2026-10-06: Care and Duty
- Log: Care And Duty
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba - Main
- OOC Date: October 06, 2026
- IC Date: January 19, 2013
- Summary: Yua's health takes a turn for the worse again -- but this time, Miho's beside her. As she sees the full extent of her wife's fragility, Miho must then reckon with her own, as Yua expresses concern for her wife, too.
(|=============================== Aoba - Main ================================|)
-=================================================== Sumaru City/Aoba Ward ====-
To Sumaru's east is Aoba Ward, where fashion and commerce abound. The city's
fire department headquarters is based here too. Ample shopping can be found at
the stores that dot Aoba Way. Past it, Aoba Park is a popular place to walk
around and relax, especially since there's an outdoor concert hall located
deeper within where one might catch a live concert.
Various programs are filmed at Sumaru TV, where famous stars like veteran
actress Junko Kurosu, talk show host Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi, and popular model
Eriko "Elly" Kirishima might be spotted. Along the way, one will pass Kismet
Publishing, where popular publications like hot teen magazine Coolest are made.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua's in the lounging chair, when Miho visits, this afternoon -- though Hiroki isn't in her arms. "Look, Mimi," she says, though she sound weary, as she says it. "I'm up! I've been up since lunch, promise! I ate lunch up!!"
(They say that sitting up in the chair will help her recover the capacity she's lost...)
But it's not long before she pouts, and admits, "Mimi, I'm tired, and it hurts... I wanna go to bed." She reaches for her, pushing the swinging table away; Yua needs someone's help, to get up, right now, and Miho's already been briefed on what could happen if she tries it alone.
But scarcely has Miho supported her upright, when --
"oh --"
Yua is fifty pounds soaking wet at the best of times; it's not, strictly speaking, hard for Miho to catch her, when she falls into a dead faint, her breathing shallowed. But Miho has heard before the horrors of Yua's ill health; by voice or by emergency button, she knows to summon help.
Help which pushes her away and off into a corner, as they wheel in an angry red cart, and they start saying things like, "why is the family still in here?" "-- blood pressure's tanking, we're at sixty over forty --" "she's unresponsive," "let's get another line in before she starts fighting us," and they're stripping her chest down and putting awful little tabs on it, and pushing another cannula into the crook of her elbow, and --
-- and someone pulls Miho out of the room, finally, alongside bringing Hiroki out, as they ask about Yua's fainting history, the many times she's swooned or tripped or needed her support, as much to distract her from what's going on in there as anything --
-- until at length Yua does rouse, and the first thing she does is to scream, "Mimi! MIMI!"
And from the room beyond, she hears someone yelp that she's torn out her line, that they need to hold her down, that they need to push a medication Miho's more familiar with being used on herself --
"MIMI! MIMIIIII!!"
-- until someone ushers Miho back in and instructs her to hold Yua's hand, which is more effective than any of their interventions at getting her still.
No one explains anything to Miho -- let alone to Yua -- for some time, as they work, not even when they take a great needle to her heart. It's only after the room's calmed down that the doctor explains -- to Miho, more than to Yua, who is still quite beside herself -- that they had to manage the shock she'd fallen into when fluid had built up around her heart. A 'cardiac tamponade', they call it...
... they urge Miho, again, to tell them anything she knows about this mystery illness of Yua's, but of course she's already told them everything she can.
What's the thing they're missing that is making Yua so fragile...?
"Hiro-tan," Yua interrupts him, weakly, as she clutches Miho's hand. "Mimi... they took... Hiro-tan...!"
"We just moved him to another room while we were stabilising you, Ijuuin-san," the doctor assures her. "He's all right."
Yua whines, "I don't believe you...!"
And so it is Miho's due, to hurry out and check that Hiroki is indeed still in the ward, only to rush back to her wife before she panics alone.
In all the panic, though, they didn't realise that time was still passing...
... until dinner's brought in, placed on that little swinging table, and left.
"Mouuu..." Yua whines, as she tilts her bed up a little more to meet it, with a wince. "Hospital food is yucky... I'm not hungry, Mimi..."
... but Miho's gotten calls about emergencies from the hospital, before this, even though none of them have happened in front of her eyes like this. Hasn't Yua's glucose crashed, too? What happens if she doesn't eat...?
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho thought it would be an ordinary visit. Her paranoia, as a rule, has not extended to Yua's condition while she's with her. ...But that may change, considering.
"I see that," Miho had said back then.
