2026-04-11: Beach Date
- Log: Beach Date
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: Ebisu Beach
- OOC Date: 2026-04-11
- IC Date: Tues, Oct 23 2012
- Summary: Miho and Yua spend some time on the beach after their antenatal appointment, and they're a little closer than they perhaps ought to be, in public... but they're cousins, so surely it's fine? Yua shares some more of her past as a beach child, and it leads into Miho and Yua's shared desire to save others from Blacksite Revelation...
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It's a new week -- and that means a new antenatal appointment, too. Dr. Himari Matsuhashi is pleased with the weight Yua's been able to put on, lately, and they have exciting news this time around -- in the next week or two, they ought to be able to tell the baby's gender through ultrasound! There are all the usual concerning warnings tied up in the appointment, of course -- particularly to do with Yua's circulatory system -- but that assurance, and the ability to see their baby outweighs the congestion and dizziness. (Besides, Hiroki will be able to hear them from next week onwards...)
Yua doesn't want to just go back to work early after her morning appointment, though; she's far too energised by the news. And so: "Beach! Beach! Mimi, let's go to the beach--!!"
She wasn't able to enjoy Ebisu Beach for a long time, after the bad things she did here... but maybe she's able to forgive herself, just a little.
Of course, she keeps a beach towel in their Mercer-Benz, even if her dancer's leotard only looks like a swimsuit at first glance. She lays it down, and lowers herself down, with a hand from Miho to steady herself.
Surely it's just to steady herself.
"Oooh..." Yua hums, as she sits herself down, stretching out her legs. (Her feet are in nice, sturdy hiking shoes, with those compression socks she hates so much.) "Ooooh... oop! There we go! Mimi, Mimi!" Yua tugs at her hand, urging her down, too. "Look! The tide's coming in!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho was very pleased at the news, though she has been researching, of course--so she was not entirely surprised. ...Pleased, though. And all the usual warnings, but that assurance, that ability to see...
Well, it matters. "Beach," Miho agrees.
Miho is used to a more subdued approach to many things--but today, it's brighter. Especially since Yua can be brighter.
Miho has a swimsuit, and could've changed if they'd dropped by the apartment first... but it's fine. Instead, Miho sits herself down, fancy shoes and all, in her slacks and dressy shirt on the towel with Yua. She is not concerned with feet prisons.
"So it is," Miho agrees, and smiles. If she doesn't let go Yua's hand immediately, well, that's fine.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
They're cousins-in-law, according to society; maybe it's normal for Miho to be supporting a pregnant family member this way. And maybe it's normal for Yua to lean on Miho, since they don't have a chair.
Maybe.
"When the tide goes out, you can catch clams in the sand... they're only about thiiis far down," she holds her hands about ten centimetres apart, "and they feel smooth! Oh, but we're not in beach clothes... Mimi, let's go to the beach properly later!"
She reaches out, to take up a curved clam shell from the sand, four centimetres wide. "See, see? They look just like this! But this is only half of one... someone already had a snack!"
Yua promptly begins scooping the sand up, into a little pile.
Is she...
Making a sand castle?!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Cousins! ...It's totally normal. Everything about this is normal.
But when the tide goes out... "Hmmm," Miho says. "I see..." She imagines these clams--and then smiles. "Of course." Proper beach time later. Miho can do that. ...It'll be nice.
"Hope they enjoyed it."
She... is definitely making a sand castle. Miho is not inclined to get her hands dirty at the moment, but she turns her head to watch. "Hmmm?" she asks.
She can wait for Yua to show her.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"They definitely did!" Yua chirps, happily. "Clams are sooo good, Mimi! Put them in a soup! Oh, I should make asari udon...!" (Asari, of course, are clams.)
Scoop, scoop... Yua has no problem getting her hands dirty, and so she crafts a tall tower of sand, and stands the clamshell atop it, laid flat. "Look!" She chirps, tugging on Miho's sleeve with her terrible sandy hands!! "My tower has a hat!"
