2026-02-15: Tiger's Huffy
- Log: Tiger's Huffy
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba - Penthouse
- OOC Date: feb 15 2026
- IC Date: Wed Sep 26 2012
- Summary: Yua and Miho return home from Okinawa. Their cat might never forgive them.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Wednesday saw Miho and her -- squadron? Party? Axis of evil? -- returning from Okinawa, after a few days to let tensions simmer down. Yua slowed things down, of course, by insisting on going and buying a frankly unreasonable amount of muscovado to bring back for everyone.
... like Eiko Ikeda, who got off of work today with a nice gift-wrapped box of it. (Seiji Sahashi got his already, driving them home.)
"Haaa... we're hooome!" Yua huffs, into the endless waving fur of the world's largest cat, currently draped over her arms and dangling out the sides. "Didjoo miss us? Huh? Huuuuh? Who's a good kitty???"
Tiger says, 'mrrp'.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho still has a sling for her arm, but since she isn't having to drive, this isn't much a problem. She didn't pick up many extra souvenirs herself--Yua handled that--but she did have the most important one...
"We're home," Miho intones with Yua, and smiles, looking down at her CAT. "Someone had the run of the place on his own..."
Eiko assuredly fed him and so on. But she doesn't tend to lounge around the apartment!!
"I'm glad to be back," she says, "Though it was lovely, out there."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Don't worry, Yua specifically asked Eiko to remember to play with the cat.
Yua holds Tiger up, in her arms, so that Miho can pet him one handed. He reaches out to bat at her sling, and she tuts, "No, baby! Not cat toy!", though she's still using the exact same baby-voice to do it, so how effective it is is really up for debate.
Tiger chomps onto the side of Miho's very expensive sleeve, at least, instead of the sling on her other arm. "Aww," Yua says, "he missed you!"
'Mrrrrrmmmmm,' Tiger chastises Miho, tail wagging. How DARE she leave for DAYS?!
"Aww, he's so cross..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho does indeed pet Tiger one-handed, enjoying his soft, fluffy fur. Even as he bats at her sling. "Yua..." She smiles.
Chomp!! "Yes, he did," she says. "Didn't you miss me?" she asks, and she even does a little baby talk about it.
"Yes, I'm sorry I left you. But now I'm here!"
Pet pet pet.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
And lo, Tiger, who will at least tolerate Yua picking him up and pampering him, proves that the person he's really invested in here is Miho. It's only after she lavishes attention on him -- complete with a little baby talk of her own!! -- that he stops gnawing on her sleeve (a habit he long since picked up to chastise her; he's even chewed off her cufflinks before, resulting in a few terrible instances of having to yank them out of his mouth before he has to go to the vet) and starts ramming his head into her hand instead.
"He has such a big purr!" Yua exclaims, happily, and if her arms are getting tired, she distinctly does not complain.
Once he's ready to be let down, though -- wriggle, wriggle, and Yua pours the liquid cat back down to the floor with an elegant flomp -- Yua is more than happy to go fetch them some water so they can go sit down. It's Yua fetching the water, now, because Miho's arm is hurt...!!
"Fwaaaah," she exclaims, though, as she sits down, putting the glasses down, too. "I'm soooo tired... even if it's only a little plane ride, it's really a lot, you know!" They even got back this late... "Is your arm doing okay, Mimi?" Yua asks, turning to her.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Tiger stops gnawing (this time) and rams his head into her hand, and Miho gives him scritches to go with the pets. "Yes," she says to him, "We're back. Isn't that better?"
Big purr!!
Yua is being very good to Miho. Flomp, there goes Tiger,, and Miho accepts that Yua is going to take care of her a bit while she's injured, though she still eyes the way she walks to make sure she doesn't seem too tired.
"Yes, it was tiring," Miho agrees, "And you're tired for two," she points out.
"Yes," Miho confirms. "...Well, it's a bit sore," she allows. "But they tell me that means it's healing."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Tiger is such a good cat. One day, he'll accept Yua fully into his heart... maybe.
Give it a few years.
"It's thirteen weeks now!" Yua says, beaming. "We made it this far, so maybe we'll be okay...! Haa, I hope what they say about it getting easier is true, though..." Her cheeks puff out, with a whuffling sigh. "If even more things get hard, I, I'll...! I'll complain to the manager, Mimi!!"
It's very silly, but there's a deeper impact, behind it.
Still, Miho says her arm is sore, and -- "oh!" -- Yua goes to hop to her feet again, only to surely get stopped by the woman beside her and reminded to take that more slowly for the sake of her cratering blood pressure, so she can get up slowly like a normal person. She bustles over to grab her purse from the sideboard, and fetches from it Miho's pain medication, which she was carrying for her for the sake of reducing their carry-on luggage.
Bustling back over, she says: "Remember to take something! Right?" ... because, of course, it's usually Miho having to convince Yua to take her medication.
She doesn't have nearly as much of a problem with pain medication, though... at least not the ones which don't make her sleepy.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Eventually!!
"I hope so too," Miho says of it getting easier. "But you're radiant, Yua. Despite the difficulty, I think it really suits you." She smiles, then. "Yes," she says. "I'm sure you will."
Miho would watch Yua being a terror to reality's managers.
But Miho does indeed stop Yua--"Slowly," she reminds her--and then the medication... "Ah, yes," Miho says. She's been reluctant to take it, has to be reminded, because she can tough it out!!
