started pointing at the bottom of the screen.

“And the name of your awesome custom character that I worked really hard on?” Master Hands prompted.

“Oh, right!” Zoey quickly picked up her sheets, displaying them proudly. “Everyone say hi to Reda Greenwood! She may be just a half-elf, but with the power of love she can be any animal ever! Oh yeah, Handsy, I decided that Reda is powered by love and you can’t stop me!”

The hands on the table picked up a marker, wrote Zoey’s name on the far right side, and drew a single mark underneath it. “And now for our final member,” Master Hands said, while gesturing to Bobby.

“Hello everyone. I doubt I’m as famous as my girls here, but I’m Bobby and I’ve been the manager of Huntr/x since the beginning. I will be joining as the human bard, Andrezi Silversong, and my goal is to keep everyone out of trouble. Much like my real-life job.”

The girls quickly drowned him out with claims that they never caused trouble and were a dream for anyone to work with. Bobby just grinned at them.

The video slowly faded out, and quick scenes of everyone filling their character sheets were shown. It kept showing Rumi asking question after question, and Mira grinning while she found every option for doing more damage. The entire section of Zoey being forced to choose between her OCs and the mystery character was shown uncut. Bobby came out ahead in that showing, quickly and efficiently making his choices, while also saying cute things about how he could use a certain spell to help one of the girls. Eventually, it came back to all four of them, in various states of blushing.

“Damn, Rumi,” Mira started dryly. “How many questions did you ask? No wonder you took longer than the rest of us combined.”

“I wanted to know what I was doing!” Rumi quickly defended. “And don’t think I didn’t notice how you always picked whichever option has the biggest number!” Mira just grinned at her.

Zoey meanwhile was open-mouthed, staring at Master Hands, face flushed with embarrassment.

“I would also like to point out,” Master Hands started, “that Bobby made his character without any idea what the rest of you made. He picked his entire spell list based off of his knowledge of you three alone.”

All three turned to Bobby, who had a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. He was quickly forced into a hug as all three of the girls squealed with joy.

The game started off without a hitch: the party meeting in a tavern, when they learned of a supposed demon making deals at a crossroad. There was some investigation, some tracking, an accidental fight with a flock of geese that was decidedly one-sided in the geese’s favor, and culminating with a battle with a demon.

“And with Mira’s last attack, the demon looks very, VERY hurt. Bobby, it is now your turn,” Master Hands said.

“Well, we’re so close, but the girls have been missing a lot due to high armor class. Maybe a little inspiration is in order.”

“Alright,” Master Hands said. “I like it, go ahead and sing for us.”

Bobby looked at him quizzically. “Sing?” he asked.

Master Hands chuckled, low and rich. “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the house rules. If you play a bard and want to sing, you have to actually sing.” The hands on the table grasped each other, as if they were expecting something magical to happen.

“Oh, oh no.” Bobby started shaking his head. “They’re the singers,” he said, pointing at the girls, but they were already grinning like foxes in a hen yard.

“Come on, Bobby! Inspire us!” said Rumi.

“Those are the rules, Bobby,” Mira added helpfully.

“Don’t you want us to win, Bobby?” Zoey cooed, puppy eyes in full effect.

For his part, Bobby looked at all three of them with the face of absolute betrayal, then back at the camera, back at the girls, then put his face in his hands.

“Fine,” he moaned, giving in while the girls cheered. Zoey leaned back onto Rumi, while Mira leaned forward and put her chin on Rumi’s shoulder, all of them watching Bobby intently. And Bobby sang. It was a love song, from his days as an idol. It wasn’t well known that he used to be an idol—his group had never truly broken out and made a name for themselves—but Bobby had a beautiful voice, and one that lent itself exceptionally well to ballads. He finished the chorus and all three girls were gaping at him.

“That,” Mira started.

“Was not what I was expecting,” Rumi continued.

Zoey wouldn’t know what restraint was if it sat on her. “Bobby, that was amazing! Do it again! Do it again! Can I record it? I want to fall asleep to it!”

Bobby was blushing furiously and trying to wave them away.

“And so the party is well and truly inspired. Ladies? You may kill at your leisure,” Master Hands said, like he hadn’t just demanded a personal performance from a former idol.

Mira and Rumi made short work of the demon, while Zoey, in bear form, proceeded to ravage what was left of the body. Master Hands closed out the session.

“And with that, the demon is slain, the people are safe, you’re not allowed within 1,000 yards of Farmer Jin’s homestead, and you all have a permanent disadvantage against fear effects from geese. I congratulate you all on a session well done.” And with that, the hands pulled away into the darkness, the camera losing focus on everything except the ornate clock as words appeared on the screen.

