2025-07-06: Shattered Queen
- Log: Shattered Queen
- Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: The Nichirinmaru / Aoba Penthouse
- OOC Date: 2025-07-06
- IC Date: Tuesday, June 05 2012
- Summary: Miho rescues her girlfriend from the horrors of the the Nichirinmaru, and Yua tells her about the punishment she faced for her resistance. But were they punishing Yua's struggles against her bonds, or Miho's? Unable to punish Miho directly, Yua is a convenient conduit... and Miho swears vengeance against Shiryuu for their cruelty.
- Content warnings: Descriptions of violence (strangulation).
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Katou Corporation has an important negotiation to attend to, today. Their rivals, the Gomyou Corporation, are trying to break into the same areas which Katou is -- and they need to draw up a management's treaty to agree on their terms. They call it a "partnership in this sector", but both parties are holding a knife behind their back, waiting to strike.
Normally, such a delicate negotiation would have been handled by one of the higher-up men, their hair greying with wisdom and their eyes cold as a corpse. But Miho Ijuuin's boss has noted her recent successes, in the field, and so, today...
Their strategy is to send a woman. Oh, not a conventially attractive woman, to be sure -- but one who is trying to play in the same arena as the men around her. Younger than they normally would send, with fire in her eyes... in short, they've decided to position themselves as the unique underdog in order to get ahead in this arrangement.
Miho herself might have advocated for a strategy like this -- knowing the profile of the man Gomyou are sending, someone remarkably vulnerable to underdogs.
It is a strategy which pays off. Katou gains considerable ground, in the halls of that business meeting. Contracts are signed, with pen and pressed thumb, a promise between two aspects of the lifeblood of Japan.
Her boss even praises her ingenuity and flexibility, in the wake of it.
... then, she receives a call.
This meeting was too important... to bring their phones into.
It's only now, in the wake of her victory... that an attendant of the Nichirinmaru calls her, on the heels of several concerned messages from their chauffeur Seiji Sahashi. That attendant informs her she ought to come to the yacht -- and pick up her things.
YUA.
...---...
The Nichirinmaru is where the best of the best separate themselves from the mere stars of society. In a place like this -- a screaming woman merits not a glance nor mention, tucked away in one of those lovely suites.
Yua has tucked herself in against a fine chair, knees drawn up and feet on the seat, sitting on it sideways to facilitate the way she rocks herself back and forth. Her right hand is loosely bandaged; thin bruises blossom, at her neck. She will need to wear a choker, to avoid questioning tomorrow.
There's a glass of water on the table next to her. It is untouched.
Arms curled tightly about her knees, she weeps quietly, one cheek wet with tears.
The door is closed, but it isn't locked.
She could have left at any time.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho Ijuuin is good at business. It's not quite correct to say she takes pride in it--it's beneath her as work goes, because it's for a group that she doesn't care about. But in order to keep her own reputation, she has to put in the effort. ...That haughtiness serves her well at work on her own side, some of the time. But today, it was youth and guile that triumphed.
She does take a litle pride in that. She might even be pleased with it... if the circumstances hadn't changed.
The messages...
-=-=-
Miho is still in her business suit. Trousers, not a skirt. And she is walking through the corridors until she reaches the one particular room--and then steps into it. There is the barest moment where she takes in the details--rocking back and forth, a bandaged hand, bruises blossoming--and water, untouched.
Miho swallows her anger for the moment.
"Yua," she says, and closes the door behind her. She crosses the distance. "I am here."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
At first, Yua doesn't hear the opening of the door, a subtle clue into the cacophony which must be roiling inside her. It's only when,
"Mimi?"
When Miho announces herself, Yua lifts her face from her knees. Her makeup is an unrecoverable mess, streaking down her face; one of her fake nails has fallen from her left hand, leaving a lacuna in her cover story.
Trembling, her right hand reaches to her. That hurried bandage slips from her hand, revealing a welt across it, just the same, angering the scar they'd long ago left there.
"S-sorry," she says, her voice hitching. "Sorry, Mimi..."
Because she interrupted her afternoon early?
Because she said more things she didn't need to say, in a space which oughtn't need to hear them.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Yua looks up. She looks in terrible shape, though Miho would never say she looks terrible objectively. She sees the fallen nail, the trembling hand... and a welt.
"You have no need to apologize to me," Miho says gravely, and reaches out to clasp Yua's hand. "I will ask you what happened," she says.
"But not yet." She gently tugs her upward, to where she can wrap arms around her and reassure her that way.
"...Not here. The walls, here, they have ears. Return home with me. It will be all right."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Miho says that Yua doesn't have to apologise, and Yua swallows down a whimper. Her hand is gentle, in Miho's; it is easy to tug her up, though even someone as graceful as she needs a moment to slip her feet back to the floor before she can stand.
