2025-09-01: The Doctors' Victim
- Log: The Doctors' Victim
- Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Myunghon Yeo
- Where: Hirasaka Chuo Hospital
- OOC Date: 2025-09-01
- IC Date: Wednesday, July 04 2012
- Summary: Yua goes to visit Myunghon in the hospital, and attempts to reassure them in a terrible situation. She tells them that they're not imagining the power behind Ishiba... but she hasn't yet found a way to protect them, either. Of course, Myunghon's still protected just by her being there...
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua couldn't find Myunghon at the Cardboard Dragon, but it wasn't hard for her to investigate where they were, either. Hirasaka Chuo Hospital...
She arrives, on Wednesday afternoon, around when her studio ought to be open. She hates having to clarify that she's here to see Myorei, but the staff won't even tell her where they are, before she clarifies.
"She's just through here," a nurse says, outside their door.
"Excuse me, they use they," Yua can be heard correcting her, tersely.
"Sorry, that wasn't handed over," the nurse defers, politely, and surely forgets all about it the minute she bustles down the hall.
Yua is at least smiling when she enters Myunghon's room... though she looks quite tired. (She had... another mission, last night. Never mind that.) "Myucchi," she calls, gently. "I'm here... I brought you something."
She steps forward, glancing back and forth to make sure no staff are nearby, only to pull a wrapped koala from her handbag.
Yua always scoffed at koalas being real food, but...
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon woke up at sunrise and immediately fell off the bed in an act that would probably get reviewed and some people will promise to improve their service and then it gets forgotten in a well-meaning to-do list because this is an aging public hospital full of overworked people instead of a quiet place full of the nicest care money will buy you. And to use the public hospital does mean that Myorei Yukichi still has to exist, because of a myriad of reasons that the average people probably would be surprised is 'still a thing' in 2012. Because the Yeo family registry doesn't exist. Because they only stopped mandated government fingerprint profiling after much protest in 1993.
That is that. This is now.
The nurses didn't get back to them on if it's okay to bandage themselves back up because they don't want to be on the hook for a possibly consequential decision like that and that's still in limbo, which means that when Yua enters, Myunghon has largely taken to wrapping their blanket up around their shoulders and still can't do anything about the half of their face missing, full of old burn and scar tissue that truly manifests the Creature. They're holding it together largely because there's no mirror in the room to remind them of that.
Their mood does lighten up considerably when they see Yua, and her thoughtful gift--
"Ah..."
There's a terribly weak smile a beat too late, then, as if regaining themself, they say, "Thank you... um-- I think there is a seat over there. I made a mess earlier. ... I'm already nervous about the nurse here." Tension is already rising in their voice.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"I see..." Yua does see, sees the way Myunghon's hiding in that blanket, sees the hint of burns and horror on their face.
She pulls up her seat -- on Myunghon's good side -- and seats herself down. "I understand," she says, softly. "She wasn't very consdierate. And, these places..."
Well, there's a good reason why Yua might be worried for Myunghon, in a hospital.
She bites at her lip, painted deep crimson with layers of work. "They took, ah, everything off you..." She starts, with the terrible, gnawing feeling that perhaps she knows just who did those injuries to them. "... did they say why they'd do such a thing?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"It's. They..." Myunghon's eye drifts off again. It doesn't look remotely like the first time they've done this, as they autopilot and rattle off the usual reasons: "There was an abdominal injury they had to treat, they weren't confident that bandages would help promote a healing environment, they were worried that cover would excessively dry out the damaged skin and cause irritation or even infection..."
... of course, Myunghon assumes the 'they' is 'the nurses' and the thing is 'they took away my bandages', not the 'they' of 'Officer Ishiba' and 'violent, drunken violence and racial profiling', because the former upsets them but is an extremely known factor, while the latter is even more upsetting and they can't cope about thinking about it right now.
They pause, and then scoots their knees up further. The knees are touching their face again, since they're good at that and it often helps calm them, even when they're not stressed, but it's probably not the best position for convalescence in the long term and they know that.
"But-- but you look quite tired too, Yuarin..." Myunghon tries to deflect, as they accept the koala, and then holds it gently to the side of their (mostly good) cheek. The left cheek usually just has a patch from a more minor wound.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua listens, and frowns.
"That has nothing to do with your head," she concludes, a moment later. "They should put them back on your head."
She can be very stubborn.