To be continued?

———

Chapter Text

Chapter 3 - Perception Check

Mira walked into their personal gym with Zoey, both of them heading toward the treadmills for the ever dreaded cardio session, only to pause as they noticed Rumi peeking carefully around the corner. She glanced over her shoulder, having heard the elevator, and held up a single finger to her lips before waving them forward. Zoey and Mira looked at each other, then hurried toward the corner and carefully looked into the gym proper.

It was Luka, doing a number on the punching bag. The impacts were sharp, but consistent, almost like he had an internal metronome keeping him in time.

Mira glanced down at Rumi, and then Zoey below her before whispering. “You did give him permission to use the gym while he was in town, and the boxing isn’t really a surprise.” Rumi glanced at her, surprise on her face.

“You don’t hear it?” She asked. Mira frowned and focused on him again. Rumi was right, there was something about the timing of his impacts that was familiar. Her hip twinged, like she knew choreography to it or something. Her frown deepened.

“Oh!” Zoey suddenly gasped, “There is no way!” Mira glanced at the maknae who started to rap quietly.

”Okay, like, I know I ramble

But when shootin’ my words, I go Rambo

Took blood, sweat, and tears, to look natural”

Rumi joined in.

”That’s how it’s done, done, done.”

And sure enough, Luka’s hits lined up exactly with the song.

Rumi started to whisper the bridge, and Luka himself fell back half a pace from the bag, checking his footwork while he did so, before slamming forward with a massive impact at the end of every line. No pulling punches this time, Mira could see the dust flying off the bag. She had to wonder just how much he had been holding back in that spar, and decided to join in the soft impromptu concert.

Run, run, we run the town (thunk thunk thunk)

Whole world playin’ our sound (thunk thunk thunk)

Turnin’ up, it’s going down (thunk thunk thunk)

Huntrix, show this how it’s done (thunk) done (thunk) done (thunk)

All the way through the outro, with a final run of strikes directly into the bag so violent Mira thought it might disconnect from the chain holding it to the ceiling. Song over, and Luka stood there, right arm fully extended in his final strike, the bag tilted from the force of it, sucking in air in as close to a controlled fashion as is possible for someone who had just finished a very intensive round of cardio. Zoey started clapping and Luka looked over his shoulder at the three of them before trying to wave Zoey off and walking toward a bench that looked like it held a towel and water bottle. He sat down heavily.

“I’m done if someone else wants the bag.” he said before taking a long pull from the water bottle. Mira finally noticed the headphones he was wearing.

“Do you often box to our songs?” Mira asked, crossing her arms and looking down at him, but Zoey started talking before he could answer.

“Mira! Be nice!” and she looked at Luka. “But it was cool to see. You even managed to stay in time with my rap section.”

Luka smiled at them. “Good to know that I’ve got the timing down at least, but yeah, I normally listen to y’alls stuff when doing cardio, I like the pacing, and something about it just seems to lend itself to a lot of physical output.” He shrugged at them. “Might have something to do with all that choreo Mira writes, because that stuff looks like one hell of a workout.” He leaned back against the wall, and Mira wondered how long he had been down here.

Rumi smiled at him. “You’re not wrong, but I’m not sure how I feel about you tying violence to our music.” Zoey choked at that, while Mira raised an eyebrow at Rumi. Part of their job was to kill demons to music. Heck, they had killed probably hundreds of demons to that one song alone. Rumi ignored them and continued. “But you’ve been down here a while haven’t you? Did you not go to sleep after the game last night?”

“Nope!” Luka said, a lazy grin showing. “Wanted to push the video as much as I could, then I helped Bobby monitor the charity drive a bit. By the way, Zoey? You shattered your goal. Last I checked you had hit 135%, and that was about 2 in the morning. I’m sure it’s higher by now. After all that, I was just too wired to sleep, probably cause of timezone goofiness, so I decided to work myself to exhaustion.” He yawned at them. “Think it worked. If y’all don’t mind, I’m gonna snag a shower then a few hours of sleep. Mind if I swing by sometime after lunch?”

They assured him that was fine and watched him walk out of the gym, tossing a small wave over his shoulder while he did so.

“That was interesting.” Mira muttered.

“More than that. Did you notice the Honmoon?” Rumi asked. Mira looked sharply at their leader, then at Zoey who was nodding.

“What are you talking about?” Mira asked.

“The Honmoon responded to Luka, even before we started singing. Not like it is with us, but it seemed almost like he could draw strength from it.” Rumi was staring at the elevator Luka had disappeared in. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”

Zoey put a cautious hand on Rumi’s arm. “I could ask Celine, see if she knows anything.”