She clutches Miho, tightly, shuddering as she rubs her face against her clavicle. Miho dwarfs her, a full foot higher, and Yua could easily disappear in her arms like this.
It isn't so unexpected. They know how Miho handles her assets. They know that Yua is a deviant, though few would suppose that Miho truly joins her in her deviance. They think she is allowed to delude herself.
Yua has never cared to give them more information than they have.
Though they're in a den of lions, it takes Yua a long moment to stop shaking so fiercely, though the pressure of Miho's arms certainly helps. At length, though, she nods.
"Yes, Mimi," Yua murmurs, obedient.
She knows the walls have ears.
She's desperate for them not to hear another crime from her lips.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Yua could disappear. ...They discussed it; they could both disappear, and not just in Miho's arms. And no, this is not unexpected. But Miho hates the polite fiction that they have allowed. How she 'handles her assets'. Few might suppose it, but...
"Good," she says. And then, she sets Yua down, and says, "Then come with me."
Miho will lead Yua out of the ship, up the stairs, down the way--
Where their chauffeur is waiting. She nods to him. "Home," she directs. "And privacy until then."
As he helps Yua into the car, Miho looks around him--to ensure no one else is following. Then, she will get into the car herself.
...And then, she will reach out for Yua's hand.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
But if they disappeared, Yua would die.
Without those injections...
... Miho saw it, just the once, when she'd gotten custody of Yua from the Blacksite. They called Miho back there to bring back some medication for Yua, and when she opened the penthouse door, Yua was being beaten by her own vengeful Persona.
She would have battered her to death, had Miho not held the solution in her hands.
Miho bids Yua to come with her, though, and she does, grasping the hem of Miho's outer jacket as she follows closely behind her. (Is she afraid of someone snatching her up, and Miho not even realising...?)
She takes Seiji's hand, as she steps into the car, scooching along the seat. She buckles up, of course; Miho gets very concerned if she doesn't. It doesn't stop her from clinging tightly to Miho's hand, the whole way home.
She is ashen.
She at least remembers enough to release Miho's hand, when they come to a stop, to take Seiji's help getting out of the car. To make sure their silhouettes aren't so questionable, as they make their way to their exclusive penthouse elevator. She minds her manners, until they step into their home, and she's able to place herself on the seat by the entrance so that she can unlace her pointe shoes and slip into her house slippers.
"We're home," she announces, to the empty house, and her traditional greeting is hollow too.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
She remembers. Yes, Miho remembers. And force alone is not sufficient to sway Yua's Persona. But Miho is not Orpheus, and Miho has never made a promise not to look back to ensure that Yua is still there. She does, now and then, and when they are buckled up, they travel the whole way home. Miho does not force Yua to speak. And as they stand up, as they walk forward...
"We're home," Miho agrees, and quietly changes out her shoes.
"...Now," she says.
"Are you able to talk about what happened?" Miho asks gently. "Or do you need to rest?"
"We will do whatever it is you need, Yua."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Miho offers Yua what she needs, and Yua, for a moment, feels overwhelmed with all the things she might need. What could possibly -- after something like that --
She sways, on her feet, as she feels dizzy.
It feels obvious, after that spell of faintness. "Can we... sit down?"
She will take Miho's arm, to make their way to the fine couch in their living room. She sits herself down, and, with an uncomfortable glance to her lap, covers her right hand with her left.
"It was my fault," she says, softly.
"I wasn't even brave enough to say how I felt, but I... said words that didn't belong there, anyway. I did grumble, a little... just a little..."
She swallows. Her voice is thin, as she admits it all. "Nishiyama-san didn't say anything about it," she says, "so I thought it wasn't so bad... but, the walls have ears, so... s-so he heard. That -- you've heard the rumours, right?" Yua takes another breath, before she continues. "How -- how the Powers that Be have ninja, supporting them, real ninja. I guess it's really true... because, he came in, and..."
A hand claps to Yua's mouth, as she exclaims: "Oh!" It can't be all the story, but the worst must be still to be told, judging by her miserable yelp.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Sit down. Yes. "We can," Miho says, and leads Yua to the couch. She looks and notes the way Yua covers herself, covers her hand. And she says--
She says it was her fault. Of course she blames herself. The rumors...
"I have heard the rumors," Miho says, and her dark eyes lid slightly, as she imagines. As she considers. To send such an operative because she said 'unnecessary things'... Miho's left hand curls slightly, fingers tightening into a fist.
She doesn't show that to Yua.