Yua shakes her head, though, as Myunghon notices how tired she is. "Please don't worry," she assures them, her own smile growing fragile, for a moment. "It's just... work." From one angle, she isn't lying.
She looks down at her hands, as they fold in her lap. "Do you want to talk about it...?" She asks, uncertain. "You don't have to -- we can focus on something else..."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
There's a brief lapse again, then: "True," Myunghon looks like they're just realising this. "I'll... I'll ask again. Maybe when the nurse shift changes." Myunghon always looks a little closed and guarded when it comes to nurses and doctors; in a way, they're probably always having a bad first impression, which might sometimes be fair, but other times not, and they can't expect people to be able to give their one hundred and ten percent for them either.
Yua reassures them that it's just -- work. They understand the implication behind that. They don't miss the smile growing fragile on her end either, in a similar way theirs is currently a patchwork one that's barely cobbled together. "I haven't visited Studio Chura in a while. Remind me to do that... it has been far too long since I've been able to simply -- watch you dance..."
But there's trepidation as Yua asks if they want to talk about it. In a way, they know that they feel they must talk about it, even as Yua gives them an out. Their shoulders shake stiffly, and then there's a low little cry at that movement. It doesn't look like they should be moving that right shoulder.
"He... I... our investigation went poorly and we were delayed very late. I ran into him... by chance," Myunghon flinches for a moment as their eye widens. Was it really only by chance? What if he was planted there? Plied with drink ahead of time? Could someone truly have planned something like that? Was this all a setup, he's been escalating for a while? Does that mean they have privy to their movements in Mementos too?
The spiraling takes about five seconds of being gone, before they wash up at a shore to reality again. "He was... really, really drunk... he pulled on my arm so much it still hurts a lot now," they're not managing to keep it together. To be-- grabbed by someone with absolutely no uncertainty that what they want to visit upon them is life-ending or worse. The acrid smell of-- something --on his breath, far too close.
"He shouted more and more... I was--" They don't want to say begging. That's ceding power in a way that feels deeply unpleasant. "Yelling... at him to stop. Then he hit me, in the head, and then everything went red and black, and I was on the ground, everyone was yelling, shouting, I couldn't see anything..."
They cup their mouth with their hand.
"My head really... really hurts still... they gave me more painkillers half an hour ago, but it's only doing so much."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"Do you want me to talk to them?" Yua asks, with concern. "I'll..." a light pause, as she swallows down her bile, "stick up for you, Myucchi! So don't worry one bit!" And Yua smiles, again.
"You're always welcome," she says, again, and doesn't mention that she's kept it closed two days in a row. She files it somewhere else, closes the drawer. It's fine.
Yua scoots her chair closer, though, when Myunghon starts talking. She puts her hand on the bed, by Myunghon's own hand, in a gentle, wordless offer. By chance, they say, and Yua notices the flinch as they do; the question is implicit.
It's not like she can tell them they're just paranoid.
She never would, anyway.
Yua can imagine the implications, the what-ifs, the worst case scenario. She takes a deep breath in through the nose, and holds it there just a little too long as her teeth set against each other.
"That's horrible," she says, after a moment's quiet. (She wants to be careful not to speak over them, if they have more to say.) "You must have been so scared... when someone is drunk, it's hard to tell how far they'll go, right? And your strength is in predicting how people will act..."
She takes another breath.
"I'm very glad people were there for you," because regardless of how Yua came to learn Myunghon was in hospital, they've given her enough information right here, that 'everyone' was yelling and that they're in hospital instead of a worse location. "And I'm sorry your head hurts so much. I can talk to someone about it," she repeats, again, as if her escalation means anything at all. "They should listen to you better..."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Seeing and hearing Yua's cheer, and her hand finding theirs, are both powerful guiding posts in making their present just a little bit more bearable. They're focusing on it to uncoil where they're rapidly coiling up, a spring ready to be let loose, full of unspent potential energy. Unfortunately, that energy's already wounded them today, not to mention wounding them up further.
But there's another too-long pause, like they're not quite connecting there's a question. "Oh." Myunghon blinks once, trying to redouble back on what was said, but then nervousness takes over. They think they get the gist, Yua offering to talk to the medical staff. "I'm... if you could..."
