2026-09-02: Bein' Bian
- Log: Bein' Bian
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin, Tyrrha Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba - Penthouse
- OOC Date: 2026-09-02
- IC Date: Thu Jan 03 2013
- Summary: Yua comes home to find Tyrrha unsuccessfully (successfully????) learning how to care for bonsai, to Miho's harried fondness. Once that's settled, she's able to tell Miho about maybe-sorta-kinda outing them both to Shinobu, a woman Miho respects... and to get a little more honest than she normally can about the strain Kimitake and Natari place on her, through the magic of hypotheticals.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I got it!" Tyrrha declares, as she examines the komono bonsai tree in front of her. It's all of eight inches tall... and perhaps it ought to quiver, as she holds up her shears. "So if I go like this --"
SNIP--!!
"-- I'm master of all bonsai! Hahaha!" Tyrrha laughs, merrily, as one of the tiny tree's boughs falls to the table, with zero appreciation for how long it took the poor thing to grow that. Welwetes chomps on the fallen bough, as if it were a stick he was fetching, wagging his tail. (What we didn't see was the 'please explain' call Miho had to field, wherein she defended her right to not be surveiled in her own home and her capacity to transmit its combat data during operations by her own power.)
Miho has been trying to teach Tyrrha this patient art for some time.
It's against that backdrop of patience that Yua's voice rings out, "I'm home~!", causing Tyrrha to leap from the table and go pester her as Eiko (now back from her vacation!) takes her coat and helps her get her shoes off.
"Hey, Yumama! Check it out! I've been doin' bonsai! Mimama's teachin' me, right?!" She asks, tugging Yua back to the dining room to examine the trees on the table with a big, terrible grin.
"Ah... T-Tykko..." Yua stares, for a moment, at the merciless hack job, before she puts her smile back on to give Tyrrha a hug. "... you're really learning a lot!"
(HER PLANTS--!!)
A short explanation and a homework assignment later, Tyrrha and Welwetes have retreated back to her room to study a book on bonsai care, while Yua sits herself down, plonk, right on Miho's lap on the lounge.
"She's really giving it her all, huh...?" Yua wonders, looking towards the hall which leads down into their personal rooms. "Haa, branches grow back..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Indeed, perhaps it should have worried...
Welwetes at least is chomping. He's acceptable again, now that they've done away with his original purpose.
But patience... "Tyrrha-chan," Miho starts, a drop of sweat metaphorically falling from her brow, "The object is not to achieve victory--"
Yua is home. And Eiko is back! Tyrrha may be grinning, but Miho's expression is slightly harried instead--until she smiles despite that at seeing Yua and Tyrrha together.
"It is a work in progress," she says.
Explanations happen. Books happen. And Yua--
"She is," Miho says. "She must learn much more. ...But they do, they do."
"It is good that she has the chance to try."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Tyrrha is truly mighty, that she can shake even the stoic Miho.
Being a mom sure is tough... luckily, Miho has a very logical solution to Tyrrha's misunderstandings!
(There are strengths to both Yua and Miho's approaches to Tyrrha, but Yua certainly is learning steadiness in the face of her daughter's learning processes from her seishitsu.)
Luckily, Eiko can handle cleaning up the bonsai mutilation ("Thankyu~!", all a-sparkled), so Yua can focus on the more important things --
-- like leaning back against Miho, smiling up to her. "I think Tykko likes learning new things with Mimama most of all!" She says, smiling. "She really lights up...! Though do you know how she described a book to me the other day? That the author 'trapped all those lives in there'! I wonder if that's why she doesn't mind going off to read...?"
Yua shakes her head, still smiling warmly. "Mimiiii," she coos, "can you hold Hiroki?" It's her usual invitation, to let Miho feel her belly. "He's so rowdy..." At twenty-seven weeks, he has begun kicking a lot more than he used to.