No one tell Yua that sandcastles are a little childish. After all, "... I used to make sandcastles all the time when I was a little kid," she says, leaning against Miho, again. "When I was waiting for dad to get home from fishing, I'd take a break from diving by the rocks and climbing over them for goodies by playing in the sand... sometimes the clams would try to burrow away, but I caught them!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"You should," Miho agrees. "I'd eat it."
Scoop scoop. Miho smiles to see. "A very nice hat," she agrees. "Towers should have more hats."
She doesn't mind that sand castles are a little childish; Yua deserves to have joy, regardless. And indeed, she explains. "That sounds fun," she says. She never made many sand castles, herself. "You were really active."
A laugh. "I don't know much about clams besides how tasty they can be," she admits. "You must've been very diligent."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Okay! Then I'll make asari udon tomorrow, Mimi!" Yua promises, all a-sparkle.
(It has to be tomorrow, of course, because Yua has already planned out dinner for tonight. One doesn't just change Yua's plans.)
"Mm, mm! But if I turn it up, like this," Yua leans over, to set the clam on its side, "now it's a lighthouse! Oh, oh," she adds, as she leans over a little more, to grab some reddish seaweed and set it around one side of the sand tower. "There, and there's the sea! See, see?"
She pauses, as she adds: "Oh, did you know? This is red algae! It's what we make nori out of, Mimi. If we bring it with us, I can dry it, and we can nibble on it!"
Yua smiles, settling back against Miho again. "Dad taught me a lot... I really liked fishing with him. He did it in the old way, not like the commercial trawlers... we could always tell when they'd been through our fishing grounds, because those big boats always messed everything up!" She huffs, cheeks puffing up. "I like net fishing, but you need to do it right, or you'll just catch everything and not even use it..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I'm looking forward to it."
Miho, for one, would never just change Yua's plans without warning. It would be rude at best!
"Aaah," she says, "A lighthouse." That's nice. The seaweed is cute, too. But, "Would this area's seaweed be clean?" she wonders. "I'd wonder about the local water..." It's OK for swimming, but maybe not for eating from.
She's not so sure.
But, "I see... That would be very wasteful," she agrees. "And waste makes the ocean worse for the next time..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Oh, yeah," Yua sighs, looking around the beach. "The city has a lot more bad stuff in its water... mouuuuu, but seaweed is so tasty, Mimi!!"
Yua, of course, is used to her nice rural little village where the only pollution they have to worry about is from the Americans. Well, maybe there's a little more now their population is increasing from that migration push...
"Mm, it's sooo inconsiderate!" Yua huffs, poking at the sand. "We kill things in the sea to eat them, but we only kill the things we're going to eat... and we know about leaving things alone so they can repopulate, too. But it's not just wasteful fishing! Even in Kukojima, sometimes there'd be fish or birds or turtles all tangled up in plastic bags and stuff... I know it's against the law here in the city and stuff, but I used to carry a multi-tool when I was a kid, in case I found something tangled up in garbage and I needed to cut it free."
Yua's such a girly girl of a woman, and yet her childhood sounds remarkably tomboyish... but she was still a ballerina through all that. Then again, being friend to all animals is the feature of a princess...
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"We'll send for some," Miho offers. Obviously not 'pick it up on the way home'. Who goes to stores?
But it's very inconsiderate to say the least--and Yua explains further. Hmm... Of all the illegal things they've done, that one bothers Miho least of all, even less than jaywalking. (It's dangerous, you know).
"Haste so often leads to such things..."
A pause. "I can imagine you cutting free little animals, though."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"We can?" Yua asks, and of course she's asking whether Miho will do this for her, not whether they have the capacity to do so. "Yay!"
Sometimes being rich is hard, but it's nice to just get what you want when you want it...
(... Yua does still go to stores sometimes, though. She's not old money like Miho is, she still remembers having fun window shopping.)
Jaywalking is dangerous, though. Yua just doesn't always think of it, because, well, most people didn't even have cars on the island. Roads are for people! (Secretly, highways kind of scare her... let alone motorways.)
"City people are too hasty," Yua pouts, as she gives her smiley face ANGRY EYEBROWS!
Wait, now it's like >:)...