..."Right," she allows after a moment, and takes the medication, popping the bottle open to take two pills and downing them with the water, though doing so one-handed is slightly awkward.
"Thank you."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Heehee... you think so?" Yua asks, clasping a hand to her cheek as her eye shines. "That's great! I'll light the way, Mimi!!"
(But where are they going...?)
"Okaaay," Yua pouts, steadying herself on the couch, when Miho reminds her to take it slow. She at least is still graceful on her feet once her body's had a chance to catch up.
Yua, helpfully, fiddles with the cap a little before handing it over to Miho, so that the child-proof cap isn't locked; and she takes the pill bottle to exchange it with a cup of water, too.
"You'll feel better, Mimi," Yua encourages her. "I don't want you to be in pain, okay...?" She lays a hand on Miho's good arm, rubbing it, as she looks to her with that big puppy-dog eye. That's right: Yua's secret weapon in convincing Miho to take her medication is emotional warfare, and she's not above employing it, knowing that Miho will surely be back at work soon and insisting she's not bothered at all. "You got hurt because you were protecting me... if I hadn't froze up, he wouldn't have been able to hit you at all!"
Yua does always tend to freeze, when danger's coming for her... all that graceful movement doesn't avail her when she most needs it, for some reason.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Does the destination matter, if they're together? Miho smiles warmly at Yua.
But they can remind each other of what they need to do, like this. Yua to take it slow, and Miho to take (the pills) at all. "I know," she says, and sighs slightly. Yua's secret weapon is super effective. She smiles at her. "Maybe," she says. "I cannot dodge bullets, but I can dodge a man; his finger had a bit of a delay on the trigger..."
A shake of her head. "But it is fine. Knowing I protected you, I'm happy."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
And Yua's smile warms further, seeing Miho's. They're together...! They're a great team!!
Miho talks about dodging men, and Yua's eye widens, as she realises what she was seeing. "You could notice something like that? I saw the gun, and I was just so scared...! I definitely wasn't looking at his fingers or anything..."
Yua isn't the sort of person who could look at the way Rokuro held that gun and realise both that he was used to holding it and that his position kept him safely removed from needing to, these days.
She cuddles up against Miho's side, hearing that happiness. "I'm lucky I have a partner like you," she smiles, her hand resting at Miho's lap to avoid jostling that sling of hers. "You'd really do anything to protect us... even though we're in a dangerous situation, I feel safe with you."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
They are a great team.
"I'm used to judging where someone will strike before they do strike. ...it was the only thing that saved me, then. He was good with that gun; if I had waited until he had fired to try to get out of the way..." Well, it wouldn't have gone well. Miho can't dodge bullets! And without her Persona, she can't really block them either...
But still, Miho smiles at Yua. "We are both lucky," she decides. "...I'm glad."
She worries, though; Miho can't keep Yua as safe as she would like. And that feeling of safety could be dangerous, thus...
But she doesn't want to worry her, either. "I will do all that I can, and more."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Oh, like... spotting!" No, not that kind of spotting. Yua's talking about picking a point in the distance and focusing on it so as to remain in place while committing difficult dance moves, like Odile's thirty-two fouette turns in Swan Lake. (Yua's pulled it off before; whether she could now is a little more in question.) "Except I guess that's judging where you'll be, not where they'll be... maybe there's a version of that for looking at someone else...?" Oh, no. No one tell her...
"You're really sharp, Mimi," Yua praises her. "When something comes at me, I'm not thinking about how they'll hit me at all... just that it's really going to hurt! And I won't be able to get away, and... and I can't do anything," she runs through the thought, her tone lowering with her gaze. "I just get so scared, I can't move at all..."
Perhaps Miho can guess where she'd have learned a thing like that. She wasn't that bad, in high school; still a damsel, surely, but she would at least run away if the girls at school were cruel to her. But that big mystery in the middle... there are very logical reasons why Miho would worry, and that's what makes it harder, huh?
"... you've always gone above and beyond for me, Mimi," Yua sighs, focusing on something happier. "No matter what... it's 'no matter what'! I'm really lucky..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Hmmm..." Miho does not tell her.
But she does frown, at Yua's telling of what she would do, will do, has done. "I know," she says gently, and she is concerned. How can they fix what was broken? Can they?
It does make it harder.
"Well, I'll just have to protect you more," Miho settles on. "...And I'm glad you're happy. It wouldn't be any good if I put forth all that effort and you didn't care," she says with a teasing smile. "...But I feel lucky, too. To have you with me."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It's fine! They don't need that kind of spotting unless they get Eiko a much bigger gun.
But some things, when broken, cannot be fixed; some things leave a woman with a mask which slips down to strangle her own neck, unless it's fixed tightly. They've managed to avoid it, so far... but the image of those battering bars may not leave Miho's mind so easily.
Yua, for her part, tries not to think negative thoughts like that. Gretchen's always protected her, too! (right up 'til she hasn't.)
"Whaa? Hey!" Yua pouts, leaning up to poke Miho's cheek. "I'd have to be the world's biggest jerk to not care! I care a lot! A lot, a lot!" Teasing works, apparently, because Yua leans up a little more to smooch Miho demonstratively. "See??"
Flawless execution.
"I'm never going anywhere," Yua insists, and she kind of has to thread her arm down to Miho's midsection to hug herself to her without jostling her arm but by God, she figures it out. "Never ever! I'll always be right here beside you, I promise! Even if I have to go do things sometimes... you can bet I'm hurrying right back!"