2026-08-28: Old Connections for the New Year
- Log: Old Connections for the New Year
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Remi Ryuuja, Miho Ijuuin, Tyrrha Ijuuin
- Where: Saihouji Shrine, Aoba
- OOC Date: 2026-08-28
- IC Date: Jan 01, 2013
- Summary: Yua, Miho, Tyrrha, and Remi celebrate the New Year -- one for the first time, and two for the first time as adults. Remi shares her connection she's made with her family. Yua's papa and father get delicious squid!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
This is actually the first time Yua and Miho have been able to hold their synchronistic Shogatsu-Sjoogwachi celebrations in adulthood. Did you know? Yua was rescued after the Lunar New Year -- she still celebrates -- let alone the Solar New Year; and back then, she was in no state to celebrate anything.
Yua was the one to pen their nengajou postcards, to send to all their distant relatives; Miho was the one to present incense and dried squid and nishiji tamago, egg roulade, the food all of course prepared by Yua's hands. There were two sets of offerings for Miho to make, as the head of their household; once, to Takashi, and again to Fuyu. One of these meetings was considerably more formal than the other -- Takashi had of course prepared an entire traditional honzen-ryouri banquet -- though conveniently, they can wear their fancy kimono to both visits.
It's traditional for men to make those visits in old Okinawa, but, well, the head of their household is a woman -- and it's not so strange for one's wife and children to come along, in this day and age, so Yua and Tyrrha came along too.
... of course, her offerings to Yurika had to be long distance, but luckily there are provisions for things to be sent for the new year, so Miho was able to deliver awamori alongside the traditional dried squid and nishiji tamago -- the latter more traditional on the mainland -- and call her appropriately.
After the visits and offerings to their families are over, it's time to visit the shrine for more New Years' celebrations -- Saihouji Shrine, right here in Aoba, which has flowers all year 'round. Yua wears a cheerful yellow winter jasmine kimono, orange obi tied about a belly that really can't be obscured at this point; in China, winter jasmine is associated with the Lunar New Year, which explains why it's the flower Yua's favoured, as opposed to Miho's plums.
The kimono they had commissioned for Tyrrha in the New Year, meanwhile, happens to have both yellow winter jasmine and pink plum blossoms. She couldn't choose...
Visiting the shrine in the afternoon has two purposes, though -- and one is to make sure that their friend Remi comes to visit with them, since she wasn't able to make it out to the traditional midnight viewing of the 108th ring of the bell. It's Tyrrha who greets her first, who has apparently picked up Yua's exuberance, because when they meet Yua is taking a moment to sit on a bench. (Her poor feets...)
Lo, it's Tyrrha who bounds up to her, pushing a mochi ball treat into her hands. (No Welwetes, today. Thank god??) "Heyyy, Auntie Remi! You made it--!! Check this out!" She pulls an envelope out of her sleeve -- a traditional pochibukuro envelope, the kinds adults give to children on New Year's. "Mimama said on the mainland, kids get cash! It's otoshidama! Cool, huh?" She's probably just excited to learn a new thing and doesn't realise the implications there.
"Recchi," Yua smiles, as she takes Miho's hand to help her standing, so that she can go over to hug her, naturally.
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Remi had opted to spedn the New Year alone--or at least, that's what she had planned. While she appreciates that Miho and Yua look out for her and make sure she is included in things, her plan had been to ring in the New Year by herself, wanting a moment of solitude to reflect on things.
... Things did not quite go as planned, but she hasn't had a chance to share that yet.
But regardless, she is here now for this visit, and has arrived in a kimono depicting holly flowers in red and white, wth a green obi, and a few extra layers underneath. (She's still shivering, though.) A kimono graciously provided by Miho, which she had gratefully accepted. Red and white are the colors to ring in the Japanese New Year, of course, but Hollies also represent protection, something she--and all of them--could use more of.
"Tyrrha-chan," she greets, mustering up a smile, though it's a little strained. "Happy New Year's, dear." She listens, and she nods along. "Indeed, that is the tradition." On the mainland... yes. "Speaking of..." She slips an envelope from her own sleeve (she is also wearing gloves, which are untraiditional but are the only thing letting her hands function) slipping out another envelope and pressing it into Tyrrha's hands.
