2026-08-01: Dragon Mama
- Log: Dragon Mama
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin, Tyrrha Ijuuin, Para-Mind
- Where: Para-Mind's Van, Pyramid Plaza Garage
- OOC Date: 2026-08-01
- IC Date: Tue, Dec 18 2012
- Summary: Tyrrha's missing an arm and a LOT of context about why that's a big deal for Miho and Yua. Luckily, Para-Mind's enough of a genius to put it back on with the gear in his van... though the matter of explaining why dying is bad is largely up to Miho.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
The Gang Cram Into Para-Mind's Van --
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
So it starts with Yumi catching up with Scion manually, shrieking about how HER ARM IS OFF, being reassured that no mama it's fine she's fine, taking her back home through Mementos, ringing Miho, shrieking about how TYKKO'S ARM IS OFF...
Hopefully, Miho's already dropped her own victim off at the collection point by the time that happened. (Funny how Yua and Tyrrha attracting everyone's attention helps other people work, huh?)
But Para-Mind, in hearing the extent of the damage, goes "yeah that's gonna need more than a spanner," and then "well la-di-da, princess, the lab's where all the shit is," then "nah thanks, I like that bit where it is, look, bring her down --"
And anyway, apparently he can cram an entire mobile mechanic station into the back of his van.
Which is where they're all crammed in right now.
Tyrrha's been put down to low power so she won't zap the poor guy while he's working, which means she can hold a conversation, but not much more than that. "Huh, cool," she says, as he rewires a section around a big, armoured box in the centre of her chest. "What's that?"
"Magic smoke box," Para-Mind replies, without looking up.
"What's that?" Tyrrha asks.
"Box where the magic smoke lives," Para-Mind clarifies.
"But what's that?" Tyrrha keeps asking.
"Shit where if it escapes you die," Para-Mind concludes.
"You're going to be okay, ucha," Yua says, from a seat which is thankfully clear enough of tools for her to sit down, even if she's feeling slightly like a sardine.
"'Course I'm fine!" Tyrrha insists, cheerfully. "Man, I just wish I didn't have to run away... that Joker was soooo cool!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho has indeed already handled the other matter. It was much easier, given the paucity of Persona-users at that location.
She heard about the damage first, naturally. Yua was shrieking, but Miho was very calm in that particular way of hers where she sounds calm but has a lot more going on underneath the surface. Her arm is off. Is she bleeding? (Does she bleed)? Is she experiencing pain? (She usually doesn't.) Can they fix it? (...Can they fix it without taking her back to the lab?)
On the other hand, Miho's hearing is pretty good. So there's that.
Now though...
Knock knock. Seiji has brought Miho here, and now...
Miho stands in a suit, having changed out of her armor, and waits for the back door to be opened.
"How are the repairs coming?" she asks.
"Yua, are you all right?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
No -- she doesn't look like it and hasn't said anything -- CAN THEY?!!?!?!?!?! SHE WAS ONLY BLINDED FOR A MINUTE! JUST A MINUTE --
Yua, here, is learning the terror every parent learns when they realise just how few minutes a child needs to put themselves in life-threatening danger. She's barely even changed out of her wedding dress; she's bustled Tyrrha down in the turtleneck and tights she was wearing beneath it.
(There's one of Miho's cloaks hanging over the back of the chair, though. She needed... something to toss over Tyrrha so no one would look at her funny.)
"Get that," Para-Mind says, without looking up, when there's a knock on the door of the van. "Oh, and if it's a meter maid, do me a favour and shoot her?"
"No!" Yua yelps, and the shape of her alarm is probably audible from outside the door even if the contents aren't. She needs to take a second to figure out how to stand up in the cramped van, as she says -- "I bet it's Mimi!" -- and then opens the door, to reveal: "See? It's Mimi!"
"Woulda been funny if it was a meter maid," Para-Mind says, fiddling with some wires. "Cram in, close the door, pick a spot, cope."
