2023-01-29: RE:code: Night Falls on Tir na nOg
- Log: 2023-01-29: RE:code: Night Falls on Tir na nOg
- Cast: Alma Stirner, Rita Bernal
- Where: Western Britannia - Tir na nOg?
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-01-29
- Summary: Rita Bernal visits Alma Stirner as she sleeps, to tell her the truth of her relationship with Yuliana and Elisa Kafim. Alma takes the truth poorly.
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Night falls on Tir na nOg.
In Alma's dreams, Tir na nOg never fell -- as long as they've promised to meet again, it never will. The manor amid the mountains, with its roof a lovely shade of green -- it is what it was in 0079, before they had to abandon it. Alma's jeep is parked right outside...
... but the doors and windows are boarded up, as if the HQ Alma loved was abandoned -- or worse, simply didn't want her to enter.
The redhead sits in her jeep, expression more than a little bit sullen, as she looks at it. "I guess you really can't go home again," she mumbles, looking up at a sky so impossibly green, greener than the verdant shade of the roof, deep and dark. It casts everything below in its light, glinting off nails in the boards.
It's not a long drive toward the sauna they'd used, back then. Alma parks there, instead -- but it, too, has been locked. "Did they really... leave me all alone?" Alma asks, slumping over the wheel. "Maybe Yulie was right..."
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Alma Stirner... Someone Leina loves, and worries over. Rita has been unable to reach her, with Yuliana's presence near-constantly near Alma, but obviously, that has changed.
Crossing over to the resonant plane, a golden bird soars, following the heartline of connections between souls. First, she locates her bond with Leina, glowing strong and true amid the aurora-like setting. From there... It takes some experimentation. Rita nearly breaks into the dreams of a Zeon princess, or a redheaded pilot dreaming of her sisters. Closer, closer...
Finally, the soul-light of Alma is found. The bird soars toward it, crossing over into the world of dreams, and finding herself, as usual, behind a door.
Bare feet alight on wooden flooring. Rita's sundress falls to her thighs, swaying softly in an otherworldly breeze. Green eyes and blonde hair both have a ever-so-slight glow. Hints that she isn't quite as she seems, for the keen eyed.
No use waiting! She'll find what she finds. For now... she's in some kind of wooden building, with a bath? What meaning could this have for Alma? Raising her hand to the inner-side of the sauna's door, Rita knocks. Dreamers are always offered a chance to shut her out.
Knock knock! Knock!
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Hearing someone knocking from inside a locked bath... especially a sauna, at that -- that gets Alma's attention. "Eeh?" she starts, pulling herself out of her slump. Even if her feelings about many of the people dear to her have been twisted, she's still Alma. "H-hold on!"
Reaching into the glovebox, she pulls out a standard-issue Zeon knife; she doesn't need it for the blade, though -- she needs the hilt, because the first thing she's going to do is break the window on the sauna and let in some cooler air. If the coals are going, whoever's stuck in there is going to get hot fast if she doesn't do that.
"There's a board over the door -- let me see if I can --" Alma slips the thin end of the knife in between the board and the door and wrenches, and while it takes her three or four attempts... she does, ultimately, get it open, falling on her butt in the process. The door swings toward her, slowly.
"Hawawa..." she mumbles, as her knife (sent flying by the force) lands next to her head, bent from being used as an impromptu prybar. "Come on out!" she calls, panting a bit and looking up at that green, green sky -- and then, slowly, toward the person she's... set free?
That glow... that wind that seems to affect only her...
Alma stares, transfixed, still lying on the ground.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
"Oh!" Rita says, pleasantly surprised by Alma's immediate efforts to save her. No wonder Leina cares so much for her! Even with her heart choked by the creeping tendrils of the void, Alma's love for others shines through.
When the door swings open, Rita steps out, looking down at Alma, then up and around at the surroundings. Mountains? She's never seen them this closely before. With an ever-present smile, Rita steps forward, offering a hand to Alma to help her up.
"Are you alright? I'm so sorry to have startled you." Rita's voice is gentle, almost whisper-like. "My name is Rita Bernal. I've been looking for you for a while, now!"
