2022-10-25: The villains go shopping, and somebody dies
- Log: The villains go shopping, and somebody dies
- Cast: Yuliana Dispersal, Elisa Kafim
- Where: Zaftra - Wedding Boutique
- Date: 2022-10-25
- Summary: Yuliana and Elisa terrorise a boutique in order to achieve their evil scheme of... getting something to wear to their wedding. Subsequently, Yuliana trips over her own heels. (CW: violence, mind control)
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-mcf3sISw8 Marina and the Diamonds - Superstar
Zaftra is a nation in disrepute, but Moscow remains a shining jewel of the state. It is here, in a city which was more bustling years prior, that so many traditions can still be found --
Including, of course, wedding boutiques.
Having just had a delightful lunch (chickpea salad with shredded chicken and borodinsky bread), Yuliana now walks one of the nicer streets of Moscow, towards a certain boutique, hand in Elisa's arm. She doesn't have any work to attend to here until tomorrow evening, and she just so happened to delegate her other tasks to her officer cadet's desk so she could come out early. Whether it's too much work for them or not really doesn't bother her!
She is, of course, still dressed in her usual dark suit, and today's cheerful scarf is... green! Because of course it is.
"It's exciting, isn't it?" She asks, and all her attention is for Elisa, no matter the people who pass them by. "The wedding's almost here... oh, but there's still so much to do! I'll certainly be busy!" She doesn't sound like she's complaining, though, with that foolish smile on her face.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
What a nice lunch. Nobody died!
Well, except the chicken, obviously.
Elisa walks along with Yuliana, practically floating across the streets. (Not literally floating. Just practically.) She has only the work she wishes to attend, and none of that is happening just now. Rather than a dark suit, Elisa wears a lovely green dress, with very tall strappy heels, and likewise does not care for passers-by.
"You will," Elisa agrees amiably, nevermind that she's having Yuliana do most of the planning. It's fine. "Ah, it will be so lovely... You have been working very hard."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
It's only natural that Yuliana would occupy herself with the terrestrial details of the union, really, when it's so easy to imagine Elisa floating away. "I have, haven't I?" She muses, gaze veiled, smile warm. "But I'm able to achieve far more than this."
She adds, in aside: "My mother came to this place to have her dress fitted, too, you know. And her mother, before her! It's quite the enduring institution." The place in question is a store standing on its own at the end of the street, with fine detailing on its awnings.
"Come, come," Yuliana urges her, as she opens the door and ushers Elisa inside --
-- and of course there are many stunning white dresses, any one of which could catch the blood beautifully. But there aren't only white dresses, here; red is a fine tradition, too, and there are other colours besides. There are fine white and black shoes along one wall, and crowns with glittering jewels locked in a case. The counter is presently unattended; the door, when it closes behind them, is heavy.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Yes! You are so talented." Elisa smiles. And then she listens. Her mother, and her mother... an enduring institution indeed. "Why, that's lovely!"
Elisa indeed does step inside, and looks around at the white dresses nicely, the red, and the many colors. Shoes... Ah, yes, shoes. That most important of accessories. And crowns, also important. Elisa looks around and her eyes--
Well, they don't sparkle. She isn't nearly so open. But she does smile. "How nice! What a beautiful shop."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"I am quite good, aren't I?" Yuliana is sly, accepting the compliment. But she smiles. It is lovely.
Yuliana taps at the bell on the counter -- an old little thing, perhaps the same one her grandmother tapped. "We've always been so fond of it," she agrees, cheerfully, as she smiles to the man who emerges from the back. He's not quite old enough to have served her grandmother, but is, certainly, at least old enough to have seen her mother come through.
He's a shade sceptical, looking over her -- but when he looks past her, to Elisa, he puts up a hand. "Sorry, ladies," he grumbles, through lungs which have seen too many cigars in their day, "but we don't serve aliens here."
Yuliana's smile grows a shade sharper. "Oh? Is that so?" Her question hands him a shovel; he doesn't quite recognise what he's holding.
"Maybe the world's forgot those two years, but my pappy..." He scowls, lines on lines. "I'll not see a filthy Zentradi in my boutique, not so long as I'm here!"
Yuliana shrugs, lightly, half-turning. "As you wish," she remarks, vaguely disappointed, and for a moment he might believe they're leaving. But she turns sharply back to the counter, one hand slamming down on it to levy her forward, and her other hand comes for him.
He staggers back, clutching his face. "YYYAAARRRRGHHHHH!!" Halfway to screaming, halfway to sobbing, he tries to get out insults and only manages pain. Yuliana isn't bothered in the slightest, watching him more like a fascinating insect than a human being she's brought so much pain.
Torture is part of her job description, here and there. Human suffering is entirely routine.
