2026-01-01: Priceless Things
- Log: Priceless Things
- Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Miho Ijuuin, Various NPCs
- Where: Alaya Shrine, Rengedai Ward / Miho's Penthouse, Aoba Ward, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: January 01, 2026
- IC Date: Mon, Sep 03, 2012
- Summary: To say the wedding rehearsal is difficult for Yua is an understatement. Miho may be the only one who can coach and guide her through it. But later that day, they have a chance to talk about things themselves, as well as certain next steps...
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Rehearsal is scheduled to begin early, today. Yua wants to make it to the first day of classes, and that means finishing by lunch -- and that means they need to be early birds.
Luckily, Yua and Miho are very used to that.
Extra luckily, the actual ceremony -- which would normally be a very private affair, generally speaking -- doesn't take long to dry-run through at all, even with the priest stopping at each point to explain what he's doing. (Largely to Yua; Kimitake understands the process very well.) No: most of this rehearsal is instead dedicated to getting Yua used to the wedding trousseau, teaching her how to handle (or not handle!) items which are at times up to two hundred years old, passed down for generation unto generation. The Kai-awase maki-e shell-matching set was hand-painted centuries prior, all three hundred and sixty pieces; comb boxes and mirrors; the tea ceremony chest; beautifully-detailed dolls.
She's been fit into the pure white shiromuku, with tailors checking over every step of the process to ensure the priceless garment isn't damaged; today, she's wearing a wig for her horn-coverings, though tomorrow they mean to style her actual hair. Yua looks... entirely out of place, and distinctly uncomfortable.
How much of that is because she's been informed they need to respect Tokoiri -- the first night the bride and groom spend together -- even symbolically isn't really an open question, because there's an answer just as open on her face...
(But it's not just that, either.)
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Being awake early isn't an issue for Miho or Yua, naturally. That part is easy. Miho is dutiful and and present, handling matters that are her responsibility with the usual care. This includes, naturally, helping Yua with her own. Miho understands the processes fine, and keeps her eyes on Yua. ...This doesn't surprise anyone who knows the truth, but won't surprise most either; in lieu of a sister of Kimitake's or Yua's, a cousin is the natural fit, especially one as close to Yua as Miho.
The ancient items...
Miho has no particular affection for most of them, given the circumstance. Her preference was not for such a wedding in any case. But it isn't her preferences that matter today...
And indeed, that's part of the whole problem.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Once they've declared it all fits, Yua turns to Miho, and whines: "It doesn't fit!"
"It certainly fits, Ooshiro-sama," the tailor informs her, primly. "It's fortunate you're a little small, your body shape is much more suited to back then..." He is too discreet to mention the hell he had fitting the five-ten Natsumi into this ancestral outfit, though he is also old enough -- and has worked with the Ijuuins long enough -- to remember.
"That's not what I mean!" Yua huffs, lifting her hands in the vast sleeves. "I'm not supposed to wear a white kimono... I'm not a noro priestess! I don't have that kind of relationship with the kami..."
The tailor, sensing that this is a cultural matter, wisely steps back to let Miho handle it.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho wears a highly formal kimono herself, though it is not so old as the bridal attire. Her furisode has a black base and shochikubai patterns--the 'Three Friends of Winter', appropriate to her December birthdate despite the summer occasion. And really, she feels appropriate enough in winter attire given the situation, with her lover being married to someone else. ...Perhaps it's irony that these patterns represent resilience, integrity, and perseverance through hardship. Or maybe it's just because that's how Miho is.
Her long sleeves are a sign of her youth; Miho in most circumstances is commanding, but in these it is a reminder that she is the youngest in her immediate family, the baby of the Ijuuin main line. Thus, she tends to get what she wants...
But not entirely in this way.
Miho also can imagine the difficulty Natsumi, her mother, had; of course, Ritsuko is almost as tall. They all are very tall.
But Yua...
