2022-12-01: Rusalka, too, wished for our friendship to change
- Log: Rusalka, too, wished for our friendship to change
- Cast: Alma Stirner, Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim
- Where: A Sunny Park in Zaftra
- Date: 2022-12-01
- Summary: Elisa and Yuliana -- in that order of primacy -- pay Alma another visit, after she reaches out to Yuliana to try and confront her over what her family told her. Alma fights hard for Lilith and Puru Two, but Yuliana fights dirty, and Elisa is above her attempts to struggle. In the end, Alma returns with Yuliana... and some new ideas about herself. (Content warning: Torture and brainwashing.)
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Alma knows better. She really knows better. But... part of her wants to believe she can fix this, wants to believe -- after everything -- that Yuliana Kafim can be reached out to in love and respond to that love in turn. She can give her a chance, and let her squander it or use it as she will.
She's sent a message ahead, saying she'd like to meet in a public park in Zaftra. Alma picked the place herself; there's significant foot traffic but also a nice gazebo to sit in and relax.
Which is, of course, where she's set up now. Even if it makes her feel a little shallow, right now she's... using her phone like a mirror and fussing with her makeup a last little bit before Yuliana gets here, bundled up in a cute green and black winter coat. ... even if it probably looks a little too much like her Zeon-era uniform coat for some people's comfort, it's a little nostalgic...
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"How nice," Yuliana remarks, showing Elisa her phone. "She's saved us the trouble!" Their honeymoon is coming to an end, and it's nearing time for them to return to the world, anyway; for this reason, she's happy to respond that she'll meet Alma, there.
No mention of anyone else.
...---...
When Yuliana steps into the park, she's wearing one of her typical dark suits. It's made for the winter, with a grey overcoat which isn't too overdressed for the occasion; the emerald scarf about her neck guards it from Zaftra's chill.
Overall, though, she's looking quite sleek. Yuliana's used to the cold. (And she has nothing to hide.)
"Hey, Alma," she calls out, lifting a hand in a wave, as she steps into the gazebo and takes a seat near her. Conversational distance. They're friends, so she's not going to set herself up too far away. "Do forgive me for the delay -- it took a little while to get out here." It's a lie, but there's no way to look into her heart and tell, and her rueful smile certainly looks genuine enough.
"It sounded like this might have been important," and perhaps that's a reasonable guess, given Alma messaged her so soon after her wedding. (There, on her right hand; her wedding band adds onyx and emerald to the decorations of her ring finger.) "Tell Mrs. Kafim all about it, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It's nice to believe things. But Elisa is here, too.
A woman in a green dress steps along through the park, likewise on the gazebo in a moment--not until Yuliana is there, of course. Not until then. But when that happens, she takes a seat on the other side, likewise at conversational distance. It must be important...
Her wedding band matches, naturally.
"Ah, you look lovely today, Alma." She smiles, and it might be thought to reach her eyes, if someone really wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Really!
"Yes, please do," Elisa follows up with Yuliana. "I'm sure you don't mind the additional company, of course. I couldn't bear to leave my Yuliana alone so soon..."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Yuliana sits down with Alma, and for just a moment, Alma lets herself feel genuinely upset -- it's painful, though. She elects not to voice just how upset she is -- it's time to focus on the matter at hand.
... she's not alone. On the one hand, that's -- strange, and a little threatening... but on the other, the person who she's brought with her seems -- ah. This must be the other... from the wedding. Right. ... that's fine; Alma's predisposed favorably to her, in a way she can't quite name.
"Thank you," she says, though she can't quite sound enthused about it. "I -- well, if you want to be here..." Will it hurt Yuliana's wife, to bring up potential -- malfeasance? Alma hopes not. ... best to get going on that, though.
"Lilith left me a note, before she left to attack you," Alma starts; her tone is just a little chilly, for her. "She implied some things about us... though she didn't say anything specific. She said my heart needed to be healed."
Something clicks in her head as she walks through it with Yuliana, with Elisa there.
"I don't want to be suspicious of you, but I can't ignore Lilith doing something like this. I trust her judgment more than anything. If you did something, tell me."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
If Yuliana is Mrs. Kafim, there must be another Kafim, after all.
"It's quite all right," Yuliana assures Alma, gently. "Anything you can say to me, you can say to her." She's encouraging, even though Alma clearly doesn't have something too positive to share.
She inclines her head, just so, when Alma starts talking about Lilith. There's a frown on her own face, but perhaps it's only reasonable -- Lilith did shoot her wife.