But when she wants to go to bed... "All right," Miho answers. But then--
Miho catches Yua, of course. But that is not the end of it. Miho's eyes widen in alarm and worry. "DOCTORS!"
She also hits the button, of course.
'Why is the family still in here?'
Miho stares. She is unfamiliar with this much medical intervention--but eventually, she is pulled out. "She's--Yes, she has done this. There is--Where is Hiroki going--"
MIMI.
-=-=-
Of course Miho has come in and held her hand. Exhaustion builds in Miho quickly, as adrenaline wears off without anything to spend it on. The doctor calms down, eventually...
"I see," Miho has said, but--
She cannot tell them more. They would not understand 'Persona'. They might not live through understanding 'NWO'.
"It's all right," Miho says first at Hiroki. "I'll check. One moment."
The exhaustion may even show in Miho's eyes, by now, bloodshot as they are. But time is passing...
In one moment where Miho has to leave the room, one of the nurses catches her. "Ijuuin-san," she says, "You're clearly tired; you can't do more for her now. Please, get some rest. Go home."
"I will not," Miho negates it, so direct and firm as to be rude. She does not pretend to make excuses, to respect the nurses's expertise--
Again she says it when they ask later, 'I will not."
There is no stopping her. Not now, anyway.
But... Dinner is brought in...
"Yua," Miho says, tenderly. "I know. But you need your strength," she says. She consider. Those emergencies...
"I will try a bit, if you will eat it. Does that sound fair? We can do it together."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"We're just putting him in Bay 16," is what a nurse advised Miho, kindly, when she asked about Hiroki. "They need the space..."
And then it got worse.
Yua is tired, too; every time she thinks she's getting better, something like this happens, and it gets worse. She hasn't let go of Miho's hand, this whole time, even though she needs to keep her arm straight because they put another needle in it and bandaged it so she wouldn't rip it out...
She looks to Miho, at those tender words, and swallows, loosening her grip as she nods. "Okay... if Mimi's here, it'll be okay, right...?"
By now, she's allowed to have real food again -- so dinner is stewed meat and vegetables, plus rice, plus a cup of juice which looks like it ought to be a jello cup, plus some hospital custard for dessert. It is, at least, hot-ish, aside from the cups off to the side; it comes with a spoon, for anyone feeling too unwell for chopsticks, though of course there's also a set of those in a paper sleeve.
"Is the chicken okay...?" Yua wonders, looking to the meat, and seeing it pale. And then she frowns, as she looks to Miho. "Mouuu... Mimi... Mimi dinner...?"
She's asking whether she's eaten, while all this was going on.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Bay 16. That has no meaning to Miho, though it is meant kindly. "Yes, it is important to care for Yua..."
But Yua is of course tired. Miho, though, encourages Yua. "It'll be OK," she agrees, and waits for Yua to eat. If she has to eat with one hand in order to hold Miho's, then that's fine; Miho can help. ...The meal, as it happens, doesn't look as bad as some things Miho has eaten; health food is not that differnet from hospital food depending on where you get it...
"I'll find out," Miho says, and takes a piece of the chicken with the chopsticks, all one-handed. She will taste it!
But before she does...
"Mm. No... How about I have them bring me something?" she offers. "But you should eat first, while it's warm."
Then, delicately, chicken.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
HEALTH FOOD CAN BE YUCKY TOO MIMI!
But then -- chicken! It's a little over-cooked, but not too much; the stewing has left it nicely flavoured, dodging the usual hospital horror stories of bland and tasteless food, though it is a touch textureless and easily-chewed. (Again: hospital.)
"Mm... okay... if Mimi thinks it's okay... is it okay?" Yua asks, expectantly, looking up to her.
"If it's okay... Yua-chan will eat, okay...? But... Mimi chicken! Mimi chicken! Chicken for Mimi...!"
After all that... Yua's worried for Miho.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
It sure can.
Chicken! "it's good," Miho declares, which is an overstatement by most standards but by the virtue of it not being bad it's good enough. Miho will accept this. "Yes. You can eat this," Miho finishes, and looks back to Yua.
"Mm... I'd rather you eat all of it," she says, "But I'll take some, until I can get something full for me to eat, all right?"
Chicken for Mimi... compromise!
She puts a hand over Yua's, briefly. "...I love you," she says, and she is still tense despite her best efforts.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"... okay," Yua says, after a moment's pause. "If Mimi's sure they're not going to hurt Yua-chan with the food... I'll eat it."