Miho steps in, and steps up. "I understand," she says to Yua, "But so will they. It is Japan's kami you must meet at the wedding, and they will expect this style of dress for this ceremony. This part of our traditions is important to your betrothed especially."
Her voice is gentle; her words are calm. But...
She would prefer Yua in something else, too.
Of course, referring to Japan as separate from Okinawa could be something looked on poorly by many, but who's going to argue with Miho?
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua worries whether Miho will be too hot in her kimono, but... she's in solidarity with her, isn't she? This kimono is way too hot for summer...
(Yua's people wear much lighter fabrics, for their weddings; summer in Okinawa is even more oppressive than a Tokyo summer, after all. One of the few concessions Yua got out of Kimitake was letting people attend in yukata; she didn't want her students to deal with heat stroke.)
The one benefit to the Ijuuins all being tall is that they've likely always been taller than the mean; it means those ancestral kimono are only difficult to fit to their modern heights, rather than impossible. But it is much easier to fit something to someone smaller than to someone too tall; excess fabric can be hidden with clever tactics, but there is little that can be done if there is not enough.
Miho gets what she wants, most of the time... and she isn't the one being asked to fit into this kimono, today. (The venerable tailor in their employ might be able to fit them to a woman six feet tall... but only a man with over sixty years' experience could perform such a feat.) Yua reaches for her hand, having been warned away from embracing anyone in this ancient outfit.
(It is old, and delicate, and... there are certain expectations.)
"They won't recognise me," Yua murmurs, sadly, her own eye lowering down to the contrast of white on black. And indeed there are a few members of this prepartory committee who look twice at Miho, referring to Japan's kami as she does; but for Yua, she's in a world apart from them, and only Miho remains here. "Mm..."
Her fingers curl, between Miho's; her hand is smaller than hers, and she feels smaller, in a kimono like this. "... it's heavy," she sulks. "But... it is important to Kimi-san..."
She bites her painted lip, as she looks up and up to Miho. "Everyone will be looking at me..." He wanted a big, public ceremony... to remind them of the old traditions, he said.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho can deal with heat. She can even deal with the undeniably feminine attire she wears, down to the long, youthful sleeves. She is only twenty-two, after all. Barely into adulthood by the standards of the people here. And to be sure, some behind closed doors talk about how she doesn't bear that in mind enough...
"They will," Miho says. "It will be all right," she attempts to reassure her. The ones who look twice are not entirely beneath Miho's notice; she meets eyes until the offender looks away from her. But she looks back to Yua, in short order.
"I know," she says of the weight. It is not only the kimono, after all. But...
"It is."
Everyone will be looking at her...
"Yes," Miho says. "But not... only at you. They will be looking as well at your role. What you represent, perhaps even more than who you are; you have danced roles before. That this one is much less mobile is true... but it is a dance, nevertheless."
"You will do well."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Some may even call it arrogance; and these are the people most pleased that the object of Miho's obsession has been given an older husband, a man mature enough to be humble in his remaining youth.
Someone who can guide her; someone who can sort her out.
The only person Yua wants guidance from right now, though, is right in front of her. Her other hand joins the first, grasping Miho's. They have applied uguisu no fun to whiten her tawny skin -- and, today, to make sure she has no allergies to the exotic ancestral method, given there is only a single shop in Tokyo which sells it to high-end buyers; she feels like a stranger, inside herself, in the makeup.
And as those offenders avert their gazes, Yua looks up to her, in turn.
"My role..."
She looks so delicate, in these things she marries into.
"When we get married... we have grand eisa dances, just like it's Bon. All the young people of the village get together to do it... all in circles, or in lines... and they dance to the sanshin, to nembutsu songs, you know? And the old men would dance kagiyadefuu, and the katcharsee would start up whenever someone called it out... oh, Mimi, there's so much dancing."
Her smile is strained, as she says: "I wanted to show you..."
... but she manages to get a hold of herself before she starts crying, though her hands tremble.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Arrogance... A word fitting enough for Miho. She doesn't pay it any mind, accordingly.
