2026-09-22: Your Mark and Mine
- Log: Your Mark and Mine
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba General Hospital
- OOC Date: 2026-09-22
- IC Date: Sun Jan 13 2013
- Summary: Miho and Yua discuss their Marks as Yua struggles with her post-operative exercise.
- Content warning: References to medical abuse.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Sleeping in hospital is tiring, but... at least they were able to get relatively solid sleep, aside from the nurses coming to check Yua in the night. But all too soon, the hospital is busting with activity again. The doctors say that Yua needs to get moving, even though Yua's still well and truly wired up to the bed. Miho was instrumental in helping Yua with the physiotherapist, as she showed her how to march in place beside her bed... but Yua wailed about it hurting, and cut off the appointment early.
No, it's not until later that morning that she says, meekly, to Miho: "Mouuu... I'll try again. ... Mimi help?"
Her IV poles (multiple!) at the head of the bed, Miho has to be on the other side; her hand clasps hers, as she sits at the side of the bed, trembling from the effort. But she pushes her pain button, and so, with Miho's help, stands; the oxygen tubing from the wall to her nose tugs a little, but Miho's able to detangle it from the side headboard so her head doesn't get yanked. March, and march, and march, and... by the fourth lift of her feet, Yua's panting with pain, and she sinks back down on the side of the bed. "Mimi, sit," she whines, tears dotting the edge of her eye for a different reason than usual. "Sit with me..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Sleep! It's important. Miho does not rest as well as she usually might, but it's enough for now. And Miho has stood up again, and has been helping Yua. Soon, Miho'll have to return to life outside the hospital...
But soon is not now.
Now, Miho is on the other side, holding Yua's hand. March, march, march...
"All right," Miho answers, and squeezes Yua's hand before she moves herself over to sit with Yua on the bed.
"Good job," she says. "You're doing well."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua's dreading that 'soon'... as much as she knows that they'll be in a bad position, if Miho isn't available for those wretched people and their plans. ... and Miho's planning a wedding, too...
Moouuuuu...
Yua tilts -- and yipes, quietly, as tilting tugs at her belly -- and so shifts her whole body to try and lean against Miho better. "They cut me," she sniffles, as she lifts the hem of her gown, to show her what they've done. Just above the indignity of a pad not unlike Hiroki's -- though hers, at least, is more for the bleeding, particularly right now, and in one of those events that cut into Miho's restful sleep, though they assure her it's normal -- there is a clear dressing pressed to the very bottom of her belly. A long cut runs almost from the join of one inner thigh to the next, horizontally; it is dark red, with off-white bands pressed across it under the dressing. Sutures.
No wonder she's in pain; that cut isn't merely superficial.
Lowering her gown back down, Yua's shoulder sinks against Miho's chest, relying on her to keep her more or less upright. "Hey, Mimi..." Yua murmurs, as her hand reaches across herself to her, that IV tubing dangling as she goes, "... are people... being mean about your dreams?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
She is.
But Miho tries to accommodate the difficulty of Yua's current position, holding her there as she tilts. "I see," Miho says, and does look, frowning in concern. "...I suppose they needed to... but even so, it looks very painful."
Miho holds Yua there, and she is strong enough to keep her upright. But there, the question...
"Not as such," Miho says. "...Oh, there is the berserker boy," she says, "Who rages at everything he can."
"But no, not mean. That said... Some have brought up possibilities. The Oracle was deceived, they say--for all his knowledge of the True World, in the end he was abandoned by the forces that drove him."
"...I have my Mark, my power. But the Order has a similar power. I had concluded that the man in my dreams must be deceiving them to help us, in some way..."
"But I cannot deny that it is possible that something is wrong. My dreams are true, but..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Owie," Yua agrees, a touch miserably.
But at least, in expressing those owies, she hits the button again. She's been hitting it more since Miho encouraged her... the doctors assure them that it doesn't mean she's getting addicted, and in this year of our lord 2013, perhaps even with that language.