She giggles, though, looking back up to Miho. "Hee hee... can you? You need to be very calm, Mimi! And quick, because a lot of the time, they're very cross, and they might lash out at you when they get out... that's not their fault, though," she adds, thoughtfully. "Like... remember when you rescued me? I wasn't very coherent... and I was very upset all the time. I think that anything which gets rescued probably isn't thinking very straight..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Yes," Miho confirms. She smiles. Yay indeed.
And city people can be too hasty. Miho's seen some of the other way, by now, a slower way. It has its appeals...
But Miho listens, as Yua describes it. "I suppose they would be," she admits. "They don't know you're helping; for all they know, you're just another part of the problem."
"...But even when they do know... it's hard, to come out of that mode."
She reaches out to place her hand on Yua's, and squeeze. "I remember," she says.
"And I think you may be right. When you're in the darkness long enough, going out into the light, it hurts your eyes..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Miho smiles, and Yua's smile widens. She's even happier seeing Miho happy!!
"It is hard," she agrees, and her expression grows more somber and thoughtful, as she speaks on it. Feeling Miho's hand over hers, she leans back against her, letting out a deep sigh, as her free hand comes to rest on her belly. (And perhaps one could look at such a moment and think that the pregnant woman is just tired... but...)
"I wish it were as easy to free people stuck in my darkness," she breathes out. "We left people behind, Mimi... mouuuu, some of them were still children..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho is glad to have this time with Yua. ...Perhaps she is less on guard than she should be, but this is the sort of thing she wanted...
But, "...We did," Miho knows. "And I lack the 'power' yet to bring them all out."
"But those we can save... we will."
"I have not given up on that."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It's what Yua wanted, too. It isn't a large thing to ask for, to be able to sit with her wife on the beach...
"I know it's still running," Yua says, looking down at their hands, "because they give me new cartridges, sometimes. I guess when they're 'done', they let people go out into Tokyo and operate, too... hau, sometimes I wonder what happens if I meet someone who came from an awful place like that. I'd want to help them... I'd push very hard."
Her gaze turns up, towards the encroaching tide.
"I thought... if you could save us, Mimi, maybe I could be that cool, too..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm." It's definitely still running. Miho has a feeling that a lot of people never make it to 'done', just like the ones Yua told her about. But still, "...You would. And I think we could do something."
She looks to Yua, and nods. "You can. You are."
"...It's not as much as we want," she admits. "But it's some. We have to take what we can get, until..."
"Until we don't have to hide anything."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
... yeah. Plenty of people don't make it to 'done'.
Or...
Or 'done' isn't anything that can be exposed to the open air.
Miho affirms that she's cool, too, though, and Yua turns back to smile to her. "Hee hee... Mimi called me cool!" She finds a moment to sparkle, despite the subject matter.
"But you're right... we've gotta make do." Her thumb lifts, to trace the side of Miho's hand, where it can reach up. "One day... we'll reach our better world. Then... then everything will be okay! Until then..."
Yua tilts her head, thoughtfully. "Let's do what we can, Mimi," she decides, looking to her.
"And... and I owe you a kiss!"
She at least has the sense to realise that that can't be explained away as easily... even if she'd love to kiss Miho on the beach.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I did," she says. "Because I meant it." Miho smiles. But... one day. One day they will.
"Until then, yes."
And she owes--
"You can bet I'll take you up on that at home," Miho says, and grins softly.
It would be nice, but...
They will have to settle for many things, right now.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua giggles, her own smile widening. "Hee hee... you better! You look so nice on the beach, Mimi... even though I get worried about you sunburning!" Yua isn't worried about getting sunburnt, of course, with her tawny skin.
Yua don't know 'bout skin cancer.
"But I'm happy," she adds, looking down to her hand at her belly. "Hiroki should get to have lots of time at the beach... he'll even be able to hear the waves soon. And us, Mimi! Let's tell him lots of good things! I've been practicing my singing, too... wanna see?"
Yua lapses into a children's lullaby, straight out of Okinawa; and of course that means the lyrics aren't quite intelligible, but she's explained the meaning of the song before...