2025-07-02: Modern Conveniences
- Log: Modern Convenience
- Cast: Myunghon Yeo, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: The Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: July 02, 2025
- IC Date: June 03, 2012
- Summary: A clandestine meeting, a deal struck.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
The Cardboard Dragon! It's a sad, sad little place that isn't very well marked if you're just looking at the street. You need to go down one back alley that feels like yakuza could be fighting dramatically down there, up a fire escape ladder... and then you'll find it--
A dingy card and bookstore the likes of which might have once had hope in the 80's. Cracked tile floors, dilapidated ceiling squares, old, single-glaze windows... there are no customers here right now. All of Kasu High are in school, and the delinquents don't think this is a particularly cool place to be.
...
...
It smells strongly of cleaning products here. Which means...
Oh yes, there it is, the Creature. Myunghon is upside down at the doorframe to her toilet, legs up on the wall, head up on the floor, surrounded in a small lake of bleach. Her bandages are a chaotic spider's web around her, looking not unlike a casette whose tape has been ripped out into a mess of a ball.
"Oh. Is that Miho-in?" Myunghon asks from the floor.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
It's very sad. Miho Ijuuin probably increases the property values down here by significant numbers just by deigning to step into the alley. But she knows where it is. She knows why it is. And she knows who she can meet there.
But why does she want to meet her?
That's a mystery for now. But Miho's sturdy shoes click against the fire escape as she climbs and walks. No yakuza appear to fight her.
This time.
No customers... That's convenient. Miho follows her nose, noting the bleach. Her nose wrinkles, as it happens, and there, she finds a Creature.
"Myunghon Yeo," says Miho the Olympian.
She sighs.
"I will not be speaking with you upside-down."
She insists.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
It'll be the hot news in 8 hours time. Olympian Miho Ijuuin spotted in low-income commercial district! Hirasaka prospects rising! Sell sell sell now! Oh... the news has already faded. Myunghon pauses from where Miho addresses her in full name and refuses to speak to her in the upside-down manner.
Hmmmm.
"That's discrimination," Myunghon pouts. But Miho's rich, so she can get away with it, and thus, in a perhaps not terribly surprisingly acrobatic motion, Myunghon actually props herself off the floor with her head, then her hands -- which are freshly bandaged -- and then springs to her feet in a light shower of bleach and disinfectant and whatever else she's playing in there.
Her white hair is still dripping wet.
"Here I am, in the flesh! Well, what's left of it after you took my heart and made it your own," Myunghon jovially half-sings, half-speaks. "How's Yua?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
The news cycle is fickle...
"Is it?" Miho asks dubiously. But she is rich, so it doesn't matter either way. Miho is not surprised by the acrobatics, no--but she does lift an eyebrow as Miho showers bleach everywhere.
It does not get on Miho's suit. She's standing a little too far away for that. It's an expensive suit, too. But no tie.
Tie would be cross-dressing.
"I thought I discarded it," Miho points out. "After all, it wasn't my doing that left your heart to keep beating."
A quip, and then, "Yua is currently handling her duties at one of the schools, teaching dance..."
"I believe she is enjoying the work."
"And you and your business?" she wonders. "It seems..."
Successful?
Thriving?
...Nice?
"Open for operation."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon has a tie, with her suit. It's a black tie, to go with her white dress shirt, and the long suit jacket's... somewhere, not within the vicinity of bleach that would destroy its colours. Is it crossdressing for Myunghon? Gender is a much more malleable topic for her.
"You did, but the city's recycling and landfill was so efficient that they returned it to me out of recycled plastic bottles and compostable coffee cups!" Myunghon continues that sing-song answer without a beat, swanning over to her couch to sit cross-legged on it.
Dance. Dance instructor... that's right, she started doing that. That's good. That's... radiant. Resplendent... she can still see the way Yua becomes a force of motion.
"Miho-in, somehow the students here don't like books like those written by Verlaine and Gide. I'm so shocked!" There's an extremely exaggerated poit-poit motion as she pokes her fingers together. "Well, not that shocked. And you? The Summer Olympics are going to be on in London in just under two months... I would've thought you'd be busy up to your gills for that."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho has somewhat more stringent expectations placed on her for gender. She might be happier taking a more malleable approach...