"Ahh, but somehow, we got home...! Don't worry, Seiji-san took care of us!" Yua adds, leaning back against her wife. "It was fun... we got to watch a musical! You know, one of those low-tech ones? I like that kind, too..." Because of course she also likes the fancy operas and traditional theatres Miho tends to take her out to see.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Tyrrha... is very special. To Miho.
Miho holds Yua, at first. She smiles back, though it's a small expression. "Do you think so?" she wonders. "it is... fun, to teach her. Even if sometimes the lesson requires an extra try or two." Pause. Trapped those lives... "Hmm. Well, if it makes her enjoy reading, then it is good. It is right, in its way; there is much in a book that can only escape when it is read..."
Miho takes the invitation, and holds onto Yua's belly, feeling. Rowdy...
Miho smiles a little wider this time.
"Good," Miho says. "..Hmm, yes?" she asks. "That's good. Yes, I understand.. There's many ways to enjoy the arts..."
Miho goes for the traditional ones usually, but she is aware that there are other efforts.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
She's the daughter they chose, and that matters.
Miho's smile, too, matters to Yua; small as it is, Yua knows the depths behind it. "Hee hee... Mimi's shining, too!" She giggles, merrily. "Mm, mm, don't you think? Authors capture a snapshot of a moment in time...! Even if that time is imaginary sometimes..."
Indeed, Miho will feel it, as she holds her wife and son: he's quite active, in his cavern, trying out his muscles before he's ever expected to use them. Even before he's born, he's learning, too.
"Mm, mm," Yua nods, reaching back to rub at Miho's strong arm. "And I was talking to Nobumizu after, too... well, I admitted being a mom was kind of tough, and she ended up telling me how she didn't really want to find a man and settle down. You know... I got the idea that maybe it was because of 'that', and one thing led to another, and... umm, I kind of told her how it was a bad idea to marry a man if she didn't want to? And... I maybe said how I knew why she shouldn't rock the boat?"
Yua glances aside, as she adds: "Well, I say it was me, but I didn't really say it was me, I was talking about someone who had done that to cover up, but I was really just talking about me, and I remember Sister saying how when they say there's a hypothetical person that the hypothetical person is usually just them."
That is neither the first nor the last autistic misunderstanding Ritsuko has had to clear up, knowing Yua.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho is shining, is she? Miho nods shallowly to Yua, accepting this. As to the authors, well, "Yes, I do. ...A little picture, some instants in time..." She quiets, though, feeling those kicks from her hand. Miho smiles.
But Shinobu... Hmmm. "I see..."
"Many women don't," Miho says of not wanting to settle down--it doesn't necessarily mean anything more than a preference. Nonetheless...
There is more than that.
"I see," Miho says. "...She's a discreet woman," she says. "So I don't think that's a problem."
"...Because Sister is right; 'hypothetical' someones usually aren't very hypothetical."
"Mm... I'm sorry it's been difficult," she says, of marrying a man. "But that's true. For people who aren't in a family like ours, too."
Maybe if not for that... No, that's not a fair thought to have.
"What did she say to that?" Miho wonders.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"If we write this down," Yua asks, softly, "can we keep it forever?"
It's in moments like these... she's really happy.
Still -- many women don't want to settle down. "But they can't say it like that," Yua points out, thoughtfully. "Not unless they want to be called parasites..." Parasite singles are what one calls the single women who keep on living with their parents -- and quite derisively, in a society where motherhood is seen as a woman's only end.
"Mm... I hope so," Yua sighs. "I said how you were supporting me, and... I don't think that's a very well-hidden conclusion. Even if I didn't say it was you, you know...?" Because Ritsuko is wise to the demands of neurotypical socialisation, after all.
"It's -- it's okay," though Yua's voice trips on her words, a little, as she lies, "Kimi-san isn't bad or anything! Just... it's a lie," more plainly than she can express, "and it's hard to pretend... so. So I thought... if she was feeling pressure... I wanted her to know what it was like?"
