To say Rumi is displeased to be in Darrow would be a vast understatement. It helps more than she can say to have Mira here, too, even if they've yet to find any sign that Zoey is in the city with them. It would just be a lot nicer if they could simply... go home. As far as she can tell, though, everything she was told is true. Until this city lets them go, they're stuck here.

She dragged her feet through the first week or so of her stay, but reuniting with Mira has at least helped her accept that they're going to be here a while. It doesn't keep her from resenting the very idea of it, but there's no point living like they're on tour or something. If she has her way, their time here will be brief, but refusing to settle in won't help her. She has money from the city and there's no reason not to use it for whatever little things she needs — clothes, groceries, notebooks and pens.

Though she initially tries to talk herself out of anything bigger, she gives up in short order, stopping by a little music store to buy a used guitar. She can live on ramyeon for a week or however long, but if she has to go another two weeks without making any kind of music, she'll probably go insane, so this, too, counts as a necessity.

Truthfully, when it comes to being an idol, she's been incredibly lucky. She recognizes that she's had it way easier than most. With Celine raising her, her mom's legacy, the knowledge that her place in a group was guaranteed, she never had to contend with the stress other trainees felt, wondering whether or not she'd ever get signed. It was always just a matter of waiting until Celine had the right trio, that's all. She knows people talked about her because of it, that there are still plenty of antis who call her a dozen, but she doesn't let that bother her much. She knows the truth of her talent; she's seen it for herself in lines of shimmering blue and gold written across Seoul. Her voice is one thing Rumi is confident about.

Because her place in Huntr/x was sealed before the group even had a name, let alone other members, and because Celine was so focused on shooting them straight to the top, they skipped a lot of the coming-of-age rites other rookie groups go through. And Rumi's not going to pretend she wishes they'd struggled. She's thankful their path was a flower road from the start. Even so, the fact that they never had to do busking was a little disappointing. The closest she ever came was an episode of Begin Again. It's not the same.

She sets up on the boardwalk, just her and her new-old guitar, a cheap mic clipped to her hoodie. She just wants to keep it simple: a folding chair, set up in as shady a place as she can find on the old wooden path. There are a couple bottles of water tucked behind the chair so she can stay hydrated and a speaker behind her guitar case where it's laid on the ground. Other than that, it's just the way the strings feel under her fingers as she starts playing familiar songs.

Back home, she rarely even got to do covers. Celine was so precious about their image. Here, there's no one to remind her to go over her choices with the team and strategize, picking songs that won't cause any negative sentiments or comparisons, steering her away from music by her contemporaries or hoobaes. It's just Rumi, singing what she likes, though she carefully chose a handful of songs in English, since that seems to be the language most Darrow residents speak.

Ooh, no matter what, you got me,
I got you, and I wouldn't want it any other way
Ooh, no drop of doubt, I know deep down that
We'll make it through
Just like we always do

She focuses on the music, her eyes almost closed at first, but she knows by now — call it instinct or training — how to work a crowd, and a crowd is undeniably beginning to form. She stops playing long enough to get them clapping rhythmically along, diving back into the warm notes of the chorus, her voice rising sweetly over the sounds of the crowd and the waves. One song becomes another and another, and for the first time in longer than she cares to think about, the music is just... music, stripped of all the responsibility it's had to carry for so long. That she's had to carry. By the time she finishes up, the sun is starting to set, and Rumi feels lighter than she has in a long, long time.

[ Come find Rumi somewhere on the Darrow Boardwalk! Either find her playing or wrapping up or say she took a break to get a snack, whatever strikes your fancy/is most accessible. I threw together a playlist of some songs that she might play, so feel free to say it's any of these in a very stripped down acoustic rendition. The one used in the post is "I Got You" by Twice, but anything goes, so if you'd rather your pup come across her playing, e.g., Taylor Swift's "Cruel Summer" instead, have at it. And if you haven't yet heard her sing, here's a link to "Golden," one of her group's singles in canon. Set to any point on Wednesday. Open until this says otherwise. ]