What's even more soothing than the strong pain relief through her body, though, is Miho's arms around it; her eye drifts closed, as she listens to her, head pressed to her chest, hands resting at her knee. (She leaves the button balancing there, too. You know. Just in case.)
"He's so energetic," Yua sighs, fondly, of the berserker boy, and with no regard for the hatred she's always seen him spit. Sorry, Hyousuke: mama hen would sooner roost on you. "Mm, but still... he was abandoned...?"
Yua bites at her lip, and wonders: "Hey, Mimi... how many 'forces' are there, do you think...?"
If Miho's dreams are true, and Sudou was deceived, Yua thinks -- surely that can only mean they were backed by different beings?
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Yua deserves relief from her pain. That's what Miho says.
But she also continues to hold her. The button can remain. "He is," Miho answers, and she is less fond but it's very like Yua to be. "He was," Miho says. "That is what they say."
"...Who knows?" Miho asks. "It's possible that there are multiple 'entities' with an interest in the True World..."
"What we know is that the Oracle was empowered by something that wanted chaos and destruction. ...And we know that the Marks that we bear are similar--his and mine, that is." Not Yua's. "...Further, we know that my dreams have come true; that our destiny is real."
"...And that the power that saved my life can be granted to others, through 'Gozen'."
"We don't know enough," Miho decides. "I will not abandon what I have staked my life upon on supposition and worry. Do not concern yourself with that."
"...But I must gather data. I must understand."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mmn..." Yua hums, thoughtfully. (And still with a little pain. That's just a constant backbeat, right now.)
"So, the Oracle's patron wanted chaos and destruction, but... is that really what that man's done for us, Mimi?" 'Us', of course, because he's Miho's patron but Yua is inherently along for the ride. She's a little jealous of how special Miho is to have some ancient spirit advising her, but... of course, mostly she just admires Miho for being that special!
"The power Gozen gave me... when I use it, it's different to when you use it, Mimi. It's not just that I'm quieter, I think... it's that I take us to a quiet place... mm, does that make sense?" She frowns, a touch concerned. "Mimi's power calls demons, and the demons are loud, they're alive..."
What could contrast that...?
"But... it's hard to tell that stuff," Yua admits. "Even for me... I'm powerful, but it's one thing to feel the borders between worlds, it's another to... to look at them? Sometimes, I'm really not sure what I'm seeing... if I see anything at all." She bites her lip, as she adds: "Ishigami-san's pretty interested in my gifts, though... I wonder what she knows. Since she's 'gifted', too..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho is gentle; she understands that the pain is there. ...It's not really the same as being shot in the arm at all, but there's enough there for empathy.
"No," Miho says. "...Or, well... not indiscriminate destruction, at least. Hmmm..." It's natural to be jealous. ...But Miho has never held it over Yua in that way.
"Yours is unusual compared to the others who have power from Gozen," Miho reflects. "Like Umie Akabane..."
"it does make sense, though."
Loud and alive...
"Hmm..."
"I don't entirely understand," she admits. "Seeing the borders between worlds... looking at them."
"But Ishigami-san may. I wonder, too. If we can get her to tell us more..."
"We'll need something to offer, for that. Something more."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua does wonder if it would feel like this if she were shot in the belly.
She does not want to be shot in the belly. :(
"But that's different, right? Chaos and destruction, that's... you know... random!" Yua struggles to try to get her head around it, scowling. "It's not like... needing to take care of something to move forward." Well, that's one way to phrase murder.
... she is grateful to Miho for her grace, amidst countless other things.
"Mm, but... I wonder why I'm different? They did those things to my eye... but... why is it that when he Marked it, it acted so weird...?" Yua scowls, thoughtfully. "... I wonder if my eye was sent to the spirit world, or something like that..."
(Niraikanai, she says; it's a specifically Okinawan understanding of the land of the Gods.)