"What happened?" she asks, and her voice is as gentle as her hand isn't. She keeps the rest of her body relaxed, careful not to spook Yua--but her hand, she cannot entirely. The hand that is not holding Yua's is tight with the tension she cannot simply discard.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua scoots closer, to Miho, when she asks. Rather than hiding her right hand in Miho's, she wraps it around her side, instead, hugging herself to her tightly.
But her eye is tightly shut. She's unlikely to notice Miho's angry fist, laying at her other side.
"He said I'd said the wrong thing," though Miho might be able to guess the language he'd actually used. "I tried to apologise, I-I tried to tell him I understood I'd been rude, but he told me to be quiet, and... and..."
She hooks her leg around Miho's shins, holding herself to her tightly. She's trembling. "H-he threatened me," she says. "He said -- if I was anyone else -- he'd, he'd break my hands. H-he said I wasn't to be, um, hurt permanently, b-but..."
Yua swallows. Her throat hurts.
"He said he'd give me a gift," Yua said, "s-started talking about, if I survived, and... and then, he..." She stops. She sobs. She takes a moment, overwhelmed by her terror and her grief.
"I-it was, it was like a cord," she says. "But it was stronger than a cord. I think -- I think he said it was a machine, I -- I don't know, I couldn't hear him, he, he threw it around my neck a-and it was choking me, I could hardly breathe!"
Yua opens her eye, looking up to Miho as she lifts her trembling right hand to show her. "I, I had my hand over my mouth, s-so it was in the way... it ruined my jewellery." The fine covering which hides her scar from the world, she means. That wasn't all it hurt, judging by the bruise across her hand, matching her neck. "B-but I couldn't get it off. He kept talking, telling me h-how he, uses it to kill people, or something... I thought I was going to die, Mimi. But it's not like when I shot myself... I didn't want to die! I was s-so scared... eventually he, he gave me a pen and said, something about a, a latch on the inside? Like this thing that felt like a knot, I thought... it took so long to push it... maybe he was trying to give me advice, or something, after that, b-but..."
Tears well in her eye, anew. "T-then -- then he wanted me to do something -- he said he'd want it, before he did that, s-so it's not like I didn't know. But I just lost it, I started screaming, I... I don't know why he didn't kill me for real, he said he didn't care who lived or died there... but I couldn't even think right. It was too much... I couldn't do it. I tried -- I tried to apologise, but -- but he just said he changed his mind, he left... s-someone came in to give me a bandage, a-and they put something on the table, but they didn't say anything to me. I was too scared to..."
Ask them? Escape?
"Too scared," she concludes, a complete sentence.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Said the wrong thing. Yes, Miho can guess at it. But as she continues listening, her unnatural relaxation persists. She is able to do this only because she knows that Yua would be startled by her open anger; she knows that she must be gentle, to avoid worsening the matter. And she holds Yua, gently, carefully. But...
"A gift, is it?" she cannot stop herself from saying.
Her jewelry. "Of course you don't want to die," she says, attempting to be soothing. "...It was a cruel thing to do." She recognizes it, in her forced dispassion--she recognizes a 'lesson'. And there, she sees it. Not to be hurt permanently. Explaining the trick.
No, it makes sense. And it makes her angry.
"You are not the one who should apologize," Miho says. "He should. And if I have my hands on him, perhaps he will."
She was scared. Of course she was scared.
"You did nothing wrong," Miho soothes. "It was more cruelty for the sake of cruelty."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Miho is trying so hard. She is gentle, with Yua, though few others in the Order are. And Yua -- Yua is too shaken to even register the anger which Miho swallows down.
Not right now, at least.
"Why... why are they so cruel?" Yua whines, face buried against Miho's shoulder. "I just -- I just asked a question a little rudely, I just -- I just grumbled that if he must it was fine! I just -- just wanted -- to feel like I had a little autonomy, just a small voice..."
Miho insists she's a Queen; she must have been trying, in her way, not to feel like a tool in the Order's hands.
She wasn't even allowed to resist in that insignificant way.
"... he's scary, Mimi," Yua says, quietly. "I don't want you to get hurt... I-I shouldn't have been that stupid anyway, s-so can't we just let it go? I -- I'll be okay, it wasn't permanent..."
Yua's always the one rolling over, encouraging them to let it go.
But this time, it's not a matter of dissected frogs left in her bag or ruined pointe shoes in the girls' toilets, a dozen cruel rumours and an attempt to remove her from the high school production for her deviance.
This time...
He could have killed her.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Why? It is a good question.
"It allows them to hang onto their power," Miho answers, a real answer enough. "If they allow even small autonomies, you start to take larger. And their control slips. They believe that you are the weak point, that you can be targeted in this way, and that we will both fall into line."
