2026-09-06: Miho's Truth, Miho's Beauty
- Log: Miho's Truth, Miho's Beauty
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba - Penthouse
- OOC Date: 2026-09-06
- IC Date: Sat Jan 05 2013
- Summary: Miho comes home after a successful mission to tend to her wife, who has been increasingly beleagured by even her limited participation in the Order's peace... particularly her experiences in Hana's Kingdom. Miho is exhausted, but Yua's affection is bound to restore her... and Miho's concern, in turn, convinces Yua she needs to step back even further.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I felt like I was losing my baby... like I was really losing my baby! That horrible pink cockatoo, I never want to see her again! I can't go back there, I can't, I won't! Hiroki, he's Hiroki, his name's Hiroki..!!"
That was the state Yua fled in, yesterday; what was supposed to be a quiet mission blew up in her face, and she didn't even retrieve the victim. Chizuru Ishigami, at least, was very intrigued by Welwetes' recordings...
(When she'd calmed down a little, Yua had more to say: "... mouuu... but I am sorry I left Recchi there all alone... I know she volunteered, but... I was a coward.")
Perhaps it's no wonder, then, that for today's mission Miho gently directed Yua to stay home and rest. Tyrrha stayed with her, just in case that pink cockatoo(???) showed up again. And that's why, when Miho comes back, they're in the kitchen...!
Yua, of course, bustles out as soon as she hears Eiko receiving her. "Mimi!" Yua chirps, and she's a bit slower to get over to her these days, but she does, arms slinging up over her head to sling around her neck and shoulders as she lifts up on her tippy-toes. "Welcome home~! Kiss?" She has to ask, of course, because Miho's very tall, and even on her tippiest of toes Yua's just not tall enough without one of those handy boxes.
Design her height disadvantage, though, she's smiling brightly. Giving Miho a warm welcome makes her happy, too...!
"Yo, Mimama!" Tyrrha salutes her, slower out of the kitchen. "I'm learnin' quiche!"
"Tykko is my champion kneader!" Yua giggles, smiling warmly. "Come, come! Come and see...!"
And so, Miho learns that Tyrrha went a little heavy on the eggs... but the quiches are pretty good. It seems as though Yua's had some success teaching their most ferocious daughter, while Miho was out working... it's all very traditional!
Once the family time of quiche is over, Yua and Miho head up to the koi pond to relax; luckily, their deck chairs are designed to be sturdy enough for two, because Miho knows Yua gravitates to her lap. Like now!
The koi pond stretches along the longer side of their upper deck; it begins with a tall pond filled with poisonous water-plants, before the water tumbles down an artificial waterfall into a long, deep pond with fish-safe plants growing in the water. Their koi are brilliant, orange and black and white; one, their dragon, is strikingly solid black, and another is gold as Miho's medals. On their other side is the pool, which explains why Yua's in her home bikini... just in case she feels like being a fish, too.
Right now, though, she has a coat draped over the top of it, because their pool might be expertly filtered and heated but the winter air is another thing entirely. (Though they do, obviously, have an outdoor heater for the deck.) Someone else might never think of swimming in this weather... but Yua knows the sea is for every season. In her case, it's not just discipline... it's passion!
It helps that when her own waterfall of hair is loose it keeps her warm, too.
"The fish are so pretty," Yua sighs, supported by the arm of the chair and Miho's arm, all stretched out on the deck chair as she tilts on her side to admire the fish. "Look at Gold-chan, nibbling at that leaf... she's so majestic." Of course Yua has decided the fish are girls. Tiger is a boy, and Welwetes is a boy... so the fish are girls!
"... mm... thank you for handling it," it's a new topic, as Yua looks from the fish to her wife, with gratitude. "Secret work's getting harder, lately... ahh, even getting into my armour..." She was issued new body armour with a curve to the belly, but that belly is bigger than it once was, too. "... it'll just be a few more months, but it feels like I can't do much at all... if Mimi wasn't here, I'd really be in trouble. You're always saving your Yua-mama..." ... hey, -mama isn't an honourific, Yua!!