Even though she's sitting right there alongside Alma.
Finally Alma makes that request -- and Yuliana sighs, reaching out for her hand, even as her gaze darts away. It's a strange meeting of reaching out and deferring vulnerability; perhaps it communicates her conflict, even through this deafening silence.
(As if she's making an effort.)
"Alma," she starts, gently, "Captain Aiden and I... go quite a ways back ourselves. She regrets not leaving me for dead in the Mycenae Wars, I suspect. She thinks I'm..." Yuliana pauses, and frowns, lips tightening at their edges. "... well, especially back in the day... I'm someone the REA uses for a particular purpose. It's easy to be suspicious of me when... mm, it's... I'm really more black ops, Alma," she settles on, and perhaps the evasiveness makes sense, there.
"Really... there are a lot of things I've done. If she's suspicious of me... I can't say she's entirely unfounded." And for all Yuliana gives her, there's something she doesn't, too. "But..."
She certainly looks upset -- vulnerable, and a little scared -- when she finally looks Alma in the eye. "... we're friends, aren't we..?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Threatening? Whatever could be threatening about Elisa? Her smile has the normal amount of teeth.
But she listens. Sh wants to be here, though it is very sweet to wonder if it would hurt her. Best to get going, indeed. "I do," she answers, and Yuliana says it's all right, that she can share. Yes.
It's very reasonable.
"A note..." Elisa considers. "That does make sense, doesn't it? She would want her feelings to be understood. No one takes such drastic action for no reason, after all."
A beat before Elisa gives Yuliana a sympathetic look. "That's hardly your fault, darling," Elisa says. "You do what you must for the country you love, is all."
Then she looks to Alma, and waits for that answer.
Her smile has the normal amount of teeth.
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
On the one hand: This is a very compelling narrative. Lilith's biggest problem has always been her ability to hold a grudge; Yuliana does clearly have skeletons in her closet related to her work with the REA; when they met again during that era, it was even at a facility that -- unbeknownst to Lilith -- was a Newtype Lab.
It would be so, so easy to believe this. It would be so easy to accept every word from Yuliana and feel like Lilith is the bad guy, especially here, in the cold and lonely, in Zaftra.
She looks to Elisa, with that smile. Reassuring -- and maybe it is to Alma, too, just a little bit.
... but Alma isn't sixteen anymore.
Alma doesn't accept that offered hand. "I'd like us to be friends," she starts, tone firm, as she stays where she is. "But she said something that doesn't sit right with me, in her note."
Her gaze locks on Yuliana; she wants to shield Elisa from the blast of this. She does, after all, like her.
"She said she hoped everyone else in Noisy Fairy could fix my heart."
Isolating Alma -- leaving her with her own feelings rather than the versions of herself that live in other people's hearts, the kind, happy Almas that do their best to meet everyone with warmth -- lets her feel something she rarely does: anger.
"You're lying to me. Ever since we first met -- I saw your squadmate," a stab of nausea, "and she looked horrified. The first time we talked I couldn't even think straight. But every time I talk to you, it gets easier." Alma is a child of the Flanagan Institute, after all -- and a discarded one besides. She's not fully naive; she simply chooses to believe the best in people.
"My daughter," and there's a new character in Alma's tragic little story, isn't there? (She omits her name. Though -- how many redheaded Newtypes does Yuliana know...?) "told me to stay away from you. That you were dangerous. I wanted to confront you myself so she didn't have to." Her back straightens, and she moves to stand -- perhaps realizing, at this moment, exactly where she's sitting.
It's the most upset she's been in two decades.
"Tell me why I want to make you happy."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
No one takes such drastic action for no reason. Yuliana, thoughtfully, supplies the outline of a reason, all ready for Alma to flood with her heart.
Yuliana smiles to Elisa, faintly, briefly -- and perhaps it gives her the strength to look Alma in the eye, one shade of green to an envious other.
And at first Yuliana looks confused -- and a little hurt -- as Alma works through her angry logic. There's a spark of interest in her eyes at her mention of her daughter, though, which is far less feigned. An expression which grows more intent, as Alma puts herself on the line for someone else.
Tell her, she demands, and Yuliana would be remiss to deny such a direct request. When Alma moves to stand, Yuliana stands with her. She makes it look like such a natural motion, the way she rises up, and it would take close observation to note the way she takes Alma's dominant wrist in the motion, twisting it behind her.