"Is there somewhere you'd like to go to chat? I have so much to talk to you about."
Noticing the bent knife in the ground, Rita gestures with her hand. It floats up toward her, shimmering with blue energy. Running her hands over the bent section, Rita smooths it out, her fingertips shimmering with green-blue-pink energy.
"Here you are. This looks important!" The knife is offered to Alma, handle-first.
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
While Alma accepts the hand up, something about doing it makes her heartrate spike. Is this okay? Can she accept help from -- anyone but Yuliana and Elisa? ... well, this is a strange situation either way, so she may as well. She gets back to her feet, saying, "Ahahaha, it's really fine... I just yanked on the door too hard. That board was really stubborn 'til it wasn't!"
Rita... smooths out a knife as it it were made of taffy, or cheap plastic. Alma's eyes widen as she's offered the weapon back. "A-ah, don't even worry about it. That kind of thing is only really interesting to a certain kinda Zeon collector at this point," she says, though she does take it back. After feeling weirdly flummoxed about what to do with it, she ultimately decides to return it to the glovebox of the jeep. It can remain in the past.
"Well... I'd like to go to Tir na nOg, but everything's all boarded up... everyone left it behind." Everyone left me behind, Alma thinks. Her expression turns a little sulky. "But if you can do that -- maybe we can get in together...!"
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Her smile never faltering, Rita watches Alma's feelings flicker with worry and uncertainty. Elisa truly has a deep hold on her... "I'm still very grateful! It's not often I find myself being saved."
It's nice, walking in dreams. She doesn't have to worry about how closely to float to the ground. Alma places the knife in the glovebox of the jeep, talking down its importance. Rita nods, in response, green eyes glimmering as she takes everything in. Anything here could be a clue to saving Alma. She will remember it all.
"Tir na nOg?" She repeats, as Alma's mood shifts. "Oh, let's go see! I'm sure we can put it back the way it should be if we work together!"
Mirroring Alma's actions, Rita hops into the jeep. She settles in nicely to the seat, her slight frame looking picturesque in the hardy vehicle. And quickly thereafter comes the first important question.
A soft breath. This moment is too close to be able to check the future. Rita can only do her best. "We have a mutual friend! Leina Ashta. She's been worried for you."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
"It's... the place I made most of my first real friends," Alma says, as she puts the jeep in gear and starts driving. "It's not very far from here..." She doesn't question why it's back, when it was destroyed as part of an escape operation at the end of the One Year War. It is, after all, a dream.
Alma seems very comfortable behind the wheel, happy to make casual conversation -- but Rita asks a question that raises messy feelings in her. "Leina... why? She didn't ever want to see things my way. She keeps hurting Yulie, and I screwed up when I tried to get her to see it my way..." Strained, she admits, "I guess I never really learned how to read the room."
Her grip on the steering wheel gets tighter, and she says, "She should just stay away from me and Yulie -- there's no reason she should bother..." They pull up to Tir na nOg in short order (they're already on the grounds, after all!) and she affirms, "If that's all you came for, I'm not really sure why you're bothering."
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Rita's hair blows as the jeep moves, though its a far prettier motion than it strictly should be. Cloud-like, it flows in waves. "I'm excited to see it, Alma. It's important to remember places like that. My first friends and I went to see some gardens, once. I still hold it in my heart."
Rita's smile doesn't fade as Alma reacts badly to the mention of Leina. Perhaps it's better to build a closer bond, first. "Friends can still love each other, even when they have to be apart. Don't you think so? Even if Leina hurt Yuliana, I promise, they still care about each other. You know Yulie's feelings can be a little complicated!"
"That's not the only reason." Rita promises, soothingly. "You see, I'm one of Yuliana's old friends, too. We spent a lot of time together when we were both young. She was kind to me, when she could be." A slight pause. "And sometimes, she hurt me. She didn't mean to, but it still happened. But no matter what, she's very important to me. Someday, I want to be able to talk to her again."
Alma gets more upset as they pull up to Tir na nOg. "You're important to two people I love. That's reason enough. Besides, I'd really like to see this building as it should be. And I can help!"
Rita steps out of the jeep, running lightly to the front of the destroyed building. "Come on, Alma! I'd really like to see!"