"Yua-chan, Happy New Year's to you, as well." She makes things eaier on Yua and closes the distance so she can give Yua a hug, and she'll also give Miho a hug, too. She's a little troubled, but she's trying not to let it show. "How has the new year greeted you so far?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho was glad to be a part of these rituals, not just for a chance to meet with her family, but for the reminder that time moves on, and there is much more to their lives than the Order. ...Would that she could make that 'all' aside from the Order... one day. She takes her duties as head of their household quite seriously, and while it was more formal with the Ijuuin patriarch, it was no less affectionate with the Ooshiro father. Miho is elegant in her plum kimono, her short hair still more than short by the standards of her dress. Tyrrha is here, too! And Miho steps up after her, her strides smaller to match her kimono and footwear.
She of course moves to help Yua first. Naturally.
"Happy New Year," Miho agrees. Miho will accept and return a hug, too!
"I'm very glad that you could join us," she says warmly, and for Miho to show warmth she must really mean it because it shines through even her usual stoicism.
It is important, to spend time together outside of missions and authority.
"So far I an lucky to receive it," Miho says of the new year greeting her. "I am pleased."
A beat, "And it would seem Tyrrha-chan is enjoying herself as well, so how can I not?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkvVr6n1cGk Laura Shigihara - Everything's Alright
Alone...
Yua does not want Remi to be alone, though she struggles with the weight of what she's made to do. Even if she needs to be more careful around her...
And she, at least, sees the strain in Remi's smile, though the nuances sail right over Tyrrha's shaggy green ponytail.
"Happy Mew Year!" Tyrrha grins, and she definitely got that one from one mother in particular, too. "Huh?" She adds, as Remi, too, pulls out an envelope. "Whoa! Cool! Thanks, Auntie Remi!! Hey, check it out!"
That's Tyrrha whirling around to show the envelope off to her moms -- of whom, Yua giggles, as she steps up to Remi instead to hug her. "Haaappy Mew Year~" she lilts, cheerfully, as if there was any doubt.
And, more seriously: "I'm glad you're here," she adds, quietly, before she parts from her hug to step back.
"Mm, mm," Yua hums, smiling, to Miho, as she expresses her luck for the new year, before she looks to Remi again. "Hee hee... I made sure to smile, so we'll have good luck!"
"The new year is great!" Tyrrha claims, boldly, as Miho recognises her cheer. "Hey, now it's twenty-thirteen, does this mean I start tellin' people I'm sixteen?"
(She's not really a teenager, you see. She wasn't quite born yesterday... but it's a matter of months, not years.)
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Miho is glad Remi could join them. "Of course, darling. How could I refuse an offer from my dearest friends?" She nods, as Miho continues that she is lucky, and that Tyrrha is enjoying it. "Yes, she certainly is as exuberant as always, isn't she? I am glad to see all of you in such good spirits."
Speaking of good spirits, she smiles at Tyrrha's reaction. "You're quite welcome, dear."
She embraces Yua warmly, though. "Of course, dear. I wouldn't have missed it for the world." It's true that there's a little bit of weirdness, due to the conditioning, that's just something they'll have to work around.
She considers Tyrrha's question, though, looking thoughtful. "Well, it is true that birthdays were traditionally celebrated on the dawn of the new year, but that hasn't been the case for quite some time, now."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho smiles. "Indeed." Of course, Remi could have refused. That's why they had Miho make the offer. But she didn't! That's worth celebrating.
Mew...
Miho laughs softly. "I see, I see," she asys of the envelope. "Very good."
2013...
"It can mean that," Miho agrees. "Unless you prefer to mark your birthday a different day. Since you came to us, that's the anniversary most improtant to me," she says. So Tyrrha can just pick! And indeed, Yua did smile.
Miho likes it when she does.
"...I am particularly fond of this shrine," she comments. "I chose it for a reason. I like to see the blooms even in winter..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
One day, they'll figure out how to free Remi, too...
Until then, it'll just have to be complicated.
"Yup yup yup!" Tyrrha chirps, cheerfully, at the recognition of her exhuberance. (She doesn't look all that cheerful -- her expression is permanently a bit pissed off, except for when she grins and looks like she's about to eat someone -- but it's fine, she sounds happy.) But then -- her birthday!
"It's traditional, huh? Oh, yeah! I read that in one of Mimama's books!" Miho's books on history and culture and philosophy, that is. "But... you reckon the day I got here's most important?" She pauses, looking to Yua. "Uh, but... I dunno, Yumama seemed kinda down that day?"