Mira grunted. “I could also just throttle Celine, force her to tell us what she knows.” Mira still hadn’t forgiven Celine for forcing Rumi to lie to them for years.

Rumi smiled at both of them. “Zoey, would you? I don’t think I’m up for it yet, and as much as Mira would love to be let off her leash,” Mira growled at that. “I don’t think that would be the wisest course of action.”

“Not a problem!” Zoey grinned at them and started moving toward the elevator. “I’ll take care of it now!”

“Zoey….” Rumi started, eyes boring into the maknae.

“Cardio first?” Zoey all but whimpered.

“Cardio first.” Rumi agreed.

———

Naps, Luka thought to himself, are the greatest thing ever. Flop on the couch for an hour or four, wake up recharged and… hungry, actually. The kitchen was just on the other side of the room, and really, he’d slept more than enough, so it was time to get off his ass.

He quickly built himself a monstrous sandwich, though he was a little clueless about what was in it, since he couldn’t actually read Korean, but it tasted good enough and filled the pit in his stomach. Opening his laptop and grabbing another one of the local sodas he was more than a little addicted to, he pulled up the website for Zoey’s little charity drive—and stared.

“Holy fuck…” he whispered.

He knew it had done well, but that one video had raised enough money to hit every single stretch goal Zoey had come up with, and then some. Luka didn’t know how much that aquarium cost to run, but he had a feeling they’d just managed to fund it for a couple of years. Even his phone ringing didn’t fully pull him away from the screen.

“Hello?” he answered, distracted.

“I know that voice,” Bobby replied. “You’re looking at the numbers, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am,” Luka said. “I figured it would do well, but holy crap. Zoey know about this yet?”

Bobby laughed. “I actually had to step outside—I didn’t know humans could actually make that sound. If you hear dogs barking, it’s Zoey’s fault. Get up here and share in the joy.” He paused. “Maybe bring earplugs.”

Luka laughed, finally closing the laptop. “Sure, Bobby. Warn them I’ll be up in a few.”

———

Rumi didn’t think that Zoey’s feet were likely to touch the ground for another hour or so. Bobby walking in and saying the drive had gone well had put a giant grin on Zoey’s face. Then he told them just how well the drive had gone.

“Every stretch goal?” Mira muttered under her breath. Rumi just nodded. The goals themselves weren’t bad, not really; Mira just didn’t want to do anything that remotely resembled work during their hiatus, and one of the stretch goals included a tour of the aquarium.

Rumi slipped an arm around Mira’s waist. “Bobby knows that Zoey isn’t allowed to make any decisions until she calms down.” Rumi glanced at the maknae. “That should buy us a month, I think.” That pulled a chuckle out of Mira, and Rumi continued. “Besides, it shouldn’t be hard to talk her into making it a private thing—just us and the staff.”

Mira hummed in response, putting her own arm around Rumi’s shoulders before glancing down at her. “So… bets on how far Luka is gonna slide after she tackles him?” she quirked an eyebrow with a faint grin. “My black crop top you’ve been eyeing against that red leather jacket you never wear says they’ll slide ten feet.”

“Mira!” Rumi chided. “I would never bet on something like that.” Mira just stared at her. “And it will be at least twenty feet.”

Luka picked that moment to walk in, raising a hand to wave when a roughly black-and-turquoise blur shot toward him like a rocket. Rumi saw a brief look of panic, followed by Zoey reaching him, followed by Zoey shooting straight up into the air before crashing back into Luka’s waiting arms.

“Jesus, Zoey,” he gasped out. “Warn a guy!”

“Holy crap, you threw me!” was Zoey’s excited response. “How did you do that?”

Luka shook his head at her, both hands firmly on her shoulders, trying to hold her to the floor. “Trick I learned from a dance class. All that air was your doing; I just pointed your momentum up as opposed to standing in the way of it. Think of the scene from Dirty Dancing, but I was terrified you were going to turn me into paste.”

Mira leaned down to whisper in Rumi’s ear. “So he knows some dance basics, at least. I guess we both lost the bet.” And then Mira bit her ear.

Rumi flushed crimson, hands flying to push her away. Mira was such a… a… tease. She quickly moved to put distance between them, approaching Luka and Zoey, noticing that Bobby had just reentered from the balcony. Rumi wrapped her arms around Zoey, who instantly leaned back into her, and Luka let his arms drop away and stepped back a pace, looking at all of them.

“You realize you’re all terrifying, right?”

“Yep!” squeaked out Zoey, as Rumi said “Yes,” and Mira wrapped her arms around Rumi and Zoey before responding, “Thank you, we work very hard at it.”