Their eye's flickering again. "Sorry. It's... sometimes it's hard to hear or understand, I'm drifting in and out... I'm not, I'm not ignoring you, I promise," Myunghon shudders again, as the dread question of 'was there permanent damage' likely lingers somewhere in their head, because even if the concussion is temporary, it's not hard to feel like the symptoms right now might be forever with how violent the act is.
There's one too many nods as Yua reflects on how scary it is when someone's drunk -- and how their strength is in predicting how people will act... ...their brain. They feel like the only thing of them that escaped intact sometimes is their brain. If they can't even have their brain anymore, they'd be really, really afraid.
"I'm... I'm not even confident he won't somehow have found an excuse to come here, waving his police badge around. It feels like he's everywhere, Yuarin. I'm giving him so much power, being scared he's just around the corner. It's so pathetic..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua squeezes Myunghon's hand, and promises, "I'll tell them as soon as you're ready. Okay?" Because of course she can't run out and abandon them in the middle of their horrible emotional torments, either.
(Yua quite firmly believes she can do more good than anyone in a uniform, here.)
"It's okay," she assures them, patting the back of their hand with hers. (The back of her hand... never mind that.) "I don't mind repeating myself. You're just a bit mixed-up right now... okay?"
They treat people like objects, and don't even care when they're broken.
But... they're scared he'll come back, and Yua looks down, at their hands. "Mm..." She hums, sadly.
"It isn't," she shakes her head. "It isn't pathetic at all. The truth is, Myucchi, I did go to complain at the station. I did it, just like I said! And when I did... I..." Her shoulders sink. "I found he is protected by the Powers that Be," she skirts around the truth, "like his friend, that Sergeant Ezoe. He... there are things I shouldn't say, you understand," she cuts herself off, lamely, "but let us say I was encouraged to be seen more and heard less. And they will be angry I've told you," she says, as inevitability, "but the doubt is just too much...!"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
There's no small amount of learned timidness from all their time at a hospital that's associated 'asserting yourself' with punishment, and it's probably sad but true that that timidness comes from a few bad experiences that live far, far more vividly than the good experiences. "Okay," they say gently, drawing that koala cracker closer to them. They haven't actually eaten them, but they have a few out, inspecting them time and again like something about it soothes them. The pictures? The shape? The gentleness in which they have to hold it to not crush the soft wafer shell...
Myunghon gives a more genteel nod as Yua reassures them it's okay -- that she can repeat herself. The hand isn't bandaged at present, and Myunghon is a bit more timid about how much they reach out, given that it's not perfect... but their fingers were spared much damage, and is indeed one of the parts of them they don't mind at all. "It's not... it's not forever, right?" They know Yua likely can't make that call -- she's not the doctor, but... even if she can't be sure, some reassurance would do a lot right now.
But Yua has... truth to share.
She did go to the station. She voiced her complaint, and... and... Ishiba is protected. By the Powers That Be. She mentions a name that they latch onto far too hard, a Sergeant Ezoe. That breathing becomes shallow again, their pupil shrinking at this news. They're gone again, spiderwebbing out thoughts as they have to reorder all their little pins and the red threads that connect them. They're back in three seconds, this time.
"... it's okay... you don't have to say any more, Yuarin," Myunghon whispers gently. They don't look as shattered as they expected to be. "I... feel a bit stronger knowing that. It is as you say... I despise knowing that I do not know. He abused that doubt. They abused that doubt..."
A pause, and hesitation. Is Yua forced to report that she told them, in thinking 'they will be angry'? Or is there a bug right here, right now? They don't have the capability to ransack this room for any potential spying devices. There's probably one, isn't there? Are the nurses in on it too then??
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
It's precisely because Yua knows how helpless a doctor's victims are that she needs to defend Myunghon, now.
She doesn't have any medical experience herself, of course -- she can tell Myunghon nothing of the risks. But she smiles to them, in full belief, as she says: "I bet you'll be right back to outsmarting everyone in no time flat."
The alternative is too horrific to imagine.
Yua squeezes their hand, waits for them to return -- if anxiously. "We are damned souls," she assures them. "And you deserve none of it. The men around me... even some of the women... they are tyrants, unpunished. ... even my soul is marred." Was it not just yesterday she was assaulting one of her very own students...?
"I wish I could protect you," she says, quietly, and with no shortage of shame. "... but I'm just a pretty young thing. Mm..." Yua swallows, and puts a smile on her face again. "But anyway, I won't give up! I-I'm sure we'll find an answer!"
