2026-06-30: A Food for Unparallelled Bravery
- Log: A Food for Unparallelled Bravery
- Cast: Tyrrha Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba Park
- OOC Date: 2026-06-30
- IC Date: Sun Dec 02 2012
- Summary: Miho rewards Tyrrha with a food to test her bravery, and does a little parenting of her own, in the process... which gives her a little more insight into Tyrrha's workings.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Aoba Park is a beautiful place, all the more when it's not full of cultists. This is a day when it's not full of cultists.
Instead, Miho is here, dressed in casual attire (yes, she's not in a suit for once) and walking through the park. "So," she says, "I wanted to let you try something. ...But it smells quite strong, so i had it arranged away from our own apartment..."
Because Yua has a sense of smell that is extremely sensitive.
Miho eventually turns to Tyrrha, coming to a stop at a place where she lays down a blanket.
"And thus, we are having a lunch out today."
She sets down the basket that holds the various foods in it. "Are you prepared?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Today, Yua learned -- or, to hear her say it, decided -- that she was going back to work. That means she has some things to sort out, and that means... it's Miho's turn to be mom!
Tyrrha is way too excited about going to school herself, after all. She's revised all her lessons:
- No biting
- No fighting
- No hugging
- No Welwetes
- No talking about the secret evil horror lab
- No blabbing about the conspiracy
- No mentioning that Yua is a secret midboss
- No mentioning that SHE'S a secret midboss
- No making it weirder for Yume
- No really interesting questions
Oh, yeah, and maths and junk, but that's whatever, she has a subroutine for that.
Right now she's dressed in her sailor's dress, which isn't quite a school uniform but is a touch akin to it; she decided that's what she likes to wear, so of course they've gotten her five copies of the same outfit, just like Yua. She perches herself down on the blanket, looking, as always, like she's about to kill someone; but of course Miho knows that's just her normal face, particularly when Miho declares that they're having lunch out and a grin crosses over it instead. (The grin is no less ominous.) "Whoa! It's a real picnic! I read about those!!"
And Miho says to prepare for the food, and so, of course, Tyrrha claps her hands together. "Sure am! Lay it on me, Mimama!!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
The rules are very important.
Miho indeed has arranged a picnic; her own clothes are still trousers and a shirt, but they're fancy, though she should rightly have a bigger coat. She doesn't get cold that easily for some reason.
"It is," Miho says. "I have brought us many dishes... but the first that may be of interest to you," she says, "Is one noted as a holiday dish in many places. It is Scandinavian--specifically, it comes from Norway, as well as a place in the United States. It is a fish dish; this is made of prepared stockfish, treated for many days to become a rich and flavorful food."
Pause. "It is treated with lye, which as you may know, is quite a caustic, poisonous chemical. Thus, it is a fascinating food; from poison, delicacy."
She hands over the container. "I hope that you enjoy it."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Tyrrha is also dressed in summer clothes during the winter, but it's fine, don't worry about it. She doesn't exactly process 'being cold' like that, you know? She just gets raw temperature data. She can guess that the data is correlated to the salaryman shivering as he walks along the path a little ways away, but it's just not an experience she's versed in.
(Much like how she isn't ever in pain as much as given alerts about chassis damage, oversights -- are they oversights? -- like those might go a long way to explaining just why Tyrrha needs to be forbidden from asking what she thinks are just interesting questions.)
Miho explains -- a holiday dish! And of course that makes sense, Tyrrha thinks, nodding firmly, because she's about to go to school, that's got to count as a holiday. The day before going to school holiday! "Norway... up North way!" She scans for the factoid, places it, and adds: "Clever, right?"
Miho knows a thing or two about wordplay, after all.
But it's prepared fish, Miho says, and then she tells her how, and Tyrrha's eyes widen, the two red discs which help to clarify her sight zooming independently and causing a black line split between them. "Whoaaa... humans eat poison?! But I thought you kept your plants in the greenhouse 'cause you didn't want Tiger eating them!" Beat. "Oh, but Tiger's a cat... so... can humans eat more poisons than cats?"
She takes the container, staring at it with anticipation for a moment. "Poison fish..." She marvels, before she cracks open the container -- and Miho, at least, might well have the constitution to continue observing, though Tyrrha can process just why Yua would have trouble. "Wow... it is really strong!" She exclaims, but with excitement --
-- before she happily gobbles the whole thing down. NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Yes, Miho has noticed these things; she is not sure they are oversights, though. These qualities worsen her ability to get by in society, but enhance her ferocious combat ability in many ways. ...Well, that's another matter.