Luka just shook his head and sat down on one of the stools in the kitchen, while Bobby put a hand on his shoulder in commiseration.

Rumi felt warm right then, sandwiched between the loves of her life, both of whom were in really great moods. Bobby, who was basically the father figure all three girls had wanted all their lives, was here, overjoyed at another successful project. And Luka—a stranger, but one who had found a spot as a friend, which could be quite the challenge considering how different Rumi was from Zoey and Mira—but welcomed all the same.

“So,” Rumi started with a grin. “When is our next game?”

Luka looked shocked for a moment before looking at Bobby in confusion, who just shrugged. “Well,” he hesitated, “I guess I could run a game online when I get back home. Bobby said this thing was a one-and-done for charity, but so long as work doesn’t get too bad, I can probably make something happen. Good odds, actually—our number of projects just fell off a cliff.”

“Wait!” Zoey said. “You’re leaving? You can’t leave! You have to do all the stretch goals with us!” Rumi pulled her tighter into the hug, both in an attempt to keep her in place and to offer physical comfort.

Luka grinned at her. “I’ve only got so much vacation time, Zo. I’ve got to get back to work eventually. I’ll do every event that happens while I’m here though, alright?”

“What is it you do for work, Luka? I don’t think we ever asked.” Rumi asked, suddenly realizing just how little they actually knew about the man.

“Ohh, I bet he does speaking tours!” Zoey said. “Travels a lot, tells people why they should spend their money the way he says, but he does it in the Master Hand voice, and people just give him money without thinking about it!”

Luka laughed. “Nothing so grand. I work in security—mostly project management—and usually with the U.S. government. Contract work for secured sites and the like. You’re right about the travel, though, Zoey; I tend to go wherever I’m needed.”

“Family?” Mira asked. “Bouncing around like that can make that tough.”

“Just my siblings,” Luka shrugged, “and they bounce around about as much as I do these days. We tend to get together in October though—eat a bunch of food, catch up, and trade stories.”

“How many siblings do you have?” Zoey all but shouted.

“Are we playing twenty questions now?” Luka laughed at them. “I’m one of ten kids—seven sisters and two brothers. And before you ask, I’m kid six of ten.”

Rumi stopped paying attention, knowing that Zoey would ask twelve questions for every one she thought of, but also because she had just felt something in the Honmoon. She tried to pinpoint it, searching with her mind to figure out what it was. She thought…

“Rumi? You okay?” Mira whispered in her ear. “You’ve gone tense.”

Rumi shook her head. “Not important right now, I’ll tell you later,” she whispered back. The feeling had faded, just the memory of it staying with her. She turned her focus back to Luka, who had both of his hands up in surrender.

“Alright!” he was saying. “Alright, I get it! I’ll stay for at least another week, okay? I’m sure I can run a session or three in that time, provided y’all are up to it. Heck, if Mira and Rumi have charities, we can try to raise money again—though I won’t have another splatbook to give away this time.”

Rumi smiled at that. The game had been fun, and she was sure Mira would be happy to earn some money for that clothing charity she ran. Rumi just had a few orphanages that she sponsored, but it might be time to change that; she’d talk to Bobby about it. Then she noticed that Luka was backing toward the elevator.

“Yes, Zoey, I promise, cross my heart. But if you want me to run anything, I have to put it together, alright?” He hit the elevator button blindly. “So I’m gonna go do that; I’ll update you, okay?” Bobby joined him.

“And I have to get back to the office, girls—make sure all of those donations go where they’re supposed to. Need me to do anything else?”

They chorused “No, Bobby” together and watched the elevator doors slide closed, letting the two men escape. Mira was less charitable with Rumi.

“What’s wrong?” she asked point-blank, eyes boring into Rumi’s. Zoey’s smile vanished as she turned to both of them.

“So protective!” Rumi smiled at them both but didn’t wait to see if they’d laugh. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I felt something in the Honmoon—not a rift, but something. It felt like the Honmoon was… annoyed, maybe? I don’t know, but I think we should check it out later tonight.”

“We’re going hunting tonight?!” Zoey squirmed.

“You think it might be a demon?” Mira asked.

Rumi smiled at both of them. “It probably won’t be a proper hunt, Zoey. We haven’t seen a demon since we kicked Gwi-Ma’s butt, but it is unusual, so I’d rather be cautious than overconfident. And I’m not sure, Mira. The Honmoon reacted, so it’s possible, but I’ve never felt anything like it, so I don’t know.”

“You know we have your back, Rumi,” Mira said, face softening in the way it does only for Rumi and Zoey.

“We’re going hunting!!!” Zoey yelled, running off to her room to gear up, Mira following.

