Work Text:
Jinu always wondered how did Rumi earn her pretty stripes, earn her shame. She was free of the chains that branded demons, for some reason she was completely unaware of the possibility. Her mind was silent; she was beyond Gwima's control.
To a certain extent she was free.
Free in a way he only dared to dream of. Freedom of the mind.
Clearly it wasn't enough to be rid of shame but hers seemed to stem from the fact she was a demon in the first place.
Understandable but still quite ridiculous, the only thing that warranted her shame that made sense as you cant get rid of your parentage and worrying over it is useless and foolish was the fact that she was a demon hunter.
It was actually the most surprising thing about her, especially because Gwima couldn't control her. Before he knew that particular fact he had assumed she was a demon hunter in order to stop Gwima’s control over her, kind of like what Jinu himself was trying to do.
Anyway he was currently waiting for her to show up. One of their newer meeting spots was a bench on the edge of a large park, closer to the older suburbs of the city. Personally Jinu preferred some of the more cultural and older architecture rather than the newer, extremely slick and polished look that modern buildings all seemed to have, especially closer to the city centre.
It reminded him more of his times, and the cobbled roofs were far more fun to chase Rumi about,(or rather get chased, though he would never admit it)
She was a few minutes late, but he wouldn't make a remark on it (He learned his lesson). She was probably busy trying to sneak out, she did have it harder than him with that, with her overprotective bandmates.
Especially the pink haired one, she could be damn scary at times.
He watched the low afternoon sun rays glow golden, and the late summer leaves that swished in the breeze. It wasn't a particularly warm day so he was glad for his hoodie, after a few more minutes he heard a light crunch behind him, and turned after a moment just in time to face the purple haired girl who attempted to sneak on him.
To his exasperation she was in fact holding her honmoon sword, which glowed and changed colors between light blue, pink and purple.
“Can’t you try to be on time for once.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed her sword dissolving into the air. “Hello to you too, Jinu” her tone was annoyed and had that specific edge that was meant to annoy him.
Well isn't fighting meanness with kindness always the best idea?
“And how are you this fine afternoon, preparation for the Idol Awards going okay?”
He got another glare for that. He swept his eyes over her, loose light purple trousers without choo-choo trains this time,and a light green, turquoise-y top with a long sleeved grey jacket over that. He couldn't see her marks, her throat that she claimed to be useless because of her marks now seemed almost mark free, he could see the very faint edges poking out from her color, they were so light they could pass as simple shadows. Which was probably the only reason he could even see that much. With how secretive Rumi was about them, even that much was surprising for her.
He wasn't going to comment on them and possibly lose the chance of her willingly showing them to him someday.
She must have noticed him looking though, because her stance became more defensive and her arms seemed ready to hug herself.
“My voice is nearly back to normal, and they went away a good bit,”She murmured. He raised his eyebrow at her. “Didnt I tell you. The patterns are our shame, you not hating them is what makes them go away. You're not letting your shame get to you”
“You don't know that.”
“I do. I mean it's not like the Hon-moon is close to being golden.” He got another glare for that and she stalked towards him like a pissed off tigress.
“We are going to turn the Hon-moon golden, and get rid of creatures like you. All demons will be gone and so will my marks.”
Denial. A clear case of it. He told her so and as she fumed, before she had a chance to take her sword out again he told her.
“I really don't understand why you can't, just accept it, why haven't you already accepted it. It's a fact and you're very in denial about it, even if you close the Hon-moon it'll still be true”
This was clearly the wrong thing to say, Rumi froze her eyes went wide with a frantic look in them before they hardened and glared at him with such fury and hidden pain as never before.
She was right in front of him and her voice carried some of her pain as she quietly said, her words ones she thought of before but never voiced.
“You could never understand how much I have to hide. I don't want to. I trust and love my friends more than anything I want to tell them, but she said I can't and she's probably right, I can't be certain of their reaction and besides I'm a huntress.”
Jinu pulled her into a hug since she was so close anyway, even though he wasn't sure she'd appreciate it, but Rumi melted into him despite her previous hostility.
“Who’s she?”
“What?”
“The one who told you not to tell.”
Rumi buried her face deeper in his hoodie and closed her eyes as she replied,”My mentor, Celine. She raised me after my mother died. She was one of the previous Hunters.”
That made Jinu hesitate instead. Mentor. Previous Hunter, probably a Sunlight Sister then. A shame planter.
He had his memories and haunting voices Gwima called on him, she had the woman who raised her. Her own Gwima in a way. From what she said he could easily assume that her mentor was the traditional, rule following, strict sort. Probably very anti-demon, even towards her charge to the point of magnifying patterns, although Rumi's own thought that came from the woman's actions probably made it much worse too.
He hugged her tightly and didn't say anything else, he wasn't sure of what to say. He would gladly punch her mentor. Celine wasn't it? If he could but, talking to Rumi about it seemed as complicated as their entire situation. Which was very.
So he just held her under the trees and the golden glow of the sun before she picked herself up again to push him away and continue in her denial. It was receding though. He could tell she was becoming more aware. Which was good.
He watched her go as he thought of what he can say to her next time they cross paths, hopefully soon before the Idol Awards and Gwima would ruin everything.