Should Alma follow her, Rita holds out a hand to her. "Just keep hold of my hand, and picture it as it should be. I'll do the rest."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Rita's gardens... Alma can almost picture them. Normally it'd be much easier to lose herself in Rita, feel what she feels, see what she sees in the world. Still -- she's not quite as imprisoned, in this realm. The prison Alma is in is simply the memory of the prison.
"I guess... yeah. This place does kinda prove it..." Yuliana was so wrapped up in ripping her away from Lilith and Puru Two that she never did fully extract her from her feelings about Noisy Fairy -- and indeed, that might have made everything even more difficult. "I still miss Noisy Fairy a lot... and yeah, Yulie's definitely a complicated person! I hope you get the chance to talk to her... it's really hard to be away from someone you care about. It sounds like you two have been apart for a long time."
Alma looks toward Tir na nOg -- and lets herself close her eyes, as she finishes following and takes that hand. It's easy for her to imagine -- that place is always in her memories. Open, kind. A place for Zeon's castoffs to complete one another's incompleteness -- and carry each other through anything, no matter what. Not this boarded-up thing.
She squeezes that hand. "... I guess I can trust a friend of Yulie's," she murmurs, softly, guilelessly.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Noisy Fairy? Rita wonders absently who they were. Her thoughts trail back to a man with terrible red eyes, accusing Rita of being some kind of fae creature. Not that she has any idea about mythology, really...
Outwardly, Rita just nods, smile ever-encouraging. "I hope you can talk to Noisy Fairy again, too. You must've been apart for a long time, just like Yulie and I. I'd like to be able to sit together, again, and talk about the things she likes. She used to tell me all about how her engineering work! And how she was going to change the world..."
Alma's vision of Tir na nOg flows through the malleable reality of her dream. Powered by Rita's miraculous light, the entirety of the old building glows, shimmering like an aurora. One by one, then all at once, each imperfection vanishes. Boarded up windows shine with inner light.
Last of all... the door opens, on its own. Welcoming Alma home. If Rita perhaps moved a finger to encourage it, that's merely a coincidence.
"Open your eyes, Alma." Rita whispers. "Look, it's all okay. Just as you remember it. It still exists, here, with you and me."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Alma affirms, "It's been sixteen -- no, seventeen years now, I guess... once they processed us after the war, I never saw any of them again." She sounds so lonely, like this. Yuliana took her away from a lot, and now she's been taken away from Yuliana... which leaves her with so much nothing. It hurts...
... and she's asleep, which means her jewelry can't turn the emptiness of her life into her strength.
As her eyes flutter back open, Alma's expression lights up for just a moment. "Aah -- it really is just like home again," she says, so ecstatic. Her feet take her toward the threshold, a big smile on her face --
-- but she stops at the entryway. "... It won't be the same if it's just me," she realizes aloud, looking back toward Rita. "And -- what is it you get out of this, anyway? This seems like a little more than just a nice thing for a friend of a friend..."
... when did she get so suspicious? When did every hand extended toward her start seeming like a threat? She knows this isn't like her at all, but untangling the feeling isn't so straightforward as that...
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
"I'm sorry. I know how that feels. The people I love, I haven't seen them in a very, very long time. And it'll be longer still before I can speak to them."
Michele... If anyone could help Alma find her Noisy Fairy(Fairies?), it'd be her. This is an idea better presented to Leina, at least for now.
Rita glows with delight, illuminated like a firefly at Alma's happiness. "Oh..! I'm so happy you like it, Alma!" She follows after Alma.
Almost within the building, almost-- Alma stops. Rita's smile doesn't fade, but her eyes lose their shimmer for just a moment. So close...
"I'd like to come inside with you, if you don't mind." Rita gently prods. "I've been through... some terrible, terrible things, recently. Could we sit down, before we talk a little more?"
Rita isn't fully comfortable manipulating Alma's kind heart this way... But she can only hope Elisa's spell will be further diminished within Tir na nOg, a place of so many happy memories of Alma's true self.
