2026-07-28: Assault from Intimacy
- Cutscene: Assault from Intimacy
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Tyrrha Ijuuin, Natari Konishi
- Where: Blacksite Revelation, Narumi Ward
- OOC Date: 2026-07-28
- IC Date: Sat, Dec 15 2012 (Backdated)
- Summary: After Natari's unforgivable acts, Yua plies her for information on Tyrrha's true nature... and Natari, her guard down, admits the truth. Tyrrha is not only a robot, but a demon trapped inside one -- and the delicate balance of her nature threatened to boil over when she realised a very human desire to help Miho and Yua. It seems that keeping Tyrrha's nature secret from her is paramount to her safety, though... at least, according to the rapist called Natari.
- Content warning: Sexual assault, medical abuse
Saturday sees Yua and Tyrrha going to Kimitake's house; he says Natari has requests, one of which being her attendance this afternoon, and Yua says she'd rather not associate her own bedroom with such horrors, anyway.
... her other request, it turns out, is to show up in a kimono; Kimitake has 'thoughtfully' acquired one, for her.
It's purple on white, emblazoned with violets... the symbol of love between women.
He suggests she tie her white obi in front, and Yua understands all too well the implications of that access, though she doesn't tell Tyrrha in turn. ... she doesn't even pick up on it.
What Tyrrha asks, instead, on the car ride over, is this: "Yumama, why do you look like you saw a ghost? Is somethin' gonna happen...?"
Yua turns back to the back seat, smiling, reassuringly, to her. "Don't worry, sweetie... I just don't like doctors. You'll be fine, I promise! I'll keep you safe!"
And Tyrrha, at least, was reassured.
Scanning her keycard to descend at this hour on a weekend once again sees the facility eerily quiet, and Yua supposes that's on purpose... though there are at least more technicians, here, today. Tyrrha, placed on standby, is all but swarmed by them. Yua watches them, her hands clasped and hidden beneath her violet sleeves... until she feels a hand slipping around her arm.
Those fingers --
Yua is graven, as a statue, as it takes every effort not to collapse on the spot.
"Come with me," Natari urges her, smiling. "We'll discuss -- her progress in my office." Yua hears that hitch, where she almost depersons her, and thinks Natari knows she would hear it, too.
In that moment she is a coward; she forgets her determination, and cites another. "I promised I'd keep her safe," Yua protests, trying to turn back to her daughter and those technicians.
"Who would trust a promise from a liar?" Natari wonders, close to her, quietly. Laughing, she pulls back to speak more clearly, reassuringly: "Don't worry! You'll be back before she wakes up. She'll never even know you were gone!"
There is an interview lounge, in Natari's office. It ought to be used by her patients, during her psychology sessions; now she sits on it, arm around Yua, fingers playing in her long, loose hair. Yua's kimono drapes loosely over her body; Natari's labcoat, over hers. That Yua's obi has fallen on the carpet is...
Yua doesn't look at it, her arms folding in her lap as she pretends she can't feel that woman's other hand on her knee. "I've done as you asked," she says, her tone hollowed by the weight of it. "I even posed for those photographs, so... how about it?"
"Mm?" Natari asks, clearly distracted; she, at least, is smiling.
"Those questions I had," Yua says, and distances herself from when she said them, just as she's far from her body now. As if an observer to herself, she hears herself say: "You can't graft something which doesn't exist... did you really build Tykko from nothing?" Her lashes veil her gaze, eye-liner still mostly intact, as she presses: "Isn't it more impressive than that?"
Natari laughs, softly, and enjoys meeting Yua's eye far too much. "Oh, certainly! Though I shouldn't really say..."
"Please," and the word is a dagger to her neck, as she keeps her expression carefully demure. "You know so much about me, and... I thought she couldn't possibly just be artificial, after she melted down like that. I know you blame me for being moved to this project, but..." She loathes leaning her weight against her; the terror will poison her from her heart on out. Nonetheless, she is a performer. She acts. "... isn't it possible you did something really striking?"
She contemplates the ease with which she could fish a knife from her sleeve and strike it into that woman's wretched chest.
... but that's terrifying, too, and she didn't bring a knife anyway.
"Questions are fun," Natari says, indulgent in a way which sickens Yua anew. "All right... let me answer a question with a question. You've noticed the unit didn't ship with much in the way of morality, haven't you?"
"Mm," Yua dips her head in a nod. "She was confused about which animals were okay to eat... she doesn't seem to understand the pain of other people. She... doesn't even really understand why... coming here... I was afraid," and it's not a surprise to Natari, because she never stopped interrogating her, but Yua struggles with it anyway.
"And what made her malfunction, yesterday, mm?" Natari presses, fiddling with her hair.