Miho does not love the form of guidance she is obligated to give; to guide her into a set of traditions like this... Traditions that are being pantomimed, part of her thinks. But it is what Father decreed, and so she relents even in her mind about it. She looks to Yua's hand, and then back up to Yua. She does look delicate.
"I see..." The old men, even. So much dancing. "It sounds like the sort of thing that would create you," Miho says, and reaches out to squeeze Yua's hand.
"Show me a dance later. For now..."
"Let's do this."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
They are not Yua's traditions. In the way of her people, she would join Miho's family without abandoning her own; she would become a citizen of both their worlds, rather than being stripped down and dedicated to the Ijuuin's.
But she promised she would abide by Miho's people, too. She wanted to join her family... and this is what the Father of the Clan decided.
"My heart shouldn't be so heavy," Yua chides herself, looking down to their hands. "I want to be with you... to join your family," she adds, and perhaps it is for those people outside their world, the ones who know better than to judge Yua with their eyes while Miho's looking. "For that, I really am happy..."
But this isn't, traditionally, a ceremony about happiness.
Rather, it's concerned with harmony.
And Miho's presence, ultimately, goes to great lengths to preserve that harmony; she is able to explain things to Yua in ways which make much more sense to her than Kimitake ever could. She is able to keep her still as she's fitted for the uchikake, and to assure her that the amazake they'll have blessed in place of sake is non-alcoholic.
By the time they're done, though, there's no time for dancing... because Yua has to teach the dance. She hurries to Kasugayama; Miho is left to handle the remaining arrangements for tomorrow, having secured a little time off. Kimitake has of course arranged everything, but...
... but Kimitake does not know what Yua needs, and in this, Miho is her advocate.
(It is fortunate, perhaps, that Yua's work calls her away during the afternoon, to allow the two of them to speak as relatives without needing to mind Yua's deer-like hesitation around such a stern manner. Miho will find that Kimitake is not unsympathetic to Yua's discomfort; he simply feels that minding their traditions will assure the world around them. Is it not better if no one questions her regarding her marriage? He does not wish for Yua to suffer under undue questioning.)
So it goes, until Yua returns home; and she comes straight from school grounds back to their penthouse, so that she can at least make dinner for Miho tonight. Boiled rice and chicken, steamed vegetables; she seasons Miho's plate with soy sauce and spices, but leaves hers bare.
"Welcome home," she says, in her black leotard, when Miho finds her way home after all those preparations. And she flocks to Miho, and throws her arms about her neck, standing up on her tippy-toes to coax her lips down; she's wearing those awful compression socks, because it reassures Miho when she does as the doctor says. "Did everything go okay after I left...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
The ones who are wise do not judge while Miho is looking. ...But she can do little to the unwise but intimidate them, today. And while that is enough, somketimes...
Well. Harmony must prevail.
Kimitake sounds reasonable, of course. Miho can make sense of it, though she does not hesitate to speak up with her own views, despite Kimitake being older. She can do that, because she's in the main line, and perhaps strangely, people defer to her more in these clothes; after all, if she shows she can perform the proper role after all, she will gain more respect.
It is better if no one questions her, of course. It is better to accept some discomfort than to invite later disaster. But...
Still.
Time off, time off; Miho has considered more than once quitting her 'day job', but she has a feeling her other activities would claim more of her time that way. Regardless, she has enough pressure on her hands already at the moment; she hears the whispers that perhaps it's Her Turn next, after all. She's almost twenty-three...
But she comes back. She's still in her kimono, naturally, still a vision of severe beauty.
Miho leans down to kiss Yua when she steps inside. "I'm home," she says too, and as to everything....
"Yes," Miho answers. "It's fine. Things are all ready."
"...Something smells good. Let me get changed."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Kimitake is the man to be wed, and he is older, to boot; but Miho is the favoured daughter of the head of the Clan, and he affords her the respect that position deserves, particularly while they're in view of their respected servants and assistants. There are assurances he makes for her, concessions he allows.