"Yes, clever," Miho agrees. "Norway is indeed north."
Tyrrha is surprised! Miho smiles. "Humans enjoy some poisons, in limited quantities. Chili peppers, for instance. Tobacco, for another, though it is less common these days than it once was. Alcohol is another poison that humans enjoy a great deal."
Miho has the constitution; apparently, lutefisk may be pungent, but its flavor is quite mild.
Miho smiles. "What do you think?" she asks, and takes a fork to her own portion thoughtfully.
What, like she's not gonna try it too?
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Whether the Powers that Be intended Tyrrha to ever get by in society is an open question. 'Shisix', as Yua's told Miho Tyrrha called herself before she was designated a name, implies the existence of others... either before 6, or before 46, depending on how one hears that serial number.
"The United States are north, too, but they're not actually very united," Tyrrha decides. "They need a different name. Maybe... the Reluctantly Neighbouring States!"
oh come on who loaded geopolitics onto the robot
But Miho details all these poisons humans like, as Tyrrha tilts her head. "Yumama was talkin' 'bout how she missed chili peppers the other day... hey, she doesn't drink wine like you, either! Did she get weaker? Can she just not process any poison any more?" Tyrrha sounds alarmed, thinking of that.
She NOMPHS down the lutefisk, though. "It's really good!" She declares, licking her chops, and normal men might be worried that she's still hungry. "Kinda like that sakura-boshi you guys brought back from Hawaii... but damp, not dry!" Sakura-boshi, of course, is fish jerky; perhaps it's not so unusual that Tyrrha would draw a line between two different types of preserved fish, even though the taste and presentation are much different.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Probably not. ...But it may be necessary, to stabilize her. Miho will go beyond what is necessary; she will give Tyrrha a chance to live, if she can.
"Hmm. I do not think they would go for it. The idea of their unity is stronger than the reality of it."
Miho has opinions, too.
"Temporarily," Miho is quick to caution Tyrrha. "While she bears Hiroki, Hiroki would be unable to deal with these foods; thus, she cannot, as her body will pass on the toxins to him. He'll be able to when he grows up... but not yet. And in turn, Yua will be able to partake again later."
NOMPH. "Excellent," Miho says. "It has an interesting texture," she decides. "Damp, as you say. And it is a neutral color..." Color matters in Japanese cuisine, after all. The right colors.
Miho brings out a thermos of tea, and a few more less exciting foods; spicy, for fun, but nothing quite so unique as lutefisk today.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
That chance may take more than courage, but...
Miho is not only brave.
"I guess we're not that different, huh!" Tyrrha exclaims, cheerfully. "Since Aunt Remi," she's an aunt now, in that manner of children not quite understanding the distinction between family and friends of family, "and that Mister Gessou-san totally want to fight even if they pretend like they're friends, and Mister Pao-san was suuuuper mad at you, and Mister Sasaki-san keeps ringing Yumama up and talking nice but he's really looking down on her, and..."
miho had better stop tyrrha before she roasts the entire new world order and gets a kill order put out on her
She tilts her head, though, as she focuses on Yua instead. "Ohhhhh," she says, realisation dawning over her unique features. "So Yumama's not weak, it's the baby... I get it! Don't worry, Mimama, I'll make sure no one eats her while she's tastier!"
wait what
"Yeah, yeah! It's good!" Tyrrha nods, brightly, as Miho elaborates on colour. (Her critique isn't nearly as advanced. She sees a snack, she eats the snack...) "When Yumama's better, let's get her lutefisk, too! Having a baby's a holiday, right?"
Tyrrha also likes spiced tea...
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Indeed. Miho is willing to put in that work.
But, as for them... Miho cannot entirely hide her amusement, a smile with teeth showing her reaction to the matter of the others Tyrrha mentions. "Those things," she says, "You should be sure not to repeat too widely--people do not appreciate their secret ways being revealed. ...But indeed, it is just like that."
Pause. "I'm angry at him, too."
Still, Yua! "Correct. The baby is not yet strong enough to survive such things." Pause. Tastier...? Miho lifts an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
"Though I do trust you to protect her, yes."
But it's good! "Hmm. Yes, that would be fun."
Miho thinks that even if Yua doesn't like it she'd complain in a cute way...
"But it is nice to be able to try pungent and spicy foods now and then, isn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Ohhhhh, so that's secret, too... mooooooou, there's so many secrets to keep track of!!" And surely Tyrrha is complaining about her list of rules for school...