(They were holding her down... she was fighting them.)
Her fingers curl, in Miho's hand, as she makes her plaintive request: "Mimi, feed me? I like when Mimi gives Yua-chan something to eat..."
Her eye is teary, as she feels Miho capture her hand more fully. "I love you," she murmurs, in turn. "I'm sorry, Mimi... I'm all broken. I keep falling apart... like the tide's coming in and wrecking the sandcastle... over, and over."
She swallows, and tries, bravely, to smile. "It's hard... right? But... but Yua-chan will be brave! Even when she wakes up and everyone is experimenting on her again!"
Again.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I'm sure."
She remembers; Yua was fighting... it must be terrifying to her; it clearly is.
"Sure," Miho answers, and smiles. SShe will feed her! A little bit of chicken first...
Well, no; first, handholding. "It's not your fault," Miho insists to her softly. "You've been through an ordeal. ...And it was difficult for you even before that."
"I won't blame you for that." She smiles, instead. "...Yes. Be brave."
Experimenting...
"Here. Let's eat." She squeezes Yua's hand, and presents: Chicken!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua squeezes Miho's hand, with a small nod, as she sees the enormity of her ordeal. "It's hard," she admits, quietly. "They're doing it... because I'm sick, right? But I wake up... like that... and remember. At least Mimi was here this time... when you're not..."
Her eye scrunches closed, her voice wobbling. "... I get really, really scared..."
Like when Miho was woken at four in the morning with a call from the hospital, saying Yua had taken a bad turn.
Miho squeezes her hand, though, and Yua looks to her again. "Aaaah," she says, obligingly, as she opens her mouth to accept the chicken. Chew, chew...
"It's okay," Yua decides, once she's swallowed. "... it tastes better since you gave it to me."
What better motivation does she need for the next aaaah?
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
It's hard... "Yes," Miho says. "It's not experimenting; they're doing things to help. ...But it's hard to remember that in the moment, I know."
When she's not... Well. Miho has gotten those calls.
"I'm sorry."
Still... aaah!
"I'm glad," Miho says. "In that case, here, have some more."
She wants to talk... but more than that, she wants to ensure Yua gets what she needs. So she will feed it to her a bite at a time if need be.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I don't like the ones they put in my arm," Yua says, sadly, as she lifts the arm she can bend to tap at the muscles of her upper arm. "It feels just like when they'd make me easy to hurt back then... when they were doing things I really didn't like. They'd put the needle in my arm, and strap my hands down, and... and it didn't matter what I said."
Miho has, of course, surely already had stern words to the hospital about the use of mechanical restraints in Yua's case; that's why the bandages are around her cannula, and she's not wearing mitts on her hands to stop herself from being able to tug them out.
"It's not your fault, Mimi... I know you're working hard to keep me safe. Oooouuuuhhh... they should be sorry!" And just who they is -- the present doctors or those in the past -- is a little obscure, right now.
A bite at a time, Miho makes sure that dinner makes its way to Yua; and Yua, feeling the care with which she handles each bite, feels the fear running her ragged soothing under the realisation that it really is okay now Miho's here.
"Aaaah," she says, again, as Miho finishes offering her her custard, at the end of it all. And so -- "All done!" Yua declares, smiling, as she gestures to the empty plate. "Mimi, are you happy?" She ate all her dinner tonight!!!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Yua..." It didn't matter. "I hate that they did those things to you," she says. "...They should be sorry." The doctors back then, of course--but Yua almost certainly means both. Indeed, though--Miho made quite clear that there wouldbe no restraints of that variety. But a bit at a time... dinner happens. Miho painstakingly keeps herself calm and even, keeps feeding Yua as needed. And then...
Miho smiles. "Yes," she says. "I'm very happy. You did quite well, Yua."
She sets down the utensil and squeezes Yua's hand. "Thank you."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"They were so mean..."
... it was more than mean, but the glancing nature of Yua's unfittingly cute descriptions aren't just whimsy.
She squeezes Miho's hand, too, pushing the table away so she can reach for her more easily. "Hearing that... I'm happy," Yua smiles, rubbing at Miho's wrist and arm, her fingers pressing in a little to feel for tension there.
Miho's eyes... they're a little too red, aren't they...?
"Mimi... you okay...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Mean. ...Yes, Yua's cute descriptions are more than that.
Yua smiles, and Miho smiles back. But the question...
"I'm a little tired," Miho admits. "A bit stressed. ...Seeing you hurt is..."