"Oh, that was about something different," Yua assures Tyrrha, and she is able to smile, to her, despite the weight of what something different is. "Finding you was much more important, ucha," and here, she calls her a cookie, in the Okinawan fashion. "Why don't you count it from that day?"
"Okay!" Tyrrha goes along with it, quite cheerfully. "I was really initialised on October 7th at 1605 hours, but we can count it from October 31 at 2137 hours!" That's military time, not weird robot time.
And if Yua is disturbed to realise that Tyrrha can count their meeting down to the hour -- at least -- it's carried only in a brief wavering of her smile, as she puts aside what the evening meant for for.
"The flowers are beautiful," she says, instead, turning to them. "I love the comet orchids most of all... they represent prayer, and staying beside the ones you love for all time. We're not able to grow them at home, did you know? It's because they depend on specific pollinators... and we only have our bee hive, up there." They live on the tenth floor -- too high for insects to generally be flying up naturally.
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
For as much as she sometimes feels like a burden to Miho and Yua, she does still enjoy their company. They were her closest friends in high school, and they have only become more so after their shared travails with the NWO.
But the blooms even in winter. "A lovely choice, dear. To see the resilience to bloom, even in the dire weather.. rather inspiring, I daresay."
"Indeed it is," Remi says, of tradition. "But as yourMimama says, if you all agree, you can choose to celebrate it differently."
Remi tries to school her face into something neutral when it's mentioned that Yua was not in good spirits that particular day. And then they do, in fact, all decide. "Splendid," she says, trying to drum up cheer again. "Mmm... that puts your 'birthday' rather close to another, as it happen. Two others, in fact."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
They will.
Miho has many books, and she's given Tyrrha many books to read. Miho nods along as she recalls it. "She was," Miho recalls of course, "But... it is what we carry from that day, too." She wonders if it was unkind to think of it in those terms, of clawing Tyrrha from the morass. Still, Yua seems to go with it...
Her activation was so recent as that before they met her... it tracks. "Very well."
Inspiring, though. Miho inclines her head. "And they are not simply shadows of spring and summer; they have their own ways of being, their own blossoms. It is important."
Miho reaches to set a hand on Yua's arm, briefly.
"Yes, it is the downside of living so high," Miho reflectss. "Still..."
"I also favor those. And those two particular birthdays, as it happens."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
That's all too common a feeling, for people who came from that place; Yua often worries that Tyrrha feels burdensome, just as she does, too...
... though Tyrrha seems more cheerful than that, aside from a comment or two.
"But you can't be carryin' me, I'm too heavy," is what Tyrrha says, first, when Miho speaks of carrying forward, as Yua goes quiet for a moment and Remi tries to reengage their cheer.
"Psst," Yua lifts a hand to whisper, "that's a metaphor!"
And that's when Tyrrha snaps her fingers, the sound a touch metallic, and says: "Ohhhhhh! I get it!"
Does she really got it...?
Well, no one can say she isn't related to Yua...
Yua, who chirps, happily: "Mimi's a winter flower, too!" When Remi compliments the flowers for blooming in winter. "She's so pretty...! Doesn't her hair look really good in a kimono now?!" Miho has changed it a little, after all.
She grasps Miho's hand, smiling up to her, as Tyrrha tilts her head to Remi.
"Eh?" Tyrrha asks. "Who's that?"
Yua giggles. "Hee hee... Recchi and I were born on the twenty eighth, Tykko!"
"Whoa," Tyrrha says, with all the shock of a youth who's learned forbidden knowledge. "So you had a party like, right before ya met me?"
"Well, no... the Black Mask attacked us, so I couldn't really celebrate," Yua explains, and she's still smiling, but it's for Tyrrha's benefit again. "But don't worry! Mimi made sure to impress him, so we were a-okay!"
"Huh? Black Mask? Ain't that that super-scary enforcer guy?" Tyrrha thinks, for a moment... "Cool! I wanna fight him, too!"
"N--no no no no definitely not!!" Yua squeaks, waving her hands, palms-up.
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
"Of course," Remi says to Miho. "Winter has blooms to call its own." But there is a brief smile as Miho includes her birthday in the sentiment.
Does Tyrrha have it? "We can explain, if you need us to, dear," Remi comments quietly, trying to at least leave the door open on that front.
"She does look rather fetching, dear, I agree," Remi replies to Yua with a smile. She's happy to see Yua so happy, at least.