... though there's another thing she's not allowed to mention here, too.
"We could eat him," she suggests, hopefully, when Miho mentions being mad at Yung Pao in turn.
See, soooo many problems would be solved if mama would just let her eat him --
Tyrrha grins, her tone goodnatured, as she tells Miho: "Gramps told me 'bout it! When I was fightin' that other robot! He didn't feel like fighting, but he didn't feel like getting off his rooftop, either..."
She nods, firmly, hands grasping to either side of her. "Don't worry! Keeping Yumama safe is my number-one priority!" And she's spent enough time around Yua, apparently, to know to say that in English for emphasis.
(Yua does, in fact, complain in a cute way. Mouuuuuuuu... Tyrrha picked that up, too!)
"Yeah! It's fun and nice!" Tyrrha declares, innocent to Miho's machinations. "It's like... danger food! I love danger food!!"
And so, the next step of Miho's quest becomes clear...
She must fetch Tyrrha an Especially Dangerous Snack!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Unfortunately so. I do not prefer all this secrecy..." She's used to it. That's not the same as wanting it.
But Yung Pao... "Tempting," Miho says. "But no, he is attached to men we would anger in this way; we'd pick a fight unnecessarily. But indeed, tempting." Eat him. Miho at least probably means it metaphorically... Probably.
But Grampa! "Who is Grampa?" Miho wonders. "Tell me more about him, if you would."
Her number one priority. Miho smiles, picking up her tea as if in toast to Tyrrha and Yua both. "Good," she says. "It is mine as well."
Danger food, though. Miho can imagine a few possibilities....
"Then we'll have more danger food," Miho says. "Give me time."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Secrets aren't taking it easy," Tyrrha pouts. "They're waaaay too complicated! Still..." She tilts her head, thoughtfully. "I wonder if forgettin' stuff is like a secret I'm keepin' from myself? Moooou, no fair!"
She's definitely picked up Yua's manner of complaining...
"Everyone's attached to someone," Tyrrha grumbles. "I don't really get it... how come everyone knows everyone else? It's like... everyone's growing each other inside them. But they're not inside anyone! They're just walking around and stuff!"
Tyrrha... is baffled by the concept of Social Links.
"Not my gramps," Tyrrha assures Miho, waving a hand. "We met him already! Cool guy! He'd definitely just eat someone!" Yua gave Tyrrha a chocolate coin, Tyrrha realised she could bite normal objects to see if they were actually chocolate, and now she's obsessed with the idea that she can eat people and also everything else in her way. Terrible. (Wait, did Tyrrha just insist Miho's father would eat someon-- well, metaphorically...) "Just gramps, you know, gramps? Like a male baachan." Grandmother, that is, and a particularly carefree way of saying it. "Like, this gramps was a Garuda! He was totally past it, he didn't even look up to see us fightin' half the time. Just when I asked whether eggs bein' tasty meant --"
Tyrrha stops.
Tyrrha processes her lessons.
'No interesting questions'...
And that interesting question is about people like Yua...
"Uhhhhh... never mind!" Tyrrha, for once, thinks better of it. "Anyway, he said women growin' babies totally were extra tasty," because she might have thought better of it but did not think that forward enough to realise she'd just implied the conversation anyway, "so I know Yumama's got a big target on her back, and I won't let anyone hit it! No way, no how!"
Interestingly, Miho may recall that Yua's already dealt with Demons being threatening about that sort of thing... from her account of getting lost in the Air Raid Shelter and Shiryuu coming to her rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Secrets are definitely not taking it easy. "I suppose one could look at it that way," Miho allows of forgetting.
"True. It is the nature of humanity to form bonds; a human alone is a pitiful creature, lacking any ties that make up our fabric." Everyone growing each other... "We all do grow a mental image of the other within us--it's how we can get it so wrong, remembering someone. Our idea of a thing is not the thing itself, and that extends to people."
But 'a gramps'. Eating people! Miho is not especially disturbed by it for some reason, particularly not when it's clear he was a Garuda. And eggs--
Ah.
"That makes sense," Miho answers, though she is warier of this lore; it puts Yua in danger!! On the other hand... "It's true that demons tend to think so. But so long as you don't; delicious she may be, but you and I will keep her safe."
Miho does recall it. It's... interesting, the comparison there.
Very interesting.
"But for now, Yua prepared another part of our lunch..."