But when has Miho pursued happiness lately? Not exactly.
"It's important to appreciate proper municipal services," Miho agrees, taking the singsong tone and responding to it with utter gravity and an entirely straight face. "Sumaru is a lovely city."
Pause.
"I expect they like..." She glances to the side, to a display. "These cards," she suggests, "More. If you want to sell decent books, you'd probably have better luck elsewhere."
She pauses. "I am," she says. "But today, I need information, and I need information that my employers don't need to hear about."
"It concerns Yua. I want to know some of the ways 'they' came up with her credentials..."
"Just in case."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"The cards are very popular. Just the other day, there were students who took the train here from all the way over from Port Tatsumi just because the new set is out," Myunghon explains. And still looking too proud of herself: "I cut them a deal and made them confident on what they would open, suggesting it would sell for more."
As if she didn't just goad children into gambling!
Her expression changes, however, as Miho says she wants information. That doesn't get a rise out of her. Her expression changes in a more drastic fashion, however, when Miho smartly loops it back to Yua. Myunghon's always more receptive when it comes to Yua.
"I see." That wouldn't be a light piece of work... muck-racking into government databases and details isn't necessarily the hardest thing in the world, but doing it unnoticed is tougher. "What is the outcome you want? Do you want the forgers, the methods, the turncoats inside the Ministry...? The more detail you want, the higher the price's going to be, as you know..."
Myunghon reaches for a little carton of cigarettes and double-taps it on the bottom to let a fat, juicy soldier loose, and pops it to her mouth, then flicks her eye up to the Olympian again. "And recently I'm more interested in favours than money as payment."
...
...
Miho smells chocolate in the air.
It's chocolate cigarettes.
"I thought I'd look cool if I took a ciggie before I answered you, but I don't like real cigarettes."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"My," Miho says. "All that way. Good little students, going out of their homes to gamble..."
Tsk, tsk, tsk. She doesn't mind, though. They've both done terrible things; contributing to the delinquency of minors doesn't even compare. However... Yua.
"I want leverage on those who provide the services," Miho answers smoothly. "In case my employers decide to repent of their 'generosity'."
"...But I'd pay extra to know who's on the take in the Ministry, certainly."
A pause. She looks to the cigarettes and lifts an eyebrow. Then, she waits. And...
Chocolate.
"..."
"I want one," Miho says.
An unseen breeze flows from the window.
"...Favors might be fine, depending on what you have in mind. You know my limits."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"Hmmm. That's an easier goal," Myunghon does admit. "These kind of fixers aren't one-and-done types of guys. They'd have processed dozens, if not hundreds of people before Yua, and will still be doing so. Figuring out who stamped it on the legal end is tougher, though."
It does mean they'd likely have a historical trail. But then...
Miho wants one!
Myunghon offers the pack forward with a half-crooked grin, since the chocolate cigarette is still in her mouth. "Now we both can look extra cool."
Favours, though...
"I might have need of muscle and steel soon enough. Things are stirring, not only here in Sumaru, but in the Metaverse and during the Dark Hour too. You can stay anonymous like you usually do, and you know I'm smart enough to drag you into anything that complicates things for your... 'employers'."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"You're very clever," Miho offers in return to the 'difficulty' of the second task. After all, Miho knows well Myunghon's capabilities. It would be wrong say she has faith in them, precisely... But it is not so strange that Miho would expect this of her.
However:
Choco cigarette. Miho accepts one from the pack, lifts it to her lips. She tastes the chocolate.
"...Sweet," she comments, able to speak freely regardless of the chocolate.
They both look very cool.
"Hmmm." Admittedly, Miho's interested in keeping abreast of such things--so it's not entirely a bad deal for her, either. Not that she'll say that for the moment.
"Very well. Two occasions of battle, within the normal limits. That is my offer."
"Do you accept?"
She reaches up to the cigarette again, closes her eyes... and bites.
"Mm."
The cigarette is a little shorter now.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Miho PRAISES Myunghon.