(Like assuring her, voice low, that Yua will be safe in his household for the first night of their marriage; and both of them know what he means, when he reassures her over the tradition.)
But Miho is almost twenty-three, and just as Yua has been given a husband... so too has she been assigned a date, for the wedding. She is twenty-three; she cannot attend alone. It would reflect poorly on the family.
Yua sighs, against Miho's lips, coming back to her again; as if she carved herself to pieces, out there, and it is only by her lips yielding to Miho's that she may piece herself together again. "I knew I could count on Memimi!"
She helps Miho get changed, of course; a kimono is a difficult garment to shed alone. ("You really were beautiful," she comments, in the bedroom, "even if I like your modern style better...") She takes a moment to get changed into evening-clothes, too -- she evidently got started with dinner as soon as she got home -- and then heads out into the kitchen to fetch their bowls, kept heated so their food would stay nice and warm.
She brings out some wine, for Miho, to go along with the boiled rice and chicken, the steamed vegetables; for herself, of course, she has her pomegranate juice. She's quite taken by it!
"Sorry," Yua sighs, of their meal, "it's pretty bland... but I thought you'd like to eat the same thing as me, and I wanted it to be ready when you got back," which meant she couldn't cook anything which would take too long, either. At least Miho's meal has been seasoned! Yua's... has no soy sauce mixed in.
"I really can't believe it's tomorrow... I'm kind of intimidated. Eheheh... and you could tell, huh...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
That assurance is an important one; Miho could accept the necessities of marriage... if Yua could accept them. But she will not ask Yua that, and would be offended to be obligated so. So she knows precisely what he means, and it is quietly appreciated.
Her date is a movie star; she hasn't met him yet, but Ritsuko, her sister, recommends him highly. He's apparently very charming and, more to the point, used to acting in certain ways.
But here and now, Yua is pieced back together bit by bit, and Miho smiles at her. "Of course."
Miho accepts the help, though she is tired enough from the day that having to put on evening clothes after is almost an imposition. Still, she'll do it. ("Thank you," Miho had said. "...I don't mind the traditional style so much as I do Western dresses," she admits.)
Evening clothes as it happens are simple today, not really suitable for Going Out but fine for being at home. (By Miho's standards, anyway.)
"Thank you," Miho says, and it is not lost on her today that after all her work Yua has prepared her meal and wine. ...That kind of thing is on her mind today, for some reason.
"I don't mind," Miho says. "Indeed, I do like to eat the same as you."
Seasoning is nice. But it's a luxury, really; Miho enjoys fine food, but can get by on much less.
"...it's fair to be," Miho says of intimidation. "I could. But it's all right. Any woman would be a bit intimidated in such a situation... even aside from our circumstances."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Some things would be a step too far... but Miho's Father would not ask them of her, nor her beloved. The arrangement he has made is very considerate of their needs -- and of those of the son of his brother.
Of course, that is what being the Head means, isn't it? It's a responsibility towards everyone's needs. It is not merely a position of power.
As much as some people, envious, may see it that way...
But Yua knows nothing of that world.
... evening clothes, at least, are easier to get out of.
It is a lot of work. Yua does need a little nap, on the couch, when she gets home; thirty minutes, forty-five, just enough time to clear the cache of her head from all the invasive sensory input of the world outside. Her weighted blanket helps...
And the gratitude Miho always has helps, too. Why wouldn't she be motivated to give her home-cooked meals when they nourish her so much? "You're welcome!" She smiles, and it is a glowing thing, warm and loving.
Miho always says she doesn't mind, though, and Yua still feels a little guilty. She's been baking her a lot of cupcakes, lately... even though those things are too sweet, and she can't keep them down. It's hard, but...
But Miho wanted to eat the same meal as Yua ate, and Yua isn't about to put too much distance between them.