But her other hand embraces Alma, pressing her back into her, more like a lover than an assassin. Perhaps, from a distance, it seems she's murmuring sweet nothings into her ear; her open coat obscures the details. A private moment, clearly.
Her tone, at least, is sweet.
"... because your life depends on my happiness."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
To 'fix her heart'. What a curious phrase. What a curious idea. As if such a thing is necessary... or fixable.
Elisa notices the anger. Her eyes sparkle with it, and perhaps it gives away a little of the game for the moment. Her squadmate, the horror... and every time. Yes. She is not fully naive, now is she?
Her... daughter, is it? How very interesting.
But Yuliana moves. She moves, standing, and it is a terribly natural motion to be sure. Elisa steps forward, at that, as Alma is pressed towards Yuliana. She steps there, and smiles, and this time though she has the expected number of teeth still they are awfully white, awfully large, awfully shiny, set into her gums, exposed by a smirk that is as predatory as any have ever been.
"You will sit." Elisa's voice does not increase in volume, but her green eyes flash. "You will speak quietly, without crying out, as we discuss this matter. And oh, we will discuss this matter, 'Alma'."
Perhaps, in this moment of anger, Elisa's simple say-so will not be enough; perhaps Alma could fight it, as she is. But Elisa does not place her entire approach in the hands of one method.
"...Because there are many people here who would be... unhappy... to learn what is with them."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Alma takes a half-step back -- and when Yuliana stands up likewise, she's almost ready to fight.
Almost.
She's seized in a moment, Yuliana just a little stronger, a little faster than the former Zeon soldier. Alma never had to do much fighting in close quarters. With Yuliana's hands on her, she feels so desperately alone -- and then she hears those words.
She knows, intellectually, that there's so much that mitigates this -- but still, she thinks of Lilith. How she'd thought she was being paranoid. She flinches, opens her mouth to scream --
-- and Elisa cuts her off. Alma's experssion flattens -- oh so slightly -- as she's told that she will sit, and it is so. It is simultaneous with the urge to escape Yuliana, and she loses track of why she's moving away from her -- to escape, or to sit? In the end, though, they're the same thing, are they not? If she breaks free of Yuliana, then she can sit; if she sits, she is necessarily free of her -- wait, no, she was boxed in on both sides --
Her head is a mess, and yet --
"what did you do to me" she asks, and she is so quiet -- barely a whisper, now. "stop. please."
It hurts so much. She will sit, if Yuliana allows it. If she does not -- well, she will hurt, and that will make Yuliana happy.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Shh-shh-shh," Yuliana hushes Alma, all too tenderly, all too sympathetically. It's not fair, really; in a fair fight, Alma might have won, but Yuliana doesn't fight fair with Newtypes by definition. She has her wits about her -- and her victim does not.
And this is something she exploits to hurt a great many people; Yuliana's statements, to Alma, were all individually true. She is a black operative. She's a specialist at neutralising Newtypes -- and not only Newtypes.
(The hard and dishonourable fact of this world is that when everyone has giant robots, the easiest way to kill someone is with a firm suggestion in their place of residence, when their guard is down and they're preparing to rest for the night.)
It's not Yuliana who quiets Alma, though. Yuliana's eyes shine, as she looks past Alma, to Elisa, her love a vicious thing in the middle of the hunt. Perhaps many people would be unhappy; fools, every one of them, unable to appreciate the beauty dwelling here.
"That's it," she murmurs, encouragingly, as Alma tries to sit. Her fingers tighten about her wrist, but only briefly -- a small moment of delight -- before Yuliana releases her, to sit, just as Elisa asked of her. "Go on..."
Yuliana turns, and stands beside the woman -- shorter than her, less those imposing heels, but with a grin no less sharp. "You see, Rusalka, there's nothing left of you in my grasp," she explains it all, and the hand further from Elisa comes to rest on her hip. "It's rather pitiful, so we took the liberty of rebuilding you a little... wow," she adds, her tone growing peppier and more supportive for a brief moment, "your makeup looks great today, Ellefolk Titania!"
It's the exact sort of comment she might have gotten on her selfies, from innocuous-sounding accounts full of people who love their pets and the beach and going out dancing.
(Sockpuppets.)
Yuliana smirks, as she glances, aside, to Elisa. "Mmm... what do you think, zhenushka?" She defers, with a veiled gaze which can't hide the glee behind her bright eyes. "Should we stop this, just because she's asked so sweetly?"
She's mocking Alma. She doesn't even bother hiding it, any more.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
A fight would be interesting, but problematic. Elisa does not wish to completely break Alma yet. No, that would not be ideal at all.