Rumi smiled as she watched them go. “Yes,” she said softly. “I suppose that we are.”

———

Luka was typing away at his computer, dozens of reference files open as he tried to design at least two more D&D sessions. The fact that it was one in the morning didn’t bother him; his sleep schedule was more of a theory than a habit these days. His phone ringing caught him off guard though.

“Hey, Alice. What time is it over there?” he asked as he answered.

“About noon. Enjoying your vacation?” Alice’s voice was clipped, which meant she was at work. She only relaxed when she wasn’t.

Luka frowned. “I am, but you’re calling from work. What’s up?”

Silence stretched on the other end. “How do you always know? It isn’t fair. No one else can read me like that.” She sounded exasperated, but amused too.

“I’m your brother,” Luka said with a grin. “I’m supposed to be able to read you like a book. Now spill.”

Alice sighed but didn’t hold back. “We got a reading out near you. It was faint, and took about sixteen hours to verify, but we did. Command’s requesting that you take a look.”

Luka hummed, thinking. “They’re requesting, not ordering? So it's a low priority. Higher-ups think it’s a bad reading don’t they?”

“I think they’re just relaxed,” Alice replied. “It’s been quiet for weeks—and absolutely nothing for days. The last hit was the one Grant brought in five days ago. What do you want me to tell them?”

Luka closed his eyes and let himself feel. Alice didn’t interrupt; she knew him well enough by now.

“Tell them I’m enjoying my time off,” he said after a moment. “But between you and me, I can feel what caused the reading. Small, I think they’re just relearning how to transfer, but it’s probably a struggle. I’d go take a look myself, but… well, you know where I am.”

Alice sighed. “Life would be easier if Korea and Japan let us work with them. All those ‘family secrets.’”

Luka didn’t disagree, but he also knew better than to let Alice spiral while she was still at work. “How’s everyone holding up?” he asked.

“Grant and Jack are up at the property. Thea drops by when she can, but she’s been in D.C. a lot lately, so I’ll have Andy check on them. Becky and Clair are doing some convention thing—I have no idea, they confuse me at the best of times. Lacy’s buried in the archives again, and Mia hasn’t moved from the couch since you left. So, chaos as usual.”

Luka hesitated. “Any word on…?”

“Still nothing,” Alice said quietly. “I’ll keep looking.”

He cleared his throat, not trusting himself, and moved to a new topic. “Speaking of my vacation—did you see who Bobby manages?”

Alice’s tone turned sly. “Thea already shipped you a box of stuff to get signed. And she told me to tell you that if you fail, she’ll demote you to her fourth-favorite brother.”

Luka laughed. “How’s that supposed to work when there are only three of us?”

“Not sure,” Alice admitted. “But I think you’d rank below some of her plushies. Get Zoey to sign something for me too?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Luka said easily. “I’m here another week, so I should be able to manage it. Send me that scan, would you? I doubt I’ll find anything your techs missed, but just in case.”

“Done,” Alice said as his email pinged. “Now go to bed—it’s late there.”

———

Zoey rushed down the darkened streets, her Shin-kal put away but ready to draw in an instant. Mira ran beside her, graceful no matter how fast they moved, while Rumi led the way ahead of them—as she always had.

No, not as always. Rumi was more confident now, shoulders bare to show her patterns, no longer trying to shrink into herself—trusting that Zoey and Mira would have her back.

Mira lightly bumped her shoulder.

“You shouldn’t be staring at Rumi’s ass, Zo,” she whispered, her own eyes just as disrespectful.

“I know…” Zoey whined. “But those shorts should be illegal.”

“Did you say something, Zoey?” Rumi called back.

Zoey nearly tripped on something unseen in the dark. “Just wondering if we’re close!” she squeaked.

Rumi turned into an alley and came to a stop, scanning the area critically. Mira stepped forward, Gok-Do forming in her hands as she took up a defensive stance. Zoey kept her Shin-kal in the Honmoon, but her fingers itched for the blades.

“Whatever it was, it was here,” Rumi said slowly. “I’m going to check the roofs—back in a second. Zoey, see if you can find anything, alright?”

Zoey was already shifting debris around when Mira muttered a quiet, “Be safe,” and Rumi vanished in a puff of smoke.

“I wish I could teleport,” Zoey said.

“You would abuse it,” Mira replied dryly.

“Of course I would,” Zoey laughed. “Why do you think I want it so bad?”

Rumi reappeared, shaking her head. She hadn’t found anything above, but Zoey hadn’t really expected her to. Whatever Rumi had sensed, it had happened here, in this alley.

And Zoey had found it.

