View source for 2026-06-15: From Blanket Town, Back To Work

*'''Cutscene:  ''' From Blanket Town, Back To Work
*'''Cast:''' [[Yua Ijuuin]], [[Tyrrha Ijuuin]], Eiko Ikeda, Kimitake Ijuuin
*'''Where:''' Aoba - Penthouse
*'''OOC Date:''' 2026-06-15
*'''IC Date:''' Sun, Dec 02 2012 (IC date massaged for OOC time pressures)
*'''Summary''': ''Yua takes Tyrrha to Blanket Town, to hide from contractors installing a pond on their roof. She manages to get Tyrrha talking about the things she's forgotten, even though she's a machine... and just why Yua was chosen to help her, too. Before she can really drill down on it, though, Eiko informs Yua that her husband was calling -- and when she calls back, he demands she return to work before people start asking too many uncomfortable questions. Yua's resistance against his pleasant exterior can't go very far with him, so she takes it out on her plants, tearing their weak branches down to strengthen the whole. Tyrrha doesn't really get why she'd be doing that, but she's keen to go to school starting Monday...!''
*'''Content warning''': Implied threats, domestic abuse.

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[[Category:Cutscenes]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 2]]

Fishes! Fishes! Having selected a pond -- one with an artificial waterfall to allow for the cultivation of poisonous plants where the fish can't nibble, long and relatively narrow, tucked into the side of the rooftop beside the sunning chairs -- the next step, of course, is ''installing'' it.

That means that recently, there's been ''strangers in her house.''

And Yua, queen of her domain...

... bravely deputised Eiko to Handle It, under Miho's careful eye, and went to go hide.

Specifically, she's gone back to Tyrrha's room with her new daughter!

Tyrrha ''does'' have a bed; it was there when she took the room, but she gets great entertainment out of trying to lie down. Her actual recuperation, of course, is handled by her charging station... there's even a little booth on the side for Welwetes! Her wardrobe isn't walk-in, like the master bedroom's, but the elegant aged hardwood is harmonious with the desk, dresser, and bedside table.

Notably, one of the first things she wanted for her room was a ''portable CD player,'' more or less the instant she learned about popular music. She also has a laptop of her very own...!

Yua, a weighted blanket across her shoulders, smiles as Tyrrha goes first to let her in. (That her bedroom is ''her personal space'' where Tyrrha has control is a lesson she's already given.) "It's weird when there's strangers in your house, isn't it?" Yua asks, as she goes to sit on the side of her bed. When Tyrrha hums, and nods, Yua pats the bed beside her. "Come, come! I'll show you a magic trick!"

"Whoa," Tyrrha says, as she sits down -- and the mattress depresses with her weight. "You're ''magic,'' too?"

"Mm, mm!" Yua hums as she takes her blanket and sweeps it over the both of them -- "annnnd, there!" -- tenting them both beneath the heavy blanket. (Heavy in ''weight,'' but not in ''warmth;'' weights carefully sewn in give the fabric staying power.) "Now... we're in Blanket Town! Those men out there can't hurt us, now!"

"Ehhhh?" Tyrrha tilts her head. "But... ain't we in Sumaru, Yumama?"

"Nuh-uh!" Yua shakes her head, cheerfully. "Blankets transport you to Blanket Town! Just like Gretchen... but anyone can do it! If things are overwhelming, Blanket Town will protect you!" She raises a curled hand, pointer finger up. "There's just one rule... if someone's in Blanket Town, you can't come in unless you're invited!"

"Wow," Tyrrha remarks, her artificial eyes wide. "I thought blankets were just for keepin' you warm..."

"This blanket's heavy, not hot! It's a special kind called a weighted blanket... it's like getting a big hug, but it works even when being hugged is bad!" Yua says, still smiling.

"... it's heavy?" Tyrrha wonders, looking up at the neutral grey matte. "Oh... yeah, about... five kilos? Right?"

Yua giggles, seeing Tyrrha process the ''data'' of the weight despite not really ''feeling'' it. "I guess we'd need a much heavier blanket for you, Tykko!"