He's scary...
"No," Miho says. "We will not 'let it go'."
She doesn't think he would have killed her... probably. But to be so cavalier with her life--
"It is not acceptable," Miho says, and her words are clipped, some of her emotion falling into them. "Because it was not permanent his penance need not be his life."
"But he will pay," she says.
"...They must understand that there are limits, to what we will accept."
"And it would hurt far, far more if I let it go, than if I suffer injury in the repayment."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"But you're blameless!" Yua protests, as Miho explains she's the weak point. (Isn't that true? All she could do was plead with him, and when he told her to be silent...) "Why -- why would they make you fall into line when you haven't -- did I just reflect badly on you? I -- I'm sorry!"
She keeps apologising for something that isn't her fault.
In that small way, she challenged them... no, someone like her challenged them.
She hears Miho's tension, though, and she clutches at her shoulder, looking up to her face. "Mimi..."
No, Mimi's hurting too, isn't she?
"I'm..." Yua starts, and stops, tilting her cheek against Miho's shoulder. "O-okay," she says, instead. "Just -- just promise me you'll be careful, okay? I don't know what I'd do... if something happened to you." Because of her. Because she couldn't just accept she's --
"Thank you... for fighting for me," she says, quietly, instead. "It's not fair they caught me when you were busy... right? It's not fair... they did it when you couldn't protect me. Even though you try so hard..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"And you are a survivor," Miho assures Yua. "They think you weak. But you are not. ...And you did not reflect poorly on me. I do not sit quietly at their feet either. I push back often. ...If anything, they target you for my will."
But Yua gets it.
And, "I will be careful," Miho assures Yua. "...To fight for one's honor is good. To fight for your beloved's honor is better. But honor means little to the dead. We will win, and in order to win, we must survive."
"But I will fight for you, my love. I will." A pause. "...Fairness does not enter in. That is why they strike as they do. And if this 'ninja' was directed towards you..."
"I am not one who must rely on stealth. I will show him power."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Miho says that Yua isn't weak. She tries to believe that. But when she suggests that they might have punished her for Miho's misdoings, rather than the other way around, Yua bows her head. "Oh..."
She doesn't expect Miho to apologise. Miho shouldn't have to apologise.
But... at least Miho values her life more than her honour, and she can feel Yua relaxing, a little, as she assures her of that. "Mimi," she murmurs, fondly, when Miho assures her she'll fight for her love.
Of course, they're not fair, either.
Nothing's fair.
"No one's more powerful than you, Mimi," Yua says, hand rubbing at Miho's arm as she looks up to her. "They never would have dared... if you were there to punish them. All I have is a lovely voice," and this, too, has the quality of a quoted phrase, a touch wounded in the retelling, "but my King really is amazing..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho won't apologize for the actions of the enemy. ...But she is sorry, that Yua is the one punished. It is...
Unjust. Bothersome. Enraging. And effective.
Miho releases a little more of that tension when Yua relaxes, and she inclines her head. "I will," she reiterates.
No one more powerful than her? Maybe, maybe not. Miho is not yet powerful enough. ...But it is not well to argue with Yua that.
Instead, "No, you have much. I would never be so in love with someone with only a 'lovely voice'," she says, "No matter how lovely. Remember that."
"My love is not cheaply bought. ...And yet it is all yours, Yua."
"We'll handle this together."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Miho isn't someone they can act against so directly. She is honoured, esteemed, elevated above by virtue of the black across her arm. She is Chosen.
And yet, she has not yet proved herself, to the best of the best of them. And yet, she is still someone to control.
How fortunate for the Order that Yua is so much easier to grasp, no matter the Eye she's hiding.
How unfortunate for them.
Yua can, at least, believe in Miho's power, the same way one might believe in a magic feather sure to save the show.
"Whenever something like this happens," she sighs, "I don't... feel powerful. I feel so helpless, Mimi... I feel so bad. It's hard... to see what you see when you look at me."
In their eyes, she's...
"But I'm glad," she says, looking up to Miho with half her gaze, tears welling there again, "I'm really glad you see something worth anything. At least it's got to exist.... right? If you see it... I-I'm really grateful, Mimi..."
She shifts against her, hugging herself to Miho, tucking her face in against Miho's neck. "Memimi," she says, with a touch of desperation. "I love you. We'll be okay. We'll be okay together."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
She is Chosen. But Miho has Chosen someone, too. And they will learn that to their ruin.
Miho will not speak of the magic feather now. Instead she'll say, "I know," and murmur softly, "You feel bad. It is bad."
"...But I see it. it exists. We exist together."
Miho holds Yua close, and sighs once.
"I love you," she says back. "And we will."
"...I promise."