“Ash,” she said simply, blades materializing in her hands as she looked around. “I think a demon died here.”

“But what would have killed it?” Rumi asked, glancing toward Mira in confusion.

Mira tilted her head. “You’re not patrolling without us, right? Because you promised. And you look as confused as I feel. The only reason I’m asking is because you went straight here, but Zoey and I didn’t feel anything, but you’ve always been more in tune with the Honmoon.” Mira shrugged her shoulders.

Rumi shook her head. “I go on short runs without you, that’s it. I just get this excess energy sometimes, but I never go hunting alone. As for coming straight here… it’s like I could—” she frowned, “—I don’t know, smell it? That’s not right, but it’s close. Maybe it’s a demon thing?”

Zoey crouched beside the ash pile. She knew from experience these didn’t linger long—but if it had formed when Rumi first felt the disturbance...

“This pile’s been here too long,” she said, looking up. “Rumi, you felt them pierce the Honmoon, what, an hour ago? What’s the longest we’ve ever seen an ash pile last—thirty minutes? So either the ash is able to stick around much longer than we thought, or whatever killed it is still nearby.”

Rumi’s Saingeom flared to life, pushing back the darkness as the three of them scanned the alley.

“Zoey?” Rumi whispered. “I think we need to push up that meeting with Celine.”

———

Celine sat alone, staring at her dinner as if pointed introspection could make it taste like something besides sawdust.

Rumi kneeling in the dirt, Saingeom held between them.

Celine stubbornly put food in her mouth.

“Why won’t you look at me?!?”

Celine dropped her chopsticks.

“Why couldn’t you love me?”

Several minutes later, Celine was washing the taste of vomit from her mouth. Strange that still had taste when food didn’t. She quickly cleaned the kitchen, leftovers going into the fridge, clearly labeled despite knowing she would never eat them. She grabbed a bottle of soju and went to her room. At least sleeping was easy.

The sight of someone else in her room should have stirred something inside her, but really, she just hoped that whatever monster was waiting for her would make it quick. Still, she instinctively reached for the Honmoon. It ignored her. This rainbow Honmoon had never chosen her. She didn’t deserve to be chosen.

“Still so quick to reach for what you no longer have, eonni?” a voice said.

“Ah,” Celine said to herself, “another ghost to torment me for my failings. I guess I deserve it. Ha-Yun always was the smart one. And she left me because of what happened to Mi-Yeong. Probably the smartest thing she could have done.” Celine took a long pull from the soju bottle. “I wonder if things would have been better with her around. What am I saying—of course they would have. She wouldn’t have messed everything up in such a spectacular fashion the way I did.” she mused dryly.

“Then it is a good thing I have returned to fix your mistakes, Celine.” And the figure stepped forward. Ha-Yun had aged gracefully, still as pretty as Celine remembered her, but harder than she had ever been when they performed together—when they had all loved each other.

“Why…?” Celine whispered as the bottle fell from limp fingers, eyes wide in shock.

“Our faults and fears must never be seen, Celine, and your faults have been all over the internet.” Ha-Yun continued walking forward, her eyes glowing magenta, pulling Celine in. “I’m here to help you correct those faults.”

———

Mira was trying to control her breathing. Zoey hanging onto her arm helped, but the tiny maknae was stretched a bit thin between her and Rumi, who needed a lot of encouragement to keep walking forward. Mira didn’t need encouragement, and Zoey was doing her best to keep her from running ahead to beat Celine within an inch of her life. Rumi had finally told them all the details of the last time she’d talked to Celine, and for a brief second, Mira had thought Zoey might have felt almost as murderous as she did.

“You’re tensing again, Mira,” Zoey said softly. “We will make Celine answer for everything—but not today, okay? I’m not asking for forever, just today.” Zoey squeezed Mira’s arm.

Mira looked to Rumi, who attempted a thin smile.

“Fine,” Mira grumbled. “But you’re just making the inevitable explosion worse.”

Zoey nodded decisively. “Good. She’ll deserve it.”

They walked up the hill in silence after that, the training grounds coming into view, the house beyond it. Mira slowed a step, something tugging at her mind.

“Mir?” Zoey asked. “What’s up?”

“Something is wrong,” Mira responded, eyes flicking across the grounds. Everything felt empty, like they were the first people to walk them since… Mira tried not to think about the when. She pushed forward toward the house, finding the front door slightly open. Rumi pushed past, running inside and calling Celine’s name.

Zoey touched Mira’s shoulder. “I’ll check the back—work over to the tree.”

“Be safe,” Mira told her. “I’ll help Rumi, but we’ll need you soon.”