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
If it were only for her own sake -- Alma would never cross this threshold alone. But Rita, who she'd saved(?) from a potentially-active, boarded-up sauna not so long ago, needs a place to rest and speak -- and Tir na nOg was that place for her, so surely it can be that place for Rita, too, for now, a fortress away from the green gloom of the exterior.
"All right," Alma offers, heading in slowly. It's as she remembers it -- the stained glass, the Zeon recruitment posters, the computerized map, Mia's laptop... all of it is untouched. A plate of Halloween pastries sits on the table -- fresh and warm as the day they were baked.
Alma snags a pastry with one hand, then moves to sit at the table -- in Killy's seat, rather than her own. She gestures to the seat that would have been hers, gently prompting Rita. "What do you want to talk about?"
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
"Thank you, Alma. You're so kind." Rita follows after her, sitting in Alma's designated chair. She folds her hands prettily in her lap, looking up with a smile. Here, in Tir na nOg, Rita looks far more like she belongs. A miraculously-restored home suits her.
"This may be a difficult thing to hear. But I ask that you hear me out." Rita's voice is stronger. "I ask that you remember the way you felt here, with the people who loved you. Keep your heart in this place, and listen."
"You have been taken in by Yuliana's wife, Elisa. She's taken advantage of your loving heart with her magic." Rita is very still, as she speaks. Not wishing to distract Alma in any way. "Elisa does not care about you. I'm sure Yuliana does, in her own way. But Elisa..."
Rita pauses, for a moment, considering her words. "Elisa sees you as merely a tool. Her magic will hurt you, futher and further. The people who love you, beyond Yuliana, are very afraid for you."
"As proof of this, I bring knowledge of a deal." Rita slowly stands. This time, she places her hand on Alma's, holding tightly. "Please, open your heart..."
---
Leina Ashta comes into view, first. This is her memory, with Rita and Alma simply observing. Leina speaks to Elisa, with Yuliana close by.
"Though..." Yuliana starts, trailing off, for a delicate moment. "Speaking of that creature, zhenushka... I think I was a little rough with her! Even this quickly, she's already breaking. It's getting rather tiresome," Yuliana sighs, with no sympathy at all. "But Leina here still wants my broken things, so I thought it would cost us little to grant her such a thing. Since I can use her to speak to Ritechka again... and it's an insignificant offering, all told. We have already learned what we need from that doll's subjugation, haven't we?"
Anxiety threads through her voice and her eyes, subtly, as she presses: "... what do you think?"
"I see that you are worried about it," Elisa says. "It would be difficult to lose your caretaker, would it not?" A smile to Leina. "You could help us find a new one, if you wanted her, of course. Though... There is one difficulty," she admits.
"In order to release her with all she knows... Well, she'd have to cease knowing a great deal, for me to allow her out from your service. The process might not be... pleasant, for her."
"Wouldn't it be easier to continue as you are? I'm not sure Miss Ashta realizes the difficulty of what she asks."
"On the other hand, if she breaks so soon..." Hmmm. Elisa at least seems to give it some thought. "Miss Ashta," Elisa addresses, looking to Leina. "You have someone else in mind for the position? Good help is terribly hard to find. And it is rather an inconvenience. But if it would make my Yuliana happy, I will of course consider it. Provided that we can make suitable arrangements for her care."
Leina looks momentarily thoughtful, "...Well when you put it that way, I wouldn't want excessive harm to come to Alma. You'd have to elaborate a touch on how much she'd forget, and how unpleasant it would be? ...I do very much want her returned safely but given how damaged Yuliana has told me she is, I'd be worried about her returning to me in any condition at all."
Then there's a pause.
"As for her replacement, I can think of a suitable one."
"I've seen her in Major Vinh Pham's company and it's obvious he neither thinks well of her, nor treats her well. It's upsetting to be frank. I think however he's not without redeeming qualities, if he simply became more focused on providing the care a superior officer ought to - to someone under his command, then I think he is in fact, more than qualified."
She notes, as she taps a finger to her chin, eyes wandering to the side, "And I think it would raise fewer questions than the current situation. A man of his position in the REA visiting a subordinate's home - as compared to a subordinate living with their superior. Would there be rumors? Certainly, but it would draw less attention in the long run."