Yua shuffles back to the seat she'd found, which, at least, is probably still good for leaning on, even if there's stuff on all the other seating. "I was watching her," Yua promises, "but then -- then they realised I was transmitting through her antenna, so they broke them, and I wasn't able to reach her and -- and the Joker --"
"She like, split in half right down the middle and tried to EAT ME!" Tyrrha says, and one gets the impression that the only reason she's not bouncing in her seat is because those functions have been depowered for safety. "It was AWESOME!"
So, uh, Tyrrha's fine, apparently.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
At least Para-Mind is hard at work. ...Right?
It is indeed Miho though. "Hello," Miho greets after a moment. "Sure." She doesn't appreciate brusqueness but she does appreciate directness, so it is good enough. Yua is there... and Miho picks a spot near her. Yua promises she was watching, but--
"I see. We'll have to prepare countermeasures for that..." For going for the antennae. But--
"I'm glad you had fun," Miho says, "But you should understand that significant damage to you is distressing for us; it could end your life." That seems to be inherently bad, to Miho, so she doesn't explain it further.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Hard at work, or hardly working, am I right, fellas?
"Hi," Para-Mind says, in response to that greeting, "I'm the guy who's NOT taking you down to the sexual harassment station when you goddamn totalled your unit. I take payment in cash and political favours."
"Huh?" Tyrrha asks, recalling that thing Yukari said about ignorance for a moment.
"I-it's nothing, sweetie," Yua smiles, to her. "He's just kidding, right?"
"Yeah, yeah," Para-Mind grouses, digging around in there.
The reason why Tyrrha might be so blithe with her secrets might be revealed a little more... if this was one of the guys working on her. If Tyrrha didn't pick up on the nuances of speaking truth to power, she sure could just end up on speaking truth, huh?
Apparently he's kind of put-upon having to fix something this extensive in his van... but he's at least doing it, right?
Yua reaches up, to take Miho's hand, as she warns Tyrrha, who -- well, she doesn't actually look at her, those autonomic systems are all down, she's doing a passive environment scan for inputs right now, but Miho can imagine she would be. "What, you guys... don't like that? But like, it wasn't a big deal the first five times..."
"It is a big deal!" Yua insists, and she sounds upset, though she's -- trying to keep on top of it all. "Those girls... I'm really sad they didn't survive! And, and I really want you to be okay, Tykko!"
"Huh... but I don't feel like I was gonna die," Tyrrha says, sounding a touch baffled about it all. "It's just like, 'critical damage to 6BD sectors, severe damage to 11A sectors...' ... that's not a big deal, right? If I get broken, you guys can just fix me right up!"
"Tell me more about how easy this is," Para-Mind says, dryly, as he does something which is decidedly not simple. "Actually, no, you kids are in exams now, right? Gimme a ten-page essay on how awesome I am figuring out this bus duct after you got half of it ripped apart."
"Like, right now?" Tyrrha asks.
"Sure, why not," Para-Mind says.
"Okie-dokie," Tyrrha says, only to pause. "... uhhh, I can't move my hand."
"Sounds like a you problem." Para-Mind's still working. "Tried not getting bit in half about it?"
"Not yet!" Tyrrha says, cheerfully.
Yua, watching this banter with growing concern, tugs at Miho's hand. "Mimi, tell her," she says, a touch whining.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Very well," Miho agrees. "I have fifty thousand yen on-hand. Will that suffice?"
She doesn't seem to take issue with hearing it. Instead, she just goes with it. And well...
There's Para-Mind.
"We don't like that," Miho confirms, though she waits for the rest of them to keep up and speak of it for now. Those 'girls'... the first five times. It is useful data, to know that Tyrrha is the sixth, for instance.
"How would you know how it felt if you were about to die?" Miho wonders. "Have you experienced it previously?"
It's a risky question, but an important one. Miho thinks so, anyway. But the essay...
"You get the essay or the yen," Miho responds dryly. Then she grows more serious. "Yes, though. It is important to us that you in particular survive--you, not merely one like you."
"But I do recommend avoiding having your arm bitten off in the future. See how it distresses Yua; it also distresses me." She doesn't sound distressed. But she is!