"That's right!" Tyrrha grins, ferociously, in turn. "You're good at keeping things ''tege'' here, huh? Y'know, I... think... home was important to me," she turns reflective, as she moves from considering ''Yua's'' mastery of her domain to her own feelings about it. "Like... folks were countin' on me... you know?" Her thoughtful tone's grown hesitant, and Yua reaches out, to place a hand on her arm.

"You really don't remember," the elder product asks the younger, "do you...?"

"I know some stuff," Tyrrha says. "Like... I'm a machine? I guess that means all the stuff I feel all nostalgic about is just, like, programmin'... but..."

And, indeed, Yua can feel that metal, beneath her dark fingertips. "I don't think you're making it up," she assures her, firmly. "There must be a reason. The Powers that Be were hardly... pleased with us, when they told me to look after you," she glances aside with her half-sighted gaze, for a moment, as she treats the subject with kid gloves around a girl who was at least ''made'' to be a child. "Even so, they called me back to fetch you... and your, um, system, it needed to test my blood, you know...?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that! It was a three-fourths match 'cuz ya grandpa was Inaban, right?" Tyrrha scratches at an ear, the gesture revealing the apparent pearl earring pierced atop it. (Well, her antenna look like piercings when they're retracted, anyway.) "Say, how many of those guys are Okinawan, mama? Y'know, those 'Powers that Be' or whatever."

"Um... they're quite nationalistic, so... I'd be surprised if many of the true Powers weren't from the mainland," Yua starts, a touch awkwardly. "Maybe the initiates...? I just can't imagine anyone apparently ''improper'' getting very far... or wanting to." Here, she thinks of the Taiwanese men, pressed to service. 

... there's nothing she can do about it. If the Tien Tao Lien ever managed to shake their yolk, she's sure her own husband would erase them.

But if you think of the devil, he will appear. The noises outside the blanket are all of little concern to Yua... except, perhaps, for a knock at the door. "Excuse me," Eiko's voice breaks the peace. "The contractors have gone to lunch, so... permission to enter blanket town?" In her neat uniform, it sounds a touch ridiculous, but Eiko's learned how to work with Yua, too.

"Mmhm, mmhm!" Yua hums, and so, Eiko ducks her head under the blanket, too. A quick check to see how she's going, under here, and...

Eiko thinks this blanket must be for ''Tyrrha's'' benefit, so she holds up Yua's phone. "Your husband was calling earlier," she says. "I took the liberty of assuring him you'd call back when things were a little more quiet, but... would you prefer to see to that now, or later this afternoon?" Once the contractors are ''gone'' for the day, she means.

And Yua's smile grows to match her blanket: weighing on her.

Still, her answer -- "If it's safe out there, now's fine!" -- ''sounds'' perfectly cheerful, even if she's slipped into acting from one moment to the next. "Hey... you can stay in Blanket Town for a little bit, too, okay? Mooouuu... I should be talking to them..." She sighs, as she reaches out to take her phone. "I'm really lucky you're here, Eiko-san," she says, in both gratitude and apology.

"I'm at your service, mistress," Eiko assures her, with impeccable professionalism.

Yua leaves Blanket Town, at that -- and lingers, a moment, in the hall.

Just to see whether... Eiko's really having a chat with Tyrrha.

...

When she confirms Eiko's humouring it all, she mouths 'sorry,' as she makes her way out onto the balcony, to sit on a bench by the roses.

It's deceptive... keeping Eiko busy, when she'd only be a bother because she cares about her.

Ring, ring...

"Kimi-san?" Yua asks, and she's a little nervous, but her voice is quite pleasant, all in all. "You were calling earlier...?"

"Ah," his voice is pleasant, too, on the other end of the line. Yua wonders if he's in public, hearing him sound like that. "Yua-san, good. I hope the remodelling isn't too burdensome for you?"

The pond, of course. She's told him. She hasn't been able to avoid speaking with him entirely, after all.

... he brought over another get-well basket, and she smiled like she was touched by the gesture, as if his visitations were the same as Ritsuko's or Natsumi's or Fuyu's or Yume's.

"It's fine," she says. "Eiko-san's handling it, so..."

"I'm sure you're supervising the maid's work," and the reminder of her duties as woman of the household -- and the distance between her and the ''help'' -- is subtle as a razor trapped in silk. "In fact, that's the reason for my call."