"But ever since then... I feel it, Mimi. When I 'cross over'... that I'm 'crossing over'. You know, how I get so tired, but... but I'm pretty good about going to Mementos and back without being wiped out?" It's the strange duality of Yua: she struggles with constant fatigue, but the spikes of fatigue Miho might expect from her own experiences just don't seem to hit Yua as badly. "I feel the change in the air... it feels normal, to me."
She hums, reaching a hand to Miho's. "... what if I told her... how I killed that woman? That... mm... Konishi," she manages to say her name, though it's strained. "T-there, I can say it! I managed to tell Nobumizu, too... I guess that was risky, but it's fine, right? She's dead!"
Luckily, the door to their private room closes, so Yua saying that oughtn't be an issue.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho doesn't want that either!!
"Yes," Miho agrees. "It's different." She leaves that there for now. Murder is murder and all, but...
Why? "It has to have been an interaction of something they did with his powers," Miho concludes. "...Unless, of course, there's some other explanation... But we don't have enough information even to speculate on what that might be."
"Send to the spirit world... that could be."
Yua feels it. "Hmm. Yes, that's true. Your experiences are different from mine in that way. I know you grow tired, but not in the ways that I do. ...Mementos ought to tire you, for instance."
But... Hmm.
"That's a start," Miho says. "But I'm not sure it would be something she would value. We might need... to do more searching of our own, for something she values."
"it's worth trying, though; it would give her insight."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm... there's lots we don't know." Yua frowns, a touch unsettled.
Like... just why she doesn't get tired, the same way Miho grows tired. "Mm... they must have done something... so that when Gozen gave them to me, it was different. I always thought... they were just thinking ahead, you know? Since -- since you weren't there, so I realised they lied, and I really, really wanted to destroy them, but I just got really hurt inside... I thought, if I could have summoned demons like you can, they definitely would have died after doing those awful things to me...!"
She sighs, though, shaking her head. "... but it can't just be that, right? Even if it would have been stupid for them to give demon-summoning powers to, to a... you know, a person they didn't look at like a person..." a Number, she means; "... it still would have been weird if they were giving it to someone like me without a bigger reason than staying safe then."
It can't just have been to save their hides. They think bigger than that.
"I think she would," Yua shakes her head, "since she first approached me when I was disagreeing with Kimi-san at a party... well, she didn't quite have the right idea," Yua lies, "but I think she likes it when women get one up on things. Though I guess it's not very 'useful' to her, either... mm... I'm sure we'll find something!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
A great deal, indeed.
"...You're right. How would they think ahead in that way? How would they know how to do it? And if they did--why not do it that way with more of them?"
"...I'm sorry. If you had the power He gave me... you'd have been able to fight your way out there."
"It would have been strange."
But she would... "Hmm. So even if it's not useful, it might be pleasing. Yes, that's a good start, Yua. We'll go from there. I'll be on the lookout for more things, as well."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm... that's what I wonder," Yua frowns. "They had lots of people trapped down there... but they didn't have lots of people they gave the Mark. I had to do a lot of work with it, Mimi... like they were doing all the work with me... they were making those other suppressants, but there was this other drug, too, it made everything louder and more and bigger..."
She falls silent, for a moment. "... though, it's weird," she says, then. "Since... one day, they stopped bringing me aboveground to that office and telling me to call my power... just like that. I heard someone talking to his boss, and he was saying how I was, um, a 'precious resource', or something... I guess they were worried about how hard it was on me, even with the drugs they were making for it."
Yua does wish she could have fought... but she didn't. She was told not to.
She told Miho, once, that it was a dream of Miho herself which convinced her to shelter in place... though of course she was sure that was just her hiking knowledge, because that's what you're meant to do, if you get lost in the woods.
Yua smiles, though, when Miho realises it may well please their worldly patron. "Mm, mm," she nods, against her. "Mimi's sharp... you'll definitely find something... mm..."
Yua squeezes her hand, as she admits, "... I'm tired, Mimi. But I don't wanna move... I'm with Mimi..."
One way or another, she's sure that Miho will see her to her rest.