"Are you quite done?" She asks him, after a moment, and grasps him by the shoulder to stop him writhing around. "You're being much too loud." And a sharp gesture to his neck strangles his wailing to a whimper, wheezing and whining as he struggles to breathe.
Yuliana pushes him away, pushes him to the floor, and smiles to Elisa as he curls into a ball there. "Do you want him, dearest?" She asks, nice enough to offer before she cleans things up. She's entirely cheerful, despite the violence she's enacted -- and the violence, itself, is a startling comment on how stable Yuliana still isn't, even so long after Torrington.
Or perhaps it just speaks to how important Elisa is, compared to anything else in the world.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
What a nice bell! Elisa is also cheerful-seeming for the moment, though when he puts up a hand, and he grumbles, Elisa lifts an eyebrow. But Yuliana has it covered before she even thinks to do anything. She does not leave. And when Yuliana enacts Terrible Violence...
"Hmmmm," she says. "That was very rude," she says, and is not referring to Yuliana brutalizing the guy. It's fine.
She considers. "No," Elisa says, "I think it best if he is simply... gone. We cannot allow such a thing. And I don't want to think about him anymore." She moves forward, and gestures towards the man, who abruptly turns to so much dust with a crackling of dark energy.
"Hmmm."
"Perhaps let's see if there's any decent service here instead? I'm sure a historical place like this can't be all men like him."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Hmm, yes. Best he disappears," Yuliana agrees, easily. And where her violence is brutal and unexpected, Elisa's --
Well, Yuliana is aware, in the back of her mind, it's a crime against nature. But she's an abomination of science, just the same. "Beautiful," she says, enraptured instead of affrighted, all her attention on Elisa and her workings instead of the garbage they're disposing of.
And just as Elisa remarks on the gender parity of the place --
"Genrikh!" A young woman exclaims, as she rushes out into the front of the store. "Are you okay?! I heard -- oh!" Her fair Zaftran hand flies to her chest, as she sees the women come to visit. "Sorry, did you see what happened to Genrikh?! He really sounded like--!!"
Yuliana slips her hand into her pocket, to unobtrusively wipe the blood from her nails, and when she gestures with them there's no sign of her attack at all. "Please, calm down," she insists, sounding a little baffled, really. Her concern is caring, as she gestures her down. "Who is this you're talking about?"
"Genrikh! Couldn't you hear him?!" She exclaims, still quite distressed. "I was busy with the machines, I had to shut them off, I-- is he okay?!"
"Are you okay?" Yuliana presses, frowning, reaching out to lay her fingers gently against her arm. "Just slow down a second, all right... what's your name, sweetheart?"
"Nadejda," she sniffs, against the tears which have sprung up in her eyes.
"There, see... much nicer, isn't she?" Yuliana asks, but she isn't asking the dressmaker.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa smiles at Yuliana. "A taste of what is to come," she says, "For a world so very in need."
She turns towards the young woman, as she rushes out. Did you see what happened, the woman asks, and Yuliana already has that much covered. Elisa listens, and waits. She enjoys watching Yuliana do her work. And it is so nice. The woman there is so distressed...
"Nadejda," Elisa says, and reaches out. Her hand is cold, but she touches the young woman's face, and she will not recoil as Elisa looks her deep in the eyes.
"It is a day of celebration," she says. "You have been placed in charge of this shop. It is yours, now. Wouldn't you like to celebrate with your new customers, instead of worrying about someone who isn't there?"
Her eyes glow. Naturally. ...Supernaturally.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Is this summary destruction what they will bring to the world..? Certainly, Yuliana thinks, the world needs it; there are so many people, here, who simply should not exist.
Yes, it's wonderful.
Nadejda cannot recoil nor look away, captured and captivated; she cannot imagine ever wanting to. Elisa's eyes glow, and all the light dies from hers, bright blue dulling to something more cooled as she takes on all this information. "It's mine," she repeats. "So, my apprenticeship is over... of course, we should celebrate."
Nadejda's voice isn't nearly as distressed -- nearly as animated -- as she asks: "How may I serve you?" 'Help you' might have been the phrase she used as an apprentice, but it's surely not suitable for her responsibilities, now.
Yuliana watches Elisa work with much the same admiration; they have different methods, certainly, but Elisa is no less expert for her magic. "My dearest witch," she purrs, smiling, "you are, as ever, an artist."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
The void is beautiful, isn't it?
"Yes," Elisa says. "Yes, indeed." ...It is a specific change to her reality; perhaps she will regain the light in her eyes after some time, unlike those who require more... detailed work. But certainly not until they finish here. It is time to celebrate!
"Lovely," she says, and she may be referring to Nadejda now. No--she certainly is.
Elisa smiles warmly at Yuliana, as if she is herself more 'real' in the moment too. "I do what I can," she says, inclining her head like a bow, but not nearly so... bow-like.