Yua bites at the inside of her cheek, thoughtfully, as she looks up to Miho. "Well, I tried to laugh it off, but she said she wouldn't use the word funny... she said she thought it was sad that woman had to jump through hoops and put on acts just to have a family and be with the person she loves. And she said it wasn't the life she wanted to live, even if it'd make things easier for her, but she wasn't going to blame anyone who ended up like that. She didn't want to look down on the hypothetical woman who was me, since she knew stuff got complicated, and... and she was hoping someone would support her, and she couldn't blame her for wanting a family, and... and then we started talking about music, and that was nice!"
Yua definitely infodumped about her boombox at the drop of a hat. That's just a factual statement about Yua.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Yes," Miho says, looking into Yua's eye. "Yes, I think we can."
But, "True," Miho says. "Even I'd face some censure for that..." And she's rich! "But still, for all that it's not accepted, it is still not uncommon. I think that should matter..."
But Yua hopes so. "No, it is obvious to those with eyes to see," Miho reflects. "...The people who don't see it largely don't want to."
Miho gets it.
But, "Still... even if he's fine, it's not an ideal situation," Miho says. "And I know that you hate lies."
"Hmm... I see. So she's kind as well as reliable. Or at least, sympathetic. I suspect she's another like us..."
'Us', she says, though Miho can get by with men. There is Tomoki. He represents a whole different world, in some respects...
But she gets lonely for Yua's world, eventually.
"Yes," she says. "it is sad. ...I can respect her. I've spoken with her, myself--not about that, but about when i was thinking of quitting that job..."
"She believes in acting sincerely. I respect that, too."
"...I don't look down on that hypothetical woman, either. I know how much she's sacrificed, for the ones she loves."
No, she doesn't. And isn't that all the worse?
"Music though... Music is nice."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Miimimi," Yua sighs, lovingly.
She looks sadder, though, when she thinks of the women out there. "I guess society isn't very nice even if you are normal," she says, a touch melancholy, and she can't help but live in a society herself as she says it. "All the girls at flower arranging club and the baking circle and everything, they're always talking about how they never see their husbands... Kaon-chan even stopped coming after her husband ended up karoshi... mouuu, I hope she and her girls are okay..."
(Karoshi, death from overwork, is what many Japanese wives view as the inevitable end of society's pressures: heart attack, suicide, stroke... all things which the men working are reluctant to face directly themselves.)
"Mimi said you'd save me!" Yua says, of them seeing; during the first Olympics, she must mean. "You told everyone! And since you told everyone, I could hear it, too... I bet they didn't mean for me to hear it, but they couldn't take back being nice after they let me watch."
She nods, though, as Miho notes how she hates lies. "More than anything," she says, and looks sad to say it, perhaps for obvious reasons.
Well, for the obvious reasons, too.
"I think she is kind," Yua speaks up for Shinobu, then. "And I think... she is like us, mm." Miho is like her, even if she also likes men! Why wouldn't Miho and Yua be an 'us'? That's just science.
"Nobumizu helped? That's great, Mimi!" Yua chirps, hearing how Shinobu helped Miho, too. "I was worried Mimi would end up karoshi too... that job was too much! I'm much happier now Mimi's in charge of Mimi!" Yua turns her cheek, to nuzzle against Miho, affectionately. "Mm, mm, Nobumizu's good. She'll definitely fight us when we're working at the other stuff, but that's okay. She's a good person, Mimi."
But Miho speaks about the hypothetical woman who is Yua, and Yua looks down, at Miho's hands, before she reaches around to trail her fingers over them and invite Miho to grasp her, too. "... sometimes she has to do bad things," Yua says, quietly. "Things which make her really sad... which make her soul sick, until Mimi has to say 'mabuya, mabuya'." The Ryukyuan invocation to keep her soul seated in her body, that is. "And a lot of the time... she can't even say what's going on... it's a bad secret inside her, and she's always scared that it will hurt her baby, since he's inside her too. And she's scared it'll hurt her daughter... and she's scared it'll hurt her seishitsu... it's a big hurt, it hurts everyone..."