"We can... mostly fix you, if you are broken. But sufficient damage would render that impossible, and I do not know precisely how much damage that would be. I assume it would be damage to your 'core'--so protect that."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"On-hand? Christ. You people have too much money, taking that off your hands is basically public service. Call me Robin Hood, 'cuz I'm stealing from the rich and giving to myself."
Para-Mind knows not whomst he invokes, with that kind of casual banter...
"Not me," Tyrrha confirms. (She does not realise, in her confirmation, that she's underlining her demon-nature; an individual demon can be killed, and that demon will be dead henceforth, though a dozen more may take their place.) "But I guess, like... my sisters and brothers got got before I did? Uh, I don't know if I've ever almost died... except for when I melted down a couple days back?"
"Damn," Para-Mind clicks his tongue, when Miho makes her stipulations. "You drive a hard bargain, Ijuuin." Is he talking about her like he's addressing the whole class of Ijuuins? He just might be.
"Like... me specifically? Even though they'd just make another one...?" Tyrrha would have tilted her head if she could. "Huh... you don't look sad," she points out, which must mean she does have visual scanning capacity despite her cameras not zeroing in on Miho. (You know. Her eyes.) "How come you're not making a face like Yumama is?"
Yumama's face, as it happens, is a bit teary and all wibbly and plainly upset.
"Oh, yeah, that thing," she says, and here, again, she would look down at herself but she can't. "Magic smoke thingum. Yeah, I remember... I did kinda pull back to keep that one free. Is it because I'd 'die' if it got bit?"
"Pre' much," Para-Mind confirms, as he tinkers.
"How did you even escape?" Yua asks, her voice tight. "There was -- I was distracted from looking to you with my own eyes --" Tatsuya found her, she means.
"Oh, that was easy!" Tyrrha would grin, if she could. "There's this thing buried in my base code, down in root, like, under a bunch of updates, it's like -- down in wordplay, there's a folder for puns, and that's got puns for every occasion... so I just said, 'looks like I've been disarmed', and they were so shocked by my razor wit that I was able to get away scot free!" She pauses, for a moment. "Well, shocked by my razor wit and Mazio."
"Ah," Yua smiles, deeply concerned, "Tykko..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I will not call you Robin Hood."
That is all she says about that. Her sisters and brothers who got got, though... hmmm. "Yes, that would count," Miho says. "That is the level of distress we hold."
But no essay. Miho Ijuuin nods.
"That is correct," Miho says, even though they'd make another one. And so she does have scanning capacity. "I do not share my emotions as freely as Yua does," Miho explains simply. "I prefer to keep them inside--to myself--where I can deal with them as I choose."
Miho squeezes Yua's hand.
Magic smoke thingum. "Para-Mind is almost certainly correct," Miho says. "I would listen to him in this matter."
Yua asks... and Miho strokes Yua's arm.
"..."
Miho does not think it was the wordplay.
"That you escaped--and can escape--is important. Remember, should you suffer damage to that degree again, you must escape. Your priorities must include protecting your own life as well as Yua's. ...Because she would suffer if you died. Because we value you."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Huh... that's a lot, huh?" Tyrrha asks, as if she doesn't know.
(She really might not know.)
She tilts her head, hearing how Miho deals with her emotions. "So if I took you apart," she asks, "would I find them? I don't know if I wanna do that... I'm pretty sure if you lose all your blood you die. I think that's probably bad? Hey, how come you lock your feelins' up inside when it's Yumama who got took apart, anyway?"
"That's why, ucha," Yua says, sadly. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't hide... besides, I've always been more expressive. Things are simpler without a legacy like Mimi's, you know?"
"I'm always right," Para-Mind says. "Check the bumper sticker, babe."
The bumper sticker, out there, says 'THE SYSADMIN IS ALWAYS RIGHT.'
"Huh... okay, so... yeah, that makes sense," Tyrrha says, thoughtfully, when Miho says she has to protect herself. "Like, I have the flags tellin' me to retreat when I got damage to too many sectors... so that's why they're like that, huh? Is that this whole 'self-preservation' thing you were talkin' about?"
