2023-03-08: ?my two birds are in the busH
- Cutscene: ?my two birds are in the busH
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim and her lieutenant, Wen Yuan
- Where: The Silent Castle
- Date: 2023-03-08
- Summary: Yuliana learns that Athrusa helped Wen -- and so, she's still alive. Wen learns that her Captain is a terrorist on the side. (Well, not quite 'on the side', any more.)
Wen and Yuliana spend a lot of time together, these days; not nearly as much as she's seen with Elisa, naturally, but the two of them are both survivors of the Institute's crimes. They flock together.
It helps that Wen is really, REALLY trying.
Wen's scratching at a sketch pad, right now, glancing down and up at Yuliana as she slouches on the opposite couch. Her hand props up her head, but she's not trying very hard. She yawns, and thinks, then, of --
"Heard from Koji the other day," Yuliana swerves the conversation, such that it is, without warning. "You know -- works with Sayaka? Yumi? Well," she adds, "working, at least."
"Oh!" Wen exclaims, looking up. "Yeah, I remember -- she showed up to try and help us when we went to ground." She pauses, and laughs, nervously: "I-I miiiight have put a few holes in her..."
"It was a real pressure cooker of a situation, I'm guessing," Yuliana excuses her, shrugging a shoulder. "Anyway, seems she's fine, unless he's not telling me something. Thought you'd wanna know." She's dismissive about it, but...
... she thought of it, and thought of what Wen might feel about it, and that's some estimation of an effort.
Kind of.
Wen, at least, is encouraged by the thought. (Now she's ruled out scaring her off, Yuliana habitually encourages her.) "That's great," she smiles. "I'm glad they got out okay... I think we made the Princesses pretty mad."
"Yeah, about that -- what the hell? Cornelia and Artemisia? Fucking A, Lettu. Even I'd flinch at a match-up like that." Yuliana can still talk like a soldier, as it happens.
"The Unicorn and that ZZ masspro were distracting Cornelia, at least, but..." Wen frowns down at her sketchpad. "Even just fighting Artemisia, we almost didn't make it out. She fights a lot like you do, Captain... it's terrifying."
"That's kind of the point," Yuliana points out, before she straightens up, sitting back against the couch. (Wen sighs, and puts her paper to one side.) "Anyway," Yuliana says, ignoring the sketch she just ruined with her restlessness, "you're not dead, and that's something. Nice work."
"Thanks," Wen smiles, and then glances off to the side. "Actually, about that day, I've been meaning to tell you... you remember that doctor we were due to retrieve a while back? Dr. Baihe? Except she started calling herself --"
"Athrusa," Yuliana pre-empts her, leaning forward, suddenly intent. "What about her?!"
"She -- um -- s-she showed up," Wen finds herself stammering again, in the face of Yuliana's sudden engagement. "To help us. I didn't really buy it, at first... like, we were trying to kidnap her? Until you just buried the case one day, I mean... I guess you were trying to protect her?"
"Hardly," Yuliana scowls, sinking back, folding her arms. "That's just when I decided to give my information to Celestial Being, instead. I thought it was the best of bad options... it wasn't."
"Wait," it's Wen's turn to lean forward, now, "Celestial Being?! Captain, you were--?!"
"A double agent?" Yuliana cuts her off, dry. "Throughout '96, yes. Still am, actually -- though I suppose I'm just an 'agent', now. Elya," she addresses her affectionately, because Wen is part of the family, at this point, "approached me late in 0095 about it. At first, I thought it was one more invitation to bribery, given I had my own command... but it was much more than that. Anyway, it wasn't just the Republic who wanted her back... Celestial Being was looking for her, too. In the end, turns out both ends would have destroyed her." Yuliana frowns, glancing aside. "... I always figured they quietly black-bagged her, after I turned the information over. Since that's the last time I saw her..."
Wen shakes her head. "She's alive!" She insists, fiercely.
"Then..." If Yuliana meant to feel relief over not destroying Athrusa, surely it is dashed a moment later, with a widening of her eyes, as she thinks of how she condemned the other girl from the Institute. Yuliana scowls, again, and sinks into herself.
"She's no longer a target," Yuliana mutters.
"Don't you... want to talk to her..?" Wen ventures, a frown across her own red eyes. "Or -- are you angry at her? She was treating you a lot longer, right...?"
Yuliana shakes her head. "No... she was, but... it wasn't so bad, under her. She... made sure I was treated well. It's..." Complicated, she means to say, as a hand reaches up to brush down the left side of her face.
The only reason she still has her eye is because of Athrusa's surgical skills.
"... it's enough to know she's alive," Yuliana settles on, finally. "And she'll live longer, if she's not associating with me. Just... leave her be, all right?"
"All right," Wen sighs, a shade hapless.
... but if Athrusa is alive...
... Yuliana wonders whether its really too late for Rita, just the same.