"Yes," Elisa says. "It would be difficult. I have given her gifts, and removing them is not easy. She may... miss them. In addition, to alter the memory of a being is... invasive. More difficult than other things. It is possible that I would be unable to return her to you in a fit state."
Elisa is surprised by this offer. It shows, if barely; her eyebrows lift. Her lipos part. And then she smiles. "My," she says. "How very refreshing!"
She looks to Yuliana again, at her 'buts'. "I don't know that my Yuliana would like that, though." She pauses. "I did have a 'talk' with him," she says. "That he is less cruel is well. But I did not do as much as I would have liked. I would have to be rather firmer with him to trust him caring for you at home, my darling. I am not certain that you want that. I have so tried to ensure that you can continue your work, since you treasure it so..."
"However," Elisa says, "It is well that you have offered an alternative. In return for your steadfast care of my Yuliana, I will consider your request. I can make no promises at this time, but I will consider it."
"I will give you my number, so that we can talk more about this... and perhaps other things. And what I can promise is that I will concern myself with the woman's safety while I consider."
"I will do so, if that is a deal you are willing to make, Miss Ashta." "Do you understand?" Rita asks, turning to Alma. "Leina is trying to save you. Elisa has done things to you, terrible things, that will take time and effort to undo."
---
The memory fades. They return to Tir na nOg.
"Alma. Leina has fought to have you released. Elisa has damaged you so badly, she would have to erase your memories to remove the taint of the void." Rita goes down to her knees, her hand shifting to hold Alma's, instead of gripping it. "Elisa, and even Yuliana, would trade you away. They don't care for you the way Leina does. The way your daughter does. You must return to them!"
Please listen. Please let this work.
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Nodding to Rita, Alma agrees, "Of course I'll hear you out! Even if we only just met... ah, maybe there's a reason we met here?" In Killy's seat, it all seems so obvious -- whatever troubles Rita is something she ought to concern herself with. It's the duty of the commander to take care of everyone beneath her -- and Rita, in her own chair, is clearly now her charge.
The other shoe drops. "N-no," she stammers, as she hears that Elisa has taken advantage of her. "That's not true. I went to see Yuliana -- yes, Dr. Kafim was there too -- and talk to her about Lilith attacking her wedding, and, and..." Don't let this be taken away from me, she pleads with -- herself. I don't want to be lonely again.
She thinks back to Puru Two, who'd asked her not to go to Yuliana. At the time, she'd considered it her duty anyway -- to face someone her child couldn't. That's a parent's duty... but...
There's a sudden, sharp memory -- pain. Hunching over a public trash can with a stabbing feeling in her gut over and over again. Her (un)just punishment for being (kind to the) wrong (person). Her teeth grit -- Rita wants her to open her heart now? How dare she -- but at the same time, how weak would Alma be if she flinched just from this...?
Alma is drawn back, back -- back into someone else's past, with Rita as her guide. What strikes her in this moment -- so painful in its clarity -- is not Elisa, as much as Rita's concern is for the witch and her magic.
Yuliana talks about her as if she's a doll. A thing -- already breaking? Subjugation? Treated like she's a problem for Yuliana and Elisa to clean up.
(She notes the way the three of them talk about Major Pham, too. Leina sees his duties the way Alma herself does. ... as do the others, a bit -- but not in quite the same way.)
She looks at Rita -- and she looks miserable, haunted. Seeing the Kafims treat her as a thing, as a breaking thing, when all she has left is to make herself useful to Yuliana --
When they return to Tir na nOg, Alma clutches at her left bicep with her right hand, nails digging into uniform fabric. "No, that's -- Yuliana's worried about breaking me. She is rough with me, but -- she doesn't mean it, or she wouldn't -- if she's pushing me away it's because she's afraid she's going to hurt me!" Alma insists on this -- Yuliana's kindness is one of the few lifelines she has left before being left truly alone. "I don't need anything else! If Yuliana needs me to care for her, then I will! I don't care if Elisa made me that way, it's all I have left, it's all I have --"
... In this place, she says this, with the fireplace at her back and the boxes all full of supplies strewn about the room, just as they left them? It's absurd, and on some level, Alma knows it.