You'd think that praise should do nothing from the woman that nearly killed her.
You'd be WRONG!
There's a frame where Myunghon has developed cat-ears in response to this, which fervently waggles back and forth in response. They're gone again by the time she says: "It's something I've been thinking a lot, even before you asked."
She tilts her head, white hair spilling gently to one side. "They have an interest in convincing her that they can pull the rug under her at any time. Discovering those strings... will just help us all out in the end."
See, she's already convincing herself anyway. Yua is a great equaliser amongst them.
"Throw on one count of intrusion ontop. I might need muscle on the way to the battle too," Myunghon says, unable to say 'go on a Monad with me' in the way Diggers do Digs.
Myunghon has just let her cigarette melt on the top of her tongue. It's kinda sad-looking now, like a worm.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho's stoicism does not waver as Myunghon's cat ears cutely waggle. She simply watches, impassive. And something she was thinking about...
"Indeed so," Miho agrees with her. "That's my thinking as well. They wish Yua to believe that her position is precarious... But I am not interested in allowing them to continue to destabilize her. What we must deal with we must, but always will we move forward."
Yua is.
"Hmm," Miho considers, and nods. "I accept these terms," she says. "You will fall by no other's hand."
She continues to have the chocolate cigarette...
"Would you like me to bring any message to Yua? I will be seeing her later, of course."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"A part of me wants to suggest you elope really far away. If you two disappeared far enough away, after the Olympics, on foreign land, I think they'd have to give up," Myunghon muses. She knows Miho won't go for it -- nor Yua. Perhaps especially not Yua. This land has been so harsh to her, but being Okinawan is an integral part of who she is.
That's not moving forward. That's running away.
There's a cozy little smile as Miho accepts, though. Why is it that the mixture of animosity and friendship is the most alluring and addicting of all?
"I promise," Myunghon answers, a little more husky. "It's by your hand that I want to fall, after all."
She considers the opportunity for a message, then rises from the couch with surprising effort, unlike how effortless she makes a lot of her swanning-around. She takes a paper bag that has the right dimensions and weight for a book.
"She said she wanted the sequel for this romance series I introduced to her two weeks ago. I'll try to come by as well, but things have been running hot in Sumaru, what with the Joker Killer and all."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"It's possible," Miho answers simply. No, she won't go for it. But, "It could be done. ...But I do not plan to run from them. Nor exile Yua from her home." They both know that much of Yua. ...For Miho, is it just pride?
No, but it might look that way.
r
Miho smiles back, a small expression on her handsome face. "Good," she answers. "One day, again."
A pause. The paper bag...
It could be a trap. But it won't be.
"Very well, I will give it to her for you." A pause. "She will indeed wish to see you."
She considers. "The Joker Killer... The idea that one can arrange a murder, simply by calling one's phone."
"But a death is not something to be given away."
"Perhaps someone will find this killer. We'll see."
She reaches out to take the bag. "Very well. ...Enjoy your..."
Pause.
"Bleach."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
It's not just pride.
It's not NOT about pride, Myunghon knows. But empty pride is a useless facade, a hollow shell, a paper tiger. Miho is no paper tiger. She's a real tiger, like Tiger, despite Tiger not being a real tiger.
"The rumourmongers are split on it, but I recently heard something more convincing. I don't like it one bit," Myunghon admits dourly. Miho's got the right idea. Death is not something to be given away, but...
"The Joker Killer is a fitting rumour for our time. A modern convenience. Death at a dial's notice, as easy as ordering Peace Burgers," Myunghon reflects.
There is a more sober smile as Miho takes the bag, and then stares Shaft-style at the toilet behind. "Arrange a lunch with Yua sometime for me, will you? It's been a while."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Tiger is a mighty hunter.
But Miho's pride is indeed far from empty.
"Hmmm..." She nods. "I'll have to wait and see, then, what they say." What she says. But a fitting rumor? "I suppose so. It cheapens the thing," she says, restating her own point in this way.
"...Crass."
A shake of her head, and then, "I will. ...Myunghon."
She doesn't use the last name this time. ...This time.
Miho turns for the exit, and starts to go.