"Um...?" Yua's uncertainty doesn't manage to explain itself, but he was never all that concerned with her input, anyway.

"Your work," he spells out, unilaterally. "You've been in recovery for a month now, Yua-san... people are starting to wonder whether you're really all right. Besides, your students are relying on you. If you don't keep your eye on them, you'll miss a lot of opportunities to help them succeed..."

He's not thinking about the success of those students she's particularly keeping an eye on, of course.

The real meaning behind that message -- that she must return to her duties or be once again in ''question'' -- comes through loud and clear. "... I understand," Yua murmurs, her gaze casting down. It is lucky, in that moment, that she's made sure Eiko's occupied; the way her shoulders drop and her profile grows smaller is singularly punctuated by the light of the Sunday sun, cutting her in dark silhouette as the glare sweeps across their rooftop. "I'll let them know I'm coming back..."

"Start tomorrow," he advises her. (It's not a suggestion.) "Hesitation will only make the whole ordeal more painful. Getting back to normal will help you remember your normal life."

Yua's face darkens in a scowl, as she glares at one of the leaves of her pink carnation in the corner of her vision. "... you think you're very clever, don't you," she says, and her resentment is quiet yet complete. "Saying something like that... which any Ijuuin would say."

"You're supposed to be an Ijuuin now," Kimitake reminds her. "You should uphold our values with deference."

"''You'' should --" Yua starts, but she stops herself before she can say anything that really gives the game away. "Mmn," she grunts, instead.

"That strength speaks well to you," Kimitake allows, "so long as you take care to remember that a woman's determination is best positioned to brace her fragility and obedience."

"'Yamato nadeshiko'," Yua identifies the ideal at once. If it's for Miho, she's happy to echo Japanese femininity, but...

When it's Kimitake demanding it of her, it's all wrong.

"I grow pink carnations," she says, instead, and they both understand that she's ceded. (Does that really mean he's won?) "They've stopped blooming for the year, but I'll bring you some next Spring when it gets warm enough... okay?"

"Something to look forward to," Kimitake says, and feels assured, hearing her say it, that the spring blooms will herald his own growing power. "For now, there's a party next weekend. Will I be expecting you, Yua-san?"

"Yes," she says, quietly. "Our friends won't need to worry about me... don't worry."

With friends like these --

"Good." His tone closes the issue. "Let me know how you go at work. We're all here to support you, Yua-san." And certainly, his tone sounds as if that support isn't leading her with a hand about the upper arm straight into Hell.

Yua knows, though, that he leads her there; she knows, as well, that he does not realise her own chthonic nature.

To be dragged beneath the earth and plunged to its torments...

She was rescued from her prison, so unlike Gretchen, she won't be saved.

"Thank you, Kimi-san," Yua says, with all the deference he expects.

"I'll let you go," he closes the conversation from that same dictatorial position. "Be well, Yua-san."

"Bye-bye," Yua says, and there's something a touch distant to her cheer which amplifies, as she puts her phone down, braces her hands to either side of their outdoor bench. She's almost twenty-two weeks along -- the worst number -- and it's not only something she feels but something plainly visible, in the weight on her and carried by her, now.

She walks past her romance-red roses to those carnations, where she has carefully spread straw at the base of their planters to protect them from the growing chill.

"I am no ''Yamato,''" she snarls, quietly, as she reaches out to grab a branch too weak to support the whole -- and crushes it in her hand, the twigs splintering as the innocent plant buckles beneath the weight she's carried here.

The delicate nadeshiko cries out as it is torn by the spindly stem, but of course it must weather pain to become strong. It will endure the assault until all that is left is strong and flush with life.

And that's where Tyrrha finds her -- bypass pruners now in hand, as she tidies up her frustrations, evening out all those jagged cuts to deny disease any passage. She still does not wear gardening gloves; the injuries she sustains in the garden are their right to struggle.

"Yumama!" She calls out, as she bounces up. "How's the garden, huh?"

"Now it is strong," she smiles, all that anger swept from her face, as she turns to her. "As you are. How would you like to start school tomorrow, Tyrrha...?"

"Sounds fun!" Tyrrha grins, and doesn't pick up on the performance in the slightest.

Nor the way those branches Yua's clipped free are buckled, as if torn away in a rage.