(At least she isn't Yua-channing herself, which is a thing she does sometimes. Apparently being mama is even cuter, according to Yua.)
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"It's all right," Miho had said soothingly, sitting with Yua as long as it took. But when she calmed down--
("Remi would have supported your decision. You know that's true.")
Indeed, though. Miho handled this mission herself--that was what she intended, and she was able to fight all the harder knowing she had kept Yua safe today. Miho returns, then, and...
She is bone tired, but victorious. "Kiss," Miho agrees, and kisses Yua as she returns. She smiles, too. It's the best thing, to come home and see Yua... and Tyrrha, too. She has grown awfully attached.
Quiche is a fine food--light for her moment. "You're doing well," Miho had told Tyrrha then. "I see, I see..."
The koi pond. Miho is likewise in a swimsuit, albeit a more athletic-designed one than a bikini, because that's the sort of swimsuit she prefers. She might get in the pool later herself; it would be a very good way to soothe her muscles.
For now though, she watches the pond...
"They are," Miho agrees, stroking Yua's arm. "She is. I'm pleased."
But... new topic. "You are welcome," Miho says. "It was not easy, but it may be the key to what we require."
"...Well, good thing I'm here, isn't it?" she asks. "I don't want to see you on any more of those missions until after, if I can help it."
"...Not that I want to lock you up and stop you doing anything," she adds. "I know you can't just stay locked away..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Indeed, Remi supported Yua, back then -- just as Miho does, once she's escaped. Tyrrha, for her part, helped make sure Yua got back safe, and is very proud about how she did the right thing escorting her back instead of getting distracted fighting those weird guys or grabbing that one dude.
Just as she's proud now, as she speaks on quiche -- "Crackin' eggs is fun, but don't worry, I know not to go around crackin' ones I find outside. Yumama says they got babies in them, so we can't be doin' that... but market eggs are special!"
And, well, she might need to have the morality of it all explained to her, but Tyrrha is at least an apt student. Even if she doesn't intrinsically 'get' it... she does get listening to her mothers!
Yua can tell how tired Miho is, though; she can feel it in the tension of her muscles as she supports herself on Miho for that kiss, in the appreciation she has for their light dinner, in those slight delays in one's movement which come about when it's time to collapse back home after a long day. Well, Miho might be far too graceful to collapse... but Yua can still tell!
And Yua loves the fish -- she's talked Miho's ear off about them for a while, in fact -- but once they're all nice and comfy, it's time for something a little more serious. ... even if she's still happy to feel Miho's hand, against her arm.
(Her muscles aren't nearly as strong or well-defined as Miho's, but that doesn't mean they're absent. She's not very strong -- indeed, much less strong than her weight class would normally suggest, thanks to the deleterious effects of those experiments -- but she is, at least, athletic. Even though she has to do less in the gym in the morning these days... though, as it happens, swimming is one of the safest ways she can keep fit!)
"Mm... I think... I think you're right," Yua says, deliberating over it for a moment. "Mouuu... I feel bad leaving you and Tykko and Recchi to do all the work, but... but I guess you'd say I'm doing other work, right?" Carrying a baby is itself work, by the cultural mores of Japan; it's not viewed as a passive process. "Something unexpected happened, yesterday, and... I ended up stuck in a fight on my own, and... and I was too scared to even fight back, because what if they hit me while I was attacking? Gretchen's really good at protecting me, but she has to open up when she's hurting people... but I really don't think I can even be hit once right now. I get so worried... mm, you do too, right, Mimi?"
Yua takes a breath, resting her head against Miho's shoulder as she looks up to her. "Not locked up," she agrees. "I don't want to be locked up any more. But can you take care of Tykko for a couple of months, on missions...? I don't want her to go out alone... even if she's a robot, she's still a baby!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
It was the right thing.
"Heh," Miho actually expresses. "Good. They do--and those that are market eggs tht don't belong to you are also inappropriate to crack."
Pause. "...The ones with babies inside tend not to be good for eating, regardless."