Not now.
"It's a little scary, right...?" Yua asks, as she takes a spoonful of rice. (She is careful to eat them separately; it settles easier.) "Especially with all those old wedding gifts and stuff... those shells are so old, I thought I'd break them just by looking at them, Mimi!" Assuredly, someone has broken a couple of them by looking at them too harshly over the past two centuries; not all of the three-hundred-sixty shells are as old as each other. They are, of course, always fastidiously replaced with another perfect pairing...
"I still feel so... so silly, acting like I'm this perfect Japanese bride... if it's a cultural demonstration, they'd want the people getting married to be Japanese, right...?" Yua sighs, taking another bite. "But I'm a good performer...! So..."
Another bite. Chew, chew... "... I think the medicine's working okay..." It's a complete tangent, but it's always also on her mind, when it comes to mealtime.
"Haa... I wonder how many people will come? I know there's all Kimi-san's coworkers, the people he's trying to impress... I guess all the schools will have made announcements about it today, so maybe some of the children will come... mm... oh!" Yua straightens up, a little. "That's right, I forgot! Mimi, there's a woman who's coming to the wedding... but she's someone you'll find useful, I think!!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Of course, his needs matter too, but Miho is sure her father has accounted for them. But Miho knows a lot of that world.
Miho doesn't begrudge naps in the least. But now... Miho smiles back at Yua, that warm and glowing, loving expression of hers. Miho never does mind--but she does accept the cupcakes. They're very nice...
"Yes," Miho agrees. "Even I would have to be careful with such things," she offers Yua, in something like commiseration. "But you are more graceful than that, even on your worst day."
Silly...
"You are a good performer," Miho agrees. "You can do it. And then we'll have the same name, at last."
Not quite what she wanted, but...
Well, perhaps that's overmuch.
"I'm glad," Miho says when Yua mentions her medicine. "...This is very good," she also says. And then people coming. "Yes, I'm sure many of your students will come." For Yua, because they like her, and for the novelty, because how often do they get to attend something as fancy as that? But--Hm?
"Is there?" Miho wonders. "Do tell."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"I guess that's true... when I say I can balance on my toes, I really mean it!" Yua's toes are quite discomforted with that fact; the real feet prison is one she built for herself. The difference, of course, is that Yua likes to dance.
Still, it does mark her as particularly graceful.
"At last!" Yua exclaims, when Miho brings up her name. "Remember when I'd write our names in my notebook, Mimi? I'd just be writing Miho and Yua Ijuuin, over and over..."
She sighs, a touch dreamily.
(And doesn't bring up the girls who were cruel to her, when they stole those notebooks... or the homework she was supposed to be writing down.)
"I was worried I'd be too nervous to eat..." And Yua's worries are quite weighty, there; Miho's seen how bad it can get. She is, at least, eating well enough right now, if perhaps picking at her food a little. She's trying to get through that rice, but she hasn't touched her chicken or her vegetables yet... is she afraid to?
"Oh, I hope they do," she adds, of her students. "For them, it's an exciting afternoon..."
But it's not just the children.
"Her name's Umie Akabane," Yua explains. "I felt something very strange, when I met her... I realised we were alike. And I was right! That woman, she bears the Mark -- but she escaped the Powers that Be, and now she insists she mustn't use that power. Even so... she's someone with that Mark who doesn't believe in the Order's sinless world, Mimi," Yua says, looking quite serious. "Couldn't someone like that be an ally to us...? I told her to look for you, at the wedding... since she had a lot of questions I wasn't good at answering."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"You do," Miho agrees. "You can."
But she remembers, and smiles to think of it. "I do," Miho says, and this is not... really what she imagined, then. But then, the dreams didn't specify things like legalities. Just that they were together. "I definitely remember."
But Yua can get very bad about that... But Miho is making an effort to encourage her. "I think you're doing well," she says. "Very well."