Music is nice, but there's not much melody to Yua's hitching voice, as she struggles with the weight of it.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
'Normal'... Miho has never thought of herself that way. Her dreams, her training, her life--none of these things are normal. She doesn't imagine it. "I see..." To never see one's spouse--Miho knew the opposite side of that. Many of the men at her previous workplace rarely saw their wives. ...They would often find different company, instead. It disgusted her.
Is that different...?
"I hope so as well," Miho says of Kaon and her girls.
Miho did say that. She smiles back. "I did," she says. "I'm so glad you heard."
....But the reasons are obvious, aren't they?
"Yes," Miho agrees on Shinobu.
"She did." Pause. Karoshi... And Miho. Miho shakes her head. "I will not fall to such a thing," Miho assures Yua. "I'm happier too, though. And... yes, she is. She will. And that's for the best."
That hypohtetical woman... Yua's hands are taken in Miho's.
"I know," Miho says quietly. "...These hurts, they are awful. But so long as you live, I'm happy. ...Together, we can voercome them."
"It's better, together, than it would be apart."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua's next to normal, at best. ... she'd really rather not be dealing with a psychologist, though.
As for the long days Miho spent at work... well, there's a reason why she tried to help one of her coworkers get back to his family a little quicker.
... so long as Miho came home to her, she was happy, but it was hard when she had to work a lot of overtime.
But it's hard to reach out, too, which might be why she just nods and hums, "mm," in vague affirmation when Miho hopes Kaon's okay.
Still, Yua smiles, when she thinks of the hope Miho gave her. And when Miho insists that she won't fall to Karoshi, her smile widens a little more. "Mm, mm! Mimi's strong, but this is better!" Some things can be better, even if some things are worse. That's still good, even if Yua gets sad, sometimes.
"I want you to be happy," Yua says, her weight sinking into Miho as she's soothed by the feeling of her hands over hers, and the knowledge that Hiroki's growing strong for all they've done. "More than anything... so... I'll keep holding on, Mimi. Together... we're strong! We're the strongest, Mimi! So I'll be strong too, okay? I... I'll be strong too," she promises, a touch quieter.
"I never want to be apart from Mimi," she says, a moment later. "Never, never ever... when I think about leaving Mimi alone, my heart hurts, really deep inside it..."
She doesn't know what she's forgotten, but she knows she loves Miho.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho doesn't have much option there; without the medication things are... harder.
It is hard to reach out. Miho will stew on some of these questions more. But for now, instead, Miho smiles at Yua, because she's acknowledged her strength but also her wisdom--this is better. That company...
"That company was a problem," Miho settles on.
"Thank you," miho says first. "...I know. Just do your best, all right? And I'll support you as well as I can. ...We're strong together, so don't feel you have to do it alone, all right?"
Then...
Miho's eyes cloud.
"I feel the same," she says quietly. "Just the same."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua learned a lot about how medications aren't always bad from Miho; it's entirely due to her wife that she's been able to take her anti-emetics and anti-hypertensives and vitamins and everything else she needs to take to get through her difficult pregnancy, given the associations Yua has with meds.
Miho is, indeed, deeply wise, and Yua leans on that wisdom as much as on her strength.
She has no lost love for Katou Corp -- and no lost love for Miho, but only because Miho found her already so all her love is found love now, blooming over her face like those plants Tyrrha still treats too roughly, smiling as Miho thanks her, urges her to try. "When Mimi encourages me so kindly... I can try real hard!" She declares, finding firmness for her words again. "And Mimi's holding us right now," she adds, entirely relaxed against her. "I feel so safe here..."
With Miho, whose heart aches, just like hers.
"I love you," Yua murmurs, and it's one half of a reflection which Miho fulfils.