Still--Yua is perceptive. These traits are true of Miho's tiredness, which is not quite exhaustion but is getting close. She won't collapse... but she is glad to be seated, not exerting herself for the moment.
The fish are lovely. Miho notes some of her favorites, too.
She likes Yua's muscles, as it happens.
"Indeed, you are doing hard work as well. Work that is for me and you and Hiroki, especially--I'd rather you put that energy to us than them, in any case." Pause. But unexpected...
"I think it's best to avoid that," Miho agrees. "I do worry."
She smiles, gently. "I can do that," she says. "I'll go with her. She'll consider it enlightening, I think."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Tyrrha is learning...!
And when it comes time for Yua to learn more about Miho's thoughts, she nods, considering where she's putting her energy. "It's hard for me to say no," she admits, "but you're right... mm... maybe they'd listen to you? Whether they like it or not, they have to respect you now..."
... they don't respect Yua, so much, but she's always been the object of the sentence in the Order's eyes.
"There was... that awful bird, and... she stole a friend of mine away," Yua shares, thinking back to yesterday. "It was... a different place, mm... like... like Mementos is a different place, you know? It definitely wasn't normal... I could see properly. But the Shadows in there were smart, Mimi... they were using tactics and stuff, not like the ones in the Dark Hour at all. They almost got through Gretchen's defenses when I cast a spell... so all I could do was huddle up, uu..."
She frowns. "Then... that bird, she... she didn't want me around because of my powers... she said she'd crack my baby!" ... so that's why Yua was so preoccupied with making sure Tyrrha wouldn't crack any eggs in the wild. "But it wasn't just what she said, it -- it felt so bad, Mimi. Like..." Yua pauses, for a moment. "... like... when they put the hood on me, and I couldn't see anything, or hear anything, or smell anything. It wasn't... exactly that, but... it was scary like that."
Yua shakes her head. "When I got out, Tykko said she'd been seeing strange men, too... those smart Shadows chased me outside, and I guess stuff had been happening while I was in there. Mm... I left her alone... I shouldn't have gone into a weird place like that," she glances aside, to the koi pond, troubled. "It was too reckless... wasn't it...? Maybe baby brain makes it harder to think out there, too... so... Tykko will be safer going with Mimi, anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"It is," Miho remembers, "But I can make them listen on this much, I think." She is no longer as certain in her ability to just destroy all of them, for all the power she's attained--but still, she has attained some power.
"I see..." The bird. And a different place. "How strange," she remarks of the Shadows. She frowns, as Yua relates what happened with Gretchen.
"...It may be that that bird had some sort of power in that place," Miho reflects. "To harm you. Or at least, to scare you."
"You shouldn't have," Miho agrees, "But in your position I can't say I wouldn't have done the same. It is natural, honorable, to try to protect a friend. ...But you have to protect yourself and Hiroki, now."
Tyrrha will be safer..
"Maybe so. But I will tell you this: I cannot guarantee that I can save your friend, but I will investigate this place, and see what I can find. I will go with Remi-chan. Perhaps others."
"If nothing else, I want to be sure they cannot follow you any longer."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm... Mimi's strong. At least they're noticing that, by now..."
... destroying the entire Order means destroying Kandori, and not even Yua can feel certain Miho would win that fight, but she can't give up hope while Miho still thinks there's some left. Even if things seem hopeless to Yua... she can at least believe in Miho.
"I... think so," she says, of the mysterious Jerri. "She just looks like a bird, but she's worse than that, Mimi... she's a bad bird."
Yua's head sinks against Miho's shoulder, as her fingers play across her opposite arm. "Mm... I didn't think things through. I just... I heard her crying for help, and... and I think it's my fault that bird caught her, and... I felt so bad, Mimi. I know I can get in trouble if I use those powers for myself, but... but I'm the only one who saw her go... and that's just because I was trapping everyone in the studio."
Yua felt responsible, huh? ... the situation is probably more complicated than it just being her fault, though.
She nods, against Miho. "Ishigami-san will be happy if you can find out what that was, I think... she thought it was really interesting, when I told her what happened. She thought it probably wasn't safe for Yua-chan to go back, though... but if it's Mimi, maybe it'd be okay!"