But the children will have an exciting afternoon! And this other person--
"Another with the Mark, but outside the Order," Miho reflects. "I wonder under what circumstances... If you say she escaped, perhaps still..."
"Well, it is a dangerous power to invoke for anyone; it is best not to do so heedlessly. But still..."
"Yes. She could be an ally, given the right handling. She could also be an enemy. ...But I'd prefer to think we can get along. We do need more individuals like that, if we're to accomplish our goals..."
A pause. "Which are still important."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
In her dreams, Yua got storybook married to Miho and then they had a nice little cottage by the sea and adopted a bunch of children and...
Well, you know, teenagers have big dreams like that.
"Thank you," Yua smiles, when Miho encourages her. "Oh... I'd better try the others, too..." Bravely, she takes up some chicken in her chopsticks. Ulp...
(She looks a little ashen, but it stays down.)
"She must have," Yua says, "though she didn't say just what her circumstances were... just that she was misled into meeting Gozen, just as I was."
She sighs, taking another bite of chicken. "... the Powers are making me use my gifts quite a lot," she says, sadly. "My soul's getting sick with it, Mimi... I'm worried." It might mean she needs to take more of her Mark Suppressants, even in absence of activating it; by some unknown mechanism, those injections give Yua more room to breathe, after she's embraced the world too tightly.
"She was definitely someone who's used to talking in a clever way... but I'm no good at that, and I didn't want to drive her away prematurely, you know?" Yua sighs, again. Another cautious little bite of chicken. "So I thought it was better if you saw her, Mimi... you're much better at that kind of thing. I just say what I'm feeling..."
Her foot stretches out, to rub one sock-clad shin against Miho's, reassuringly. "We haven't forgotten," she assures her. "Even if Kimi-san knows about that side of things... we were always going to have a task which had nothing to do with the marriage."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
They do. Miho has... other dreams.
Chicken!! Yua can have the chicken. ...Miho watches her a few extra moments, and then nods. "You'll need nourishment; tomorrow will be taxing."
Tomorrow...
But the Powers. "Mm. I understand... They should not ask so much of you." More suppressants. Of course. Which in turn means...
"More I must look into."
But, clever? "That makes sense," she says. "You're a very forthright, kind sort of person," Miho says. "It is good... But not always effective, in such situations."
Miho smiles back. "Good," she says. "...He does, but... it does not surprise me as much as it could. Few among our mutual acquaintances are there for sincere belief in the upper echelon's ideals. They have their own reasons."
"...But yes. That is so. And it will remain so. Let me take the lead. This weekend, maybe... I have a lead. I will pursue it."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua cares a lot about Miho's dreams, as well, of course. She sees many things Yua can't see...
"I'll try to eat it all," she promises, of her chicken. She can has it... but can she keeps it?
That's the harrowing question!
"They're very demanding..." Yua sighs, growing downcast as she thinks of the Order's wishes. "But what can I do, Mimi...? I can't tell them I don't want to..."
She has to smile, though, when Miho calls her kind; she can't help it. "Heheh... Mimi called me kind!" Yua, you don't need to narrate that out loud, she knows what she said... oh, no, she's being cute about it.
"I hope the Powers that Be aren't trying to take over the clan..." Yua worries, as she hooks her foot around Miho's ankle. (It lives there, now.) "But I guess you're right... the people on your level don't believe in that stuff." Miho's level, not Yua's. ... Yua isn't even a player in the game.
She smiles, though, looking to Miho. "I will," she promises. "But... you have a lead, Mimi...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Do your best," Miho says, "But mind your limits, too. Trying is enough." She wants Yua to not throw up!! ...To keeps it.
But, they are very demanding. "I'm not sure," Miho admits. "I think I'll have to find something to do about that..."
It might mean that she does more. It might not work that way. She'll find a way. But--
SHe's being very cute about it. Miho laughs softly. "I did, because I believe it."
But the Powers... "It would not be the first time someone had tried something of the kind," Miho says. "They will not succeed."