"Indeed we were," Remi confirms for Tyrrha, but she grows weary again as a party is mentioned. She didn't much feel like celebrating that day (though she did still go to dinner with Miho, at Yua's insistence.) "We shall simply have to throw a big party this year--and an even bigger one three days after, yes?" Let's keep looking fot he future rather than looking to the past.
Though that thought inevitably leads her to something ele, and her cheer dims. "Though..." She draws her hands toherself, tucking them into her sleeves for warmth as she shivers. "... I suppose we shall have to coordinate any such celebration with... my parents, this year."
That troubled look is back, as she glances to Yua and miho. "By chance, I ran into Tanaka-san at the store yesterday, and one thing led to another..."
Ayuna Tanaka, Remi's personal assistant, while she was in high school, though she also served Remi's family in general. Remi hadn't made contact with her family, since right after hse got out of the lab she needed time to adjust... but the matter only got more awkward as the days nand months went on.
And now, it's awkward for a different reason.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Tyrrha does. But it was a metaphor. "We carry it emotionally. It's the same way that you can't cut someone up and find their mind," Miho explains, just to be safe. And indeed, winter blooms... They are. And Miho is one. Miho has changed her hair a little now--there's just enough fluff to it to be fetching in a kimono, without being hyper-feminine as was once expected of her. And...
Not so much partying, no. "I'm for a party," Miho says. Then--
Black mask...
"Yes, it's him," Miho says, and shakes her head. "I would prefer you not attempt to fight Black Mask unless I specifically endorse it. ...Maybe one day--but not soon. Some fights are best avoided."
Miho squeezes Yua's hand--and then looks to Remi. Tanaka...
"So, you met her again..." Miho prompts Remi to continue. Because--coordinating with...
"And your parents. So you're speaking with them?" she wonders, because--that's the implication of planning together.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
They can explain it! And so, Miho does. "Ohhh," Tyrrha says, again, and... hopefully this time she gets it.
Hopefully.
"Yeah! Let's have a big party!" Tyrrha woops, a hand punching the air. "Hollerin' kari-chikiyun!" That's a phrase used when singing at a celebration; it's not Japanese, but both Miho and Remi have known Yua long enough to have picked up a little Okinawan by now.
Miho says she'd prefer her not fight Black Mask, though, and Tyrrha pouts. "Awwww, man..." She whines, as we note here that this disappointment subroutine might in fact be a critical dependency in all Kirijo robots.
Though --
Remi speaks of Ayuna, and Yua frowns, looking to her with that single eye of hers, as she puts the pieces together alongside Remi's words. She squeezes Miho's hand, before she steps away, to reach out to Remi in turn. "... how are you?" She asks the emotional question, since Miho's handled the practical one.
Tyrrha, meanwhile, has developed a big question mark over her head, but please clap, she's figured out that the adults are talking and if she just listens for five minutes she'll have a better chance of figuring it out.
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
"I, for one, should like to avoid this 'Black Mask'," Remi adds. Ajnd she doesn't scare from a fight easily.
She nods to Miho, taking a long sigh. She's still feeling unsettled, to suddenly see them after all this time. "Yes. It... well, it is certainly awkward, to say the least. They were rather shocked, naturally, as was Tanaka-san." Remi looks distant. "... perhaps I waited too long, to reach out."
But there is a brief smile for Tyrrha's enthusiasm. "Indeed, dear." Kari-chikiyun, indeed.
She lets Yua reach out, taking a deep breath. "I feel... quite complicated," she admits. "There are so many things I cannot say, yet wish to... they, in turn, were shocked, to see me again so suddenly..." She looks to Yua and then Miho. "... I... I explained that it was by my insistence that you did not contact them," she mentions. "But I do not know what kind of daughter they expect me to be, anymore. I can't simply... return to my life, to the path they had laid out for me. Not while our 'benefactors' hold my leash."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Hopefully. Miho knows the meaning of parties, though. And even Remi wants to avoid Black Mask... Even if Tyrrha is disappointed in a very particular way.
Awkward, though. "Maybe," Miho allows, but is not willing to censure Remi for it even so. Instead, she listens, and...
She feels complicated. "I see..."
Tyrrha is powerful.
"Only you and they can navigate that. ...Things are different from how they were. But now that you have made contact with them... That may be for the best. To start somewhere."
"Ultimately, though, the pace at which you acclimiate is up to you."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
And so they all agree: let's NOT fight that guy.
THEY ALL AGREE TYRRHA!
Potential catastrophe aside, though, there's an actual catastrophe going on in Remi's feelings. (That's how Yua would describe it, anyway.) "It's not your fault," Yua insists, more bold.