Alma's expression flattens, but Elisa's expression widens, into a pleased smile. "Yes," she says. "Yes." The question... Hmmm.
Elisa looks back to Yuliana, and her eyes do not shine, are dull things in the moment that gleam faintly. There is much that is not 'fair' about this situation.
"Ahahah..." Her makeup looks great today.
"No," Elisa says. "That would not do." To 'stop' just for that. "We have much in mind yet..."
"But we should show her what we have done. We can do that much."
"...Because you are malleable. Moldable. Your thought of 'self' is an illusion, a piece of art to be shaped."
"But do not worry. I do not pity you."
"You will do as Yuliana bids now."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Alma's in freefall now -- and as she sits, she's once again beneath Yuliana, even shorter than her. And --
'Your makeup looks great today!'
... That was -- all of it was Yuliana? All the nice feelings she'd had, the sudden urge to try new things... she'd journaled about that, even! And moved to social media when she thought she was getting the hang of it...
It was just -- her.
"N-no," Alma breathes, at the idea she's malleable -- that her 'self' is an illusion. And yet -- so demonstrably, it is. Yuliana has made that abundantly clear. Things she thought were true were illusions -- no, more than that, were parts of her designed to...
"why, though" she asks, leaning just slightly forward, bringing her elbows to rest on her knees. She doesn't even get the point -- why bother making such an innocuous change...?
The urge to cry is present -- but stifled. Elisa told her not to, and apparently, that's the limits of her capacity. Not knowing how much of her is even her makes her feel so -- empty --
"understood" she says, turning to face Yuliana while remaining seated.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Of course, my dearest," Yuliana agrees with Elisa's vision, easily, before her gaze turns down to Alma again. Elisa calls her artwork to be shaped, and Yuliana smiles, too sharp and too cruel. "Y-yes," she says, on the tail of her denial, and even adds a stutter to the phrase to match.
(She hears it, of course, the way she mocks Alma only for Elisa to assure her she doesn't pity her. What a marvellous woman she stands beside!)
Yuliana waits for Alma to recognise where she's sitting, and then her other hand lifts, to press lightly against her cheek.
"Why?" She echoes Alma's earlier statement, and even helps it the rest of the way to a question. "Why, it's because you're such a wretched creature! You should be happy, you know, that we've seen fit to repurpose you -- the ilks of you are worth little enough as you are. Really, you should be pleased you've received such careful attention, though you're a defiler of the modern age. Even though you're a Newtype, we saw fit to shape you to our purposes... my, my," her fingers fan across her open-lipped smile, and her modesty can't hide her fang, "surely Lilith and your little daughter were jealous of you, my dear!"
Her smile spreads to a grin, and she, too, has the correct number of teeth. (Should she be worried about that?) "How cruel of them," she twists the knife, all too casually. "Now, what did you say your daughter's name was, again..?"
It's more deliberate than it looks.
They can't have Alma's family getting her out of this.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa does not sit. She stands, and forces Alma to look up at her when she addresses her. It is a small cruelty, but it is a cruelty.
Yuliana has the answers covered; Elisa listens to her lovely wife discuss the matter, as Alma says 'understood'. Yuliana mentions that she should be pleased...
Is that the right number of teeth? Does the fang count? Hmm.
"A distraction," Elisa says of Newtypes. "A diversion from the path. At best pointless, at worst... obstructive."
Then she smiles, and says, "Ah, darling. My Yuliana. Let us not be too subtle with the girl."
Elisa leans over, and murmurs, "You will give us the name Yuliana seeks."
Her eyes flash again, but it is easily missed.
"Smile. I have told you something pleasant."
This is a simple order. Easy. "And rest assured... you will survive."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
That open heart beats faster and faster and faster as Yuliana calls her a wretched creature, tells her she ought to be happy -- that they saw fit to shape her, a defiler of the modern age, to such a purpose. They were -- jealous? That can't be it. That -- can't, be --
Her mouth opens as if to wail. "this is so cruel," she whimpers -- and then lets out a sharp breath as three things go to battle in her head. She can endure it -- for --
'You will give us the name Yuliana seeks.'
Alma's lips slowly turn up. She ought to be happy. She's just been told something pleasant.
"Callisto Diana. Puru Two."
Alma moves to stand. It's visible in her thighs, in her glutes --
-- she does not leave her seat. The smile remains on her face, as she forgets why.