A pause. "The ones who do are dangerous for that reason. ...But most just want to advance themselves. They don't understand the deeper matters in play. Even those with the Mark..."
A shake of her head.
"I do. Of one of the wellsprings of the Dragon Lines. I will claim this one as well, as I did in London. But this time, I know what I'm doing much better. I know what it will lead to."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"Okay!" Yua chirps, and takes a little stab at her broccoli, too. Tiny trees...
She sighs, looking down at those tiny trees. (And the carrots, and the baby corn... even if she's making food that is mostly bland, it should still have some colour in it, right? A dish that's all white can't be healthy...) "I think it's because... they can be sneakier about it when they use me," she says, with a light pout. "If they asked someone like you or Ton-ton, everyone in the whole city would know... all those Persona Users would run in, first thing. And sometimes they want that, but not always... plus, sometimes they don't want demons doing damage around you. I saw the reporting on what happened, when I was last in a crowd... they said there was no major damage. I thought... what would people like Suou-san feel like they needed to do, if demons had killed a lot of people when I'd done that? Or if I'd gotten a lot more people involved...? ... not that I know what smart people really think about it," she adds, a touch hopelessly, and with no respect for the analysis she's clearly given it.
She at least is cheered up by Miho saying nice things about her.
"It's not?" Yua looks concerned, when Miho mentions how people have tried to take the clan over before. "Wow... Father must have a really tough job, if it's like that... no wonder he's so strong." Yua might be imagining a different kind of challenge than is practical in the modern day. It's fine.
"The Mark... it's given to us, but I wonder why the people who do that don't just take it for themselves," Yua looks disquieted, thinking of that. "I guess they don't like feeling sick..."
Oh, it's much worse than that.
But -- "Really?" Yua asks, her eye lighting up. "That's great!" And she can feel her leg slipping away to kick happily under there, even though she avoids kicking Miho in the legs, that would be mean. "What do you need me to do, Mimi?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Broccoli is great. Kids don't know.
Food should have color. But sneaky... Miho is thoughtful. "That may be so," Miho says. "But I won't simply sit here and do nothing in the face of you becoming so tired. You need to be able to consider your health, especially at times like these."
A pause. "...No, that's a good analysis. It does make sense. Perhaps if I act with more subtlety now and then..."
But!
"He probably hasn't had to have a direct confrontation about it since he was younger, of course," because this is a world in which he has probably had a dramatic fistfight over it in his youth, but... Most of them are more practical.
"Because they believe it to be a tool that they can avoid having to use themselves," Miho says. "Because it brings risks, to one's mind and body. ...Because they are cowards."
Still, Yua lights up, and Miho smiles. "Just conceal my absence," she says. "That will be sufficient. And if you're busy this weekend, that's all right, too... But I'd feel better knowing you were keeping an eye on things here."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"I'm trying very hard," Yua pouts, a touch deflated. "I even drink that gross water with all the electrolytes in it every day... but you're trying hard, too, Mimi," she adds, looking to her. "I really appreciate that, you know...?"
Because, of course, Miho can be very subtle. Sometimes she's so subtle, she has to go back and tell Yua what she was trying to say because she says it so subtly the meaning becomes invisible to Yuas.
"Oh... of course!" Yua nods, sensibly, revising her mental map of his feats.
One of her hands disappears under the table, to press against her belly. "They shouldn't put an expectant mother at risk so casually," she scowls. "I can't do my job if I can't avoid those awful things... ohhh, they're going to make my birth so difficult!" Because of course, if Yua were able to avoid all those risks, her birth would be easy. It's common received wisdom, not that anyone's told her that... though, of course, Ritsuko has advised her to relax more.
"Then I'll be right here!" Yua chirps, brightly. "Heheh... I've still got the one good eye, you know? So 'an' eye is totally something I can do! Besides, I won't need to go anywhere until later... I've got all of September for pilgrimage! And I want you to come with me, Mimi!!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"You are," Miho agrees. "I appreciate that you do. ...We both need to," she says. She smiles.