"I don't WANT to be released! I WANT to have someone left for me! Lilith betrayed me, Puru Two is jealous of what I have -- everyone in Noisy Fairy is gone -- Leina hates me after what I did at Boss Ramen... she just doesn't want someone broken like me to be a problem anymore -- It's my duty to take care of things!"
She doesn't even notice it growing lighter outside. "I'm needed here. I don't even know how I'd return to some of them -- Lilith is in prison... and it's all over me, too... Marion is dead... it's my duty to get my people to the other side of this safe -- and Yuliana's the only one I can reach."
Looking at Rita mournfully, she begs, "... I don't know what else I can do... I can't just leave, even if I want to. The idea of thinking badly of her... it hurts so much."
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Rita looks at Alma with steady concern. At last, her smile fades, her eyebrows drawing together. It's painful, knowing what the future holds. Knowing what you have to do is impossibly painful and hard. But Alma's heart is strong! She can do this.
"I know it hurts. I know." Rita holds tightly to her hand. "Let yourself feel it. It's how you know it's real."
Rita takes another breath. "If that's true, Alma, then doesn't it means Yulie wants you to go. It means she doesn't need you. If that's true, the best thing you can do for her is to care for yourself, right? It's what she wants."
Going quiet, Rita lets Alma rage and express her feelings, nodding softly. "You have people waiting. Leina doesn't hate you, and neither does your daughter. Lilith -- she did this for you. She's with my sister right now. She was so angry at what Elisa did to you that she tried to kill them."
"You're not broken. As long as you're alive, you can heal!" Rita insists, her eyes shimmering with otherworldly light. "They're waiting for you. I know it hurts. But it won't hurt forever. Leina and your daughter, their arms are open. Lilith isn't in prison! She's with my sister! She's made terrible bargains with terrible people, and she needs your help! If you need to find Noisy Fairy, I'll help you." Rita promises, holding tight to Alma. "Leina will help you, too."
"There's a way forward. You just have to take the first step. You won't be alone."
The sky grows lighter. Rita feels the pull of the resonant plane. Her time here is running out.
"If it's too hard to think badly about Yuliana, think about how she wants you to go. That's what she needs from you. That's how you can care for her. Be brave, Alma. Pain is only a temporary emotion."
Rita glows brightly, her form beginning to dissipate into light. "We're coming for you, Alma. We're going to save you and Yulie both!" Raising a hand, Rita displays an image of a golden Gundam, slowly rotating. It looks much like the Unicorn, save for the color of its armor and the wing-like shields at its back.
"This is my partner, the Phenex. Look for me. I'm coming for you. Leina and I are coming. Run to her, or to me, and we'll keep you safe, I promise! You won't have to hurt anymore!"
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Alma wants so, so badly to believe Rita -- to accept that what she's saying is true, that this would all be safe for everyone, even Yulie, if Alma were to just leave. She swallows hard, once -- and when Rita mentions that Lilith is with her sister and not in prison...
... it's a mess of emotions. She feels lost within herself -- even the clarity Yuliana offered is gone. All she has is the pain -- a pain she knows Dr. Kafim inflicted, and yet, she cannot quite bring herself to raise arms against her.
After all, she has been told something pleasant.
Alma looks at the bright golden Gundam with its wing-like shields. The Phenex will come for her...?
"... I'll try," Alma says, and it's miserable. "I -- don't want this, I don't want Yuliana to see me as a broken doll, I don't want her to throw me away, I don't want to hurt Leina and Yuliana told me not to anyway -- if that means I need to go, I --"
Her heartrate spikes, and --
-- even in the dream, Alma abruptly goes from pleading to absolutely exhausted. "Whuuuhhh...?" For an instant, she seems -- if not lucid -- less anxious, and says, "... I'll keep an eye out... Rita..." and then plants her head on the table with a dull thud.
"Subject BP 185/120. It's agitated."
"Erratic data in the sleep cycle?"
"Separation anxiety about the primary subject. Not worth concerning ourselves with. Administer sedatives. It'll be fine tomorrow. We only need it to hold together until the issues with the primary subject are resolved."