"Now," she says to Nadejda, "We should like to see your shoes. You will listen to my Yuliana in our instructions, yes?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
One can only hope she'll get better, in time. Well, not anyone here -- given Nadejda is in no state to hope for the reclamation of her facilities right now, and Yuliana doesn't have any problems with what Elisa wants to do at all -- but one could hope, theoretically, in the general sense.
It's fine; the gesture is equal recognition, in Yuliana's eyes. She smiles, warmly, in return, and she doesn't have to think of the possibility Elisa is real.
"Yes, of course," Nadejda agrees, too easily, as she goes to the back wall. Yuliana walks beside Elisa as she makes her way there, just the same, fingers threading around her arm, claiming her in an eminently casual way.
"We'll want something black, for our shoes, I think," Yuliana suggests, with an easy smile, to the dressmaker. And so Nadejda nods, and looks over the shoes on display, asking and receiving their shoe sizes in aside.
"Ah, all right," Nadejda says, once she has the information she needs, pulling down a pair of tall black heels, shining quartz embedded just above the toes. "Is this... all right," she repeats herself, thoughts all looped in on herself, as she holds them out to the women she's serving.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
One could!
Elisa sets her hand on Yuliana's fingers, a casual gesture of physical affection that anyone could make. But she does!
Black... yes, Yuliana agrees with that. She gets their shoe sizes and comes back.
"Oh, these are lovely," Elisa says. "The stone makes it especially nice. Yuliana darling, why don't you try first?"
Elisa, for her part, sweeps over to a seat where she can watch this happen, and where she can change her own shoes shortly. Perhaps to that next pair waiting in the wings...
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Anyone could, but the fact that it Elisa, making the gesture -- remembering the gesture can be made -- makes it far, far more special. The smile she shares with her is entirely warm, entirely affectionate, and cares little for the fact that they technically have an audience.
(She can hardly be said to be witnessing them, at this stage.)
Nadejda is useful enough to offer them shoes, at least -- and Yuliana looks to Elisa, in the wake of her suggestion. "Oh, these are really more your style, aren't they..?" Yuliana laughs, a hair nervously, but she takes the shoes anyway. "But, if you really think so..."
She takes a seat herself, to settle into the heels and strap them to her feet, buckles along the calves. Black as night, but the gems make them shine --
And really, when she straightens up, they're very tall.
This is hardly the first time Yuliana has worn heels, but she prefers ones a hair lower or sturdier than these -- things she could at least pretend to run in, given the truly remarkable amount of running she gets up to in her day job. She's not the sort of woman who intimidates people with her footwear; she's always preferred to be more practical, about this sort of thing.
All this to say that Yuliana picks her way across the floor quite delicately, in a vain attempt not to make a fool of herself. She's concentrating rather too hard on that to make witty comments, which makes it notable when she does cry -- "Oh!" --
-- because those sharp heels have utterly betrayed her and slipped her feet right out from under her, sending her toppling forward.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Perhaps," Elisa answers about being her style, "But I wish to see you in them regardless."
She does really think so! And Elisa looks happily, noticing the fit of the shoes, the way they adjust Yuliana's posture. Elisa is more the type to intimidate via footwear, but all the same it is nice. However...
Yuliana is delicate, and does not make those comments, instead--
Ah, oh dear. Elisa, were she focused on anything else would struggle to move in time. But she is focused on Yuliana, of course, and so--
Elisa moves, too swiftly almost to see, and as Yuliana falls, Elisa catches her, letting her turn in her arm so that she can more comfortably face up while Elisa holds her there. It is very much like a dip, not a clumsy capture at all.
And Elisa's face is close to Yuliana's by the end. "My, my."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"And all you wish shall be yours, darling," Yuliana assures Elisa that much, at least. Even if these shoes aren't her style -- if it's what Elisa wants, she'll put them on.
Most people wouldn't posit Yuliana to be delicate, overwhelming as she is. Most people aren't Elisa, though.
(It's certainly true that Yuliana's fiancee gets to see a side of her which no one else can be permitted to see.)
And so Yuliana might have fallen, except -- she ends up in Elisa's hands, instead, face flush with surprise and the sudden reversal. (Just as she promised, right?) "Elya," she breathes, and her tension relaxes into her. "You saved me again..." And again, and again, and again...
Woven closer, and closer, and closer.
Her hand comes up, lighter against Elisa's cheek as she cradles it, and lifts her head to press her lips to hers. "Thank you, dearest," she murmurs, and she is grateful. "Surely I'd be lost without you." But she is found; she has been found, and shall not be lost again. And with Elisa here to support her, they'll certainly be able to settle on...
... a particular style for their ceremony.
(Nadejda will have to remake the dresses with darker fabric, and considering their measurements, but she can't mind.)