But, well... Miho is used to invisible meaning. It's normal for her. She sees it everywhere.
But Miho is glad to have Yua's feets near hers. She can't quite reach over the table so easily from here, but she does nudge back with her leg. She agrees, though, "They should not. They're making it far harder on you than it should be." That's the wisdom, and Miho is not immune to it; it seems natural to her that part of the problem, at the least, is all the expectations put on her.
"Clever," Miho answers. "You do indeed. But oh?"
September... The new month.
"Good," Miho says. "Then I'll join you."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"We're both doing our best," Yua decides, firmly.
Yua does not see the meaning Miho does in mundane things... and while she knows it's part of her illness, some part of her can't help but feel like it's a little wonderous, too. She's so perceptive... she can get meaning out of anything!
Really, Yua's only worried about that when it ends up scaring Miho...
She could reach over the table, but she is being good and trying to eat all her food. And so: feets! Which come to rest by Miho's feets when she's done stimming out her energy, again. "Mmhm!!"
And she giggles, when Miho calls her joke clever. She's always happy about that!
She's happy about Miho agreeing to come with her, too. "Really?! That's great!" She says, her whole face lighting up, and now her skin hasn't been whitened by makeup it's much easier to see. "I haven't gotten to see the castles or anything since I was taken... so I really need to go back there."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
They are. Miho can accept that.
Miho... well. It's not always good meanings. And it's often on her worst days. But meaning she sees!
Miho is still eating too, of course; she's slow about it, enjoying the meal rather than rushing through, and enjoying the wine as well. It's good wine.
She smiles back. "Yes," Miho agrees. "I'd be honored to accompany you. And pleased, too."
both!
"You do... That's important, to see your home. It will be nice to see them for myself, as well."
And obviously they'll get the chance.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
It's when Miho sees meaning on her worst days that Yua starts worrying... because that's when it starts becoming impossible to reassure her. Sometimes it can seem like every time she tells her it's safe, she comes up with a new reason why it isn't...
Sometimes, those reasons even sound plausible, and those days are really quite bad.
"That's right," Yua realises, as if it's just now dawning on her, "you haven't been back to Okinawa for a long time, either, have you...?" Their family took Miho on a trip there, once. She got to meet Yua's venerable Grandmother... and Yua took her camping!! "You'll really love places like Shuri Castle, Mimi! It was the centre of the islands for four hundred and fifty years...!"
She smiles, as she adds: "And we can see the rest of my family! Mama won't leave home any more... oh, but maybe she'll leave for her pilgrimage? Yeah! We can get her out that way!" Yua thinks this is an airtight plan!
Yua has never been let down in her LIFE.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Very bad. But that's not today.
"I haven't," Miho confirms. "I dropped in while looking for you, but didn't really stop to sightsee or anything. It wasn't like the trip we took when we were younger." Camping!! It was nice. "I do like castles..."
But she smiles back. "Maybe she will," Miho agrees, because she has no reason to assume Yua will be let down this time.
...Probably.
"...Mm," she says. "What do you say, after dinner, to a proper bath? I still feel tense from everything today myself--to say nothing of how you must feel."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"Oh, they must have been so worried," Yua says, frowning, when Miho talks about visiting in her search. She brightens, though, when Miho invokes castles. "Mmhm! I'm named after them!" Ooshiro! Great castle! It's a very common name, in Okinawa...
Maybe, maybe, probably, definitely...
... bath!! Yua brightens, when Miho invites her to a proper one. "Oh, that would be brilliant," she says, smiling warmly to Miho. "Let me just finish dinner, and... I definitely want to!"
Of course, every time they hop in the bath, Yua insists Miho clean her hair... and it's always a challenge, because she's constantly sinking into her and not giving her any room to scrub.
But maybe the thought of soaking her poor, sore feet will inspire Yua to finish her chicken...!!