"Well, I'd rather know than not, but I still dislike seeing you in pain..."
"But don't worry about that right now. I'll rest when there's time. For now, I want to help you."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Uh-uh," Yua shakes her head. "It's not a little. Not a bit. It's a big and a lot, right?"
She frowns, rubbing at Miho's arm some more. "Mimi... it was really scary, right? You hadn't seen stuff like that before, right? You didn't know, right?"
She reaches up -- though she can't quite get to Miho's face without having to bend over, which elicits a squeak of pain from her before she thumps back against the bed. "Mimiiii," she whines. "I bet you can't stop thinking, right? How it was like that, right? How it was like before, right? What I was yelling, right?"
Tears dot her eye again, as she insists: "Don't cover it up like I'm dying... I'm not dying, right...? Didn't I promise, Mimi? I promised!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
It's not 'a little', Yua insists, and Miho's expression softens almost imperceptibly--but only almost. The tension in her arm remains; her muscles are tight.
"..."
She glances to the side, and sighs. "Yes," Miho answers. "It is... a lot."
"It was frightening," she says finally. "I don't..."
"I knew it was difficult for you, but... It is worse than I realized."
Yua doesn't wnat her to cover it up.
"You promised," she agrees. "You did. But I am afraid that if I show it, then..."
"I want to continue for you."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mimi," Yua insists, reaching for her again. "Mimi... what are you scared of?"
There's frustration in her voice, as she goes on: "I can't do the stuff I want to do... it really hurts, Mimi! But that doesn't mean I don't see it! I always see it, Mimi! I, I can't help you, and you've gone away, and -- Mimi, come back!" She cries, plaintively, as she gives up on reaching her face and goes for her hand again instead.
"I don't want you to hurt, Mimi... I don't want you to say you're not hurting... tell me what you need! Can I say a magic spell, can I make it go away? Or do you want to know? Everything hurts, my head's all fuzzy, I don't... I don't know how to help, Mimi... but I know you need help too!"
Her breath hitches. as she says: "Because of me... because of my stupid broken body... Mimi's hurting, too..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"..."
Miho does not answer immediately. She looks back almost helplessly at the idea of 'coming back'... but when Yua continues, Miho has to say something. "it is not your fault," she insists first.
"...Very well," Miho says. "I will not claim that I do not hurt. ...I wish to, though. I feel... that if I do not keep going, then I am letting you down."
"...But you are the one I count on, when I feel this way. If you are sure it is all right, that it will not make matters worse for you..."
"Then I will tell you."
"...Because it is not because of your body. Your body, they are healing; they are working with. It is because of the distress I see that I cannot address; that these other doctors have hurt you so... that you cannot partake of medicine because they have poisoned it against you."
"That you hurt, and I do not feel that i can address it. ...That you suffer, and all I can do is be told that the family should not be in the room."
"They tried to distract me, you see, with questions about you... But I knew what they were doing. It did not work."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Nn," Yua shakes her head, when Miho says she wishes she didn't hurt. "If Mimi has to say she doesn't hurt... it's Yua-chan letting Mimi down."
She curls her hand around Miho's, as she listens to her account. "Mimi... they told you to go away? Uh-uh! I don't like that! Tell them they're not allowed to do that, Mimi!!"
(Given how much Yua calmed down when Miho was allowed beside her to hold her hand, that might not even be a difficult sell...)
"Sometimes they do distract you," she scowls. "Like asking you to identify yourself... or where you are... or what year it is! But it was a trick question, 'cause if you told them what your name is, they'd be mean! A lot of people got tripped up, when they were new... since they'd ask that stuff when you were just waking up, and you maybe didn't remember all the bad stuff..."
Yua's scowl deepens, as she says: "... that's why I yelled at them when they asked me that." When a nurse had asked her such an innocuous question -- can you tell me your name? -- and had been hit with a barrage of NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO...
"... but I'm worried about you, Mimi," Yua says, looking to her. "I said a lot of things... but it's just what I said. Now Mimi saw stuff... it's different when you see stuff, right? So now Mimi can imagination see the stuff Yua-chan said, and... and Mimi's head is so full of thoughts all the time..."
She reaches for her, again. "Mimi," she calls, gently. "I can't reach... come to me. I want to hold your cheek, Mimi..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Yua..." She doesn't feel that way, of course. But Yua does. And it makes sense; they promised, didn't they? That Yua would take care of her feelings...