Zoey nodded and started running, leaving Mira to push into the house alone. Everything looked like it was in its proper place, but the unwashed dishes in the sink were a worrying sign. Celine was meticulous in everything; dirty dishes were very unlike her. The door to Celine’s study was also ajar, and Mira pushed it all the way open. Papers lay everywhere, the chair behind the desk toppled onto its side, drawers left open, and books removed from the shelves. Something was very wrong.

“Mira, did you—” Rumi’s voice fell silent as she took in the office, and Mira folded her into a hug.

“She has to be okay, Rumi,” Mira said. “She is terrifyingly strong and capable, and however much I want to break her nose, she does love us. She wouldn’t just leave. There has to be an explanation.”

“I found…” Rumi started, sounding fragile. She held up a half-empty bottle of soju. “It was in her room, on the floor. I don’t…” She sniffed.

“She is fine, Rumi,” Mira said forcefully. “Zoey is checking the grounds. Help me search here—we’ll find something.” She guided Rumi to the desk, picking up the chair for her to sit in. “You start with the drawers; I’ll search this mess.”

Zoey entered a few minutes later. “The car is gone, the door to the garage left open. Wherever she went, she left in a hurry.” Zoey took in the tossed office. “Did you find it like this, or make it like this?”

“Found,” Mira snapped defensively. “The papers are a mix—training stuff, hunter histories, things from the studio. I think whatever wasn’t needed just got tossed onto the floor.”

“Her journal is missing,” Rumi said quietly. Mira and Zoey looked at her, not wanting to put any pressure on their leader. Rumi gritted her teeth and pushed forward, determined to work the problem. “Her journal and her records of our training. I don’t know what all she wrote there, but she wrote a lot. If anything else is missing…” She looked at the piles of papers, clearly searching for something else, some kind of link.

“I think,” Zoey started, “that maybe she’s afraid to see you—afraid of what you… I mean…”

Rumi looked close to crying, and Mira’s heart shattered.

“I’ll message her,” Mira said. “We all will. A peace offering—to let her know we want to mend our relationship.”

“Do you?” Rumi asked quietly, and Mira knelt down in front of her, taking both of Rumi’s hands into her own.

“Of course I do, Rumi,” Mira said softly. “Yes, I’m furious with her. Yes, I’m going to yell at her the first chance I get. But this isn’t the first time Celine has infuriated me, so I doubt it will be any different than when I used to get into her face when we were still in training. But she is family, Rumi—the family I chose. I won’t give her up either.”

Zoey knelt down next to Mira and put a hand on Rumi’s leg. “Let’s go home for now, Rumi. Mira’s idea is a good one—we’ll all message her, let her know we want to start forgiving, invite her over. I’m sure she’ll come see us, okay?”

Rumi looked down at them both, eyes glistening with tears she refused to let fall. “What did I ever do to deserve you?” she asked them both. Mira and Zoey pulled her into a hug.

———

Alice typed away at her computer, writing another report she was sure her superiors wouldn’t read. Still, the work needed to be done.

“Alice?” came a young voice. Tom—one of her techs, and honestly, probably her best—stood in the doorway.

“Hey, Tom. Got something for me?” she asked, expecting the report on that second reading they’d gotten.

“Uh, yeah.” Tom sounded hesitant as he handed over a paper. Alice raised an eyebrow before reading—and her breath caught. She read the report again, then stood abruptly, pulling Tom along as she started walking toward her manager’s office.

“How confident are you, Tom?” she asked quickly.

“Not 100%, but I’m pretty confident,” Tom replied. “I lit a fire under some asses to get it verified. Alice, I’ve never seen that signal outside of training. If it’s what I think it is…”

“Then we’ll handle it,” Alice snapped. She took a calming breath—this wasn’t Tom’s fault. “Who’s unaccounted for?”

Tom hesitated, but gave her the answer she already knew. “Just Luka. Him being on vacation means no regular check-ins.”

Alice shook her head. “I talked to him yesterday. I’ll call him again and have him swing by the embassy for an official check-in, but it’s not him.”

Tom let out a sigh of relief, and Alice tried hard not to feel offended that someone might think so little of her brother. But if it wasn’t Luka… then who was it?

Chapter Text

r/Huntrix
BehindTheStage • 1,047 upvotes
Huntr/x Plays D&D — Episode 1 “The Cost of a Soul” [Recap Thread]

Hey Hunters! Just finished putting together a quick recap for Episode 1 if you don’t want to rewatch the entire chaos (or if you need a memory refresher before episode 2).

