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It was mostly quiet in the penthouse where the three women sat spread out on the couch. Normally they would have been cuddling at a time like this but it was too hot out and they were perfectly content to just laze around together. The three idols were on hiatus and had earned the lazy day anyways as the previous day they had to fight off a Jeoseung Saja who had crawled through the honmoon with the intent of defeating them. He wanted to prove he would be worthy enough to replace Gwi-Ma and did put up a decent fight, definitely was a better fighter than any of the Saja Boys had been, but it was ultimately him who was defeated.
It has been just under 2 years since Gwi-Ma’s defeat and the birth of the new honmoon and breaches were rare since then. The first several times it had been demons fiercely loyal to Gwi-Ma who sought to continue his legacy, even convinced that if they collected enough souls the demon king would be reborn. Then, much to the shock and horror of the hunters, it was groups of demons convinced Rumi was meant to take the demon throne and swearing loyalty to her which was weird. After her refusal it wasn't long before the first claimant appeared seeking the throne and wanting to prove themselves to the other demons, and it didn't take long for a pattern to form. A powerful demon would come for them, they'd deal with it, then have to fight off whatever following they had gathered as they sought out revenge, or worse, they’d have to chase off another group who seemed convinced Rumi herself was meant to take the demon throne herself.
So yeah they were taking the day off for whatever came next.
Speaking of, the half demon was currently draped across the back of the couch soaking up the sun through the large windows, her content purring the only noise in the otherwise quiet living space. Mira sat at an angle, her long legs stretched out in front of her leaning sideways against the back of the couch as she peacefully read a book. Across from her sat Zoey curled up into a ball and doing god knows what on her phone. Probably stalking their fans on twitter or reading fanfiction.
Hopefully it's the former, the maknae gets ideas after reading fanfiction.
The cozy atmosphere soon shifts however as Rumi’s content purring slowly dies out, replaced with an almost eerie silence. The change causes Mira and Zoey to glance at each other in concern before turning their attention onto the half demon they loved. Eyeing her beautiful patterns as they shifted from a content light blue color to an anxious dark gray.
Mira sets her book aside before reaching up, resting her hand on Rumi’s calf and lightly running her thumb along the patterns. “Everything alright tiger?” She asks, giving her calf a gentle squeeze as the half demon looked back at her.
Zoey does much the same. Putting her phone down and taking one of Rumi’s hands, gently tracing the patterns along the back of her hand and smiling reassuringly up at the purple haired woman when her gaze shifts to look down at her.
The two of them watch as Rumi furrows her brows in consideration. They watch as she opens her mouth a few times, giving several false starts as she tries to find the words for what she was feeling before huffing and looking off into the distance.
Zoey craned her neck to see what Rumi was looking at if anything, following her gaze towards the wall of their album awards. Before she could ask the maknae notices the anxiety filled dark gray patterns shift to a more depressive dark blue.
That’s when Rumi finds the words she was looking for and pops the question. It was a simple question, only 4 words, but it was a loaded question and definitely shifted the course of their afternoon.
“Do you miss her?”
“Miss who unnie?” Zoey asks softly, glancing over at Mira in confusion.
“Me,” Rumi answers, “Do you miss the girl I used to be before…” She trails off, her gaze snapping towards their awards for Golden and What it Sounds like before gesturing vaguely to herself.
Mira frowns and adjusts her glasses. She didn’t see any shameful purple mixing with the sad dark blue so she knew this wasn’t just their leader's self doubt and insecurities about herself rising up again. She opens her mouth to say “No I don’t, because that girl’s right here, stronger and more beautiful than ever” but cuts herself off and stays quiet after the maknae shoots a look at her.
“Can you elaborate for us Rumi?” Zoey asks, giving her hand a squeeze.
Rumi frowns a bit in consideration “I miss who she- who I used to be…” she admits before continuing “or at least parts of her.”
“What do you miss exactly?” Zoey prompts.
“I miss the drive I once had.” Rumi starts “I used to have such a clear end goal with the golden honmoon but after that one interview where my voice was described as otherworldly, when we realized my voice might come from my demon side and that it might have been the golden honmoon fucking up my voice we kinda just… gave up on the goal.”