Remembering that, Miho still feels as if she is swimming in her own emotions, distant from them. It does make it easier in some respects to listen, to answer.
"They did," Miho says, "But they discovered quickly that it was smarter to have me in the room. ...I was able to calm you when their other means could not."
But distracting... "I see," Miho says. She can imagine it; they'd insist on dehumanizing their 'subjects', refuse to let them use their names even to themselves...
But that's how that was.
"I see," she says.
"Mm, it is different," she says. "I can see you attached to the machines; I can hear you yelling. I do not like it..."
She is full of thoughts. But she remembers, for a moment, that she has a body; she leans down, to let Yua reach her face. "Yua..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I felt cold, and it really hurt, and I couldn't think... I was really scared. I thought they were doing something... and they kept doing things... so of course they were up to something! It's only when Mimi was there... when Mimi was there, I felt okay. You wouldn't let them take me, Mimi... you wouldn't let them do anything bad. Nn, I mean... I know the Ryouharas are watching, too, but... but I don't remember watching when it's happening. I want someone right there with me... because I forget, Mimi... I forget it's okay."
She pauses, as she adds: "But... they'll be watching Hiro-tan, right? So... so he'll be okay? Even though the whitecoats took him out? I want him back here, Mimi... it doesn't have to be right now-now, but... if I can't watch him, what if something bad happens?"
There's one concrete task Miho can attend to while she's visiting, then -- the location of this 'Bay 16' and righting of that wrong.
"The machines are really mean, too... they go 'beep beep!', like they're yelling at me... and they put bad things in my body, Mimi, I can feel it, like it's all dangerous and cold!" That's probably just the fact that the intravenous medications were a different temperature to her body, particularly with how she always feels so hot...
... and it's really a testament to Yua's own damage that she doesn't have the insight to assure Miho it wasn't dangerous, even knowing her own experiences of paranoia.
It's easier, though, for Yua to reach Miho's face when she leans over the bed; she cups her cheek, and urges Miho's face closer, so she can gently donk her forehead against the other side of Miho's face.
"Even if it's not them... it's still scary even if they're really trying to help, too, right? Since... it happened again. Mm... I'm scared, too, Mimi. What if one day I'm scared out of my body, and no one's there to say mabui, mabui...? What if I never get stable again, and I just keep having bad times until I die...? They don't know why I'm like this... but I don't know either, Mimi. I mean... I know it's 'cause they made me, but... but they never made an instruction manual, there's nothing saying what'll happen... mooouuu, what if I can't ever come home...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I wouldn't," Miho assures Yua. "...Yes, that makes sense," Miho says. "I understand. It's hard, in the moment."
But "They will. He'll be fine. They told me where he is, as well. I will not allow him to be kept from us." A pause. ...Hmm. "Yes, I'll see him brought back to you."
The machines.... "Mm..." Is it dangerous? It could just be that it's cold, and feels bad. it could be that medication feels strange. But what if it isn't just that? ...Miho will have to get a second opinion. She trusts the doctors, mostly...
But what if one has been subverted?
Still...
Miho returns then. "I know it's frightening," Miho says. "...But..."
"We must believe," she says. "That that will not happen. We must persist, so that we can do our best."
"We promised, after all."
"There's much we don't know... But I won't give up. And if I ever think they're holding you for reasons that aren't good--that it's not about you being at risk, but it's about something else--I will not allow it to continue."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I wish they'd come out more..." Yua sighs, of the Ryouharas. "They're too good at hiding, Mimi!"
(Knowing them, they've probably replaced a few workers in custodial services...)
But Miho promises to find Hiroki, and Yua smiles. "Mimi knows...? Then... it'll be okay!" For all Yua's mistrust of the hospital, her trust in Miho is far stronger.
Still... Miho's struggling, too, and Yua can see that -- feel it, really, close as she is. "Mimi," she says, pulling back just enough to be able to look to her again, "it's okay to not persist all the time forever, Mimi. Like... how resting and recovering is my job right now, right?" Someone surely has presented it that way to Yua, seeing her so frustrated over lying in a hospital bed all day.
"We're connected, Mimi... 'yu and mi'. 'Mi and yu'!" That's in English, so the pun works much better. "That means that when Yua-chan is hurting and in pain... Mimi's hurting, too. Right? I want Mimi to get better, too... so Mimi's gotta take breaks, too. When visiting's over, you'll go home, right? Mimi can't sleep good here... Mimi needs Mimi bed! Mimi bed, Mimi cat... and Tykko can practice making pancakes in the morning again! She was just telling me how she's trying!"