Every part of her body gives her a new, terrifying signal. Her heartrate spikes; she can see her pulse, pounding at the edge of her vision. And yet -- she'll survive, and she's being told such pleasant things.
"stop. stop. stop. stop stop stop stop stop i don't waaaAaaagh --" she pleads, oh-so-quiet, looking up at Elisa -- Elisa, who after all has made herself the source of clarity and comfort, while Yuliana hurts her so.
The smile, of course, remains.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Elisa's said something important about Newtypes, but it's easily excused, in the flow of their assault. Perhaps Yuliana will think of it more on its own merits, later.
Right now, she's just having a grand old time.
"Sputnica zhizni," she adores Elisa, calling her her life's companion -- and never quite by her name, not here, "you're far too kind..." She smiles, as she looks over Alma, and perhaps she does not believe Alma deserves such kindness.
Her grin only grows wider, teeth loosed from the moorings of themselves, as Alma offers Puru Two up to her.
"Yes," she says, a mockery of reassurance. "It is so cruel Puru Two did that to you, even though you're such a loyal friend..." Is she agreeing with what Alma said?
Is that what Alma was saying?
She hears Alma's chanting, and hears in her bell-jar heart so many times her voice has said those selfsame words, with as much futility and desperation. She hears it -- and she laughs, cruel and pitiless and pointed as a knife. She once said that people either used others or were the ones used up; it's clear where she stands, in this exchange. (Over Alma, and not beside her, any more; it's cruel, but it's also more honest.)
"You don't want this? Is that what you wanted to say, mm?" Yuliana supplies for her, and it is not a kindness. Her hand curls, under her chin. "... but it's hard, isn't it? It's hard to lie to my face. So you really didn't want to... what a sweet woman you are!"
Her hand lifts, as she gestures, loosely. "It's okay," she assures her, still smiling. "Of course you want this. You want to make me happy, after all. Even if there are people cruel enough to question your kindness... no matter who they were, you'd never let them distract you from your inherent good nature." And Yuliana so often lies using the component parts of the truth.
"You must be such a kind woman... with a smile like that."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Her feelings on Newtypes differ from Yuliana's, in nature if not in tone. Perhaps they'll discuss it later. Perhaps they won't.
Alma smiles, instead of wailing. She tries to endure... but she cannot. And Elisa smiles, too. The name... It means nothing to her, of course. But it means something to Yuliana.
"Ah, yes... Darling."
No, no, she couldn't be beside Alma. That would ruin the thing. But Elisa notices Alma looking up to her for mercy, and looks blankly pleasant down at her, only even registering that meaning belatedly. Hmmm...
Yuliana does well. But Elisa finds that there must be a bit of blood, too. Just a bit. She is hungry, after all.
"A kind woman, indeed. And yet..."
She puts on a sad expression. "You will feel pain," Elisa says. "You will not cry out. This pain is deserved, as you well know. It is the punishment you must receive for doubting us. But you will bear it with a smile, and then tell my darling what good friends you are, and then the pain will stop. For now."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
It's -- no, that wasn't what Alma was saying. Was it...? That can't have been. Puru Two did hurt her, once, but that was -- wait, wasn't someone else --
It hurts so much and she's desperate for it to stop. She wants so desperately to endure this -- for the sake of everyone else.
Alma looks to Elisa -- ever the bystander, even as Yuliana is hers -- for relief, for -- for anything. What she receives is an offer of relief -- but behind pain. Behind an admission that that pain is deserved, that doubting Yuliana and Elisa was wrong.
Her lips remain curled up in a smile, even as she lists to one side -- remains seated, scoots toward a recycling bin in a corner of the gazebo. Without thinking, she reaches into her pocket, retrieves a hair tie, and calmly puts her hair up. It'll make what comes next easier.
She places her head above the recycling bin. It does not leave for some two minutes; Alma Stirner does her best to handle the sick feeling inside her as quietly as she can.
Why, surely she's simply got a winter chill.
Going back to an upright sit rather than the awkward forward lean, Alma turns toward Yuliana with a pleasant smile on her face. The pain remains.
"Of course I want this," she affirms, and the pain begins to subside. "I'm your friend, and I want to make you happy. There's no one else between us. I won't let anyone make me question that."
Alma continues to smile for Yuliana.
"I ought to be happy!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
If even Yuliana calls Elisa the kind one, between them, surely it's true. That she's driving Alma deeper into the jaws of another predator is -- well, it's very funny.