Mira nods a bit in understanding. Rumi’s voice started having issues that night after the show when they saw the first shimmer of gold in the old honmoon, not when her patterns spread to her throat. Rumi said this new honmoon felt more comfortable and didn’t hurt as much as the old one did, and wasn’t that a horrifying revelation, but they decided it best not to risk it until they could maybe get some kind of answer. Their mentor was already looking deeper into it.
“An end goal is good to have,” Zoey agrees “but if that’s what you miss I’m sure we could find new ones, maybe less supernatural ones. Personally I would love for Weird Al to do a parody of one of our songs.”
Rumi chuckles a bit, "that's not the only thing I miss but I do appreciate it.” she says, her patterns lighting up to a soft golden yellow before shifting back to that dark blue “I also miss… the peace of mind I guess. While I’m not going to say she didn’t have traumatic experiences or fears she definitely had different ones than I do now.”
“That's why Bobby put us in therapy." Mira says flatly. “I’m not trying to downplay anything but we all have trauma babe. Yeah I would rather have my old trauma over some of my current trauma but I'm pretty sure that's normal, not healthy mind you, but normal.”
Rumi huffs, “You're right it's probably just in my head but… for example I'd rather face the fear of what you might have done when you discovered my patterns again rather than freeze up whenever I hear- when I hear that song.”
Both the other girls tense up at the mention. Despite their best efforts to scrap and bury that song, TAKEDOWN was just too popular. Despite Celine's efforts to stop them the board forced them to either sell it or perform it themselves and like hell the latter was going to happen. TWICE did the song justice but that didn’t stop all 3 of them from freezing up whenever they heard it. They had to stop listening to the radio after Mira almost crashed the car and they still occasionally hear it in public anyways.
“Again that may just be me talking, I know how you'd react now if I had just told you but she didn’t know which is what really made it scary.” Rumi bulldozes on, not wanting any of them to dwell on that song. Her patterns darkening to a familiar purple “which brings me to the fact that… I miss the hiding sometimes”
Mira pulls her hand away as if burned, angry tears already starting to well up but Rumi continues before she gets the chance.
“Not from you! Never from you, not again but… from the public.” the half demon rushes to explain. Allowing Mira to relax and return her hand to her love’s calf, giving it a squeeze in understanding.
“As much as I hate that, I suppose it makes sense.” Zoey concedes.
Rumi nods “Despite yours, PR’s, and even the fan’s best efforts I do occasionally see the hate online. The off hand comments at fan events are harder for you guys to shield me from and well… There is also the fear of who knows the truth about these patterns.”
Mira can’t stop the huff of amusement as she is reminded of the priest who attacked Rumi with holy water and when that didn’t work tried to perform an exorcism. It was as scary as it was confusing at the time but now it was one of those things they could look back on with a laugh. However it did open up the question of who else knew. The last thing they needed was a cult kidnapping Rumi to sacrifice her to free the demon within or some government faking her death and taking her for experimentation. Plus if that information was still private maybe they wouldn’t have demons trying to crown her queen every few months.
“Anything else you miss?” Zoey prompts gently. When Rumi shakes her head she continues, “Okay so what don’t you miss?”
“I don't miss the lies.” Rumi immediately answers. "I don't miss lying and hiding away from you two” she continues a bit slower.
“I don’t miss that either.” Mira muses.
“The distance,” Rumi continues, “I’m glad that's gone, definitely don't miss that. Not just between us but with Celine too, I know she didn’t do a great job but she's been trying to do better.”
“Things change Rumi. People change. Feelings change.” Zoey says, squeezing the half demon's hand. “Just because you changed doesn’t mean my feelings for you changed. To answer your original question, no, I don't miss her, because she’s right here next to me. Sure she’s changed, but to grow is to change, and that's the beauty of life.”
“We can’t miss someone who isn’t gone.” Mira agrees “that girl’s right here, just as beautiful, if not more so, and she’s stronger than ever.”
“Girllllss” Rumi whines, blushing and hiding her face as her patterns turn that lovely shade of gold they love.
“We love you Rumi,” Zoey starts
“And all your faults and fears.” Mira continues.
“And despite all the changes that come with growth, that will never change.” Zoey finishes before bringing Rumi’s hand up to kiss her knuckles.