Over the phone, that is. Doctors can't question her weird metal body over the phone.
Yua smooths her finger over Miho's cheek, smiling to her. "Mimi, something really hard happened to you... you saw it for the first time. Remember how scary it was when Gretchen first got mad...? I wasn't well at all, so I couldn't help too much... but Yua-chan saw how scared Mimi was, anyway. It's really... really hard. But... Yua-chan's better, now. Yua-chan knows Mimi's here, even if sometimes everything gets scary and she forgets what year it is again... this time, Mimi's watching everyone really, really carefully! So... so I'll be okay, right? If you thought they were hurting me... wouldn't you just burn them all to the ground?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"They are," Miho agrees. It would be a problem, if they weren't protecting Yua.
"Yes," Miho says. It will, indeed, be okay. But Miho is having difficulty. And Yua pulls back, so Miho looks into her eye. "Mm..." Resting and recovering...
Yua reminds her that they are connected, and it is easier to think of that in this moment, when Miho can feel not just the floating of her thoughts but the touch of Yua's hand, the coolness of the room, the scent of what was stewed chicken and is now an empty tray.
"...That is true," Miho admits. Take breaks...
"Mm." She can't sleep here, that's true. And she does want to see the cat, and she needs to look in on Tyrrha, and...
"She was trying," Miho agrees. "She's not doing badly."
Is that true?
Something hard. "I remember," Miho says. "...Mm."
"...Very well," she says. "You are right. I would. I would make of this place a pyre on which they would place their desperate prayers for atonement."
Pause.
"...Well, if you insist," she says. "I suppose what you say makes sense..."
"I'll consider it, at least. But not just yet, all right?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Perhaps Miho will need to have words with a certain Ryouhara about showing his face now and then...
... or at least to a sassy lady!!
Yua's eye is red, too -- but in the ways it's supposed to be; she can see the strain, in Miho's, as her one functional eye glances between them.
But the thing she knows more than anything else is that they are connected; on a spiritual and visceral level, they are bonded, deeper than the stars of this present universe. Yua's pain is Miho's pain; Miho's pain, Yua's. It means that she sees where Miho subliminates herself in service of her goal, Yua's safety... just as Miho saw that Yua was losing her footing before she even realised she'd fainted.
"Mm, mm... she needs lots of encouragement! While I'm in hospital, it's all on Mimi... I'm really counting on you, even when you're not here, okay?" Yua's been worried about Tyrrha, too -- but if these doctors realised she was a metal girl...
It might seem counterintuitive to give Miho more duties when she's this strained, but Yua's evil plot is to help Miho think of going home as caring for her, too. If Yua needs Miho to go home, then she's still being dutiful...!
Yua's scared of being alone, too, of course, but... when Miho says she'd burn them all for their perfidy, she believes her. Perhaps it would be unsettling, to a different kind of person, the reassurance on her face as she smiles to her. "You'd really make them sorry," she says, softly. "I know. I know. I know Mimi will come for me... mm, mm, I know you'd make them regret it." She smooths her hand over her cheek, and invites: "Kiss....?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho may just.
But for now... Yua is right about Miho; she knows how to address her issues, how to coax her cooperation. And so, "Very well," Miho says. ore duties--and Yua's evil plot is working. After all... She does have to care for Tyrrha, too.
But Miho smiles. she is not disturbed; she is reassured, too. "I would," Miho says. "...Good."
"Kiss," she agrees, and leans in to kiss Yua.
...It does feel better.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It's funny, in a way; if Yua were left to focus on her suffering entirely, she thinks she'd feel worse than she does, realising that Miho is in a different sort of peril. Realising that Miho's pain is easing, as Yua finds ways for her to balance her need to protect her with her own physiological needs... it makes Yua hurt less, too.
And her heart sings, despite its struggles, to feel her lips against hers; she tilts her head into hers, offering herself, if only for a moment.
"Soon I'll be home," Yua decides, "and Mimi can hold me while we sleep, and everything will be okay again. Like... like I feel better... helping Mimi feel better. It's hard now, though... mouuu... Mimi, hold my hand? Just until I get to sleep... I'll feel safer, if Mimi's here..."
And not just feeling safer; Miho can do a lot to help Yua reposition on her bed for sleep without aggravating her wounds too much, too, with the strength she still carries in her arms.
Even if those awful doctors will wake her up at all hours of the night, for at least a little while... it can be almost like normal.