Elisa's expression appears sad, and Yuliana's, distinctly, does not. Her hand weaves about Elisa's waist, in the wake of her orders, and she tilts her head up to laugh musically into the Meltrandi's ear as she watches Alma struggle with that sickening agony.
Her joy is a song set to minor key.
Really, she has such a sweet smile -- entirely more pleasant than Yuliana's. "Good! There, doesn't that feel better?" She says, and she sounds very, very pleased. "You're such a pretty little optimist, Rusalka... don't you think that's her best quality, my darling?" Effortlessly, Yuliana switches from talking to Alma to about her, as she turns her gaze to the woman at her side. "She has such a sweet smile... and she's so tolerant!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Oh, how wonderful," Elisa comments when Alma scoots over, prepares herself without even having to be prompted. It's all so neat and tidy. Elisa's expression ceases to be sad, and she laughs faintly along with that musicality of Yuliana's.
A winter chill!
"I do," Elisa thinks. "I think that her cheer is the quality that stands out most about her, in fact." She can take a hint! That sweet smile. That tolerance.
"Yes," Elisa answers Alma, "That is all correct. No one can make you question your trust in my darling." Then she considers, thoughtfully. "The pain will cease," she adds as an afterthought, "For now. So long as you think no disloyal thought."
"But we can give her many other good qualities," Elisa decides at length. "Yes, indeed. Many qualities..."
She considers subtlety. Then, she abandons it, because she's not a coward.
"And such a lovely shade of green you've found," Elisa says. "That coat is perfect. It will be your favorite, and you will remember how much I like it."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
"It does feel better," Alma agrees, taking a while to just breathe. Her expression softens -- and she accepts the truth in Yuliana's words, even as she returns to talking about her like she isn't there. Perhaps she isn't there.
"I like to believe the best in people," she agrees. Tolerant. That's an excellent word for it.
Her expression continues to brighten, almost supernaturally. So long as she thinks no disloyal thought. That's fine. "Thank you!" she enthuses, getting settled back in. Even the memory of that unpleasantness feels faint now.
"So what can I do for you?" she asks, remembering that she ought to do as Yuliana bids. "I kind of lost track of the conversation when I was hurting, but everything's okay now!"
She looks down at her coat with new appreciation.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Hmmm..?" Yuliana wonders, her other hand lifting to embrace Elisa's shoulder as one foot lifts from the ground, regarding Alma sidelong, now. "Oh, zhenushka," that word for her wife, again, tenderly, "you are so clever... and so generous!" Yes, there are many good qualities they can give Alma, gifts from echoing silence.
She leans against her, warmly, for a moment, before she straightens up and faces Alma fully again. "Yes," she agrees, "green suits you very well, Rusalka. And you believe in me so much... it's very sweet." That's not, exactly, what Alma said about herself.
But it contains some of the same words, in mostly the same order.
"Yes, you do tend to hurt sometimes," Yuliana agrees, ruefully, as if she has nothing to do with it, "a dreadful affliction... but so long as you're careful, you're all right, aren't you? And you are so full of care," she praises her, she defines her, so easily.
She glances back, to Elisa -- a brief, wordless exchange behind her curious eyes -- and she smiles, as she turns to Alma, again.
"... you were just coming back to the office with me, weren't you?" Yuliana seeks confirmation, as if it were the whole point of this meeting, and she has to remind Alma of it tactfully. "After that dreadful incident, you were left a little anchorless, after all... I'm so glad you reached out to us for help."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Of course it feels better! Elisa said it would.
"Indeed. You believe the best of your friends," Elisa says, having already estabished that they are of course friends. Even teh memory is faint... Yes, good. That is as it should be.
"Yes. Everything is quite all right," Elisa says, and then wordlessly indicates her assent, with a nod. That is the way of this. It will be the way of this. The meeting, its purpose...
Yes. Good.
"I will go, and prepare the way," Elisa says. "We shall see one another very soon again."
"My friend."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Terrible news! Alma's very affectionate. That part hasn't changed. Yuliana tells her she's coming back, and she finally stands, looking at Yuliana with those bright green eyes.
They're a little dimmer, now.
"Oh, of course! Don't worry -- I'd love to!" she says, and she moves to hang on Yuliana, regarding her as a dear, dear friend. The world feels closed around her.
That's fine. She likes the feelings she gets from her friends -- even if those feelings are 'nothing.' "Oh, um -- I hope your wife doesn't mind," she giggles out.
"I hope I get to see you again soon! You're great," Alma agrees.
One last time, she affirms it.
"... I'm happy..."