The girls (and Bobby) built their characters — Mira’s Barbarian Jathal the Hammer, Rumi’s Paladin Indranna Duskrunner, Zoey’s Wildborn Reda Greenwood, and finally, Bobby as the ever-patient Bard Andrezi Silversong. The party met in a tavern, fought geese (seriously), tracked down a demon, and finally, Mira, Rumi, and Zoey all went full murder-mode while Bobby provided… musical inspiration. Yes, Bobby sang. And yes, it was amazing.

Highlights:

• Bobby’s ballad to inspire the party
  
  
• Zoey going full bear mode
  
  
• Mira picking the most broken damage options she could find
  
  
• Rumi’s perfection shining through as always
  
  

Here’s the full video if you missed it! [youtube link]

Top Comments:

HuntrixAndChill • 742 upvotes
The geese scene though… I almost cried. It wasn’t that OP, the dice just hated the party. #rollfail

• ZoomieForever • 483 upvotes: I know! Mira’s Jathal tried to smash one and rolled a 2. A TWO.
  
  
• TurtleProphet42 • 326 upvotes: Zoey in bear form just face planted into the flock and got honked at. Legendary.
  
  
• ElfHammered • 198 upvotes: And Rumi trying to cast Smite on a goose… the dice said NOPE.
  
  
• HuntrixAndChill • 107 upvotes: It wouldn’t have mattered! Smite only works on evil creatures!
  
  
• ElfHammered • 97 upvotes: @HuntrixAndChill are you implying that those geese weren’t evil?
  
  

MirasLeftSock • 561 upvotes
Mira holding her own through that demon fight? Iconic. Also, yes, I have all the damage spreadsheets ready 😎

• ElfHammered • 372 upvotes: Spreadsheets? I just roll for fun, but Mira surviving that fight with style is terrifying.
  
  
• DiceRoller87 • 264 upvotes: @MirasLeftSock Can I get a copy of that spreadsheet? Asking for a friend… and maybe my DM.
  
  

zoeysfavoriteturtle • 638 upvotes
Reda is too cute for words. Zoomies unite!!! Also… Bobby singing?? I was not prepared 😭

• ZoomieForever • 449 upvotes: @zoeysfavoriteturtle I know right?? I rewound like three times. Zoomies are officially forming a choir in his honor.
  
  
• WildbornHype • 339 upvotes: Honestly? Reda’s love-powered shapeshifting > anything else. I live for it.
  
  

PerfectBraidFan • 487 upvotes
Rumi asking 42 questions about paladin spells but still leading everyone through that demon fight? Classic. Also that braid deserves its own Instagram account.

• DiceRoller87 • 317 upvotes: I can’t even handle how long that braid is. It’s basically a party member at this point.
  
  
• MirasLeftSock • 263 upvotes: @PerfectBraidFan Not just long, it’s strategic. She literally used it to signal when to move in battle.
  
  

TinyButTerrifying • 432 upvotes
I need that Wildborn splatbook yesterday. Zoey, you are the ultimate creature converter 😤 Every animal, every time.

• zoeysfavoriteturtle • 365 upvotes: @TinyButTerrifying You know it!!! I already have plans for a squirrel army next session.
  
  
• ElfHammered • 247 upvotes: Honestly, it was Zoey declaring that Reda is “powered by love” that is making me emotional.
  
  

ZoomieForever • 597 upvotes
Bobby is secretly a hero. Song and bard spells at the same time??? My heart can’t handle it. Also, Mira plotting murder while Rumi mediates is peak content.

• PerfectBraidFan • 302 upvotes: Peak content is right. It’s like a perfect storm of chaos and order.
  
  
• MirasLeftSock • 213 upvotes: I just want to see Bobby do a full D&D session concert now. That was too good.
  
  

ElfHammered • 448 upvotes
I like how the GM’s hands are basically a character now. The Cost of a Soul is such a mood. Can we get theories on next episode? Demon remnants? Zoey going full animal again?

• DiceRoller87 • 236 upvotes: Definitely remnants. I bet the demon wasn’t the only one.
  
  
• WildbornHype • 176 upvotes: Also, Zoey’s Wildborn is going to turn into something ridiculous next. I feel it.
  
  
• ZoomieForever • 152 upvotes: Can we just acknowledge that Master Hands has the best GM aesthetic ever? Those hands are terrifying. And classy.
  
  

ZoomieForever • 498 upvotes
Also… did anyone else notice that little mark Master Hands drew under Zoey’s name?? I’m not saying it’s ominous, but… alright it’s ominous as hell!

• WildbornHype • 142 upvotes: @ZoomieForever I literally paused the video. Could it be a hidden score, like a GM tally for something??
  
  
• ElfHammered • 131 upvotes: Maybe it’s just Handsy being cryptic? Or it’s foreshadowing something wild next session.