TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

You Don't Coddle A Hunting Dog

Go To

You Don’t Coddle a Hunting Dog is a KPop Demon Hunters fanfic written by UltimateFenris.

Like in the movie, Celine took Rumi in after the death of her human mother, training her how to fight demons and protect the Honmoon. However, instead of treating her as a daughter, Celine would treat Rumi as an attack dog for her future teammates to use. Fortunately, said teammates don’t see her that way.


You Don’t Coddle a Hunting Dog contains examples of:

  • Abusive Parents: The main premise of the fic is that Celine treats Rumi as an attack animal, putting a Shock Collar on her neck, feeding her the bare minimum of food, locking her in a drafty room with a single blanket to keep herself warm, putting a muzzle on her face at times, and even having a doctor perform a hysterectomy on her once she hits puberty.
  • Accomplice by Inaction:
    • Due to her fame and wealth, Celine has several contacts helping her condition Rumi, like several doctors.
    • Mira and Zoey are also guilty of this, even if they’re only going along with it to ultimately get Rumi away from Celine.
  • Achievements in Ignorance: Celine’s conditioning of Rumi allowed her to pick up on the fact that Zoey was diabetic before anyone else even knew.
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
    • Poor Rumi has taken the brunt of Celine’s abuse nearly her entire life.
    • Mira becoming the leader puts more stress on her
  • Adaptational Dumbass: Rumi has been conditioned to have the mentality of an animal.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: As flawed as Celine was in canon, she at least tried to juggle her role as parent and mentor. Here, she lacks any of the affection she had for Rumi.
  • Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
    • In canon, Celine was willing to love the human side of Rumi. Here, she only sees Rumi as a demon and a mindless beast.
    • Mira becomes the leader of the team, not Rumi.
  • Adaptational Sapience: The Honmoon is depicted as capable of showing affection and comfort to Rumi, not unlike the ocean in Moana.
  • Big Sister Instinct: As the team leader, Mira has to look out for the wellbeing of the innocent Zoey and the animalistic Rumi. Even before learning the truth about demons and Celine’s treatment of Rumi, Mira chose to go train with Celine in order to prevent Zoey from getting overwhelmed.
  • Black-and-White Insanity: Despite not eating a single soul, Rumi is perceived as an evil monster by Celine, thanks to the latter’s hatred of demons.
  • Book Dumb: Zoey has no idea that there are arteries in the shoulder.
    Mira: I forget how shitty American education is sometimes, and then you open your mouth.
  • Broken Pedestal: Zoey and Mira’s opinion of Celine plummets as soon as they learn about Rumi.
  • Cigarette of Anxiety: Mira takes up smoking as a way to cope with the trauma of Rumi biting her shoulder.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Zoey and Mira try fighting Celine for Rumi’s sake, but the more experienced Hunter beats them both with ease.
  • Darker and Edgier: The fic delves deep into the topic of abuse through the way Celine treats and dehumanizes Rumi.
  • Declaration of Protection: In Chapter 10, both Zoey and Mira stand up to Celine in defense of Rumi, even forming their weapons for the first time.
  • Defusing the Tyke-Bomb: Mira and Zoey realize that in order to help Rumi escape, they’ll need to do this.
    Mira: Rumi didn't run away, she has Stockholm syndrome or something, she won't run even if given the opportunity. We don't have the resources to kidnap her ass and get her out of here, and even then, I'm not sure she wouldn't fight us to get back to Celine. We can't leave because that just leaves her with Celine. I hate to say it, but I think we have to stay, to earn Rumi's trust enough that we can all leave.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Zoey and Mira work together to free Rumi from her prison without considering that years of conditioning wouldn’t make her want to escape.
  • Disabled in the Adaptation: Zoey gets diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Almost literally. At the beginning of her training, Rumi takes advantage of Celine being close enough to her while running to bite her arm.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: Celine refuses to see Rumi as anything more than a demon, and when the Honmoon chose her, Celine still couldn’t bring herself to call Rumi a human, even when the Honmoon is designed to seal demons. If anything, Rumi being chosen by the Honmoon only intensified Celine’s abuse.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Celine is dumbfounded when she sees Zoey and Mira discover their respective weapons while defending Rumi.
    Celine: For the mutt?!
    Zoey: Yeah, for Rumi.
    Celine: You are a misguided runt of a girl.
  • First Period Panic: Rumi gets her first period during the second chapter. Celine calls a couple doctors to sterilize her.
  • The Handler: This was the role Celine intended for Mira and Zoey to have when it came to Rumi.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: Despite claiming to be above demons, Celine becomes the central antagonist of the fic for her treatment of Rumi.
  • In Spite of a Nail: Much like in canon, the Honmoon is being negatively affected by the way Celine treats Rumi.
  • Intoxication Ensues: While high on painkillers, Mira gets very loopy, questioning if turtles dream with Zoey.
  • Obliviously Evil: Celine has spent years convincing herself she’s not an abusive parent, that she’s doing this for the greater good.
    Celine: What I have done, is honed a weapon to help you on your mission to save humanity.
  • Pet the Dog: Deconstructed. Once in a blue moon, Celine will show the barest of affection for Rumi like braiding her hair. However, it’s only part of Celine’s conditioning. By doing this, it tricks Rumi into believing Celine actually loves her, giving her something to work for.
  • The Poorly Chosen One: This is how Celine sees Rumi being chosen by the Honmoon, as she explains the day before beginning her training.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Celine believes Rumi’s half-demon heritage puts her on the same level of a mindless animal, only for her conditioning to bring out a dangerous feral side.
  • Shock Collar: Celine forces Rumi to wear one of these.
  • Sweet Tooth: Zoey turns to eating tons of sweets to cope with the stress of her situation. It leads to her getting type 2 diabetes.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Mira and Zoey absolutely despise Celine for what she has done to Rumi, but they realize they need to keep training under her, not only to get Rumi to trust them enough to leave with them, but also so they can train to fight demons.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: The whole reason Celine treats Rumi the way she does is to create a living weapon that will fight demons.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Celine has no qualms with forcing Rumi to grow up under hellish conditions and treating her like a weapon.

Top