This is, assuredly, not the first conversation Miho and Tyrrha have had about personal safety, judging by the way Yua nods and hums an affirmative "mm, mm!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"No," Miho says, with a shake of her head. "Emotions and thoughts... they dwell within the 'mind', which is of a different substance from the body. You could take my body apart and you would never find my mind again, for it would be gone."
That's not disturbing, right Yua?
"...I have my reasons," Miho says. "My feelings are... difficult to deal with," she says. "So I must keep them at remove. It is similar to how when you have a big problem before you, you must stop to think how to solve it, rather than doing so by rote."
But Para-Mind is always right. Miho lifts an eyebrow.
Still...
"Yes," Miho says. "Self-preservation is indeed understanding when you are in a position to die--and working to abate that situation." A pause. "There are things worth giving one's life for," she says. "The defense of one you love, for instance. ...but it is your duty to 'keep' that life safe, absent such a situation. You cannot spend it freely, unwisely, for you belong to more than yourself."
"That is a part of 'honor'."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Huh." Tyrrha says. "So... it's, uh..."
"Magic smoke box for humans," Para-Mind interjects, helpfully(?).
"Huh... so you guys have one of those, too?" Tyrrha sounds quite interested! "But then, like... how do you take someone's mind apart if it leaks out when you open up their body?"
"That's called interrogation," Yua says, quietly. "We can... teach you some things later, okay?" ... well, Miho can teach her some things. Yua's only real skill in this field is having withstood so much of it.
(There's a lot disturbing about all this, Yua thinks.)
"Oh, so, like... you're scared of your feelings?" That's what Tyrrha gets out of what Miho's saying, with zero tact. "That sucks. Feelings are great! I love havin' feelings! Sometimes other people don't like me havin' feelings though," she adds, thoughtfully. "They act like I'm havin' the wrong feelings. I don't get it. How can feelings be wrong?"
"Well, it's complicated," Yua says, diplomatically. "Sometimes, feelings which trangress social boundaries can make people uncomfortable... and those boundaries can be different for different sorts of people."
"Ohhhh," Tyrrha says. "So there's rules and junk. Okay, yeah, I get rules and junk. So what's the rules?"
"Er," Yua blinks, as she realises something, all a sudden. "I... think I've been asking that for a long time..."
Luckily, Miho already knows a thing or two about telling Tyrrha the rules, as she tells her about the rule of staying alive. "Oh, so... since it's something you can only do once, you can't just do it casually, right? Even though there'll be other people just like you afterwards... but I guess there's somethin' about 'me' that you guys care about? Man, and I don't wanna make you make that face... or, uh, not make that face, Mimama. Make an inside face? I dunno. But if it's 'honour', I'll practice real hard!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Magic smoke box for humans. Para-Mind is helpful, sometimes. Like now!
"To affect the mind, one uses different tools," Miho answers. "It can be affected by the body, but only indirectly. I'll explain more depth to you later," she says. "But for instance, the words I'm using now are impacting your mind; words are a strong way of affecting the minds of yourself and others."
A pause. "...Yes," Miho allows after a moment. "My feelings are great and sometimes monstrous. ...I must grapple with them as one would a powerful enemy sometimes--or as one must care for a valued ally. It is... difficult, sometimes."
"The expression of your feelings can be appropriate or inappropriate," Miho says. "'Wrong' feelings... are complex. It's not so easy to explain. More often it's 'expression' that does it."
There are rules.
"The rules are many and complex. It is like combat; one cannot simply explain it. One has to experience and train in it."
And there..
"That's correct. You can only give your life once. It must be done carefully, deliberately, never casually."
"Practice as hard as you can," Miho encourages. "...I am not completely immune to emotional expression; I would shed tears, if you were to die. ...But if you are lucky, you will never see that become necessary."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Ohhhh," Tyrrha says. "So it's takin' them apart invisible-like... like magic!"
"Even more invisible than magic!" Yua enthuses, because, of course, Balzac is visible to the human eye.