Somehow, that sounds so much more like hollow reassurance than her declaration that Myunghon would get better.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon can't help but have a timid little laugh, the way Yua assures them with full belief that their faculties will be back. It feels good, when Yua says it; it doesn't have to be entirely grounded and reasoned out with fulsome logic. It's like when she told them she'd protect them -- even now, when Yua speaks of the evils surrounding them, the tyrants that damn their souls, and that she wishes she could...
They wish they had it together enough to reassure her back. They're not certain how to order their thoughts more eloquently right now. As much as they love to espouse that hope of Rumourmonger Merry's, they're not quite as comfortable on the bed of rhetoric alone. Yet at the same time...
Myunghon returns the squeeze, gentle in strength, mostly coming from the curling of the tips of their fingers. "... I'm certain my father is one of them," they share with Yua, unsure if they would've known or not, but... if Yua's going to be punished for speaking too much, then let them share in that punishment, is the logic currently desperately trying to assemble itself in their mind. "I'm certain this is why this is all still happening... but..."
"You are protecting me... I'm more comforted than when before you came in," Myunghon works through the sentence slowly, in response to Yua's reassurance. "These White Rooms, Yua... I'm so scared to be back in them... you're doing so much to keep me grounded. Shouldn't that count?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"I really don't know," Yua admits, her smile a touch strained. "I am... not a player amongst them, to gather information and plot. I am... a piece on the board." Her gaze grows shadowed, as she remembers the misogyny which seeps from the cracks. "I am to be lovely."
A woman in a gilded cage.
She smiles, though, when Myunghon says she's helping them, and squeezes Myunghon's hand again. "It's okay," she assures them, gently. "I know. I know. I'm scared of it, too. When I was... strangled, last month, and... Sachie-san had to be with me every minute I was in hospital, you know?" Sachie Chiba, of course, is Yua's nurse -- and the one nurse who passed muster for her changed careers from the yakuza. "The machines... they frightened me terribly. Tha-thunk, tha-thunk, they clunk so much as they spin around..." She shivers, as she recalls the sound of the scanner.
"I'll stay here with you," she promises, clasping Myunghon's hand. "And I'll tell them what you need. Maybe they won't listen... but I'll tell them very sternly! I promise I will!"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon's breath is a little more shallow, as they listen to Yua speak of her role. To be lovely. To be an object. To be a piece on the board. To 'know her place,' as Sergeant Ezoe no doubt would put it. They're finding that helplessness everywhere. They still deeply despise that a non-zero amount of how they feel about themself, the identity they're exploring, the pronouns they're using, that comes from wanting to escape how these people, how society, feels about women.
"But... but..." Myunghon grapples with this, feeling the weight too burdensome right now. All they can do is point out the good that Yua's still doing, but that doesn't change the weight of the shackles around her, around them, does it?
They feel adrift again, before Yua's squeeze brings them back to reality once more. The strangulation. Shiryuu. "That man...." A pause, as they have to course-correct off him. "Y-yes... that one is the worst. They keep telling me about how I can't have any metal on me like they're not convinced I'm trying to smuggle ten-yen coins..." Of course, their fixation is on instruction and people they feel they can't trust. "I'm glad Sachie-san was there."
A deeper breath, as Yua reassures them they'll stay and tell the doctors what they need. "Okay. I'm... I'm starting to feel really cloudy." Their legs slide down slowly, from where it's been balled up all this time -- keeping in that position is starting to hurt quite badly, given how it's pressuring their wounded abdomen. "I know you can't stay the whole time, everyone's busy... but-- but thank you again, Yuarin."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"It's okay," Yua reassures Myunghon, with all that same emptiness. "Hey... it's okay." All she can do is reassure them; her doors have long since closed.
"They told me it's because it's a big magnet," Yua sighs, on the topic of their massive machines, "but I don't really get it... if it's a magnet, wouldn't it find all the metal stuff anyway?" Yes, Yua, that's the point. ... Yua doesn't get the point, though.
Yua squeezes their hand, again. "Then I'll stay right here until you can get some rest," she decides, "and then I'll go give your torturers a dressing-down. And I'll be back again later," she promises them, squeezing their hand. "I'll come visit every day, so if they're doing something wretched, I'll raise such a ruckus...!"
Even if Yua can't really change anything... she must make the effort, when Myunghon's in this place. If for no other reason -- than so they know someone's there.
She knows how wretched it is, being alone in a bed like this.