"It's... hard to explain it in a safe way," she admits, squeezing at Remi's arm. "I said I was trafficked... so it's not all the way a lie, just... I know my family's not thinking of them how they really are." But of course, to describe the people who took them accurately would not be safe at all... particularly with her father being a military man.
"It's different, but... they're still your family, Recchi. So you'll try, right?" She asks, her brow creasing with concern. "At least give them a chance... to see how it was hard for you."
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Only her and her parents can nvaigate it. "I suppose you are right... And I suppose it is overdue. Perhaps I ahve been..." she lets out a hollow lauigh. "... too afraid, to reach out."
The irony, that she should be afraid of something, after what the NWO did to her. But they only engineered a very particular lack of fear.
Remi would have a hard time disagreeing with the categorization of her feelings as a 'catastrophe.' (Even without this unexpected reunion, she often feels out of sorts, or a bit detached... but she puts a lot of effort into masking it.)
"I know," Remi says quietly. She lifts her hand to place it over Yua's on her arm. "I must confess, I said something similar, though I left the details vague, of course, but I was not prepared..."
"They are. And I do want to try. My heart is just... filled with uncertainty. And more has changed than I realized." She looks to Miho and Yua. "... they asked after you both. You shall have to visit. If naught else, you will have to meet... mon petit frère." Her little brother.
Except she was definitely an only child before. And Remi is still a bit numb as she says that, as if she is still processing the news.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
They all agree!!
"It is natural," Miho says. "A monster is easier to face than one's feelings. ...Particularly complex feelings such as these."
But that's how Remi characterized it... Hmm. But it's... yes. It's best not to share the details.
"A little brother?" Miho asks. Hm. yes, that would be...
"I see." Miho does not venture how she thinks REmi might feel at that. Instead she says, "Then we shall have to meet them, and this brother."
"...it is a big piece of news to learn," she settles on.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Recchi can be scared, too," Yua encourages her, hearing that hollow laughter. "I was scared, even though my family knew I came back... it took me a while to actually see them." ... she wasn't in much state to see anyone when Miho rescued her, as Remi may remember.
(Miho got her out, too.)
She shakes her head, smiling to Remi. "Even if you had a hundred years, I don't think you could have prepared for that. I'm sure you did good, okay?"
But a lot has changed; she has a brother... "Things do change," Yua says, gently. "Like how they'll get to meet Tykko! She wasn't here last time, either!" Tyrrha is still kind of standing there with that big question mark over her head. She's fine, don't worry.
She pauses, and adds: "And it's like how mama went home, too..." They stayed with her, briefly, on their trip to Okinawa; she seems perfectly pleasant and well, but she steadfastly refuses to leave town, any more, alongside Yua's little brother.
"When we were gone a long time, a lot of things happened, right?" Yua asks, rubbing at Remi's arm. "But uncertainty doesn't get less uncomfy if you ignore it, Recchi. Come on! We can face the scary stuff!"
Tyrrha, mysteriously, doesn't question the idea that family can be scary whatsoever.
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
"That is so... a rapier will not help in confronting my feelings." Miho asks, and Remi confirms. "Yes." She shakes her head slowly. "It most certainly is. Imagine how I felt, to see him suddenly run in shouting for 'Maman' and 'Tou-chan.'"
She's still not sure how she feels. Surprised, certainly. Perhaps even shocked. But is she upset or angry that she might have been 'replaced'? She's still not sure.
Remi tried to attack Miho on sight. She... definitely needed some time for adjustment, too. And she remembers well what Yua was like, back then. But Yua reassures her, and Remi sighs. "It does help, to hear bth of yours encouragement," she admits. "I am... still uncertain of the way forward, but I will... try to take my time, as best as I am able."
But Tyychan wasn't here last time, either. "Ah, I suppose that is true... you will forgive me, if I did not have the presence of mind to mention our dear Tyrrha-chan. I was rather preoccupied, you understand." But she addresses Tyrrha next. "But you are certainly welcome to visit, as well."
But she finds it within herself to chuckle gently at Yua's encouragement. "You are a bright spot as ever, Yua-chan. Very well, then, with your support, I will find my way forward."
"We shall explain, Tyrrha-chan. Suffice it to say, much has changed for me, in the time I have been away from my home. But for the moment..." She looks to the three others with her. "... I should like to enjoy this shrine visit. Shall we?"