But Miho speaks to her monstrous feelings, and one gets the impression here, too, that Tyrrha would cock her head if she wasn't presently running on shoestring power. (Even a shutdown, on Tyrrha, isn't a true shut down. What happens, to her, when someone turns the machine off...? Well, they figured that out with an earlier version.) "Sooo... Mimama's communin' with the Dragon Lines 'cuz you're a dragon mama?" That's what she got out of that?! "So does that mean you're both dragons, or..."
"Ah --" Yua's serious expression breaks into a smile, despite the weight she knows her court wife's words to carry, as she looks up to Miho. (She knows the weight of Miho's feelings, of course, because she's the woman privileged to help carry them; just as Miho protects her out in the world, it's Yua's role to safeguard her feelings in the home.) "Well, how about it? Are we 'Dragon Mamas'? Oh, but don't worry," she adds, to Tyrrha, smiling. "We're bound by our customs, so even if we were dragons, we wouldn't just rampage indiscriminately, okay?" That's another story built into Shiisaa's mythology, after all: the rampaging sea dragon brought low by the roar of a Shiisaa figurine.
Miho may realise she should consider her words carefully... this is an important decision.
"Oh, I thought there was like, a book or somethin'... like that Heihou Kadensho, or Hakagure, or Bansenshuukai!" Of course she's been given that kind of reading list, samurai treatises on battle and philosophy. "But... there's stuff you can't write down, huh? Like, it's easy for people to write, like, about aggressive and passive modes and stuff," as the Heihou Kadensho discusses methods of engagement in a battle, "but... how do you actually reach out and hit a guy? I'm still kinda puzzlin' that one out."
... loading weapons onto Tyrrha's make and model have proven largely disasterous, because holding the capacity to strike in her own two hands reminds her too much of the power she ought to hold. That functionality is technically in her system... but it's still quite buggy.
"It's okay," Yua assures her, gently. "It's hard for me, too..."
(When Miho finds a moment to speak to Para-Mind without Tyrrha listening in, about the observational unit which is also Tyrrha's weapons platform, she'll discover that there's a toggle switch hidden in his mane which governs whether it transmits observational data. What? No one told her about that?? Man, sucks to be her, better hope she wasn't banging her wife when that thing was watching. Removing the uplink entirely is more complicated, though... too bad Tyrrha probably shouldn't witness the verbal battle it takes to convince him it's funnier to help them than to rat them out.)
That's later, though. Now --
Now, Tyrrha is once more thwarted by the inability to cock her head like a confused creature. "That's gotta mean it's the most powerful, right?" She asks, instead. "Is that, like... how they were sayin' how livin' without achievin' your aim is cowardly?" 'Bushido,' the Hakagure dictates, 'is realised in the presence of death.' It's not just Yua who's meditated on it, apparently.
There's a lacuna of silence, though, as Tyrrha processes what Miho's saying.
"... uh... but if I'm dead, how would I see you cryin' anyway?" She asks, at length. "I thought, like... when you died, you couldn't see anything any more."
"That's true," Yua says, softly. "But I would see it... and Mimi would see me weeping, too. Even when you die, you leave people behind, ucha. Being able to imagine what they would feel is an important skill... but don't worry if it's hard, okay? You don't need to be good at it all at once. It's better to improve yourself slowly!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Even more invisible than magic...
A dragon mama. Hmmm. Miho considers this for a moment. She looks to Yua, in turn. Communing...
"Yes," Miho decides. "We are."
She could be a dragon. That would be fine. ...A dragon, rampaging through what is in her way... When it is time, at least. Yes...
"I aspire to it."
They are indeed bound by their customs. And then--a book.
"Exactly," Miho says. "You can write many things about socializing, many guides that could help you.. but in the end, it is the doing of the thing that teaches."
Miho's not going to put weapons in her hands. Not now, anyway.
"...But it is better to make use of tools in combat."
Miho will definitely talk to para-Mind about that. She won't even complain at him. Probably. But now...
"Yes," Miho says. "That is what they say. ...But you need not act on that now. Meditate on it. Consider it."
Pause. "...Perhaps that is so."
"But as Yua says, those left behind will know. It will no longer be your concern... and yet," she says, "It is your concern now."
"It's fine, if it's hard. But in the end..."
"By living with purpose, you will find 'peace' when that time comes."