Yua's hand rubs at Miho's arm, as she looks up to her. "Hey, Mimi... about that kinda thing... how was it today? You seem tired... was it really hard? Or... did something happen?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
No, but Miho wonders why Kandori works with the Order. If she can figure that out, then maybe...
"Mm. A very bad bird," Miho says seriously.
Miho strokes Yua's shoulder. "That makes sense," Miho says. "As I said... it's not a bad impulse, to want to help your friend--especially if you were part of what happened, though of course... I'm not certain that's true." Yua might be feeling responsible for something that isn't her fault. Still--
Chizuru is interested. "Hm. Well, that's another reason to go. It benefits us, and also our patron in this wretched Order."
But about that kind of thing...
"Mostly it was tiring," Miho says. "I fought a great many people, and it was difficult to do. I had to draw on reserves that I do not always use..." 'Theurgy', it is called by Persona-users.
"...But it is not only that," she admits. "My target was a mother. ...A mother who had called the Joker Curse down upon her own child."
"So you can imagine there were complex feelings all around."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I think it is," Yua says, softly, on her bad influence being truth.
Still, she doesn't protest it more than that; and she nods, when Miho identifies another reason to investigate, against Miho's shoulder. She listens, looking up to her, as she relates her mission...
"Mimi... you had to go all out, huh...?" Yua reaches up, to cup her cheek. "Mm, I guess you have to fight harder when I'm not there to support you... I'm really grateful, Mimi. And against a difficult target like that, too..."
She tilts her head, thumb tracing Miho's jawline. "Moouuu, Mimi... are you okay...? If I'd met a woman who tried to kill her own child... I would have been so mad. I bet you had a lot of big feelings, too... right?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho gives Yua a squeeze at that protest. Whether or not it is true, she is here; Yua is with Miho. and Miho is with Yua.
"I did," Miho says. "...But I'm glad to do it, knowing that you stay safe. I will fight for you, Yua. Even against difficult targets."
Miho turns her face towrds Yua at the contact. "I am," she says.
"...I did have big feelings, as you say. But those feelings made me stronger today, not weaker. I am certain of what I must do."
"...There are things in this world that are good, but there are many things that are evil. Whether in this world, through the Jokers and Takahisa Kandori, or in the True World, I will find a way to save you, Yua."
"...It's strange. I remember so many of them, from my dreams. But they have no idea."
"They fight for their 'truth' and for their 'beauty'," she says. "...But I fight for mine."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"You've always protected me," Yua smiles, to Miho. "I know I can count on you, Mimi."
And there, her big feelings... Yua listens to them, and to the spaces between them, too. "It's hard to fight everyone all on your own... isn't it?" She wonders, her head tilting with her sympathy. "Mimi's really strong, being able to hear everyone argue and still knowing what to do... when Mimi says Yua-chan won't die, I really think I'll be okay."
She pauses, for a moment. "Mm, like... was Nobumizu there? She usually is, when something is wrong... I remember you telling me about her, in your dreams. Like... how she was fighting us, and stuff. It must be so weird to remember everyone, when they don't remember you..."
Yua smiles, then. "I'm beautiful for you, Mimi!" She declares, and, indeed, she's in the swimsuit that's just for Miho, right now. "I can't say what's true for Mimi, just what I see," which echoes the way she anchors her in reality, when Miho's truth isn't quite so clear, "but if I can make Mimi's life more beautiful... I'm happy about that."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Good," Miho answers Yua, and smiles back. "That's what I want. For you to rely on me."
"It can be," Miho says. "...One must have iron certainty, in order to avoid being swayed by the passionate arguments of those who would oppose our aims. Indeed, in many things they are right--but they do not realize that I care only for one 'truth', when all is brought to bear. ...The truth that I love you."
She nods then. "Thank you. Please trust me a little longer."
"She was," Miho confirms. "I can respect her opposition; she believes in what she sees, and she wants to keep her own world safe. Nevertheless, we fight."