"She... had to take things seriously," Yua answers, and has to force herself to keep looking at her. "She couldn't take it easy any more..."
"That's right," Natari smiles. "Now, is there anything else?"
"I found... a fruit sold by a demon, once. She said demons loved it, but it was too strong for normal people... even so, Tykko enjoyed the jam I made from it. I thought it was because she was a robot, but..." Yua pauses, looking to her. "... hey... is she really, somehow... a demon?"
"Well, you said it," Natari absolves herself, cheerfully. "You can be taught!"
Her shame burns from another angle, as Natari cites her training. Her gaze drops, for a moment, before she looks to her again. "But... how is that possible?" She asks, and doesn't need to feign her vulnerability in asking.
"We're still not sure if it is," Natari says. "Even when it's all robotic, put a demon in a human 'body', with an artificial 'mind', and it self-destructs -- plus or minus any techs we had nearby," she adds, breezily. "It's our own private dead grad student problem... ah, but over time, we've made some adjustments and gained progress. Not just us, either -- it's an exciting field of research from all angles! As for ours, destroying their sense of self buys us some time -- those memories yours says she's lost? Nothing as autobiographical as that, my dear. She's not that kind of 'person'. No -- I stole her meaning from her, and so she stabilised in the machine."
Yua frowns, struggling in her attempts to commit it to memory; she knew that she would be disconnected from herself, so she brought her hair comb with her, to record it all. Still, with it placed on the arm of the lounge, she can't trust that it's still capturing... or that security won't find it. "I still don't understand," she says, softly. "Why would she react so badly to caring about us...?"
"You've answered your question," Natari says, calmly. "Demons don't. Not like we do, anyway. A discrete, ordered, linear relationship which treats both parties as distinct, where people protect each other from a sense of love or goodwill... it's as alien to a Demon as they are to us. In growing closer to you -- in fighting harder for you -- she became a little more 'human'. If she were truly a machine, it would be vital for her... of course, it's just as important here, but far more volatile."
"But... Tykko wanted to protect me from the start," Yua protests.
"She wanted to protect an Okinawan woman from the start," Natari clarifies. "And a direct lineage from priestesses, no less... do you know how rare those candidates are?"
"Mm," Yua nods.
"Tell me why that is," Natari urges her, squeezing at her knee, and Yua finds herself praying her hand moves no higher.
Yua chokes down the disgust she feels, then, as she elaborates for the woman who's desecrated her temple. "Normally, noro candidacy is passed down through the priestess's brother's children, but... during the first Shou dynasty, the women who attended the gusuku, the Ooshiros, there was a long period where they bore only women, and the women had to take up those duties. The village decided that it was important the lineage continue, so exceptions became the norm... that's why, in this place, women can be priestesses despite having children. Normally, shrine maidens will still renounce their duties to marry, or not all their daughters will dedicate themselves, but... Grandmother was an only child."
"Difficult pregnancies do pass from mother to daughter," Natari says, with honest regret. (Yua's seen her belly; she still can't fathom why such an evil woman could male a single statement she'd agree with. ... she worries what would happen to Natari's children, if the wish in her heart was granted.)
"So you needed me... because she was a protector spirit from Okinawa?" Yua asks, forcing her to meet Natari's eyes again.
"Precisely. You're something of a gateway drug to humanity, my dear." Yua thinks the woman hearing Natari say that must be... terribly unfortunate. "Because caring about you is her purpose, she's been able to tolerate a human form remarkably well. It's difficult to generalise to other types... but we hope to gain more data as she continues to integrate humanity into her psyche for other units, further research... mm, so do try to keep her alive long enough to get me my answers." Her tone slows, as her hand plays through her hair, and on a reptilian level Yua realises she must get out of here.
One more question, then. "How can I protect her?" Yua asks, looking to her with a vulnerable expression. "I don't want her to die... I said I'd keep her safe."
"Hmm..." Natari's gaze is hooded, as she contemplates. "Well, at this stage, revealing the truth of her condition would be catastrophic. My colleagues have theorised that she'll grow more resilient as she integrates her humanity... but of course, the risk is that's quite impossible. She's balancing quite precariously... a push too far in either direction, and she could simply collapse."
"I'm worried about her," Yua insists, despite the way that awful woman lays hands on her like she owns her. "She'll... be done by now, right? Can we go and see her?"
... but it's never just one last indignity, with that woman.
By the time they've returned to Tyrrha's bay, the techs have gone home, though they thoughtfully left a 'FOR EXTERNAL USE' folder in her file which Natari was kind enough to give her.
Yua was given no opportunity to protest the weapons they concealed on Welwetes.
She's smart enough not to ask about the data it was collecting, too.