"...It's a bit strange," she admits.
But she smiles. "...You are." Just what she sees, "..You do. You very much do."
"Always."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mimi's the most reliable," Yua insists. "Mm, mm! When you look it up in the dictionary, there's a picture of your face!"
(EDITOR'S NOTE: this is actually true. Yua stuck a passport photo of Miho next to the entry for 'reliable' in their home dictionary. This is only one of several little additions and annotation she has made to the text. ... most of which celebrate Miho in some way.)
Her expression softens more, as Miho reveals her truth. It's not like it was a secret to her, or anything... but that doesn't mean she ever gets tired of hearing it. "I like that truth," she says, softly. "It makes me feel warm inside, but not like how I'm always cooking. Nn, like... like how it used to feel when it was Spring, and the sun wasn't too punishing yet, so if you sat in a sunbeam in the morning you felt like you were getting all charged up... even when everything was super bad the worst horrible, knowing you loved me helped me get through those days. I love you, too, Mimi... I'll keep believing in you," she promises, "no matter what."
Even though everyone's standing against them...
"In this world, I'm dying," Yua says, her eye closing, for a moment. "... and I really don't want to die, Mimi. When I think about dying... when I think about leaving you... my heart hurts. I can't do it... I can't let everyone move forward when I can't come, too! But... maybe there's a way to save me in this world...? If it was like that, maybe I could learn to live in this place..."
Miho was right, to say Yua wouldn't sacrifice herself for the world.
After all, even if all the world rejoiced... Miho would be crying!
And Yua wouldn't be anything... because she'd be dead. No more Yua, ever. No more seeing Miho's face, ever. Maybe it's all like it is under the hood -- seeing nothing, hearing nothing, smelling nothing...
There's nothing more terrifying than nothing.
But so long as she's alive, she can still touch Miho's face. She can see see Miho's expression, as she smiles to see hers. So long as she's alive --
"That makes me really happy!" She chirps, sparkly, hearing her declare it's always so. "And I love seeing how you look at me when I'm making life lovelier for you, too!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"...Hmmmm." Miho knows about the dictionary.
But, "I'm glad. ..Yes. The spring... I remember how it felt, when we were together, back then. ...I remember. And I'm glad, that you could get through that way. ...Thank you."
Yes, everyone stands against them. "I do not know how to bring about the True World. I do not know yet how to save you. ...but i feel the same. I cannot lose you. So if I find it in this world, I will preserve this world. If I find a way to the True World, where you can live already... then that, too, I will take."
Knowing what it could cost.
"I will not ask you to sacrifice yourself for a world. ...Never."
Despite having been tired, Miho feels stronger, now. ...She knows Yua worries; she has some of the same concerns. Perhaps it is true that they would meet again, in another place, or another life.
But in this life, Miho has Yua. Why should she settle for some far-off maybe?
"I love looking at you, when you see it," Miho says. "...And you are beautiful. I feel I could sit and rest and live just on beauty, with you... Like a plant in that sunbeam."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I was so hopeful, back then... mm... I guess I'm gloomier now, huh? But... maybe that just means I need to lean on Mimi's hope, instead. A strong hope... a strong and steady hope," she repeats, with a little more nuance, as she strokes Miho's cheek. "Thank you, Mimi... I'd really be lost without you."
Even if they don't know how to call the True World back to them... at least, in this, they're lost together. "I know Mimi won't ever give up," Yua says. "Never ever ever ever ever!"
Be thankful that Yua did not add ten more 'evers' to that statement. She'd do it.
Miho in the next life has Yua in the next life -- but Yua now has Miho now, and she's not about to lose her.
Her cheeks flush, with that same beauty, hearing Miho elucidate her feelings; it's all the more meaningful, from Miho, who is usually so guarded. "Oh, Mimi," she sighs, lovingly, and her hand drops from her cheek to support her at her shoulder instead -- so that she can lift her head from where she'd laid.
"Kiss...?"
It's somewhat of a different invitation to welcoming her home, but the warmth behind it is the same.